STAND

"No relationship can work one-sidedly. You can follow your heart, but not to your detriment or to the detriment of the person willing to give you theirs," Leonel said with a solemn tone, his words hanging in the air.

Eamon fell into silence and nodded slowly.

The two just sat there in silence, and at some point tears began to flow from Eamon's eyes, but Leonel didn't leave.

The two sat there for a long while until Eamon's tears dried.

He wiped his cheeks and took a shuddering breath.

"... I know that I shouldn't like Cindra, or at least that's what she's told me. She said that she was forced to do a great many things to survive and get to where she is today, she's also much older than me, much wiser as well. In some ways she even raised me even though she was never my mother in a real sense.

"I knew that it was uncomfortable for her to see someone she had known as a little boy suddenly begin to pursue her like I did, and it was selfish on my part, I know that.

"... I will apologize to her and close this chapter. Maybe in another life."

Leonel smiled and patted Eamon's shoulder.

"Come with me, we're going somewhere cool."

Eamon blinked in surprise, not quite understanding what cool thing they were going to see. But when he finally laid eyes on it, he was truly speechless this time. It could be said that Leonel was one of a kind in the worst and best of senses.

To think his idea of somewhere cool was strolling into Godlen territory.

...

The two stood high above Godlen City, both standing on a platform formed by Leonel's Emulation Spatial Force.

Down below, people scurried about and did their business, but they couldn't seem to spot them at all. And this wasn't because of Leonel's actions. This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

"Interesting," Leonel said. "Do you see what the problem is?"

"If I was living in a city that was perpetually caged in, I wouldn't be so care free."

This one sentence by Eamon made Leonel look toward him with a flickering light in his eyes.

The current Eamon didn't seem to lack confidence or the ability to introspect at all. In fact, he looked thoughtful, a hint stoic, and even a touch handsome.

At first Leonel thought it was because he had just found a problem to focus on, but...

'It's both. Not only does he have a problem to focus on now, but he's also had a bit of a change in demeanor. This could greatly help his Dream Force in the future...'

The answer Eamon gave just now didn't have much detail, but between Dream Force experts, not many words needed to be exchanged to begin with. In fact, even if they spoke in intelligible syllables, so long as they still had their Dream Force, people around them would understand them perfectly.

What Eamon was saying was that the Godlens couldn't get away with caging their citizens in like this for what was approaching two years now already.

The only way their citizens could be so calm after so long was if they didn't realize that they were caged in the first place. Meaning, the reason they couldn't see Leonel and Eamon was because the skies perpetually looked completely normal to them.

It was both a defensive and illusion formation at the same time.

"This formation is very impressive," Eamon said, seemingly finished analyzing and looking toward Leonel.

Seeing that Leonel was already staring at him, Eamon blushed in embarrassment, wondering if he had said something wrong.

"You're right, it is," Leonel nodded. "The last time I came here, this formation wasn't nearly as good. It seems that they had other cards up their sleeve."

Leonel had already checked over the formation as well in the past, but it still wasn't this good back then. Something changed in the last year or so, it was unexpected.

Did they really gain the ability to improve this formation by this much in such a short time?

"Well, it doesn't really matter much," Leonel said with a smile.

With a wave of his hand, a spear manifested from Emulation Spatial Force and Scarlet Star Force.

The world trembled as Leonel's gaze sharpened. And he suddenly swung down with a single arm.

CRACK.

CHIII.

It was a sight akin to sparkling wine and fragmented glass. The shards of formation fell from the skies, raining down and startling the citizens below. They all looked up at once to find Leonel and Eamon lording over them.

Eamon was suddenly frozen after being ogled by so many, while Leonel laughed, patting him on the back as though to say get used to it.

"LEONEL!"

The familiar roar echoed over the city and a streaking beam of light cut through the air.

Leonel simply pointed his spear forward.

At that moment, Patriarch Godlen felt as though he had been locked onto by a beast. If he kept rushing up to collide with Leonel like he wanted to, he would end up skewered through.

He had gotten complacent in these last few days. The family was progressing well, there was relative peace, and no one had been able to bother them.

They had been worried about the Gathering of Kingdoms, but that oddly seemed to fizzle out without much change at all.

The only last worry on his chest was his daughter. He knew that she was still alive, but that was no real consolation. Who knew what she was going through?

The moment the man responsible appeared before him, his towering fury got the best of him. But Leonel's actual appearance made him feel as though a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over his head.

How had he grown so powerful in such a short time? Why was his aura so oppressive? And how had he destroyed a formation this powerful in a single strike?

Had Leonel used more than one, they would have sensed it. The fact he broke in so suddenly could only mean they never stood a chance in the first place.

Patriarch Godlen ground to a halt.

Did he even have the right to stand before this young man anymore?