The expressions of the Ancestors continuously changed, and soon they became unprecedentedly determined. The silent Beast Domain Ancestor growled, its scales lifting up as though they were peeling before settling back down. It looked as though it was breathing through its skin. They seemed to have made a decision right then and there.
At that moment, Leonel wasn't idle. Much like the Cloud Ancestor had said, before he did anything else, he went through every human, painstakingly, one by one. Every time he found a Cloud Race member, he slaughtered them without mercy.
There was a limit to how many people he could control with his seals, and the Cloud Race was too skilled in these matters. He had to take his own cautions.
After he had resurrected Maia after her death, she was far more obedient than she had been in the past, but this didn't make Leonel relax. If anything, it made him more attentive. It made sense for someone to change after experiencing death, but it was when things seemed the most calm that the greatest caution needed to be taken.
Maia had never been so close to the Cloud Race's core since she began her mission. In addition, her uses to Leonel currently were limited. She was a great power in the Heir Wars, but she was ultimately of little consequence here.
The first day passed in a blaze and it was only at its tail end that Leonel finally finished expunging the frontlines of the Cloud Race. The harsh reality of this, though, was that once the other families came, it would infuse the army with another huge load of them, it was an infestation that would never give out.
However, half way through the second day, Leonel's expression was quite dark.
These families that he was preparing for... hadn't appeared at all.
At first, Leonel had understood how slow they were being. After all, not all of them had had the luxury to come here directly from the Heir Wars like he had. They had affairs to get in order, and defenses to set up in case the final lines of defense were breached and the invaders poured into the Human Domain. But...
A day should have been enough.
After that day, especially given the urgency of the messages that were sent out, they should have already appeared the day after. However, he was well into the second day after his arrival and he hadn't seen a single shadow of even a single one of them.
He thought that maybe the Void Palace had done something. This wasn't impossible, but then he shook his head.
The current Void Palace should be in a peculiar state. It was obvious to Leonel that there were traitors, but it wasn't the same for everyone else. It was also in the Void Palace's best interest that they keep up this fa?§ade of being still on the side of "good", which was why they hadn't done anything even after their orders for retreat were directly ignored.
If they did something as ridiculous as command the large families to not come, they would definitely be exposed.
But on an even deeper level than that, wouldn't they prefer those families to come? If the Void Palace was under the control of traitors, their goal was obviously to deal a blow to the Human Domain. If those families were scattered, how would they deal with them all at once? That might even be why the traitors had allowed the urgency message to be sent out about the first line of defense being breached.
And yet now... Those families had yet to appear.
Leonel's gaze was practically spitting fire. He might have reacted with a cold sneer if it was just the usual suspects. But he, the Patriarch of the Morales family was currently standing on the front lines, facing off against the enemies of the Human Domain. And yet, the family he supposedly led was nowhere to be seen.
He didn't receive a message, there was no communication, not even an attempt at once. It was as though they didn't feel the need to explain themselves to him.
Leonel's gaze flickered with a crimson glow, an eerie grin spreading across his face.
The second day came to an end and the weaknesses of the formation were already becoming clear. Whereas before it was impossible to push it even a single inch, those that were sent forward to test it, although meeting some resistance, could push forward a few feet before being repelled.
Due to this, the Races were able to confirm that Leonel hadn't been lying about the three day deadline and they began to prepare. This wasn't something that could be faked. Leonel wasn't the only Force Art expert in existence. Although they couldn't replicate what he had done, or figure out exactly how he had done it, analyzing Force Arts was far easier than creating them.
The third day began to be eaten into and Leonel realized that not only would he not receive the reinforcements he thought he definitely would, but he wouldn't even receive a message from the family that he supposedly ruled over either.
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