Father vs. Daughter

Time passed minute by minute...

Luo Wei endured the agonizing wait for the turning point to arrive.

Finally—

The moment Carlton attacked Eleya with a supernatural force that was neither magic nor divine power, his gaze suddenly froze, and he immediately withdrew all offensive actions.

That aged face, which had remained eerily calm since Luo Wei and Eleya arrived, finally revealed a trace of wariness. His brows furrowed as he stared intently at a certain spot in the darkness.

Luo Wei immediately looked in that direction but saw nothing beyond the shadows.

No...

Observing Carlton’s posture, it was clear he was gazing into the distance.

Through the suffocating darkness of the study, he was fixated on a location in Saint Callen.

And that direction was... southeast.

To be precise—the White Chapel District.

Had Ophelia succeeded!?

...

In the square before the grand cathedral.

When Ophelia closed her eyes, causing the surrounding air to ripple faintly...

All the young mages of the Hidden Order erupted into cheers.

Even Elder Roens couldn’t contain his excitement. Struggling to his feet in his weakened state, he turned to Tilis. "Guildmaster! She did it! It’s still faint, but magical power has truly returned! I can feel the mana stirring within my body!"

"I know." Tilis had sensed the resurgence of power the moment Ophelia succeeded.

"But it’s not enough..." Elder Margery frowned, conjuring a faint blue orb of light in her palm—so dim it was barely visible.

"It’s a promising start, as long as her progress isn’t interrupted." Tilis swiftly commanded the mages, "Protect the Fifth Princess! Do not let anyone disrupt the domain!"

As the domain stabilized, Ophelia excitedly opened her eyes and immediately searched the crowd for Tilis.

"Just as the Hidden Order’s masters predicted, the key to breaking this lies in ‘mana’—reintroducing this fundamental attribute into the laws of the world! In other words, this isn’t dismantling the existing domain but layering a new one atop it. I’ve created a smaller domain within his!"

Tilis nodded. After extensive deliberation among the elder council, they had ultimately abandoned the idea of dismantling the "anti-magic domain." Carlton’s decades-long construction of this field was far too intricate—nearly every conceivable supernatural force except "magic" had been nullified. The old emperor had indeed done his research.

Ophelia’s approach was akin to nesting a new domain within Carlton’s. In the small radius around her, magic could function again. As for other forces like "Vampire Magic," "heterogeneous talents," or "eldritch powers," there simply hadn’t been time to incorporate them.

Mana alone was enough. With this, the Hidden Order would instantly become the strongest faction among the contending powers.

"Well done, well done."

Tilis gave Ophelia an approving look. The operation might seem simple, but executing it was anything but.

Getting Ophelia—someone with no innate magical talent—to comprehend the essence of "mana" had been no easier than tutoring Luo Wei through his exams to avoid failing.

"Keep going. We don’t have much time," she urged the exhilarated Ophelia.

Ophelia nodded eagerly, but just as she was about to amplify the mana within the domain...

The sky darkened abruptly, and a tide of shadows surged toward the square.

The mages tensed at the anomaly, and Tilis reacted instantly. "They’re after Ophelia! Protect her!"

Yet, in the very next moment...

The darkness swallowed Ophelia whole, and she vanished from the midst of the mages’ protective formation.

"Guildmaster!" Elder Margery gasped in horror. "The Fifth Princess is gone! Was it Carlton’s doing?"

Tilis coldly stared at the source of the encroaching darkness—Heglitz Palace.

"Undoubtedly. He’s recognized Ophelia as a threat..."

"What do we do now?"

Tilis smirked. "What else can we do?"

"Gather everyone. It’s time we paid that old man a visit."

...

Heglitz Palace, the study.

After Carlton’s strange reaction...

Shadows writhed around them, and Ophelia suddenly materialized before Luo Wei.

The moment he saw her, Luo Wei knew things had taken a dire turn. He quickly warned Eleya, "Shield her! She’s the only one who can break this domain!"

Both Carlton and Eleya locked onto Ophelia, their overwhelming forces converging in an instant.

Ophelia let out a pained gasp, first wracked by a tearing agony, then enveloped in a soothing radiance of holy light. Only then could she finally catch her breath.

"Luo Wei..." Spotting him, her panic eased slightly.

Luo Wei rushed forward, positioning himself between her and the others.

There was only one reason Ophelia would appear here—and it was why Carlton had dragged her in so urgently.

"Luo Wei! I did it!"

Ophelia tightly grasped his wrist. When he turned, he saw uncontainable joy gleaming in her striking, light-colored eyes.

"I knew you could!" Luo Wei laughed, the weight lifting from his shoulders.

Together, they faced the master of this dark domain. Ophelia’s gaze grew profoundly conflicted.

This was the moment.

The moment she truly confronted her father—Emperor Wegener, Charlton II.

Carlton’s piercing, hawk-like eyes bore into Ophelia, his aged face unreadable.

"A miscalculation, then."

"My greatest oversight was allowing you to grow."

"Regretting it now?" Ophelia taunted. "Wishing you’d left me to rot in that rural estate instead?"

"No." Carlton’s voice was icy. "You should never have existed at all."

The undisguised killing intent sent a chill down Ophelia’s spine.

In all these years, she had never seen such an expression on his face—least of all directed at her.

Even after Luo Wei had told her about his orders to eliminate her, witnessing his ruthlessness firsthand still left her heart cold.

How ironic... Just during the Crystal Palace exhibition, she had exhausted herself rooting out threats—all to protect this man.

Now, it seemed almost laughable.

"To think someone like you is my father..." Ophelia took a deep breath, steadying the storm of emotions within.

No matter how much she had once feared him, from this moment on...

There could be no outcome but one of them dying.

Luo Wei tightened his grip on her hand.

Feeling the warmth of his touch, Ophelia lifted her head and met Carlton’s gaze without flinching—for the first time in her life.

"Even so," she said softly, a faint smile on her lips, "I still have to thank you."

"What is there to thank me for?" Carlton asked.

"For the lesson you taught me," Ophelia replied, her smile fading. "Though it will be the last one."

As her words hung in the air, the space around Ophelia began to distort.

"Luo Wei! Kill him!"

"Understood!" The moment Ophelia unleashed her domain's power, Luo Wei felt the surge of returning magic. Without hesitation, he unleashed the 6th-circle spell [Comet Shard], hurling it toward his opponent with devastating force.