The Devourer Was a Thief? Phanes Used Nibelungen's Dragon Bones as a Vessel, and Everyone from Shrek Was Furious!

"Nibelungen!" Niu Tian gritted out the name. "So this Nibelungen was the enemy Phanes defeated?"

"Probably," Rong Nianbing said gravely. "And pay attention to the description: 'Descender' in rank, and 'Abyss Power.' That suggests Nibelungen may not have belonged to the same faction as Phanes. Its power was saturated with the attributes of the Abyss."

"One represents creation and protection; the other, the Abyss and destruction." Ji Dong clenched his fists. Beside him, Lie Yan looked equally grave. "Phanes won the war, but lost the peace. He protected the world, yet couldn't stop a thief hiding in the gutter."

This deduction sent a chill through everyone.

A hero had given his life to defeat a powerful enemy. But just as the hero collapsed, exhausted, a shameless opportunist picked up the enemy's weapon, seized the home the hero had protected, and turned it into a hunting ground.

What bitter irony! What cruelty!

"That bastard! Its power, its status, everything it has—all of it was stolen! It just picked it up!" Tai Tan's roar made the entire space vibrate.

"An impostor in another's nest, a monkey wearing a crown!" Even Xue Ye, a mortal emperor, couldn't help using the harshest words he could think of. He could imagine the despair a nation's people would feel if their Guardian Deity died in battle, only for the enemy's power to occupy the divine seat.

"Wait." The Dragon Prince, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. His voice trembled slightly, but more than that, it held baffled confusion. "Was that really... a dragon? A dragon with 'Abyss Power'?"

Everyone's gaze once again turned to the Dragon God and the Dragon Prince.

No one present understood dragons better than they did.

The Dragon God didn't answer at once. His massive head dipped slightly, as if he were sensing and pondering something beyond mortal comprehension. After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice lower than ever.

"That skeleton has the shape of a dragon, and a rank far beyond anything we can imagine. But..."

He paused. A trace of deep wariness flickered in his golden eyes.

"That is neither life nor death. It is the embodiment of a kind of 'Rule.' The concept of the 'Abyss' wearing the guise of a 'dragon.' If our Dragon Clan represents power and life, then it represents devouring and endings."

His words raised their understanding of the skeleton to an entirely new, far more terrifying level.

That wasn't a corpse.

It was a weapon—a weapon forged from the Rules of the "Abyss," wielding power on the level of a "Throne"!

And the "Devourer" was now the weapon's holder.

"No wonder... No wonder it turned that world into a 'Living Hell.'" Tang Wulin murmured, as if he'd finally understood. "Its source of power is the Abyss, Negative Energy. A healthy, normal world full of hope would suppress its power. Only endless suffering, despair, and death can nourish it and let it control the skeleton's power more effectively."

Gu Yuena picked up where he left off. "It isn't raising living beings as livestock. It's using the entire world to 'feed' that skeleton from the Abyss."

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

The truth was so twisted and dark.

Phanes's greatness seemed all the more tragic in light of it. Not only had he used himself to suppress the shattered World Cornerstone, but his remaining order was likely still fighting the skeleton and the "Devourer's" corruption every moment.

This was a war that had raged for eons—and was still being fought.

On one side stood the indomitable will left behind by a fallen hero.

On the other was a despicable thief who had claimed his enemy's remains and continued to spread pain and disaster.

Bei Bei, He Caitou, Xu Sanshi, Xiao Xiao, Tang Ya... The people of Shrek exchanged glances, each seeing the shock and anger in the others' eyes. They had been through countless battles and witnessed all kinds of evil, but they had never seen a betrayal and desecration on such a cosmic scale.

"We... have to do something for Phanes," Ning Rongrong said softly, her voice trembling slightly.

No one answered, but they had all already made up their minds.

They still didn't know the ultimate purpose of this review, but after witnessing the truth, they couldn't stand idly by. Their sense of justice and righteousness would never let them rest.

Just then, the image on the Light Screen shifted again.

Phanes's figure vanished, and the scorched earth disappeared with him.

In their place appeared a blurry silhouette, seemingly shrouded in endless darkness. Only its general outline was visible.

In its hand, it held a pulsing purple-black crystal, shaped like a heart.

The crystal radiated Abyss Power of the same origin as the Nibelungen Skeleton, but even purer.

The "Devourer" had found the core of Nibelungen's power.

The words on the Light Screen were cold and direct, as if stating an irreversible fact.

But before they could gather their thoughts under the suffocating pressure, the image and text on the Light Screen changed dramatically once more.

The blurry figure of the "Devourer" and the sinister heart both vanished.

In their place was Phanes's imposing, solitary figure, still standing amid that shattered world. But this time, floating before him was the complete dragon skeleton of Nibelungen, Second Throne, not yet corrupted by the Abyss.

The dragon bones were as white as jade, radiating the faint majesty and brilliance of a supreme divine dragon.

Then, a series of entirely new words appeared slowly on the Light Screen, enough to overturn everything they had imagined.

Phanes used the dragon bones of Nibelungen, Second Throne, as a "vessel."

At those words, the Dragon God's huge golden pupils contracted sharply.

Using dragon bones as a vessel? What blasphemy—and what an inconceivable idea! The bones of dragons, especially those who had reached the level of a Throne, were among the most indestructible substances in the universe. They contained the lingering might of the Laws themselves. How could they possibly be used as a "vessel"?

Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena both shuddered. As inheritors of the Dragon God's bloodline, they could clearly sense the vast Dragon Power contained in the skeleton. It shared their origins, yet was far more ancient and powerful. To use such a being as a mere vessel was simply...