Rychard's eyes widened. The sudden commotion would have snapped anyone awake, and he, who had been lost in his own world of fantasies, was no different.
His head snapped into the skies, his pupils constricting in shock as he watched thousands of Luxnix swoop down from their bird constructs, immediately and without reserve levying attacks toward the guards that reacted from the Viola estate.
For a moment, Rychard was in a daze. All his plotting and scheming, all his years of training and preparation, could have never made him ready for this day. He couldn't wrap his head around what was happening.
Had they already found out about their losses? That was absolutely impossible. Rychard had been discreet and as careful as one could be. On top of this, that battle had just ended. How could there possibly have been time to assemble such a contingent? If even that wasn't enough, had this been knowledge the Luxnix used to act upon, the Montex would have definitely jumped aboard to take advantage as well.
Everything pointed toward the fact that the Luxnix had been planning to do this from the very beginning. But, Rychard truly couldn't understand where their confidence came from.
If the Luxnix weren't aware of their 20% loss, then why would they ever take this risk? The three families had always been neck in neck in terms of strength. Launching an attack like this would only cause suffering on both sides and leave the Montex to benefit from the ashes left behind.
What Rychard had no way of knowing was that the balance had been broken long ago. In fact, the balance had been broken three generations ago and it had only continued to tip in favor of the Luxnix. Just a single generation ago, they had already had strength to rival both the Montex and Viola combined. And now, even though this generation had yet to fully mature, they had lost their patience and begun to bare their fangs.
"Seith! What is the meaning of this?!"
The booming voice of the Viola family Patriarch boomed.
The Sixth Dimensional existences of the Viola hadn't even had time to catch their breaths and restore their paled faces when they were forced to come out once again.
Seeing such a seen, the Luxnix were visibly stunned. They had no idea what could have happened to put the Viola in such a sorry state before the battle had even begun. But, soon afterward, they laughed uproariously.
To the arrogant Luxnix, wasn't this just a sign of how correct their Ancestor had been? They had patiently waited three generations, biding their time and pretending to be equals with this trash. And the day they finally stepped out, ready the bare their fangs, the Gods smiled down on them.
How could the sharp Internal Sight of the Luxnix possibly miss something so blatantly obvious?
At this point, Rychard's face turned several shades of pale. He had been harping so much on the 20% number that he had forgotten something else incredibly important.
The 20% loss wasn't nearly as problematic as the current state of the remaining 80%. To say that Miel had killed a fifth of them was only a small part of the story. This didn't consider the at least 20% he had severely injured, or the 20% more than that that he had drained of stamina and vigor.
If an accurate picture were to be painted, it would be more accurate to say that Miel alone had cut down the fighting prowess of the Viola by as much as 50%!
Seeing such a scene, Myghell was even more affirmed in his decision.
He had originally wanted these matters to continue naturally. But, he also understood that 'naturally' didn't mean passively.
Myghell wasn't a passive person to begin with. If he insisted on neutrality when allowing things to go on 'naturally', he would ironically be going against his own nature to begin with.
This sort of complicated maze to navigate was precisely why he wanted the fewest people to know of the details of this matter to begin with. He already realized that he was acting differently than he normally would, and that was counter productive to his goal.
To Myghell's mind, there was still only a possibility that the prophecy spoken of on the tablet spoke of a union of marriage between himself and Aina. But, even if it was just a possibility, how could he ever allow a woman who might be tied to himself in the future to be tainted by another?
The was the ultimate underlying reason, but this was still a good opportunity nonetheless. In the middle of a wedding, with so many people invited and the guards of the Viola stretched thin, what better time would there be to attack? Plus, the three generation waiting period marked down by his Ancestor had already passed as well. What else was there to wait for?
This, however… was a truly pleasant surprise. It seemed that today, the Viola would truly be finished.
Rather than waiting for Seith to respond, Myghell flipped over a palm and his slender sword appeared.
Myghell took a light breath. For a moment, the world lost all of its sound. The only thing those below could hear was the steady inhale and exhale of Myghell's air as time slowed to a crawl.
"Return to Dust."
Myghell's arm slowly lowered, and yet it somehow felt impossibly fast.
The world was split in two. The clouds separated, the blue skies dimmed to revealed a starry night, and reality itself seemed to pause.
The expression of the Viola family Patriarch warped. He was an expert on the same level as Seith. No matter how weak he was from the previous battle, there was absolutely no way a Pseudo Sixth Dimensional brat should ever be able to make him feel pressure.
And yet… It was already too late.
His body crumbled, falling in two before being carried into the wind like fluttering flakes of ash.