Chapter 579: How Did a Clone Fool Everyone?

Lian understood this.

Even if half the world feared that creature, the other half would probably try to find a way to use its power.

Humans had always been like that, however, there was another issue.

He looked at Rhaenar.

"Eventually, you’ll have to kill it one day."

Silence lasted for a few seconds, and the Patriarch was no longer smiling.

His gaze remained fixed on the table for a moment before returning to him.

"It’s impossible alone."

Lian did not move, but that sentence caught his full attention for a moment.

Rhaenar Pendragon.

One of the few humans who had completed five evolutions, and one of the most powerful Awakened humans still alive.

And yet, he admitted that he could not kill the Demon of End on his own.

Lian immediately remembered the battle inside the prison. Even with a large part of its power suppressed by the chains and the central spike, the creature had still almost killed him and Seris.

If its full power was ever released, the result of the battle would be clear, even a yawn from that Dragon would be enough to kill the two of them a thousand times over.

Rhaenar moved his gaze between Lian and Seris.

"But perhaps the two of you will be able to do it in the future."

Seris looked at her father for a moment, while Lian raised an eyebrow.

"Us?"

"Not now, and not even anytime soon, but if you continue on your current paths of growth, perhaps one day you’ll reach a point where you can do what our previous generations couldn’t."

He paused briefly.

"And if you really manage to kill the Demon of End, I’ll hand the Dragon Pearl over to you."

The young Vorhelm fell silent for a moment.

"The Dragon Pearl?"

The Patriarch nodded.

"The treasure that creates the Dragon Marks."

The Dragon Pearl.

Rhaenar explained that what the entire world had seen during the Dragon Mark Ceremony was actually the outer form of one of the most valuable treasures belonging to the Demon of End.

An ancient pearl with a direct connection to the nature and bloodline of Dragons.

Its main abilities were to store, compress, and transfer Dragon energy.

But what truly made it valuable was its ability to turn that same energy into Blessings that could remain with their holders for years.

The Dragon Marks.

The Blessings that the Pendragons received across generations all came from that same pearl.

"After our ancestors defeated the Demon of End, they separated the pearl from it."

His gaze returned to Lian.

"Then they used the pearl’s own power to create one of the prison’s main cores."

"Every twenty-five years, part of the energy stored inside the pearl is released in a controlled way, and the Dragon Mark Ceremony uses that same flow."

He gave a slight smile.

"For several centuries, one of that creature’s greatest sources of power has been part of what keeps its prison standing."

Lian actually found this part interesting. If the Demon of End was ever killed, there would no longer be any need to use the pearl to maintain the prison.

And then, a treasure belonging to a creature at the Demon level, with the ability to create Dragon Marks, could fall into their hands.

He looked at Seris, and the girl looked back at him. Neither of them said anything, though it was not as if they planned to return to the prison tomorrow and fight the Demon of End.

They knew very well how great the difference in power between them and that creature was.

But in the future? He thought about the End Core inside his body, and the Ruined Heart. He also remembered the Demon of End’s terrified reaction when it recognized what was inside him.

There were still many unanswered questions, and that Demon certainly knew the answers to some of them. He would probably have to face that creature again one day.

Rhaenar looked at them, then gave a very small smile.

"That’s enough for today."

He stood up.

"You’re both tired, so go and get some rest. Make sure you’re both present at tomorrow’s meeting as well."

Seris nodded, and Lian also stood up, but before leaving, he gave Rhaenar a brief glance.

The Patriarch was still the same calm man who had asked him to stay away from Seris the day before.

Only now, he apparently had no hurry to separate them anymore.

After the door closed, the room remained silent for a while.

Isolde stood beside the table, looking at the place where her daughter and Lian had left a few seconds earlier.

Then she turned toward her husband.

"How did you know they could handle it?"

Rhaenar stood beside the window, his gaze resting on the city’s towers.

"I didn’t know."

The Matriarch frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn’t sure."

The woman looked at him for a few seconds. That answer was not very satisfying.

"Then why did you send them?"

The Patriarch remained silent for a moment before answering.

"Because I thought their chances of success were higher than any other option."

"You knew the truth the whole time, didn’t you?"

This time, he turned around, but instead of answering directly, he gave his wife a brief look and smiled.

Isolde let out a short sigh.

After a few moments, the Patriarch continued.

"That boy has a lot of secrets."

His gaze returned to the window.

"Far more than you can even imagine, and some of those secrets could be very dangerous."

She remembered the unusual reaction of the prison’s seal to Lian, the moment when the golden network had opened a path for the young Vorhelm instead of pushing him away.

And now, that same young man had not only returned alive, but had also gained an Ancestral Dragon Mark.

It was not normal at all, but Rhaenar did not explain anything further. Even he did not know the nature of everything that existed inside that boy’s body.

He was only certain that the young man was far more than an ordinary talented Awakened.

Isolde remained silent for a while, then a gentle smile appeared on her face.

"Even so, you agreed to let Seris stay by his side."

He said nothing.

Her smile grew a little wider.

"You’ve taken a liking to that boy, haven’t you?"

The Patriarch did not even smile this time. He simply turned his gaze back outside, and that silence was a clearer answer to Isolde than any words could have been.

The next morning, the central council hall of Verendal was full again.

But the atmosphere in the meeting was very different from the day before, no one was slamming their hands on the table anymore.

No representative was directly accusing another of murder, and more importantly, the Primal Firmament delegation had been released.

Kairos was personally attending the meeting, and Severin was sitting beside him.

The representatives of the Six Great Families, the Twelve Ancient Guilds, and the Federation had all taken their seats.

This time, the meeting was about something else, the infiltration of Earth by a being native to the Heavenly Realm.

Lian was sitting beside Seris toward the back of the hall, and she was sitting quietly beside him.

Isolde stood up from the main seat.

"Let’s begin."

A glowing image appeared above the table, with the Silver Corruption Seed at its center.

The original seed was still being kept under joint protection, but all the initial examination data was available for the representatives to see.

All the delegations had already learned that an outsider had managed to infiltrate their world.

She explained.

"The structure of this seed uses a type of technology for reflection and reconstruction that closely resembles the known methods of the Silver Elves."

Several people became more serious when they heard the name of that race.

The Silver Elves.

One of the races native to the Heavenly Realm, a race whose reputation was not based only on physical strength or the number of its warriors, unlike many other beings.

They were highly skilled at analyzing magical and mana structures, creating complex artifacts, reflecting energy, and recording skill patterns.

In some regions of the Heavenly Realm, artifacts made by them were even considered rare treasures.

But the true power of this race was not simply creating something or copying the appearance of a skill.

They could examine the structure of almost anything, record the pattern used to perform an ability, and recreate a close version of it under the right conditions.

The Thousand-Faced Mirror was one of the most famous examples of this technology.

Isolde continued.

"The main ability of this seed is to disable formations, any kind of formation, but that isn’t important for now. This seed is only evidence that outsiders have infiltrated our world."

"But we still don’t know how a structure belonging to this race, or more precisely, one of their clones, managed to enter Earth and act without being detected."

Adrian Stormheart placed his hand on the table.

"They might have used an unknown path between the two worlds."

"Or one of the human groups stationed in the Heavenly Realm might have helped them." Gregor Valemont said with a frown.

The Federation representative nodded.

"There is also the possibility that they were transferred here through imported artifacts or resources."

Severin joined the discussion.

"All valuable treasures are inspected, especially powerful artifacts, so I doubt this"

"Then how the hell did one of their damn clones enter this world and do whatever it wanted without any of us finding out??"