Aina wiped her tears away, finally regaining her composure after several dozen minutes.
By this point, she was quite embarrassed. She had been trying to stop for a while now, but it kept flooding outward. Even she hadn't realized how much she had ignored until now. But, somewhere deep inside, she knew it was deeper than just this.
It wasn't just the emotion of not seeing Leonel for so long, but she could also feel it. She could feel that Leonel had finally truly stepped into the Dimensional Verse. Whatever it was that he had experienced in these last two years had definitely been no lesser than her and it had changed him.
She knew… There was no going back for him now.
Aina forced a smile as she wipe the last of her tears.
"You finally cut your hair?"
Leonel scoffed. "Are you trying to say you didn't like my long hair?"
Aina giggled, a girlish charm twinkling in her eyes.
Ironically, though, at that moment, Leonel could tell that she had truly become a woman. In these two years, Aina had truly grown into her own. He found it hard to believe, but her curves were even fuller and her charm just a measure greater.
Even covered in blood and sweat, Leonel was certain that he had never seen a woman as beautiful as her, nor would he ever.
"You look much better like this." Aina skirted around the question. "Much more handsome."
Her smile grasped onto Leonel's heart. It was as though the two were in their own world, oblivious to the several geniuses bleeding out below and the hundreds watching them from the outside.
In truth, Leonel might have been inclined to at least help the geniuses below if it wasn't for the fact he was certain that no small number of the wounds on Aina now had been caused by them. The fact he wasn't killing them all one by one, especially Raylion and Aphestus, was an act of kindness in his opinion.
After a moment, though, Leonel feigned hurt.
"At least I'm not as smelly as a certain someone else."
"Ah!" Aina looked down at herself, suddenly embarrassed. "Do I really? Go away, take a few steps back!"
Aina was suddenly flustered, especially since she found Leonel's scent to be particularly good right now. It was fine if they both smelled bad, but if it was just her she would rather find a hole to crawl into and die.
Leonel erupted into a burst of laughter, bringing her into a tight bear hug.
"It's okay, I'll take you and all your little imperfections. You have a good, earthy smell to you. Almost like a hibernating bear."
"Leonel!" Aina shouted out his name in embarrassment, but that didn't stop Leonel from burying his nose into the hook of her neck.
Her body was suddenly filled with a hint of lust and ticklishness, followed by a flood of mortification.
Aina pushed Leonel away, her hands pressing firmly against his chest.
"People are watching!"
Leonel had half a mind to say let them. But then he realized that such beautiful sights should be left to him and him alone. Who were these bunch of peeping toms to take advantage of his Aina?
With a wave of his hand, Leonel and Aina suddenly disappeared from public view. The elders could only looked toward each other with bitter smiles.
They had no idea where this young man had gone for two years. But, in all this time, they had begun placing all their hopes and aspirations on Aina, especially as their Valiant Heart's situation became more and more precarious.
But now it felt like they were all watching their daughter being snatched away right in front of them and there was hardly anything they could even do about it.
It wasn't until 30 minutes later that the screen hiding them both finally reappeared. Yet, somehow, Aina was wearing a completely new set of clothes. She had ditched her military uniform and even ignored her Valiant Heart uniform to wear a tracksuit that was almost the exact replica of Leonel's.
"You planned this, didn't you?"
Leonel blinked innocently. "Couples wear matching pajamas during the holidays, right? What's wrong with matching tracksuits."
"The problem is that it's a little… small…"
Aina wrinkled her nose, moving her waist as though to check whether the material would hold up.
"…"
Leonel was speechless. It should be a crime to make such an innocent movement so seductive.
"Are you trying to give me a nose bleed? It's not my fault that you've… grown so much in the last two years."
Aina rolled her eyes, but she was still inwardly smiling.
"Ah! I forgot!"
Aina looked back toward the center of the prism they stood at the peak of.
Right there, a large orb of bronze sat. It was clear that this was the ultimate reward of the Zone. At the very least, it was the ultimate reward for this part of it.
As for how the ring was related to all of this, Leonel still wasn't absolutely sure. He only had two guesses he had no way of verifying.
The first was that the ring and the tablet were connected in some way and were actually an outside influence. In this case, the tablet would have originally had nothing to do with this Variant Zone and was instead just using it as a convenient medium to accomplish its goals.
As for what those goals were, Leonel had no way of knowing.
The second possibility was that the ring and tablet were related to the Morales family and thus an extension of the treasure used to keep this Zone opened indefinitely in the first place.
Which of these were more true? Leonel was leaning more toward the first, but he couldn't confirm.
Aina smiled. "I saved all the rewards, we can share them later."
Leonel looked at Aina like she was crazy.
"Don't be ridiculous. Keep it all, I'll be just fine."
Aina opened her mouth to respond. But, seeing the look in Leonel's eye, she simply nodded. She felt, for some reason, that she'd never be able to change his mind.
"Okay…"
Aina touched the bronze orb.
It was then the Zone was filled with a blinding light and they all vanished.