Leonel looked down, with a frightening cold gaze, his expression the picture of calm.
Keiza narrowed her eyes, but after a moment she relaxed. She didn't even put her defenses up. If Leonel thought he could mow her down from such a distance, he was sorely mistaken.
She had already predicted that Leonel would try this. The last thing a person could do in this situation was to take out the Heirs, that way victory could be secured despite a disadvantage. She had already used a similar strategy against the Lio family, so how could she fall for it now? Wouldn't that be too much of a joke?
Keiza's fan snapped close once again and her sedan seemed to sparkle. It was subtle, but it was impossible for Leonel's sharp vision to miss it. Although Keiza wanted to hide it, to her it wasn't absolutely necessary for it to be hidden either. Whether Leonel knew it was there or not hardly made a difference.
However, she didn't know how true this was, because she was never Leonel's target to begin with, neither were either one of the Libra twins.
"You finally want to fight back now?!" Huon's voice boomed.
"Tell you what, Leonel! If you admit the Morales family is trash we can consider letting you go and giving you another chance, how about it?!" Droet added.
Huon laughed, he felt these words said by his brother were truly excellent. His laughter was his agreement. Of course, this "chance" would only be another small head start before they swiftly caught up again.
However, to them, it didn't really matter whether Leonel accepted their offer or not. Their goal only seemed to be to drag Leonel and the Morales family through the mud as much as possible before claiming their victory. They wanted the entire Human Domain to see and witness this moment.
TSSSUUUUU! THWACK!
The arrow was simply too fast. A soldier on the frontlines didn't even have the time to react before their head burst into a rain of blood, bone and gore. His body slowly fell to the side and was quickly trampled beneath the feet of the other charging beasts.
This was the first of their army to have died since the battle began. The soul constructs couldn't shake them in the slightest, but it seemed that the moment Leonel moved, death reigned.
TSSSSSSUUU! THWACK!
Another arrow was released and another fell and was trampled.
Every time Leonel pulled back his bowstring, another would die. None of the army knew who he was going to target next, but they all felt a formless pressure suddenly shrouding them. Somehow they knew at that moment that no matter what they did, so long as he decided to target them, they would be dead.
It wasn't just the people who sensed the shift, but even the beasts themselves. Their blood seemed to run colder, their bones and muscles stiffening. Their speed fell. Though it was only by a small factor, to sharp eyed practitioners like them, that slight delay was all too obvious.
Leonel pulled his bowstring again and another fell.
It was just a single man attacking an army of hundreds of thousands. However, it was ironically this that made it so frightening. If it was an all out battle and people were falling left and right, the situation would still be fine. But this oppressive atmosphere where no one knew who would be targeted next and death seemed to be instant filled each one of them with a seed of fear.
Male or woman, ugly or beautiful, there didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to his choices.
In the beginning, Huon and Droet still tried to hurl out insults, but they noticed that every time they did, Leonel would release another arrow. It was as though Leonel was firing in retaliation for their words. Every death was slowly being transferred from Leonel's shoulders to that of the two of them.
Their insults quickly became softer and less harsh, until suddenly they didn't dare to speak at all.
Keiza's eyes narrowed. Leonel could obviously kill more than one at once, but he hadn't done so. He was deliberately suppressing them in this way, and by this point, the humans and the beasts had stiffened so considerably that their speed had dropped by as much as 40%.
However, after a moment, Keiza sneered.
Fear only worked when you had your own mind, and the current speed was dictated by the beasts… Beasts under her control.
She waved her fan and a surge of Force came out from her. At that moment, the eyes of the beasts glazed over and they seemed to forget everything but running. Their speed picked up again almost immediately and the distance that had begun to slowly widen began to close once again.
By this point, there was already less than 200 meters between them.
Leonel, though, seemed unmoved. Raising a hand, his gaze suddenly flashed.
The beasts of the fallen Libra and Gemin family members were suddenly enveloped by a strong Spatial Force.
Leonel had realized long ago that the reason Keiza was able to control the formation changes so smoothly was because she was in control of the beasts. Because of that, even after their riders had fallen, these beasts continued to run uniformly within the pack. And as a result, they were well within range of Leonel's abilities.
The beasts instantly went from behind Leonel and the others to in front.
Keiza frowned. What was Leonel going to do with a few dozen beasts? He couldn't be this stupid, could he?
At that moment, Little Blackstar raised his large paws and pressed down with great force. The dozens of beasts were slaughtered unceremoniously.
"Rise." Leonel said lightly.
Keiza seemed to finally understand what was happening. She had the advantage in speed because of the beasts they were riding, Leonel wanted to use his soul constructs to take advantage of this for himself. Like this, it would be much more difficult for them to catch up.
However, when she realized this, Keiza finally couldn't seem to hold her laughter back. She raised her pretty head and laughed heartily, the sound being far too sweet for the sinister intention behind it.
…
In the crowd of those watching, a gorgeous woman wearing a sparkling purple dress that clung to her curves covered her cherry lips with a glass of wine. This woman seemed to be almost an identical copy of Keiza… She was none other than Mistress Gemin, the current Matriarch of the Gemin family and Keiza's mother.
"What a little fool. For someone who uses soul constructs, shouldn't he understand? What good is killing this first if their souls are what are bound?"
…
Leonel raised his hand, suddenly feeling a great resistance against his command. Violet fog billowed out from him, but it seemed to be obstructed by invisible chains that he couldn't shatter instantaneously.
However, in that moment, the coldness in Leonel's eyes seemed to reach its peak.
If the others had paid more attention, they would have noticed that there was indeed a pattern to who he had killed. All of them had ridden Tier 6 beasts. This was his plan from the beginning. Or more accurately, the first of it…
As for these chains.
A vortex of violet suddenly expanded out from Leonel's body.
"[Emperor's Edict]… Shatter…"
Keiza's laughter came to an abrupt stop as a spike of pain traveled up her spine.
Illusory shackles shattered like glass and dozens of beasts arose.
Leonel and the others leapt down from Little Blackstar's back as the latter reverted to his true form and flickered into the void.
"Aina," Leonel said lightly.
"Mm." Aina nodded without much of a word.
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