lrony and Exchange

Leonel descended from the skies, landing before James. He checked the condition of Franco, Gil, Joel and Arnold with a frown. When his gaze finally landed on Aulina he realized that she must have been a person of the Moon and he felt a tinge of gratefulness in his heart.

Finally, he looked up and met James' gaze. He could still remember that Coach Owen had told him that he should forgive and reconcile with him, but as easy as it was for Leonel to turn his emotions off when it came to a person, turning them back on was a tall mountain to climb. It was almost like his natural resting state was unbothered and unmoved while rising up from this level took effort…

As for this effort, those he had deemed unworthy of it would never get it again.

"Thank you for saving them." Leonel finally said.

"You don't have to thank me for saving my own brothers." James replied, a bit surprised that Leonel's eye level was now even with his own. James had always been taller than Leonel, but it seemed that this would no longer be the case.

"Fair enough." Leonel replied.

Someone else might have accused James at this point. If he really cared so much for brothers, why would he have taken the actions he had during the past several years? However, Leonel couldn't be bothered with such emotion. He could already simulate what would happen if he said such a thing and it would ultimately just be a waste of his time.

Leonel waved a hand as Earth Force surged, forming a platform he laid them on one by one.

James' gaze narrowed. The Water Force in the surroundings was so potent that it was hard to imagine anyone managing to gather up so much Earth Force, let alone in such a short time.

"Shouldn't you heal them?" James asked. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

"No. This is the perfect state for them take something I prepared for them. If I heal them now, all their hard work will be meaningless."

James frowned when he heard this, but he didn't say anything as Leonel placed a hand over Aulina's forehead.

"[Twinkling Lily: Bell's Blessing]."

A gentle chime began to resound. Whether by coincidence or maybe due to the strength of Leonel's spell, the dense clouds above instantly began to disperse as strong surges of Light Elemental Force descended.

From an injured state, Aulina's cheeks suddenly became rosy and her breathing became even. In the blink of an eye, it was as though she hadn't fought a single battle all day.

There was no doubt that let alone James, this was the most powerful healing spell anyone present had ever seen in their lives.

"Bring the injured to me. I'll heal them." Leonel didn't seem to be trying very hard, but his voice boomed across the battlefield.

After he finished speaking, he reached out a hand toward the energy shield of flesh and blood. Pure white vines coated in a cotton like fabric shot out, sucking out the vitality of the blood one pint after another.

"Please hold it up." Leonel spoke to James who only gave him a nod in the end.

**

Admiral Ellie watched with numbness as Leonel flipped the devastation on its head. He had used a few hours to heal tens of thousands and he simply walked away with his brothers in tow as though it was nothing special at all.

Of course, Leonel had relied on the large amounts of vitality the whale's flesh and blood had to accomplish this, but who else could do such a thing? The healers they had were quite talented, as one might expect from citizens of Earth, but even they couldn't hold Leonel's shoes in this regard. The difference was too shocking.

"Admiral, we need to make a report."

"Oh! Right…" Admiral Ellie shook his head, looking at the wreckage of his cruiser and shaking his head.

"The two Princes are really something, hm Admiral? I heard that Prince Noah was the sole reason Unit 3 was able to survive."

"Yes…" Admiral Ellie said slowly, sighing as he looked up into the skies.

Were the days of his militaristic pride numbered? What happened to strength in numbers and the power of order and duty? What happened to following rank and dutifully fulfilling your orders? These days, all the battles seemed to whittle down to who had the largest fist while those of them that were less talented found themselves in the role of canon fodder.

Shaking his head, Admiral Ellie went off to make his report. He had a feeling that things would only become more exaggerated in this way as time went on… He also felt that it probably wouldn't be long before they were on a battlefield even grander than this quite soon.

…

James took a deep breath as he watched his former walk away. Well… Walk was a strong word. The only eight people Leonel hadn't healed were them. So, aside from Drake, Milan, Allan and Raj who could just barely shuffle their feet, Joel, Arnold, Gil and Franco were all being carried along by Leonel's island of Earth Force.

It was all quite sobering. Of the nine of them, the only one who had spoken to him was the one of them that should have hated him the most, Leonel. As for the other eight, they had met his gaze but hadn't said a word.

James knew how important Leonel was to them and that a slight toward Leonel was just as great of a slight toward them. So, even though James knew that he had done his best to protect them during the Metamorphosis, he also knew it wasn't enough.

'This is quite a lonely path…' James thought to himself.

He had already chosen family over friends. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have betrayed Leonel like he had. But, it was easy to put his head down and ignore the loneliness when no one was around him… He had ironically become the hard worker he never had been in school, giving him strength that dwarfed many of his acquaintances…

And in exchange, he lost his brothers.