Immortal Kingdoms

Thousands of messages blasted into Leonardo's mind, stunning him silly. The next moment he opened his eyes with some clarity, a silver-white fox had already torn through space and kicked him into the same crack, then rushed back in.

For someone like her, sweeping the Forbidden Domain with her senses to locate Leonardo's exact position was as easy as breathing. The only reason she didn't do this earlier was an apprehension of accidentally disturbing his cultivation if he was in some deep state of meditation that is.

…

Thud!

Leonardo dropped on his back, laying flat on an artificial grassland under a sparkling white ceiling. He could hear so many people shouting by his side, from the youngest Leona to the oldest, Juvia.

He didn't hear Pandora's voice, but he didn't give it too much thought.

He sat up and opened his eyes, the pitch-black all-encompassing darkness within catching everyone by surprise. Leonardo could see countless timeline trajectories from each and every person present, some of them even intersecting to produce a great number of future timeline trajectories.

When his eyes landed on Aria, there were so many trajectories that he was momentarily blinded; as in his entire vision was black, the densest of black, making him come to realize that this innate martial intent wouldn't work on someone vastly stronger than himself.

He closed his eyes tightly, sorting out his thoughts before shaking his head and letting out a sigh. Then, he touched his stomach while muttering in a voice that wasn't loud or quiet, "I'm hungry…"

Leona who was a beautiful young lady almost fourteen years old now, about as tall as Pandora, couldn't hold it in anymore and directly plunged into Leonardo's chest, clutching at his tattered robes while soaking his skin in rivulets of salty, bitter tears.

Leonardo was shocked and surprised, hugging her frail shoulders that were trembling uncontrollably while giving everyone else a puzzled look, his eyes returning to their usual black, lifeless luster.

"What's wrong?" Leonardo also noticed that something was very off at the moment. Hence, his brows furrowed as he asked, "Was I gone for too long? What happened?"

Juvia sighed, "You've been missing for two years, my lord. A lot happened, too much to spill in a few sentences."

She rubbed her temples, "Long story short, the one who needs the most consolation right now is Pandora, it's best if she opens up on her own…"

"It's my fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! Uwa!"

Leona felt her heart tear apart at the mention of Pandora, crying even louder, her voice albeit ordinary, it stabbed into everyone's hearts like sharp blades.

Leonardo's eyes flickered with confusion as Leona's body went trembling out of control in his arms. He began to console and pat her back gently, he was honestly too hungry to think coherently, and he was utilizing every ounce of energy he had left to not pass out there and then from fatigue and hunger.

However, it was pointless, Leona simply continued to weep away and wallow in sel-blame. Out of desperation, Leonardo waved a hand to unsheath Wendy's short sword from her waist, and without any hesitation, he stabbed it to the base into his right thigh, having the pain stimulate him a bit.

"Papa!" Leona jumped in shock, even more tears rolling down her red cheeks, thinking that Leonardo did this because of her actions. She even misspoke, calling him 'Papa' directly instead of 'Godfather'.

However, Leonardo simply brought her head back into his chest with the other hand while whispering, "It's fine, I was feeling confused and sleepy so I had to wake up somehow… Come, let's go find Pandora."

Anyone in this room was strong enough to stop Leonardo from committing self-harm, but they also knew that he was still in a muddled state of mind after being dormant for two years doing nothing but cultivation.

They didn't know that he was actively going through millions of calculations per second for the most of the final few months of his cultivation, bringing his mind even worse fatigue. However, they could see it in his eyes; how exhausted he must be feeling.

Leonardo tossed the bloody sword aside with a clang, picked up the crying Leona who was now sobbing silently and asked everyone for directions about Pandora's current sleeping chambers in this vast Tesla's establishment.

He didn't know why they weren't in the usual inn, but he didn't give it much thought either. As for the thousands of messages, he simply ignored them, allowing the spiritual fluctuations to simply dissipate from his consciousness.

…

Pandora rarely interacted with anyone after she helplessly watched Zofia, Olivia, and Meranda commit suicide while banging their heads on the stone pavements of the inn, their faces washed with dirt, blood, and tears.

She understood their guilt as on that day, it was them who accompanied Leona and Kieran to play around Valdmor.

If she was responsible for the kidnapping, if anything happened to the two kids, would have committed suicide to atone as well.

The thing is, the two kids were fine.

Even if the three girls didn't know, everyone else knew that Aria was constantly keeping an eye on them because she knew how important they were to Leonardo.

No one had the time to explain this to the three girls before guilt ultimately ate away their convictions to carry on with living. If she knew, she would have told them earlier that there was a powerful expert always watching the kids from the dark.

She felt guilt, always feeling as though the blood of those innocent and naive assassins was on her two hands.

While she was silently lying on the massive bed, she heard the door to her room open, prompting her to take a look.

Her silver eyes were almost immediately wet and blurry, about to break into tears.

"Daddy…" she choked. She had too many things to say but didn't know where to start, she couldn't say that she had failed her subordinates and could only watch helplessly as they killed themselves.

No matter how great of an assassin she is, saving lives is the one thing an assassin doesn't know how to do, let alone console people who wish for death.

The four of them on that day were like fools, simply communicating through helpless tears and meaningless apologies, but the result was the same.

She felt utterly terrible inside.

Leonardo showed her a weak smile and gestured with his finger to keep quiet, his wound in the thigh already healed.

"Talking is pointless, I know you're tired, I'm also tired."

He sighed.

He placed Leona down with a peck on the forehead before directly climbing onto Pandora's bed and hugging her delicate, trembling body that felt so cold and fragile.

Pandora's eyes were so blurry she didn't even see Leona at first, the darkness in the room seemingly dully her senses.

Pandora stiffened, lying there in a daze as she took in this familiar yet unfamiliar scent, heard that calm yet powerful heartbeat, unable to help but press both her little palms on this broad chest.

Then, she began to silently weep until she no longer had the strength to shed tears anymore, quickly following in Leonardo's footsteps and falling asleep.

Leona who watched from the side didn't know what to do as guilt also tore at her little heart. Only, she also wanted to hug Leonardo to sleep after the two years separation. Thus, she ultimately climbed into the bed and hugged his back, quickly falling asleep as well.

Leonardo was just as bad when it came to consolations. Only, he truly felt very tired both mentally and physically, and the only solution to this fatigue, in his opinion, was a good night sleep.

He didn't know what type of turmoil or chaos ran rampant in Pandora's heart, but he could see it in her eyes.

She was also tired.

Too tired.

Hence, when people are tired, the best solution is still rest.

It is still sleep.