1973 Only as Good...

The armies of Fifth Nova had long since prepared, but it wasn't the armies that had made Leonel pause.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the tall walls. He still had two wall collapsing exchanges that he hadn't used yet, he simply hadn't run into any enemies that were worth the effort, the Pisc and Quarius families had been the only ones that made the loss worthwhile.

But now he realized even without trying that the remaining two that he had wouldn't work now. These walls weren't built by a mysterious system, they were almost certainly built by Fifth Nova and his subordinates. They were several times more powerful than a Gold-Grade wall and were probably more powerful than even the Heir-Grade walls would be.

One shouldn't take the pre-generated walls lightly. Even the Sub-Grade wall had taken a combined effort of Leonel and Aina resonating their attacks to take it down in one strike. The difference between each subsequent grade of wall was only more exaggerated.

During Leonel's battle with Nazag, his territory had been too small to accommodate everyone and as such they had gathered outside, plus their walls had only been at the Sub-Grade and not very useful. When he fought with Armand, their village had only been at the Bronze-Grade and they faced a similar problem with Nazag. Plus, Leonel had descended from the skies back then, making it difficult for even those walls to have much use.

However, upon reaching the Silver-Grade, dropping down from the skies was already an impossible work around as the walls came formulated with a built in formation that protected both around and above. At the Gold-Grade, this formation was obviously even stronger, and as such, Ramon's self-created walls were even more devastating on the defensive front.

Leonel stopped the army because he knew no amount of forward momentum would be able to crush what was before him, he would only waste stamina going headlong without thinking.

He couldn't help but silently nod to himself. Indeed, he wasn't the only person in the Heir Wars with such grand methods, he didn't have a monopoly on Force Crafting or scheming. His fifth cousin was the most silent of the bunch, allowing Valorie to take the reins, but as a man born with both the Metal Synergy and Spear Domain Lineage Factor, he had his own strengths.

At that moment, atop the tall silver walls, a young woman, wearing bronze armor and wielding a spear that looked a lot more like a glaive with a blade half the size of her body, appeared. Leonel recognized her at a glance as Valorie.

From what Leonel understood, she was one of the last to be born in his father's generation. But in reality, she only counted as such because she was born to parents of his grandfather's generation. The truth was that she couldn't be considered to be a part of the Nebula or Nova Generation.

Leonel knew very little about her, but of what he did know he understood that she was very unsatisfied with the current Heir Wars system. She had only been born with the Spear Domain Lineage Factor and as such, hadn't had the right to participate. It also didn't help that she was born sort of in between generations, making the logistics even more difficult on her.

Members of the Morales family weren't technically allowed to participate in the Heir Wars so that it didn't seem that the family was supporting one over the other. In addition, this rule minimized infighting and maximized the cohesiveness of the group. Even if a few Heirs butted heads, there would be no deaths, and because their family branches wouldn't be involved, the grudges would be at a minimum. copyrighted © content.

However, Valorie had become Ramon's wife and as a result she was granted a unique exception.

Even amongst the Morales family, rumors couldn't help but spread. A strong woman like Valorie was obviously well known, and her fierce personality was even more so. Everyone had thought that she would end up with a man even more head strong than she was, but to end up with the silent Ramon of all people, no one could have expected such a result, until they suddenly

"understood".

If Valorie was going to fulfill her dream of becoming the Heir Apparent of the Morales family, who would be a better puppet than Ramon? He was silent, closed off, and even his own family knew very little about him. From the thoughts of others, Valorie strong-arming Ramon into marriage was an easy feat.

Valorie being Valorie, though, never cared to address those rumors. Anyone she caught talking about such things would just taste her blade and that would be the end of it.

Now, however, Valorie stood on top of the walls, her gaze narrowed and sharp. She had been expecting to see a Nova on the other side, but she hadn't expected it to be Seventh Nova.

If Valorie was honest, she quite liked Leonel. He had given the Morales family a great deal of face with his attitude. Although she was worried that he had spoken a bit too arrogantly and might end up falling hard because of that, the fact that he was here seemed to mean that he had backed up a lot of what he had to say.

Even so, seeing that they were enemies now, it didn't dull her blade in the slightest. In fact, it made it stronger.

Little Blackstar moved forward until his shadow loomed over the city. By this point, the moon was looming high in the skies, but with Blackstar's appearance, his head overshadowed it, casting a mighty darkness over the city.

At this moment, many of Fifth Nova's subordinates had been resting, but upon hearing the commotion, they immediately lined up. They had known that something was coming, but even so, they had slept like babies. With a single glance, Leonel could see just how well trained these warriors were, and the look of respect they gave toward Valorie was an even more striking sign.

Archers lined the walls and prepared for battle. They all held real bows and powerful arrows, Leonel knew that even if he crushed their Bow Force, the power of the Crafts backing them would be enough to do some real damage.

A single one of those arrows could kill a Gold-Grade threat, if they sent volley after volley, within a few minutes he would be drained of Dream Force even if he revived them all.

Leonel analyzed the situation quite quickly. There was no doubt that this would be his greatest challenge since stepping foot into the Heir Wars. Even so, his gaze was calm.

Little Blackstar lowered his head until Leonel was eye level with Valorie. He smiled slightly for the first time since entering this place. It was clear that he treated them far differently than he did the others he had come across.

"I guess I should call you big sis, right? Let's have a good battle. These walls though... I'm afraid they aren't enough."

Valorie's gaze softened somewhat before they sharpened once again into a sneer.

She raised her spear and pointed it at Leonel's head, but at the same time, Leonel had raised his arms, his left kidney beginning to shine with a burning glow.

"A formation... Is only as good as its weaknesses," Leonel said softly.

Within the core of the city, Ramon's eyes suddenly snapped open.