Chapter 1678 - 1678: Epilogue 29 - The End of the Beginning (4)

There was a faint trace of amusement in his voice as he recalled the encounter.

"I honestly wanted to laugh when I first heard that name, but I had never encountered a being like him before. I didn't even know there was something like that living in this world."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"Finding that out made me realize just how much I had been missing simply because I didn't know such beings existed. I asked him countless questions, and I was honestly disturbed by just how much wisdom he seemed to possess."

His voice became quieter as he remembered the encounter.

"Listening to him made me realize that the world was far larger than I had ever imagined. I thought I understood the world around me, but meeting him made me realize that I had barely scratched the surface."

He took another brief pause.

"He told me everything he knew about the other worlds, as well as what he believed would eventually happen to all of them."

A collision of worlds.

The dragon had told me about that too.

The realization made my stomach tighten because something that had once seemed like a terrifying childhood story was suddenly being confirmed by the very person in front of me.

"If you finally understand why I've been doing all of this," my father continued, "then don't you think it's only natural that you should side with me?"

I understood what he was trying to say.

From his perspective, siding with him made perfect sense.

If the dragon himself had warned me about what was potentially going to happen, then I couldn't simply dismiss my father's explanation as some paranoid theory.

In fact, the fact that I had personally encountered that dragon only made his explanation seem even more believable.

His words carried far more weight because I had already seen proof that beings like that actually existed.

I couldn't deny the possibility that everything he was saying was true.

I couldn't even confidently say that his interpretation of the future was wrong.

Yet there was still one absolute reason I couldn't bring myself to side with him.

I didn't know my father anymore.

That realization hurt more than I wanted to admit.

The man standing in front of me might have looked like him, spoken like him, and even carried the memories of the father I had known, but something about him felt fundamentally different.

He was still the person who had raised me.

He was still the person whose approval I had spent years trying to earn.

He was still the person I had once believed would always stand beside me.

Yet now I was standing on the opposite side of him, and I couldn't ignore what that meant anymore.

"Are you still... even my father?" I finally asked, my voice coming out quieter than I intended.

He went completely silent for a moment.

The hologram remained still while he seemed to process what I had just asked him.

Then he took a slow, deep breath.

"You're actually questioning whether I'm your father?" he asked.

Even though he was speaking through the hologram, I could tell from his voice that he was angry.

That realization made me gulp nervously.

"You certainly have grown."

His words sounded almost bitter.

He went quiet again for a moment, and the silence between us somehow felt heavier than anything he could have said.

Then he finally spoke.

"You disappoint me."

Those words stung more than I wanted to admit.

Throughout my entire life, I had never heard my father tell me that he was disappointed in me.

Not once had I heard those words from him, and perhaps that was exactly why they hurt so much now.

I had heard him criticize my decisions before. I had heard him tell me when I was wrong. I had even heard him become angry with me when I did something reckless. Hearing him say that I had disappointed him felt different from all of those things.

"You've grown into quite the mischievous woman," he continued. "If you're truly going to side with that man, then fine. I won't hold myself back simply because you're standing on the other side."

His voice was frighteningly calm.

"If sacrificing my daughter means that our world survives, then so be it. I would be saving countless people at the cost of my own daughter's life."

He paused briefly.

"I'm certain I would regret having to do it, but that regret won't stop me from fighting."

I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

"At the very least, I would give you a proper burial once this war is over."

My heart sank when I heard that.

He was serious.

Even if defeating him meant killing me, he was willing to do it.

That was how serious he was about his goal.

I never imagined he would be capable of saying something like that to his own daughter, but perhaps that was the reality of the person standing before me now.

As long as achieving his objective required him to sacrifice me, he wouldn't hesitate.

That was the terrifying part.

He wasn't threatening me because he was angry.

He was telling me exactly what he intended to do if we ended up on opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Tell that man that he can't hide behind that barrier forever," he said. "Do you honestly think he'll be able to escape my might simply because he's hiding there?"

His tone became more confident.

"You've seen how many people I've personally felled with my own hands. Do you really believe some brat like him is going to be capable of defeating me?"

I remained silent for a moment, thinking carefully about what I wanted to say next.

There was no point lying to him.

"I do."

I looked toward the hologram while forcing myself to keep my voice steady.

"I think Leon will defeat you."

It was his turn to remain silent.

For several seconds, he didn't say anything at all, and I could almost feel the weight of his stare despite the fact that his body wasn't physically standing in front of me.

Then he finally spoke.

"You have quite a high opinion of that man."

I didn't answer immediately.

Perhaps I did have a high opinion of Leon.