Immortal Kingdoms

It has been a month since Nier made it back to the headquarters of House Hestia, and she had closed up in her mother's bedchambers ever since. It was an isolated sub-dimension from space-time, making sure that the young lady wouldn't be distracted, disturbed, or spied upon during the period of her pregnancy.

As for Lady Rosaline, she was also confined to one of her many sub-dimensions in the grand castle, currently walking circles around a jade platform with what resembled the marionette of a silver fox. She was caught in a dilemma, muttering to herself.

"She won't blame me…"

"She will blame me…"

"She won't blame me…"

"She will blame me…"

"She won't…"

"She will…"

After who knows how long, Rosaline bit her bottom lip and spoke up her final decision, "I'll simply take a look! Just one quick look!"

Then, she sat in a meditative position one meter away from the jade pedestal that carried the divine artifact. This artifact was something Rosaline came across years before her marriage, but had no use for it ever since. Now, she could finally make use of it to sneakily stick by Leonardo's side.

She couldn't help it, her curiosity got the better of her. Thus, with a few hand seals, a strand of her will, complemented by her martial intent and a drop of blood essence emerged from her mind's eye.

The semi transparent drop of blood rushed into the marionette, specifically between its eyebrows, and dense soul fluctuations began to resonate between the marionette and Rosaline for a few hours.

Then, the little fox's eyes slowly parted, revealing an intelligent crimson glimmer within the feminine gaze. For the next few minutes, Rosaline spent the time getting accustomed to controlling the fox's body, voice, tone, and auxiliary matters.

When everything was ready, the fox muttered, but Rosaline's mesmerizing voice echoed from the lips, "So… Arcadia was it? How do we do this again?…"

The little fox waved her paw, slicing open a rift in space that viewed the peaceful atmosphere of planet Arcadia. With a faint smile, the little fox jumped into the spatial tear.

…

On a plateau half a day's distance away from Valdmor, Leonardo sat half naked between the assortment of eight-one high grade energy crystals. Although the young businessman was unbelievably rich with resources, these resources are means for him to further his cultivation rather than waste spending and investing on fateless endeavors.

A place like Arcadia doesn't have the necessary resources to support someone like Leonardo who enjoys the endowment of an immortal physique, and this point was further illustrated as waves after waves of worldly energy flooded into his body.

The concentration and density of the energy was so high, the entire surface area of the plateau was concealed in a transparent cloudy fog of worldly energy. This energy rushed into Leonardo's body through his pores, filtered through his muscles, flesh, blood, bones, marrow, and finally confined to his cells.

With a thought of Leonardo, a desolate aura representing his martial intent rushed from the depths of his heart and mind, joined up with the stream of worldly energy, and mended together within his cells in an effort to provide his internal energy with an essence of desolation.

This is the critical phase of ascension into sainthood.

However; at this moment, the unexpected happened.

Leonardo felt his blood boil over, a crimson red martial intent roiled about and rushed into the stream of worldly energy, its sudden presence almost shocking Leonardo awake from his meditation.

Little did Leonardo know that this unintended awakening of his bloodthirsty martial intent, something he wasn't planning on merging into the essence of his energy, was triggered by the presence of a small white fox on the border of his energy crystals formation.

"Your little Leonardo is lucky I was here for him! As a reward for my efforts, I'll stick around for a few years…" The little fox thought to herself while shamelessly scanning Leonardo's body inside and out, curious as to what outcome would fusing two martial intents derived from high laws would birth.

Leonardo wasn't in the mood to question why his martial intent suddenly triggered, but he guided it into his cells nonetheless. Unexpectedly, the dull gray and crimson red energies intertwined seamlessly, slowly blending into the torrents of worldly energy that was transitioning into internal energy.

Faint pulses of gray energy followed by crimson red energy discharged from Leonardo's skin, the two slowly coming together, interwoven to form a cocoon of energy that sucked up everything contained within the crystals holding the formation.

The little fox blinked, an invisible barrier forming to encapsulate the entire area, preventing unwanted sensory and the leak of stray energy fluctuations. Leonardo found himself entering a trance within the cocoon, unaware of the hectic mess outside.

Three days and three nights later, things gradually calmed down, and the eighty-one energy crystals crumbled into fine dust that was swept clean by the wind.

On the dawn of the fourth day, the cocoon of interwoven gray and crimson receded into Leonardo's body in a gradual motion before he opened his eyes that shuttled between dull gray and a crimson glimmer, only for a dominant stillness of a pitch-black lifeless gaze heavy with melancholy took over.

The expression in Leonardo's eyes caused the little heart of the fox to flutter, but Leonardo was too engrossed in the feeling of sainthood to notice the little creature. He quickly concealed his energy fluctuations internally and externally, albeit this act was redundant in the fox's eyes.

Noticing that he was butt naked, Leonardo was about to don a proper outfit before a white fur ball crashed into his face. Next thing he knew, a warm small tongue ran across his cheek, drenching him in saliva.

Shocked, Leonardo picked up the silver white fox that had a pair of enchanting crimson eyes. For some reason, this unfamiliar mystical beast felt endearing to him.

After a quick examination, he noticed that it was a female fox, but where it came from and to whom it belonged, he didn't know. However, her eyes were deep with intelligence.

"Are you lost, little one?" Leonardo asked.

The little fox was still relishing in the taste of Leonardo, as she couldn't contain herself from acting up. He definitely tasted good.

Hearing the question, she shook her head, indicating that she wasn't lost.

"Oh," Leonardo nodded, "Do you have an owner? A home?"

The little fox shook her head twice.

"Oh," Leonardo nodded, "Do you want to follow me? What's your name?"

The little fox nodded once, then shook her head. She wanted to follow him, but didn't have a name. She wouldn't actually talk to him, lest he was frightened into caution.

"Oh," Leonardo nodded, silently contemplating his options before saying, "How about Aria for a name?"

The little fox nodded her head in agreement. With that out of the way, Leonardo smiled faintly before placing the fox aside. Although it was cute, he needed to put on some clothes and hurry back to the inn.

Not that the little fox had any complaints. She eagerly feasted her eyes on this fine eye candy.

Oh Nier, you never mentioned he was this handsome, the fox thought to herself, albeit with a hint of guilt.