Immortal Kingdoms

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Soft knuckles tapped the wooden door lightly, thrice.

"Come in," an even lighter voice, sweet as honey, sounded. Unfortunately, the sweetness was followed by a disturbing light cough.

Click!

The door was pushed open as a beautiful woman in black entered the room with a hint of concern in her neon eyes.

"Nightshade?" There was a hint of surprise in Maria's voice as she wasn't used to being disturbed in her private study so late into the night. Although this private mansion was bustling with androids, the study is a forbidden area.

Only Maria, Leonardo, and Nightshade had the qualifications to enter this room. However, after midnight and during ordinary times, not even Nightshade was permitted entry to this study.

However, if and whenever Nightshade decided to barge into the room, something big must have happened. Thus, Maria held a white napkin to her rosy lips and silently waited for Nightshade's report.

Nightshade took a deep breath before getting right into the subject.

"The Black Heart! The young master's first seal was broken!"

Contrary to Nightshade's expectations, Maria merely smiled faintly, not showing much of a reaction. Then, she coughed lightly into the napkin and waved her pale hand.

"I know, I've felt it already."

"But…"

"No buts! What ought to happen will eventually and inevitably happen. No amount of illusions, no matter how far we run, no matter how many planes we cross over— his fate was already set in stone as the Infernal Throne recognized him."

Maria sighed in exhaustion, only to go through yet another violent fit of coughing. Then, she dismissed Nightshade.

Nightshade hesitated, reluctance evident in her eyes. However, she eventually bowed and left the study, leaving Maria alone to her own thoughts and a luminous moon across the horizon.

Sometime later, Maria left her chair and approached the wall across from her desk, lightly pushing a block of concrete into the wall that scanned her spiritual fluctuations and soul before opening a hidden compartment.

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Inside the compartment was a box of seemingly reinforced glass with countless ancient inscriptions pulsating with a suppressive energy.

Behind these walls of glass was a levitating, beating black heart.

This black heart was beating in sync with Maria's deteriorating heart, as though the two were communicating. The moment it was exposed, Maria's heart clenched in her chest, and the black heart grew agitated as though furious to meet the heart that stole its place.

It seemed to scream silently with each resentful heartbeat, but it also seemed lonely and longing to charge out of its confinement and merge back into Maria's frail body.

However, Maria knew that if this heart was exposed to the world, the mere shockwaves from its beating might as well destroy this planet and the illusions she so desperately worked to establish. She also knew if the seals on Leonardo's black heart were to be undone, other than an explosive growth in strength, it would serve as a beacon in the dark for those people to find him.

Hence, Nightshade was restless, she was afraid that the seal would be undone prematurely, exposing her young master to a past he shouldn't be aware of. She was truly afraid.

However, they didn't know where he was now or what he was going through.

She knew that her Madam had the means to locate the young master, but she never expected her Madam to be indifferent to the implications of this grave matter.

Maria stretched a hand, reaching for the black heart. However, she ultimately clenched her fist, shut the compartment closed, and slammed her back to the wall with a vacant look in her eyes.

A silent, translucent tear slid down her cheek as she dropped to the floor, hugging her knees, and coughing lightly into the bloody napkin in her hand.

Then, darkness descended.

…

Hazy darkness surrounded Leonardo's senses as a searing pain jolted him awake. With a groan, he began to cough.

Feeling weak and heavy, he tried to open his eyes, but the pain wracked his senses yet again.

"Don't open your eyes!" A soft, charming voice spoke to him.

Although charming, it was a voice unfamiliar, startling him. However, curiously, he obediently listened to the instructions and closed his eyes. Leonardo could feel a stinging pain followed by a sensation of warm liquid trickling down his cheeks.

Then, a slippery sensation assaulted his cheeks. This time, the tender and wet feeling were quite familiar to Leonardo.

An outrageous thought suddenly manifested in his mind as he blurted out, "Aria?!"

The sensation paused momentarily, and the charming voice echoed once again with a hint of relief in it, "Well, at least your intelligence didn't suffer any backlash, that's good news."

Aria then snorted coldly, biting Leonardo's ear as she scolded, "Are you tired of living, you bastard?!"

Leonardo was shocked, embarrassed, and furious all at the same time.

"You can actually talk?!" He raged, feeling like an idiot, an open book of secrets. "You actually violated my privacy?!"

"What nonsense are you spouting?!" Aria raged once more, her voice quivering, "You could have died back then! Are you an imbecile?!"

Leonardo went silent for a moment, then he sighed.

"How bad is it?" He was now sure that Aria was an existence beyond his comprehension. Perhaps, without her help, he might still be in a coma.

Aria didn't respond, taking a moment to compose herself before snorting coldly.

"It's not so bad that it's irrecoverable. You received a heavy trauma to the foundation of your soul, you can't use your spiritual energy, and your eyes are temporarily blinded."

"The eyes are a window to the soul. Hence, you can't use them as the minute spiritual energy in the world will agitate your spiritual energy, interrupting your soul during its process of recovery. As you can't use spiritual energy, it's impossible to circulate your energy, forcing the energy in your body to undergo an instinctive state of dormancy lest they run rampant in your body."

"Putting it simply, until your soul naturally recovers, you're a blind non-cultivator. I was nourishing your soul with my will for the past two weeks, and the state of your sea of consciousness is peculiar, to say the least… I can't probe it out of fear to further agitate it, but I can tell that your soul's foundation is recovering."

"Don't open your eyes, don't try to use spiritual strength, and don't try to use your consciousness for now."

"You little bastard… You're really a marvel aren't you?!"

While talking, Aria grew infuriated once again, having the urge to bite off his skull open and personally investigate whether he had a brick for brains.

"I get it, I get it… I was wrong! Where is your little head?"

Leonardo accepted the beating and scolding like a man. After all, this time he truly almost died with his ridiculous ideas.

Seeing Leonardo blindly trying to find her head, a layer of mist-shrouded Aria's crimson eyes. However, she blinked it away and snorted, reaching her little head into Leonardo's open palm.

Leonardo smiled, patting the fluffy little head.

"What about everyone else? How are they doing?" He asked.

Aria sighed, "Everyone has been on tenterhooks the past two weeks, and things are getting pretty lively on the outside. Actually, you have guests waiting for you as we speak, they think you're still in seclusion so they are waiting patiently…"

Aria had an odd expression, not knowing how to best deliver news about the identity of the two guests. How would she tell him that Queen Adeline and the former High Elf Queen had been waiting on him for an entire week?

That sounds wrong no matter how she opted to describe it.

Anyway, the Sylvian Queen's matter was understandable, but wasn't the Elven Royal Family on the brink of declaring war on House Grace? Why would their former High Elf Queen visit around this time?

Just as Aria was wondering how to break this news to Leonardo, the massive doors to the royal bedroom chamber swung open as a group of people rushed in.

"Boss!"

"Boss!"

"Godfather!"

"Master!"

"Da- cough!"

"Boss!"

Misaka, Miko, Sitri, Juvia, Pandora, Kieran, Leona, and even little Nagi.

Everyone rushed into the room, various expressions from ecstasy to concern on their faces as they surrounded the massive bed.

Leona directly jumped into Leonardo's chest, bawling her eyes out while mumbling incoherently. Not even she knew what she was saying as snot and tears spilled like a spring rain.

"Don't agitate him! He needs rest!"

Aria, who was pushed off Leopard's chest by a charging Leona, suddenly said to everyone. By now, everyone was aware that Aria could talk. At first, everyone was shocked, but they had been too concerned about Leonardo to even care that a fox could talk.

Intelligent magical beasts weren't that rare after all.

"It's fine," Leonardo spoke up for the little girl, hugging her small body gently while soothing her emotions. Although he didn't know what was happening within his sea of consciousness, he could feel the various energies being guided through some mysterious means and into his chaotic sea of consciousness.

He assumed this had to do with his self-cultivated soul pearl, which he presumed was a sign of success. Thus, he wasn't too worried about subtle spiritual stimulations, even though he decided it would be best to let nature take its course for now.

"Guests were waiting?" Leonardo suddenly asked after Leona calmed down.

"Ah, that…" Juvia's expression was a bit odd now as well, feeling quite awkward…