Not a Doormat

Almost the instant Leonel said these words, Yuri flushed completely red. Her expression flickered from embarrassment to rage to shyness and back to fury. Just her emotion alone made the small humanoid figure on Leonel's forehead waver and almost collapse entirely. The pressure on Leonel's mind became so great that his Internal Sight range fell to a quarter, only barely able to sustain five meters.

Leonel's expression darkened. Yuri hadn't said a word yet, but he already didn't like where things were going. Just because he had remained silent about it until now didn't mean that he hadn't had a temper about it. If Yuri insisted on putting her own petty rage ahead of what was for the best of the group, he would have to take a stronger approach.

However, before Leonel could say anything, though, Aina spoke out.

"Yuri can fuse with me. I will relay it to you."

Leonel's brow furrowed. Was all this roundabout nonsense necessary? Even a split second lag could be the difference between life and death.

Infighting was inadvisable at this point, but this situation was sensitive. There was no doubt that whoever had targeted them had a larger Internal Sight Range. Just to follow them alone took a certain amount of sensory abilities, let alone actually targeting them through the fog.

When facing such people, such roundabout methods wouldn't just theoretically cause harm, they would most definitely be a detriment to the overall group.

"Aina!"

What surprised Leonel even more, though, was that even after such a concession was being made for her, Yuri still lashed out. Leonel was already unsatisfied with the concession in the first place, but she was actually still unwilling to take this route?!

Savahn's brows furrowed. This matter was becoming very troublesome, very quickly. Aina had chosen to move on from those things, but whether it was Yuri or Miel, both of them were still riding a high of fury, Miel even had to force himself to choose against personally seeing them off for fear of what he might do to Leonel. In truth, the fact that Yuri had remained this silent all this time at all was a miracle in and of itself.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the peace would come…

"That's enough."

Aina's battle ax smashed into the ground, sending a wave of Force outward that knocked the beasts back several meters. Her head turned back, a fiery golden gaze landing on Yuri, shocking the latter awake from her own fury.

Yuri was shocked into silence. Aina had never shown her such an expression before. It only made it worse that she was actually showing her such a face for him of all people. It made her feel all sorts of emotions she couldn't even properly qualify.

Aina had drawn a line in the sand quite clearly. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

If Yuri felt that she was in the wrong, she could still accept this. But, knowing what she knew, and knowing that Aina understood her thoughts, and still seeing her react this way… She had chosen Leonel over her and didn't even seem hesitant to do so.

Yuri's eyes watered slightly but she blinked it away.

"Yes…"

Yuri's Internal Sight flourished, blanketing the surroundings. With a thought, a thin string connected to Aina who had already turned her attention back to the beasts. There was only so much attention they could spare to other things in this sort of situation.

The moment Aina felt the connection, she didn't hesitate to replicate it, taking in the sensory input, making it her own, and then forming a connection with Leonel.

Leonel didn't resist when he felt something press up against his mind and he accepted it without reserve. But, the instant he felt the connection solidify, he froze.

It was like he could see everything in crystal clear detail. The surroundings were so sharp and vivid that Leonel had a hard time believing that there was fog hanging in the air at all. It was as though he had gone from 480p to 8k resolution with a single flip of a switch.

While this alone was enough to shock Leonel to no end, what he was really shocked about had little to nothing to do with how clear this image was. Rather, he was focused on something entirely different, something so real and intimate he almost blushed in the middle of a battlefield.

All of Aina's thoughts were laid bare before him. As though this much wasn't bad enough, he felt a feeling that he had never experienced before. It was as though he was caressing the naked body of a woman, but he was feeling it so much more intimately than just skin deep, it was as though it was his heart itself stroking the delicate softness of her skin, of her curves, of her ample breasts and plump bottom.

'Shit.'

BANG!

Leonel palmed himself on the forehead, hard. It sounded as though stone was crashing against stone, but he didn't hold back in the slightest, even leaving himself somewhat dizzy and flustered. Still, he didn't regret his actions in the slightest. In fact, he almost wanted to hit himself harder.

Finally, Leonel felt his mind clear, allowing him to take a deep breath.

He fully understood why it was that Yuri had been so against this. Just that subtle touch had felt more intimate than even what Leonel would imagine sex to feel like. He didn't even know what he would do if he was flooded with that kind of sensory overload if the target was Yuri.

Wait, it wasn't okay either way.

Leonel moved to cut the connection off entirely, but he felt a sturdy rebuff before he even could.

Aina met his gaze. There was a dangerous light hidden within, almost like a wronged wife daring her husband to take things a step further so she could pull out her rolling pin. She had already humiliated Yuri for his sake, if he dared to make her actions meaningless she really would be pissed this time.

It was then that everyone suddenly became aware that Aina was still Aina. She had made a choice to stay by Leonel's side because she wanted to, but she wasn't a doormat. Her blade edge was very much still there.

Leonel slowly retracted his intent, his face still somewhat flushed.

'Dammit!'

His gaze turned in a certain direction, murderous intent flickering. He suddenly very much needed something to vent on.