[Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]

    Chapter 147@@@@

    “What are you talking about? Six Sword Path?”

    Kaylen recalled Melvria’s Dragon Tongue magic from earlier.

    —Six Sword Path , Dragon Flame.

    A fusion of darkness mana and fire mana—Dragon Flame.

    Its appearance resembled a black sun in a state of eclipse.

    The power contained within was so overwhelming that if he hadn’t awakened the Holy Sword’s power within the ‘Greatsword’...

    The one lying here right now would have been Kaylen himself.

    “Father realized his essence and evolved the Six Sword Path.”

    “...My essence?” Kaylen questioned, identifying himself with his father. Melvria glared at him.

    “...Father is the Dragon’s Incarnation and its Heart.”

    I am the Dragon’s Incarnation and its Heart?

    Kaylen was puzzled as to why he kept being associated with dragons, but then something came to mind.

    Infinity—Mana without limits.

    The Meier lineage once called themselves the descendants of dragons because this mana’s properties resembled the Dragon Heart, a dragon’s mana core.

    “...Don’t tell me, the Dragon’s Heart refers to Infinity?”

    “There was a time when it was called that... but after realizing the essence of dragons, Father corrected its name to the proper one—Dragon Heart.”

    “......”

    If he had heard this before witnessing the Six Sword Path, he would have dismissed it as nonsense...

    But in Melvria’s Six Demonic Path, Kaylen could feel the presence of the Six Sword Path.

    ‘In a way... it does feel like an evolution, just as Melvria said.’

    The Six Sword Path, wielded through Dragon Tongue.

    Its power was extraordinary.

    Melvria had fused darkness and fire mana.

    Kaylen had barely managed to withstand it by using all four swords, plus the Holy Sword.

    “...What exactly are you?”

    “Can’t even recognize your own father, Ria?”

    “Don’t call me that so casually!”

    At the mention of ‘Ria,’ Melvria’s face turned red with anger.

    Ria—the pet name used by Ernstine when addressing her.

    Only Father had the right to call her that.

    And yet, for some reason...

    When Kaylen called her ‘Ria,’ it felt so nostalgic, so familiar.

    ‘Why...? Against the spirit of my resurrected, great father, Ernstine, I felt only reverence and awe. But Kaylen... feels familiar.’

    The way he looked at her, his expression...

    It reminded her of the happiest memories from long ago.

    “...And to think you were so grateful for inheriting my face just moments ago.”

    “What?!”

    Melvria’s eyes widened in shock.

    Among Ernstine’s children, she had always been the one who resembled him the most.

    Though she appeared slightly more feminine than Ernstine, her facial features were nearly identical.

    She had always taken pride in that—being the child who looked most like her father.

    After joining the Helmeier lineage and transforming into a Dark Elf, her appearance had changed, and she no longer felt the resemblance.

    But back when she was still a Half-Elf...

    Looking at her reflection had felt like gazing into a mirror.

    —Daddy! I look the most like you, don’t I?

    —Then again, anyone who sees you, Ria, would think we’re twins.

    —Hehehe.

    At Kaylen’s words, memories of the imperial palace resurfaced in Melvria’s mind.

    Those joyful moments spent looking at each other, marveling at their similar features alongside her father.

    It was a memory she had never shared even once with the newly resurrected Dragon’s Incarnation, Ernstine.

    ‘Could he really... be Father?’

    For a brief moment, the thought crossed Melvria’s mind, but she quickly shook it off, startled at herself.

    How could she mistake that wraith for the great father, Ernstine, who had truly returned?

    She had nearly let herself be deceived by a fraud.

    “You are insolent. Judging by your use of the Six Sword Path, you must be a descendant of Meier. Yet you dare speak so carelessly to an ancestor?”

    “Ria. Has anyone besides me ever wielded the Six Sword Path? You wanted to learn it yourself, but you never could. And yet, a descendant is using it—can you really accept that?”

    “Ugh...”

    Melvria was at a loss for words.

    The Six Sword Path.

    Standing amidst the ruins, Kaylen stared at the lingering traces of the black vortex.

    “Next time, I won’t just stand and watch.”

    * * *

    A massive cavern pulsed with dark energy.

    The black ceiling and floor writhed as if alive, and at the cavern’s center, a towering throne stood alone.

    “...Melvria.”

    The figure seated on the throne was an unusual sight.

    His lower half was nothing but bones, yet his upper body, arms, and head retained a human form.

    A half-undead.

    With silver hair, golden eyes, and a long beard, he was a middle-aged man.

    “I’m surprised you were defeated. Did you not use the Six Demonic Path?”

    “...I did.”

    “Oh? And yet, your dragon armor was broken?”

    The half-undead stroked his long beard as he questioned Melvria.

    “Who was your opponent?”

    At his question, Melvria coldly responded.

    “...I don’t know. I was too busy running.”

    “Is that so?”

    At Melvria’s response, the half-undead crossed his legs.

    Clatter.

    The sound of bones grinding against each other echoed through the silent cavern, making Melvria furrow her brows.

    Every time he moved like that, something ominous always followed.

    “There shouldn’t be anyone in the Middle Realm capable of challenging you... Was your opponent from the Celestial Realm or the Demon Realm?”

    “I told you, I don’t know.”

    “I never expected the fourth-ranking figure of Helmeier to be so lacking in awareness.”

    With a snap of his fingers, a screen appeared in the darkness.

    Displayed on it was a prison scene.

    Fifty elves, their ears long and pointed, were crouched on the floor, dressed in prison uniforms.

    “Make sure to pay attention next time.”

    Whoosh!

    Black flames erupted inside the prison.

    The elves were engulfed in an instant, their bodies writhing in agony as they were consumed by the inextinguishable fire.

    Melvria watched the scene with a cold, impassive gaze.

    “What are you doing? They were meant to become part of Father’s essence. Burning them so meaninglessly...”

    “Elves can always be captured again. What matters now is that you get your head straight.”

    The half-undead smirked as he stroked his beard, while Melvria’s expression twisted in undisguised disgust.

    “What a pointless act. What do you gain from this?”

    “Well, you are only a half-blood. I suppose elves dying means nothing to you.”

    “...Caius!”

    Caius.

    Kaylen’s eldest son and the second emperor of the Meier Empire.

    With a smile, he tapped his bony knees, the skeletal remains of his lower half.

    “Caius? You shouldn’t call me that, Melvria. That was the name of my weak human self. Address me properly—as Emperor.”

    “...Fine. But you remember this too. I am not a half-elf. I am Helmeier.”

    “As you wish.”

    “I’m leaving.”

    As Melvria turned away, the Emperor of Geysir Empire, Caius, grinned and spoke again.

    “By the way.”

    “What?”

    “Are you sure you don’t remember anything? About your opponent.”

    “No.”

    Step. Step.

    Melvria strode out of the cavern.

    Caius watched her retreating figure, twirling his beard with a dissatisfied expression.

    “...Something feels off.”

    No matter how strong her opponent was, it didn’t make sense for someone of Melvria’s caliber to come away with no information at all.

    ‘And she’s acting even more rigid than usual.’

    She hadn’t even flinched when the elves were slaughtered, only repeating the same empty response like a parrot.

    Caius’s golden eyes gleamed as he murmured to himself.

    “...I should consult the Chief Observer.”

    [Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]