Leonel had done a great deal of things he hadn't wanted to, purely for the sake of survival.
He had his wife participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms alone. He had lost the Gathering of Minds on purpose. He lost against the Spirituals on purpose and had even been forced to help the Spirituals out of their predicament afterward.
The first he had done for the sake of hiding the true extent of his talent. The second he had done to pitch the Owlans into a despair of their own causing. The third he had done so that he could face off against the Nomads and stop Somnus' sisters' plans... and the last he had done to deal a final blow to her.
Each one of these things were matters he hadn't wanted to do, and that last one especially left the most sour taste in his mouth because it was also the one that had happened the most recently, and it was also the one that had enraged him the most.
The Spirituals had tried to humiliate his wife, and in the end, for the sake of dealing with Flaura, he had had no choice but to help save them.
This sort of grudge had been brewing in his heart for a long while.
He bet that they had been living very comfortable lives this last more than year. Their greatest threat was gone, and even if she came back, she would be more focused on dealing with him rather than them.
"What-."
Leonel punched out.
The expression of the Emberheart Lord changed, and he hurried to block, but he was sent flying through the skies.
Leonel kept moving. With every step he took, he sent out another punch.
Anyone paying attention could tell that he was clearly using less strength than he had against the formations, holding back because he could.
He didn't just want to crush the Emberheart Lord, he wanted to absolutely humiliate him.
The Spirituals liked making spectacles of people and humiliating them in public, right? In that case, he would give them a taste of their own medicine.
Leonel didn't care about anything in this world aside from his friends and family.
Everything else could take a backseat.
And in that case, the top of his list was ensuring that no one could slight them.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The thunderous booms began to echo. From a completely silent style, Leonel chose the most overbearing and outrageous method as though he wanted to engrave everything into the minds of those watching.
The sights. The sounds. Even the smells.
He wanted to engrave this memory into their very souls.
The armor Lord Emberheart wore was slowly being shattered. Blood leaked from his lips and he realized that he couldn't even mobilize his flames properly.
He caught a chance and suddenly sent out a flaming javelin, but Leonel casually raised a hand and caught it out of the air.
Leonel pressed his palms against the ends of the javelin and crushed it as though bunching up paper. The Emberheart Flames that their noble family was so proud of were unceremoniously crushed.
Leonel flicked a finger, and the flames came barreling toward the man, moving so swiftly that he couldn't dodge.
BANG!
Lord Emberheart was sent flying backward, crashing into the wide double doors of the Emberheart Palace.
The last of his armor shattered, and he lay in a broken heap, his breathing weak and his aura dimmed.
The city fell into silence as Leonel stood in the skies.
"A year ago, the Emberheart Lord slandered my wife. Since you believe us to be barbarians, I'll show you what real savagery can do. If you want a chance to come out unscathed today, I suggest you bring forward everything you have or show me some sincerity, or else I will raze the Ma'at Bubble to the ground.
"I promise that if I cannot do it today, you can wait patiently for today's date next year and see if I won't be able to do it then."
BANG!
At the moment Leonel's voice descended, a surge of light came from inside the palace and a familiar figure appeared in a blur by the Emberheart Lord's side.
It was none other than the Emberheart Lady.
Leonel didn't stop the wife from checking on her husband.
Slowly, the Emberheart Lady stood. She gracefully walked to the edge of the top of the palace's wide set of stairs. She looked up at Leonel and her expression seemed calm, but there was a hardly disguised fury in the depths of her eyes.
Flames danced down her long hair and in that moment, she seemed to be two decades younger.
The last time Leonel had seen her, she already had faint lines of age. But it was clear that since then, she had had some great improvement.
Leonel clearly sensed the aura of the Creation State.
Not just the Creation State, but the Middle Creation State.
He couldn't help but chuckle. "It seems the Spirituals have more secrets than I knew."
Lady Emberheart's pupils constricted, but she had no idea what Leonel was referring to. How could she know that Leonel had seen through her Force Manipulation standards before she had even released it?
"... I am willing to let this go if you turn and leave now," Lady Emberheart finally said lightly.
She could understand Leonel's fury, and she had even said that they were in the wrong for this matter before. However, between the feelings of one man and his wife, versus the survival of an entire Race, the choice was obvious.
Now that things had already come so far, she had no intention of allowing Leonel to trample all over her Ma'at Bubble. Things would have to come to an end right here and now.
Leonel flipped a palm, and a wooden spear appeared in his hand.
Nothing else seemed to change but this, and yet the air was still and even the echo of Lady Emberheart's voice was completely suppressed.
"Stop talking. Today, the world will know that no matter what reasons you might have, the Morales name isn't something you try to stain."