Dimensional Descent

Aina's aura blazed like the spark of an awakening star. Although she didn't say anything, her presence alone seemed to warp the world around them, the arcs of black lightning that sparked between her horns and the black feathers that zipped by causing even the eyes of those that only gazed upon them to sting.

Her black wings came out from the back of her hips, but their majestic bearing was no less. Each spread out for at least two meters, carefully arcing through the air with the grace of a phoenix. Just a single one of their flaps made the shadow woman and Xavnik feel as though they might be thrown off their feet, their bodies flexing just to maintain their positions.

The eyes of the scantily clad woman froze over. She couldn't take her eyes off of Aina, her heart palpitating at the aura she was sensing. What she felt the proper conclusion was happened to be something that she was entirely unwilling to accept.

She had all the information she needed about these matters. It was simply impossible for Aina to be what she thought. Aina was a Brazinger, she was born on Earth, her mother was a mortal woman and her father, though an unknown wild card, was ultimately just a cast-out of the Brazinger family.

It didn't make any sense for her to have this kind of aura, but then it all suddenly clicked.

"... Blood Sovereign..." She said lightly.

It was true. Back then, when their cohort was sent to the Rapax Nest, the true goal wasn't Leonel or dealing with him, nor was it for Amery to receive the egg of the future ruler of the Rapax. No, from the very beginning, the goal had been Aina.

Leonel had been infuriated back then when the Variant Invalids appeared and simply directly killed them in his tirade, so it had been impossible to confirm this. The only one outside of the individuals related to the Three Finger Cult who knew this with absolute certainty was Leonel's father. But just the same way Leonel hardly explained things to others, neither did his father explain things to him.

Although Leonel had partially deduced this matter, there was still a limit to what he could do even with his intelligence when information was so limited, especially when there were so many other answers that likewise made sense. It also didn't help that the answer simply didn't seem all that important.

Ever since they reunited, Aina had always been by his side or within range of a region he could act in. It didn't matter to him if the Three Finger Cult were targeting her, because whoever came would simply have to face his wrath.

In addition to that, since that moment, the Three Finger Cult seemed to have "forgotten" about Aina, having not chosen to make any other moves. It was hard to tell how valuable they saw Aina to be, or if they were aware that kidnapping her wouldn't suddenly make her come over to their side.

The truth of this matter, though, was something that the shadow woman was well aware of. It wasn't that the Three Finger Cult had forgotten about Aina, it was rather that someone had been born within their ranks that was far easier to make use of and just as valuable to them as a Blood Sovereign.

Plus, after their first failure, the deployment of the Cataclysm Zone had caused them to believe Aina was dead and dealt with... Until she suddenly appeared once more years later.

That was right, the Cataclysm Zone had been a scheme by the Three Finger Cult to deal with the greatest threats of the Human Domain in one fell swoop. Not only would some of the most powerful experts be lost in a far-off land, but the future generations would have all been crushed in a single action.

Leonel had thought that this matter could have only been done by them, but he still didn't have an answer for... why? What did they gain out of it?

If the Three Finger Cult knew that the Cataclysm Zone was the "real world", wouldn't they know that sending them all there wouldn't accomplish anything? Even if they never managed to come back, wouldn't they just be able to live out normal lives in the "real world"?

Of course, that was a matter of relativity. Everyone stuck in that Zone would want to come back to something familiar, especially since they weren't aware of what the Dream Project was or what it represented. That meant that the more important question to ask wasn't this, but rather what in his simulation world was so valuable that the Three Finger Cult would choose to continuously target it?

Something wasn't quite adding up.

Leonel didn't believe that the Three Finger Cult would be able to access that world and yet be unaware of the Simulation. In fact, he had already deduced that their three leaders had to have been from the Cataclysm Zone to begin with, so they most definitely knew.

So why?

He didn't have an answer, and his confusion wasn't something that this shadow woman would clear up, at least not willingly, and that was assuming that a lower-level character like her would even be aware of this matter to begin with.

Instead, it was the shadow woman who was glancing at Aina with an enlightened expression, finally fusing the rumors she had heard with the woman before her.

She sent a glance toward Xavnik and spoke. "She's the Blood Sovereign."

Xavnik's pupils constricted before his gaze became somewhat malevolent. He seemed fully prepared to erupt with his greatest strength now, however, Leonel was still sitting, unmoving. His ease despite the situation made him feel suffocated.

That smile, whenever he saw that smile, he knew that bad things would happen.

"Get up!" Xavnik pointed toward Leonel, almost as though trying to command him to do something that made him feel more at ease.

However, Leonel only chuckled.