The two final Novas looked toward one another calmly, one's expression unreadable, and the other's smiling. Xavnik was quite handsome and tall. He had slightly paler skin than most Morales, but not to the extent of Second Nova. He still carried that familiar bronzed hue, it just wasn't as forceful as the bit of coloration had its edge taken off.
His eyes were a gentle brown color and his hair was slightly stiff, though well styled. His robes were meticulously cared for, and he seemed to prefer darker colors. This was a man who dared to negotiate with an expert like Rosen Suiard, a leader of the Senate, while he was merely in the Sixth Dimension. There were clearly no faults to pick in his temperament, nor his boldness.
"Littlest Nova," Xavnik greeted with a smile, his unreadable expression suddenly becoming amiable. Leonel smiled back. Despite the fact he was looking up at Xavnik from the ground while the latter was on the city walls, one didn't feel that this was the case at all. It rather felt as though they were both on even ground, looking into each other's eyes. The height difference, the distance between them, and even the fact they stood on opposing sides didn't seem to create any sort of division between them.
"Third Nova."
Xavnik chuckled slightly. "I had thought that First Nova would be my greatest challenge. If there was a dark horse, I would have definitely picked Fifth Nova. But I didn't expect that it would truly be you. If you hadn't lost 20 years of advantage to us, we really wouldn't stand a chance, hm?"
"Where would the fun in that be?" Leonel didn't refute politely, his words all but confirmed that he felt that this was the case as well. But Xavnik didn't feel that this was inappropriate. Over bloated humility was just as bad in his opinion as underserved arrogance.
"Your temperament is to my liking. How do you feel about working together? There's only the two of us left and the enemies remaining aren't easy to deal with. There's still the Omann family, the Suiard family and the Spirituals Religion. Plus there are still some other stragglers. In order to avoid any issues, I've had a feeling that they'll team up to deal a blow to our Morales family before deciding a winner amongst us, we can't allow that, right?"
Xavnik expected Leonel to be surprised, or at least take some time to consider, but this wasn't the answer he received at all. Instead...
"My old man would probably kill me if I used an alliance to win in the final stretch," Leonel said with a laugh. "His temper is a weird one. I have a feeling he's watching right now. Well, considering his personality, he's probably pretending to take a nap, but he'll never let me live this down."
Velasco, who didn't seem to have been paying much, mumbled beneath his breath.
"At least he knows not to embarrass me."
He felt his wife's glare come from the side, but he pretended as though he hadn't seen it, turning his glasses into an even darker shade as he reclined further. However, Leonel's next words made Velasco almost fall out from his seat.
"A pity..." Xavnik said with a sigh, his gaze flashing with a peculiar light.
Leonel laughed. "But what I love most to do is piss that old man off, count me in."
The Human Domain was rendered speechless. Velasco was a character that most of them didn't even dare to look in the eye, many even believed he was ruthless enough to not bat an eye if his son died. In their opinions, he was probably an extremely strict father that wouldn't allow his son to joke around with, let alone embarrass him like this.
But Leonel actually...
Alienor began to giggle, laughing a beautiful laugh that made the hearts of those who heard it flutter.
Others might fear Velasco, but in Leonel's opinion, his dad was just a bastard who loved to think himself a comedian and a prankster. If he could get back at this old man, he'd take every opportunity.
Velasco coughed, fixing his chair and stabilizing himself. This brat, he was going to ruin all the prestige he had taken decades to build up, what the hell was this?
Seeing Velasco trying to maintain his composure, Alienor's laughter only grew.
...
Xavnik, too, was surprised. A hint of doubt couldn't help but grow in his heart. Clearly, he felt the same about Velasco as everyone else. How could he know that the only "suffering" Leonel had had at Velasco's hands were prank voicemails?
"Is that so? That's good, excellent!" Xavnik's face lit up.
"How would you like to cooperate?" Leonel asked with a smile.
There were all too many methods, Leonel himself had already thought of many, but he didn't state them out. He seemed to want to know more about Xavnik's thought processes. Neither of them knew one another very well, so this sort of simple probe was only a given.
"About this... Are these all the subordinates you have, Little Nova?"
Leonel shook his head, causing Xavnik to relax slightly. But it was clear he wasn't relaxing due to the fact Leonel would be of more help with more subordinates. Rather, he relaxed because the fact Leonel admitted this so readily meant that there was a hint of trust here.
"I have an army of another million or so, but they're beasts that can only be used in the waters. They're stingrays. In addition to this, I have about 200 000 or so land beasts, the strongest of which have the strength of Tier 6, and the weakest of which is at Tier 3. But since their strengths have been forcefully raised to this stage, their actual power is limited.
"Other than this, I have a secret powerful force of about a few hundred. They're all members of the Cloud Race and have exceptional combat prowess."
Leonel laid out all his cards as though he didn't have a care in the world.
No one seemed to know his thoughts. Even Second Nova, who knew Third Nova's true colors, couldn't help but pale. Had he made a mistake by not telling Leonel the truth?
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