(The Time-Stilled World, Leo's Isolated Mansion, Leonardo's POV)
Leonardo strolled into Leo's mansion without the slightest trace of the hesitation that most men felt when approaching the Shadow Dragon, for unlike them, who revered Leo with the fear one reserved for gods, he simply loved him as his uncle.
*Step*
*Step*
His boots clicked softly against the marble floor, the sound echoing faintly through the vast silence of the mansion.
The air within felt unusually heavy, dense with mana, as faint ripples of restrained power shimmered through the walls like invisible waves, a constant reminder of the being who resided here.
No guards stood at the entrance, no servants lingered in the halls. The mansion was vast but lifeless, designed for solitude rather than comfort, with no ornaments, no scent of food or flowers, and no trace of daily human life, only stillness, pure and absolute.
