Their movements were astonishingly fast.
Charlotte and James continuously shifted from one position to another in fractions of a second. To an ordinary observer, the battle would have appeared as nothing more than fleeting blurs that materialized and vanished without warning.
James continued to follow the rhythm of his daughter's attacks.
With his far superior mastery of the Shunshin no Jutsu, he could have ended the spar at any moment. Instead, he deliberately adjusted his speed to a level Charlotte could still match.
He allowed her to keep attacking.
Allowed her to vent every turbulent emotion she had been suppressing.
Thud!
A punch shot toward his face.
James tilted his head aside.
Thud!
A kick swept toward his waist.
He hopped lightly backward to avoid it.
Thud!
Charlotte's elbow followed immediately after.
The entire sequence flowed with relentless aggression and speed.
Yet behind his calm defense, James's attention was not entirely focused on the battle.
His Sharingan continuously observed the flow of chakra within Charlotte's body.
He was searching for the source of the problem that had caused such a drastic change in his daughter's behavior.
Every stream of energy.
Every circulation pathway.
Every fluctuation.
He examined them all.
Yet the result remained unchanged.
Aside from her steadily increasing chakra reserves and emotions that appeared far more active than usual, there was nothing suspicious to be found.
Everything appeared normal.
And that was precisely what unsettled James the most.
Then, almost simultaneously, both of them leaped backward.
Distance once again opened between them.
Charlotte landed lightly before fixing her father with a sharp stare.
Her dissatisfaction was impossible to miss.
She clicked her tongue in irritation.
"Father, didn't I already ask you not to hold back?"
James released a slow breath.
"You've grown stronger, my dear. I am forced to focus on defense because your attacks are no longer something that can be taken lightly."
"That's a lie!"
Her voice rose immediately.
"I am going to be truly angry if you keep treating me like a child!"
James fell silent.
"Is a real fight like this truly necessary, Charlotte?"
"Yes, Father! If this continues, I'll feel like a fool being toyed with!"
The answer came without hesitation.
Silence briefly settled over the training grounds.
While Charlotte continued staring at him expectantly, James found himself sinking deeper into his own thoughts.
What exactly is happening?
Charlotte just raised her voice at me?
The question repeated itself within his mind.
He had explored countless possibilities.
Even the worst ones.
Yet whenever an answer presented itself, he instinctively rejected it.
Ryan had voiced his concerns earlier.
Charlotte had become far easier to anger.
Far less willing to joke around.
And on several occasions, she had made threats with an unsettling degree of seriousness.
The change had come too suddenly.
Too drastically.
As though another side of her was slowly awakening from the darkness.
A side that had long remained dormant.
Dmitry?
The name surfaced within his thoughts without warning.
"Impossible..."
James muttered quietly.
Almost as though he were speaking only to himself.
He immediately rejected the possibility.
Yet the harder he tried to dismiss it, the more stubbornly the thought persisted.
The Uchiha bloodline alone had already produced countless tragedies throughout history.
It was a power capable of creating geniuses.
Yet equally capable of destroying them.
Adding another bloodline with similarly dangerous traits could only result in a catastrophe far worse than either one alone.
I thought that because I never awakened the Dmitry power, none of this would affect my children...
Reality, however, rarely followed one's expectations.
The Dmitry bloodline was infamous.
Among the five most powerful noble houses of the Empire, the House of Dmitry was feared more than any other—not because of its strength alone, but because of the brutal manner in which both its authority and bloodline power were inherited.
For generations, the family had been steeped in bloodshed.
Male heirs slaughtered one another in pursuit of the power passed down through their lineage.
Brother against brother.
Son against father.
Family devouring family.
After all, my own father had died a gruesome death at the hands of my brothers.
In many cases, only the daughters were spared.
Yet even that rule was not absolute.
Once the primary heir was completely consumed by the madness lurking within their blood, no exceptions remained.
Male or female.
The outcome was often the same.
Anyone could become a victim.
And that was the possibility James feared most.
Charlotte was beginning to display signs that reminded him of both his brothers' madness and the old records concerning the Dmitry bloodline.
The signs were still faint.
Still uncertain.
Yet significant enough to concern him.
Even more troubling was Karina.
Her symptoms were different.
Very different.
Yet some of the characteristics Erna had once described seemed to be slowly emerging within his youngest daughter as well.
Karina possessed an unusual disposition.
She was far too intelligent for a child of only two and a half years.
The way she spoke.
The way she thought.
The way she viewed the world.
At times, it felt as though she had been born and raised within the highest circles of nobility.
Yet that was not the case.
Sometimes, James found himself wondering whether something far deeper than blood could be inherited.
The thought made the weight in his chest grow heavier.
His gaze settled upon Charlotte, who still stood before him.
Then, without meaning to, his thoughts drifted toward his entire family.
Irene.
Charlotte.
Ian.
Ryan.
Karina.
Where exactly would fate lead them?
The question had no answer.
At least, not yet.
The light in James's eyes gradually dimmed.
"Genjutsu would only make matters worse..."
The words escaped his lips in a low murmur.
"But perhaps it is the only thing I can do for now, should the worst possibility become reality."
Slowly, he clenched his fist.
"Without Erna's help... resolving this will be extremely difficult."
And for the first time since the battle had begun, James realized that the greatest opponent before him was not Charlotte.
It was something else.
Something that might be slowly growing within his daughter.
Something born from his past as a descendant of Count Dmitry.
•
•
•
James's eyes widened.
For the first time since the sparring match had begun, the calm composure he had maintained finally cracked.
His shoulders stiffened.
His gaze locked onto the transformation unfolding before his daughter.
The sight instantly awakened memories he had spent years burying in the deepest corners of his mind.
Memories he had never wished to see repeated.
James held his breath.
"Those eyes... they're exactly like Frederick's."
The words escaped him as little more than a whisper.
At once, the past surged to the surface.
He remembered everything with painful clarity.
He remembered how one of his brothers had descended into a horrifying madness.
He remembered how an entire wing of that great castle had become a sea of blood in the span of mere moments.
Guards.
Servants.
House retainers.
Many of them died without ever understanding what was happening.
Even several renowned knights had been unable to stop the rampage.
One after another, they fell.
Not because they were weak.
But because the opponent they faced had abandoned every remaining trace of humanity.
All of it had been caused by the Dmitry power running out of control.
At that time, Frederick had no longer fought as a man possessing reason or free will.
He moved like a killing machine.
Cold.
Silent.
Efficient.
Every action was directed toward a single purpose.
To kill.
There was no anger.
No hatred.
No visible emotion.
And that was precisely what made it so terrifying.
Because Frederick did not kill out of rage.
He killed because his instincts had begun to perceive every living creature around him as a threat.
In that state, he could no longer distinguish friend from foe.
Anyone who entered his field of vision received the same judgment.
Elimination.
Without a single exception.
A dreadful curse passed down through the bloodline of House Dmitry.
***
Earlier, I had tried everything I could think of to calm Charlotte.
I spoke with her.
Tried to reason with her.
Tried to distract her.
Tried to guide her back to the cheerful girl she normally was.
Yet the results were nothing like I had hoped.
The more I attempted to reach her, the worse things became.
Every word I spoke seemed to add fuel to the fire raging within her.
And that realization made my chest tighten painfully.
This was the first time I had ever seen my daughter like this.
The first time I had heard Charlotte raise her voice at me.
The first time I had seen her argue with such overwhelming emotion.
I had never demanded absolute obedience from my children.
Never.
If anything, I wanted them to become individuals capable of thinking for themselves.
Capable of making their own decisions.
Capable of distinguishing right from wrong without constantly relying on others.
If one day I made a mistake, I would not even mind if they criticized me for it.
I would accept it.
Because that was what a family should be.
But this situation was different.
Charlotte was not angry because I had done something wrong.
She was not arguing because I had treated her unfairly.
There was no clear reason.
No logical trigger.
It was as though my very existence had become a source of irritation to her.
Every sentence that left my mouth was met with hostility.
Every attempt to calm her only provoked an even stronger reaction.
My rational mind understood one thing.
This was not the real Charlotte.
Not the extroverted daughter who filled our home with laughter.
Not the girl who loved spending time with her siblings.
Not the child who always tried to protect the people she cared about.
Yet even knowing that...
The pain remained.
It felt painfully real.
Because in the end, I was merely a father watching his daughter slowly drift away from him.
The figure standing before me now felt unfamiliar.
As though something else was gradually taking hold of her.
James drew a long breath.
Then slowly exhaled.
The look in his eyes changed.
The hesitation that had lingered there moments earlier was gone.
"I truly have to take this seriously now. This will not be an easy battle."
His experiences during those two years in Dmitry Castle, combined with the memories inherited from this body, told him one thing.
Someone who had entered a state of mechanical combat like this would act according to the most primitive instincts imaginable.
Remove threats.
Eliminate opponents.
End resistance as quickly as possible.
It did not matter who stood before them.
It did not matter what relationship they had once shared.
And the moment James realized that fact, his heart grew even heavier.
Because he knew exactly who his daughter was looking at now.
Those eyes were fixed directly upon him.
Filled with suffocating focus.
Filled with battle instincts that were growing stronger by the second.
And the enemy Charlotte currently sought to eliminate...
Was him.
Her own father.
I once again observed the flow of chakra within Charlotte's body.
Only moments ago, that energy had been raging wildly, driven by her uncontrolled emotions. Now, however, everything had changed.
The chakra that had once surged chaotically was gradually settling into order.
Every pathway moved with near-perfect precision, as though another entity had taken control of my daughter's body.
And then there were her eyes.
Those eyes reminded me of...
I found it increasingly difficult to look away from them.
What exactly was this phenomenon unfolding before me?
"She's merging it with the Sharingan...?"
The words slipped from my lips in a quiet murmur.
Although the primary source of the Dmitry bloodline's power did not reside within the eyes like the Uchiha Sharingan, but rather within the mind and consciousness itself, the effects it produced bore a striking resemblance to the emergence of a second personality.
Another self.
An extreme dual personality.
A dark persona hidden deep within the descendants of House Dmitry.
When that power began to awaken, the hidden personality awakened alongside it.
Its manifestation was never identical.
The form it took varied from person to person.
Everything depended upon the individual who inherited it.
Charlotte had become far more susceptible to anger.
Her emotions intensified severalfold.
Karina, meanwhile, displayed entirely different symptoms.
Far calmer.
Far more concealed.
Far more intelligent.
And somehow, that made her even more concerning.
Perhaps Karina had realized something long before anyone else.
Perhaps she had noticed the changes within herself and deliberately chosen to keep them hidden.
That possibility could not simply be ignored.
Erna had once explained all of this to me.
According to the ancient records of House Dmitry, there had been several descendants throughout history who became aware of the awakening during its earliest stages.
They understood what was happening.
They recognized the changes within themselves.
Yet one fact had never changed.
Without sufficient self-control, every bearer of that power eventually displayed the same tendencies.
Killing intent.
The desire to eliminate threats.
A battle instinct that far exceeded the bounds of normality.
All of it emerged naturally.
The advantages of such a state were undeniably extraordinary.
Their bodies moved with far greater efficiency.
Greater precision.
Greater speed.
As though every ounce of physical and mental potential had been pushed to its absolute limit.
No movement was wasted.
No energy was squandered.
Everything was performed with near-perfect efficiency.
That was why the condition was often described as the Void Mind.
A state in which the mind entered a terrifying realm of silence.
A condition that could never truly be removed.
Because from the very beginning, it was part of the Dmitry power itself.
A piece of the inheritance fused directly to the souls of its heirs.
And one that would remain with them until the day they died.
I slowly exhaled.
My gaze never left Charlotte.
In her current state, my daughter had completely fallen under the influence of that power.
And that was very bad news.
Especially because she also possessed the Sharingan.
The combination of Dmitry blood and Uchiha blood should never have existed.
Two powers deeply connected to the mental state of their wielder.
The Dmitry bloodline was already unstable under the right conditions.
Adding the Sharingan only made matters worse.
Two powers capable of elevating someone to the pinnacle of strength—or dragging them into the depths of ruin.
Had I not been here today...
I did not even want to imagine what might have happened.
The thought weighed heavily upon my chest.
For a brief moment, it felt as though my family stood upon the edge of a perilous abyss.
One wrong step.
One delayed decision.
And everything could descend into tragedy.
I focused my attention on Charlotte once more.
Strangely, the atmosphere surrounding her was beginning to change.
Earlier, the air around her had felt heavy and chaotic due to the unstable eruption of chakra.
Now it was different.
The chakra circulating within her resembled a perfectly still lake.
And somehow, that tranquility felt even more dangerous.
Charlotte stared directly at me.
Without displaying the slightest trace of emotion.
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
Was she analyzing my every movement?
Studying my breathing pattern?
Calculating the distance between us?
Predicting my next action?
That gaze no longer resembled that of a daughter sparring with her father.
It felt like the gaze of a predator measuring its prey.
The strange fusion between the Dmitry power and the Sharingan reminded me of something else entirely.
A pair of legendary eyes I had once seen in the shinobi world.
The eyes of those summoned through Edo Tensei.
The eyes of Itachi.
The eyes of Madara.
Eyes that radiated an eerie calm before a storm of death descended upon the battlefield.
Of course, Charlotte was not the same as them.
Yet the impression created by her eyes now was remarkably similar.
So similar that it filled me with an ominous premonition.
If Charlotte were standing in the true shinobi world with that appearance, many people would likely mistake her for an Edo Tensei summon at first glance.
My daughter moved.
Fast.
Incredibly fast.
BOOM!