"Are you truly determined to make an enemy of the Starborn, Your Excellency?"

The guardian of the Starborn clan spoke with deep helplessness in his voice. He could clearly sense that the man before him stood on a completely different level of power.

Leo turned toward the direction of the clan's Forbidden Grounds.

He could sense clearly—the other party was merely of main god rank.

Even if that man's strength were multiplied a hundredfold, it still wouldn't be enough to stop him.

Yes, Leo had the ability to annihilate the entire Starborn race. But the blood of the Starborn flowed within Lilith, and there was a possibility that his long-lost wife, Hathaway, was somehow connected to this clan. That uncertainty made him hesitate for a brief moment.

Just then, a trembling female voice called out from among the Starborn.

"B-Brother-in-law?!"

Leo's entire body stiffened.

His gaze instantly locked onto the speaker.

"What… did you just call me?"

His voice trembled ever so slightly.

Tears streamed down Trisha's face as she gazed up at the divine figure in the sky and stammered,

"Hathaway… she's my elder sister!"

Boom—!

Leo froze mid-air as if struck by lightning.

Hathaway.

The name he had searched for so long—Lilith's mother!

Descending slowly, Leo landed before Trisha.

He looked at the woman's face—so similar to the one that had haunted his memories for centuries—and the murderous fury in his eyes subsided a little.

So, it was true. Lilith's mother was connected to the Starborn.

"Your sister, Hathaway… where is she now?"

Leo's tone carried an anxiousness that even he did not notice.

Trisha shook her head, eyes clouded with helpless sorrow.

"I… I don't know. She left a long time ago, and we never heard from her again."

Disappointment flickered through Leo's eyes.

"Brother-in-law, this is all my fault," Trisha cried, kneeling down.

"I shouldn't have brought Lilith back here… I led her into danger!

Please, for the sake of my sister, spare the Starborn!"

From Nisos's memories, Leo had already seen everything that had happened.

Before that old fool had acted against Lilith, the Starborn had treated her kindly—Clan Leader Stahl had even taken her in as a personal disciple.

The true culprit was Nisos—the one who betrayed his own kin.

Leo remained silent for a moment.

His eyes swept over the terrified Starborn below, and his calm voice resounded through the air.

"Pray that my daughter Lilith is unharmed."

"Otherwise, the Starborn will pay a heavy price."

With that, his figure vanished into thin air—

as though he had never been there at all.

Only when the suffocating pressure finally dissipated did the Starborn collapse to the ground in exhaustion. Relief and terror tangled within their hearts.

Trisha stood there, blank and numb.

Only now did she finally understand what kind of being Lilith's "strong and rich father" truly was.

It turned out she had been the short-sighted one all along.

Meanwhile, within the Starborn's sacred forbidden grounds,

Stahl and the last surviving elder stood reverently before an ancient figure radiating timeless might.

"Guardian, sir," they greeted, bowing deeply.

The Starborn guardian nodded slightly.

"From this day forward, the Starborn shall remain withdrawn and observe the tides of change."

"And… cleanse our clan of its corruption."

His voice grew solemn.

"The winds of the age have begun to shift."

He gazed toward the distant sky, his tone carrying a weight that made the two before him tremble.

"The sleeping lion… is about to awaken."

"The age of mankind may soon return."

The words left Stahl and the elder exchanging horrified glances.

Only those ancient enough to remember knew—

that long ago, humanity had once ruled above all races,

its glory so bright that even the Starborn paled in comparison.

Snowfield Wasteland – Territory of the Snow-Cat Tribe

"Ah—no! Go away! Fiona, watch out!"

A sharp cry broke the silence.

Lilith jolted awake from her nightmare, drenched in cold sweat.

"Phew… just a dream."

She patted her chest and took a deep breath of relief.

Holding the gem at her neck, she felt Fiona's familiar aura and gradually calmed down.

But then—

a familiar voice echoed directly within her mind, cutting through the distance between worlds.

"Lilith, Dalton Town has arrived in Sakend World. Where are you?"

Lilith blinked, frozen for a heartbeat.

Then she leapt up from her fur-covered bed, pure joy flooding her face.

"Dad's here!"

"He finally came! Hahaha!"

"I don't have to hide anymore!"

The drowsy snow-cat Snowball blinked his round eyes open, watching Lilith hop excitedly around the icy hut.

He tilted his fluffy head in confusion.

What in the world was going on now?

Since being hunted by the Starborn, Lilith had been hiding everywhere—

narrowly escaping capture multiple times, each time thanks to Fiona's timely awakening.

Through those countless life-and-death encounters, both of their powers had surged.

Now, they stood at the threshold of godhood—

Chosen One rank!

But the cost was steep. Fiona's injuries had never truly healed.

In the early days, it was always Fiona who fought off the pursuers while Lilith escaped by the skin of her teeth.

As the enemies kept coming, Lilith had finally decided to retreat—

to the barren yet relatively safe snowfields.

Among the simple-minded but kindhearted snow-cats,

this was the safest place she could think of.

After her burst of excitement, Lilith began frantically gathering her scattered treasures.

Snowball yawned.

"My lady, are you going out on another 'training journey'?"

He deliberately emphasized the words, because Lilith had gone on "training journeys" dozens of times in the past century—

only to either be recognized and chased back,

or turn tail herself after deciding the outside world was too dangerous.

Her longest trip had lasted three days.

The shortest—

she had turned back the moment she saw a group of bounty hunters looking for her right outside the snowfield.

Lilith put her hands on her hips and raised her chin proudly.

"What do you mean, again?"

"This time, I'm going home! To my real home!"

Snowball's father, the old chieftain of the snow-cats, twitched his nose and flicked his tail in disapproval.

His face practically said, Yeah right.

Lilith gritted her teeth in annoyance but decided not to argue with the furry skeptic.

Instead, she marched straight to the elder's den.

"What? You want the entire tribe to migrate to Dalton Town?!"

The old chieftain nearly jumped out of his fur.

"No, no, that's impossible, my lady!"

"This may be a desolate land, but it's the home we've fought generations to keep—from the ice-wolves no less!"

Lilith stared at him as if looking at a hopeless case.

"Don't you have any ambition? Dalton Town is a thousand times better than this frozen dump!"

"What kind of future do you have staying here?"

The chieftain waved his paws stubbornly.

"My lady, please stop teasing us. Our tribe can't handle such upheaval!"

Lilith almost wanted to pull out one of her artifacts and shove the entire tribe into it by force.

Then she suddenly slapped her forehead.

How stupid!

Why argue when she could just let her dad handle it?

She quickly fished out a badge glowing with gentle starlight—

the Emergency Communication Sigil her father had given her.

It could transmit her call and location across vast worlds.

Raising it high above her head, she shouted at the top of her lungs:

"Come out, Dad!"

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