Chapter 58 - Paris (8)

[Bonus chapter for 400 powerstones. Next at 600 :)]

In this case, the situation truly did seem hopeless. There were more and more knights swarming to block for Joan, it seemed that Aina might lose control again, and Leonel himself felt that he was approaching his limits.

His body was heavy, his Force was languid, and his left arm felt as though it was being poked through by thousands of needles.

However, even with this being the case, Leonel managed to calm his heart. He had almost lost his life more times than he cared to count within the Mayan Temple. It was always his mind and not his power that helped him out of those situations.

He had been too rash this time. If he hadn't been constantly trying to brute force his way through this battle, he wouldn't have ended up in this state so quickly. Of course, it was also possible that Reimond and Nigelle would still be alive in such a situation, but Leonel still felt that he could have taken a smarter, better approach.

In the end, he kept making mistakes because he simply didn't know enough. Had he known how easy it was to break through that Force Art prison, he would have never drawn this thing on his hand. Had he known Joan had such abilities, he would have killed her first before Reimond.

But, there was no longer any use in griping over such things. Being agitated would get him nowhere. In fact, he might make more mistakes as a result of such a mindset.

Leonel warded another forward movement of the Englishmen, his pale green eyes locking onto Joan who was still continuously increasing her distance from him. In fact, if it wasn't for her bright golden armor, he would have already lost her in the sea of bodies already.

'Fear tactics won't work any longer, they're being controlled. Think... think...'

Leonel didn't stop moving forward. He seemed just as frantic as he was in the beginning, causing Joan to have no choice but to continuously respond with more knights. He had no choice. If he stopped moving forward, then it would be too easy to surround him.

'... If it was possible for her to just take control of all the French like this, why had she bothered to appear here in the first place? If she took control of the French from the very beginning while they were charging through the gates, Aina and I would have been caught completely off guard.

What was revealed was something Leonel could barely see from his vantage point. But, the French who had surrounded Aina under Joan's control saw it all clearly.

It was a young man they all recognized. He had tears streaming down his face and veins bulging across his forehead. It was clear that he was trying his very best to hold himself back from swinging his sword down again, but try as he might, nothing was working.

They all recognized this young man. He was a bit naive, a bit foolish, and even a bit annoying, but he held a place in all their hearts.

He was Michael.

It was then that Leonel fully understood. The reason why Joan's knights had become even stronger after some of them died was because they had become easier to control. All this time, she had been fighting against their wills.

As for why Joan chose to continue using living people instead of corpses, Leonel finally had an answer as well. It must have been far more difficult for her to buff corpses, or else why would that line of gold have been so thick? In the end, the trade off wasn't worth it.

Seeing Michael's face, the Frenchmen started struggling even harder. They had already not wanted to attack Leonel's sister. However, in the end, while they liked Leonel, as a mute, they didn't have much of an impression of Aina. This was why Joan only controlled them to take her down instead of attacking Leonel who was far more favored.

However, she could have never imagined that Leonel would grasp her weakness at such a critical point.

Leonel wanted to immediately take advantage of this turn in the situation. Who knew if Joan had a method of retaking control of them. But, what he found when he looked back toward her shocked him.

Blood was leaking from the eye slits of Joan's mask. Her polearm, which had been raised into the air, was the only support holding her up. Leonel could even faintly see that the fair hand she had used to grip it had become old and wrinkled.

A moment later, she fell to the ground. With his senses, Leonel didn't need to get closer to know what had happened.

Joan of Arc. Jeanne d'Arc. Was dead.