Immortal Kingdoms

Leonardo silently stared them down for a few minutes before he started talking in his trademark flat tone.

"Unlike Miko, the five of you were forced into following through with the mission against your wills. Your loyalties don't lie with me, and you don't need to put up an act when your brothers kept falling for my sake, even though I could have saved them all."

"That's right, I could have had my saints save them, on more than one occasion, but I let them die anyway. In a sense, I was more of a cause to their death than Miko was, and that's the truth."

"I'm going to dispatch each of you to one of the five towns where you'll meet up with my slaves, two thousands per estate to be exact. Then, you'll join the great culling that I'm planning for the various slaves from the first to the fourth mortal cycles."

"The only one exempt from the great culling will be Miko, but the five of you should look forward to days of slaughter in a grotesque survival game where only the elite will make the cut."

"Out of the ten thousand slaves, nine thousand will serve as no more than whetstones for my elite garrison units. However, regardless of the results, I need two fourth cycle mortals for each garrison, and one of the two will recover my blessings and ascend to sainthood if they prove their loyalty."

"However, I'm not so cruel as to pit the five of you against one another so I'll simply dispatch each of you to a different unit. Hopefully, by the end of the great culling, you'll reunite with one another."

Leonardo spoke in a flat tone before making his way towards the entrance of the border fortress, followed by Pandora, Juvia holding the hands of Kieran and Leona, and a silent Miko trailing behind with a lowered head.

Only the five survivors were left behind, kneeling silently as if they haven't heard a word.

…

Twelve cloaked individuals sat in the perimeter of a massive round table. If one was to look carefully, these twelve were mere projections oscillating between reality and illusion, making it impossible to discern their true identities.

One of them spoke in an encrypted voice, "This is absurd, the hallucinations of an alarmist. We're literally having our discussions in random locations throughout the neutral chaos zone, not to mention the dozens of space-time folds surrounding the sub-dimension we hold our meetings in."

"And now, we need to take our security measures a step further and project our souls under disguised frequencies? What next? Implant our nascent souls into the fledgling souls of infants and hold this meeting when they're old enough to talk?!"

"Do you honestly think House Hestia, that declining House Hestia, warrants such caution and cowardice?!"

"It can't be helped!" Someone else interjected, "The fortunate and fate of House Hestia had been tampered with and obscured, it is nigh unpredictably as things stand. I believe they have made connections with a powerful immortal wielding fortune related martial intent, making it impossible to divine their actions."

"The only thing we know is that Nier visited three different locations before disappearing from our eyes and ears. First, the ISC slave auction. Second, the Exiled Paradise. Third, a private house occupying a wormhole portal to the middle realms; planet Arcadia."

"It is impossible to figure out what Nier did in the Exiled Paradise, we don't even know how long she spent inside. However, after that incident, both Nier and lady Rosaline Hestia went into seclusion, and it has been seven months since."

"I don't know why, but the head of my house is having an ill feeling as of recently, and that feeling is but snowballing by the day. We can't keep in the dark anymore, which is why I summoned all of you."

"We need to make a move!"

The voice concluded in a solemn tone.

"What do you have in mind?" Someone of the twelve, a person who kept silent until now, asked flatly.

The voice responded, "Well, we obviously can't get anything from the stewards in the ISC auction, we also can't infiltrate Earth to investigate it or what was so special about the slave, let alone going to the Exiled Paradise as gods know how many years went inside there."

"Our only option is to take advantage of both ladies of House Hestia being in seclusion and infiltrate Arcadia. However, we can only dispatch first and second cycle saints, anything beyond that and we wouldn't be able to maintain a low profile."

"I give you all two weeks to dispatch a force comprised of one saint and at least ten fourth cycle mortals with enough potential to ascend by utilizing Arcadia's laws. If anything, they are permitted to act first and report later."

With that, the meeting concluded on a fairly peaceful note unlike the former which devolved into a fit of childish bickering.

"Before you go!" The voice suddenly called out, "As you all know, five years from now, the Interstellar Supreme Court will open the gates to its Interstellar Supreme Institution. As direct heirs to our Immortal Kingdoms, we will receive an enrolment letter of recognition each; just make sure to not act in a way that'd expose our affiliations to one another when the time comes. That's all."

Meanwhile, in the crimson domain of House Hestia's Immortal Kingdom, in a safely guarded sub-dimension where rivers of blood from a source unknown poured into a vast yet shallow lake, Nier was relaxing naked in the liquid.

Her bulging stomach pierced through the opaque surface, vivid runes written in dull gray and flaring crimson pulsating across her skin.

The only unfortunate aspect of this beautiful scene would be the criss-crossing scars all over her petite figure. She couldn't believe that someone would actually feel attracted to such a body. Overwhelmed, his first impression was.

She lovingly stroked her stomach while facing the almost impossible riddle in the face of every parent to have existed on the face of this universe.

What to name the baby?

Her crimson eyes flashed as she attempted to pry into her own womb to take a look at her unborn daughter greedily swallowing the worldly energy infused with the essence of bloodthirsty and desolation. However, before she could enjoy the features of her unborn child, a membrane of gray matter blocked her vision, making her feel as though her senses resembled a stone sinking towards the depths of a spiraling abyss of nothingness.

This sensation was reminiscent to that which she felt while looking into the deep abyss which was Leonardo's eyes, causing the young lady to sigh helplessly.

"Well, you surely take after your father, silly child…" Nier muttered.

"Does she?" A feminine voice broke the silence as a tall woman dressed in a blood red phoenix gown walked into the sub-dimension with her proud thick thighs, striking bust, and symmetrical eyes.

"Mother?" Nier was momentarily shocked before she blushed slightly.

Half a year of solitary confinement with her unborn child caused her to frequently hold periodical meaningless conversations, but she never expected her mother to spy on her.

Rosaline chuckled and covered her little mouth, smiling faintly as she responded to the embarrassed young girl, "I used to talk to you just like that back in the days when I was all alone, you don't need to feel embarrassed. I only stopped by to tell you I'm going to enter seclusion until the grand opening of the Interstellar Supreme Institution."

Nier sighed in relief knowing that she wasn't the only one to act in such a senseless manner. However, she was still concerned about the whole institution thing and thus voiced her thoughts, "Is it alright for our house to file in students? I mean…"

She wanted to remind her mother about their current situation.

Rosaline snorted coldly, and the entire sub-dimension trembled with her sentiment. She announced coldly, "They really don't take any immortals seriously unless they have a dick between their legs, huh? Don't worry, your mother has been feeling stiff for a few thousand years. I have the urge to stretch a little. By the time you enter the institution five years from now, no one will bully my baby girl."

In reality, Rosaline had some other impure motives. For example, she didn't want to be disturbed throughout the five years vacation she planned to spend immersed in her act as Aria, the cute little fox.

As she turned around, she seemed to think about something as she spoke in an unnatural tone, "Urm, so you were in a dilemma about a name, right? You can thank me by naming her Aria…"

As soon as she finished, she split the space of the sub-dimension and walked out, leaving a dazed Nier behind.

Much like Leonardo, Nier was also filial. Thus, she would take her mother's suggestion seriously and name her daughter Aria.

Five years later, Leonardo would be surprised by this coincidence, and naturally, he would love the name.