Chapter 605 Lonely At The Top


    Havi finally reached the end of the story he was reminiscing by himself. To ensure his daughter''s safety and avoid a civil war… he had turned into a viin in her eyes while bing a cold and ruthless ruler to the human race of the empire.


    But every step he took was done out of absolute necessity and give him enough time to cement his rule for the sake of his family and his children…


    Because although Venessa was a half-human, she had more of his pure bloodline as it was the dominant part of her body.


    But the small portion from her mother''s side gave her the appearance of a real human and nothing that of a halfbreed or a hybrid between two different species.


    But due to that phenomenon, the fireborne bloodline grew stronger and denser as Venessa grew.


    At this point… Havi was aware that Venessa had the potential to even surpass him if she ever became an 8th stage saint in the future.


    Her being half-human was a curse to her im to the throne. But it was also the biggest blessing in her journey to strength.


    Yet… Venessa''s fate even if she became the empress was limited. The bigger threat she became, the more risk of her getting killed rose before she became strong enough to defend herself.


    Although she had proved her worth till this point… Venessa hadn''t really seen what horrors awaited even if she became the ruler one day.


    Because sooner orter… she would have to marry one of the heirs of the fireborne ns to carry the imperial bloodline even if she became the empress.


    Marrying some prince of the other empires for the empress was already prohibited if she held that position.


    And the one to marry her would naturally have their n control the fate of the empire unofficially.


    The price was too great to pay… something that broke even once a righteous and straightforward man like him to be a ruthless leader who even condemned the entire human race just to keep order and his authority intact even if he didn''t inherently hate humans.


    And finally… there was only one way he could protect her from the same fate as her mother.


    The only way topletely subjugate and restrict the six fireborne ns while keeping the imperial n as the ruling power even if he went against their leaders to take his revenge. And that was…


    Unifying the Imperial n and the Church of Hetrax.


    Because if these two forces joined hands… even the six pirs of the empire couldn''t do anything. Even the smallest kind of retaliation would be treated as treason and Havi could use it as an excuse to punish them.


    If his n and the church worked together, the two fireborne ns couldn''t do any significant damage to the empire and naturally, the other four ns would also change their stand to not get eradicated in the process.


    Thus, Havi had made an agreement with the Pope, Demiurges Val Arhlem.


    That since the chosen Hero they were going to summon after 2 decades would be a human by default like in the past, and if it was a man… then they''d arrange the marriage between that Hero and Venessa.


    This deal was made when Venessa was only 10 years old. Havi had already made his moves more than 20 years ago.


    This way, she won''t get dragged into their political warfare and also help solidify the imperial n''s rule. With church fully backing them while him leading the imperial n and gaining strength in the years toe…


    Havi would get everything he want while also securing the future of the empire without causing millions of innocent deaths.


    As for Venessa herself… she would be safe and will have time to grow in the future.


    To him… he was ready to ept her hatred and would suffer her anger for the rest of his life as long as he could protect his daughter even if it meant bing the viin in her eyes.


    Because little did anyone know that Strength wasn''t always the solution to ovee all of the problems in the world.


    Sometimes… one had to even sacrifice themselves for the greater good and maintain peace.


    To Havi… this was the bitter truth that he hade to learn the hard way.


    To everyone, the emperor was the strongest person in the whole empire… yet in reality, he was the most helpless.


    Bound by his duties and his heritage… paying the price of being the emperor at the cost of his sanity and his integrity.


    While his daughter hated him… his sons only coveted his position… he was sacrificing his soul.


    Despite standing on the summit of the mountain…


    He was lonely at the top.


    ----------------


    Meanwhile, there was one particr who was unaware of how many problems his involvement with Venessa had caused as he was fully engrossed with his Artificing training.


    Just two days ago, Kahn stopped other doppelgangers and put a pause on his weapons training,bat techniques training with different kinds of weapons.


    On the side, the doppelgangers also stopped studying magic and spacew. And all of the 15 copies of himself along with the original him… they kept practicing and increasing his efficiency in the study of rune and magic formations.


    Just like how Calligraphy needed years of experience and perfect control over one''s body, particrly the movement of their hands… Runes and Engravings also demanded profound control and understanding of this craft.


    But after the gifts from Brokkr and Eitri along with his hacks called the Doppelgangers… Kahn''s mastery rose 15 times than it normally should''ve in the past one month alone.


    He managed to raise most of the skills and his knowledge as well as experience in Runes and Magic formations to SS Rank in such a short time.


    And finally… just when the cksmithing Duel was only one week away… he heard a notification in his mind.


    [Congrattions to the host for bing a Semi-Saint Artificer!]