Dimensional Descent

The person that Leonel had thought of first, was, of course, Aina's mother. Of course, he had Hutch in mind as well, but the one he most wanted to see happy could be no one else but Aina. The weight that Aina had carried all this time had started from that very day her mother was executed for having the audacity to bear her as a child.

It wasn't just rage, but it was also helpless, exasperation and, most importantly of all... guilt.

If she hadn't been born, then maybe her mother would still be fine, maybe she wouldn't have to suffer such a cruel fate, maybe she and Aina's father wouldn't have been found out and so severely punished.

But, there was already no going back to reverse all of these things. There was only one thing left... revenge. And she could only hope that it would be enough to fill the void in her heart.

However, before long, Leonel's eager smile had faded. He looked toward Anastasia who had a furrowed brow and his heart sank. He didn't seem to need to hear the reason because it was of little importance to him now, but he still asked.

"You can't do it?" Leonel asked softly.

When he had heard that resurrecting those that had only been in the Third Dimension was easy for her, Leonel had immediately thought of Aina's mother. But how could it be that there was still a roadblock here? What could possibly be stopping it?

"... I can't, no," Anastasia slowly shook her head.

"Are you... sure you have the right person?" Leonel asked.

All he had told Anastasia was that it was Aina's mother he wanted to resurrect, he hadn't given her any other details because even he hadn't had any other details. Plus, although he had confidence in Anastasia, he didn't want to alert Aina in case something went wrong, and time had proven that his caution was correct...

Even so, he had to ask. Was it possible for Anastasia to be 100% certain of who she was targeting when things were just like this?

Anastasia shook her head. "A parental relationship is the easiest causal relationship to see through. If I had to look for a distant cousin, maybe there'd be a small chance I could make a mistake. But since Aina is here, and it's her mother that's in question, it's practically a one to one relationship, I wouldn't make such a mistake. It's definitely her."

"But Aina's mother died before the Metamorphosis, she's also in the Third Dimension just like Elorin's parents, why is one possible but the other isn't?"

"I... I don't know, I can only speculate. Someone with a far greater causality is interfering with Aina's mother's own, entangling it to the point that I wouldn't be able to extract her perfectly even if I tried. If I forced it, what came out the other side wouldn't even be her mother, it would just be a woman who carried a similar form."

Leonel's heart shuddered. Hearing this, he realized that resurrecting people wasn't nearly as easy as he had thought it would be, but at the same time he felt somewhat empty.

He had spent so long looking for the meaning of life, why was it that this world didn't allow him to rip off the band aid in its entirety? Why couldn't life just be completely worthless through and through.

But now he was hearing that those with lower value lives could be more easily resurrected than those that were more powerful. It was as though his worldview that all lives were equal was being spit at and smacked across the face time and time again, and yet he couldn't even benefit from it.

It was frustrating.

"Would this be because... she married Aina's father?"

"No, this isn't enough. But..."

Anastasia hesitated.

"Tell me," Leonel said firmly.

"This... Remember how I said finding a parent through Aina was exceptionally easy because it was a one to one relationship in causality? Well... the reverse is true as well. It's difficult to affect someone else's causality, but the closer you are to that person, the easier it is. And, having literally given birth to a person..."

Leonel paled and he sat down. There were very few things that could make him react like this, but he felt like he was feeling Aina's emotions for her at the moment.

If Aina knew that her mother couldn't be brought back because she had grown too strong, how devastated would she be? No, even beyond that, wasn't it because of revenge that Aina had put in so much effort to increase her strength? And now because of that strength she had worked so hard for, she would never be able to see her mother again? How cruel was a fate like this?

What Leonel didn't know was that there was something else that Anastasia hadn't told him. If she was correct... things might have still worked if Aina was still in the Sixth Dimension.

One would enter the God Path upon entering the Sixth Dimension, but because her mother was one step removed from her causality, the impact was lessened. However, the moment she entered the Seventh Dimension...

It was just one day, just a single day was the difference between Aina being able to cry in her mother's arms or not... Just a single day...

Leonel took deep breaths and slowly managed to calm himself.

"Don't resurrect them," Leonel suddenly said.

"What?"

"Don't resurrect Elorin's parents. Leave them as they are."

Leonel didn't say anything else as he stood and left. Anastasia could only look toward his back with a complicated twinkle in her eye.

She understood. If Anastasia resurrected them, then Aina would learn about it one way or another. Aina was quite intelligent, she wouldn't believe that Leonel would put in the effort to resurrect the parents of others and yet not her own. If she realized this, then she would only be one step away from the truth...

Leonel refused to see that kind of pain on the love of his life's face.