Chapter 600: The Conspiracy of the Lord of Dawn

On the vast and luxurious island in the lake, far larger than ordinary noble estates, sisters Catherine and Cornelia sat at an ornate stone table, enjoying delicious pastries while watching their two children happily playing on the soft grass just a few steps away.

At that moment, the two mothers had no idea that a white, humanoid-shaped entity without any facial features—composed of pure light—had already hidden itself and infiltrated the island’s manor. Crisis was approaching!

Layla, the baby girl playing with her brother, suddenly stopped laughing. Her tiny nose and brows furrowed, as if she sensed something bad was happening. Clearly, this child, born with extraordinary talents, possessed a special and keen sensitivity to her surroundings.

Catherine and Cornelia, who were constantly watching over the two children, immediately grew anxious.

“Layla! What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

Layla, who had just learned to speak, was about to tell her mothers what she had noticed when a grayish-white blade, like a knight’s spear thrust, shot toward her brother Norman’s head.

The two mothers screamed and rushed forward. Catherine, in particular, moved at a speed beyond normal, reaching Norman first and shielding him with her body to block the attack. Although Catherine didn’t possess great offensive power, being a demi-god, she only suffered minor injuries after taking a strike equivalent to that of a legendary warrior. Her demi-god healing abilities allowed her to recover quickly, though she wasn’t seriously hurt.

But while Catherine protected Norman, she couldn’t protect her own daughter, Layla. The invisible attack sent by the white shadow reached Layla at that moment. Cornelia had only just stepped closer to Layla, but that one step was not enough to stop the attack.

“No…”

As the two mothers screamed in horror, a sacred and beautiful phantom appeared around the two-year-old Layla. It was a snake-like creature with colorful wings and white-gold scales. Unlike snakes as commonly perceived—cold and evil—it exuded an aura of purity.

Upon detecting the enemy’s attack on little Layla, the phantom’s usually calm expression showed rare signs of anger, as if a kind and gentle person had been angered by something intolerable. It opened its mouth and let out a silent cry at the white shadow!

As this cry was emitted, it transcended time and space barriers, reaching the white light figure without giving the latter any chance to react.
The white light figure possessed powers on par with those of a demi-god, though its abilities were more inclined toward concealment. Excluding its peculiar innate traits, its offensive strength, unless fully unleashed, was only comparable to that of legendary warriors. Yet, with its demi-god-level power and the ability to resist most energy and physical attacks, even if Donald’s clone were there, it might not be able to eliminate it instantly, thus giving the opponent a chance to escape.
However, the attack launched by this sacred shadow guarding Laila was of a form the white light figure had never seen before—it instantly froze it completely, from soul to flesh, before an indescribable force shattered everything that sustained its existence.
After stiffening for about a second, the white shadow shattered into shards like colored glass and then disappeared into the air.
The moment his child was attacked, Donald’s expression changed drastically. Abandoning his companion, Farada, who was in the midst of a lively conversation, he vanished on the spot. But it was still too late. Fortunately, Laila was protected by a mysterious entity, preventing greater disaster!
When Donald arrived, he saw this scene. Before the shards disappeared, he quickly waved his hand to release a divine light, attempting to capture some of them and preserve them through the Book of Truth to prevent further loss.
Yet, the ever-effective Book of Truth failed to retrieve even a single shard. Those white light fragments contained no aura at all; their composition resembled natural light, but their structure was extremely peculiar. Upon being shattered, they instantly evaporated into ordinary light, and all Donald could capture were mere light elements.
Even without any evidence, Donald immediately deduced the origin of the attacker!
“The Lord of Dawn…”
To block the senses of oneself and the Tree of Life, infiltrate the island in the lake without any hostility or aura, and approach one’s own family—this required the powers of a higher god. And to manipulate light elements so subtly to create puppet-like beings with demi-god-level strength, there were likely only two such beings in the Pantheon, if counted on one’s fingers.

One of them, the Goddess of Night, had no irreconcilable hatred toward him. Even if Lady Shadow and the other two goddesses were at odds, they would only cause trouble to those three goddesses and not harm his own child. That left only one possible mastermind: Ivan, the God of Dawn, the supreme deity of the realm of light! “It seems this supreme deity is very confident that I won’t be able to obtain any evidence and is quite sure of success in this attack!” Filled with rage, Donald’s expression turned grim. He could sense the residual fluctuations from the previous light-shadow attack—it was a skill at the soul level, targeting his own child. There was no need to wonder that it couldn’t possibly be a positive enhancement spell! Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in a dense forest in the eastern continent of Dalaran, several mysterious figures clad in black cloaks with white cuffs spread their arms in a circle. Suddenly, one of them lowered their arms and said coldly, “The ritual failed. The Glorious Shadow bestowed by my master has disappeared!” Donald’s guess was correct. That puppet made of light elements was called the Glorious Shadow, one of the Lord of Dawn’s most secret tactics. Though not very combat-effective, it was an extremely powerful tool for gathering intelligence. If one wasn’t careful, even a mid-tier deity wouldn’t notice anyone approaching outside their divine realm! Besides its exceptional stealth capabilities, the Glorious Shadow didn’t possess much intelligence on its own but could use secret arts to carry spells prepared by those far away. According to the Lord of Dawn’s plan, two demigods and several high-ranking clergy members under the Dawn Church would conduct a ritual called “Glorious Transformation” thousands of miles away. In reality, it was a modified version of a soul-stealing ritual obtained from evil spellcasters. It allowed a child under five years old to become spiritually close to the light, fostering absolute goodwill toward anyone or anything bearing the Lord of Dawn’s light and aura—a seemingly legitimate but actually extremely evil ritual! The Dawn Church had used such tactics many times to gain new territories and seize control of other kingdoms. Their success during the chaos in the Kingdom of Icu was also related to this. However, they never expected that a mere newborn infant would possess such powerful innate abilities to protect itself, remaining unaffected by their rituals and even destroying the Glorious Shadow—a puppet that even they, who knew its true nature, couldn’t easily destroy.

The ritual of transformation through the Shadow of Glory is only effective against ordinary descendants of divine bloodlines. For the situation just now, success would only be possible if a semi-god warrior intervened personally again, but that would surely leave traces. They would likely face full retaliation from the Natural Guardians!
“Fortunately, no evidence was left. Let’s leave immediately!” said another cloaked figure with semi-god powers.
So they erased any possible traces on the spot and vanished into the dense forest using divine magic.
Donald was unaware of what had happened thousands of miles away. At that moment, the phantom behind little Laila slowly disappeared. Donald recognized this as the protection method reserved by the Quetzalcoatl god for his children. Not only was there that white shadow used for attack, but through its connection to the manipulator behind it, they were able to trace back to the mastermind. The Quetzalcoatl god, who held a prominent status even among the powerful divine realms of another universe, was not someone to be trifled with!
Donald, who possessed the high-tier artifact, the Book of Fate, and also had expertise in the realm of fate, could sense it. Although this power related to the elusive realm of fate prophecy wouldn’t cause any harm, it had already left a mark of hatred—a unique mark based on the high-level power of prophetic authority in the realm of fate. Even higher gods couldn’t easily erase it, unless it was a true god like the Lord of Elves who was equally skilled in the realm of fate.
If within a certain distance, Laila, as the carrier of this protective force, could sense the presence of enemies!
That was good. From now on, they wouldn’t have to worry about the other party taking any actions against his daughter again. Although it couldn’t completely prevent such actions, at least that person wouldn’t be able to send the same forces to carry out operations!
After calming his two wives and children, Donald, still worried, temporarily sent them to the Nodahill realm. Watching his two adorable children excited about the chance to play at the World Tree, Donald’s gaze turned icy, and he vanished back to the villa where he had been receiving guests earlier.
“Apologies for making Princess Farada wait!”
The avatar of the Lich God wasn’t displeased. It saw Donald leave suddenly with a drastic change in expression. Although his face showed no emotion upon returning, the invisible emotional fluctuations he emitted were terrifying, leading it to guess that something bad must have happened!
“Prince Donald! What happened?”

Donald glanced at Farada and smiled lightly, saying, “It was just a false alarm. Something tried to harm my child while I was away, but it’s been dealt with!”
“This…”
The Lich God was also an ancient being who had lived for tens of thousands of years. The first thing that came to mind in such a situation was that someone had taken advantage of his arrival to carry out such an act—a humiliation and provocation to any true god, especially since Farada had come here seeking help from this true god, the Nature Guardian!
The old lich then spoke with an angry tone, “Please forgive me, Lord Donald. I had no idea about this at all!”
Donald understood the Lich God’s explanation.
“Of course I know this has nothing to do with Lady Farada. It’s just a despicable plot. Lady Farada was merely there by chance. Even if you hadn’t come, they would have found another opportunity!”
Hearing her master say this, Farada felt relieved, but she still said, “I wonder what evidence Lord Donald has. Such a plot is intolerable. If you decide to take revenge, please include me as well!”