Dimensional Descent

Aina didn't seem to hear the words at all as she lifted Sarathana to eye level, almost as though she was picking up a chicken. She looked her right in the eyes as she gripped the waist of her pants, ripping them off as well.

Sarathana closed her eyes, tears welling up within them. Even in the cruel environment of the Brazinger family, she had never experienced such humiliation.

She felt herself be lowered, only to be dragged along the ground.

Aina couldn't be bothered to waste the strength to keep her upright, pulling her along the graveled and bloodied grounds of the battlefield and toward the Black Wood pillars.

Nana felt both flustered and aimless. On the one hand, Sarathana wasn't a member of her family and she also didn't know why Aina was so angry, though she had mentioned her mother. But on the other hand, she couldn't stand to see such a thing.

But regardless of her feelings on the matter, she was worried about action Galaeron might take without her here. Galaeron also called Aina his niece-in-law, which must mean that Aina was Leonel's wife, and that only added another layer of complication. Nana really didn't want to have any conflict with Leonel.

If Maia attacked, Nana might have a chance to take action, but the current state of things was actually positive in Maia's eyes. Right now, the greatest killing machine was occupied with a personal grudge, and although Aina's blood roses were still rotating on the battlefield, they were clearly less effective and weaker, some had even been managed to be destroyed with some teamwork. Plus, she trusted her sons to defeat their enemies soon, and it didn't look like Noah and his helpers could hold out against Elorin for much longer.

The more Aina focused on this grudge of hers, the better chance they would stand. In the grand scheme, these few geniuses of the four Great Families were inconsequential. This was a battle of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, while someone of Aina's caliber or Nana's may be able to sway it, the others could not.

Aina didn't seem to care about any of this at all as she lifted Sarathana up and began to tie her to the pillar. The moment her naked body touched the wood, a tragic scream left Sarathana's lips. It echoed over the battlefield and her strength was very clear and apparent from its resonance. But Aina didn't even flinch in the face of it.

With calm movements, she tied her back to it and placed a cushion behind her head with a gentleness that made it look as though she was laying her to bed.

Without a word, Aina continued with the other three. Raffyr tried to struggle, but it was completely useless. One after another, they were all put up, their tragic screams continuing to echo.

As the screams continued, the morale of the Cloud Race army began to slowly plummet, an entirely unforeseen outcome by Maia. She began to regret her inaction, but it was much too late for that now, far too late. Aina had already finished tying them up, the damage was done.

However, just when it seemed that Aina was finished, she stretched a hand out and all of the blood within their four bodies surged out. They could hardly keep a clear mind under the excruciating pain, let alone stop their Blood Force from being snatched.

Taking so much blood from them would normally kill them, but the aroma coming from their rotting flesh matched with the Black Wood pillars kept them alive. After being tied to these pillars, there was simply no escaping. Unless you had perfect control over your own soul and could force it to disperse, suicide was impossible.

If they had been smart, they would have done everything to kill themselves before they were tied to the pillar, but they still held out hope. They hoped that if they endured, Aina and her allies would lose this battle and then they would be freed. However, they never expected Aina to take such a cruel measure. Now, no matter what, they would have to die.

What they didn't realize, though, was that this wasn't the purpose of Aina snatching their blood.

Slowly, and diligently, Aina began to draw four Force Arts into the ground using their blood.

"I'm not very good with Force Arts," Aina said lightly. "I never invested much time into them and only have minimal experience."

Aina's soothing voice sounded no different than the reaper to them at this point, but with their heads still intact and her ability to penetrate through their screaming still at an all time high, they had no choice but to listen to her words.

"However, when it comes to simple Force Arts with simple mechanisms, so long as I take my time, given the control I have over my body, they're actually quite easy to draw. Did you know that Blood Force is actually a very effective medium for Force Art drawing, just like Soul and Dream Force?"

Aina continued to speak as though she wanted the last voice these people heard to be her own.

"This one isn't too complex either. Its only job is to release a little bit of your blood on a day. Exactly 99 days from now, it will release the first batch, and then again, once per day, for example 900 more days."

Aina looked up from her Force Art drawing.

"99 days is a bit too short, don't you think? You're all so strong and superior due to your bloodlines. Since my mother was forced to endure 99 days as a common woman, it shouldn't be a problem for you superior existences to withstand ten times that, right?"

Hearing Aina's words, the four began to fight harder and harder to get off the pillar as their skin was slowly eaten away at, but it was a completely useless endeavor.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the world knows how superior you all are to the rest of us. Every time your blood hits the pillar, more rotten fumes will form and your existence will be lengthened by another day. This way, you can definitely flex your boldness and greatness."

Aina smiled lightly.

It was objectively gorgeous, and yet it was the scariest thing those four youths had ever seen.