[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.
'Even further than that, why is it that she insisted on wearing a mask if controlling the French was so easy? No, even more importantly, why is it that…'
Leonel's gaze grew brighter and brighter.
"Aina! Knock their helmets off!"
Leonel's roar shook the battlefield. The moment his words fell, Joan's eyes widened. It looked like she wanted to say something, but it was already too late. Due to her retreat, she was already so far from her knights to begin with. And, even if she was close, she simply had no ability to stop Aina from doing something so simple.
Leonel had finally realized something. When he saw that the line of gold that took control of Reimond's corpse was thicker, he had mistakenly believed that it was more difficult for Joan to take control of the dead. However, this wasn't the case. The reason the line of gold was thicker was due to Joan using a buff to increase the defensive abilities of Reimond's corpse at the same time.
Back then, Leonel had been too agitated to think of it. It was true that Reimond wore knight's armor, but Leonel had long since established that the forging of this era couldn't compare to the weapons in his hand. So, how could it be possible that his spear would rebound like that if it wasn't for Joan's interference?
If he calculated the amount of force his spear could apply and the amount of force that would be needed to counter him like that, then the actual amount of Force Joan needed to take control of the corpse was less than 10% what she needed to control a living being.
What did this ultimately mean? It meant that it was more difficult to control the living than the dead.
After this point, Leonel no longer had solid evidence and could only make his own guesses. It was a desperate situation, so he could only try and see what stuck. But, he felt that it was logical to conclude that the reason it would be more difficult to control the living was because they would be fighting against that control.
If this was accepted, then why is it that Joan would cover her face? Why is it that she would cover the heads of her knights such that only their eyes could be seen?
Aina's ax swept forward, barely clipping the edge of a helm worn by Joan's knight as he dodged backward.
A sparkling gold shot into the skies, spinning above the battlefield before slowly descending to the ground.
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.