GIFTS

The Morales family wasn't under attack, at least not officially. Rather, the ships of several powers were in the surroundings, each one had come with "gifts", these gifts being Leonel's demands of them in exchange for the lives of their juniors.

Due to the matters that had happened the moment the Heir Wars ended, they hadn't had time to gather up these materials. But, Leonel's ability to read the intentions of people, and further these powers, only got sharper the stronger his mind became. He could see the difference between those that had come with the intention of actually paying up, and those that expected the gesture alone to be enough.

The Morales family elders had simply said that Leonel wasn't here, but how could these people believe that? So, they had started pressing, leaving their warships up in the air around the Morales capital. Of course, if it was aggressive enough for a war declaration, the Morales would have never come this far, but the intention was obvious enough.

However, as bold as the threat was, Leonel's lip curled. He could sense the hesitation, the fear, and why shouldn't they have such reservations? The momentum of the Morales was unlike anything they had ever seen. If not for his father's death, maybe they wouldn't even dare to do this much.

This was a test. They wanted to see how much they could push the Morales.

As Leonel walked toward the capital, his mother a half step behind him with a doting and caring expression on her face, his presence seemed to loom, becoming taller and taller until the world fell into its own sort of silence.

The engines of the warships still blared, the raging winds caused by their presences, and the distortions in gravity were still heavy, however in the end it still felt as though there was only one person that could be focused on.

The members of the Morales who were just passively observing this situation from the outside, not quite knowing of the internal conflict between Leonel and their own elders, felt a sense of pride well up in their hearts.

This was the champion of the Heir Wars. Not just any Heir War, but an unprecedented Heir War that would be remembered for generations, a man that stood atop the strongest collection the Human Domain had seen since its inception.

And he was a Morales. He was their Patriarch.

The will of the Morales seemed to solidify and the flickers of their Constellation in the sky dimmed the momentum of the surrounding families considerably. The faces of their messengers fell. Never did they expect that the appearance of just one person would have such a profound effect on the situation, but they steeled their hearts.

They had already expected much of this, though not all of it. It was the reason for their partial caution in the first place. But even so, they still represented the whole of the Human Domain, and even the Suiard family and the Spirituals Religion had suffered at the hands of Leonel, not to mention the Omann family.

Three organizations and families, all on the same level as the Morales, had come for compensation. No matter what the future of the Morales looked like, it was still the future and not the present. It was impossible for them to have taken full benefit from their Constellation and new Lineage Factor already. This was their best chance to suppress them.

The so-called "messengers" were all among the strongest these families could call forward without sending their Ancestors. If they sent their Ancestors, it would have a much different connotation, and they didn't want to take that step just yet. Instead, they sent the very strongest of their Seventh Dimensional elites.

The Constellation families, the Constellation Bow Alliance, the Suiard, the Omann, the Spirituals Religion... but they were just the beginning. Once again, the smaller families became a pawn in the game of the big wigs, countless smaller Seventh Dimensional families, and even a minority of Sixth Dimensional families, appearing as well.

They all had the intention of stepping off their ships and questioning Leonel directly, but the latter waved a hand.

All of a sudden, the strength of the world trembled and their ships were locked in place, all of the Force Arts no longer responding to their call as though they were cut off from the laws of the world.

"Guests should wait to be invited in. You wouldn't want to be rude, right?" Leonel asked lightly.

The messengers froze as Leonel strolled into the planet-swallowing palace of the Morales. Within, the elders were in heated discussion. They hadn't even gotten time to implement many of Leonel's changes before this happened.

They all realized they hadn't improved nearly enough yet. While their pride wanted to fight it out with the rest of the Human Domain immediately, the cost of this was heavy, especially since they had already sent much of the evacuees back to their homes due to Leonel's orders.

If not for Leonel's almost blinding presence, they wouldn't have even noticed someone enter, something that was a hint embarrassing.

Some found themselves subconsciously exhaling when Leonel appeared before catching themselves. Since when had they trusted this brat so much? He hadn't proven anything but how rude he was.

Leonel scanned the region, but the Overlord was nowhere to be seen. Ancestor Issa and Ancestor Alvaro seemed to have taken over the proceedings, but because the other families hadn't sent any Ancestors, it would be a sign of weakness if they took direct action so they were trying to find some workarounds.

Seeing Leonel, the two had their own complicated set of reactions, but in the end, they exhaled.

"Patriarch." They greeted at the same time. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Of course, they weren't unduly respectful. The word Patriarch coming from them sounded no different than had they said Leonel's name directly.

They noticed Alienor as well, but they chose not to say anything. For one, they were quite familiar with Leonel's temper by now and he might do something ridiculous if they really said something, and secondly... well, she carried the Morales name too.

"Is there really all that much to talk about? Let them come and bring us great gifts."

The expressions of the Ancestors and elders changed.