A heavy silence had spread inside the sacred hall.
Not the calm, ordinary silence of royal palaces, but the silence that comes after something irreparable has been broken.
The golden light from the hall’s massive columns fell on Elisira’s face, but for the first time in her life, this light no longer brought a sense of peace.
Rather, it was like a chain wrapped around her body. Her gaze was still fixed on her father.
On the man whom all the people of the continent considered the symbol of sacred justice.
But now, she could no longer be sure. And more importantly, her father was angry. The aura that had emanated from him moments ago was terrifying and destructive.
But miraculously, she was not afraid of that aura... no, she didn’t even care, as if it was just a passing breeze.
Why? The answer was simple. Today she had witnessed an unbelievable battle, witnessed the power of a being beyond her mind’s capacity to comprehend. And that was enough for her no longer to fear her father’s aura.
In fact, she doubted anything in this world could frighten her anymore... except that man, Daniel. Even the fear she felt now was out of worry that she might say something that could anger him.
"I don’t know what that being is." Elisira’s voice was quiet, repeating her words.
But there was no complete lie in it, because she truly did not know what Daniel was.
Not human, not a monster, not a creature described in holy books or any historical texts. He looked exactly like a human, but at the same time bore no resemblance to humans.
And his very unknown nature was more terrifying than anything.
The Holy Emperor said nothing, only tapped his finger quietly on the golden armrest of the throne.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The quiet sound of his finger echoed inside the empty hall, heavier than the sound of a sword.
Elisira felt an invisible pressure slowly weighing down on her shoulders.
Not mana pressure, but the pressure of a ruler, the pressure of a man who had controlled an empire for years.
The Emperor’s eyes remained fixed on his daughter.
"Why is that being staying by the tree and protecting it?" With his eyes, he could detect any lie, and when his daughter said she didn’t know what that monster really was, she wasn’t lying.
She might be hiding part of the truth, though that wasn’t certain, but still the Emperor was sure his daughter truly didn’t know what that monster was.
And even when she said that being was not a monster, she was telling the truth. That meant his daughter truly believed that monster was not a monster!
And that angered him, because it was blasphemous speech.
"I don’t know." Elisira was silent for a few moments.
"What is his goal?"
"He didn’t say."
"Did he himself admit that he has a connection with the tree, or that they are somehow related?"
This time Elisira paused briefly. The image of the tree’s massive roots came alive in her mind, the fruit’s light, and that strange feeling as if the tree was truly alive.
"Yes." She was sure Daniel and the tree had connections, as if they could speak to each other, and since this question didn’t seem very important, she preferred to answer.
"What was that attack that destroyed Walterk?" The Emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Elisira unconsciously held her breath. The law of eternity, a power that even understanding it shook the mind. This was the power she had thought was the power of the gods.
But it turned out there was something called eternal power.
But if she talked about it, the empire would be terrified, and if she talked about Daniel’s sentence...
"I am eternity itself." Perhaps she would be accused of treason right now. Because that sentence meant Daniel considered himself a god.
And such blasphemous speech would certainly drive the empire into war.
"...I don’t know, but he called it eternal power." So she only said quietly and preferred not to go into details.
The pressure inside the hall grew heavier, even the white flames of the sacred candles trembled slightly. The Holy Emperor did not take his gaze off his daughter.
"Is there a way to kill him?" The Emperor asked coldly. He knew his daughter probably didn’t have the answer, but still he asked.
And this question, for the first time, made Elisira’s heart clench.
Could that monster really be killed? Was there such a powerful weapon? At least not anything the empire possessed.
The image of Walterk came alive in her mind again. An Eternal Warrior whom nations feared, a being that even death could hardly touch.
And then his vanishing as if he had never existed. A being said to be immortal had been killed by Daniel. So could such a being even be killed?
Elisira closed her eyes quietly, and before she knew it, the words left her mouth.
"As long as no one attacks him, he doesn’t bother anyone." This sounded more like advice than a warning. She really didn’t want to see her father and the empire destroyed by Daniel.
Even the air in the hall seemed to stop for a moment.
The Emperor’s gaze changed. Not anger, but something colder and more dangerous. Clearly, he was even more furious with his daughter.
Even Serius, who until then had stood motionless by the window, quietly narrowed his eyes.
"Are you defending him?" The Holy Emperor asked very quietly.
For a moment, Elisira felt that if she backed down, something inside her would break.
So she looked directly into her father’s eyes.
"I’m only saying what I saw." Her voice was firmer this time.
"Walterk and his army attacked the forest." She paused briefly.
The image of Walterk’s axe came alive in her mind. That attack that had tried to destroy even her along with Daniel.
That bastard had almost killed her! If Daniel hadn’t saved her, she wouldn’t be here now.
"He only responded."
The atmosphere of the hall suddenly turned cold. A massive pressure spread through the air, and several candles went out.
The Holy Emperor slowly rose from his throne, his white and gold robe dragging on the stone steps.
"That being killed thousands of people." His voice was quiet, but every word landed like a weight on the air.
"Destroyed one of the top ten Eternal Warriors." His eyes sank directly into his daughter’s eyes.
"And you’re trying to make him look reasonable?"
Elisira bit her lip, because the problem was that her father wasn’t wrong. What Daniel had done was terrible.
Inhuman. But she had seen with her own eyes that Walterk had wanted to kill even her without a moment’s hesitation.
If Walterk hadn’t attacked, Daniel would never have destroyed him. When they first saw Daniel, he not only didn’t attack them but let them go.
And worse, she still couldn’t forget Daniel’s sentence.
"I’m almost certain this tree is this world’s only hope for salvation." Her mind was being torn between two truths.
The empire and what she had seen. At that moment, Serius finally moved away from the window. His quiet footsteps echoed on the hall’s white stones.
"He sees all his prey as food for that tree." And then, without looking directly at either of them, he said.
Both turned their gazes toward him. Serius was silent for a few seconds, his eyes fixed on Elisira.
"The problem is, if he’s not a monster, then why does he kill all those creatures, not release them, and feed the tree everything that remains of them: their life force, their souls, whatever is left?" And then he continued quietly.
Elisira’s heart crumbled for a moment, and she bit her lip again, because this boy’s words were true. She had also seen with her own eyes that Daniel gave the tree everyone he killed as food.
All those thousands of people killed today became the tree’s food.
And if that tree really is this world’s last hope, then why does it feed on the dead? Does a good tree really feed on the dead?
Isn’t that more like the behavior of an evil tree?
And there was something in Serius’s gaze that made Elisira feel threatened by him for the first time.
Because he understood too much, was too precise.
Silence filled the hall again.
The Holy Emperor stood motionless for a few moments.
"Until I give permission, you no longer have the right to leave your room." And then finally he said quietly.
Elisira’s eyes widened. For a moment, she truly couldn’t speak. Not from fear, but from anger. Anger that after everything she had seen, she was being treated like a prisoner.
She couldn’t give up until she understood the truth.
"Father—" She stepped forward.
"This is the Emperor’s command, not your father’s." The Emperor’s voice cut her off like an icy blade.
And that sentence hurt more than anything else. For a few seconds, only silence remained, and then two royal knights quietly stepped forward.
And that made it even more humiliating. Elisira cast one last look at her father, but the Emperor no longer even looked at her. And that made something inside her quietly crack.
Without saying a word, she turned. The hall’s massive doors closed behind her with a heavy sound.
Boom.
The Holy Emperor stared at that closed door for a few moments, then slowly took a deep breath.
"What do you think?" He said without turning around.
"I think we realized far too late what we are dealing with." Serius said with a cold light in his eyes.