Traveling further north from where Tike was, one would arrive at the true northern continent—Guiltina.
On this continent stood a bizarre peak that looked as if it had been cleaved in half by a god—Sword Saint Mountain.
This place was rarely visited by humans. The rocky slopes were densely covered with mysterious caves that crisscrossed like a spider's web, ready to swallow any living creature that dared to intrude.
In this suffocatingly silent space, a slender figure walked slowly out of a cave.
It was a young woman of about eighteen or nineteen, dressed in a white cheongsam adorned with blue cloud patterns that fluttered gently. A pair of knee-high black boots clicked audibly against the ground.
The young woman looked up, sunlight falling on her fiery orange hair. With a slight lift of her arm, a sharp wave of sword energy instantly cut through the air, tearing a terrifyingly deep fissure in the ground.
"Finally got used to this new body."
The young woman's name was Kurnugi. She had been killed by Tike once before.
But that statement wasn't entirely accurate.
The "her" that had encountered Tike previously was merely a puppet she controlled using Spirit Arts, not her true body.
Even her current appearance was just one of the many items in her collection.
Her true body shared the same name as this Sword Saint Mountain—no, rather, this place was named after her existence.
Her name was the Sword Saint Dragon, Kurnugi, one of the Dragon Clan that had dominated this world hundreds of years ago.
To travel in the human world, a human form was more convenient. However, she wasn't adept at transformation magic, so she had to settle for the next best thing and choose this method.
The previous body, being a temporary patchwork, had extremely limited power, which was why it was so easily defeated by Tike.
This time, the compatibility of the body she controlled far exceeded the previous one, allowing her to exert much more of her power.
"This time, I must bring him back."
Just as Kurnugi was about to set off, the sky suddenly changed. The sun seemed to be instantly wiped away by an invisible hand, replaced by a bright moon emitting a faint, cool glow, enveloping the entire world in silvery white.
Accompanied by this strange spatial fluctuation, a pitch-black vortex silently split open in mid-air. A golden-haired woman dressed in a luxurious kimono slowly emerged from it.
She was Kurnugi's biological mother, a being who had earned the fearsome title of Dragon God on the continent of Guiltina—the Moon Dragon God, Selene.
Selene sat poised in the void, surrounded by a mysterious pressure that made hearts palpitate. Her deep eyes looked down at Kurnugi below like a queen high above.
"My son, Kurnugi. You failed."
Hearing this, Kurnugi just raised an eyebrow slightly and shrugged nonchalantly, seemingly indifferent to her mother's reproach.
"Mother, he didn't want to come back with me. With the strength of that body, I really couldn't force him to return."
Selene frowned slightly, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"Even if you could only mobilize less than a tenth of your true power while possessing a body with Spirit Arts, it hasn't been more than three years since he hatched. Are you telling me you weren't his match?"
"His magic is too weird. Not just living creatures, but he can even take away the 'life' of weapons. And there are traces that his magic power has been forcibly developed; the intensity is not to be underestimated. I don't know about the magic, but his magic power is probably the masterpiece of those humans."
"Those damned humans, again and again..." A look of distinct loathing appeared on Selene's beautiful face, but soon, her voice softened, carrying a clear tenderness. "That child... how is he doing now?"
"He seems to be well taken care of by another human." Kurnugi paused, then finally asked, "Mother, are you sure he is your child?"
"Why do you ask?"
Kurnugi hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Even though he used magic of that level, I didn't smell the scent of our clan on him. Instead, just like his current appearance, he gave off the scent of a human."
Selene was silent for a while. A strange look appeared in her eyes, but it quickly turned cold and stern.
"I clearly sensed his magic power back then. There is no mistake. Kurnugi, do not speculate wildly."
Kurnugi pouted but ultimately chose to lower her head.
"I apologize. Please give me another chance. I will definitely bring my brother back this time."
"No need." Selene raised her head and cast her gaze toward the distant south. "I will go bring him back personally."
As soon as she finished speaking, space quietly distorted under her will.
In the next instant, Selene vanished as silently as she had arrived, and the sky returned to its original clear blue.
Kurnugi looked up at the faint trace remaining in the sky, lost in thought.
After a long while, she whispered to herself:
"Mother, will he like you?"
---
"Hmm?"
Tike, who was burying his face in his food, suddenly looked up at the window, confusion in his eyes.
"Who's there?"
Ultear, who was keeping him company while he ate, couldn't help but be a little curious.
"What's wrong, Tike?"
"I smell a very special scent. It seems like... Mom?"
Ultear blinked in confusion.
"Isn't Mom still in the kitchen preparing food for you?"
"No."
Tike shook his head. Without waiting for Ultear to ask more, he rushed out of the house, sniffing the air hard.
"The scent... is gone..." he muttered to himself, his voice full of disappointment.
Ultear followed closely behind. She wanted to ask what was going on, but when she saw Tike's tender face written with disappointment and grievance, all her questions got stuck in her throat. She walked silently to Tike's side and gently pulled him into her arms.
Tike was very sad. He bit his lower lip hard, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill out.
He could be sure that the faint, fleeting aura just now definitely belonged to the mother he had never met.
She was clearly so close, so why wasn't she willing to come in and take a look at him?
(Is it because I killed my sister?)
In this instant, a subtle emotion flitted across his heart.
Was it regret?
No, absolutely not!
Although his memory was blurry, he instinctively believed firmly that everything he did was correct.
If she wasn't supposed to die there, then she wouldn't have died at all.
Just like Ultear before—isn't she living perfectly fine now?
(Whatever, see me or don't!)
He totally hadn't fantasized about eating with his real mom, taking baths together, sleeping together, and practicing magic together!
Tike fiercely wiped away the tear stains lingering at the corners of his eyes. His finger traced a circle with a watery trail in the air, and then he forced himself to squeeze out a strained smile.
"Big Sis, let's go back and keep eating!"
---
In an alternate dimension, a one-way world where those inside could clearly observe the outside while the outside couldn't peek in at all.
Selene stood there, watching everything that had just happened, her expression obscure.
Just as her other son, Kurnugi, had said, Tike looked completely human. Even his scent didn't feel familiar to her at all.
But if Tike wasn't her biological son, how could he use the same magic as him?
There was one possibility.
In Guiltina, there was a newly risen wizard guild called Diabolos.
Members of this guild gained dragon power by eating dragons, and they could thereby learn the magic of the consumed dragons.
Selene narrowed her eyes slightly, a cold thought quietly forming in her mind.
If that was the case with Tike, she would cut open his stomach and find her real child.
Before that—
"It's necessary to conduct an experiment."