Chapter 24 Dreadful Miscalculations

"What in the hell is going on…" Leonardo gawked in disbelief at the crowds of frightened civilians streaming out from Valdmor's gates, the lines of brash burly men lined up in siege outside the town, and rows of armed combatants shouting battle cries.

At the helm of this group of crazy bastards was Andrew. Behind him stood fifteen capable bodyguards, each of them armed with an energy rifle familiar to that Leonardo saw with Pandora two days ago.

"Did you act on your own accord without my consent again?" Leonardo asked Pandora who was just as confused as he.

She quickly shook her head in denial of such accusations before claiming her innocence of such actions, "No! Leader, I have done nothing without you explicit permission ever since your return!"

Leonardo touched his chin and observed the changes with interest. Seemingly, the value of these energy rifles is beyond his original estimations. Luckily, Juvia was already a saint, thus he needn't worry about the children in her company.

"Mason! This is your last chance to come clean, otherwise don't blame me for marching on your town and raze it to the ground!" A level 25 cultivator stood next to Andrew, screaming out words that the businessmen whispered into his ears.

Valdmor is an ancient town where many forces across the forbidden domain are entrenched and involved in its economy. Just because of their backgrounds, that doesn't mean they could afford to throw their weight around bullying people or harming the daily operations of the market.

Thus, the only way to resolve this conflict is by taking it elsewhere, and elsewhere could also mean openly going to war. The thick gates of the town opened and a party of four walked out at leisure.

One mature female elf, two human children, and a fat man sweating buckets with a nervous smile on his face.

Juvia, Leona, Kieran, and Jeffery strode through the tension-wracked streets, each with a different expression on their faces. Both Jeffery and Leona seemed awfully uncomfortable, Kieran had a solemn expression on his otherwise calm young features, while Juvia utterly disregarded everything else.

The ruckus and fighting early in the morning frightened Leona awake into shock and tears. The girl was always awfully enthusiastic about expressing her emotions just as much as she was sensitive to the emotions of everyone around her.

Terms such as an open book, heart on her sleeves, and emotional mess couldn't describe this lass any better. If it wasn't for that, Juvia wouldn't bother leaving the inn and accompanying the children outside the town.

She attempted to isolate the room inside a sound barrier with her energy. Alas, much like Pandora's concealment, this failed to block the girl's instincts and hyper sensitivity to an atmosphere heavily invested in raw negative emotions.

Left without a choice, Juvia could only leave the confines of the town until things calmed down. This would have been a good choice if Jeffery wasn't tagging along, as the mere sight of his face angered Andrew as a potential idea finally surfaced in his mind.

Could they have been played? Perhaps it was Jeffery who stole the rifle and pinned the blame on Mason? Was he vindictive that they had enough capital to buy these weapons and have enough money to spare for fortifications?

That must be it! Andrew who saw only in red with no target to vent his frustrations quickly locked eyes on Jeffery who was stiffly following behind the group.

Andrew was unaware of the association between Juvia, the two children, and Leonardo. For all he knew, Jeffery's mere company of an elf is a living proof that the man brought elven interference into their clash of interest.

Out of everyone in the group, perhaps only Leona perceived the brewing hatred directed towards their group out of everyone evacuating from Valdmor. In fact, Leonardo noticed something off as well, but he was too far to act and the enraged Andrew already pulled out a heavy revolver and opened fire in the group's general direction.

Next thing everyone knew, a bullet ran through multiple bodies of humans and other races alike.

Mason's marksmanship aside, Andrew's aim was far from perfect, and the bullet was just that fast.

"LEONA!" Leonardo's lifeless eyes constricted, and the next thing he knew, his vision altered between bleak grey and dense red, almost rendering the man blind. His shout was so loud it struck like a clap of thunder in the distance, shaking the cliff he mounted to the base as rocks and debris came crashing down the high mountain behind him like an avalanche.

Pandora flet her blood boil over while Juvia felt a heavy tug at her soul, snapping her to make an instinctive decision. Next thing she knew, she pushed the children away and stood firm in the face of the incoming projectile of energy that carried the volume of an essence crystal.

With a splash of viscous red, the bullet wedged deep into her abdomen, but it couldn't penetrate through Juvia's physique that was full of energy within and out. Juvia spat a mouthful of blood and dropped to one knee. Had she had enough time, any defensive spell would do, but she had to make a snap decision.

Jeffery and Kieran gaped in a daze while Leona outright fainted from the overbearing influx of raw emotions in the air. However, a cacophony of miserable crises suddenly alerted everyone to look in the direction of those gut wrenching wails.

A puddle of blood formed under the hundreds of armed soldiers behind Andrew as a white silhouette raced through their ranks.

Arms, feet, and heads rolled to the skies as the entire formation sank into pandemonium. It was a petite girl with ferocity in her silver eyes and a pair of curved, serrated white daggers dancing elegantly in her hands while she claimed one limb at a time, and oftentimes her strikes proved fatal.

Pandora didn't know why, but her blood kept urging her with cryptic signals for blood and slaughter. Little did she realise that this was a mere proxy to the havoc running through Leonardo's mind as he struggled to maintain his rationality. Although Pandora's martial intent was derived from a lesser law than his desolation, rendering it outright ineffective, his cultivation base had outright broken through the minor membrane representing his level cap.

The latter stages of the mortal cycle, the bridge towards sainthood as some may refer to it, allowed for the faintest traces of projected telepathy, and whose a better conduit to these other than his two followers? Hence, the excessive irrationality Leonardo could not contain was transferred over to Pandora, who ruthlessly expressed these unspeakable whims to commit senseless slaughter even though no one was suffering any grave dangers.

While everyone gaped in horror at the unfolding massacre, Leonardo silently appeared in front of the kneeling and gasping Juvia, carefully inspecting her injuries. Luckily, the projectile was an expression of energy and thus quickly dissipated into the natural order of the world. Other than that, Juvia's wounds began to slowly but surely heal themselves.

Juvia smiled weakly at Leonardo's eyes which altered curiously between dark grey and scarlet red, with an occasional flash of absolute lifeless darkness. She didn't know if these erupting emotions were for her sake or his Godchild, but she felt privileged to witness the conflict within those eyes.

"Don't worry, leader…" Juvia whispered feebly, "I'm not dying before…" Her last sentence was nothing more than incoherent ramblings as she quickly fainted from the excessive blood loss, landing weakly into Leonardo's broad chest.

He truly underestimated the intelligence of Jeffery's business partners. These borderline idiots almost cost him dearly, and he dreaded the thought of it.

Leonardo sighed, shutting his eyes to get a grip over his emotions before barking at the still dazed Kieran, "Kieran, snap out of it!"