Leonel's expression changed. His speed hit a completely new state, a wild surge of Light Force and Spatial Force spreading over his body. He seemed to lengthen, his body becoming a blurred afterimage spreading across the skies.
He caught Aina just before the beam appeared before them, but already felt too late to do anything after it. It almost looked as though he had rushed forward just to die along with her.
At that moment, Leonel unleashed a furious roar, his Bronze Aura erupting from his body and forming a gravity field that crushed everything in its path.
The ground, or rather large body of water below him suddenly exploded, a pillar of invisible force crushing it as though a mighty fist had suddenly slammed against its surface.From .
BANG!
The beam of light smashed against Leonel's defenses and seemed prepared to destroy them even faster than they had Aina's. But right then, the wild fluctuation of golden and silver energies wrapped around Leonel's body suddenly surged as well.
However, it was all helpless.
SHUUUU!
The laser shot past, the end of its body blinked before waning like the final drip of water from a faucet. It shuddered out of existence and the beam of light disappeared into the distance, far out of the reach of their sight until...
BOOM!
A mountain range in the distance had a hole that was at least a half kilometer across burnt right through the center of it. It didn't even seem as though it had been hit by anything, the laser having long since vanished. But it wasn't until the shock waned that people realized that the laser had moved so quickly that it had long since left the range of the mountain before they were aware of the damage that it had caused.
The time it took for light to travel back to them was actually delayed enough that they didn't see the changes until after they heard the sound! This sort of impossible phenomena was too difficult to wrap one's mind across, but very few picked up on this subtle difference as most had fallen into silence.
Just moments ago, Leonel and Aina were standing tall, crushing everything in their path. They were two geniuses that the Human Domain had grown to root for and no one seemed to believe that they were as arrogant as they had previously presumed. Their entrance just weeks ago was imprinted onto their minds and they replayed it again and again, feeling that this sort of grandeur was only right for two geniuses of their level.
But they had actually died... just like that?
Subconsciously, many began to feel some animosity toward the Omann family. While the lowest level families wouldn't understand what it meant for a Tier 2 Star Ship to appear, the middle tier families definitely did. The high tier families didn't care about fairness because Leonel had humiliated them all and even killed so many of their geniuses, but the middle tier families, which made up the majority of the Human Domain... felt very different.
This sort of indignance was something that had been in their hearts for the longest time, and now it was on full display before everyone and it left them feeling both helpless and enraged... until suddenly a pillar of water that had ascended beneath Leonel's might collapsed.
Leonel stood in the skies. His breathing was heavy, but his gaze was impossibly cold.
He looked down at Aina in his arms and her breathing was shallow and pained. Just the aftershock of the laser, without even hitting, was devastating. It superheated the air to the point that only someone with such high Fire Force attainments as Leonel could ignore, and it hit like a truck. It was one thing if you didn't resist, you just might die immediately. But the moment you did, the result could only be said to be devastating.
The air subtly trembled around Leonel, his heavy breathing becoming the only thing he could hear.
He looked down at the waters below. Corpses were strewn about, some face down, some face up, all floating and not a single one complete. There were limbs, incomplete torsos, there was even an individual who was nothing more than a head.
Leonel took all of this in and finally looked up, his gaze matching Kron's who was still slightly stunned that Leonel had actually survived.
It had been close. However, in those final moments, Leonel had used his Gravity Field along with his Spatial Force and Light Force to slightly bend the laser around him just enough that he had the space to dodge. It was impossible to know if he could do it again, especially considering the state of his body...
Although his current Lineage Factor allowed him to use [Instant Recovery] many times a day, that required him having a huge store of Life Force, Light Force he had practically used the entirety of just now. He would need at least an hour to gather up more, or he would need Anastasia to give up a Pure Force Crystal. Unfortunately, the Segmented Cube wasn't with him, it was still in his ocean territory.
The only other option was to use the Dark Star half of his [Instant Recovery] ability, but that required sucking people dry, and the only people he could do that with were on the star ship before him.
Even knowing all of this, Leonel continued to stare at Kron, the coldness in his gaze growing to the point the space before his eyes crackled like shattered glass grinding beneath a boot.
Kron continued to stand with his hands clasped behind his back. He was quite intelligent, so he had figured out how Leonel had survived. It was an easy enough deduction to make, but it was surprising nonetheless.
Even so, once something before him was within his realm of comprehension, he had no need to fear it any longer. The upper hand was held by the Omann, and if there were no other tricks, they would be the ultimate winners.
Better yet, this Leonel was right before him now. The only worry was whether or not he would shatter his badge before he could kill him. The Omann family had already made it clear that this young man had to die, but the original plan was for a sudden sneak attack that Leonel couldn't react to, he hadn't expected for Leonel to come to him like this.
Seeing how enraged Leonel seemed to be, though, Kron sent a secret signal with his hands clasped behind his back and his dignified expression turned into one with a sneer.
"Leonel Morales, I presume? I can't tell if you're simple or stupid. Did you believe that sending your headless subordinates here would be able to deal with the Omann family?"
Leonel didn't respond. Holding Aina in his arms, it seemed he didn't even dare to breathe too loudly for fear that he might hurt her more. But even so, his gaze never left Aina.
"This is your woman?" Kron asked with a smile before looking down. "Those are your brothers?"
Kron shook his head. "A pity they were led by a fool. Are you really the best that the Morales have to offer? I've already scanned this continent and none of you remain here, I hope for their sake that there are others waiting on the day side supercontinent."
Kron didn't seem to care whether Leonel responded or not, but his words were sinister. They didn't carry the crassness one might expect, but they instead hit the nail on the head again and again. By targeting the Morales family, even if Leonel felt that it was alright to leave now since he had already secured the Morales' Heirship, Kron's words made that accomplishment seem meaningless.
Suddenly, the canons began to pulse.
Kron's sneer deepened.
Leonel took a step forward and Kron erupted in laughter. In truth, he didn't believe that Leonel was so stupid. He felt that Leonel probably thought that he could rely on his Spatial Force to make it here, but he would be sorely mistaken.
Back during Earth's second large scale war against the Umbras and Radix families, Leonel had assaulted a frontier on his own. Even the Radix family, a mere Sixth Dimensional family, understood how dangerous Spatial Force wielders were and had measures that made it impossible for him to teleport, let alone Crafters on the level of the Omann.
The distance between Leonel and the ship was over a kilometer, and even if Leonel managed to dodge this barrage of the lasers, the fluctuations of Force in the area would become so volatile that even his badge wouldn't work anymore.
This is why Kron had sent secret signals as he provoked Leonel. What he wanted was for Leonel to be unable to react by the time the larger canons fired, but these larger canons took time to warm up and shoot.
Now, it was already too late.
However, Kron, although he knew information like Leonel's use of Spatial Force, he clearly didn't know Leonel well enough.
That was because from the very moment Leonel had stepped foot into these Heir Wars, he didn't plan on anything weaker than first place.
And the moment Aina had shed blood, Kron's life was already forfeit.