THE BEST

Aina blinked in surprise. She didn't expect to suddenly be pulled into Leonel's lap like that. But soon her bitter smile became a genuine one.

"Good. I'm not doing all this training just to get left on the sidelines," she remarked.

Leonel laughed. "Didn't we just beat up a certain foul-mouthed Dream Asura? I bet he's been trying to find a way to escape for ages now. Do you think he's despaired enough yet?"

Aina shook her head, unable to hold back a grin. "So that's why you've just been ignoring him?"

"I doubt a person like that's going to give up so easily. But that's also why it's good that it took us so long to beat him. It was a systematic crushing of his usual value system, one that was anything but a fluke. The only thing that would have been better was if either one of us could defeat him instantly. But that would also require him actually going all out first, something he was clearly not inclined to do."

"By now, though, he should have realized that he's entirely powerless in Anastasia's world. He can't do a thing. Let's go check on the puppet."

Aina squealed a bit as she was swept up into Leonel's arms. In a flash, they appeared by the Dream Asura.

Somnus hung in midair, his body wrists and ankles seemingly tied up by invisible ropes that stretched him out wide.

In this time, he hadn't even been able to move, let alone figure out a path to escape. Seeing the couple appear before him in such ridiculous fashion, he couldn't help but scowl. It felt like they were taunting him.

He sneered. "Oh? The useless Force Pill Crafter can't even walk on her own now?"

Aina blinked before laughing.

"I think at this point we should call this place the Segmented Prison. How many idiots have you trapped in here?"

"Too many by this point," Leonel shook his head. "But at least the others know not to talk. Anastasia, it seems he doesn't need his right arm anymore."

The sound was sickening. Breaking bone and tearing flesh, a rain of blood that splattered against the gorgeous green grass, it all painted a symphony of torture.

As heavily injured as he already was, Somnus couldn't help but let out a low grunt that sounded almost more like a suppressed howl.

Having an arm severed with a blade was one matter, but to feel your flesh slowly give way beneath a greater force... that was a tragedy hard to describe for anyone who had not experienced it personally before.

The fact that it was slow rather than sudden and jarring made the matter only worse as large pieces of his shoulder and even some of his back suffered as well.

In the end, what looked like his entire right side was left in a rain of blood.

The severed flesh landed in Aina's arms as she hopped down from Leonel's embrace.

"What do you think?" Leonel asked.

"It's very high quality, you're right," Aina nodded. "If we keep healing him, we could basically change everyone's constitution. It's just a shame the Barbarian Race man didn't come, or else it would have been more than perfect."

Somnus shivered when he heard these words, understanding some of it, but not daring to be entirely accepting of it.

"And me?"

Aina fell into her thoughts for a moment.

"... Their bodies are peculiar. They're powerful, but they're also interwoven with what looks like Dream Force. Somehow, they've evolved such that they can directly translate mental acuity into physical prowess. The two are linked.

"If I were to use this principle to help you with that Lineage Factor, then we would have to change our approach. Before, we were entirely severing the mental and affinity aspects, but now... it seems that there's actually a way to make use of it. It was just beyond me at the time."

"And the difference now?"

"Impossible to measure," Aina smiled, looking up from the arm to Leonel, "unless I had a brain like yours, that is. But the difference between my original method and using the Dream Asuras as a template is easily at least a thousandfold.

"Going through all those steps was bound to accrue some loss. However, in this way, we can even use your Dream Force affinity to make them stronger than they otherwise would be.

"Well... the easiest way would actually be to," Aina looked at Leonel and shook her head.

She knew how stubborn her husband was. Since he said he would use his own Dream Asura Lineage Factor until the Demoness was dead, he meant it with every fiber of his being, and she didn't blame him.

It wasn't just a matter of pettiness, but also a function of survival as well. Leonel felt that he had broken free of the Demoness, but was anything really so easy? How could he allow a stronger connection for her to take advantage of?

Because she could turn the Lineage Factor on and off as she pleased, Leonel was entirely at her mercy and that was unacceptable.

But now that Aina was speaking about how the Dream Asuras could use Dream Force to strengthen themselves, didn't that also mean that the reverse was possible as well? Especially if it was someone much stronger than you?

It was no wonder the Demoness could turn it on and off as she pleased.

"Alright, let's do that, then."

Aina nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before her aura changed. © 2024.

At that moment, Somnus experienced something he never thought he would in his life. Aina didn't even seem to be trying, but every stroke was genius, and every set was meticulous.

He was a Force Pill Crafter himself, and seeing this scene, he was completely ashen...

It was only then he realized just how much they had been played.

A useless Force Pill Crafter? What a joke...

Aina was the best Force Pill Crafter he had ever seen in his entire life.