“Ah, a cradle… So… Lilith is the baby?”
The clues were far too few to draw any conclusions. The truth felt like a ball of tangled yarn, and Ciel hadn’t found the crucial thread to unravel it. At times, Ciel felt that her years of existence had been utterly meaningless.
A million years ago, she had helplessly watched Lilith die before her eyes. Was she doomed to repeat that tragedy, over and over again, just as she had before?
“I’ve had enough.” Ciel clenched her fists tightly. “I’ve really had enough.”
In an instant, divine power surged around her. A faint shadow expanded from her body, stretching upward until it towered higher than the sky itself. A pure white hand descended from above, reaching to grasp the heavenly tribulation.
The figure merely extended a finger in response. From the void, a golden finger, as long as a mountain range, emerged and effortlessly crushed the pure white hand.
Ciel staggered, coughing up a mouthful of blood as her strength ebbed further.
“Is this what you wanted to see?” She knew the tribulation before her was nothing more than a pre-programmed mechanism, devoid of consciousness. Yet, she couldn’t hold back her grief and fury.
“Answer me, Queen of Dragons! Is letting Lilith die truly what you want?”
Ciel’s eyes reddened with anger. “So be it! Even if I can’t ascend to the Divine Realm, it doesn’t matter to me. But…” Ciel lunged at the tribulation. She grabbed the figure’s shoulders and shook it violently.
“But she’s your daughter! The daughter who respects and loves you! She’s being bullied right now! Are you just going to stand by and watch?”
The figure shifted slightly but did not attack. Perhaps she refrained because Ciel was no longer attempting to ascend to the Divine Realm. Instead, it simply stood there, observing her silently.
“I know you must be watching this! If you are capable of displacing even the heavenly order itself, then you must have seen everything happening here! So why, Queen of Dragons? Why do you still remain indifferent?” Ciel cried.
She shifted her focus away from the heavenly tribulation’s human form and scanned her surroundings, as if trying to pierce through the endless expanse and uncover where the Queen of Dragons might be hiding.
“Answer me, Queen of Dragons! I don’t care what you’re planning, but Lilith is your daughter, isn’t she? How can you just bear to watch this… and do nothing?”
◆◇◆◇◆
Somewhere in the distance, the Queen of Dragons sat atop a tower made of corpses, drenched in blood.
From the moment she arrived, countless had stepped forward to confront her—some aiming to slow her down, others hoping to trap her entirely. Annoyed by their persistence, she killed them all.
She even followed the faint threads of their links, located the cowards who had only dared to manifest before her as fragments of divine sense, and obliterated them.
Though troublesome, it hadn’t actually required much effort. Those from the Great World were as cowardly and hypocritical as ever, sending cannon fodder to die until they had better ascertained the situation.
While she dealt with these nuisances, the real entertainment had already begun elsewhere.
Of course, she saw everything. She had seen Three’s actions, including the moment when Lilith’s limbs had been severed with a weapon made from a dragon’s spine. She had seen the serpentine monster that had perished, and the woman—whom she had crushed beneath her foot countless times before—now weeping in grief.
Yet the Queen of Dragons didn’t move, even after meeting that piercing gaze from beyond the world. She simply sat silently, observing from afar, concealing the flicker of some unknown emotion deep within her eyes.
She knew exactly where this would lead. Those Lilith once held dear would die—or perhaps had already died. Lilith herself would undoubtedly feel pain, sadness, and even hatred toward her.
But…
Those were the sacrifices that had to be made to achieve her ultimate goal.
“I’m sorry… Lilith.”
◆◇◆◇◆
Lilith tilted her head back, watching the events unfolding in mid-air.
First, it was that familiar figure, revealing its true form and suppressing Three with a single strike. Then came the black river that Three had summoned from somewhere to deal with that familiar figure. And finally, that figure attempted to forcibly ascend to the Divine Realm.
Everything felt like a whirlwind of chaos, full of dramatic twists and turns. But through it all, Lilith felt like nothing more than a passive bystander. She couldn’t do anything to alter the outcome of what was happening before her and could only watch in silence.
And then… she saw her mother.
From the moment that familiar figure tried to forcibly ascend to the Divine Realm, Lilith had sensed something was off.
She already knew this world was incapable of producing gods, though the exact reason remained a mystery. In fact, she had already suspected that this might be connected to her mother in some way.
When the heavenly tribulation resembling the Queen of Dragons appeared, Lilith’s suspicions were confirmed—her mother was the main cause.
Although she knew her mother was not an ordinary demigod, it seemed like she had really underestimated her. Her mother, the fiery red figure who loomed so large in her heart, was far more unfathomable than Lilith had ever realized. Sёarch* The NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Lilith held a sparkling ruby in her palm, a gift from her mother when she first ventured to the land of humans. It was a means to summon the dragons in times of dire need, including the Queen of Dragons herself.
Yet, despite everything, Lilith had never used it. Her past struggles had either not required the help of the dragons, or summoning them wouldn’t have made any difference.
Now, however, as she repeatedly tried to activate the ruby, nothing happened. No dragons appeared—not even her mother, the one Lilith wished to summon most of all.
“Is it being interfered with by the heavenly tribulation… or is it…” Lilith trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought. Silently, she withdrew the ruby and tucked it away.
Beside her, Erica suddenly grabbed the hem of her dress. “Lilith…” Erica’s voice trembled with worry.
Lilith knew what she wanted to say. Erica, sensing the mounting danger, was trying to get her to leave but Lilith shook her head. “It’s impossible to run. The gap between our strengths is too vast.”
“What should we do then?” Erica glanced anxiously toward the sky. Most of what was happening above was incomprehensible to her, but one thing was clear: the beautiful woman who had clearly been on their side was now in dire straits.
Lilith hesitated for a long moment before helplessly admitting, “I… I don’t know either…”
Above them, the familiar figure’s anguished cries echoed, each one striking Lilith’s heart like a hammer. She was trying to save her and crying for her. Yet Lilith… was powerless to do anything.