Dimensional Descent

BANG!

The first hit left Halgo in a complete daze. But, the second made his vision go black. The last thing he felt was a rush of heat to his nose before he collapsed to the ground. 

As for everyone else? All they saw was a flash of light denoting the start of the duel, only for it to quickly end in a fountain of blood spraying out from Halgo's nose. 

Yet, not only did the blood not touch Leonel, it didn't even touch the catalogue either. By some mysterious force, it shot back, splattering all over the falling Halgo's face. 

Leonel blinked, looking toward Aina. 

"Is that another cool vampire ability?"

Aina pouted slightly beneath her mask. "I'm not a vampire."

"Are you sure about that?" Leonel grinned. 

Aina turned away and ignored him. How could she be a vampire? Wasn't she walking around in the sun just fine? Garlic was probably her favorite flavor to add to food. Plus, she never really craved blood… unless you counted that one instance. 

Leonel was just teasing her. 

As though the couple couldn't sense all the eyes around them, they bantered as Leonel flipped through the selection of missions. 

"… A shame." 

A while later, Leonel shook his head. 

"Seems we can only take missions allowed for black belts. In that case…"

Leonel took ten missions. Truthfully, he wanted to take more despite the penalty and time constraints placed on these missions, but he decided to hold back a bit. Plus… There might just be more to do than just these missions once he stepped out. 

"Let's take these ten, they have relatively good rewards. Once we accumulate enough, it'll be easier to promote to white belt and open up more avenues for us."

"Don't you think it would be easier if we prioritized being promoted first?" 

Aina wasn't exactly wrong. Nibbling at these easy missions was a good way to waste time. 

There were a lot of things about the changes to the rules that benefited them. For example, the duel Leonel just initiated. This duel had always been a part of Valliant Heart Mountain's culture, but now it was even more important and prominent. 

In the past, it was only used to clear up grudges and essentially sanction battles that occurred within Valiant City. That way, one wouldn't be accused of breaking the rules like Leonel had been on his first day here. 

But now, thanks to the rule changes, it had essentially become a court system, not much unlike the Valiant Hall Meeting that was called just three days ago, except on a smaller scale. 

Now, it wasn't just for settling grudges, but could be used to battle for resources, decide contracts, and many other similar things. 

In fact, the only rule policing these duels was that those of higher belts couldn't challenge their younger classmen. 

However, while this was a benefit, there were still many other hindrances. Black belts, while receiving these protections, were also restricted in many ways. 

There were certain kinds of resources that black belts couldn't touch, certain establishments within the city they couldn't enter, and, as seen here, certain missions they couldn't choose. 

In Aina's opinion, it would make more sense to raise their status first even if things might get a little bit prickly for a moment. 

Leonel smiled. "No rush."

"Alright, you keep being mysterious. I can be mysterious too." 

Aina said these words without much oddity in her tone, but she seemed to be hinting at something that made Leonel freeze. 

"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?"

Aina gazed up at Leonel as they began to walk toward the exit together. 

"I don't know. What does it mean?" She replied. 

At that moment, the little mink hopped out from the Segmented Cube, nuzzling up against Aina. Letting go of Leonel's hand, Aina began to play with the little guy. 

"Yes, yes. We don't need him right? He can go act mysterious by himself." Aina smiled sweetly beneath her mask, stroking Little Blackstar's glossy fur. 

The little mink nodded in agreement. "Yip! Yip!"

Leonel opened his mouth to say something, but he already felt as though he had been checkmated. 

"Alright, alright. You win." Leonel laughed. "Being a black belt is restrictive, but it's also freeing too. There are quite a few loopholes in their new laws as well. The fact that higher ranked belts can't challenge lower ranked ones is just the first. For example… black belts might not be able to own ore mines or stores or even form factions of their own. But, they likewise don't have to report what they gain on missions or pay taxes on their resources."

"You're planning on causing trouble again, aren't you?" Aina shook her head. 

"Me? Trouble? Never."

"You said three days ago that we couldn't solve things with violence. Yet, what was the first thing you did when you ran into a roadblock today?"

Leonel coughed. "Extenuating circumstances."

Aina giggled, ignoring Leonel's shamelessness. 

Just as the couple were chatting and laughing, they had made their way to the exit of the former Valiant Hall. They didn't seem to notice that most of the attention was still focused on them at all. They might as well have been in their own world. 

It was then, though, that a small group of five happened to be walking in their direction. 

Completely focused on Aina, Leonel's senses only noted that these people were there, but he didn't really care to identify them. That was until he noticed that they had come to a stop before them, all of their auras locked onto him simultaneously. 

Leonel finally looked up only to find a face that he recognized immediately. In fact, he recognized multiple. 

There was the jagged toothed Cormus, the giant sword wielding Ardryn and even Nigmir who seemed to have recovered quite well from a spear in the chest. 

As for the last two, though, Leonel didn't recognize them at all. One was a young lady with fiery red hair that seemed to be accented with highlights of blackness. But, it was the second that caught Leonel's attention the most. 

His eyes were dangerous. 

It didn't take Leonel much to understand who this person was. It was none other than the King of Ores, Sarrieth. 

Leonel's smiling expression gave way to a coldness, a heavy air forcing the surroundings into silence.