Chapter 75
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Promoted to Dad
The sky stained purple. The scattered lightning gathered into a human form.
Flash—!
As Enoch opened his eyes, a soft glow burst forth.
His empty left eye filled once more with a pitch-black orb, lightning flickering within the pupil. Vertical slits for pupils encircled by rings. It signified that his divine eyes had settled more stably than before.
[Pfft…! B-Brain, Brain King… Pfft…!]
Undine’s laughter rang out, but he ignored it.
Surging with omnipotence, Enoch reached out his hand.
Rumble—!
The lightning moved like limbs, naturally forming a spear in his grasp.
The principle of convergence he had grasped infused the pitch-black spear, so dense not even light could escape. Yet the lightning’s presence leaked out like stars, making the spear’s form resemble a universe dotted with purple stars.
『Milky Way』
The spear shot forth. With that, the paused battle resumed.
Crackle—!!!
Amid the erupting lightning, swords clashed against swords, swords against claws. Enoch, who had watched them from above for a moment, leaped into the fray.
Slash—!
Power overflowed. He coated the claws with the principle of convergence in full.
Like the spear, it was qi in the form of a black base sparkling with purple lightning like stars. Naming it Black Thunder, Enoch swung at the clone.
Rumble—!!
The world flickered under the onslaught of lightning. Each motion was dazzlingly flashy. In contrast, the clone swung its sword silently, thrusting as if shoving the blade aside.
Shing—
The air was sliced open. Enoch dodged by arching his back, and Leonne charged past him.
[You better explain this later!]
No one had dreamed Enoch would suddenly ascend to grandmaster. Pushing aside her shock for the moment, Leonne swept her sword from below upward.
Rumble—!
The dark clouds filling the sky because of Enoch. Raindrops began pouring from them, weaving through the heavens at Leonne’s will.
The clone narrowed its eyes and swung its sword straight at her.
Clang—!
Swords met swords, and Tsukiyo aimed for the opening.
Her tiny hand swung, gathering all surrounding mana to smack the foe. It looked just like a giant cat’s paw lashing out.
Enoch wasn’t slacking either. Nature’s mana, submitting to his will, pressed down on the clone as pressure.
At the same time, he infused Black Thunder into both hands and crossed them in a swing, sending ten strands of qi toward the clone’s body.
“Hmm…”
The clone deflected Leonne’s sword aside, took two diagonal steps to evade Tsukiyo’s claws, channeled the crushing pressure into the ground, and brought its sword to meet Enoch’s attack.
Boom—!
The Black Thunder shattered. But Enoch’s expression remained calm. Satisfied with buying time, he swiftly retreated.
Whoosh—
Leonne, fused with Undine, controlled the raindrops to form a massive vortex in the sky. The droplets inside didn’t merge but retained their forms as tens of millions of individual beads.
[Time to back it up, Dad!]
Leonne casually spat out such irreverent words and brought her sword down from above.
A blade vortex of tens of millions of raindrops hurtled toward the clone. The clone merely furrowed its brow and raised its sword without fanfare.
Enoch’s instinct told him.
‘It’s a bit short.’
Whirr—! The rings in his eyes spun vigorously. He still couldn’t peer deeply into even the clone. But now the depth was markedly greater, and having pierced through, Enoch spread his right hand.
Rumble—!
Thunder roared from his palm.
It started as a small point. The pitch-black dot grew, soon reaching the size of a child’s head.
Purple lightning flashed within the jet-black sphere. All surrounding power was sucked into Enoch’s hand, warping space.
At the moment his figure became invisible to normal sight, Enoch clenched his fist.
Screeech—!!
Like nails on glass, purple-black lightning writhed in his grasp. He finely controlled the imminent explosion and slammed it into the heart of the raging vortex.
Flash—!!!
For an instant, his entire vision flickered black and white. Enoch wiped the bloody tears from his eyes and exhaled raggedly.
[Hoo…]
A strange sense of pride welled up. Seeing the wounds etched on Leonne’s body made his gut boil, yet the accomplishment of combining their powers for one technique burst forth sweetly.
Rain and lightning. Didn’t the powers themselves suggest perfect synergy?
Heaven’s mandate, fate—honestly distasteful words, but if this was fate, it was always welcome.
“Butler! Watch out, meow!”
Watch out, meow? Before he could question the nonsense, instinct dropped him low.
Shing—
The world above his head sliced cleanly and slid away.
[Ah…]
And it survived that? Aghast, Enoch sighed.
[Die already, will you?]
*
Even settling anger reignited fresh upon seeing Leonne’s wounds.
After hours of battling the clone, just glimpsing his father-in-law’s face would soon trigger unconscious punches.
[Just die alreadyyy…!!]
Leonne seemed to think the same, her sword swings growing rougher.
[Why won’t this thing die…! Is Dad some kind of cockroach!?]
[Hey, hey. That’s a bit harsh?]
[Shut up!]
Undine piped up unnecessarily and shrank back, while Tsukiyo, utterly drained, stuck out her tongue without a word.
“Hiiik… Hic… D-Dying…”
[Weakling.]
“……!”
Betrayed by the butler, Tsukiyo shot him a glare.
“No treats for you!”
[Good.]
They bantered with spare breath because they could afford to. With Enoch joining at full power, the tide had turned irreversibly.
Everyone was exhausted equally. Each strike demanded full effort; not tiring would be weirder.
Yet the clone still had strength left, wrapping natural qi around its sword tip as if plotting something.
[Leonne!]
Enoch shouted and charged. His divine eyes heated to their limit. He fixed on every line extending from the clone’s sword tip and stomped with all his might.
Boom—!!
All powers submitted to Enoch’s will and crushed the clone. On top of the technique he’d dubbed Dominion Aura, Black Thunder coiled around his hands.
Rumble—!
The boiling lightning took the shape of massive claws. The ten spells stocked in his gauntlets converted purely to current, amplifying power, and Enoch lunged to clamp the clone’s sword tight.
Huff—!
Hot breath stirred the clone’s hair. Up close, the clone’s eyes held no tremor. Just slightly furrowed brows.
[Hold it tight, Enoch!]
A voice from behind, and something whooshed past.
“Eek…!”
Tsukiyo. Tossed by Leonne, she righted herself midair and slashed with her claws.
Rip—!
The clone’s side tore deeply. Blue particles scattered instead of blood.
As the clone’s stance faltered, Enoch twisted his body sharply. He yanked the gripped sword down, spinning to deliver an uppercut kick to the clone’s jaw.
Thud—!
Leonne grinned darkly at the clone floating airborne.
[Bye, Dad!]
Dense emerald qi condensed at her sword tip and shot straight.
—!!!!
The spreading qi swept over the clone’s body. That should’ve killed it for real.
[Haa…]
Enoch slumped to the ground, gazing up at Leonne’s qi slowly dissipating.
Beautiful emerald qi, just like her eyes. As he reached out entranced,
Flash—
The ragdoll clone raised its sword from above, straight down.
[Enoch…!]
Leonne cried out in shock, but Enoch just smiled faintly.
[Cool.]
Plain at a glance, but delving deeper revealed an unfathomable downward slash.
Enoch tapped the descending blade with his outstretched fingers.
Whoosh—
Wind blew, and the clone scattered away. Watching the sword crumble from tip to hilt, Enoch whispered softly.
[Leonne will carry on.]
What a pathetic father-in-law. If he had the strength, he’d track down the real one and thwack his head.
Splash—!
True qi depleted, Enoch collapsed flat on the ground. Breezes tickled his hair.
“Gonna die of exhaustion.”
[Oh, you poor thing.]
Undine, having unfused from Leonne, fluttered over with a pop.
[What’ll we do with our weary Brain King… Giggle!]
He swatted the snickering spirit away with his palm, and Leonne peeked down from above.
“But Enoch. You’ve grown a ton.”
“Huh?”
“Like, suddenly a whole handspan taller?”
“Really?”
He’d completed the bone purge upon reaching grandmaster, so maybe.
Ordinary bone purges took ages as the body shattered and reformed, but Enoch had dispersed his entire body into lightning and reassembled in an instant.
“Nice. Now stand straight, and your chin reaches my head?”
“Probably? Why? Wanna try?”
“Yeah.”
Leonne grinned goofily. The scratches marring her pale smiling face were quite irksome.
The real father-in-law deserved a beating.
As he resolved in earnest, something heavy plopped onto his stomach.
“…Heavy.”
“Butler.”
Tsukiyo, straddling Enoch, thrust her face close.
“I hereby promote you from butler to dad.”
Total nonsense.