Three-Headed Demon Dragon, Dawn Angel

He awoke.

A fractured glacier, the boiling World Essence, a massive shell moving through jagged cracks, its dark skin rubbing against the solid ice surface.

Sparks flew and ignited the entire glacier. The ancient, unmelting ice transformed into giant waves that covered the heads of life. Behind these waves, a dark shadow gradually rose, and a dragon's head, larger than Dragons, opened its dark golden pupils, followed by a second one...

[Whew~]

He was calling out, breathing, and the appearance of this long-lost world remained largely unchanged in His memory.

Three dragon heads, like pillars of heaven, stood in the far north of the world. He seemed not to have fully awakened yet, and he was somewhat bewildered. At the same time, everyone could see that his body was still frozen.

Below the three dragon heads, a fiery red greatsword held Him firmly in place.

Surtr's weapon, which He hurled from the flames of the south, sealed the Demon Dragon's body here. Even from a certain spot, the cold winds of the Northlands blew through the torn crack.

The Demon Dragon struggled, roaring in anger, and saw the sword on its own body.

roar--

A dragon's roar awakened the world's vitality. The ocean began to rage again, and tides swept across the frozen sea from all directions. Mountains rose on the Mainland, the Forest expanded, and even the earth trembled, causing panic among the millions of people who cultivated the land.

but...

Not enough, isn't that enough?

"Is this really Great Being?"

Ryan looked up at that magnificent life, a life that no world could afford to support.

But in Ryan's view, He still shouldn't be considered a great being.

He's too mundane.

Is Surtr vulgar? With such a tall and imposing figure, it might seem vulgar, but in reality, it is not. It is the source of fire, and all matter that comes near Surtr will turn into fire. Countless people cannot even see Surtr moving towards them from the South ocean.

Even Surtr's actions, as manifested in the world, were replaced by extreme weather and environments; mortals were not qualified to look directly at His every move.

Of course, being watched by Surtr is also a disaster, as evidenced by the swarms of Twilight Kin in the sky.

But the Demon Dragon before them was visible to everyone, and there was no cost to it. Its anger inspired fear and awe, but nothing more.

Simply put, it's low-class.

"This is His body. The Demon Dragon's will has been separated. He has awakened, but we don't know where he is."

Ivar said this, his face somewhat pale, perhaps because the cracks in the ice beneath his feet had caused a backlash from the forbidden spell.

"He will definitely come back."

"His body is here. He needs a body to bear his power. Moreover, the Demon Dragon itself represents the strong flesh and blood of the Dragons. His body is his most powerful part."

"However, without willpower, the body cannot be considered Deities."

"He is just a shell."

After listening, Ryan raised a question.

"How do we banish Him?"

"He will escape on his own."

Yes, being watched by the Lord of Dawn is not a good thing for the current Demon Dragon. Even though the Lord of Dawn, the God of Light, also known as the Sun in the sky, is also asleep, His greatness is written in every corner of the immortal history. Even in his sleep, the light He emits inspires awe in all the gods.

Moreover... Dawn is asleep. If we can kill the Demon Dragon, it might awaken Dawn.

That's what the Demon Dragon was thinking.

So a streak of black light flashed across the sky in that instant, disappearing into the body of the three-headed Dragons from the depths of the distant sea. Soon after, the surface of the three-headed Dragons's body began to emit a faint glow.

His person is returning.

Ryan discovered that the Dragons in the sky had begun to fall like rain; they dared not remain in the sky any longer, for it would be a desecration of Great Being.

The Twilight Kin, however, showed no fear, and so they were quickly met with devastation.

Ryan barely managed to lift his head. For a moment, he felt like his brain was about to explode. Perhaps because he had endured the power of Great Being, he had adapted to the pain. Then he saw one of the three dragon heads open its pitch-black, blood-red maw.

Immediately afterwards, all the Twilight Kin Dragons were bitten to pieces.

There was nothing fancy about it; it was simply bitten to pieces. Ryan didn't see the massive snapping motion, and then the Twilight Kin vanished from the sky.

The sky was no longer filled with the vibrant colors of the aurora borealis; instead, only darkness remained.

The Demon Dragon has returned in full force. Its greatness prevents mortals like Ryan from seeing its form; all they see is darkness.

No, in the pitch-black world, there exists a single, dazzling red light.

That was flame, that was a sword.

Surtr's weapon remains embedded in the Demon Dragon's body.

The Demon Dragon was enraged. Its magnificent body was severely injured when it was driven only by instinct. It roared, and one of its heads lunged toward the flaming greatsword that was embedded in its body.

Don't underestimate the Demon Dragon's bite; it's not a bite, but a collision between the sky and the earth. It could very well bite that sword in half.

But He could not do it. Surtr arrived, and the fiery red power illuminated half of the sky. Only a few could see the Giants of fire, the guide of Twilight, and Surtr reborn in the flames. The angry Deities used his only remaining arm to grab the dragon's head that had turned around, and then bit down on the Demon Dragon's neck.

The world roared in fury—the roar of the Demon Dragon. Surtr, however, was not going to tolerate it and rammed headfirst into the Demon Dragon. The two magnificent beings plunged together into the deep glacial sea.

Surtr seized the opportunity to retract his weapon, and the drawing of his flaming greatsword dealt a second blow to the Demon Dragon. Enraged, the dragon finally engaged in battle with its central head.

Then he crashed headfirst into Surtr's flaming greatsword.

The dark currents flowed like a waterfall cascading from the heavens, severing the Demon Dragon's head, which transformed into a vast expanse of black mist in the sky above Nidhogg.

Ryan found his Spirituality Panel greedily devouring everything once again.

"Twilight, Eternity, the Old One..."

Indeed, this time, in the section on divinity, the word "Taisu" was followed by an Old One suffix.

[Divinity: Taisu (Eternity), Taisu (Old One), Giant Mammoth]

Like the previous Twilight Divinity, but this time, it is the Old One Divinity, still based on the Taisu as the unit.

Surtr granted him the Twilight Divinity, Adriana bestowed upon him the divine Divine Blessing of Eternity Divinity, and this Demon Dragon is the divinity of the Old One.

Does this mean that there are also disputes over positions among these Great Being?

In any case, let's keep it for now. The Spirituality Panel will gradually make him understand the function of these divinities. At worst, we can create another army of followers to fight for us, which will also be very useful.

Ryan greedily absorbed it, but perhaps because his own power was insignificant and the scope he could encompass was not large enough, he had only absorbed less than two Taisu units of Old One divinity by the time the black mist in the sky had completely dissipated.

"Compared to the Sun in the sky, its quality is still far inferior."

Eternity Divinity, a mere Divine Blessing of Taisu, has benefited Ryan immeasurably.

"We still need to leave some for Surtr."

Ryan hadn't forgotten his pact with Surtr, and thinking of it, he couldn't help but look up.

"Could you put in a little more effort? Kill him?"

If it's given to Surtr, there won't be much of the Old One Gods left, so we'll have to find a way to earn more.

The loss of one of the Demon Dragon's heads didn't seem to have a significant impact on the dragon. At least in the ensuing battle, the Demon Dragon, having gradually adapted to its awakened physical form, began to fight back.

The two great beings have a crucial question: the Demon Dragon has awakened, while Surtr is still asleep.

There is a huge difference between waking up and sleeping.

[Die!]

"You do not have that authority."

A wise look appeared in the Demon Dragon's eyes. He raised his head, high up where mortals could not see. His power had been avoiding the gaze of the Lord of Dawn, otherwise Surtr would not have been his match.

Surtr doesn't care. He only has two options: to be angry or to be even angrier, and each choice will make him stronger.

But that's not enough. Now that the Demon Dragon has fully awakened, even if its divine power is not at its peak, it still has many ways to fight Surtr.

For example... the aura of darkness engulfed Surtr, like a giant elephant sinking into a muddy swamp. The more Surtr struggled in anger, the more the Demon Dragon was able to devour its deepest Divine Essence.

Between the awakened and the unconscious, there exists a chasm of reason.

Ash fell from the sky, just like the end of many wars commanded by Ryan, except this time the Ash came from Surtr, where the Eternity burning flames were reduced to Ash before the power of the Demon Dragon.

"God..."

Beneath a sky where darkness and Twilight intertwine, the Extraordinary Legion holds fast to the cracked ice, while the Dragons lies prostrate at the bottom of the world, but the sky...

There are still figures floating in the sky.

Flames formed a cloak hundreds of meters long, draped over Leon Clayton's back. He raised his head, his eyes burning from looking directly at the Deities, tears of blood streaming down his face, yet he still looked up and slowly uttered the words of a great being.

"God."

A terrifying power began to emanate from him, a power that was equally great and sacred.

The blasphemous nobles of the Florian Empire have stolen too much divinity, and they possess the means to oppose the Deities.

At this moment, Count Clayton rode his Dragons and charged into the sky. The Flame Dragon Christman was terrified of the power emanating from him, so much so that his body trembled, yet he still flew upwards.

It flew so high that even Ryan couldn't see what Count Clayton had released, but soon, the sky was torn apart.

In the darkness of the Demon Dragon and the Twilight sky of Surtr, a small hole was pierced and torn open, the Divine Essence was annihilated, and the void was only the size of a tiny fist.

But soon, sunlight entered the fist-sized hole.

The golden the Sun shone down; it was the power of the Lord of Dawn, the God of Light. He had finally locked onto this world; He had taken notice of this place.

In the golden sunlight, Count Clayton fell from the sky. The Flame Dragon was too heavy and faster than him, crashing heavily into the ice and creating a huge crater. Frozen seawater rushed in, and tens of thousands of the Flame Dragon Knight Legion rushed to the scene, pulling the fallen Count Clayton out of the seawater and placing him on a soft, marshmallow-like substance.

"This is a cloud bed woven by Fairy."

This was the second time Ryan had heard the word "Fairy," but he couldn't care less now, because the power of the Dawn had arrived, and the balance of power in the war between the Demon Dragon and Surtr had been broken.

The Demon Dragon had been using its power to evade the gaze of the Great Being brought by the Flower of Morning Radiance, but now the breach was like an ant hole in a dam, and in an instant, endless, snow-white Holy Radiance poured down.

Ryan saw angels in this Holy Radiance.

It had many wings, fluttering in the sunlight, making it impossible to look directly at. Then, a sword appeared, which was raised and shot a white beam of light towards the Demon Dragon and Surtr.

The angels disappeared, and countless spatial cracks, resembling shattered mirrors, appeared in the north of this world.

Then, the Demon Dragon disappeared.

"He is dead?"

"He will not die, but the terrible injuries will force Him to leave this world, and He may even fall into Eternity sleep."

Count Clayton awoke, but he was still unable to move. Ryan saw a three-headed Dragons swimming on his body, using Count Clayton's skin as an ocean, roaming freely within it.

This is a curse.

The curse of the Demon Dragon.

"He can't kill me; His power is too weak."

Count Clayton gave a cold laugh, but soon he was bleeding profusely.

The curse was destroying his body, and not just him, but even Ryan, who was of Clayton bloodline, felt it; a cold, uncomfortable sensation enveloped his entire body.

"Is this the bloodline curse of Great Being? Like the Andara Royal House?"

"It's even more serious, because it's a curse from Great Being who has fully awakened."

The Count Clayton, even amidst his busy schedule, still had the leisure to joke.

"It seems that we are no longer ants that He would not even glance at in His eyes; He hates us to the core."

What about Surtr?

Ryan looked up. He couldn't see Surtr, but it was clear that Surtr was more familiar with the power of Dawn than the Demon Dragon.

He was not seriously injured. Ryan's gaze lingered for a short while before he saw a huge magma hand attacking the angel.

The angel was pressed down and submerged by the endless waves. Surtr tried to grab it but failed. In the end, He chose to look down at His feet.

Rumble!!!

Thousands upon thousands, no, an endless stream of heavenly fire descended from the sky, streaking across the heavens like meteors, creating a deafening roar as it rubbed against the air, hurtling towards Ryan's location.

"What are you doing?!"

Ryan was terrified. Surtr had actually attacked them?

Don't forget... the sacrifice contract.

Surtr's voice echoed in Ryan's mind. Ryan sensed his weakness and saw the Old One divinity reactivating on the Spirituality Panel. Only then did Ryan realize that this was the Divine Essence of the Demon Dragon that Surtr had given him.

He cannot devour it directly because this divinity bears the mark of Demon Dragon, but Ryan can.

The blessings bestowed upon mortals by the Deities are often beyond their reach. As Ryan watched the densely packed falling heavenly fire, his scalp tingled with fear.

"Are you crazy?"

He turned his head and looked at Ivar.

"What to do?"

The latter gave him an even uglier look.

"Don't forget, there is another Great Being in this world."

Yes, the Dragon God and the Demon Dragon, two Great Being, are vying for power after the fall of the Dragon Emperor while they are asleep.

They banished the Demon Dragon, and Surtr disappeared with it. Without them, the gaze of Dawn also ceased to exist. Ivar possessed a second Flower of Morning Radiance, but its purpose remained unknown.

Without any rivals, the Dragon God will surely awaken in this world, and He will become the ultimate winner.

When will He awaken?

Ryan asked a question, but suddenly felt a tremor beneath his feet.

The falling fire shattered the frozen sea created by the Frost Giant, and the frozen, yet deadly Dragons were now crashing against the ice with unparalleled fury.

"It's not safe here..."

Before the words were even finished, the ice surface a kilometer away collapsed with a deafening roar, and the Legendary Tidal Dragon leaped out of the sea.

A dragon's roar echoed from the sky as the Frost Dragon Arryris descended, its breath engulfing the roaring Tidal Dragon and sealing it within a block of ice. The heavy ice quickly fell silent in the deep sea.

"Gidroy, you're still as foolish as ever."

Arryris gave a mocking look, watching the ice block sink into the deep sea, and turned her massive body toward Ryan.

"Isabella will know where He sleeps, find Him, and kill Him."

Traitors will not have a good death. Arryris herself could not defeat her, but her hatred for Isabella did not diminish in the slightest.

(End of this chapter)