Even If I'm Reborn as a Cute Dragon Girl, I Will Still Make a Harem-Chapter 16Book 6: : Turning Tide

Golden light shone brilliantly, deflecting the sword energy with a sharp noise.

Beneath the radiant glow, Three stood motionless, her severed limbs—cut off by Ciel—beginning to regrow before her very eyes.

Three was not a dragon. With the body of an ordinary human, injuries like severed limbs could still be easily healed with one or two healing scrolls. Yet, it wasn’t just her limbs growing… Three’s realm was also advancing at the same time.

“H-How… is this possible?” Ciel murmured in disbelief.

Three was already in the Demigod Realm, and yet her power continued to grow.

What is she trying to achieve? Is she attempting a breakthrough into ‘that’ realm?

“This world is vast,” Three remarked calmly. She locked her gaze on Ciel, a sneer tugging at her lips as she mocked, “There’s still so much you haven’t seen.”

Suddenly, Three let out a loud cry. Divine power erupted from her petite frame in an uncontrollable burst. A profound aura radiated from her body, intertwining with the distant sky.

At the edge of the golden light, a black, monstrous river surged out of the void. Flowing along the path forged by the golden light, it surged directly toward Three.

“That’s…” Ciel stared at the scene in complete shock. There was no mistaking it—the black river was the manifestation of Complete Authority. It was the ultimate goal Ciel had been painstakingly pursuing for so long. To possess it was to cross the heavenly rift and gain the qualifications to be crowned as a deity.

And what Three was doing at this very moment was unmistakably… transferring Authority.

Three was only occupying someone else’s body—this wasn’t her original form. With a borrowed body, it was impossible for her to ascend into the Divine Realm.

Unlike the tribulations of the Demigod Realm, which could be concealed through divine power, the ascension to godhood would draw the heavenly order’s gaze. Under such scrutiny, Three would incur the full wrath of the heavens for borrowing another’s body. And when that happened, she wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving the backlash.

So, Three had chosen a different path. She was forcing this borrowed body to its absolute limits so that she could completely draw out Authority from her true body and transfer it into this one.

In doing so, she could briefly harness divine greatness, even with a demigod’s body. But there was a cost… To extract the Authority from her original body, coupled with the damage this would inflict on her divine sense, would lead to certain death for her true self.

Ciel could not hold herself back from asking, “Is it worth it?”

By doing this, Three was throwing away millions of years of painstaking cultivation, giving up countless years of potential future, and even sacrificing her very life. And all of it was in exchange for just a few fleeting minutes of brilliance.

“Hahaha! You’re asking me if it’s worth it?” Three laughed loudly. “Shouldn’t you already know the answer to that question? Otherwise, you wouldn’t still be standing in front of me right now, would you?”

“…You’re right…” If Ciel had wanted to run, she could have done so long ago.

Three’s transition to Authority was time-consuming, and during that period, nothing stopped Ciel from fleeing. She could have circled the entire planet several times over, and Three wouldn’t have been able to pursue her.

And yet, here she stood because Lilith was right behind her.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s worth it or not, we both have something we must protect behind us,” Ciel Hesse said.

With that, she channeled her surging divine power into the golden sword. The blade’s radiant light nearly eclipsed even the pillar of brilliant golden light that pierced the heavens. ℞ΑℕỔβÊꞩ

At this moment, all finesse and complex techniques were meaningless. What mattered now was a single, decisive blow.

And so, Ciel Hesse swung the sword. The slash tore through the air with unstoppable force, crushing every inch of space in its wake. Three, however, responded with a simple, almost dismissive gesture—a flick of her finger.

Whoosh…

The long black river flowed ominously. From the surging waves, a single droplet of black water splashed outward, and fell in the path of Ciel’s devastating sword strike. Although it was just one drop, the moment it landed on the golden sword light, everything changed.

The sword light, which had moments ago been strong enough to crush even the fabric of space, wavered and struggled, as if drowning in an invisible ocean. It struggled for a while before plummeting helplessly to the ground.

“So this is… the power of the gods.”

It completely defied all common sense. The effect produced was mind-boggling, so overwhelming that any existence below the Divine Realm had no hope of resisting it. Because this was the law itself.

Ciel’s heart sank into an icy void. This was a realm she had once longed to reach with all her being, one that had filled her with insatiable ambition and drive. Yet standing before it now, she could feel nothing but pure terror.

Splash…

Three struggled to control the black river formed from Complete Authority. Finally, with great effort, she allowed a single drop to splash outward.

Alarm bells rang in Ciel’s mind. The cold grip of life-and-death crisis seized her, causing every hair on her body to stand on end. She quickly realized that she was locked onto by the black water droplet, there was no escaping it.

With no other choice, Ciel gripped her sword tightly and slashed toward it. The moment her blade made contact with the water droplet, Ciel felt the sword grow unbearably heavy in her hands.

The hilt and body of the golden sword remained firmly in her grasp, but the tip of the blade—the part in contact with the black droplet—began trembling uncontrollably, as if it had a will of its own.

And the trembling wasn’t contained. It began to spread.

Ciel grew anxious. She knew she needed to keep the situation under control. With her thought, she commanded the golden sword to split into a sky full of small golden swords, each one floating protectively around her.

Yet, the tip of her sword refused to obey. It remained suspended in place, trembling more violently with each passing second. Sometimes it bumped left, sometimes it rolled right, but its chaotic movements were becoming increasingly erratic.

Ciel could almost feel the silent, agonizing struggles of the artifact spirits within the sword. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t counteract it. She couldn’t even comprehend what the black droplet had done to the sword, let alone devise a solution.

“My Authority is… [Drown],” Three announced solemnly.

The tip of the sword finally stopped its desperate struggle. Like a drowning person who had succumbed to exhaustion, it fell silently into the lake. Ciel could only watch but was helpless to save it. Such was the insurmountable divide between demigods and gods.

“You’re up next…”

Using the full power of Authority within the limitations of a demigod’s body was clearly taking its toll. Three’s face had grown pale, her body trembling as she continued to channel the monstrous black river.

With great effort, she managed to splash out another droplet of black water.

Ciel took a deep breath, clenching her fists tightly. In the blink of an eye, she had gone from holding the advantage to standing on the precipice of death. But retreat was never an option; it had never been an option.

Her only chance of survival now was—

◆◇◆◇◆

Luna stared nervously at the image on the screen.

Her heart ached when Greenie willingly sank to the bottom of the lake, but let out a sigh of relief when her ancestor finally arrived on the scene and suppressed the strange outsider.

She believed that with her ancestor around, Lilith would remain safe and unharmed. Unfortunately, her relief was short-lived. A golden light descended from the heavens, accompanied by a long black river suspended in the sky.

Luna didn’t know what that river was, but it filled her with dread. After all, just two droplets from the river had left her ancestor powerless to act. Her anxiety surged as she clutched Chris, the small robot, in her arms, squeezing it so tightly that its joints creaked under the pressure.

She desperately wished she could descend to the battlefield herself and finish off the outsider directly. But for now, all she could do was watch and pray that her ancestor had a way to turn the tide of the battle.