Dimensional Descent

The Spiritual was a man they recognized immediately. With the numbers of participants going down, those left were beginning to get more and more of a spotlight placed on them. This man was among the number almost certainly guaranteed to be among the finalists although he, himself, was not part of the Council Members.

He was known as Rowan Frostwind, a Pure Blooded Spiritual.

In truth, his talent and strength were beyond that of Lyra Emberheart. As for why Lyra was given the rights to become a Council Member while he was not, this was more related to Leonel than it was to any internal strife or unfairness.

According to the original plan, the Council was going to put pressure on Leonel and that was something the Spirituals alone couldn’t fix. But Lyra was going to become the lynchpin for relieving some of the pressure on Leonel, giving him a path to survival.

That plan, though, was obviously tossed out the moment Leonel acted and killed one of the Council Members. There was nothing Lyra could even do at that point to change things, making her key effectively useless.

Rowan swept a gaze through the surroundings before his gaze landed on Aina.

“I’ve come to warn you about something.”

Aina raised an eyebrow, but her indifference remained. She already knew what this was about, for Leonel predicting this sort of outcome was as easy as breathing.

“They’re already getting antsy it seems,” she spoke more to herself than anyone else.

Rowan fell into silence. Considering Aina wasn’t eager to ask what was happening, it seemed that the couple had already thought of this.

For them to go through all of this and come out on top at every turn, it meant that these two weren’t fools. They had an understanding of what was happening around them and acted accordingly.

Aina met Rowan’s eyes after organizing her thoughts.

“I understand. But I’m more concerned with why the Spirituals are so eager to help me and my husband out so much?”

Rowan shook his head. “Don’t think of the Spirituals as a monolith. We are not the Spirituals, we are the Ma’at Spiritual Bubble, the way we do things is different from others.”

Aina nodded. “But that still doesn’t answer my question.”

“We are one of the few who haven’t forgotten the value of a Wise Star Order,” Rowan responded plainly.

“The value of a Wise Star Order? Or the value of a Life Tablet?”

“Wise Star Order.” Rowan said plainly, understanding her point, but not acknowledging it.

“And how can we be certain of that?”

“Anyone who wants the Life Tablet is a fool. It can’t be used by anyone who isn’t a Wise Star Order to begin with. At the very least, its truly useful abilities can’t be unlocked without one, and the abilities it has without being a Wise Star Order are things that any world powerful enough to snatch it away would have through other means.”

“And you want my husband to marry into your world.”

“That would be ideal-“

A dangerous aura erupted almost immediately, but Aina hadn’t moved at all.

“-but doesn’t seem to be realistic any longer.”

A silence fell. It ticked on for a long while before the ground began to rumble.

“They’re coming,” Rowan said softly. “They can’t match you with quality, so they will do so with quantity. They’ll make certain that you’re either too tired or too injured to perform well, and if they can, they’ll kill you.

“There are plenty here that are desperate enough to try it. They’ll die anyway when they return to their worlds. Don’t underestimate them.”

Rowan turned to Zephyr and the others. “We’re going. Now.”

With that, he turned to leave.

“She’s my sister!” Yuri suddenly said, refuting Rowan’s order.

“Go.” Aina said, smiling.

“Aina, there are too many,” Yuri replied stubbornly.

“So then you know that one or two more people won’t make much of a difference.”

“Even so-“

“It’s fine. Unless they organize into an army, the numbers are irrelevant. There’s only so many attacks that can flood in at once, most will counter and clash against one another, they’ll be forced to attack in smaller numbers. By then, they’ll just be trying to tire me out, and we both know how that will go.”

“But…”

Tears began to form in Yuri’s eyes.

Under normal circumstances, this was true. More enemies just meant more blood for Aina to make use of and her well of stamina would be endless.

But Aina was purposely leaving out something Yuri had already noticed.

She couldn’t use her Blood Sovereignty. It was the one thing Leonel had told her she couldn’t use. The trouble it would cause would far outweigh any benefit they could get.

If things went the way Aina said, then she would probably spend every waking moment in battle. How could she face off against trillions on her own without a simple method of replenishing herself?

Aina smiled. “Didn’t I tell you before not to worry? Wasn’t I right before? I’ll be right this time too. Hurry and go before you two are caught up in this mess too.”

Aina eventually coaxed Yuri and Savahn into leaving before her gaze became frighteningly cold. She sat in the empty home in silence, a deep mask of indifference on her expression.

BOOM!

The home shattered into countless pieces. Volatile Force rushed about in a torrent, but not a single piece got within three meters of Aina without crumbling to ash and falling helplessly to the ground.

The walls collapsed and Aina’s sitting form, akin to an Empress on a Throne, was revealed before swaths of people.

They filled the streets, the skies, the ground. As far as the eye could see, red-eyed individuals with only one purpose in mind appeared.

Then, Aina spotted him. That familiar cloaked figure.

He hid himself well, but Aina spotted him with ease.

Her eyes narrowed. If Luck of the Draw was fused with this crowd of people…

Roars filled the skies as they gave themselves courage to charge.

Then all hell broke loose.