SNAPPED

The surroundings seemed to explode with gold dust particles. As though a child had gone too crazy with their arts and crafts project, the depths of space was dyed with a sparkling tapestry. It was a gorgeous sight, unless you were a Half Spiritual, in which case it was probably the most devastating conclusion.

The fate of other races in the Human Domain wasn't always horrible, but it wasn't necessarily great either. And despite the words of Locke of the Suiard family, those Spirituals that impregnated humans didn't usually care for their families very much.

Though the term Half Spiritual was used, the reality was that most of those that were left behind in the Human Domain weren't even a quarter Spiritual. However, they managed to hold onto most of the power and were quite talented anyway, displaying the kind of strength Spiritual bloodlines had, though, Leonel had another guess for this.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

In his opinion, there was probably some strong staying power in terms of the gene of the Spirituals that allowed the soul to be born separate from the body. As a result, even when the lineage had long diverged from the original Spiritual that had birthed it, the Spirituals, or rather Half Spirituals, born later still gained almost the same benefits as the original Half Spiritual in their line.

This, however, wasn't what was important now.

To form a power, especially one this strong, while having strong ties to another race was a very daunting task. To stand where they stood today, the Half Spirituals of the Human Domain had faced all sorts of adversity and their current strength didn't paint an accurate picture of where they had come from.

This was the reality of most other races that were a minority in the Domain they lived in, the Spirituals Religion just happened to be a success story in what was likely a sea of failures.

This was all to say that the Force Art that protected these lands was more important to the Spirituals than just the strength it provided. It was security, it was autonomy, it represented to them the hope to make their own choices and lead their own lives.

And now it was gone.

...

Off on a distant ship, Yuri stood in silence. She too was a Half Spiritual, and she didn't know much about her family at all. For all she knew, someone here was her parent, not that it mattered much. The only family she cared for now was Aina and her step father. Well... maybe she should include that big, lumbering brute too.

It was funny, though. She hadn't seen Aina in what felt like years, still not knowing what had happened to her sister. Her step father was just as absent. And now that big brute was off fighting with that annoying man up ahead.

Yuri shook her head, not quite understanding why she was feeling like this right now. It was more embarrassing than anything else. The fate of the Human Domain was on the line, and this was what she was thinking about?

"It's cruel, isn't it, what he's doing to your people?"

Yuri subconsciously nodded. Leonel really was too cruel. He didn't used to be like this. In the past, he was so compassionate, too compassionate. She had known that he carried a hidden sharpness within him, and had been hesitant about her sister falling for him as a result, but she had never thought that it would be so dark... so sinister...

As a Half Spiritual, she was quite sensitive to such things. As good as Leonel was at reading people, she was quite good as well, and her Soul Force affinity was exceptionally high.

Looking toward Leonel's back in the far-off distance, he just felt like a shroud of evil, wrapped in the cloak of a black dragon of sorts and carrying all of the creature's worse vices.

"Wrath. Greed. Pride."

He was the worst kind of leader. His charisma worked well on those he had been manipulating for a very long time, and it even worked well on those who were hyper intelligent but lacked the sharpness of EQ. But to a person who could read him like she could, he was just a blob of insecurity, of aimless fury... of malice.

She was quite powerful by now, no less talented than either James or that blade girl who turned out to be a Spark, or she guessed both of them were Sparks now. But Leonel never used her.

"He was quite vengeful. Only because she had treated him a little coolly almost a decade ago now, he never allowed her into the spotlight, never allowed her to help protect the only family she had left, never allowed her to display her strength."

The big brute told her that Leonel only made use of people he trusted, and that being used by him was actually a sign of respect and nothing less, but that just made her lip upturn into a sneer.

Raj had been manipulated by that man for too long. Since when was being used a sign of respect? Since when was it a sign of trust?

But she had grown tired of the argument. She realized that she truly did love Raj. She didn't like seeing the pain in his eyes every time she said something cruel about Leonel. Plus... if not for Leonel, that big brute would be dead, not just once, but twice over.

Yuri seemed to calm down from the odd voice in her subconscious pokes and prods. She did carry some animosity toward Leonel, but not enough to truly hate him. At worst, they were just on opposing sides and could learn to live with one another.

Plus, he had begun to use her now, right? Maybe this was a turn for the better.

She looked down at the controls before her. It should be about her turn to act now, right?

"Three..." she counted, "... two."

'How could she not take part in such an important mission? Where do you think she could be?'

Something within Yuri snapped.

"Aina is dead."