STEP BACK
Leonel met the eyes of the Half Spiritual, his gaze not giving anything away, though he knew the reality of the matter. If they fought a battle like this one, casualties would be inevitable, and not just casualties that he could casually revive either, true, final death casualties. It would take too much time for the war to end, and by that point, damaged Ethereal Glabella or not, the end result would be the finality of death. There wasn't much he could do about this. This was the reality of a war you weren't prepared for, and the striking difference was stark in comparison to the war he was prepared for.
The decision would be in the hands of the Half Spiritual Overlord, but no matter how you looked at it, he didn't receive the kind of benefits he wanted from this battle. If things had gone perfectly, he wouldn't have only dealt a savage blow to the power of Shield Cross Star, crippling their strength by at least half, but he would have also been able to force the Spirituals Religion into submission. But now, he might be forced to withstand some devastating losses himself.
The Overlord's thoughts were one matter, but the thoughts of her people were another. They all seemed enraged, and it was hard to tell how much control the Overlord had over the situation.
Leonel doubted that the Spirituals Religion had just a single Overlord, much like his Morales family most definitely had more than one as well, that old man couldn't hide such a thing from him. Who knew if the other Overlords would be docile as this one? And even the so-called "docile" Overlord was on the fence when deciding what to do.
'Hm?' Leonel suddenly looked up and shook his head. 'Fine.'
He waved a hand, and a portal manifested. Out from within it, a familiar old man with an annoying, shit-eating grin appeared. He rubbed his beard with a hand and chortled, liking this situation very much.
This old man was none other than Amery's grandfather, Overlord Maxx.
"Ah, Tracilia, how've you been? Has this brat been annoying you?"
Maxx placed a palm on Leonel's head and rubbed just a bit too hard. Leonel tried to move away and even slap it away, but he failed both times, and if he tried a third, it would have been more embarrassing than just letting it be. He found this situation to be unbelievable, and at the same time, he was certain that this old man was doing it on purpose. No matter what, the Morales and Suiard families had been enemies for countless centuries. How could Maxx possibly miss a chance to humiliate their Patriarch a bit, especially since he was here to help out with a sticky situation?Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
"... Maxx?" Overlord Tracilia spoke a bit hesitantly. Soon, though, she got a bit angry. She might have been slower in thought and duller in intelligence than Leonel or Cynthia, but she wasn't a fool. It was clear that Leonel and Maxx had some sort of mutual understanding, were the Suiards betraying them? Since when had the Morales and Suiards been on the same side? Was there a Suiard army on their way here now? And hadn't they already decided to leave the Morales out of their alliance? That family's problems were too volatile. If the Spirituals Religion had wanted to team up with them, they would have done so already, instead of making such a choice. After all, they had always assumed that choosing one meant forgoing the other, so they had discussed the matter at length, even ultimately choosing to give their best genius' hand over in marriage. Knowing all of this, Tracilia truly did have the right to be more than a little bit enraged, and she almost gave the order to attack right here and now.
"Listen, listen, I didn't want to do this either," Maxx raised up his hands. "But this brat stole my family's World Spirit and kind of forced my hand. I'm not saying to bend over backward, but you saw it yourself how there are powers at play here we can't deal with alone. It's best we work together."
"How is anyone supposed to trust you?" Tracilia said with a growl.
She simply didn't believe that Leonel could just take Maxx's World Spirit. He must have handed it over. Were those hidden forces of the Morales stronger than they knew? Unfortunately for Leonel, Tracilia didn't seem to be the one of the Spirituals Religion that had their World Spirit, which was one part why he knew there had to be other Overlords, and another part why she didn't believe Maxx's words.
"If you don't believe me, then why don't we go see Poppy?" Maxx said.
Tracilia frowned. Was this a ploy? Maxx chuckled and handed over his spatial ring with a flick of his fingers.
"Just me and the boy, you have nothing to worry about."
Tracilia was stunned. That spatial ring might as well have been Maxx's wedding band, he never took it off, and it definitely held the greatest of his treasures. This either meant that he was going all out for this ploy, or he was really serious. However, she had known Maxx for years, this just didn't seem to be something that he was capable of. Just what should she do?
Tracilia took a deep breath and shook her head.
"No. I won't let you in."
She threw the ring back, and Maxx shook his head.
"Well, you see that? I tried my best. Good luck in this battle," Maxx said with uproarious laughter. Leonel shook his head. He really wanted to see who had planned all of this. He couldn't wait to make them feel the same level of helplessness. He raised his spear, and he suddenly flickered and vanished. Maxx's hand, aimed to knock him out, missed completely.
Maxx was a bit stunned for a moment. He had rubbed Leonel's head so easily earlier, so how had he missed? He shook his head again. This brat was sharp, too sharp even, he would likely cut his own hand trying to wield that blade he was born with.
"You need to learn when to take a step back, Patriarch Morales," Maxx said softly.