Albeit long, the journey was overall safe due to Pandora's concealment skills. On the way, Leonardo had to entertain Leona by taking her into his own embrace while keeping the fox on his shoulder instead.
He didn't know what sparked a rivalry between these two, but he couldn't deny the soft spot he had for Leona. On their way, whenever they've encountered unreasonable people, Leonardo couldn't help but feel a tug at his heart to simply lay waste to their lives, even as a usually nonchalant pacifist.
It goes without saying that he grew up in a civil world where violence was shunned, murder was a crime, and the just though not the only way to retaliate was through lawful pursuit. Deep down, Leonardo was aware that this subtle change was the influence of the bloodthirsty martial intent blending into the essence of his being.
One way or another, these urges must be satiated, lest he suffer from deviations in his essence due to the imbalance between the desolate and bloodthirsty intents within his energy. Perhaps, the only two aware of Leonardo's inner struggle were his little child and the little fox, but neither of them decided to act up in response.
The forbidden domain is a massive continent surrounded by the ocean on three fronts, and a seemingly endless mountain range at its northern front. South of the forbidden domain lay the human domain, with the beast domain all the way east, and the elven domain in the opposite west.
Arriving at the dock harbor that was attached to a small town for matters of convenience, the group slowed down with plans to resupply for fresh food and drinks. Although most of them didn't need such necessities, Kieran's and Leona's healthy growth were of utmost importance to the young businessman.
The midday sun shone brightly on the bustling streets of the harbor where stalls of fisherman lined up in rows, selling their yields of fantastical sea creatures of the day. This was the first time for the kids to witness something like this, as their lives huddled up deep into the mainland prevented them from such sceneries.
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ The smell of oil and salt diffused in the air, something that Leonardo didn't really enjoy much. Sneezing, he declared his intentions of skipping the fish market, but he inquired if anyone was interested in browsing the local delicacies down the harbor.
"Can I go take a look?" Surprisingly, Kieran was the first to speak up about his intentions, as curiosity got the better of him. Having never seen or heard of anything remotely close to this marketplace, he didn't want to live in regret for keeping his desires to himself.
To the side, Juvia nodded her head and volunteered to keep Kieran's company. On their way from Valdmor, the trio of Juvia, Pandora, and Leonardo didn't slack on their schedule of training, neither did they slack on their dual cultivation sessions.
At the moment, Juvia could control the death essence of her energy to the point where it didn't bother those who are acutely sensitive. As a result, Kieran didn't feel as tense or repulsed by Juvia's presence anymore.
Leonardo nodded his head and said, "Then, let us meet here one or two hours from now. I'll take Leona to eat in a restaurant downtown."
The party agreed to regroup later that day, and thus the group split into two for no grand reason other than collecting food and other supplies. Two hours later, they regrouped on time and made their way into the shipyards in search of a voyage into the human domain's mainland.
Kieran seemed to have opened up a lot to Juvia during their alone time, pleasantly surprising Leonardo who in turn, gave Juvia a silent thumbs up, to which she replied by sticking out her tongue playfully.
The three were about to engage in a conversation when they felt the powerful auras of multiple saints explode in the distance, encompassing the entire harbor. Aria's long ears twitched, and she lazily glanced in the direction of the auras as well.
Leonardo closed his eyes to sense carefully before opening them, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"About twenty seven saints, I underestimated the strength of the human domain, or perhaps I underestimated the chaos caused by the involvement of the elven and beastkin." Leonardo muttered silently, feeling regretful he couldn't stay behind to watch the battle unfold.
Just as Leonardo was musing over this turn of events, his communication bracelet began to emit soul fluctuations, forcing him to tear his attention from the fleet of soldiers and into the device.
"Jeff? What's up?" Leonardo inquired after connecting the call.
"This is urgent, have you encountered the fleet of reinforcements?" Jeffery's tone was anything but light and dandy, causing Leonardo to frown as he answered in the affirmative.
"How many saints can you spot?" Jeffery asked.
"Twenty seven, why?" Leonardo responded and immediately questioned thereafter. The other end of the connection went silent for a moment before Jeffery cursed and sighed.
"Let's just say the households weren't happy with your parting gift, especially the household behind Azalea. Thus, House Venus, House Exodia, and House Regalia separated a division each from their reinforcements to intercept and ambush you on your way back before you made it into the Sylvia Kingdom's territory."
"According to my information, the reinforcements should have had a total of thirty saints, which means a total of three diverted from the main formation to handle your ground. A division usually consists of a commander and three thousand soldiers, which means we're looking at a mob of nine thousand soldiers and three saints who aim to kill you before your official coronation in the Capital of Sylvia. Sigh…"
"Wow, they really planned a proper welcome party for me, haven't they?" Leonardo responded in a flat tone, though his lifeless eyes were pulsing with a crimson shimmer.
Everyone around Leonardo knew that whatever party he spoke of definitely wasn't good news, and their hearts went cold.
Only the little fox excitedly rubbed her head into Leonardo's as she perched on his shoulder, the act itself inadvertently increasing the frequency of the crimson shimmer. She knew this was a chance to further experiment over what type of an inheritance had Leonardo gained from the bloodthirsty intent.
The bloodthirsty essence cocoon that engulfed Leonardo during his ascension was a clear sign that his path of slaughter aimed down towards the construction of his battle oriented bloodthirsty armament, just like Nier.
Then again, that should have been a given since Nier was the source of his intent to begin with. However, she wondered how a bloodthirsty armament influenced with a foreign intent would look like, especially one of a high law.
The only issue and difference here was that Nier bathed in the blood of thousands on the path of each and every cycle of her growth, a baptism which Leonardo severely lacked. Rosaline, who was disguised as Aria for these chapters of Leonardo's life, was concerned about finding suitable victims to baptize him.
Now however, that problem was solved. All she needed to do was subtly influence Leonardo and groom these malevolent thoughts that his blood whispered into his conscience.
By the time they encounter the so-called welcome party, blood will run rivers and paint the lands and sky red. Hopefully, this much blood would aggravate him enough to construct a rudimentary armament.
Nier's rudimentary armament was a long sword, so Aria guessed that Leonardo's shouldn't be that far off. As for what body armor his armament would be, she'd have to wait until he attained a divinity for that to happen.
Perhaps only the little fox was shivering with excitement and anticipation at this cold atmosphere that surrounded Leonardo, but he quickly snapped back to his senses feeling lost at what sinister ideas just occupied his mind.
Shaking his head, he smiled flatly and looked at everyone.
"Let's not let our hosts wait too much, yeah?" With that, he advanced onward the harbor for the first ship heading inland to the human domain.
Juvia gave Pandora a questioning look, but the latter helplessly shook her head and followed with Leona tightly holding her hand.
Pandora vividly recalled those crimson eyes as something inherent to House Hestia's main bloodline, now she was positive that someway somehow, this leader of theirs obtained the inheritance.
She simply couldn't believe that the young lady gave her first time to him, and she dreaded that woman's reaction when she found out that her man was sleeping around with trash from the branch households.
She sighed and decided to face things as they come, thinking to vent her frustrations on the fools blocking their path with whatever foolish ambush.
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