As soon as Sparkle saw Edikth, she immediately noticed the bizarre whisperings emanating from the entity. She was staring at a god—a god that was perhaps even more powerful than her father!

Despite knowing that she stood no chance of victory, Sparkle unhesitatingly positioned herself between the entity and her father.

Sparkle unleashed her power, and flashes of white light flickered incessantly around them, along with spatial rifts in a variety of sizes.

The densely packed spatial rifts formed a wall-like barrier separating the two parties. If an entity with a physical form were to approach the barrier, it would be consumed and torn in half by the spatial rifts.

This level of defense would work against most entities, but it was completely insufficient against Edikth. The previous battle between Edikth and the Charleses had thoroughly proven this fact.

However, despite the fact that Edikth could easily bypass the barriers, He showed no intention of attacking.

The yellow-brown eyeball that was as big as an island stared deeply at Charles before finally turning toward Sparkle.

"Whatever you are, don't you dare touch my father! Go away!" Sparkle roared. She furiously waved her tentacles as if she were an enraged octopus.

She was prepared to skip her adolescent phase and enter adulthood if the situation demanded it. Although it meant abandoning her human qualities, it would grant her enough power to help her father.

Beneath the gaze of Sparkle's glowing, luminous green eyes, Edikth finally made a move. He slowly extended a tentacle through the barrier, and with a

swoosh

, the tentacle was cleanly severed by the spatial rifts.

Despite getting severed, the tentacle didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it flew toward Sparkle at breakneck speed. Perhaps getting cut was part of its plan all along.

Flashes of white light erupted before Sparkle as she desperately tried to teleport the tentacle away. However, Sparkle's reliable special ability failed her for the first time.

The tiny tentacle ignored all of Sparkle's attacks and flew toward Sparkle while leaving behind a trail of afterimages. In the end, the tentacle came to a halt right above Sparkle.

Sparkle's hundreds of eyes widened as she wondered what kind of attack the entity would use against her.

And then it happened…

The tentacle above her curved slightly and patted her head repeatedly as if it were dribbling a ball.

The tentacle transmitted a wave of tranquility to Sparkle, and it calmed her down in an instant. The tense air eased and was replaced by warmth. The warmth felt familiar; it was a kind of warmth that one could only feel from one's family.

Sparkle cast a doubtful gaze at the enormous yellow eye. In its gaze, she sensed no malice but rather an indescribable emotion.

She also felt a natural sense of familiarity with the eye, and this feeling was definitely not something that one would feel toward an enemy. However, the familiarity carried with it a tinge of unfamiliarity at the same time as if she were a stranger to this entity.

The spatial rifts vanished, and Sparkle stared at Edikth with wide eyes.

"Daddy?" she asked.

Sparkle glanced at Charles before cautiously asking once again, "Mommy?"

However, Edikth remained motionless in midair.

"Sparkle, who are you talking to?" Charles asked.

Sparkle turned around and saw quite a few appendages piling up on the flesh island to form a distorted and bloated human face.

Sparkle raised her tentacles to point at Edikth but found that the bizarre entity had vanished without a trace.

"I've made a rough calculation and found that this plan has a much higher success rate than our contingency plans," Charles excitedly said to his daughter. How could he not feel excitement when he saw that there was finally some progress?

Charles enthusiastically recounted everything that had happened to his daughter.

"We just have to assimilate our own portion of a god's knowledge, and we will be able to catch a glimpse of the nature of the gods by merging into one! To confront the gods, we must first understand the gods."

However, Sparkle's face reflected no joy. Instead, she cast a worried look at Charles's bloated face.

The bloating reflected the state of her father's brain. The more knowledge he assimilated, the sooner he would become a god. "Daddy, you've lost a lot of time again."

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Yes, I know. That's why we must make haste—we must hurry!" Charles said, speaking with complete candor. He had lost his fear and concerns about becoming a god. To accommodate that kind of knowledge, he had to discard some things.

"But... but I don't want you to die!" Sparkle cried out, sounding reluctant.

The mere thought that she would be left alone once her father—her one and only remaining family—was no more engulfed Sparkle in an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

Perhaps she had made the wrong choice at the time. If she truly wanted to stop her father, she ought to have done so from the very beginning.

Sparkle's trembling voice brought Charles back to his senses. He stared at the large cluster of green tentacles before him and saw sadness in those luminous green cross-shaped pupils.

Several tentacles rose from the ground and wrapped around Sparkle. He tucked her into his flesh and rocked her gently as if she were in a cradle.

"Sparkle, I know you've been trying your best to save me, but this is a fate that I cannot escape. It must be done, and I must see it through.

"You know, the majority of my memories have either been modified, lost, or sold in exchange for something. At this point, there is not much left of my human emotions.

"I've been constantly questioning myself lately—what has humanity's survival got to do with me? Why should I save them? Since my consciousness will disappear the moment I become a god, will my actions even matter?

"The motivation and driving force behind my actions are no more. Despite that, do you know why I still persist?"

Three massive tentacles swam through Charles' flesh to gently pat Sparkle's head.

Charles' voice thrummed with emotions as he said, "It's all because you're also trapped with me in the Subterranean Sea. As a father, I need to protect my dear daughter. I need to protect you, Sparkle. I can't let you suffer any harm.

"You're the last remaining and most precious thing I have in my memories. If you're still willing to listen to me, Sparkle, then help me…

"Daddy can only move forward at this point; there is no turning back for me."

After a brief moment of silence, Sparkle's green tentacles began dispersing, burrowing toward Charles' brain.

Charles could feel Sparkle's tentacles piercing his brain as if they were loaches drilling into tofu. Amidst the strange sensation, Charles gathered himself and continued analyzing the portion of knowledge he had obtained from Edikth.