A pure flower, greedy and endlessly growing…
That was the best way to describe her personality.
Knowledge was the nourishment of her growth, while excessive greed was the fire of her destruction…
Her curiosity flowed like endless water, no form of knowledge could ever restrain its course.
Her never-ending questions continued pouring forth until they reflected upon her greed itself.
"Your Grace… you who gifted me my Path and bestowed punishment upon me…"
Her greed became poison to those around her.
"Is there truly no escape from this insatiable greed of mine… other than suppressing it so I may continue living by your side?"
She was pure not because she remained untouched by the knowledge she devoured…
But because she believed in me and in my words, which, to her, were absolute truth itself.
"Controlling the Path of Greed and forcing harmony upon it only restrains its true nature…
Your Path yearns for absolute truth, not fleeting desires…
Allow the flow of greed to remain as it is, for it was born for your sake, O one whose beauty bewitched me and whose purity chained me…"
But the truth was that I wanted to corrupt that purity…
It was not envy…
But greed.
Greed to know whether such purity could withstand an insatiable greed.
"Your Grace… I beg of you…
Return to your flower, and release it from its punishment before it withers away…"
At that moment, I wondered…
Would my despair rejoice upon meeting a flower that had lost its purity…
Or would his despair only deepen from the failure of his greed…
...…
[Great Virtue Continent – Central Church]
Three years after the destruction of the Saint Empire (Svant Empire)…
The disappearance of a great empire like the Saint Empire, and the appearance of a bottomless abyss in its place, spread terror throughout kingdoms and empires across the world.
The Immortal Continent and its great kingdoms were the only slight exception, due to their close proximity to the incident and their possession of crucial information unknown to others…
The Tyrant of Magic and Sorcery, subordinate to the Kingdom Union of the Immortal Continent, still refused to reveal the source of the immense mana they had sensed only months before the empire's destruction.
Thus, he secluded himself in a hidden place, preparing to step into the Half-Virtue Realm… should fate stand on his side.
At this time, the Central Church had finally gathered enough information to predict the true cause behind the disappearance of the Saint Empire.
The head of the Sacred Central Intelligence Division, Agram Toribikha, stood before the highest authority in the Church after the Saintess herself, the Forty-Fifth Pope, Atlas IV…
Pope Atlas IV had gathered the continent's elders and supreme authorities inside the Sacred Conference Hall to hear the latest findings regarding the incident that had plunged the world into fear.
"Your Holiness, esteemed elders and commanders… during last year's meeting, I promised to bring you information regarding the perpetrator of this atrocious act, and I have done so.
But first, we must revisit the facts that led us to this conclusion…"
Agram, being a former politician and ex-member of the Federal Intelligence Agency of the Union of Races, was infamous for his overwhelming intelligence and terrifying insight even among his allies.
After uncovering the identity of the hand behind that destruction, they unexpectedly discovered information concerning their own Saintess, who had also vanished, during their investigation into his past.
To protect these secrets, and under the direct orders of Pope Atlas IV, all sensitive information regarding both the suspect's past and their Saintess was concealed.
"As you all know, the Emperor of the Saint Empire had allied himself with the current fugitive leader of the Magic Towers under the accusation of conducting an inhumane magical experiment that transformed thousands of innocent civilians into chimera. Through this, they sought to ascend into Supreme Sovereignty. Fortunately, the experiment failed, leaving the Emperor trapped in False Sovereignty. This occurred only one year before the destruction of the Saint Empire…"
Agram approached the conference table and distributed documents and reports to everyone present, except the Pope.
"After investigating suspects within the Magic Towers, we discovered the addition of a new individual possessing astonishing magical talent. Judging from the amount of mana recorded by our Church, he barely qualified as a Legendary Warrior."
As Agram spoke, one of the commanders interrupted him.
"What does such a minor talent have to do with the destruction of the Saint Empire?"
Though he spoke calmly, the tension visible on his face had not disappeared.
In truth, that same tension was visible on most of the commanders and elders attending the meeting.
The reason for this tension…
Was simple.
None of them wished for another Sword Saint to appear beyond their control.
Nor another Warrior Kingdom like the one on the Dark Continent, which controlled the world's adventurers.
Especially if a monster even more terrifying than the Sword Saint were to emerge.
"Of course he is related.
By tracing the path of his journey through the identity card issued by our Church, beginning from the Continent of Pleasure where he was born, we found numerous abnormal events that could never have been caused by an ordinary Legendary Warrior…"
One of the continent's elders interrupted again.
"Didn't you say you detected an overwhelming amount of Sword Intent at the site of the Saint Empire's disappearance? Yet this Legendary Warrior's records clearly indicate he is a mage. Furthermore, his occupation as a High Magi is even greater proof that he has nothing to do with swords."
Agram cast the elder a cold glance, causing cold sweat to pour down the elder's face before he lowered his eyes in embarrassment.
Then Agram continued calmly.
"I shall answer our esteemed elder's question shortly.
First, if you turn to the second page of the report, you will see that a monster wave appeared in the village where the target known as Telodeos once lived. Under normal circumstances, suche a wave would have destroyed not only that village, but perhaps even that small kingdom itself…
However…"
Agram paused.
"The one who stopped that monster wave was the man registered as the father of the target Telodeos…"
His voice echoed heavily through the hall.
"Ari, Spears of Lightning."
The moment this information was revealed, the entire conference hall erupted into chaos.
"Spears of Lightning?! The human Great Sovereign expert?!"
"Wasn't Spears of Lightning a former companion of the Sword Saint?! Since when did he have a child?!"
"A Supreme Great Sovereign father and a Legendary Warrior child?! What in the world is wrong with this bloodline?!"
The hall grew noisy as the elders and commanders exchanged information regarding Spears of Lightning.
Among the most important facts…
He was considered the human closest to reaching the Half-Virtue Realm after the Sword Saint himself.
He also possessed highly unusual ties with the Union of Races.
Most notably, he had once been a companion of the current Ruler of the Dryads, the Dryads being the only superior race in the world known for their strangely positive reputation.
Agram silenced the chatter after noticing Pope Atlas's growing irritation.
"Silence…
Spears of Lightning was known for his excellent reputation among humanity, and our intelligence division had predicted that he too had disappeared in order to prepare himself to step into the Realm of Half-Virtue, granting humanity another Half-Virtue of immense power alongside the reclusive Ice Empress…
But…"
Agram's expression darkened.
"Cruel is fate toward our race…
Spears of Lightning died while stopping the monster wave I mentioned."
A deadly silence descended upon the hall after this shocking revelation.
Some silently grabbed their hair in regret and despair over what had happened.
Others sat frozen in deep contemplation, doubting the validity of the information.
After all…
How could a Great Human Expert die to such a simple monster wave?
"Of course, we too doubted the possibility of his death," Agram continued.
"But matters changed after we discovered two things.
The first was the intervention of the current Ruler of the Dryads, who suppressed his power for reasons still unknown to us…"
He paused briefly.
"As for the second…"
Agram's gaze sharpened.
"The target, Telodeos, is not the biological son of Spears of Lightning and does not carry his bloodline…
Rather…"
His voice echoetd through the hall.
"He is the current heir to the Dryad Throne."
The silence shattered once more into complete chaos after Agram revealed one of the most important pieces of information in the entire meeting.