Dimensional Descent

Leonel actually sighed a slight breath of relief when he saw this. In truth, he felt that he had underestimated Emperor Fawkes even more than he knew. To be able to directly snatch people from the Void Battlefield as though nothing at all had happened, he couldn't even fathom what kind of strength it would take to do that from Earth.

At the same time, though, with his mother and Aina safe, he really could breathe a sigh of relief. Even though he still felt completely helpless, he still felt freer to move as he pleased. If only he could grasp onto something, anything, even the faintest hope, he could take action.

...

"BRING ME BACK!"Alienor's roar shook Earth itself. The oceans rolled and the earth split. It looked for a moment as though the supercontinent that the Ascension Empire had so painstakingly put together was about to split into pieces once again. It really would have happened if an emerald energy didn't suddenly heal everything, stitching the very land back together and filling the skies with beautiful, green northern lights.

Emperor Fawkes sat on his throne calmly, his gaze flickering when he saw his daughter's rage, but he didn't say anything.

Aina stumbled back, her ears bleeding due to Alienor's roar. She had only barely entered the Seventh Dimension, how could she handle such a thing?

...

"BRING ME BACK!"Alienor's roar shook Earth itself. The oceans rolled and the earth split. It looked for a moment as though the supercontinent that the Ascension Empire had so painstakingly put together was about to split into pieces once again. It really would have happened if an emerald energy didn't suddenly heal everything, stitching the very land back together and filling the skies with beautiful, green northern lights.

Emperor Fawkes sat on his throne calmly, his gaze flickering when he saw his daughter's rage, but he didn't say anything.

Aina stumbled back, her ears bleeding due to Alienor's roar. She had only barely entered the Seventh Dimension, how could she handle such a thing?

Alienor's expression warped when she saw that her father had no intention of responding. Maybe if he said something, she might be able to convince him. He had always listened to her, doted on her, without exception. But he could also be stubborn about a great many things, and when he got like this, it was impossible to change things.

Tears fell from Alienor's eyes like the rain. Her father never interfered with Velasco, even if it was related to her protection. This showed an implicit sort of belief in Velasco's strength. But the fact that he was doing this now made Alienor, who had had reason to believe that her husband would pull through like he always did, second guess herself.

Alienor's head suddenly snapped around. Her expression changed when she saw the state of Aina and she quickly waved a hand to help her heal. But when she looked again and saw that Leonel wasn't here, her emotions that had been turning from rage to worry reversed once more. The agitation in her heart practically exploded and her chest heaved.

"Little Lion, where is my Little Lion?" Alienor looked toward her father, not roaring again. This time, her gaze was filled with a pleading light.

This time, Emperor Fawkes couldn't quite meet his daughter's eyes. He looked away, gazing off into the distance.

"... If I brought him here the fuss he would cause would be much more than yours."

Alienor's expression changed. What kind of nonsense was her father saying? She was in the Eighth Dimension! Her son was powerful, but he wasn't even in the Seventh yet! Was this really just an excuse? Was Emperor Fawkes tired of Leonel defying him and had chosen to do this?

"Father... Father... Father please, he's my little baby. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't wasn't here to introduce him to his family, to help him meet his grandfather, for him to know that he could rely on you. Please, please forget about any rude things he's said, please bring Little Lion here too."

Alienor looked as though she would completely lose it, she was only moments from falling to her knees and pleading. She didn't want to believe that her father would do this.

Emperor Fawkes, who had been calm and somewhat awkward from the very beginning, suddenly became enraged.

BOOM!

His palms slammed onto his throne as he stood to his feet. Earth vibrated, pillars of ocean water piercing the skies and tearing holes through the atmosphere. They escaped Earth's orbit as suddenly covered half the planet in a rushing river of raging waters.

Alienor was stunned. Her father was the calmest man she knew, nothing ever fazed him, he never so much as raised his voice. He was prideful, but it was almost impossible to see it from his exterior. She had never seen him react like this about anything.

"Do I seem like a petty man who would do such a thing because of a few words?"

Emperor Fawkes' voice rumbled with a deep tone. The echo made Alienor feel as though her bones might shatter at any time, the suffocating sort of feeling overwhelming her.

"Don't mistake my softness toward you for anything more than what it is. My grandson, my son-in-law, are two men I respect the most in this world. My leaving them on that battlefield is nothing more than a sign of this. Whether they live or die will be decided by the weight of their own spears."

Emperor Fawkes flicked his sleeves and vanished. The vigorousness of his aura only seemed to be increasing by the day. The last time Leonel had seen him, he already looked no different from a middle-aged man, but now he only looked like a man in his thirties. Maybe soon he would look no different from any other young man.

Alienor stood in stunned silence.

By her side, Aina's lip trembled, but she remained silent. She hadn't wanted her own words to sway Emperor Fawkes one way or another, she knew too little about this man. But if even Leonel's mother couldn't do anything, what would her words mean?

However, this didn't change how helpless she felt. She fell into her old habits once more, nibbling at her lip. She didn't even realize when she had drawn blood. The pain in her heart was far more than what the pain of her lip could match up to.

Maybe if Leonel had been here, he would do what he usually did. Picking her chin up with a finger, he would wipe her blood away with a finger and reprimand her with a smile. "How could you ruin such beautiful lips?" he would say.

Aina's tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit her lip harder, refusing to allow them to fall.