Chapter 207: A Nest Amidst the Flames
Chapter 207: A Nest Amidst the Flames
The sun had long disappeared behind the horizon, and cold shades of navy and purple had taken over the capital’s sky. The exam had ended hours ago.
Since Cassian had been forced to drop out, he barely made the list, landing in 37th place with 87 points.
The genius who managed to solo the only S-Rank monster in the exam area, Damian Blackthorne, etched his name in gold at the number one spot with exactly 227 points. This arrogant heir of the Blackthorne family—one of the main villains in the original game’s storyline—had proven his strength to the entire empire.
Second place, as expected, went to Lunox.
Third place, however, held a major surprise. Imperial Princess Celine, who achieved perfect synergy with her knight Veris and her supporter, had somehow managed to squeeze into the top three.
In the original storyline, third place was supposed to go to Daemon, the heir of Pelagorn. But exhausted after his clash with Cassian, Daemon ran into Lunox and suffered a bitter defeat. As a result, he plummeted far down the rankings, failing to even make the top ten.
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Far from the flashy avenues of the capital, Cassian slowly climbed the wooden stairs of a cheap inn he had rented in one of the back alleys.
He reached his room at the end of the hall. Grabbing the wooden doorknob, he gently pushed it open.
The moment the door cracked open, a small, black silhouette suddenly launched into the air from the pitch-black room, leaping straight at him.
Cassian neither dodged nor reached for his sword. He simply opened his arms.
Small arms wrapped tightly around his neck with immense longing and joy.
"PAPA!"
A cheerful, chirpy little girl’s voice echoed in the hallway.
Cassian gently hugged the small body hanging from his neck and picked her up. The child’s pitch-black hair fell over her shoulders, and her blood-red eyes—identical to Cassian’s—sparkled with joy. The most striking feature, however, were the two small, adorable white horns poking through her black hair.
With Auralis in his arms, Cassian took a step inside and glanced around the dark room.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
The room was an absolute wreck. It looked as if someone had fought a life-or-death battle in there.
The water pitcher was shattered, and the desk had snapped in half, collapsing to the floor. The bedsprings were sticking out, and white feathers from torn pillows were scattered across the room like a snowstorm. The walls were covered in faded scorch marks.
Cassian didn’t get angry at the sight in the slightest. Neither anger nor frustration flickered in his eyes. He just took a deep breath and began stroking the little girl’s black hair with gentle, affectionate motions.
"Sorry, Nivelle," Cassian called out into the messy void of the room. "You must be exhausted from dealing with this little monster."
Following his words, bright, emerald-green beams of light appeared in the air near a corner of the ceiling. The lights swirled rapidly together, forming a small, winged fairy.
Nivelle.
She wore a weary, drained expression, exhausted from dealing with a naughty child for hours. She barely flapped her wings as she floated in the air.
"Did you bring sweets?!" Nivelle asked, her eyes instantly lighting up with hope despite her fatigue.
Cassian made the dimensional ring on his left hand gleam slightly and opened a portal in the air. From it, he pulled out several carefully wrapped boxes of sweets, strawberry tarts, éclairs, and candies he had bought from one of the best bakeries in the capital.
The moment Nivelle saw the mountain of sugar, she completely forgot her exhaustion. Screaming "SWEETSSSS!" in joy, she dashed toward the boxes.
But just as she was about to reach them, Cassian caught her mid-air with his hand. Holding her firmly but gently, he brought her up to eye level.
"But sister, why is the room like this?"
Nivelle poked her head out of Cassian’s palm and let out an exasperated sigh, speaking in a tired, defensive tone. "Don’t look at me with those accusing eyes, Cassian! I only told you I’d keep an eye on Auralis. I *never* said I’d protect this cheap furniture!"
She crossed her tiny arms over her chest and grumbled. "Do you have any idea how hard, how draining it is to be an aunt?! Especially when the niece you have to take care of is a hyperactive baby dragon!"
"Papa! Papa, look!" Auralis shouted suddenly, bouncing in Cassian’s arms.
The second Cassian turned his head, Auralis opened her tiny mouth wide and spewed a wave of pure white, hellish flames with terrifying heat. The white fire slammed into the only intact wall in the room, instantly engulfing it in flames.
"AHH! AGAIN?!" Nivelle shrieked, escaping from Cassian’s grasp and desperately flying away from the searing heat. "That’s the fourth time!"
Without a single change in his expression, Cassian raised his left hand.
Summoning a wisp of his black flames, he sent it toward the white fire on the wall. The black flames swallowed the white fire in seconds, extinguishing it from within and saving the wall from further damage.
"My flames are stronger now! Did you see, papa?" Auralis asked, her eyes shining with anticipation and joy. She hugged Cassian’s neck a little tighter.
Cassian looked at the blackened remains of the burnt wall and slowly nodded. "Yes," he said calmly, running his hand through the hair between the little girl’s horns. "They are. Your flames really have gotten a lot stronger, my little dragon."
"YOU NEED TO SCOLD HER! NOT PRAISE HER!" Nivelle yelled. But this time her voice was a bit muffled, as she had already opened one of the strawberry tart boxes and stuffed a huge slice into her mouth. She spoke while chewing. "You’re spoiling this little monster!"
Angered by Nivelle’s words, Auralis turned her head toward her. Her red eyes glinted dangerously. She took a deep breath, let out a tiny *’hmph,’* and spat a small ball of white fire straight at Nivelle.
With the giant slice of tart still in her hands, Nivelle did a nimble backflip in the air, dodging the fireball at the very last second.
However, though the fireball missed her, it hit the other sweet boxes right behind her. Within seconds, the carefully wrapped éclairs and candies caught fire, turning into charcoal.
"NOOO! My sweets!!!!" Nivelle wailed. Clenching her tiny fists in anger, she glared at Auralis from mid-air. "You little horned monster!"
Auralis just hid against Cassian’s chest, stuck her tongue out adorably at Nivelle, and giggled.
Amidst this chaotic and noisy scene, Cassian stepped over the scattered feathers and walked toward the collapsed bed in the middle of the room.
He sat on the intact edge of the bed with Auralis, who was clinging to him tightly and slowly getting sleepy.
The room slowly fell silent. Only the sound of Nivelle chewing on her surviving sweets and the steady rhythm of Auralis breathing against Cassian’s chest could be heard.
Cassian’s eyes drifted to the faint moonlight illuminating the room. The affectionate expression on his face slowly faded, replaced by a familiar, bottomless void.
"Today..." Cassian began, his voice breaking the silence. "I ran into him."
Swallowing the bite in her mouth, Nivelle flew over and landed on his shoulder. "I know," she whispered. "The Child of Dawn."
"Too weak. Both mentally and physically... Too untalented and too stupid. I can’t imagine someone like that... ever becoming stronger than Vorloth."
Careful not to wake her, Cassian gently moved little Auralis from his lap to the pillow beside him. After covering her with a blanket, he lay flat on his back. He spread his arms slightly and stared at the cracks in the ceiling.
"If only..." Cassian murmured, his voice so exhausted it felt like it would fade into the wind. "If only I didn’t need his power."
For a long time, Cassian’s heart hadn’t harbored any emotions. He didn’t have warm memories to tie him to life, nothing he could sacrifice. His past was filled with blood and ash. And worse, he didn’t have much of a lifespan left.
A long life where he could grow old and die peacefully wasn’t waiting for him. He no longer had loving comrades or friends to watch his back or trust in him, either.
In this cold, ruthless world, the only things he had left were his sister Nivelle sitting on his shoulder, and Kaiser’s daughter, Auralis, sleeping peacefully in his bed.
Up in the North, he had sacrificed far too much to bring everything to an end. He had shattered Mordret’s sword. Nerath’s god-tier stones had been destroyed along with Fredrinn in the final battle.
A power source immense enough to open the gates of heaven was now practically nonexistent in this world. It felt like an impossible dream. But Cassian knew it was still possible. There was still a chance.
But... Was there any point in living in this world anymore?
His body would eventually give out, and he would die again anyway. After his death... Auralis and Nivelle would be left all alone, in danger once more under the shadow of the growing Holy Empire and the thousands of threats waiting outside to hunt them. There would be no one to protect them.
*But what if...* Cassian thought, his eyes tracing a thin crack in the ceiling. *What if he could step beyond the mortal realm?* What if he could open that door and reach the domain of Gods and Absolute Beings, the place where everything began? Could he get his friends back, reclaim those lost souls? After all, that realm was filled with mysteries where even death could be rendered void. He still had a chance, no matter how small.
The problem, however, was that he was currently far too weak to transcend mortal limits. He didn’t even possess a tenth of the power he had at his peak. To achieve this, he needed to find an incomprehensibly immense, eternal source of divine power that would let him break through the boundaries.
And Cassian... knew exactly where, from whom, and how he was going to get that power.
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