?Not only was the princess confused speechless, even the supposed guardians were dumbfounded by the turn of events.


    Why was her aura ineffective against Leonardo?


    Little did they know that Nier specifically chose this for Leonardo''s growth since the old man saw through the nature of Leonardo''s martial intent. Though it wasn''t perfected yet, it still granted him an overwhelming edge when confronted with abilities derived from life attributes.


    Leonardo wasn''t stupid either and so he realised how much thought Nier put into his growth. Perhaps, she was as desperate as he was for an immortal under her banner, if not more.


    "Ode of the Elements!" The woman stopped messing around. A torrent of violent water rose into a thick pir from behind her in line with the obscure chanting, which quickly morphed into the head of a giant dragon the size of a standard house.


    The dragon parted its maw, revealing a set of jagged saw like fangs as it burst out with a deafening roar, ttening a few hundred metres of trees, not to mentionunching both Pandora and Mordred flying back in a helpless state.


    Leonardo nted both feet into the ground as he crossed both daggers in front of his chest, weathering the sonic storm as it came. From the distance, a loud boom resounded as Mordred crashed heavily into the ground, but he quickly sprung to his feet with a twisted expression flickering within his wild eyes.


    His muscles bulged, insanity rearing its ws on his face as an aura red as blood oozed from his pores. Crackling noises sounded, and his body began to transform then and there as though an awakened beast.


    Mordred cracked his neck and howled to the sky. Red fur jutted from his skin, and he began to take shape like a humanoid, wolven beast. If Leonardo didn''t know any better, he''d think that he was apanied by a werewolf this entire time. Mordred grew three metres tall, with a pair of long ears, red eyes, and a heavy tail as dangerous as his clean ws crowning each of his fingers.


    Pandora flipped twice or perhaps thrice in the air, neatly slipping off an ink-ck bow from her back, even though she didn''t carry anything of semnce to a quiver of arrows. Nheless, she ran her index along the translucent bowstring, cutting her soft flesh apart as blood began to ooze out almost naturally.


    A mysterious aura pulsed through the enchantments on the bow, and to everyone''s surprise, Pandora began to disappear there and then. Not even a trace of her life force, let alone aura could be spotted.


    The woman was truly enraged as the situation spiralled out of control. She wanted to scare them into working for her, as they were her ticket to the higher realms. However, she, a princess, was used to being haughty and providing one of two extremes.


    Either bow and prosper or defy and die.


    As for Leonardo, this was his first time engaging inbat with supernatural powers involved. In the Exiled Paradise, even though everyone there was either a peak divine or an immortal, everyone had to rely on their rawbat techniques and skills.


    No matter how rich Leonardo''s experience was, this is a whole new world for him, be it the Leonardo who walked out of his home or that mysterious prison. Now that he thought about it, he never got the chance to study anything remotely close to supernatural!


    Leonardo''s eyes widened in disbelief the moment this realization dawned upon him. Mordred could morph into a fucking werewolf, Pandora can disappear from sight and sense, while this princess with some twisted superiorityplex can summon water dragons.


    But what can he do?


    "Die!" The princess spoke tly before pointing her finger down at Leonardo the moment she captured the hint of distraction in his lifeless eyes.


    Shit! Leonardo snapped out of his split second daze, gritting his teeth against the overwhelming pressure as the water dragon plunged into him. He should have been prepared to dodge, but he was caught in a moment of weakness due to the fleeting thoughts.


    BOOM!<novelnext></novelnext>


    ? Like a relentless waterfall, the dragon head smashed into Leonardo''s arms and chest, but the in clothing around his body began to glow with mysterious inscriptions to tank the excessive force, leaving him with a few internal injuries as his body flung back like a cannonball.


    A trail of blood stained the water as Leonardo spat a mouthful.


    The woman smirked victoriously, but the corners of her eyes twitched, a sign of imminent danger. True to her senses, the veil of water parted as a massive, masculine, feral fur giant crashed through the remnants of the water dragon with a massive w cleaving down onto her.


    With constricted pupils, the woman hurriedly dodged to the side, only to spot three arrows in a spear formation arms length away from plunging into her chest. She quickly gathered a screen of water in front of her, ensnaring the blood arrows into a mire of magical elements. However, the next second, a heavy colossal tail smacked heavily into her spine, sending her flying in Leonardo''s direction with a blurry vision.


    BOOM!


    Leonardo smashed into the trunk of a thick tree. However, before he could grasp his breath, the woman mmed into his abdomen, causing him to gasp for air as he spat another mouthful of blood. However, he understood Pandora''s and Mordred''s intentions, quickly wrapping his arms around the woman''s waist.


    "You filthy piece of shit, let go this instant!" The woman raged, amassing an incriminating amount of elemental energy from nature all around. s, Leonardo spiked his unique martial intent, surrounding both himself and the woman in his embrace within its range.


    The woman''s face lost colour almost immediately as she could feel her connection to the vitality of nts and the elements being cut off. Worse, the energy she umted was being efficiently eradicated, recing it was a sense of dreadful destion.


    Cough! Cough!


    Leonardo coughed a bloody fit before falling to the ground, the woman caged between his arms and the ruined ground. He shed her a weak grin, but that was thest thing she saw before she felt a heavy blow to the back of her head before falling unconscious.


    Leonardo looked to the side where Pandora''s right leg retreated, followed by the reveal of her full figure under her ck cloak. With the reveal of her full face, Leonardo realised that she looked like a young child with that innocent round face.


    Thud!


    Mordrednded next to the party with his massive frame. Then, steam began to discharge from his joints as his body reverted back to its normal size, albeit his face looked a little pale with a sicklyplexion. Apparently, the transformation drained too much of his strength.


    "You looked badass and all, next thing we know, you get your ass handed to you! Hahaha!" Mordredughed weakly before dropping on his buttocks, clearly exhausted.


    "He merelycks experience." Pandora spoke while curiously inspecting Leonardo and the lingering sensation of his martial intent.


    "Was that your martial intent?" She asked him, not bothering to hide her curiosity, even though this question is somewhat awkward.


    Mordred coughed, but he kept quiet and silently snuck a nce at Leonardo who retreated to sit up against the tree. Thetter nodded, "It is, I call it Deste Martial Intent."


    "As you can see, it works wonders against an Elf, perhaps this is why she arranged for me toe here." Leonardo continued with a helpless shrug.