Dimensional Descent

”You’re slowing me down! Hurry up!”

A little boy rushed up a hill. Sweat beaded down his brow, locking his bronzed brown hair to his skull as though it were another layer of skill. There was a brightness to his brown eyes that seemed to ignore his fatigue entirely.

”Diego, I swear to God, if you try and rush me again, I will stick my bow up your ass.”

The little boy cringed. ”Can you not speak like that?”

”What? You don’t like it? Go talk to Lina, then.” The little girl huffed.

”Lina? I told you she just asked for tips on how to thrust!”

”You don’t see the innuendo in that?!”

”You’re overthinking it! She was talking about her spear!”

”No, I am not, you airhead!”

The two rushed to the top of the mountain.

They might have been 13 or 14 years old at most, but they scaled a mountain as tall as 10,000 meters, through the harsh weather, and managed to be among the first to get here.

The air was sparse, the winds were harsh, and there was a thin layer of snow over everything.

It should have been the case that a region like this was buried beneath the snow entirely. How could it not be when it was so high in the skies?

But the thick layer of billowing steam had something to say about that.

This wasn’t a mountain at all, it was a volcano. And up ahead, fighting against the harsh elements of the cold, there was an enormous pool of lava in which a man stood.

Well, they thought he did, anyway. It was impossible to see much of anything, and the youths rushing up here were fighting against their Force being constantly drained by this scorching, howling steam.

”Dammit!” Diego cursed. ”Look at that. Because of you, Quinyon got here at the same time.”

Somehow, Diego saw through the mist as though it wasn’t there, his senses landing on another boy who had rushed up the mountain.

”Because of me?!” 

”Yes, because of you! We were making good time, and then you wanted to start yelling about girls that don’t matter. Do you know how much oxygen we wasted just arguing?!” 

”Well, if you don’t care about what I have to say, just go vent to Lina, then!”

Diego was speechless.

”Alienor, please!”

”Don’t touch me! I’m not talking to you anymore! I would hate for you to waste your breath on me!”

Diego didn’t even know what to say, but he suddenly found himself feeling angry.

”Hey! Not all of us have a King for a nephew! If I don’t grasp this opportunity, I’ll never have another one—!”

Diego froze.

Alienor’s head had snapped toward him, her golden pigtail bobbing. It had only been an instant, but her emerald irises had already begun to turn red, her eyes brimming with tears.

Diego cursed again. This time, he had really stepped in it. But she was really starting to piss him off with this nonsense. He hadn’t even spoken with Lina for more than two or three sentences—what the hell was with this constant pressing?

It had been an entire week of this.

”HAHAHA! Trouble in paradise?! Eat my blade!”

Diego was almost late to react, a saber striking out for his back. He hurriedly spun, pulling out his spear from his spatial ring and thrusting out.

BANG!

He took a heavy step back, almost slipping in the snow. The webbing on his thumb broke apart, blood flowing down his palm and making his grip slippery.

He didn’t even get a chance to steady himself before a second blow was already on the way.

…

On a distant planet, Leonel suppressed the last of his wife’s moans, kneeling on top of her and sliding his cock between her lips. He laughed when she almost choked, her sputtering and her slapping at his thighs finally making him roll over.

Aina collapsed into his arms, pouting a bit. But the light of lust in her eyes said that she almost wanted to do it again.

Just as she was about to say something, though, she paused.

”Hm? Aren’t we forgetting something?”

Leonel blinked and then nodded. ”True.”

He pulled his wife into his arms, playing with the soft skin of her waist as he waved a free hand.

The scene on the volcano top appeared and Leonel’s gaze softened a bit.

”It seems things are getting a bit heated.”

”Sending Alienor there is a bit much, don’t you think? She doesn’t have the maturity of the others.”

”She’s a little pampered,” Leonel said with a grin. ”But she’s my aunt, after all.”

Aina playfully slapped his chest and the two laughed.

…

Diego coughed up a mouthful of blood, almost falling to a knee.

”Diego!” Alienor cried out from the side, suddenly feeling terrible. It was her fault he had been distracted.

Quinyon was strong, but he was firmly half a tick below her boyfriend in power. It shouldn’t be like this.

”Why are you so distracted?”

A voice Alienor recognized all too well came from her back. She couldn’t even react at all before her back was slashed open to the bone.

”Oops,” Lina said softly, slipping into the shadow. ”Apologies, princess. I wouldn’t want to harm you too badly. If I accidentally kill you, then wouldn’t the King slaughter my entire bloodline? Would you like me to go easy on you? What percentage? 40% of my strength, maybe? 30%? Whatever the noble wants.”

Alienor stumbled forward.

”Alienor!” Diego called out, his rage pumping through his veins.

BANG!

He was sent flying the moment his head turned, barely protecting his chest from being skewered through.

”HA! They said you were the best?!” Quinyon roared. ”According to who?!”

Their voices attracted many over. One after another, the geniuses were quickly making it to the mountain peak, and when they saw Diego suffering so terribly, whether subtly or by instinct, they surrounded the region.

They weren’t fools. They knew who their strongest competition here was.

If Diego fell… all of them would have a chance.