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When Daenerys, the Solar Dragon Queen, first made contact with Harry, she instinctively drew out the energy that Lily had left within him. She also discovered that Lily had transferred this power through a soul-link infusion, directly embedding a part of herself into Harry.
However, because Daenerys was a "normal lifeform," even though she had reached the pinnacle of the world's power, it was difficult for her to properly and deeply channel or manipulate the core essence of this power, which originated from an abnormal existence.
As Harry nervously nodded, Seti slowly extended his withered hand, pressing his palm flat against Harry's chest. Although Seti's body appeared like decaying wood on the verge of rotting away, the moment he made contact, an overwhelming fear erupted from deep within Harry, completely consuming his thoughts.
It was as if he were facing Death itself. The terrifying power contained within that frail body barely revealed a fraction of its true magnitude, yet the sheer, inescapable pressure crushed any thought of resistance.
Harry had once naively believed that his strength was at least on par with half of an Awakened being. But at this moment, he truly understood how insignificant he was. The power he had once taken pride in was utterly inconsequential before a true Awakened one.
To say he wasn't envious would be a lie. But if he were truly given the chance to become a full-fledged Awakened, he would hesitate.
No matter how great one's power, if there was no place to use it, it would become a burden. He would have to tread cautiously, carefully maintaining the growth and stability of his strength. Though he would be capable of performing miracles beyond the imagination of ordinary people, the world itself would obscure his existence, distancing him from humanity and even influencing his heart—pushing him toward a life of solitude.
This was the fate of Awakened beings, both in ancient times and in the present. Glory and prestige had nothing to do with them. They were mere tools shaped by the world, bound by destiny from the moment they awakened. They would either stand at the brink of catastrophe, sacrificing themselves in desperate battles against world-ending crises, or remain hidden in the shadows, waiting for the inevitable moment when they would burn themselves out completely.
Like the silver-black glow of a star-streaked night sky, Seti's Awakened magic cautiously flowed from his palm. He expertly controlled his power, allowing it to seep into Harry's body in the gentlest manner possible. A sensation of swelling, as if something foreign had invaded his body, spread throughout him. The strange emptiness left behind as his own magic was forcibly squeezed out caused his breath to hitch.
This wasn't the weakness of an exhausted body but rather the complete depletion of his energy, forcibly drained by an unstoppable force.
Harry's steel-gray magic was entirely expelled from his body, along with scattered fragments of a soft, milky-white radiance. The moment this warm glow was forced out, it began to thrash violently, as if it were boiling. A woman's furious yet elegant face emerged within the light.
Like a mother hen shielding her chicks, she spread her arms wide, standing protectively in front of Harry. Though her small frame could no longer fully hide the child who had grown behind her, it felt as if nothing in the world could harm the one she was determined to protect with her life.
"I have no intention of hurting your son."
Seti raised both hands and slowly took half a step back. He met Lily's gaze directly, speaking in a calm and gentle tone.
"So, all that remains is a lingering will to protect…" He sighed with regret once the power Lily had left behind finally settled. "This situation is even more severe than I anticipated. As I thought, directly transmitting power through a soul link is far too…"
Seti trailed off before looking deeply at Harry. "Perhaps you survived not just because of luck or sheer resilience, but because your mother shattered her own power—breaking herself apart—to give it to you."
"I don't know what she was thinking in her final moments. I can only say… the power of this love is immeasurable."
There was a deep sorrow in Seti's voice. Behind him, Melina had buried her face in another female Awakened's shoulder, quietly wiping away tears. Perhaps only those like them—those who shared the same fate—could truly understand the weight of such a sacrifice.
Harry hadn't expected that, when Lily's translucent figure reappeared before him, all the anxiety and turmoil within him, stirred by countless recent events, would instantly fade into calm.
He stared blankly at the frail figure before him—not truly his mother, but still, undeniably, his mother.
Harry wiped his hand vigorously against his clothes before carefully raising it and lightly touching the fragile, almost ethereal image in front of him. His voice, soft yet tinged with nervousness, escaped his lips in a whisper:
"Mom?"
The word, one that had rarely ever passed his lips, came out without a hint of awkwardness. It was a foreign word to him, yet it felt completely natural.
But Lily gave no response. She merely stood there in silence, maintaining her protective stance, her wary gaze fixed on Seti.
"She can't hear you, Harry." Seti's deep voice broke the silence. "If she had retained a complete soul crystal, then she would have functioned like a magical portrait—preserving fragments of her memories and instincts. But what you see before you is just an empty shell, one that carries nothing but her lingering will to protect you. Everything else—every burden, every trace of her former self—she has already cast away."
"She abandoned the immortality of an Awakened, shattered her own power and existence. Perhaps only by making such a sacrifice, by enduring such inhuman agony, did you have even the slimmest chance of survival."
"Even a newly Awakened being, one who has yet to master their own runes, wields power far beyond that of an ordinary wizard. And back then, you were just a newborn—a child more fragile than a sheet of paper."
"But I heard her speak before!"
Harry's voice rose in protest, his face flushing with urgency. "She even called my name!"
He wanted to say more, to argue, to demand an explanation—but in the end, no words came. The greatest pain wasn't in never having something. It was in gaining it—only to lose it again, especially when it was something so precious, something irreplaceable.
A heavy silence fell over the room. No one spoke, no one tried to console him. Not because they didn't know how, but because they knew that any words of comfort would be nothing more than another knife, stabbing deeper into the boy's already wounded heart.
"…But at least she's still with me, right?"
Harry lifted his head, rubbing at his reddened eyes as he spoke in a muffled voice. He forced a smile, but it was weak, barely holding together.
"Yes." Seti nodded, his tone firm. "She will always be by your side, using everything she has left to aid and protect you. This is the greatest and most precious treasure in the world—the power of love."
After giving Harry a moment to collect himself, Seti returned to the topic at hand.
"As you've seen, the color of an Awakened one's magic often reflects the nature of their power. Every Awakened has their own unique essence, shaped by their personal obsessions. No two Awakened powers are truly identical—some may be similar, but none are the same."
"Take my magic, for example. I like order—but only the kind I don't find restrictive. At the same time, I despise those who break the order I choose to uphold. And I also prefer the simplest, most direct solutions… such as eradication. If someone's existence causes trouble, then eliminating them ensures they'll never be a problem again. My black-silver magic is the manifestation of this will."
"Your mother's magic, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Hers is a warm, gentle white light—a rare hue among the Awakened. Among the predecessors buried here, very few left behind such a pure, white essence. It likely represents an unwavering devotion to protection and the defense of order. But let me be clear—immaculate white light is not some nauseating, saintly kindness. It is simply the nature of her power."
"In Muggle religions, white is the color of purity and righteousness, often associated with angels. But even angels are no strangers to slaughter. Even in the name of order, the use of force is sometimes necessary. If mere words were enough to turn enemies into allies, then such 'diplomacy' would be nothing more than a form of psychological warfare."
"I need you to understand what your mother's Awakened power truly means. Awakened ones are weapons—created by the world to fight its battles. Words like 'unnecessary weakness' and 'pointless mercy' do not exist in our vocabulary. In our world, when facing external threats, every action taken by an Awakened is deemed just—justified by the narrow, ruthless justice of this world."
Harry nodded seriously, though a part of him didn't quite understand why Seti was emphasizing this so much. After all, he himself was hardly the type to be overly merciful. If push came to shove, the first people he'd eliminate would be those so-called saints who hesitated when action was needed.
Seti smirked slightly. "You're feeling a little conflicted, aren't you?"
Seti probably guessed what Harry was thinking. "Consider this a prophylactic measure—after all, the battle we're about to face isn't just any fight; it's war."
"We—" Seti spread his hand in a circular gesture, encompassing everyone present, including Harry and Li Jiannan. "What we must do isn't conventional combat; it's mass slaughter."
"You won't be afraid of killing, nor will you suffer any psychological burden—as long as you're slaying those you deem worthy of death, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"
Fixing his gaze on Harry's eyes, Seti said in a solemn tone, "But what if it turns out to be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of lives?"
"Regardless of whether they're men, women, the old or the young, if they're alive, they all become targets for you to eliminate. No mercy, no letting up—even if they beg and plead with tearful desperation, you must act as an exterminator without hesitation or compassion, erasing every trace of life you encounter."
"Humans?"
Harry knew exactly whom Seti was referring to; the enemy they were likely to face was not from Earth but from another world connected to the Abyss—one that had already clashed with it. "What we can be certain of," Seti continued, "is that our opponents are also carbon-based life forms."
Seti then pointed to a battered, alien briefcase. "This is part of an external combat suit. According to our analysis of the residual images, it appears to be a fully enclosed battle armor, similar to an exoskeleton mech. The owner's height was roughly 1.8 meters and weight about 65 kilograms—suggesting, by our guess, a female. We've collected a total of five fragments, and based on the residual samples, these aliens do exhibit gender differences. Their appearance is quite similar to ours, though we have yet to find definitive evidence to confirm it."
"It's very likely we're facing beings whose appearance is almost identical to ours. I only hope these aliens come with, say, green or purple skin—if they had distinctive skin colors, it might help overcome many psychological barriers."
"If we're up against something like avatars or even purple sweet potato spirits, then launching an attack would indeed be straightforward," Harry remarked, tilting his head as he imagined the scene. If that were the case, even if their numbers reached into the millions—with a couple extra zeros—Harry wouldn't feel any significant discomfort.
"By the way, Senior Seti, regarding that world's war against the Abyss—does that mean they won?"
"I don't know," Seti replied, shaking his head slightly. "During the thousand-year War of the Godslayers, it was the Abyss that proactively sealed the main entrance to our world. Now, the demons on the Abyss battlefield are those that have come through these fissures—and many are the product of incubation on that very front."
"Demons don't have a well-defined concept of death. Their bodies are merely shells. Even though they're composed of a mineral-like substance, they aren't silicon-based life forms but rather a type of spiritual entity. Demons below the rank of Demon Overlord don't consolidate a magical core upon death, meaning that only those above that rank can truly be killed. This is their most troublesome trait—their numbers are inexhaustible and their quality is far from negligible. They serve as cannon fodder in magical warfare, and their growth potential is alarmingly high. If the Abyss can be considered a 'world,' then it's undoubtedly a war machine—a pure, unadulterated war machine."
"After the Abyss began its erratic movements, the passage that had been permanently sealed developed unstable, large fissures. These openings now allow entities of Demon Overlord caliber to pass through, and these fragments were torn from their bodies by the Abyss Legion stationed at the entrance immediately after they had dispatched a Demon Overlord."
"We don't know exactly how that world fared in its war against the Abyss—whether they lost or won. But we can be sure that there was a much more intense and direct collision between those two worlds than between our world and the Abyss. Their war was far more ferocious and desperate, perhaps due to differences in their power systems."
"While collective strength is indeed the mightiest fist, the top elite—the brilliant few—are like the steel knuckles that clench that fist. The greater the power of the fist, the harder and sharper those knuckles become, resulting in a more devastating blow. That is how power is structured in our world. But in that unfamiliar world—a world that has achieved a miraculous fusion of magic and technology—we have yet to deduce what form their power takes."
"Perhaps it's because they lack elite tools like the Awakened, so they can't slice through chaos with swift, decisive strikes that end wars in a single blow. Instead, they might end up trapped in a prolonged, grueling battle—a veritable meat grinder of warfare. Or maybe they're just too powerful, directly pushing into the Abyss. After all, demons have an extraordinarily formidable resistance to magic. If technology can exert even a modest effect in battle, then the boost to combat power would be exceptionally terrifying."
"If the kinetic projectiles from electromagnetic cannons could pierce magical shields that are immune to kinetic attacks..."
"...that would result in a massacre," Harry murmured, his voice heavy as he envisioned the horrifying scene. "If the fusion of magic and technology could truly reach that point, then it would be—"
Harry silently swallowed hard and fixed his gaze on Seti, whose expression remained grave.
"So, what am I supposed to do now?"
"Accept the entirety of the gift your mother left for you—not just the surface layer. Let her magic fully merge with your body, transforming into your very own Awakened power."
(End of Chapter)