Dimensional Descent

Leonel landed from the skies above. In the surroundings, the battle continued to rage on, but it was very clear who had won and who had lost. Maybe if Vega had holed up and chosen to fight with her army instead of going head to head with Aina, things may have ended differently, or at the very least, it would have been much more difficult. But in the end, she had made a true mistake in underestimating her.

The result of their battle was something that completely shocked the whole of the Human Domain. To have not just the skill of a Life Grade Force Pill Crafter, but to also have such strength at the mere Sixth Dimension, this was enough of a fear for Aina to skyrocket to the very pinnacle of the Queen Beauty leaderboards.

Not just a small number of individuals had thought Aina to be someone Leonel had picked because of her beauty. In truth, it was even difficult to associate her with the Brazinger family purely because her eyes were not red and her hair was not crimson. This sort of thing had also caused many rumors to spread about the real backstory behind her existence.

While the Brazinger family had gained a secret almost cult-like following, appearing from nowhere and displaying such great strength, because Aina didn't share their patented look, it made it very easy to dismiss her...

Until this moment.

It was like this that many began to replay the events of the start of the Heir Wars in their minds, recalling the valiance and elegance that both Leonel and Aina had walked in with. The connotation of that moment flipped again and again in their thoughts. Every time Leonel accomplished a shocking feat, or Aina flipped their understanding of the world on its head, it felt like that memory was further ingrained into the psyches. It was recast and remodeled, etched deeper and deeper until it became a memory that they couldn't forget.

But what was especially shocking about this was that Leonel and Aina weren't only gaining the label of shocking geniuses, but also that of underdogs. What once was the perception that the two were overly arrogant and knew too little about the wider geniuses of the Human Domain, became a shocking story of a couple fighting with one another against all odds.

This story only became more and more of the public's truth as Leonel's trump cards turned the tide again, and again, and again.

And now, with one of the main pillars of First Nova's power crippled, the reality that Leonel just might win this was settling in.

Vega looked as though she had lost her soul. Sitting on her knees, looking around with a blank expression, she almost couldn't believe what had happened. She hardly had the strength to sit up, and yet as though she was torturing herself, she looked through every broken brick and fallen building.

She had so much experience commanding a large number of people, so much experience in battle, so much knowledge to give and strength to use, and yet it felt like she had been slowly suffocated to death, like a frog in slowly boiling water.

She vaguely understood that this feeling came from Aina's combat, and then Leonel's subsequent command over the situation, but understanding this didn't make her feel any better. If anything, she felt wholly inferior.

Aina's combat strength was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Facing her had felt like she was facing off against herself. She knew everything that was going to happen ahead of time, before she could even breathe properly Aina had breathed for her, and yet Vega was absolutely certain that Aina didn't have a sensory type ability.

Then there was Leonel.

After the stingrays had been forced to spread out due to the numerous whirlpools, she had believed that the battle would be easy. Picking apart smaller groups of enemies was far easier, and her marksman could truly make their skill known.

But how could she have expected that the storm characteristics of her territory would become more beneficial to Leonel than it was to her? The strikes of lightning had been completely devastating.

And then to make matters worse, his command over the Oryx and the deployment of their eye abilities was truly seamless. While her own ballistae units were struggling to fire from a longer range, Leonel crippled their visibility with sparks of lightning and then directed the crimson laser beams like they were his own spear strikes. He didn't seem to be trying very hard, but he always managed to find the most crucial location in the battlefield, crushing an upswell before it could even begin to form.

At the same time, the spread out stingrays became a nightmare for the troops that were attempting to return at their fastest possible speed. Somehow, the greatest advantage of their city had also become the greatest detriment. Just like the stingrays, the large groups of returning reinforcements were forced to separate so as to avoid the whirlpools themselves.

Unlike Leonel's territories, Vega hadn't invested in outposts, or more accurately, hadn't invested in teleporting outposts. She had thought that it was an unnecessary waste of points, only to find out in the end that such a thing could have saved her in the end...

Leonel had simply moved too fast. In the end, it was precisely because his numbers were so few that he was able to approach Vega's territory with such speed, beginning their attack before even the first wave had succeeded in returning.

And now, her city lay in shambles. She had let Adawarth down and the guilt was eating her up on the inside.

BOOM!

In the skies above, the clouds split and a figure suddenly appeared high in the skies. With him, there were three other individuals, but it was very clear that there were no others.

Vega looked up with a blank expression, only barely showing some light when she recognized First Nova, but after that, she looked away, unwilling to meet his eye. The shame felt now was only greater.