Hearing Leihong's answer, the last trace of doubt in Rena's heart disappeared.
Only someone who knew her identity would back down before her like this.
Unlike Loran, Veer, and Grant, Locke had once told Rena that he was the strongest Sovereign—the kind whose words all the other Sovereigns had no choice but to obey.
Still, Rena found it strange.
If Leihong didn't know her, then how had he recognized her elder?
"I'm curious. How did you figure out my elder's identity?"
"As long as you tell me, I won't pursue what you did earlier."
Hearing Rena say this, Reisgem bared his teeth.
This little girl really didn't know her place.
He was the child of a Sovereign!
She was merely the junior of someone who was only suspected of being a Paragon. How could she possibly have the nerve to speak to him like that?
However, Reisgem also knew that this wasn't the time for him to step forward.
As the child of a Sovereign, his status was indeed higher than that of this little girl.
But like the children of the other Sovereigns, Reisgem didn't want everything he accomplished to be attributed solely to his Sovereign parent.
Before he had truly grown strong, relying on his mother's protection was a humiliation to him.
He could still accept the current situation.
Otherwise, if Beirut were forced to reveal himself because of this little girl, Leihong would never be able to protect him.
At that point, he would have no choice but to invoke his mother, the Amethyst Sovereign, to intimidate Beirut.
That would make him exactly the sort of person he despised most.
Yes—
The members of the Four Divine Beasts clan.
It could be said that the Four Divine Beasts clan, through the actions of a single clan, had completely dragged the prestige of Sovereign bloodlines into the dirt.
"A divine spark weapon!"
Seeing that Rena's only condition for letting the matter go was this, Leihong was momentarily stunned before immediately voicing his guess.
"I once had the good fortune to see your elder's weapon."
"I see."
With just those few words from Leihong, Rena immediately understood.
Her great-grandfather possessed the ability to refine the essence of divine sparks.
Not only she herself—even Grandfather Loran, Grandpa Veer, and Father Grant had all used divine spark weapons forged by her great-grandfather before their strength reached the Sovereign level.
After all, because of the Sovereign Pact, a Sovereign could only bestow a single Sovereign artifact upon each of their descendants.
Even Locke would not deliberately violate that agreement.
Under such circumstances, divine spark weapons, whose power was only slightly inferior, were naturally the finest choice.
In the Magical Universe, once someone reached the Saint-level, they gained eternal life.
No one knew just how many countless years an ancient Prefect-level expert had lived.
To Rena, Leihong was clearly such an old monster.
Otherwise, her father Grant had become a Sovereign more than three hundred Ordinal Eras ago, yet this man still remembered the divine spark weapon her father had once used.
"You're very strong."
Rena looked at Leihong solemnly.
"This time, if you hadn't recognized my father's generation, I would probably already have become a dead soul beneath your hands."
No matter how confident Rena was, she didn't believe that someone who had fused only two Profound Mysteries of the Wind Laws could stand against a powerful Prefect-level expert.
Of course, Big Sister Ninisha was secretly protecting her.
Not to mention this herd of Amethyst Beasts—even if Leihong himself attacked, nothing would happen to her.
However, since Leihong had already given face to her father's generation by backing down first, Rena naturally wouldn't expose Ninisha's existence just to throw it in his face.
"Surviving only because of the protection of my elders is nothing glorious to me."
"So after I've grown stronger, I'll come back here and fight you again, to wash away the humiliation I suffered today."
With that, Rena said nothing further to Leihong.
She put away her divine spark spear and flew toward the edge of the mist-covered mountain range.
"So cool..."
How Leihong felt, Reisgem didn't know.
But after hearing everything Rena had just said, he felt as though he had encountered another version of himself.
No...
Rather, the ideal version of himself.
Because just moments earlier, the situations of himself and Rena had been astonishingly similar.
Leihong posed a threat to Rena.
Beirut posed a threat to Reisgem.
Yet when faced with Leihong's threat, Rena hadn't shown the slightest fear. The moment he dispelled Amethyst Space, she had immediately flown over to confront Leihong face-to-face.
What about himself?
Faced with Beirut—who hadn't even shown himself yet—he had retreated, leaving Leihong alone to shoulder everything.
That filled Reisgem with shame.
He constantly proclaimed that he didn't want to rely on his mother's protection.
Yet when confronted with the threat of death, he realized he had unconsciously entrusted his own safety to his mother.
The instant he learned about Beirut's abilities, Reisgem had been incomparably grateful that he was inside the Amethyst Mountains.
Because, given how much his mother cared about him, she had probably noticed his movements the moment he left his cave.
At this very moment, perhaps his mother's divine sense was already watching over the area.
His own strength was simply too weak to perceive it.
After acknowledging the hypocrisy of his former self, and then looking at Rena—who, despite appearing to be nothing more than a little girl, carried herself with such heroic bearing—a sudden impulse surged within Reisgem's heart.
"Wait..."
...
Leihong and Reisgem's assumptions weren't entirely wrong.
Indeed, the moment Reisgem left his cave and used the Amethyst Divine Beast's ability to command the Amethyst Beast stampede, the Amethyst Sovereign had already spread her divine sense to this place.
However, contrary to what Leihong and Reisgem imagined, the instant the Amethyst Sovereign witnessed Reisgem's actions, her face immediately turned deathly pale.
Sitting opposite the Amethyst Sovereign was another person.
If anyone could see the scene inside the Amethyst Sovereign's palace, they would probably rub their eyes, wondering whether they were dreaming.
Because seated upon the throne inside the Amethyst Sovereign's palace was not the Amethyst Sovereign herself—
But rather, a blue-haired, blue-robed young man.
"Amethyst, is this the descendant you've successfully nurtured after all these years?"
"Well... Lord Locke, I've clearly made some mistakes in educating Reisgem. I'll go bring him back immediately..."
The Amethyst Sovereign looked somewhat embarrassed.
She had never expected Reisgem to trigger an Amethyst Beast stampede at precisely this moment.
What was this?
Normally, didn't Reisgem love sleeping?
Why had he suddenly decided not to sleep today?
And even gone so far as to stir up an Amethyst Beast riot.
The most important thing now was to calm Lord Locke first.
Otherwise, if the little princess suffered even the slightest injury afterward, then even she might not be able to protect Reisgem.
Yet Reisgem was now the most precious existence in the Amethyst Sovereign's life.
Even if she knew she might not be able to save him, she would still stake her life to protect her child.
(End of Chapter)
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