Dimensional Descent

Yuri and Savahn looked toward one another, their expressions too complex to read.

As surprised as everyone else was that Leonel was simply walking away, they were maybe even more so.

Leonel was difficult to read. Despite the whirlwind of emotions going on his mind and heart, his face gave nothing away. The only hint of something was that his gaze was decidedly less cold. But, even this was only something they had gotten a brief look at when Leonel's gaze met Aina's.

However, what neither of them expected was that Leonel would turn and leave without even trying to say anything to her.

Their first reaction was that maybe Leonel was mad. They had lost count of the number of times that Aina had burst into a fit of tears, mumbling something about how much Leonel must hate her now. Of course, all of this occurred long before her personality had been reset to zero.

This was a large part of the reason that Aina's father didn't want her to meet with Leonel. Aina was in a very sensitive time period right now, and meeting someone who might say vile things to her as a form of lashing out would be greatly detrimental to her.

Things were especially bad because Aina was currently internalizing so much about Leonel right now, though she did so unconsciously. The reason she had chosen the path of absolute logic was only because in her own twisted way of viewing things, this was how she could connect with Leonel.

Ironically, though, she didn't seem to take it to its logical conclusion. But, this was only because her memories of her last interaction with Leonel held her back. Those memories told her that being with Leonel had caused her a lot of grief. So, as unimpressed as she was with Rychard, she still let him court her as he pleased.

Aina's priorities, as such, had become logic first, then came her love of fighting, and finally it became growing strong. Those three things seemed benign, but when combined with someone who wanted to use reason even down to a fault, it could become very complicated, very quickly.

Surprisingly, though, the harsh words and the fireworks they had expected from Leonel meeting Aina again simply didn't happen.

Yuri and Savahn also thought that it was possible that Leonel didn't want to implicate them in his troubles. In fact, the more they thought about it, the more it seemed that this made the most sense. But then…

Why was it that no one was moving? Shouldn't they be enraged by Leonel's actions? Shouldn't they be chasing him down now that the danger of his breakthrough had cleared? Why did it seem like they didn't dare to?

Neither of them knew how to wrap their heads around this situation. They couldn't help but look toward Aina again, but she was still oddly silent. They couldn't grasp anything she was thinking.

Of course, Seith was in an even worse position. He somehow felt like he was missing something important, something so important that it made his spine tingle.

Suddenly, his gaze sharped. "Crown Heir Viola… What was the name of this young man?"

Rychard blinked. He hadn't said his name on purpose.

Though the matters surrounding Alienor's scandal had been pinned onto Gradeyr, his former fiercest competitor for the Crown Heir position, he still didn't want the Luxnix to drag up the truth of those matters. If he admitted that Leonel was, in fact, Leonel Morales, the very same Leonel Morales he had used to slander his mother, then it was possible for it to be drawn back to him...

Rychard frowned. But, now that Seith had asked, he truly couldn't avoid it. He was already the Crown Heir anyway, and it wasn't like the families were entirely buddy-buddy. Some underhanded schemes were inevitable.

"He said… His name is Leonel Morales."

Rychard didn't know what he expected from saying these words. But, the reaction he got was so fierce that he almost coughed up blood.

Seith's aura shot into the skies like a pillar, making it difficult for the Fifth Dimensional existences around him to even stand properly, let alone breathe.

Rychard rapidly retreated, his expression flickering.

He realized then that this was a bigger matter than he had initially thought, but how could it not be. This tidbit of information was actually what had allowed him to secure his Crown Heir position and it was precisely it that buried his competition.

The name Leonel Morales had been stricken from the Luxnix family records. In the history of the Luxnix, this had happened only a handful of times, and never to a child who couldn't even walk on his own at the time. How could there not be a big secret behind this?

"HALT!"

Seith's voice boomed for several kilometers. His palm flipped over, a badge of some sort appearing in his hands. The moment it did, he tossed it into the air.

An enormous commotion broke loose, a pillar of blinding light shooting into the skies.

The expressions of several changed, especially those of highest standing like the Rankers and the Division Heads. That badge was the Patriarch's Emblem. In terms of rank, it was only beneath the Star Order Emblem. When it was deployed, it had the authority not only to deploy the Feather Sword warriors, but the Star Order Council had the obligation to send representatives as well.

With this Emblem, the Patriarch essentially had 90% of the family's forces at their beck and call. Of course, the strongest forces were definitely those old monsters on the Star Order Council. But, in general situations, just a representative or two from them was enough to deal with most problems.

It had been just over two decades since the last time the Patriarch's Emblem was used. And now, it seemed to have been deployed again.

Yet, inexplicably, as though he hadn't heard a single thing, Leonel continued to walk. Maybe the only change was that a pair of pants had appeared to cover his lower half.

His placid expression made it seem as though he was entirely in his own world.