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Chapter 611.1: The Second Promise (1)

Humans rarely remembered their dreams, but today, Roel learned that it was possible for a dream to be vividly imprinted onto a person’s mind, especially when it involved the sudden discovery that one had a daughter.

The abrupt parting in the dreamscape filled Roel with an intense feeling of loss, but before he could process it, his eyes suddenly shot open and he found himself met with a face.

A woman was tightly embracing him. Her long black hair flowed down her shoulder, contrasting sharply with her fair skin tone. Her beautiful lips tempted one’s desires, and her amethyst eyes shrouded her in an air of enigma. She carried herself with an air of nobility and loftiness.

She was Lilian Ackermann, the Austine Empire’s ice beauty, though her cold edge was nowhere to be seen now. Her eyes brimmed with tenderness as she looked at Roel.

“You’re finally awake?”

“…Senior?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Lilian replied with a smile.

Roel clenched his fists tightly. Even discounting the year he had spent in the Witness State, it had been a long time since he had last met Lilian. Compelled by the raging feelings in his chest, he sat upright and tightly hugged the woman before him.

Lilian was momentarily startled, but she smiled and returned the embrace.

So many words had she wanted to tell him when he woke up, but they seemed to fall flat now that she was finally facing him. She struggled to find the words to express how she currently felt. Maybe there was no need for words at all. Maybe what they needed was each other’s warmth and the resonance of their bloodlines.

As they nuzzled against each other, their Kingmaker Bloodlines began resonating intensely. The irrepressible intimacy they felt toward each other was intoxicating like the sweetest honey, pushing their heartbeats to hasten.

It was a long time before Roel finally straightened his body and asked, “Senior, have you been well over the past year? I entered the Witness State, so…”

“I have heard. It’s not your fault.”

“Senior…”

“But I was still worried sick. I… I despaired.”

“!”

Roel lurched at those strong words. He didn’t know how he should respond to them.

He had known Lilian to be a strong woman, even more so than Nora.

She had singlehandedly built her own influence in the treacherous Austine Empire despite having hardly anyone to fall back on. Her maturity, her wits, and the unshakable kinship between the two of them made her the person whom Roel trusted and relied the most on in the world.

Yet, she said that she had fallen into despair.

This was someone who wasn’t fazed when Emperor Lukas ‘exiled’ her to the eastern border and stationed her in one of the most dangerous fortresses on the frontline.

Roel’s disappearance must have dealt a heavy blow to her.

“I’m sorry, Senior. I’m truly sorry. I…”

“Enough. I am an inheritor of the Kingmaker Bloodline too, and I have accompanied you to the Witness State before. I know that you can’t decide when you wish to leave the Witness State. How can I blame you for something you don’t have power over?”

“Still, you must have suffered greatly over the past year. No excuse can correct that,” Roel apologized to Lilian with a lowered head.

Lilian hugged Roel’s head and said, “Those were painful days that I don’t even want to look back on, but I’m not an unreasonable person… And you gave me the motivation I needed to continue living.”

“Ah? Senior, what do you mean?” Roel looked at Lilian in confusion.

The latter placed her hand on her womb as a blissful smile formed on her lips.

“We have a child.”

…

It was peaceful in the temporary united army barracks constructed along Hawe Desert’s border, but it was all busy in the communication room.

While the Battle of Scorched Earth had concluded as a resounding success, there was still much work to be done. The four female commanders in charge of the operation issued a joint order to inform the other stakeholders in the united army about the latest development, while organizing an orderly retreat along the frontline so as to minimize casualties.

To stop the deviants from sending further reinforcements to Hawe Desert, the united army had organized a massive campaign, where three million soldiers stationed on the frontline went on the offensive to tie down the deviants.

It was no easy feat for a force of such a huge scale to retreat. They would have to make sure that each party was covered while gradually extricating themselves from the battle.

However, there were some exceptions, such as the news sent to the trio located deep in Hawe Desert.

“Your Eminence, we have successfully retreated from the battlefield. May I enquire about your rough location so that we can dispatch soldiers over to receive you?”

“I’m at the southern plain, but you need not dispatch anyone to receive me. We might be bags of old bones, but we’re perfectly capable of walking on our own… I suppose that the commanders of the operation are all fine?” Holy Eminence John asked the officer projected by the communication magic tool as he casually glanced at the two old men standing opposite him.

The Sword Saint King, in the midst of treating his bleeding thigh, jolted upon hearing those words. Principal Antonio, who was sitting on the ground with his staff in arm, raised his head.

“Yes, Lord Nora, Lord Charlotte, Lord Wilhelmina, and Lord Lilian from the Austine Empire are safe and sound.”

“Great. You’ve worked hard. As agreed, we’ll communicate again twelve hours from now.”

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

With this concise answer, the projection finally dissipated.

Holy Eminence John turned to the two old men before him and asked with a smile, “You heard him. The children are fine. Are you able to rest easy now?”

“That’s good. It looks like we’ll be having a lively graduation ceremony this year,” Antonio said.

“It’s a given that they’ll be fine. She has already inherited the title of a Sword Saint; it’d be embarrassing if an ordeal of this level trips her over.” Friedrich propped himself up with his sword as he spoke with a stern expression.

Antonio shook his head in disapproval of his old friend’s obstinacy. “You’re the reason your daughter suffers so much.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Your Eminence John, what’s your take on the earlier phenomenon?” Antonio asked with a grim voice.

John was silent for a moment before shaking his head.

Earlier, while the three of them were fighting with the deviants’ Race Sovereigns, they witnessed the hastening of the solar cycle and a sudden flash of light in the sky. They deduced that it was one of the Deviant Sovereign’s means and were exceptionally worried about it, but the outcome was different from what they had expected.

Roel actually single-handedly defeated the Deviant Sovereign.

Even the composed Holy Eminence John could hardly hide his shock when he heard the news. Antonio and Friedrich were taken aback as well.

Deviant Sovereign Banjol was an ancient Race Sovereign who had long since achieved godhood. Even if his strength had declined due to the senescence of time, he was still not an enemy an ordinary Origin Level 1 transcendent could deal with.

This meant that Roel’s peak fighting prowess was comparable to that of the gods. While he couldn’t sustain his peak fighting prowess for too long, it was still a formidable feat.

“Does humankind finally have a transcendent on par with the gods?” Antonio remarked in awe.

Sword Saint King Friedrich heaved a sigh of relief.

This news would have stoked his vigilance during peacetime, but with the awakening of the Savior and the Mother Goddess, humankind desperately needed someone who could rival the gods. Roel’s breakthrough was unquestionably good news in this moment of crisis.

It also helped that this ‘someone’ was the descendant of a clan that had protected humankind since the inception of the Second Epoch, and it was a person the three of them trusted.

Holy Eminence John was a neighborly grandfather-figure to Roel.

Antonio had been taking care of Roel as Saint Freya Academy’s principal, and the two of them shared the common goal of reviving Astrid Arde.

Friedrich was a descendant of the knights who had been saved by the Ardes and had subsequently sworn loyalty to them during the inception of the Third Epoch. He himself was a member of the Twilight Sages Assembly too.

Above that, the three of them had been protecting Roel for years now, though they had to concede that the trajectory of his growth surpassed their expectations. He had already reached a level they had previously projected to have taken many years more.

In any case, these ties greatly reduced the chances of conflict between them.

As much as the three old men celebrated Roel’s growth, they knew that this didn’t mean that humankind had the luxury of catching a breather. If anything, their crisis had deepened.

“That earlier phenomenon appears to be the Mother Goddess’ means. It seems like her awakening is progressing smoother than the Savior’s.”

“If that light originates from the Six Calamities, it would mean that the Mother Goddess is currently a greater threat than the Savior, at least on the surface.”

“The menace of the deviants isn’t over yet, even when Banjol is now dead. That being said, I’d think that the newly appeared two-headed deviant will compete with Swordghost and the others for power. The burden on our shoulders should lighten, at least for the time being.”

“We should make a move to balance the scales,” Holy Eminence John proposed as he looked at the distant silver moon in the sky.

Antonio and Friedrich nodded in agreement.

The culprit behind the impending apocalypse foretold by the Tripartite Alliance was bound to be either the Savior or the Mother Goddess. Humankind, being in the weakest position here, had to play a treacherous game of balancing the powers of the two supreme beings in order to survive.

The deviants posed a threat to humankind, but on the greater scale of things, they were also a rival to the Mother Goddess’ influence. Banjol’s demise reduced the threat the deviants posed to humankind, but it also meant that the Six Calamities had lost their balancing force and had greater freedom to wreak havoc.

Even though the Six Calamities, with the exception of Shrouding Fog, had never attacked humankind, their danger couldn’t be overstated. They were the culprits behind the extinction of countless civilizations, after all.

It was evident from the Six Calamities prioritizing their attack on the Egg of the Beast God over the united army that they harbored greater hatred against the Savior and his faction. Humankind should be safe as long as the two supreme beings kept each other in check.

Of course, this was all only in theory.

It was only a matter of time before humankind’s arrogant attempt to interfere in the ancient war between the two supreme beings angered one of them. Even so, this was a necessary step to buy time for the younger generation to mature.

The changes in the atmosphere had boosted the potential of not just Roel but Nora and other transcendents who possessed powerful bloodlines; there was a chance they could overcome the limits of Origin Level 1 to become Race Sovereigns.

The more powerful transcendents humankind nurtured before the arrival of the apocalypse, the greater its chances of survival would be.

Holy Eminence John withdrew his gaze to look at the other two old men, saying, “Our next goal is decided, then, but we’ll have to further discuss the details.”

“They were urging us to return. I’ll use my Teleportation Spell,” Antonio said.

“That’d be great. I’m struggling to dispel Swordghost’s mana; it’s affecting my movements,” Friedrich said.

This marked the escalation of the conflict between humankind and the Mother Goddess.

…