Immortal Kingdoms

As curious as they were about the martial intent, there were other pressing matters at hand. For example, their injuries. Another example? The unconscious self-proclaimed elf princess.

The trio agreed to relocate into a cave at the belly of the mountain nearby. Oddly enough, the mountain range seemed to stretch infinitely to either side and into the clouds. The only hint of a possible peak is the heavy waterfall descending through the clouds.

The sound of the rushing water as it slammed into the rockery below before it trickled into the seemingly bottomless lake. Mordred observed nature's display of phenomenal dominance and took in a sharp, deep breath.

"Kid, what was it like to have a dragon-like a waterfall slam into you?" In the heat of the moment, Mordred didn't put much thought into the attack of an infuriated moody princess but seeing this now forced him to take a double take. He took a glance at the woman resting on his back, then he surreptitiously looked at Leonardo who happened to be smiling at him.

The smile seemed to be saying something like, it wasn't that bad. However, Leonardo knew that if it weren't for his garments, he might have been squashed to death there and then, and the princess wouldn't be caught off guard by the underwhelming performance of her spell.

It was already at the brink of dawn when the three finally made it around the lake's circumference and into a naturally carved cave. Once inside, Pandora administered some exotic medicine to the sleeping princess, claiming that this will rob her of the ability to channel or control energy for a week at most, meaning they would need to periodically check her condition.

She seemed to have noticed something off with her body, grunting and waking up the next moment, albeit with apparent difficulty. Since Pandora had something in mind to ask Leonardo, she immediately knocked the woman unconscious once again, then curiously inspected her dress that was conjured through a water spell.

Who would have expected that the disarray in the woman's internal energy would cause the fabric-like clothing to gradually melt back into liquid before seeping into the ground?

Mordred and Leonardo stood there, dumbfounded. They stared at Pandora's back, their thoughts unknown.

Pandora felt their questioning eyes trained on her back as she posed there with a hand-stretched over against the woman's bare chest, feeling wronged for all the possible reasons. Leonardo wisely turned his back and left the dimly lit cave.

As for Mordred? He swallowed nervously while mumbling, "I call dibs on going first… Her blood essence is very beneficial to me. Don't worry, I won't stoop so low as to take advantage of her sexually..."

Pandora glared hard at the brute with a pair of red eyes before she rushed outside. Only now did Mordred realize that Leonardo was no longer standing by his side, but he simply assumed that they agreed to his request as the alpha male.

With a silly grin, he picked up the unconscious princess and advanced into the darker corners of the cave.

…

"It's not what it looked like!" Pandora hurriedly blurted out the moment she stepped outside the cave, but the scene that greeted her doused all the fires of tension in her heart. Leonardo was like a fleeting feather as he practiced blade dancing near the banks of the lake.

Golden specks of sunlight reflected from the mirror-like lake and onto the young silhouette. His expression was calm, focused; lifeless even. From the looks of it, he didn't even care what they did or what thoughts they harbored.

Disturbed by the sudden cry, Leonardo's steps faltered slightly before coming to a rhythmic stop. He then let out a long breath of negative energy that was running amok throughout his internal organs.

"I know," Leonardo shook his head helplessly, "I thought to give you some privacy to cover her up. I never expected you'd leave Mordred to his own devices in there with a defenseless woman. Well, not that I can do anything about it."

Leonardo is well aware that he's behind both Mordred and Pandora when it comes to both strength and experience, the only thing keeping him as a leader figure was his current status in House Hestia.

Am I going to take pride in being a slave now? Seriously? Leonardo flinched.

"You wanted to learn about my martial intent, right?" Leonardo threw the odd thoughts to the back of his head before approaching Pandora with a flat smile, handing back the two daggers.

Pandora visibly relaxed and accepted her two daggers, although Leonardo didn't get a chance to use them. He said, "I'll tell you about my experience if you want, but I hope to hear about your experience in former planetary invasions as well."

Pandora nodded, "I'm okay with that, anything about martial intent would help." She then proceeded to sit down, folding her legs into a comfortable position. Leonardo stood to the side, not bothering to sit down.

"My master said that a martial intent is a reflection of someone's sentiments. You need to find a balance between relying on both energy and sentiment."

"Sentiment?" Pandora muttered as she sank into thought as she pondered the meaning behind these words. Of course, she assumed that by the master, Leonardo meant Nier, unaware of his visit to the Exiled Paradise.

"I heard rumors that House Hestia's main line of descendants cultivate their Bloodthirsty Martial Intent by killing 1,000 people for every birthday from their 10th birthday, and they will uphold the tradition until they finally attain sainthood, where the 1,000 becomes 10,000…" There was a trace of fear in Pandora's eyes as she spoke.

Leonardo didn't doubt the validity of such rumors because where there is smoke, there is fire.

Leonardo came to the realization that he doesn't know much about House Hestia at all, not even their names. This feeling of hollowness was quite odd. At least, these negative feelings are an indication that he began to display a semblance of care towards House Hestia; perhaps towards that woman herself.

These must be my post-sex thoughts, I'm definitely not suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, that would be absolutely ridiculous. Leonardo began to inwardly panic.

(Author Note: Stockholm syndrome is a coping mechanism for a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time.)

Leonardo noticed that Pandora was staring intensely at him, she must be waiting for him to either validate or invalidate these rumors.

"What do you think?" He threw the question back at her, mostly curious about her subconscious image of House Hestia as Nier didn't strike Leonardo as the bloodthirsty type. Then again, his strength isn't at a level to understand an individual's intent at all, let alone grab a feel to it.

Pandora pondered over the question before responding, "I don't know, but my big brother once said that he caught a glimpse of their floating castle near the Central Star System, and the phenomenon distinguishing their castle from the rest was a flowing curtain of blood sinking into the void…"

Although Pandora didn't say it explicitly, her answer was pretty clear.

Again with the hearsay and rumors, but these must hold a figment of sentimental value to her. Leonardo was about to respond when an ominous feeling washed over his sense of danger, and Pandora seemed to realize it as well.

Both of them flipped over and looked into the dimly lit cave, and the next thing they knew, a loud screech not unlike that of metal grinding against stone echoed out.

"RUN AWAY! DON'T LOOK BACK!"

The screeching was so loud it almost muted the voices of Mordred and the elf princess!

Mordred's panicked shout rang out, accompanied by a stomach-churning cry that ought to have come from the princess as her blood-stained body was launched out like a cannonball, smashing into the dazed Pandora and Leonardo who attempted to rush inside with wild abandon. The impact was so great the three stumbled into the lake with a splash.

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