Chapter 78 Ruthless

Although the army in its entirety wasn't wiped out, at this point, over eighty percent of them were dead. Those yet to perish were the lucky ones on the fringes of the formation, nowhere near the epicenter of the battlefield.

Alfred was truly enraged at this point as he couldn't understand how someone's heart could grow so cold and indifferent to the plight of the weak. Leonardo seemed to see right through Alfred's struggles, causing him to snort derisively.

"Don't give me that conflicted look. Oh, you so righteous man of moral values. Don't give me that bullshit about good within evil, and evil within good. Just because your house has a few righteous souls doesn't exempt you from condemnation."

"If you're so bothered about the lives of the innocent, go preaching to your family and higher-ups, what? You don't dare?! Of course, you wouldn't dare, that's all that you amount to after all of this."

"Come, let us exchange a few more blows, I'm curious how many of your soldiers will make it out of this place alive by the time you finally come to your senses and cede those provinces to Prince Leonardo!"

Alfred's rage drove his rationality to borderline insanity at this point. He was way stronger than Lenardo, he could clearly feel that his opponent was only at level 41, while he was a second-cycle saint at level 54.

If he went all out, he was sure to blast Leonardo to pieces within ten moves at the cost of his army and the lives of everyone within the Grace Imperial City. Forget the destructive power and pressure of his domain, the spatial distortions alone are enough to bring an apocalypse onto this land, shaking the foundations of the five districts, the palace, and the surrounding terrain.

Of course, this was only possible because the defensive formation was running low on energy. Otherwise, the formation could easily stabilize the space within its range. Just as Alfred was thinking about whether it truly was worth it or not, his communication bracelet began to blink frantically.

At the same time, both Leonardo's and Lexus' bracelets began to blink as well. However, the only one to rejoice with this sudden change was Leonardo, his crimson eyes were practically glinting with mirth.

Pandora and Lucas infiltrated the enemy castles of the feudal lords in their respective provinces and silently slaughtered the noble families to their last, not even sparing the youngsters. As for Sitri, Miko, and Misaka, their accomplishments were much bloodier as they weren't skilled in either concealment arts or espionage and sabotage.

However, their firepower wasn't lacking, especially in enemy lands where the enemy was forced to hold back in fear of friendly fire. Of course, they followed Leonardo's orders to the letter; no scrupulous whatsoever.

The saints that followed them instantly gave up because they couldn't bear it any longer, they were helpless to watch the people dying left and right while being incapable of helping or saving them. This was simply too ruthless.

In the distance, Lexus' gaze was as sharp as a sword as his lips moved, seemingly muttering something to himself. However, in response to his muttering, the shuddering Alfred silently calmed down. He was so angry he actually went from one extreme to the other, his aura gradually receding along with his domain.

Only when he retracted his domain did half the pressure burdening on the soldiers below ease up. Next, Leonardo smiled faintly as he withdrew his bloodthirsty domain as well, allowing the incapacitated soldiers, at least those yet to perish from them. However, those could only wait until their mentality breaks down in miserable agony as a wave of mental exhaustion washed over them, knocking them unconscious.

"Well, I'll be magnanimous enough and allow you to take these prisoners of war ransom free. I'm in a good mood today, I must report back the success of this campaign while you tidy up the necessary paperwork!"

After waving his hand gracefully, Leonardo shot back through the formation, flying directly into his palace. On the outside, hundreds of thousands of citizens began to cheer loudly. Although they couldn't hear the dialogue going on between Leonardo and the other saint, they knew that their city was under the protection of a godlike existence who blocked an entire army on his own.

Especially the hot-blooded youths, they felt invigorated and riled up.

"Dammit, all!" Alfred stabbed his golden spear into the ground. However, he didn't discharge any power whatsoever, saving the terrain from any further suffering.

"Don't worry, I have some good news anyway," Lexus stepped into the field of destruction, standing right next to Alfred with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Five out of the six devil saints have been mysteriously captured by someone unknown and dropped into the custody of the elves. They kept the men and gifted the two women to the beastkin, specifically the lizardmen tribe; those lizards are easily infatuated with beautiful human women."

"What has that got to do with us?" Asked a confused Alfred, "I mean, that's certainly good news since we could focus our war efforts on two fronts with the decline of five powerful saints, but the war here is already over."

Lexus shook his head, "This is merely one battle, not the war. The good news about it is that the leader of the six claims that their faction is in opposition to Leonardo's, and we agreed to help him fight it off with him. As long as we don't directly interfere or kill Leonardo, but create an opportunity for Xavier instead, we don't need to worry about repercussions in the future."

Alfred tugged at his spear before resting it on his shoulder, frowning as he said, "Should we really be drawn into the conflict of such powers? I don't like the sound of this, we might simply get swallowed up in the storm. Although I'm angry, I can't deny that we touched Leonardo's bottom line first in this matter."

"Don't fool yourself," Lexus shook his head and sighed, "That bottom line is just an excuse. Well, even if it wasn't, I'm sure he would have come up with something else as an excuse sooner or later…"

Lexus' communication bracelet began to blink again, confusing him. Thus, he hurried to view the contents of the transmission, his expression growing cold.

Alfred could tell from Lexus' expression that it was anything but good news, his gut feeling telling him that it had to do with that Leonardo fellow.

"What is it?" Alfred asked in a cold voice.

Lexus took a deep breath before shaking his head, not feeling like slapping his own face. Thus, he turned around and left the battlefield without a word.

…

Inside the palace, Leonardo switched out his Bloodthirsty uniform and returned to his white garments. With a faint smile, he entered his bedroom chambers to find Juvia waiting on him in snow-white lingerie, collapsing directly into his embrace.

He hugged her thin waist gently before whispering into her long, pointed ear, "Is it done?"

Her hourglass figure shivered from the stimulation as she tightened her arms around his neck, exhaling softly with a trembling voice, "Beautifully done, dear!"