The Reincarnations of Veldanava

Everything I Am Not

Rimuru was carrying Chronoa - who was unconscious - but his focus wasn't on her, not at all. Instead, his eyes lingered on the young girl that Rudra had just saved. Rudra's words echoed in Rimuru's mind.

"My daughter? You can't be serious..."

"I am as honest as they come, especially when the topic is relations."

"You are right. You aren't the type of man to lie about this." Rimuru begrudgingly accepted it as the truth. Rudra was proud of his blue blood, and he wouldn't lie about his lineage.

If he said this girl was Rimuru's daughter, then it might as well be the case. It was pointless to deny it. Even if Rudra hadn't said a single word, Rimuru would have figured it out on his own.

She looked just like him. The face and the hair was exactly the same as Rimuru. Looking at her, Rimuru felt like he was staring into a mirror. She was a perfect replica of his; that in itself was unmistakable.

"But still, I haven't heard of her before. It is a big surprise for me."

"You are that much of a deadbeat, huh?" Rudra said with a mocking smirk.

Rimuru knew Rudra didn't mean it. They were just close enough to joke around. However, this didn't seem to be the right moment for that sense of humor.

"Shut up! I am not a deadbeat—" Rimuru was about to defend himself, but he stopped half way. "Well, you can say that I used to be one, no?" He appeared melancholic, reminiscing about the bygone past when he was still Veldanava the Star King Dragon.

Veldanava was different from Rimuru as they saw relations in a different light. Veldanava was a demiurge, so he saw relationship and what it entailed as a means to an end. While heartless would be the perfect word to describe Veldanava, Rimuru preferred to call that man "immature".

'Children are gifts, yet I have never realized that until the very end. Someone who never looks death in the eyes cannot appreciate life.'

Veldanava was detached from Samsara. He was like a bird in a golden cage, unaware of the natural state that mortals experienced. Like a prince in a castle, he didn't know old age until he became vulnerable to it, didn't know illness until the very magicules he wielding began to plague him, and didn't know death until blades pierced through his body.

For Veldanava, even death in its natural state was an experience to cherish and study. His soul pilgrimed with the same idea. To experience more about the meanings of being alive.

He came out of it more mature, at least mentally. Because of that growth, he had become more aware of his past mistakes. Veldanava was not perfect, not in the slightest. But that was to be expected, a demiurge was flawed by nature.

He wasn't a good father either.

Veldanava didn't see Twilight Valentine, one of his first creations, as his son; instead, he saw Twilight as a colleague who worked in the same field.

Elmesia was abandoned by her creator. When Veldanava had to take care of Luminous because of Twilight's death, he mostly ignored her, dumping the responsibility to Noir. To be honest, it was a miracle to begin with that Luminous did not hate him.

And although he didn't have any say in it, his death led to Milim being an orphan.

Well, supposedly, he didn't have any say in it. However, the truth of the matter was still shrouded in mystery. Was Veldanava aware that he would be dead and let it happen anyway? If that was the case just like Veldanava (the one he had just met) had told him, then he would be a textbook definition of a deadbeat.