**Chapter 425. Blade Dragon God Hana**
—
She understood now.
What kind of being she truly was.
The moment she touched that single ray of *light* within the darkness—
Hana awakened once more and recalled her own existence.
*I am…*
Hana lifted her upper body.
Straightening her back, she rose to her feet and boldly gazed up at the sky.
This darkness no longer frightened her.
*I am a queen.*
She was a queen.
From the moment of her birth, she had reigned as the Queen of the Bloodspawn Species.
Then what was this level of darkness to her?
*Compared to the darkness of that time, this is nothing.*
She had already tasted a far more merciless darkness.
That was the era of ignorance.
When she had just been born, Hana existed in pitch-black darkness.
She had no knowledge, no wisdom.
No worries, no thoughts at all.
She moved solely by instinct.
That time—more than anything—could be called true darkness.
*My king granted me consciousness.*
But her king brought her light.
He did not wish for Hana to remain where she was.
Following her king’s will, Hana transcended, and for the first time gained something called *consciousness*.
The moment Hana awakened, she could not help but question her own existence.
—Who am I?
—Why do I live?
Endless contemplation and introspection followed.
Knowledge and wisdom—things that had never existed within her—were born.
Reason came before instinct.
She surpassed her limits and reached beyond them.
A mysterious insight lingered in her eyes.
This—this was truly a ray of light within pitch-black darkness.
She had been reborn as an entirely new being.
*The newly reborn me began to crave endlessly.*
But it was not enough.
No—she *thought* it was not enough.
She wanted to know more.
She wanted to grow stronger.
She was seized by infinite desire and thirst.
It was both a blessing and a curse.
Because she realized she was an incomplete being.
Her king poured *Complete Golden Scale* into the *Cracked Heavenly Egg* where a god had once been conceived, and thanks to that, Hana was able to reforge herself as the *Blade Dragon God*—
…but she could not become a true Dragon God.
She had ascended to a higher state, yet she was still far from *perfection*.
Because she was not genuine.
She herself was a fake.
A mutant.
From the very beginning, she lacked what was needed to become a perfect divinity.
Various components had elevated her rank steeply, but that was all.
If she were to forcibly become a Dragon God in this state, could she truly be called a god?
The Blade Queen could say with certainty—no.
But it was fine.
As long as she could follow her king—her god.
She believed she did not need to be a true Dragon God.
Thus, she accepted the *mantle of a follower*.
*She pretended to be satisfied—but she wasn’t.*
Yes.
She had merely suppressed her desire and thirst.
Her longing to explore endlessly remained unchanged.
Because the being she followed—her god—was an *infinite seeker of truth*.
She could not catch up to him as he climbed endlessly higher.
And yet, Hana often lost control, unable even to properly wield what was already hers.
A half-queen.
A half Dragon God.
She thought she had escaped the darkness—
…but she had remained within it all along.
Hana looked around.
*In the end, I was still trapped inside the egg.*
This darkness was a despair she herself had created.
A place that rebuked her for stagnating instead of advancing.
She realized it then.
That she was still *inside the egg*.
She thought she had broken free, but all she had done was adapt to the darkness within it.
*I…*
Only now could she truly see the light.
At last, she understood what she had wanted all along.
*I want to become an equal to the one I follow—not merely a follower.*
Ah…
Hana’s body trembled.
Why had she failed to realize it?
Because she had avoided it. Because she had rationalized it.
She believed it was insolent for someone like herself to stand equal to her king and god.
But in the end, she wanted exactly that.
Not to merely gaze upon him from below—
—but to stand proudly at his side.
“…I want to stand beside you.”
She did not hide it.
She neither avoided it nor rationalized it.
Hana was finally honest about her desire.
My king.
My god.
I wish only to stand beside you.
Born as a queen, and thus having served you—
Even so, she wished to break this taboo.
Crack—
That was the moment.
The egg began to shatter.
That beam of light had been leaking in from outside the egg all along.
She had simply remained trapped inside it.
Seeing that leaking light, recalling her king—her god, the one she served—and shedding tears was possible only because she had finally realized what she truly wanted.
Craaaack—
Even more light poured out.
*Break, my world.*
She wanted her world to shatter.
And slowly, she began to walk into a new world.
There was no regret.
No hesitation.
《The Blade Queen acquires the qualification of ‘Dragon God’ through her own will.》
《She begins to awaken as a god of the world.》
《She awakens Immortality.》
《With the completion of self-awareness, she will no longer go berserk.》
《Earth’s ‘Dragon Vein’ is reborn as the ‘Tower of God.’》
《The ‘World Tree of Wisdom’ appears within the Tower of God.》
《‘Hana’ becomes the owner of the newly appeared World Tree, and Hana and all Bloodspawn Species receive the ‘Blessing of the World Tree’ as guardians.》
《From now on, when Earth’s Awakened clear ‘Main Quest 10,’ they will encounter ‘Dragon God Hana’ instead of ‘Dragon God Einhassar.’ Only by overcoming the trials bestowed by ‘Dragon God Hana’ can they proceed to ‘Main Quest 11.’》
《As Earth’s security parameters increase, the frequency of ‘Invasion Warps’ will decrease.》
《If a powerful ‘Invasion Warp’ appears, its emergence can be delayed for a certain period of time.》
《The probability of summoning ‘Outer Gods’ decreases.》
《Additionally, ‘Dragon God Hana’ can sense the souls of all demons present on Earth.》
《If any demon on Earth looks up at the sky, it will be detected immediately by ‘Dragon God Hana.’》
……
《The third constellation, ‘Hana,’ has been registered.》
《With the constellation’s registration, the bond with the ‘God of the Blood Demon Species’ deepens.》
《As the bond deepens, Dragon God Hana acquires the mantle of an ‘Absolute.’》
《You have reached Level 16.》
《The level cap increases from 16 to 20.》
《An Absolute can use ‘Command Words.’》
《An Absolute nullifies all attacks of ‘Normal Unique Grade’ or lower.》
《An Absolute can independently reach the ‘Primordial Grade.’》
……
Messages continued to appear endlessly.
But to Hana, now standing in the outside world, those messages no longer mattered.
The man before her eyes—
“…I’ve returned.”
At the sight of Park Hyun-myung, a smile naturally bloomed on her face.
*
*
The Dragon God Council.
The Absolutes who had been conducting the *Supreme Council* all showed the same reaction.
“……”
“……”
Silence.
That was all they could manage.
The man who had just left the *Supreme Council*—
The being who had returned to his own world once more—
This was the aftershock of encountering *Phantom*.
“…This is absurd.”
“Two beings have simultaneously acquired the mantle of an Absolute.”
“This is unprecedented.”
The Absolutes frowned.
The number of Absolutes eligible to attend the Supreme Council was eleven.
Now, that number had become thirteen.
The moment Phantom was appointed an Absolute, another being simultaneously acquired the mantle of an Absolute as well.
“This is driving me mad.”
“A mutant…”
“Not just a Dragon God, but an Absolute? Hah.”
Blade Dragon God Hana.
A half-baked Dragon God—not even a complete one—suddenly acquired the qualification of Dragon God on her own, then seized the mantle of an Absolute in one sweep.
There had never been such a case.
How could the mantle of an Absolute synchronize with a mere mutant?
The problem was that they had already *gifted* Phantom that qualification.
And once the mantle of an Absolute was acquired, it could not be reclaimed.
An unforeseen variable—even for the Absolutes.
“There are now thirteen Absolutes.”
“…A violent storm is coming.”
This was a sign that the once-steadfast Dragon God Council was beginning to shake.
Thirteen Absolutes.
Among them, Phantom and Hana occupied two seats.
This meant Phantom’s influence within the Dragon God Council—within the Supreme Council—had grown.
After all, he could now exercise *two votes* at will.
And if one added the votes of Princess Asha and the Absolute *Roun*, who followed her, that already made four votes.
Perhaps that was why—
Princess Asha’s expression was radiant as she left the Supreme Council alongside Phantom.
“Out of thirteen Absolutes, four stand on Princess Asha’s side.”
“But Princess Asha seeks a full-scale war with the Heavens.”
“Isn’t our rule to avoid intervening in the world?”
“If a majority of seven votes is achieved in the Supreme Council, even that rule can be changed.”
“The Primordial Dragon Gods would have no choice but to accept the Council’s decision…”
Princess Asha.
She was radical. A reformist.
Unlike the other, more moderate Absolutes of the Dragon God Council.
By nature, the Dragon God Council intervened in the world as little as possible.
They merely dispatched Dragon Gods to perform the minimum necessary role.
Whether the Heavens destroyed other worlds or not, as long as they did not touch the Dragon God Council, the Primordial Dragon Gods, or the Absolutes, they largely did not care.
Even the weapons they created to oppose the Heavens existed merely to *threaten* them.
But if—
…the rules were changed through the Supreme Council—
They would no longer be able to remain moderate.
“By the way… does Primordial Dragon God Yung still exist?”
“Ah… I thought he had lost his existence long ago.”
“If he exists, why doesn’t he return to the Dragon God Council?”
There were three *Primordial Dragon Gods* within the Dragon God Council.
One of them was *Primordial Dragon God Yung*.
But Yung had left the Council after clashing with the other Primordial Dragon Gods.
Since then, no trace of him had been found.
And yet—Yung still existed.
Phantom’s armor was made from the *First Flame* and the branch that bound it together.
These were the *originals* Yung cherished most.
To become an Absolute, one required a Primordial Dragon God’s recommendation, enlightenment of command words, and proof of oneself.
And Yung had recommended *Phantom*.
That Primordial-grade armor was, in effect, a letter of recommendation.
Yet Yung gave only the recommendation—
—and did not return to the Dragon God Council himself.
Why?
He was the strongest among the Primordial Dragon Gods.
A legend. A myth among Dragon Gods.
Why he remained hidden—no one knew.
One thing, however, was certain.
“……”
“……”
Everyone fell silent, deliberately averting their eyes.
They did not say it aloud.
They did not need to.
Phantom—
The man to whom Primordial Dragon God Yung had entrusted what he valued most.
They had just realized what that truly meant.
“…I should return to my domain.”
“Hm. Has time passed already?”
One by one, the Absolutes began leaving the Supreme Council.
They tried their best not to show it—
…but it had become unbearable.
*Kneel.*
At those single words—
The Absolutes had been utterly overwhelmed.
*To think I’d feel this tense…*
Each of them clenched their fists.
Their palms were already drenched in sweat.
It had been an unimaginably long time since they had felt such tension.
No—perhaps it was the first time.
After all, such a powerful command word—
And one clearly used for the very first time.
*…A monstrous being has appeared.*
