HORIZON

Leonel stomped, disrupting the Force Arts beneath him and releasing the shackles that had bound Aina. Her expression couldn't help but change; it definitely shouldn't have been so simple. She might not be a Crafter, but she had some understanding of the profession, and though she knew Leonel was excellent, he hadn't reached the point of being able to ignore everything, or else it wouldn't have been so difficult for him to deal with the Starship of the Omann family.

But now... it felt like he looked at this level of Craftsmanship as though it was child's play. It had only been less than a day since the last time she saw him. Her expression flickered with a hint of a complex emotion.

Leonel's greatest fear in the past was that his compassion would vanish and his truest self would be unveiled, causing him to disregard the lives of the people he had once wanted to become a King in order to protect. However, the fears of everyone else should have been very different.

If the Leonel of the past was gone, and he spent every day, seriously plotting to improve himself toward a goal, then just what would he accomplish?

She had always been a hard worker, but Leonel always seemed to keep up with her steps effortlessly. This wasn't something that she had ever told him about, but it left her feeling a bit uncomfortable, not because she was jealous, but because she felt that he might very well leave her behind one day.

It was an odd emotion for her, especially since the reason she trained so hard wasn't for the sake of keeping up with Leonel, but rather to gain revenge for her mother. The fact she had such thoughts left her feeling guilty on two fronts, one being that of Leonel and her hope that he would slow down somewhat, and the second being that of her mother who she felt should be her sole focus...

These were things that she could never bring herself to speak about with Leonel because she felt that they were just as ridiculous as the thoughts that had caused her to leave him in the first place, a decision she still regretted to this day. Also, what kind of girlfriend would she be pouring her problems onto Leonel when it was he who needed support now and not him?

In all of her swirl of emotions, triggered by a simple action of Leonel's, she shook when Leonel suddenly vanished. She saw that smirk on his face and snorted.

Leonel appeared on the outside of the Starship with great speed, however when he got there, he found the back of a broken silver armor. His lip couldn't help but twitch.

"You're slow." Aina said lightly, hiding away her grin with her broad shoulders and back.

Leonel opened his mouth to respond, but he closed it.

Aina snickered, loving every minute, but soon neither of them could focus on their banter at all because what was happening below seemed to be... nothing? Têxt belongs to .

They frowned. Aina obviously didn't know who El'Rion was just yet, but she had sensed it as well. There had just been a large and sturdy barrier, but it had vanished. No, it had been unceremoniously shattered by an overwhelming strength. So who had done it, where had it gone?

Aina's first instinct was the large grey-blue man who made her heart skip a beat, radiating a danger that put her on guard. But when she saw that Leonel didn't mind him, she knew that there was something deeper going on here, and it had nothing to do with this man.

"You know him?" Aina asked.

"Ah, the little boy, yeah, he's alright, I guess."

"... Little?"

"Don't say that with so much shock, you'll make me think I'm lacking something," Leonel pouted.

Aina rolled her eyes. Was it just her or had this man become more insufferable? How he could still flirt with her when she was in this body was beyond her, but it also somewhat warmed her heart.

"I didn't think you'd be so flirty. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Ah," Leonel placed a hand to his chest, "if this is your way of asking me if I want to introduce a third to our bedroom, I'll have to reject, thank you. I'm not a fan of sharin-"

A kick landed on Leonel's chest, sending him flying back into the flagship.

El'Rion caught this matter in his periphery, and he really wanted to be happy about it. But... it was coming.

"Can't you choose your words more carefully!" Aina put her hands on her hip, another amusing sight. "If someone else had said something like that, you would have probably put their head on a pike."

Leonel coughed between his laughter. She wasn't wrong, but that only made it funnier.

BOOM!

Leonel's eyes widened. His Internal Sight hadn't caught onto what was happening at all. It just suddenly appeared, a hand the size of a planet, extending out from one of the many factories beneath. He realized that it wasn't that he had been neglectful, but rather the very same protections that the Rapax had against his senses.

He deployed his Dream Domain instantly, but to his shock, even this was useless. Even the Rapax couldn't hide from the deployment of his Dream World, but then he remembered.

His Lineage Factor had changed. How could he still deploy his Dream World at all? He no longer had the three Domains of the Starry Tailed Fox.

His perception changed and the way he used his Dream World changed once again. But he realized that even then, it was still useless.

All of this happened in an instant, even as he was rushing to his feet.

When he laid his eyes on it, his heart grew stone cold. It wasn't a hand at all, it was a shadow that seemed to cover the skies to infinity, reaching up like it had no limits and appearing before El'Rion in an instant.

The Pluto was set flying back, his still injured chest caving in even further as he flashed so far into the distance he looked like one of the many stars on the horizon...

Leonel was certain. One of the God Beast of Destruction's henchmen, the Shadow Tail had appeared.