Immortal Kingdoms

"Miko! Shut up!"

Misaka pinched Miko's waist furiously, blushing to her ears.

Queen Adeline and Veronica were blushing deeply as well, with the latter lowering her head silently.

Valeria looked at Miko as though she was in the presence of some worldly marvel, this man's brain was a masterpiece. He simply blurts out whatever comes to mind. She planned to indicate it, subtly hinting, but not explicitly expressing it.

For one, this is a dining room filled with not only food but women of considerable upbringing and backgrounds. Two, this is the woman of his lord that they're discussing, is it alright to spout vulgarities involving her like that?

The reason she didn't speak the truth was precisely her consideration of Leonardo's current condition, but she also couldn't lie about it under the eyes of an expert like Aria, as that would only make them look insincere. Hence, she decided to take the middle ground and hint at it in a way that wasn't too obscure or too obvious.

Of course, not too obscene either.

However, a marvel like Miko existed in this world.

As expected, Leonardo's mind wasn't following the conversation the moment Miko's words left his mouth. The mere thought that he would need to go through a bloody war simply because some random dick coveted his woman wasn't something a sane man would accept peacefully, let alone someone with an unstable mind.

Under normal circumstances, keeping a calm state of mind wouldn't be oh so difficult for someone on Leonardo's level of intelligence and rationality.

"Calm down!" Aria's voice echoed in the room, loud yet soft, clear yet ephemeral.

Leonardo's body was shaking in his seat, patches of blood staining the blindfold red.

"Do something!" Misaka flew into a panic, if anything were to happen to Leonardo, influenced by her stupid little brother, she didn't know what awaited him in the not-so-far future. However, she didn't know what to do.

Miko, realizing his mistake, was also fidgety and anxious. He almost reflexively bit down his tongue out of guilt, but Misaka was quick to knock him unconscious with a blow to the back of the head.

Everyone was anxious, and Aria's crimson eyes glowed spectacularly as she tried to suppress Leonardo's boiling bloodthirsty martial intent that was roused together with his killing intent.

"No one can help him now, this is a trial for the heart. It's unexpected, but this was inevitable, Miko simply brought the test forward inadvertently," Aria spoke up once again, her eyes focusing on Leonardo.

Although she suppressed the bloodthirsty intent, that only brought Leonardo face to face with the ugliness of his subconscious mind whenever that intent took over.

Without the presence of that spirit, he would have to experience the discomfort, disgust, and paranoia brought about by ending someone's life. This isn't a feeling a teenager should be apathetic about, that's too abnormal.

Leonardo clutched at his head, trembling and clenching his teeth. In his mind, the darkness faded, enveloped by a crimson sky dripping with blood. From behind the sky, countless corpses began to rain down, descending like a hailstorm, an avalanche, a crumbling mountain of screaming corpses.

Despair and hopelessness filled their eyes as they came crashing down like a tsunami.

Alarmed, he tried to summon forth his bloodthirsty armament instinctively. However, he quickly realized that he couldn't. In fact, he didn't have a lick of energy, he was standing there naked.

Before he realized it, the sky came crashing down.

The corpses, with all their disgusting blood, raced toward him.

They bit down his arms, feet, legs, and torso, and not a spot of his body was spared. Not only that, they even began to scream directly into his ears, parting his mouth open and their blood spilled down his throat.

He tried to shout but no sound came out.

He tried to struggle but felt paralyzed.

The more he tried to escape, the tighter their hold was on his body and mind.

The sea of corpses was endless, and their cries of agony and hatred filled the earth and sky.

In the outside world, Leonardo had long stumbled off his chair, convulsing on the transparent floor as blood leaked from his mouth, nose, and ears. As for his blindfold, it was no longer white but a deep crimson.

Juvia was already hysterical, Valeria holding onto her daughter tightly and keeping her away from approaching. Not paying mind to her status or location, Juvia quite literally fought with her mother, tooth, and nail, as she bit and scratched at her mother's arms.

It couldn't be helped, Leonardo's current display was simply too frightening.

Only Aria knew what was going on, with Pandora guessing parts of it as a servant to House Hestia. Thus, out of everyone present, those two were quite calm on the surface.

Princess Veronica had long since fainted in Queen Adeline's embrace, her mental fortitude being too weak to cope with such a bloody scene.

Inside his mind, Leonardo felt so suffocated he simply had the idea to just give up and let them have their way with his body and mind. However, in that moment of despair, his crimson eyes were consumed by a pitch-midnight abyss of darkness, and everything around him went still.

The screaming stopped.

The sky darkened.

The millions of corpses began to disintegrate into specks of black dust.

Behind the mountains of corpses, a towering illusory black gate appeared, its doors open ever-so-slightly. Through the narrow crack in the door, an abyss of darkness could be seen.

In the abyss of darkness was a vast black sea.

Above the black sea was a silent, drifting moon.

No.

Looking closely, it wasn't a moon, but something akin to a translucent pearl shining in the darkness.

Streaks of dull grey, crimson red, and inky black energies would occasionally flash through its depth. As for the black sea below, it seemed motionless yet not, depthless yet not, but also present yet not.

At the bottom of the sea was a massive black heart, floating silently along the waves. Then, the heart throbbed once.

A powerful heartbeat that sent the sea roiling over with motion, a black tide crashing through the black gate and sweeping across the crimson domain of blood. Very quickly, the once crimson world became a vast expanse of deep darkness, with nothing but Leonardo floating aimlessly in this space.

Before realizing it, his body was brought in through the crack of the towering gate.

BANG!

The doors were sealed shut once more.

In the outside world, the blood stopped leaking from Leonardo's body that stopped convulsing. At least, it stopped flowing through his mouth, ears, and nose.

As for his eyes, the red blood was now dyed black, startling even Aria.

With a wave of her paw, the red blindfold disintegrated, revealing a sight that shook everyone to the core.

Leonardo's pupils had expanded to overlap his irises and the whites of his eyes, reflecting a pitch-black abyss of stillness. Two rivers of a mysterious black substance poured from his eyes, but his expression was serene and vacant, practically lifeless.

"Wake up!" Aria shouted, her voice accompanied by a frightening Immortal Will that drilled into Leonardo's mind with the intent to rouse him awake. This development was too eerie and weird.

Within the depths of Leonardo's consciousness, just as he was about to be submerged in the black sea, his mind shook.

His listless eyes brimmed with the sparkle of intelligence, and he was shocked by what he saw.

Sensing clearly, this was obviously his sea of consciousness, but what did it look like so?

Just as he was thinking, Aria's voice echoed all around him, startling him. Then, a powerful heartbeat echoed, clashing with the invading voice. On the outside world, Aria's little body shook, disbelief coloring her eyes.

However, no one noticed as the blackness receded from Leonardo's eyes back to his pupils as though nothing happened.

Leonardo looked at Aria.

Aria looked at Leonardo.

"Why hello…" Leonardo muttered with a weak smile.

Then, Leonardo fell unconscious…

"You imbecile…" Aria muttered, dazed.