Chương 414: Dagon's Return

The room stayed silent for a few seconds before Cleo finally snapped. She stared at Fe, her anger clear in her voice as she leaned forward in her chair.

"What the hell are you saying? Are you really telling us that the same man who wiped out half of humanity, the strongest man any of us have ever known, a man we don't even know would spare us if he returned, was being controlled by... angels?" A laugh escaped her, but nobody joined her. The room remained silent, and Cleo's smile slowly faded when she realized that Fe was not joking.

"Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?" Fe simply smiled.

"Oh, I do, dear sister. That's why I have proof." Cleo raised an eyebrow and leaned back again.

"Oh? And what proof is that? Surely it's enough to convince everyone here." Fe's smile did not change.

"Of course. Though she is asleep and still recovering. Once she wakes up, she will be able to confirm everything herself." Cleo rolled her eyes.

"So you have nothing?"

"No." Rose's cold voice cut through the room and stopped her at once. She turned toward Cleo, her expression calm but firm.

"He is right. Dagon did not do it because he wanted to." Shock appeared on Cleo's face.

"What do you mean, Mother?" Tharion leaned forward.

"Then you had better explain. If this is true, we need to know what happened." The others stayed quiet, watching Rose and Rikin closely. Rikin slowly raised a hand.

"She is telling the truth. Until now, only the two of us knew what really happened. Even then, we still don't know everything. The whole event was... confusing." Rose nodded.

"That is true." Cleo suddenly slammed both hands onto the table.

"Then explain what you've been hiding!"

"Cleo!" Ariel's calm, almost heavenly voice filled the room. Her tone was gentle, but there was enough force within it to make them stop.

"Sit down and let them speak." Cleo shot Ariel a cold look. For a moment, it seemed like she might argue, but she finally sat back down with an annoyed sigh. Rose and Rikin exchanged a quick glance before Rose continued.

"Let's get straight to the point. Something controlled Dagon. We don't know exactly what it was or how it took control of him, but we have a good idea." Rikin reached for the remote and turned off the footage behind them. The screen went dark, leaving the room slightly dimmer.

"We have known about angels for a long time," Rose said.

"Most of them were killed by the gods before they could reach our world. But a few managed to make it here." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. She looked around the room.

"Dagon's rampage was one of them." The room fell silent again.

"We don't know how the angel reached him. We only know what happened after it did. It tried to take control of him. It drove him mad, twisted his mind, and turned his body into a weapon." Rose's face grew darker as she spoke.

"If Dagon had not killed it before it took full control, humanity would not have lost half its population." She paused.

"We would have lost all of it." Cleo scoffed and crossed her arms.

"So these angels are useless without a host? Then we just put a bomb in everyone's neck and call it a day." Rose stared at her.

"No." Cleo's expression soured.

"What do you mean, no?" Rose let out a quiet sigh.

"Artoria Pendragon." The name made several people sit up straighter. Even those who had been relaxed a moment ago now looked serious.

"Dagon's first wife was killed by an angel," Rose continued.

"And if we trust Dagon's memory, and his memory is far more reliable than any machine we have, then the angel that killed her was stronger than Dagon himself at that point." Cleo's eyes grew.

"Dagon was already an Eighth-Stage Visorian at that point. So what? This Angel was a Ninth-Stage Spawn" Rose shook her head.

"No." She looked directly at Cleo.

"Dagon's own account places it closer to the Tenth Stage." The room went still once more.

"What the hell do you mean, Tenth Stage?" Cleo demanded.

"Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"I do," Rose replied calmly.

"But that doesn't make it false." She folded her hands on the table.

"Angels that strong exist. And we recently learned something even worse. They can create high-stage Spawns themselves." Her eyes shifted toward Fe. Fe raised his thumb with a pleased smile.

"It was my pleasure." Rose ignored him. One of the executives finally spoke.

"Then we know his rough stage. But do we know his exact rank?" Rose shook her head.

"No. Dagon never gave us his exact stage. However, based on what we know about him at the time, I believe he was most likely a Ninth-Stage Visorian. He had already cleared four Trials and had only two Curses." Silence filled the room once more. The meaning of that statement was hard to take in. A man who had already reached such a level had still been helpless against an angel. After a few moments, one of the executives finally spoke again.

"If that is true, then why did he leave?" Rikin answered this time.

"Let me ask you something. If you were humanity's protector, but you ended up killing half of humanity because you were corrupted, would you stay?" Rikin leaned back slightly.

"Would you remain here, knowing you had become a danger to the people you once swore to protect? Or would you leave so it could never happen again?" Still, nobody spoke. Rikin nodded slowly.

"That's what I thought." He looked toward the dark screen where Dagon had appeared only moments earlier.

"Dagon was still a man in the end. A powerful man, perhaps the strongest humanity has ever produced, but still a man. He must have been crushed by guilt, shame, and regret after what happened." His voice softened.

"So he left." He paused for a moment.

"Never to be seen again." Rikin glanced toward the screen.

"Though, honestly, I never thought he was still alive." Alexandria lowered her gaze.

"Isn't that a good thing? That my father is still alive?" For a moment, neither of them answered. Rose finally sighed.

"Even if it is a good thing, people won't see it that way." Alexandria remained quiet.

"He is a symbol of fear," Rose continued.

"To most of humanity, Dagon isn't a hero. He is the man who destroyed half the world. People remember the dead. They remember the cities he destroyed and the lives he took. They won't forget that just because he comes home." Her voice became more serious.

"He won't return to cheers. There will be no crowds waiting for him. No praise, nor celebration. He will return to fear." Alexandria's expression fell.

"For someone like Dagon, that may be worse than death." She knew Rose was right. There was no comfort in the truth. Even if Dagon returned alive, there was no promise that he would have a home to return to. To the people of Earth, he would not be the protector they once praised. He would be the monster they remembered. Alexandria lowered her eyes toward the table, thinking about everything she had just learned. Then, after a moment, something suddenly came to mind.

"Wait." Everyone looked toward her.

"Wasn't my father the first Rose?" A few people looked surprised. Not shocked, but clearly caught off guard that she had remembered. Rose's expression softened slightly.

"That he was." Alexandria tilted her head.

"Then what was his title?" Rose stared at her for a moment. Her expression slowly changed as old memories came back to her. She remembered the stories, the records, and the countless reports about the strongest man humanity had ever known. The first Rose. Humanity's greatest protector. The man who had once stood above everyone else. And the name that had followed him through all of it. Rose took a slow breath before answering.

"His official title was..." She let the words hang for a moment. Then she finally spoke.

"Dagon Dreadrose."