1833 Young Man
[Representaions of Leonel's light half of the Northern Star Lineage Factor on my instagram :) @awespec__]
Leonel left the Skies family in a semi-foul mood. The mourning of the Skies people left him with a sour taste in his mouth that he had expected. He seemed to be feeling something beyond him, but it wouldn't be until years from now that Leonel understood where this bitterness was coming from, much the same way it would be a long while before he understood where his love of Aina came from.
In this very same foul mood, Leonel crossed the universe and appeared above the Oryx's territory.
The race of people were quite secluded. They lived on just a single planet in a barren solar system, completely out of the way of others.
Due to the circumstances, it was almost too easy for them to spot Leonel's arrival.
Maybe it was due to his mood, but Leonel even somewhat hoped that the Oryx would resist. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately in most respects, that didn't come to be. Elthor's words to his father seemed to have struck a chord.
This time, when Leonel stood before the Oryx King, the latter had a hint of respect in his eyes that had never been there before. Even now, the Oryx King couldn't fathom how Leonel had ignored such temptation, but if there was a chance to be taken, it made sense for him to take it on Leonel.
The Oryx King didn't expect the conditions to be as smooth sailing as they were in the past, he could understand this concept quite well. However, when Leonel finished laying out his conditions, he still couldn't help but sigh.
Most of them were fine, but the final one left the most bitter taste in his mouth. Leonel wanted them all to move to Earth and become official citizens. Once they did that, he would allow bygones to remain bygones.
With that move, much of the comfort and calm lives the Oryx had been granted would be over.
King Oryx really only had himself to blame for all of this. Leonel had wanted to treat them well and as one of his own, but what he received in return wasn't the mutual respect he had been expecting. Instead, he found rudeness, indifference, and although it was subtle, mockery.
The various Oryx elders were not happy with Leonel's demands at all, but the Oryx King simply raised a hand to stop them all.
"I will accept your demands so long as my people can have a large city of our own."
"You can have the entire Moon," Leonel said casually.
He had recently razed the Moon and all of its structures to the ground, but much like the recovery of a Seventh Dimensional individual couldn't possibly compare to a Third Dimensional one, so too was the case for Seventh Dimensional worlds. By now, the Moon had already recovered and was once again filled with lush forests and rushing waters. The only unfortunate part was that its wildlife had suffered a blow, though the most powerful of the land and sea creatures were most definitely still alive.
"Then I'll thank you in advance," King Oryx said with a slight hint of relief in his tone. This was better than what he had expected, and he had a feeling that Leonel had done things like this on purpose.
"You all can have half a month to prepare and move out. I will prepare everything in the meantime."
The meeting was just as short as the one he had had with the Skies family. At a certain point, when you held enough strength in your hands, things became much easier.
In the past, getting people to follow him was like pulling teeth. But now, Leonel had a solid base for himself, one that made him more than confident in facing and dealing with the world.
*%
As Leonel was beginning to feel much better and even quite confident, his number of enemies still seemed to be multiplying. This only seemed to be more of the case after Leonel began to assimilate one region after another, displaying efficiency the Ascension Empire had never displayed before and putting smiles on the faces of the Ministers of Earth.
In just a week, not only had Leonel assimilated the whole of the Thrusting Skies Sector, but within the Three Pillar Sector, over 60% of the galaxies had had their World Spirits assimilated with Earth.
Of course, the vast majority of this 60% came from the Umbra, Midas, Radix and Florer families which were considered quite powerful in the Three Pillar Sector. As for the remaining
40%, it was essentially entirely under the control of the Viola family that suddenly found itself surrounded by enemies from all sides.
After this was completed, Leonel had a meeting with his grandfather about allowing some to have Earth citizenship. Leonel never asked his grandfather how he could skip over the five generation rule, nor did Emperor Fawkes seem to have any intention of explaining, but the two stubborn men surprisingly worked quite well together.
Leonel granted the Oryx Race full citizenship to Earth. Their current members gained about 50% of the Blessings of Earth, while their next generation of children would gain all 100%.
Leonel also set aside this blessing for the most loyal members of the Etching Metal Organization, although they had yet to come out of seclusion, and also a few select geniuses of the Umbra, Midas, Radix and Florer.
All the while, the suffocating pressure Rychard and the Viola family were experiencing only increased day after day.
Leonel didn't seem to be in a rush to crush Rychard at all.
His first move had caused the death of many of Rychard's elites and crippled him of his allyships with the Chaotic Water Sector and the Thrusting Skies Sector.
Now, Leonel was just silently chipping away at him, sealing off his path to resources, squeezing his business dry, suffocating his lines of communication.
Just two months after Rychard's attempted sneak attack on Earth's territory, he sat in his family's throne room with a tight grip on his arm rests. At that moment, the aura of the throne seemed to be far less imposing.
He couldn't remember when it had all gone wrong...
No, he could. The moment he "killed" Leonel, it seemed that things hadn't stopped going wrong. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was being outplayed by someone. And no matter how much he hated it, that someone seemed to be Leonel himself.
Rychard took a breath, controlling his breathing.
He had gone through too much to lose like this.
Far too much.
Rychard opened his eyes and someone had appeared before him without even his knowledge. However, he didn't seem surprised by the appearance of this person at all.
If Leonel had been there, unlike Rychard, he would have been very surprised. That was because the person standing before Rychard was none other than Orinik, the very same young man that had overseen his selection on Planet Luxnix and the very same young man who had tried to profit off of his and Aina's "death" in the Dwarven Race Zone.
What this young man who probably should have been in the Void Palace was doing here of all places was something maybe only he and the unsurprised Rychard were aware of.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶