“If… you didn’t kill him, what would have happened?”
Su Mu hesitated for a moment before finally asking the question.
“He would have destroyed all opposing forces and become a rational dictator, reshaping this world according to his own ideas. And I, as his daughter, might have become the person with the most noble status in this world.”
Tang Nai gave a self-mocking smile, “Heh, actually, there is no difference, is there? Power is authority. As long as I am willing, I can similarly dominate anyone or anything. But you know, I’m not interested in those things. I used to like money quite a bit, but now I’ve even grown to hate that stuff.”
Tang Nai’s words made Su Mu briefly forget her own predicament, turning her curiosity instead toward the heavy burden this silver-haired girl had once carried.
‘She’s not as… thoroughly bad as I thought.’
“Can you tell me about it? About your father. From what you said, he—”
“Is that what you think? How should I put this… you’re so naive it’s almost cute. Don’t forget, your mother, Ye Qing, died by his hand.”
Tang Nai changed the subject, the edge in her words exceptionally sharp, making Su Mu feel as though her breath had hitched.
“Stop overthinking. After all, you didn’t experience those events. Just listen to me.”
Tang Nai suddenly stood up.
Under Su Mu’s surprised gaze, she sat down on Su Mu’s soft thighs and buried her petite body in Su Mu’s embrace.
Her cold body temperature made Su Mu feel very clear-headed.
Although it was a bit uncomfortable, she didn’t push her away.
It felt like holding a small, exquisite doll on her lap.
Gradually, Tang Nai’s body warmed up.
Her silver-gray hair tickled Su Mu’s nose, prompting her to brush it aside.
“What if I tell you and you don’t agree?” Tang Nai said softly, “Whenever I mention those things, I feel terribly cold. I’m just borrowing your body for a bit of warmth. You should have said something sooner.”
At this distance, she could keep her voice very low and light.
Her vocal cords barely vibrated, making it no different from a whisper.
Helplessly, Su Mu took Tang Nai’s slender arms and pulled her a bit closer toward her chest.
This was slightly more comfortable, though the price was that Tang Nai’s thin back was pressed a bit tight, making her breathing slightly labored.
Facing this very Tang Nai-esque response, Su Mu didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.
She could only accept it helplessly.
By now, Su Mu was no longer that naive girl who would blush at the slightest thing.
Even if Tang Nai performed another ‘first-meeting kill’ move on her, she could endure it with a blank face.
“Thank you,” Tang Nai murmured, almost imperceptibly.
“Heh, it’s rare to hear you say thank you. It would be nice if I could hear you apologize one day too.” Su Mu pursed her lips, “Go on.”
Tang Nai sat quietly for a moment before picking up the thread of the conversation: “My father was once a hero who fought against witches. After being cursed by a Witch to become a Familiar, he managed to maintain his sanity and fought against them to prevent more people from suffering. Before his personality changed drastically, he was actually one of the heroes people looked up to.”
“But just as it is written in many stories, the hero who slays the dragon will eventually become a dragon himself. Coincidentally, the Witch who cursed him was the Dragon Witch.”
Hearing this, Su Mu’s azure pupils constricted slightly.
This Authority reminded her of a certain golden-haired girl.
Edma—her primary Authority was the Dragon.
Motes had mentioned before that her existence was very special.
This was probably why.
“In the initial Witch crusades, the vanguard, including my father, established the prototype of the Combat Division. At that time, the Combat Division only consisted of Magical Girls, a few B-rank Strange People, and him, the lone Familiar. Back then, Mutants had not yet been born, and ordinary people had not yet intervened in the disputes between ability users; they could only entrust their fates to them.”
“The Moment Witch, the Slaughter Witch, the Calamity Witch, and the Dragon Witch… you’ve more or less seen their Authorities in the people you know. You can try to think back for a moment.”
Tang Nai paused, leaving Su Mu space to think independently.
The girl’s thoughts drifted.
Without realizing it, she had leaned her forehead against Tang Nai’s narrow shoulder.
‘The Moment Witch is related to Tang Yin, as her Authority is time; The Slaughter Witch’s Authority should have fallen on Motes, which is death.’
‘The Calamity Witch… hiss, no clue at all. It can’t be linked to Lando, and it surely couldn’t be that silly girl Ye Wanqing;’
‘The Dragon Witch’s Authority goes without saying. That golden-haired girl is being educated by Motes, so she’s likely not a threat.’
“All of them were brought under my father’s control.”
“They’re scattered now, but at the time, they were used to wipe out four Great Witches in order: the Moment Witch, the Slaughter Witch, the Calamity Witch, and the Dragon Witch.”
Although she was praising her father, Tang Nai’s tone was quite dejected.
It was easy to hear that this wasn’t a good thing.
After all, the stronger the Authority, the heavier the backlash.
“This wasn’t just because he was the main force in killing Witches during battle. More importantly, his own Authority was ‘Conquest,’ derived from the Dragon Witch. It wasn’t strong on its own, but it could take others’ Authorities for his own use. So, as the battles continued, he gradually became the backbone of the Combat Division. One man possessed the strength equivalent to a Great Witch.”
“After the crusades ended, he unsurprisingly received the most abundant reputation, status, and wealth as the greatest hero. From then on, the Witch crisis was resolved, and all that remained was the triumph.”
Tang Nai suddenly turned her head, letting Su Mu’s head rest against the soft side of her neck.
Perhaps she realized that with her slender frame, her shoulder wasn’t exactly comfortable to lean on.
“It’s a bit strange to say, but at the time, the only one who could fight alongside him was Ye Qing. Back then, they were always seen as the most suitable pair. If they had actually gotten together as everyone expected…”
“What are you thinking? If that really happened, you and I wouldn’t even exist. I wouldn’t want to be blood-related to you anyway,” Su Mu grumbled.
Tang Nai burst out laughing.
“But, by saying that, you don’t mean you’re worried that being related would affect things like marriage…”
“Stop being so full of yourself. I just find you annoying,” Su Mu dropped that line and fell silent again.
“Let’s just say that’s the case then.”
An unidentifiable emotion flashed in Tang Nai’s gray eyes as she continued: “In any case, when I was about six or seven years old, I was rummaging through my father’s desk drawers and found something interesting.”
“A photograph. A photo of him and Ye Qing. I must say, they were indeed a perfect match. But there was a third person in the photo. Guess who?”
Hearing this, Su Mu pulled her head back and stared straight at Tang Nai.
“My mom?”
Tang Nai nodded.
“At that time, Senior Ya was still a green girl just like you. Her performance wasn’t striking; she even frequently held the team back. In the photo, she was ducking her head shyly, as if trying to avoid the camera, and ended up hiding in Ye Qing’s arms. Consequently, my father could only stand at the other side of the photo, forcing a smile.”
Su Mu’s lips twitched, not knowing what to say.
It sounded like a rather melodramatic romance story.
“If I put it that way, you probably understand. Ye Qing most likely occupied the position of a ‘white moonlight’ in my father’s heart. He put in a considerable amount of effort for her. But in the end, he married my mother, a Magical Girl in the team who didn’t like to talk much. It doesn’t sound great, but looking at the results, they were very much in love.”
Tang Nai held up three slender fingers, showing them to Su Mu.
“Including me, they had a total of three children.”
“I am the eldest sister. The other two are my annoying younger sisters, Tang Yin and Tang Mo. Tang Yin is the most annoying. That girl was bullied by me quite a bit when she was little, and as a result, she turned into a yandere. So, I learned my lesson and was a bit gentler with Tang Mo. But that had the opposite effect and raised her to be a total child.”
“You’re the most annoying one! What exactly did you do to turn your sister into a yandere!” Su Mu couldn’t help but criticize.
Tang Nai shrugged.
“I’m not quite sure. In my memory, I didn’t do anything excessive. Don’t interrupt. Anyway, everything should have proceeded in a good direction from there. But the problem was that later on, after the Combat Division lost its original purpose, other people gradually began to intervene.”
“Most of these people were pawns planted by politicians. Since the Combat Division was just a loose wartime organization, there was no perceived need to guard against infiltration. Very quickly, informants for ordinary people were planted everywhere. It was from this point on that they were able to get their hands on everything related to Magic Power.”
“The desire for power is etched deep into human bones; that’s why Mutants were born. And once they possessed both authority and power simultaneously, they began to consider the issue of eliminating those who disagreed with them.”
“The Magical Girls and the Strange People who now pride themselves on being transcendent were secondary. The one to be feared most was my father, who was once a Familiar. His comrades-in-arms trusted him, but that didn’t mean others were willing to continue believing in him.”
“Even though he had established peerless achievements, to the ignorant outsiders, he was nothing more than a massive, unstable factor.”
“Everything started becoming unfortunate from that moment on.”