Chapter 28: Respect (1) (2/2)

”Aina!”

Leonel could barely see her through the sea of bodies. Her breath hung so heavily on her lips that a dense fog formed whenever she exhaled. It wasn't nearly cold enough for air to condense like that, just what kind of heat was Aina experiencing.

In the past, hardly a speck of blood ever touched her. But now, she was completely drenched.

Leonel could tell it wasn't her own blood. In fact, she seemed to be completely uninjured. But her present state still sent waves off in his heart.

'Just what's wrong with her?'

”Kill her! For our fallen brothers!”

”For our fallen brothers!”

The gazes of the Englishmen almost glowed red beneath their helmets. They didn't see Aina as an arbiter of God. To them, she was a demon. A terrible devil descended to their lands. By this point, their resolve in taking down France raised several levels. It was their duty as God fearing men to expel these Devil Worshipers from their lands!

”For our brothers! For our families! For the Lord!”

”For the Lord!”

The Englishmen dug deep, throwing their lives away under Aina's ax only to allow those behind them to close an extra inch closer.

Leonel couldn't find it within himself to hate them. Even if they bore down on the only woman that had ever stirred his heart, he realized now how right he was not to kill them in a rage. These were men who deserved his respect. Even in the face of power so much greater than their own, they put everything they had on the line.

This was the strength of the human race. A people who struggled to survive even in the most terrible situations. It was for this reason that the actions of Emperor Gervaise Fawkes were so reprehensible. Allowing the lives of billions to be snuffed out just to maintain control… Only these sort of people deserved his rage, his anger…

For the men before him now… They only deserved his regard.

Leonel's mind calmed by another level.

In that moment, he realized that anger wasn't what fueled him. In fact, it impeded him.

The sincere respect Leonel felt brought him back. The challenge before him became no different from a football game or an exam, not because he found the lives of these men to be trivial, but because he had always taken even the simplest of tasks with the utmost seriousness. Taking on the burden of the lives of these men on his conscience was no different.

A natural aura erupted from his body, coating the battlefield in a suffocating presence.

'Come… I'll lay you to rest beneath a blade that recognizes your resolve…'