MADMEN OF THE MORALES
Leonel had never paid as much attention to his connection with Blackstar as he should have. But after his change, he realized that a contract formed between man and beast wasn't so simple at all.
An intertwining of the soul was naturally an astonishing matter, as Leonel and Aina's union had shown them more than one time before. And it was precisely because of his experience in marriage that Leonel came to understand that his connection with Blackstar wasn't so simple, either.
It could be said that the reason he had never noticed before wasn't because he was too neglectful, but rather because Blackstar was far too unruly. A troublemaker in the truest sense.
In their relationship, Blackstar wasn't the beast, but was rather the man. Back then, Leonel didn't even know how to contract beasts, so the reality of their relationship was that Blackstar was the one in the superior position.
As such, there were certain things about their relationship that Blackstar could instinctually understand, but wasn't able to communicate with Leonel at all.
It wasn't until Leonel became a Wise Sea Order and gained the capability of seeing through most things that he was able to grasp what Blackstar had never been able to communicate to him.
It could be said that the closeness between him and this little mink was no less than that of the connection between him and his wife.
And in some ways, it was even more exaggerated than that.
Because they could truly battle as one.
It could be said that the moment the Shadow World appeared, it was like Leonel had formed his Divine Armor not of just four beasts, but five.
And one of those beasts happened to have the inheritance of the Void Beast and was a Shadow Sovereign of the ages.
In that moment, billowing plumes of smoke came from the soles of Leonel's feet and the corners of his eyes.
The silver-gold tattoos across his body darkened and even the [Star Fusion] rushing out from seemed to blacken as well.
Leonel pointed his spear outside, and the roar of four beasts came from him.
A laser of Fire Force appeared before him in the blink of an eye, seemingly moving at the speed of light, but it went through his body as though he wasn't there at all.
He appeared before the Celestial Ember and slashed out.
Black met talon, one seemingly far inferior to the other, both in imposing aura and size, and yet...
BANG!
The Celestial Ember was sent flying, crashing into the ground below.
Leonel's figure allowed a swiping claw of space to rush right by him as though it weren't even there. The moment it went by, his spear spun in his hands and he launched out an attack, cutting into the chest of the White Spectral Tiger.
A world-shuddering battle erupted, and yet in the outside world it seemed as though there was nothing but a frightening stillness, a black fog spreading out slowly.
Inside this black fog, however, Leonel seemed to be erupting with a battle intent only a War God could be capable of.
He both became ethereal and corporeal on a whim, controlling the battlefield with such precision that even these elders felt suffocated.
He slowly whittled them down, his spear strikes cutting into them again and again. They never gave him the chance to kill them in a single strike, but he also never overextended himself to find that opportunity. owns all content.
It was like he was playing a slow game of chess, walking them all down step by step. He didn't seem to feel fatigue, he didn't seem to care how long it would take.
Every time they made a mistake, he capitalized and made them suffer for it. And yet, he was the only one that seemed incapable of making a mistake.
It wasn't just Weapon Forces that Beasts couldn't touch, most of them were also entirely incapable of using Dream Force. An existence like Nova's descendant, Verma, who participated in the Gathering of Minds, was ironically as rare as phoenix feathers.
While facing off against a Dream Force master like Leonel, with the Control Ability Index on top of that, it felt like they were coming to their deaths.
On top of that, with Blackstar giving Leonel the ability to be incorporeal as he pleased and avoid damage entirely, these Beast elders felt so frustrated that this alone might have killed them.
They had already figured out that Leonel couldn't both attack and be incorporeal at the same time, but it was like it didn't matter at all.
Leonel was able to corner them every time, nonetheless.
And that was when it happened.
Leonel's gaze flashed, and he moved like the wind. At that moment, he deployed a method he hadn't used since the battle started and a twin pair of Natural Force Arts thrummed to life in his pupils.
The Vital Star Force around him grew and gained a slight violet tinge that vanished in an instant.
[Primordial Terror] activated, and the world rotated around his spear. It felt, for a moment, that the orbit of the entire Bubble World had changed.
"Die."
The word was just three letters, a single syllable, spoken in a language the Celestials had never even heard before.
They could have never expected that this was the language of English. A simple language, one used by humans on a small blue planet with an unadorned name.
And when he spoke this word, the aura around his spear completely changed.
It felt like a reaper's scythe rather than a man's spear.
And when it descended, the world listened.
Behind Leonel, the shadows of the father, his grandfather, and his uncle seemed to be behind him at this moment.
He had long come to understand during his ten years of tempering that his spear wasn't his alone.
He would show the world the inheritance of the spear that stood above all others.
The inheritance of the madmen of the Morales.
His spear descended, and the world paled in comparison.
The head of a White Spectral Tiger flew into the air.
A single fatal mistake, a single death.
The first elder had fallen.