Leonida di Prava

**Leonida di Prava Gloria Cerestia Athena Matsu** is a heroine tied to the Land of Mu.

## Story

### The Pride of di Prava

Leonida was raised by the Italian di Prava family during World War II. Very early, she witnessed the death of her father at the hands of Birgit Thule, then was forced to leave, evacuated in a submarine that eventually sunk on the Land of Mu. There, quickly realizing the situation the island was in, Leonida resolved to climb the hierarchy and change that situation.

With the help of Safir Nialta and the mysterious man known as Yun, Leonida reached the capital city of Cerestia and showed her worth to the emperor Regel Cerestia, eventually becoming Leonida di Prava Cerestia and acquiring powers through the help of Regel's Alchemy. At the same time, she learned of Yun's nature as a cursed individual, a flesh-eating Lost.

### The Honor of Cerestia

Leonida kept making alliances to become stronger, among others with the shady Ophelius Chiro who sought to fabricate Miasma-based methods of gaining strength. As she attempted to do so in order to eliminate the most threatening Losts, Yun prevented her from doing so and instead enhanced Leonida with his own purified blood, reinforcing Leonida's body and granting her superior strength.

Despite a first defeat, Leonida eventually managed to overpower the rivaling Avici in an epic battle, before having to defeat the mischievous and extremely intelligent Kabuki who sought to rebuild a full Philosopher's Stone from its fragments. After defeating Kabuki, Leonida was forced to kill a wounded Yun who wanted his curse to be ended - which she did.

Leonida returned to the palace with the Stone, then chose to destroy it instead of using it to resurrect Yun, allowing her to dispel most of the Miasma in the Land. She then stayed there as an instructor, until she met Michael Dawne, a man who gave her the power to return Yun to life. She did so thus, and lived alongside Yun, eventually having a daughter with him, Tatsuko di Prava.

### The Dignity of Athena

Leonida was eventually brought to the Cheshire Isle, where she trained under Endymion, a man she briefly met in the past and strove to reach in terms of training. She also watched over several worlds, training and waiting for the day she would transcend - willingly seeking to become a Divine Servant marked with the sign of Leo.

Despite being apparently dead in her timeline, Leonida was seen during Gawyn Belten's travels in the Land of Mu as the mysterious figure of Athena, an impartial observer who watched over him during his several timelines, seeking to guide him towards the glorious end he sought - and eventually succeeding, before disappearing to destinations unknown.

## Appearance

Leonida is a stern, tall woman with long black hair and deep green eyes, dressed in a white militaristic uniform - although as a member of the Land of Mu, she sometimes wears the ceremonial clothing of the Cerestia. As Athena, she wore a massive, concealing black suit of armor.

## Personality

Leonida has always, even in her youth, been a being of immaculate honor, one who never shows a single sign of weakness and follows an ideal of absolute perfection. Every single mistake, every failure is for Leonida a fate worse than death, and she would rather face destruction than dishonor. Firm and heroic, Leonida is a figure of constant determination and regal bearing.

Sometimes seen as arrogant due to the way she often berates others, it cannot be denied that Leonida possesses a more-than-healthy amount of pride. However, Leonida never truly despises another, aside from those who have cast their honor away beforehand. Against those, Leonida is merciless in equal parts in word and action.

Leonida possesses a strong attachment to her family - her husband and daughter are worth more than everything to her, yet her sense of duty still prevents her from putting them before the world, as no single personal emotion should be in her opinion taken over the path of the absolute. Leonida is not as inhuman as she looks - but she seldom allows others to see it.

## Powers

* **Supernatural Physical Abilities:** Leonida's power was alchemically awakened at first by the Cerestia, then further reinforced by Miasma within her body. As a result, Leonida possesses tremendous abilities, and has developed her own weapon style.
* **Lion's Pride Leonida:** Leonida's battle style is adept of using equal parts intimidation and brute strength, to tower over her opponents and defeat them.
* **Monstrous Shape:** Leonida is able to turn into a serpentine beast by bolstering the Miasma within her, a massive, conquering snake able to quickly overpower her opponents.

## Storylines

* Honor the Forsaken depicts her as a central protagonist.
* Wanderer in Time briefly features her.
* Rise of the Phoenix features her as Athena.
* Pokemon Scarlet features her as one of Horen Spencer's last opponents. She surprisingly possesses pokemon from the continent of Palatia, hinting at that origin.

## Trivia

* Leonida's name is inspired from either the Latin world Leo - lion, an animal associated with pride and honor - or the legendary Spartan hero Leonidas.
* Athena was a Greek goddess of both war and wisdom, two elements intimately tied to Leonida's existence.
* She bears her title of 'Matsu' from her surprising similarities to the Rokugan Family of the same name.