SMILE

There was no other choice. They had to fight it out with Leonel on the grounds that they did nothing outside the norm.

He could already see Leonel's intentions. Lumina had accused him of being a brute who only knew how to bark and bite, and now he was asking them what role they played.

"Really? Is that so?" Leonel asked with a smile. "Are you sure that you don't want to retract that statement?"

Orion clenched his jaw.

Leonel suddenly pointed up and an image played.

"Unfortunate," an image of Orion chuckled. "I asked them not to put such a beauty through hardship, there was only so much I could do," Orion shrugged his shoulders in the image. "Those guys are pretty heartless. Well, I think one of them is just acting out of jealousy. Maybe you'll meet her, though it seems unlikely at this point. Lumina is her name. No need to thank me."

The real Orion suddenly turned a ghastly sheen of white. At the same time, his Cloud Figure shook and trembled, the runes in his Cloud Figure looked as though they were about to collapse entirely.

He cursed at himself internally. The worst part about this image was that he hadn't even turned into Leonel at that point in the body, so it was even more difficult for him to deal with the situation.

Just as Lumina glared at him and was about to rage at his sheer incompetence and stupidity. He gave her a pointed glare.

At that moment, they realized that if Lumina suddenly snapped at him, it would be tantamount to admitting her guilt as well.

"Are you aware that this is a debate of the minds? Not a place for your theatrics? There are any number of ways to fake such an image. To form such a perfect one at that? One that so perfect encapsulates my guilt? Do you take the spectators for idiots?"

It was shameless, unmistakingly so. However, none of that mattered right now, not in the slightest. This was a debate where the truth was less important than its presentation.

There were certainly people in the audience who would have watched that battle. There were also most certainly people smart enough to realize that Aina was definitely being ganged up on.

But during the Gathering of Kingdoms, even at that round, there were always thousands of ongoing battles. And, back during then, he had spoken those words the instant he stepped into the arena. So even if most would have chosen to focus on their battle because it was a clash of titans, they could have easily missed the start.

However, what made Orion uneasy was that Leonel's smile didn't fade.

"Indeed, I could have faked it, you're right. Your Cloud Race is certainly capable of doing such a thing and are well known for their... distasteful methods."

Orion's expression darkened. "This was what my partner was referring to. Your crude and crass style has no business being in these circles. Mentioning a person's Race as though that assigns fault to their character? You should be ashamed of yourself."

Lumina seemed to finally relax. She felt that Orion was performing better than she thought he would be able to after that video resurfaced.

Leonel's smile deepened.

"Is it that much of a problem? Should we go over your Race's history?"

Orion's expression darkened. "Every Race has their own shades of dark and shades of light. I have no idea what listing out something that I could do for any number of Races will prove. Do you just want to use this as a platform to disparage others?

"Need I remind you that this is a sanctioned debate, not some crass bar for you to hurl insults in."

"Me? Crass insults?" Leonel chuckled.

Orion kept feeling more and more uneasy. He looked down at the pillars, wondering why they hadn't assigned a winner yet. They were already looping around in circles, shouldn't it be smart enough to understand that Leonel had nothing?

"So, I'll give you two one last chance. Did you, or did you not attack my wife outside the bounds of the Gathering of Kingdoms in order to secure a "brutish" and "crass" victory?"

Orion sneered. "Asking the same question over and over again isn't going to get you a different result."

Leonel pursed his lips and nodded. "Interesting."

He waved a hand and the image in the skies suddenly concentrated into an orb of light. With a flick of his wrist, at astonishing speed, the orb of light suddenly rushed toward the Pillar of Truth.

Orion and Lumina blanched. They had never thought that this would happen. If the Pillar of Truth confirmed that it was a proper recollection of events then-

A figure suddenly flashed in front of the pillar. It was a familiar old woman, one with a proud pair of wings and a dazzling set of armor.

The head of a division of the winged knights, Aurora.

She caught the orb and shook her head.

"I would advise against participant Leonel Morales from doing this in the future. This is not just the first time, but the second time you've attempted to use the Pillar of Truth without permission. The first time, we allowed it, but let the record show that this was not our intention.

"The Pillar of Truth is very fragile and is considered to be an ancient relic that was restored under the great effort of the Pluto Race. It can only be used under the expressed consent of Pavilion Head Minerva. It cannot be used to settle petty squabbles about events unrelated to the Gathering of Minds."

Minerva smiled from high above as Aurora did her dirty work for her.

Was the explanation perfect? Of course not. But it didn't need to be. Plus, no one could deny how special the Pillar of Truth was, and they also couldn't deny that they let Leonel use it freely the first time even when doing so was the reason he was able to gather his first three points in the first place.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Orion and Lumina also both released a breath they hadn't even known they were holding.

However, when everyone's gaze fell on Leonel...

The smile was just the same.

The confusion hit them in waves.

What the hell could he have to be smiling about?!