Chapter 2301 Heartless Monster A rush of silence shot through the surroundings, even the Half Spiritual Overlord was stunned. That blast hadn't come from one of her people, their defenses were extremely powerful, but their offenses could only be directed under the hands of a master. This was one of the weaknesses of such large-scale natural formations. However, she was the only one who could control enough of the formation to threaten Leonel's life, and only one person could use the formation at a time on top of that. And since she most definitely hadn't taken action, then... She already knew what the answer was. Someone on Leonel's side had actually betrayed him. Despite the situation, she was too stunned to speak, and happiness wasn't her immediate emotion. There was something sad about seeing a genius like this fall, even during this battle she had mostly wanted to capture Leonel and deal with him, she had some inkling about the kind of trouble that was coming over the horizon and people like Leonel were the kind they needed, it was just that his edge was far too sharp. But now... She looked at the hole that had gone through Leonel's chest and watched as his life began to fade. Even after several moments, she didn't know what to do, and because she hadn't done anything, the other Half Spirituals didn't do anything either. Of course, they didn't feel the same way as their Overlord did, they only didn't move out of respect for her. If it was up to them, maybe they would have acted to cut Leonel's corpse into bloody ribbons just to make sure that he really was dead. Despite the fact Leonel was now gone, he had left them vulnerable, his death didn't even feel worth it. Just how much effort had they put into making it to this point? And now the formation their Ancestors had put their blood, sweat, and tears into was no more. Would they even have the same standing in the Human Domain any longer? What about when the other races recovered and began their attack once more? The more they thought about it, the more enraged they were at the dead Leonel. They felt that his death had been too easy. Plus, a man who would be betrayed by his own people had a character that spoke for itself. If he could be cut down at such a time, how could he have been a good, noble leader? Whether it was he or his father, neither were good people. Within the Morales army, the shock was palpable. They had gotten used to Leonel being infallible, they had gotten used to being infallible themselves as well. Even after so many died under the attacks of the Overlord, they felt nothing. After all, Leonel would just resurrect them later and everything would be fine, just like before. But now that Leonel was dead... Didn't that mean that all their comrades were dead as well? And what about the future of the Morales? This was a Patriarch that had accomplished so much in a short time, was his life really going to be cut short like this? "Was that you?" In a corner, hushed voices spoke. "No, I didn't take action. That kid practically has a thousand eyes, it feels like nothing escapes his vision, I wouldn't try to use such a simple ploy to deal with him. But maybe I just overestimated him." "Then who?" The two looked toward a region. The beams were too fast, and they were all focused on the battle. Only the starships in the immediate vicinity would know exactly which starship had fired, and it wouldn't be long before they reacted. As expected, after a brief pause, the starships in the vicinity all backed away and aimed their cannons toward the same exact location. There was no doubt who had taken action now. "It's her? According to our intelligence, isn't she the sister of the First Nova's woman? How could she be the one to betray him?" They had all made the same assumption, it only made sense that Leonel had given such an important task to this person. He was aware that there were hidden means within the Morales family that hadn't exposed themselves to him just yet, so he would only trust those closest to him to act as he wanted them to. But now... Yuri gripped the controls, her fury still boiling. In fact, she was furious that she could only kill Leonel like this. He deserved much worse, far worse. However, just as she was thinking this, the skies crackled and boomed, countless shimmering blue shields the size of planets appearing around the two armies. Shield Cross Stars had appeared, and even several of their Cross Elders had as well. It was clear what their goal was. In order to jump so far through space and appear so immediately, it would have cost a significant amount of energy remaining in the Fusion Cores of their starships, upwards of at least 10%, which was worth years of function. There was only one reason they would make such a big move: they wanted to deal a devastating blow to the Morales. The Half Spiritual Overlord frowned. She didn't believe for a single moment that they would dare to act so boldly in her territory if their formation hadn't crumbled. In fact, such a large jump through space wouldn't have even worked without it. She sent a gaze toward Leonel's corpse. Even dead, this boy was causing her so many problems. The Spirituals Religion was its own thorn in the eyes of the Cult and Shield Cross Stars. It was a link between the Spirituals and the human race that many weren't aware of... but these powers definitely would be. It seemed that the calamity of her Spirituals Religion hadn't come to an end just yet. Overlord Veiga stood at the helm of a Tier 1 starship. She was ready for any contingency plans the Morales might have, she didn't believe that they would send a junior to handle all of their problems like this, the Ancestors were probably just a thought away, and truthfully, she hoped they would appear. That would help her to deal with all of these problems in a single sweep. The Morales, as presently constructed, didn't need to exist. Their Constellation, however... that was far more interesting. As for the Spiritual Religion, she knew of their connection to the Suiard family, and she knew that there was another hand making moves in the shadows. It was best if they were crippled as well. She had to thank Leonel for making things so easy on her. 'You're welcome.' A voice suddenly echoed in her mind that made her freeze. Leonel's corpse suddenly gripped its fist and the sparkling streams of golden dust stopped dispersing into the depths of space and formed a barrier that solidified around the entire battlefield... Trapping Shield Cross Stars within. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 Overlord Veiga immediately tried to activate the mass teleportation of the starships, reacting more quickly than even more Ancestors should be capable of, but it was useless. Once again, the spatial lock on the region had returned and they were trapped. The "dead" Leonel slowly rose, the hole in his chest seemingly not impacting him in the slightest. He was already a heartless monster. He might as well look the part. ----- Erdiul's Note: Bitch didn't even hesitate to betray him, lmfao. And she wonders why he doesn't trust her.