[Big Thanks to Niceee9842 <3]
Cassarae felt as though her entire being had entered her blade, as though a power extending from her heart itself was connecting with its rage. She felt strength the likes of which she had never touched before.
But at the same time, there was an annoying, nagging feeling, as though she was missing something.
It was a feeling that Sylas had experienced before. Notifications flashed on the edges of her peripheral vision, reminding her that she didn’t have the slots to gain a second Comprehension… let alone a third one.
However, the reminder fell on deaf ears and blind eyes. She, her blade, and the enemy before her were the only things she cared about. She would have sacrificed any and everything for this strike to fall.
Maybe if she was of her right mind, she wouldn’t feel such a way. But the truth was that she was of no mind at all right now. Her entire being could be summarized with just a single word.
It was no longer Kill.
It was Execute.
To Kill might involve danger. It might require a fight, a struggle, a murder of some sort—whether in the third degree or the first. However, an Execution was different.
It was a judgment. The decision was final, a mark of a Will that stood above, capable of deciding the life and death of the person it was cast upon.
An Execution couldn’t be struggled against, it couldn’t be changed—it was Final.
And when an Executioner swung their blade…
Heads fell.
Matriarch Valeria found herself sliced in two, Cassarae’s wrists shattering the moment her blade collided with the frame of the wheelchair the former sat on. And yet, it might as well have been a papercut in her present state of mind.
Her roar was the only thing that echoed in her ears—the slice from Matriarch Valeria’s left shoulder, down her collarbone, through her heart, and out her hip consuming her sapphire gaze.
High above, the All-Seeing Eye appeared again, flashing continuously as though it was trying to decide something once again. But its waning energy suddenly became a hindrance once more.
And then it sensed the system.
—
[Title Upgraded]
[Grade: Slayer > King Slayer]
[A Slayer faces a dauntless task. To fell the strongest of the strong, and to do so with an unfazed spirit and a fathomless heart. Standing before the powerful, you are unmoved and unbothered, the depths of your Will carrying with it the strength to face the true menace of the world with the gaze of a Hero.]
[Ignore D-Grade Suppression]
—
[System-Wide Message]
[The Hero Line System has been modified. The official Wife of Sylas Grimblade, Cassarae Grimblade, has successfully completed a Hidden Hero Quest, awakening her own Royal Line.]
[Grimblade Lineage has been Re-established]
[All Grimblades will be Elevated to the status of Bronze Royal Hero, effective immediately]
[Should no Progenitor of the Milky Way be born, the First Born of Sylas and Cassarae Grimblade will be given this position by Right]
—
Cassarae exhaled a smoky breath, her body overheating to the point it felt like her heart was pumping molten lava through her veins. Despite this, she stood tall, her blade pierced into the ground.
While everyone else was enamored with the new System-Wide Message, she was paying attention to something else entirely.
The Gold Leg of her Destiny Quest had been cleared. Now… there was only one path that lay ahead, one more hurdle to clear.
Her Legendary Leg. So long as she could clear that, the guillotine hanging above her head would be hers and hers alone to control.
She was the Executioner—who was anyone else to decide her life and death? Only she had a right to pass judgment on others. Who was the system to claim such a right for itself?
There was a rumbling the moment she had the thought.
—
[You have suffered a Demerit]
—
A bolt of lightning fell down from the skies.
**
Sylas wasn’t paying much attention to the battle down below. Or rather, he was more focused on his own thoughts and only giving it just enough attention to be aware of what was happening.
However, he forgot everything else when he saw the notification. And it was clear by the odd change to the pattern of blow exchanges down below that the same was true for the others.
A small smile quirked Sylas’ lips.
This was the ending he expected.
When the Petals of the Seeing Thorn got involved, they had no choice but to use Soryntha. Outsiders to the galaxy couldn’t participate, and Soryntha was objectively their strongest candidate. But even if she wasn’t, there was another reason they had to use her.
Matriarch Valeria.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn might have banned the use of the Seeing Thorn to bolster their abilities, but from Sylas’ research, he had seen the fingerprints of the Seeing Thorn all over their improvement. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was some small elite group within the organization still testing out methods to make using the Seeing Thorn safer.
For the Petals of the Seeing Thorn—well, for any powerful organization or family, but especially in their case—a powerful blood-related next of kin was probably the easiest way to boost someone’s power by a great deal.
It was just never done because it was almost never worth it… except in special cases like this one.
After having her Blood and Bone Essence drained for the sake of her daughter, Matriarch Valeria was practically just the shell of a D-Grade. Her body was more fragile than many E-Grades, and if not for the Skills she could just barely trigger, and some treasures she could carry with her, she would be all but helpless.
Sylas had been confident Cassarae could pull it off. The real question was the numbers the Florineth had to work with—but obviously, she had managed to deal with that as well.
The only problem was that the mention of a First Born put a target on his unborn child’s back, and that… Sylas didn’t like at all.
It seemed he would just have to claim this Galaxy Progenitor title first.
Sylas’ sphere suddenly popped.
But the battle down below wasn’t even finished yet.