Inside the barrier, the initial panic among the guards quickly subsided. The alarm that had begun to wail cut off abruptly as they recognized the intruder.

"It's the Young Master! He's back!"

Kaelen nodded to the people as he walked, the path familiar beneath his feet. He headed straight for the Butterfly Mother's palace at the summit of Phoenix Butterfly Ridge.

In a long, open-air pavilion filled with fluttering butterflies and laden with plates of roasted meat, Kaelen found his mother, Sophia.

"Mom."

As a child, he had called her "Butterfly Mother," mimicking the clan. But as he grew older and stronger, he dropped the title. To him, she wasn't a matriarch or a queen. She was just Mom.

"My child, you've finally returned!"

Sophia stood on her tiptoes, reaching up to touch Kaelen's broad shoulder.

Supported by the full resources of the Dark Butterfly Race, Kaelen had grown into a powerhouse. He stood nearly fifteen feet tall, his physique rippling with muscle. He had finally broken through to the Legendary Tier.

Looking at him, Sophia saw the Orion.

"If only I hadn't used such... underhanded means to get his seed," Sophia whispered, a shadow of regret crossing her eyes. "Maybe then..."

For over a decade, Orion hadn't come. Sophia had convinced herself it was because he despised her. She assumed an Over-tier powerhouse like him could easily reach the Chaos Continent. The silence, she believed, was a rejection.

She didn't know the truth. The Chaos Continent was locked down by a demigod-level barrier. Even an Arch-Lord couldn't just stroll in.

Sophia lived in constant guilt. She felt her selfishness was ruining Kaelen's future, denying him his father's recognition and the resources of a powerful faction. She looked at her son—a prodigy whose potential far exceeded the Arch-Lord level she had once dreamed of—and felt like an anchor dragging him down.

"Mother, the situation outside has shifted," Kaelen said, his voice deep and urgent.

He had gone out to scout, leveraging his upper-Legendary strength and hybrid bloodline to gather intel.

"That Arch-Lord who's been harassing you? He's at war with the Silver-Eyed Tribe. His territory is shrinking."

Life in Phoenix Butterfly Ridge had been hard. They were besieged, hiding behind their barriers while their stockpile of resources ran dangerously low. Kaelen had risked his life to find a way out.

"This is our chance, Mother. We can ally with the Silver-Eyed Tribe," Kaelen pressed. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They won't refuse us."

Sophia had taught him well. She had poured thousands of years of the Phoenix Butterfly Race's wisdom into him. But now, that very wisdom made her hesitate.

"It's too dangerous." Sophia shook her head. "The Silver-Eyed people are outsiders. They're fighting for survival space. If we intervene, we're just another mouth trying to eat their cake. And if Arch-Lord Emeric loses, the Silver-Eyed Tribe will turn on us next."

Her fear was palpable. "Both sides have Arch-Lord combat power. We have none."

She would rather hide in the Ridge and starve slowly than risk Kaelen's life in a war they couldn't win. She had no idea that the "Silver-Eyed Tribe" she feared were actually refugees—people Kaelen's own father had exiled.

"Mother, we have to take the risk," Kaelen insisted, kneeling so she could touch his face. "If we don't leave the Ridge, our people will starve. More will fall into the Deep Sleep. Our fighting force is dwindling every day. Hiding is just a slow death."

He looked her in the eye. "Don't be afraid. I am stronger than you think."

WAAAGH!

Kaelen bellowed, and his body began to transform. Muscles swelled, skin hardened, and mystical runes ignited across his flesh.

"Mother, even if I can't kill an Arch-Lord, I can make them bleed."

His aura skyrocketed, blasting past the upper-Legendary stage and brushing against the ceiling of the Arch-Lord realm.

It was the Titan Form. A gift from his father's bloodline.

The transformation was brief—he dropped it quickly to conserve energy—but the message was clear.

"This..." Sophia gasped, her hand trembling. "An Over-tier powerhouse... just like his father?"

Hope, fragile and desperate, began to bloom in her chest.

"Mother, we have to walk out of Phoenix Butterfly Ridge..."

Kaelen started to speak, but his words were cut off by a sound that resonated deep within his marrow.

WAAAGH!

A Titan's Roar. Infinitely more powerful than his own.

It wasn't external. It was internal. A surge of invisible power flooded his veins, making his connection to the Titan Form feel suddenly... effortless.

"Mother! Did you hear that?" Kaelen grabbed her shoulders, eyes wide with excitement. "That roar!"

"What roar?" Sophia looked at him, confused.

Kaelen paused. Was it a hallucination? A side effect of the transformation?

"My child, how long can you maintain that form?" Sophia asked, her voice steadying.

"Going all out? Fifteen minutes. Maximum."

Sophia fell silent. She did the math. Fifteen minutes of Arch-Lord power.

Kaelen was right. They were out of food. Out of crystals. If they stayed, they died. But leaving was a gamble with Kaelen's life as the stake.

"Mother, trust me," Kaelen pleaded. "We can carve out a space for ourselves. And even if I can't beat an Arch-Lord... I have a secret technique. I can borrow power from Father."

He pressed on, desperate to sway her. "He is powerful, Mother. You know that. You have to believe in him."

Kaelen lied through his teeth.

He didn't have a secret technique. The only contact he'd ever had with Orion was a brief spiritual message years ago when his father obtained the Spring of Life. Orion had given him a crash course on bloodline activation, nothing more. Everything Kaelen had achieved since then was due to his own grit.

But he needed his mother to move. He needed to give her hope.

"You can really... borrow power from him?" Sophia's eyes lit up. She looked up at her son, searching for the truth.

Kaelen didn't blink. He nodded solemnly.

"Yes."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.