Leonel stood up with a calm expression on his face. He hadn't said these words for the sake of these people feeling remorse, that would be nothing short of naive. He didn't want anything from these people, in fact, if they folded now and acquiesced to such a demand, it would only disappoint him.
This fury in his belly had to be directed somewhere, and he wanted the target to be solid, not some soft cloud.
He understood human psychology well. Doing something might be impactful, but saying you would do something and then doing it would be doubly so.
He wanted these people to feel suffocated, he wanted them to watch their geniuses with despair clear on their faces, and yet feel somewhere deep within their hearts that it was all their fault from the very beginning.
Leonel swept a gaze over the surroundings. He could see the various responses to his words, some were enraged, some sneered, some didn't bother to hide their disdain. However, regardless of the reaction, he met it calmly, his own confidence shining through.
His eyes landed on Cynthia for a moment before he turned away and moved to return toward his flagship. This woman, he was glad she was unscathed. If she was acting out of some sort of animosity, it would be his mother who put her in her place.
As Leonel clone dissipated, the uproarious laughter of the three Morales Ancestors echoed through the skies.
"You've heard the brat, a month from now, those of you who still dare can make your way to the execution grounds."
Ancestor Alvaro took a step and vanished after saying these words. Like this, the Domain War was cut short before it truly came into being. All those present knew that things wouldn't end so simply, and that at this point, war was practically inevitable.
These Heirs Wars had suddenly gone from a method of potentially avoiding war to a fight for momentum... Whoever came out on top would have an upper hand when the pot finally began to boil over...
**
A day later, Leonel walked into a grand hall holding Aina's hand. He looked up, craning his neck just to catch a glimpse of a ceiling that must have been at least a hundred meters up. He had never been in such a grand place and he had to admit that the crafting specialty of the Morales family truly shone here.
He smiled lightly and looked forward, meeting Patriarch Alejandro's gaze.
Alejandro smiled widely and he seemed to be in a very good mood, a far cry from the mood he had been in recent months. There was a point where he just wanted to leave and start a massacre of his own, but duty and responsibility weighed him down quite heavily.
"Littlest Nova, you wanted to see me?" Alejandro asked. "Ah, and this is Aina Brazinger, I gather? Look at this, Adawarth. Leonel has already found his life partner, and what about you? You're almost double his age by now and still single, what am I going to do with you?"
Adawarth coughed. It wasn't that he didn't like women, but the one he wanted a bit... stubborn. There wasn't much he could do about this, he wasn't as lucky as Leonel.
Seeing that he had done his parental duty of embarrassing his son in front of company, Alejandro laughed heartily and invited Leonel and Aina forward.
"I did want to see you," Leonel said with a smile, bringing out the Segmented Cube and the Spear Domain Ring. "These two things are Heirlooms of the Morales family. My old man is a bit unruly so I can imagine how these things landed in his hand, but I believe that for the sake of fairness, these things should be given back to the family during the Heir Wars. It won't be too late for me to reclaim them later."
Alejandro's brows shot up. Of all the things he had expected, this was the very last.
Leonel wasn't scheming with this move, he truly felt that it was only right.
The only reason he didn't think of doing this earlier was because he had, indeed, started at a disadvantage. The other Heirs had all grown up under the umbrella of the Morales whereas his dad didn't tell him anything about this world until he was already 18, and even then that lazy old man had left him to his own devices.
So, Leonel didn't feel bad for having had them in the first place. But now that the Heir Wars were here, he thought it was only right he temporarily hand them over.
However, what Adawarth didn't expect was for Alejandro to suddenly shake his head.
"While it can be said that these two treasures are Heirlooms of our family, it's probably more accurate to say that they are Heirlooms of your family's branch, this is especially so for the Segmented Cube. The Spear Domain ring has had many owners, but the Segmented Cube has always belonged to Ishmael's Lineage, it doesn't even listen to anyone else."
Leonel raised his brows, he hadn't expected this.
"Plus, I can tell that you've already passed the tribulation of the Spear Domain Ring, so actually, you are its rightful owner now. The only thing you owe the family is a recounting of your experience in the tribulation ground for future generations, other than that you're free to keep it."
Seeing Leonel's surprise, Alejandro chuckled.
"Your father didn't explain anything, right? That's just like him."
Aina giggled to the side, clearly amused by Leonel getting a taste of his own medicine.
Leonel smiled bitterly, but inwardly he actually felt quite warm. He had already decided before that the Morales family would be his, but as things stood currently, he felt more a part of them than anything else.
"If there's nothing else, you can have dinner with us tonight if you would like. My wife has been wanting to meet you."
Leonel smiled to accept, but his gaze flashed instead, suddenly thinking of something.
"There is one more thing that I've been wondering about. Why is it that I feel that the moniker of madmen isn't a coincidence? And why does it seem that this only becomes more true the older a Morales is?"
Leonel had very few data points to reach this conclusion, he had interacted with too few Morales, but everything he did know seemed to point to this one conclusion.
For one, the Morales tended to have very young Patriarchs. If the Heir Wars had occurred at the proper time, they would have been less than 35 years old. In the Dimensional Verse, this was exceptionally young considering even Fifth Dimensional existences in their 70s looked as though they were in their 20s. There was logically no reason to rush this.
Secondly, on the battlefield just a day ago, Leonel had sensed a certain fury coming from the Morales Ancestors and Alejandro that, while could be considered reasonable, also felt somewhat irrational. It was incredibly difficult to maintain such fury for such extended periods of time, but the Morales didn't seem to have any issues with this.
And finally, maybe the reason Leonel thought there might be such a possibility, there was the crimson energy that had seeped into his body the day he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
Hearing this question, Alejandro's brows shot up, looking toward Leonel with a deep gaze.
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