Chapter 1653 Neither
"This is the Void Senate."
The words were unhurried and didn't seem to have any extra emphasis, but the moment that they were spoken, it was as though a heavy mountain had fallen onto the shoulders of the spectators. Among them, there was no doubt that Leonel experienced the greatest pressure there was.
"You two, one year in the Void Mines. As for you, ten."
The two Rosen mentioned were without a doubt Treanna and the youth with an arrow in his chest. That meant that the last was most definitely Leonel.
Leonel's gaze flickered. He knew the rule book of the Void Palace front to back, so he was also well aware that this punishment was actually in line with proper practices. Rosen hadn't taken a single step out of line.
Still, wanting him to spend ten years mining for a conflict started by someone else was impossible. If Rosen thought Leonel would really do that, he had another thing coming.
Sensing Leonel's gaze, Rosen met it. Seemingly wanting to see if he would dare to refute, in fact his placid gaze almost seemed to beg for it.
In the past, he had been much more brazen, even arrogantly kicking out the Stalwart Polearm Party from their position as joint majority. However, ever since that even with Leonel's father, he had hidden much of his sharpness, stoking a flame deep within his heart to push onward.
In these 20 years, 14 of which he had been back for, he had progressed by leaps and beyond, already surpassing his former rival, Uramus of the Stalwart Polearm Party by a large margin.
Still, even with this being the case, he still hadn't revealed that hidden sharpness.
Uramus was nothing but a defeated opponent, he didn't deserve his effort. The only man that was in his eyes now was Velasco Morales. Every day, he persevered through training most couldn't imagine just for the faintest chance that he could return the favor for this lost arm of his.
In truth, he didn't even put Leonel in his eyes, and why would he. There was a far deeper pride ingrained within him. It had to be remembered that Rosen didn't send the youths to the Rapax Nest to target Leonel in the first place. His only intention was to help Amery get a leg up for his Sword Domain Tribulation.
As for the youths that had targeted Leonel, they were exactly that, youths. He simply didn't care to.
But, if Leonel was going to blatantly spit in the face of the rules of the Void Palace and get in his way, thinking himself to be as great an obstacle as his father, Rosen wouldn't mind showing him the disparity between the two of them.
And yet, Leonel only smiled lightly. With a flip of his palm, he brought out his two pendants and directly shattered them.
Rosen's pupils constricted. Leonel's movements weren't exactly fast, but it was still impossible for him to react. At the same time, although the pendants didn't look special, they were still incredibly sturdy materials. Breaking them at Leonel's level shouldn't have been such a casual action. In fact, it should have taken quite a bit of strain.
"What do you mean by this?" Rosen asked just as unhurriedly.
Leonel blinked, almost as though he was confused by the question.
"Mean by what?"
Rosen's gaze narrowed. This Leonel, when it came to pissing people off, there was no doubt that he was no less proficient than that father of his. It was almost a crime that such a charismatic smile could be coming from such a bastard.
"It seems that you want to test my patience."
Leonel thought for a moment before nodding. "Ten years is indeed a long time. I guess that even for someone as old as you, it can be considered a while as well."
Rosen felt his heart twitch. It had been a long time since he had felt something like this. After losing his arm, nothing seemed capable of fazing him and the state of his heart was as clear and still as water. But he suddenly felt the need to punch a hole through Leonel's face.
Leonel's expression didn't show much of a change, but he was coldly smiling on the inside.
What a ridiculous rule. Just because he had injured someone who attacked first he had to waste 10 years of his life while they only had to exchange a year? Even if that was indeed what the rule book states, he didn't care.
These people liked to claim that he only had this level of attainment in the Void Palace because his mother had handed it to him, right? They had even stripped him of his rightfully earned Galaxy Rank because they couldn't fathom how far he had climbed up the Void Tower. And now they wanted him to mine ore for them for ten years?
Sure, that was fine. In that case, Leonel wanted to see if they'd be willing to wait ten years for his method of returning from a failed Zone too.
Since they wanted to play a patience game, they could play together. In fact, he would show people what true unfairness looked like. Did he break the rules? Yes he did. What were you going to do about it?
The reality of this was that Leonel could choose to just leave the Void Palace as well. After all, the Void Palace wouldn't detain people against their will, at least not for something so inconsequential. It was more accurate to look at it like Leonel exchanging 10 years for a chance to remain in the Void Palace after his punishment years were through.
But if they really chose to follow through with such a punishment, Leonel would just directly leave. And if he was no longer a disciple of a Void Palace, then that would also mean that they didn't have a right to ask him about his treasures, nor did they have a right to ask him for a method of escaping failed Zones.
When that crossroads was reached, the Void Palace would have quite a decision to make.
Deal with Leonel and get the information they wanted, and face his old man's revenge on the back end. Or simply let Leonel go.
Neither of these things were what they wanted to do.