The Celestial Dragon coiled around Amon for a short while as though she was playing with him, while Vela watched with a faint smile on her lips.
Just then, the door swung open with a loud rumble, and a middle-aged man with disheveled clothes and hair stepped inside.
His long black hair was a mess as he staggered into the room, his gaze immediately shifting to the duo.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there the moment he was born," he apologized, stepping forward and reaching out to caress his wife's smooth face.
Vela stared at him for an instant, "From a Star Gate?"
The man nodded.
She let out a shaky breath, then turned to Amon still cradled in her arms, "Meet our son."
The man's gaze shifted to Amon, his piercing red eyes seeming to look straight through the child.
A smile softened his cold features.
'My father in this life...' Amon understood, though another thought tugged at the corner of his mind. 'Star Gate?'
Yet another mystery about this world he didn't understand.
Still, he didn't feel disheartened. It was only a matter of time.
'At least a unique new world is opening itself to me gradually.'
Abruptly, Amon felt something stir inside him, and a wave of immense hunger surged through every fiber of his being.
He struggled to suppress it but...
Waaa... Waaa...
Like a dam breaking, his cry burst out, shattering the couple's quiet moment.
"Err, what do we do?" Vela turned nervously toward her husband.
Seth looked panicked as well, but he tried to stay calm, firing off a series of questions.
"Did you pinch him by mistake? Have you fed him since? Does he not like me?"
"Wait! I... haven't fed him yet!" Vela gently interrupted, then immediately pulled down her dress. Amon finally felt a warm liquid enter his mouth.
Vela turned to Seth, her face red as a tomato, and said in a shy voice, "G–go and take a bath in the meantime. You have to get yourself cleaned up."
Seth nodded, though for a brief moment his gaze drifted down to Vela, causing her embarrassment to deepen.
...
A short while later, Amon finally felt sated and stopped nursing. He closed his eyes and pretended to fall asleep.
Noticing this, Vela quietly placed him in his cradle, careful not to wake him, then tiptoed out of the room.
The moment she stepped out, his eyes snapped open.
He glanced around briefly, and seeing no one, let out a relieved sigh.
'It's truly too difficult being a baby.'
With that, he closed his eyes again and continued his absorption of Primordial Energy.
Silence reigned in the room for a long while before Amon sensed someone enter.
Thinking it was his mother, he opened his eyes slightly, not wanting to be startled again.
However, instead of his mother, he saw a maid.
Dressed in a black and white robe, she radiated an air of calm purity.
'Is she here to check on me?' Amon thought. But when he noticed her glance around and quietly shut the door, his suspicion grew.
Once she confirmed no one was coming, she retrieved a gleaming dagger from her sleeve and silently approached the cradle.
'An assassination?'
Amon was shocked.
His mind screamed in alarm as countless thoughts crashed together while he desperately searched for a way out of the crisis.
'Status Panel!' he called out internally.
The runes twisted and shifted before materializing the same information as before.
Amon scanned through it once, then again.
There was really no other way...
Would he die just a few hours after arriving in this world?
Many thoughts flashed through Amon's mind as he struggled to find a way to survive.
The maid didn't give him time to think; she was already at the edge of the cradle.
'What do I do?'
Amon watched as she raised the dagger above him when suddenly he thought of something.
'That's right! I can absorb Primordial Energy from the air, and it flows into vein-like networks in my body. What if I...'
He didn't have time to test the plan and could only bet his life on it.
Bang!
Amon inhaled sharply, feeling Primordial Energy surge through him, then exhaled, forcing it out through his veins.
A wave of excruciating pain tore through his body, it felt like he was being burned alive.
A transparent, immaterial glow burst from him just as the maid poised to strike. It collided with her and with the dagger, sending it flying and crashing onto the ground with a loud clang.
Subconsciously, a milky-white glow flashed over the maid, and panic flooded her expression.
She turned and bolted toward the window, but her movements froze when the door swung open.
She stiffly turned to face a middle-aged man, still dripping wet, as he stepped into the room with a bang.
A chill spread through the air as his gaze locked onto the maid.
"You— My Lord, it's not what you think!" she stammered, but a small creature the size of a youth's arm had already condensed from her midsection.
Seth, filled with fury, didn't hesitate. He threw a punch toward the little Celestial Dragon before it could fuse with her, though it hardly mattered.
He took a step forward and was already in front of the maid, whose eyes widened in shock.
Then his fist struck her abdomen, and the sound of glass shattering echoed through the room.
The maid's face drained of color, her Celestial Dragon destroyed, and now her Celestial Core shattered.
A misty liquid surged briefly from her body, dispersing into the air like a fading breeze.
Seth turned to the few guards who had entered at some point.
"Take her to the cell for questioning. I'll join you shortly."
After giving the order, he no longer paid the guards any attention.
Once someone's Core was destroyed, they immediately lost all strength, and it would take a long time to recover if ever. Even then, they'd be no different from an ordinary human, stripped of their Divine Path.
Seth strode briskly toward Amon's cradle.
He exhaled in relief upon seeing the little baby still alive.
His eyes widened as though he'd just witnessed something truly extraordinary.
'This... Power! Power! I must have it!'
Amon's mind was filled with thoughts of his father's strength and the strength of the maid...