Chapter 142: I Won’t Become You

Emily moved before Reinhard could say another word.

Her figure blurred across the ruined Garden, crimson Blood Mana trailing behind her like a veil. Aeon descended toward his chest with enough force to split the ground beneath them, and Reinhard raised Heavenpiercer to block the strike.

The collision exploded through the Garden.

Reinhard’s feet dug into the earth as he was pushed backward several meters, his boots carving two long trenches through the ground.

He finally stopped himself with a Spatial Step, but the look on his face had already changed. He wasn’t surprised by Emily’s Mana. He had expected the Bloodkin transformation to increase it.

What he hadn’t expected was her physical strength.

Emily already possessed the Immortal Emperor Body, years of combat experience, refined Mana control, and a body strengthened repeatedly since her recovery.

Reinhard himself had spent months stacking Physical Strength Enhancements, Physical Durability Enhancements, Advanced Mana Reinforcement, Body Tempering, multiple Immortal Emperor Body upgrades, ten years of Mana infusion, Heavenly Pillars, Demon God Tyrant Body, and Demon God Awakening on top of everything else.

Yet the woman standing in front of him had reached roughly half of his physical strength simply by becoming a Special Order Bloodkin.

Reinhard stared at her crimson eyes as Blood Mana continued flowing through her body. This is ridiculous.

"That’s seriously unfair," he said, rubbing his wrist after the impact.

Vlad laughed quietly from behind Emily. "I told you. Bloodkin are not ordinary Awakeners."

"I gathered that."

Emily attacked again before he could say anything else. This time Reinhard deliberately waited until the last moment before shifting sideways with Spatial Step. Aeon’s blade passed beside his face, but Emily didn’t follow through.

Instead, a thin stream of blood escaped from a shallow cut on her shoulder and immediately hardened into several crimson blades.

Reinhard’s eyes widened. She had deliberately let the attack graze her. She’s taking risks she would never have taken before.

The blood blades shot toward him from behind.

He twisted around and blocked them with Heavenpiercer, but Emily was already moving, appearing beside him through a spatial distortion, her sword sweeping toward his ribs while a faint temporal fluctuation slowed the air around his body.

Reinhard caught the strike, and Emily immediately reinforced her arm with Blood Mana, the strength behind the attack suddenly doubling. He was forced backward again. "You’re combining everything now?" he asked.

She didn’t answer. She simply attacked again.

Reinhard’s Combat Prediction caught the movement. He stepped aside, activated Fooling, and left a false image several meters away, but Emily didn’t even look at it.

Her eyes followed his real position, and she appeared beside him almost instantly. He barely blocked the attack. "You’re getting better at ignoring that," he said.

Emily’s sword twisted around Heavenpiercer, and Reinhard released Graviton Chain. Spatial chains wrapped around her body and anchored her to the ground, but her Blood Mana surged through them, hardening into spikes that tore them apart, and she kept moving without hesitation.

Reinhard raised his hand. The invisible Right Hand of God struck her, sending Emily crashing through a stone wall.

For half a second, he thought he’d finally created some distance and then the rubble moved.

Emily stepped out.

Blood covered her side where the strike had hit, but the wound was already closing, crimson light flowing beneath her skin and knitting the damage together before she could even wipe the blood away.

Reinhard stared at her. "You’re regenerating that quickly?"

Emily raised Aeon. He sighed. "Of course you are."

She vanished again, and the next exchange came faster. Reinhard predicted her first strike, blocked the second, avoided the third, and caught the fourth with Heavenpiercer.

Emily adjusted every time. She wasn’t simply attacking with more strength. She was using everything she had learned as an Awakener and combining it with abilities that had never existed in her fighting style before.

Space created openings.

Time changed the timing of her movements. Mana reinforcement strengthened her body. Aeon turned every opening into a lethal attack.

Blood Mana let her create weapons from wounds Reinhard would normally avoid giving an opponent, and her regeneration meant she could take risks that would have been impossible before. The terrifying part was that Emily understood exactly how to use all of it.

Reinhard caught another strike and forced her sword aside. "You’re still doing that thing," he said.

Emily’s eyes flickered. "You always change your rhythm when you’re trying to trick me," he said with a faint smile.

She suddenly twisted her wrist, and the blood running down her arm formed a blade behind him. He sensed it just in time and turned, blocking the attack with Heavenpiercer. For the first time, her expression changed slightly.

Reinhard laughed. "You planned that?" She said nothing, but Vlad’s quiet laughter echoed through the Garden.

His smile faded as he looked at Emily again. She was thinking. She was adapting. She wasn’t some puppet blindly following Vlad’s commands.

Then he noticed something else.

Her next strike came toward his chest, but the moment it reached him, the blade shifted several inches to the side. Another attack followed, one that could have cut his face, but she turned the blade away instead. Her movements were slowing, not because she was tired, but because she was hesitating.

Reinhard lowered Heavenpiercer slightly. "Emily."

Her sword stopped for the smallest fraction of a second.

He saw it. She’s still in there.

He stopped trying to defeat her. Instead, he stepped backward and spoke. "Do you remember when we first started training together?" Emily’s expression stayed blank, but her sword didn’t move. "You told me not to compliment you yet because you hadn’t shown me everything you could do. Then you predicted my movement and nearly cut me."

Her fingers tightened around Aeon.

"I told you that you were getting dangerous," he smiled. "You looked at me like I was an idiot and said, ’I was always dangerous.’"

Her eyes flickered, and the crimson light around her body weakened for a moment. He took another step toward her. "See? I remember."

Emily attacked suddenly.

Reinhard blocked, but he didn’t counter. "You remember when your Gnosis came back?" he continued. "You spent half a day playing with floating objects because you couldn’t believe they actually listened to you. Lily kept asking you to make the sword bigger, Cassian nearly lost his mind every time your Mana fluctuated, and I sat there eating popcorn while everyone else panicked."

Her sword slowed. "You were happy," he said, smiling at her. "You were happy before this place called you back."

Emily’s breathing grew unsteady. Vlad’s expression darkened. "Emily. Kill him."

She moved again. Reinhard dodged. "That’s better," he said quietly. "Keep listening."

Another attack came, and he avoided it. "Remember Lily bothering you every five minutes. Remember Maki pretending she wasn’t worried while watching you from the corner of the room. Remember Yuna trying to keep everyone organized while the rest of us made her job impossible."

Her sword shook. "You have people waiting for you, Emily." Her crimson eyes flickered.

"I know this place mattered to you," he continued, his voice calm despite the blood already running down his arm. "I know you loved Maria. I know you loved Selene. I know you loved Vlad. I know Camillia mattered to you. I know those flowers mattered because Vlad changed them after you complained about them, and I know you forced him to eat food he hated just because you wanted him to try it."

Her eyes trembled. "I know those memories are real," he said. "I’m not asking you to erase them."

"Stop," Vlad’s voice went cold.

Reinhard ignored him. "You don’t have to stop loving the people you lost." Her sword lowered slightly. "You just have to keep living."

Vlad’s Blood Mana surged, and Emily’s body jerked, her eyes turning completely crimson again as it flooded through her veins. "Kill him."

She raised Aeon. Reinhard’s expression turned serious. Talking wasn’t enough. He had another option.

He extended his hand. "Emily." Enhanced Link Chain activated, and the connection formed instantly. Emily’s body froze.

She had experienced Link Chain before, remembered the treatment chamber, the unbearable pain spreading between Reinhard, Maki, Lily, Yuna, and herself, remembered Reinhard refusing to let her carry everything alone.

But this was different.

This time the connection carried something else.

She felt him.

She felt the fear he had hidden when she disappeared, the love he had never stopped giving her, the pain from every injury he had suffered while searching for her, the forgiveness he had already given her without asking whether she deserved it, and the absolute certainty that she was still Emily.

Vlad stared at the connection. "What are you doing?"

Reinhard didn’t answer. "You’re trying to reach her through the connection," Vlad said, his eyes narrowing, almost amused. "Do you really believe something as simple as affection can overcome Blood Mana?"

Reinhard looked directly at Emily. "I don’t need to believe." His expression softened. "I know my wife."

Her body trembled, the Blood Mana around her fluctuating violently.

"Kill him!" Vlad’s voice echoed through the Garden.

Emily swung but Reinhard dodged. The next attack came faster, and he blocked it. Another came, and he stepped aside. Her eyes flickered between crimson and their normal color.

"That’s better," he said. She attacked again, but this time her blade stopped before reaching his chest. He smiled. "You’re getting there."

Vlad’s expression finally changed. He raised his hand, and Blood Mana surged through Emily’s body, her arm moving against her will.

Reinhard saw it immediately. He could stop her by knocking Aeon away or using Right Hand of God to protect himself.

But doing so would hurt Emily, so he lowered Heavenpiercer.

Vlad’s eyes widened. "No..."

Reinhard stood completely still and looked at Emily. "Come on, honey."

Her body shook violently, and her sword slowly rose.

Vlad stared at him in disbelief. "You’re going to let her kill you?"

"If that’s what it takes," Reinhard said with a faint smile.

Emily’s tears began falling, her body continuing to move despite them. Aeon rushed forward, the blade piercing Reinhard’s chest and passing straight through his heart. Blood rushed from his mouth as his body jerked from the impact.

Emily froze.

Through Link Chain, she felt everything: his pain, his fear, and beneath both, something stronger. Love. Forgiveness. Trust.

There wasn’t even a trace of hatred toward her.

Reinhard had truly believed she would come back. He had trusted her enough to stand there and let her stab him.

Her hands began shaking violently. "Reinhard..."

He slowly raised one hand and touched her cheek. "Come on now," he whispered, his voice weak. "Don’t be sad." Her tears fell faster, and he wiped one away with his thumb. "You don’t look good when you’re crying."

Her breath caught, and the Blood Mana surrounding her shattered like glass. Aeon slipped from his chest as Emily caught him before he could fall.

"Reinhard!" She held him tightly, her body trembling. "You idiot! You could have died!"

He coughed and gave her a weak laugh. "Worked."

"You could have died!"

"But I didn’t."

"That’s not the point!"

He smiled, and for the first time since entering the Garden, Emily’s expression broke into something painfully familiar: anger, fear, love. She looked at him through tears. "Can you stop this?"

He slowly straightened. "Of course." She stared at him. She knew that answer. He always had something.

"Emily. Kill him," Vlad’s expression hardened.

She turned toward him. The tears remained on her face, but the crimson haze was gone from her eyes. "No."

Vlad disappeared, reappearing behind Reinhard with a blood-covered hand already reaching for his back.

Emily moved first, and Aeon slammed into Vlad’s attack, the collision sending a shockwave through the Garden. He stared at the blade blocking him. She stood between them.

Reinhard looked at her in surprise before slowly smiling. Earlier, he had stood between Vlad and Emily. Now Emily was standing between Vlad and him.

Vlad looked at his daughter. "You would choose him?"

She lowered Aeon slightly. "No." Her voice was quiet. "I’m choosing myself." She looked at Reinhard, then toward the Garden that had once been her home. "I’m choosing the life I built."

Vlad’s expression turned pained. "We can have our family again."

She shook her head. "You lost Mom and Selene." His eyes lowered. "I know." "You loved them so much that you stopped living after they died." He said nothing.

She tightened her grip around Aeon. "You turned your grief into hatred." Her voice trembled, but she didn’t look away. "I won’t."

Vlad slowly raised his head. Her eyes filled with tears. "I won’t let loving you destroy everything else I love." She stepped forward. "I’m choosing my husband over you, Father."

For several seconds, the Garden was completely silent.

Then Reinhard pushed himself upright. The wound in his chest had already begun closing, his regeneration slowly restoring the damage, the golden light around his body returning.

Emily looked at him.

He wiped the remaining blood from the corner of his mouth. "Ready, honey?"

Her lips twitched. "Ready."

Crimson light exploded around her, the Crimson Protector manifesting once again, black stars spreading around her body as the crimson crown formed above her head.

Aeon’s blade shone with overwhelming power, and her Blood Mana flowed through the weapon without disrupting her control. At the same time, golden light wrapped around Reinhard, Heavenpiercer appearing in his hand, its radiance growing stronger as if responding to her presence.

For a moment, the two stood side by side. Before, Reinhard had protected Emily. Now they were protecting each other.

Emily opened a spatial corridor without a word, and Reinhard understood immediately. He threw Heavenpiercer, the golden spear disappearing into the corridor and emerging behind Vlad, who turned and blocked it with a wall of Blood Mana.

Emily was already moving, appearing from another corridor and swinging Aeon. Vlad blocked again, but Reinhard used Spatial Step and appeared above him at the same moment.

Emily understood his movement before he even attacked and shifted aside, letting his strike pass exactly where she had been standing and force Vlad backward.

They didn’t need to speak. They already knew each other.

Reinhard landed beside Emily and grinned. "That’s my wife."

She smiled faintly. "Let’s go."

Vlad’s crimson eyes narrowed as Blood Mana erupted from his body and spread across the entire Garden. The ground cracked, the trees twisted, and crimson lightning tore through the sky. Reinhard’s golden aura rose higher while Emily’s Crimson Protector burned beside him.

For the first time, father and daughter stood on opposite sides of the same battlefield.

And this time, Emily wasn’t standing behind Reinhard. She was standing beside him.