Immortal Kingdoms

A moment passed after Leonardo fell unconscious, and it was as though everyone woke up from a mind-captivating spell. Anyone who looked into those black eyes felt drawn by a mysterious abyss of melancholy, like a pool of murky, stagnant waters.

Aria was the first to snap out of it. Actually, it couldn't be considered that she fell under the illusion, it wasn't to that extent for her.

Then, Valeria snapped out of it. The moment she did, she hurriedly smacked Juvia on the back of her head during a moment of weakness, knocking her unconscious as well.

Next, Queen Adeline snapped out of it, and only a moment afterward did everyone else collectively snap back to reality.

Valeria had a never before seen serious expression in her eyes as she looked down at Aria who stood on the ground not too far from Leonardo.

"What in the name of Arcadia was that? What trial of the heart?" Valeria asked, bewildered.

Everyone else looked at Aria who sat there silently.

A moment later, Aria sighed, "You all need to realize that Leonardo is just a child, no matter how strong and smart of an impression he provides. Due to some circumstances involving his martial intent and stagnant cultivation, where his cultivation base couldn't keep up with the progress of the former, the nature of his martial intent began to influence his subconscious passively."

"It's not that this child is apathetic, indifferent, or simply cold to life and the abundance of killing that followed in his wake from the Forbidden Domain to here, but that burden was accumulating over the subconscious managed by the martial intent. However, that wasn't a solution, it was only a temporary remedy."

"You can think of it like building a dam, and the moment his cultivation suffered from deviation and went into a dormant state, the dam began to slowly but surely erode away. When his killing intent was roused earlier, the dam similarly broke, and the flood of these negative emotions came flooding down on his unstable mind and heart. All I could do was suppress his martial intent, but everything else had to be settled by his own resolve."

"However…" Aria sank into deep thoughts, putting everyone on edge. Of course, this was the part that puzzled everyone, those black eyes didn't seem like anything related to martial intent or cultivation.

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"It seems that some powerful existence placed some sort of a seal or a protective mechanism inside his sea of consciousness, that would act automatically during moments of danger. Whatever it was, it didn't only suppress the trail of the heart, but it also forcibly stabilized Leonardo's traumatized soul in the process."

Aria suddenly linked this to Leonardo's mysterious background as a planewalker. If she guessed correctly, then he didn't originate from Earth, but both his past and identity were sealed deep within his sea of consciousness.

The trial of the heart might have touched upon that taboo, triggering this phenomenon.

Based on her experience, this is the only possible explanation. Furthermore, whenever the word planwalker was on the tip of her tongue, her intuition of danger and alarm bells would go absolutely haywire with warnings, as though simply mentioning the term will spell doom for her and everyone with karmic ties to her no matter how insignificant.

She thought back to how this feeling never appeared when she discussed the topic with Nier, finally concluding that this term was only a taboo to be mentioned in the presence of a bonafide planewalker, for example, Leonardo.

She made her resolve to warn Nier about mentioning this term in Leonardo's presence. Actually, she would forbid her daughter from mentioning this term ever again, not even investigating it in the Interstellar Supreme Institute.

Powerful existence? Queen Adeline and Valeria exchanged a glance.

If even someone as strong as Aria would praise them as a powerful existence based on nothing more than a remnant seal, then what type of background would Leonardo have?

In any case, with this seal present, it seemed like nothing on Arcadia would pose a threat to Leonardo's life. However, if he were to be placed in a position where there was no other choice but for the seal to act up automatically…

Just as the two shrewd women were communicating with their eyes and arriving at that conclusion, a terrifying killing intent locked onto them.

"It seems you've overstayed your visit, don't you think so?"

Aria's voice was zero cold, having noticed their thoughts.

She then transmitted to them coldly, "You idiots, if that were to happen, let alone people on your level of power, not even your prided Sovereigns would make it out alive from the aftermath of this seal, no matter where they hide on Arcadia, because Arcadia itself wouldn't survive to begin with."

Aria's words chilled the two women's hearts, dousing them in a cold sweat. They hurriedly bowed, apologizing for their insolence and preparing to leave.

"Ugh…" Leonardo groaned, feeling Aria's tender tongue cleaning his cheeks once again. Then, he slowly woke up and sat down on the ground, Aria landing in his lap with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

She didn't expect him to wake up so suddenly this time.

Seeing that look, Leonardo teased, "What? You'd rather I drop back unconscious?"

Aria snorted, "Everyone is starting to take it for granted that you'd at least spend a full day and night in a coma whenever something like this happens,"

Azalea who got herself together out of her fright and confusion hurriedly kneeled behind Leonardo, offering her abundant chest and tender hands to support him on the cold floor.

Quickly, Juvia and Miko came to their senses from being knocked unconscious as well, their eyes filled with confusion.

Miko glared at his sister before he rushed over to Leonardo's side.

He kneeled down and slammed his forehead on the floor, cracks webbing the transparent floor as blood dyed them red.

"Boss, I'm sorry!" Miko yelled out, feeling guilty as he didn't get to hear Aria's explanation.

Feeling helpless, Aria peeked through Leonardo's palms and explained the situation once again, allowing the fool to heave a sigh of relief.

As for Juvia, she blankly stared at her mother's torn sleeves and bleeding fair arms due to her violent and unreasonable thrashing. At that moment, Juvia thought that her circumstances were too much for the current Leonardo to withstand, causing his sudden outburst.

Desperate, she wanted to hug and comfort him, but Valeria blocked her path, infuriating her.

From that point, she couldn't recall what happened to her at all, it was all a blank in her mind.

She could only blankly stare at the torn flesh underneath her nails and the bloodied arms of her mother, feeling torn and conflicted. Eventually, she also knelt down with her forehead on the floor, weeping while mumbling incoherently.

Although they stood on opposing factions, a mother is still a mother after the highs and lows in life, not to mention it was Valeria who helped her escape a fate worse than death.

"Good child, get up!" Valeria sighed, helping Juvia to her feet.

Juvia's silver eyes were circled by a patch of red, tears striking down her cheeks like a baby out of control. Valeria hugged her calmly and whispered, "I would have done the same for your father, the women of our family can't think straight when they're in love. I mean, I was usually nothing but my physical strength, if your head was in the right place, then you wouldn't have tried shaking me free with your nails and teeth…"

Valeria sighed while everyone else involuntarily laughed. Juvia blushed, feeling even worse. For some reason.

"Sigh, I really didn't expect that you'd actually fall in love. Well, it can't be helped at this point…" Valeria softly wipes off Juvia's tears, tenderness evident in her eyes for the first time ever since she arrived in Grace Imperial City.

"How about you accompany your mother for a private chat, just mother and daughter? You can tell me all about that scoundrel son-in-law, right?" Valeria smiled warmly.

"Is this really okay?" Juvia looks back at Leonardo who was stretching while receiving a massage to his back and shoulders.

Leonardo waved his hand off with a smile, "That's fine. Actually, you ladies go have your time together, all of you! On your way out, call for that child Kieran, we will have ourselves a night for the boys as well!"

Leonardo then gestured for Miko and Sitri, "What are you two idiots waiting for? I'm still a cripple, help me up to the wine cellar! That will bring some nostalgia,"

"Nostalgia?" Miko advanced to help Leonardo up, despite his confusion.

"That night in the border fortress you idiot," Sitri muttered, exasperated.

"Oh right!" Miko now remembered. He was about to invite Misaka over reflexively, but Sitri saw through it and stomped down on Miko's foot, silencing him.

Like that, the men and women split groups after leaving the dining hall.

Of course, Aria went over to accompany Leona and Nagi as she didn't feel like entertaining either party.