The Sun disappeared from the sky, and the Moon once again dominated the firmament.
However, the Valyria Peninsula was falling apart, with islands splitting into many fragments drifting on the sea, and the remaining main island continuously erupting with flames and lava, while dust and smoke once again obscured the sky.
The apocalypse, which had temporarily paused when the Sun descended, resumed after the Sun set.
On the sea near the Sea of Smoke, the floating, pale corpses had covered the entire surface, making one believe that by stepping over these dense, ground-like corpses, one could reach that place of destruction and rebirth.
Sakaruo stood at the bow of the ship, quietly wiping the blood-stained dagger in his hand with the hem of his robe.
The Eight Red Priests, priests who believed in Rhllor, the Lord of light, had all been killed by him, except for two who had surrendered to him, and their bodies were thrown into the sea.
The Red Robes of the dead priests floated on the sea, concealing the faces of these false god worshipers.
"What about you, Red Priestess Nalia? You have always been the High Priestess who interprets the false god's intentions, but if you are willing to abandon the false god and renounce the false god's faith, with your abilities, you could also play a small role in spreading the Dragons God's glory."
Sakaruo stood quietly, gazing at Red Priestess Nalia, without much threat, but the continuous act of wiping the dagger brought an unspoken pressure to Red Priestess Nalia.
The ability of Psionic Power has a great commonality with the abilities of a Psion; its power originates from the integration of mind, will, and spirit, deriving from the flesh and blood, and the difference in ability depends on the individual's application.
Sakaruo's extreme transformation, the will to change from the Red God faith to the Dragon Gods faith, brought immense Psionic Power to this former priest.
The more steadfast a creature's belief in the Ancestral Red Dragon, the greater the feedback it receives, and the more determined a creature's will, the faster its own spiritual power and will transform into Psionic Power under the influence of the Ancestral Red Dragon.
And Sakaruo, this Red Priest, at the moment the Sun descended, when he sensed the Psionic Power source of the Ancestral Red Dragon, his own Psionic Power seed had already been born, and now his power was constantly growing stronger.
Therefore, the pressure on Red Priestess Nalia grew stronger and stronger.
Even though Red Priestess Nalia's strength was originally the most outstanding, she dared not act rashly against Sakaruo at this moment.
Moreover, Red Priestess Nalia had long felt some resistance to the Red God's actions.
These followers of the Red God, apart from the initial missionaries who voluntarily converted, were mostly children of slaves and commoners, sold and mortgaged in the Red God Church's temples.
Except for children with natural talent who could become warriors, priests, or priestesses of the temple, almost all other children would dedicate everything in their journey to serve Rhllor, the Light Lord.
The reward was an illusory favor and liberation.
And women were much more miserable than men; almost all women would be trained as temple prostitutes for the entertainment of the temple monks. A priestess like Queen Nalia, one in ten thousand, was a miracle that rarely appeared for years.
Queen Nalia had personally witnessed how Her companions, who entered the temple with Her, gradually became playthings and prostitutes for others within a few years.
However, even if Queen Nalia herself wanted to save Her companions, she lacked the courage and ability.
No matter how outstanding Her individual ability was, she could not resist the entire church's system and power.
But now, another choice appeared before Her.
"Alas,"
She sighed, "But, even the Dragons God, the Lord of light, the Sun God you speak of, how can you guarantee that he does not have the same nature as Rhllor, the Lord of light?"
"Because of his benevolence and kindness, he has the power to destroy lands and mountains, yet he does the opposite of what the false god Rhllor does,"
Sakaruo smiled, "The Dragon God soaring above the heavens will also bow his head and gaze upon his loyal subjects, which is why those outsiders are so loyal to their Lord."
Sakaruo pointed towards the rekindled purgatory, and the city of miracles rising from it.
That place was already the center of this land of apocalypse, and also a paradise in the hearts of the survivors of the apocalypse.
The enormous Black Dragons, transformed into an Earth Dragons, with stone and steel, bore the weight of the city, protecting it from the invasion of fire and natural disasters.
The tremors of the earth would also subside at the Dragons's feet, and the gushing flames and lava would also cease before the Dragons.
Queen Nalia pondered for a long time, opening Her mouth to speak, but finally nodded and said, "Perhaps what you say is right. In the mortal world, people always need to be more hateful, more despicable than others to survive better."
"But these gods do not need to be so, just as they do not need to do good."
Crack.
As soon as Red Priestess Nalia finished speaking, the ruby necklace on Her fair neck snapped, and the large red gem shattered at that moment.
A bloody flame rapidly burned, igniting the Witch's hair, and thick flames erupted from all over Her body.
"Ugh ah…"
Nalia wailed in pain, scorched by the flames, enduring torment and punishment identical to, and even more painful than, that of the previous Red Priests.
"Burn, burn, let the past false faith turn to ash in the blazing fire, and a new will will be reborn in the blazing fire,"
Psionic Power surged within Sakaruo's body, and a golden Dragons Eye imprint appeared in the center of his forehead, lifelike, like the vertical pupils of the Dragons in the sky, once opened.
And the eye on his forehead slowly opened at this moment, staring at the Faceless Men standing quietly nearby, who had not intervened.
"What about you, Faceless Men, the newborn sect, do you agree with my opinion?"
Sakaruo smiled, calm yet terrifying.
The leader of the Faceless Men bowed slightly; these newborn servants currently had no intention of resisting this fanatical persecutor of heretics.
"We believe in the ultimate God of Death; whether slave, noble, or monarch, all are equal before the God of Death,"
The leader of the Faceless Men said, "Even Rhllor, the Light Lord, the Drowned God, the Cold God, the Goat, the Night Lion, and the Stranger are merely one aspect of this God of Death who embodies a thousand faces."
"It seems that those survivors, in the eyes of this ultimate God of Death, have not yet reached the time to embark on the journey of death, which is why he transforms into the Sun God, the Lord of light, the Dragon God, and descends upon the world, allowing all beings to continue suffering in the mortal dust."
Sakaruo frowned. Although these Faceless Men outwardly wanted to submit to him, they were arguing with him in their words, vying for the right to interpret doctrine and deities. He somewhat detested these people, who, even at this moment, were still thinking about seizing power and profit.
But he still suppressed his anger, lowered his head in thought for a moment, then raised his head again, stepped forward, and declared decisively, "The true God is the Sun God, and also the Dragons of All Phenomena; all false gods are merely clumsy imitations of the Lord's myriad aspects."
"Only false gods who submit to the Lord can be granted a divine name by the Lord and manage his power on his behalf."
"What do you think?" Sakaruo raised his dagger high and asked loudly.
The Faceless Men looked at each other; logically speaking, they were people of considerable principle, but the problem was that principle was now in the hands of the other party.
So the leader of the Faceless Men nodded, "Exactly!"
"I am glad we have reached a consensus here," Sakaruo retrieved his Valyrian steel dagger and said loudly, "Then we should leave."
"Leave here, to spread the glory of the true Lord, and overthrow the beliefs of all other false gods one by one."
Sakaruo pointed towards Valyria in the distant flames, and the city in mid-air, and smiled, "That is the Dragon God under my Lord, the King of Gods who walks and rules on his behalf. We must have enough substantial gifts to step onto that land of miracles and meet the gods when it reappears in the world from smoke and fire!"
"Only then can we have enough merit to follow the King of Gods to the true Lord God's kingdom!"
The ship gradually sailed away into the distant sea.
The burning glass candle also gradually weakened until it was almost extinguished.
The flames on the Valyria Peninsula, however, never ceased, burning day and night, and thick smoke clouds gradually spread outwards, concealing this land of apocalypse within the smoke.
Almost all those who survived the Valyrian apocalypse had gathered in this rising city, waiting day after day for the flames to extinguish so they could once again set foot on mortal land.
Occasionally, some lucky ones would arrive at the foot of this city of miracles from the surrounding fiery ruins, kneeling and praying, and only after being granted permission could they climb up the Black Dragons's colossal body, from where its tail touched the ground, to enter the city.
After the first few days, the remaining supplies and food in the city had been distributed and consumed.
To sustain life, under the leadership of the Imperial Legion, the people in the city could only slaughter the false Dragons and share their meat.
The remaining false Dragonshuddled beneath the increasingly colossal Black Dragonsstatue, not daring to resist, offering their necks to be slaughtered, dying with mournful cries.
Days passed one by one, the fire gradually diminished, and the columns of fire erupting from the shattered mountains had begun to wane.
But the cities outside the Valyria Peninsula, once under the rule of the Freehold, also received this astonishing news; the tremors of the world could be felt even in distant cities.
So, one by one, they declared independence, naming their cities Free Trade City-States.
They also dispatched many warriors, slave masters, and nobles to investigate the truth of Valyria's destruction and witness the fact of Valyria's demise.
They gazed from afar at Valyria, shrouded in the afterglow of the apocalypse, from the Long Summer Land across the sea, and cheered and leaped with joy.
They held a feast on the prairie for a full half-month, slaughtering cattle and sheep, bringing fine wine, singing and dancing.
But one morning, they were awakened again by the sound of the world; they stepped out of their barracks and looked up at the horizon.
From the already destroyed Valyria, from the land shrouded in smoke and gray mist, pair after pair of colossal wings unfurled, and one enormous flase Dragon after another emerged from the smoke.
Dragons of thirty meters, Dragons of fifty meters, Dragons of one hundred meters.
Ten, fifty, one hundred, two hundred.
All the remaining false Dragons flew out of the smoke and crossed the sea.
On their backs were riders, survivors, and new conquerors.
A colossal Dragons soared above all the false Dragons; that was the Dragons who commanded all false Dragons, the Dragons who ruled all people.
The wind stirred by the Dragons in the sky dispersed the thick fog and gray clouds, obscuring the sky, and they descended upon the plain, surrounding these nobles and slave masters.
The warriors on their backs looked down at these people as if they were chickens and dogs.
Boom.
The Black Dragon descended, standing on the hillside, the scales on his forehead shining with brilliant light.
He folded his wings and uttered a resonant voice, echoing in the ears of the terrified crowd.
"Submission, or death!" Rosani said.
...
Kalon retreated from the rift in the world back into the Ekania World, the exhaustion of his power and the changes in space-time making his head throb.
After a personal comparison, Kalon realized that the flow of time in the Ekania World, a Material Plane, was relatively much slower than in the other world in terms of superficial manifestation.
But before Kalon could sort out his thoughts, he already discovered that his location was not in his usual Royal Court, but on a desolate grassland.
In Kalon's perception, this was indeed the Ekania World, no doubt, it was just a place he had never visited before.
Kalon lowered his guard, perhaps due to the mutual contact of world powers, causing his position to shift.
And in the Ekania World, as long as the Ancestral Red Dragon wanted to escape, no one could catch him.
So the Red Dragon's colossal body lay on the grass, his eyes slightly narrowed, planning to rest for a moment and wait for his spirit to recover.
But a mysterious aura was captured by the Ancestral Red Dragon.
Whether Metal Dragon or Chromatic Dragon, or other Dragonss, these Dragonss are creatures with extremely strong self-awareness and territorial instincts, always needing their own exclusive space.
And the encroachment of space by their own kind easily stimulates the violent and vigilant nerves of True Dragon s, especially strange Giant True Dragon s.
Even within the Kogmora Dragon Clan, under Kalon's leadership, the Dragon clan would often fight and brawl when young, precisely for this reason.
As they grew in age and power, the Chromatic Dragons self-awareness and territorial instincts would become stronger and stronger, with the Red Dragon being a prime example.
Even though Kalon was accustomed to being with Dragons, his body's instinctive intuition still detected the aura of his own kind before his conscious perception.
"No, not an aura, but…"
Kalon raised his head, six beautiful horns resting on the scales behind his neck, looking up at the sky.
A meteor fell from the firmament, yet without any fiery aura, like a silent shooting star, directly crashing into the grass not far from Kalon.
A violent tremor came, but without any sound, and as the dust dissipated, a naked goddess stepped out from within.
A milky-white little True Dragon was on Her left, a golden little True Dragon on Her right, a bronze Dragon circled above Her head, and a huge magical halo surrounded Her body, blurring Her face, making everything invisible, unknowable, and inaudible.
It is rumored that whenever Platinum Dragon God Bahamut descended to walk the world, he would always be accompanied by seven Gold Dragons, walking with him.
And when Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon Queen, transformed to walk the world, she would also be accompanied by the evil True Dragon s, messengers of the Immortal Queen.
This goddess before him was also a Dragon God, but not the target Kalon currently wished to contact.
When the many True Dragon Temple was first built, Kalon had his own objectives, and the Dragon Gods enshrined within were also selectively chosen.
Estellabo, the Dragon goddess of Fortune
Her, the Dragon God of Humor
Lendys, the Dragon God of Justice
Tamara, the Dragon Goddess of Life of
These Dragon Gods all possessed a certain beneficial bias towards Kalon, and a controllability and predictability that Kalon could master.
Even Platinum Dragon God Bahamut, although this Dragon God was somewhat ruthless in dealing with Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon Goddess, he still did not deviate from the title of God of Good Dragons in other matters.However
Kareks, the Dragon God of Destruction;
Kronips, the Dragon God of Death ;
and Falazure, the Dragon God of Undead Creatures
and other Dragon Gods, all possessed shackles that made it difficult to easily influence the world.
Just like the fallen Dragon God Io, Kareks was banished by the gods to a distant land, and the other Dragon Gods all had their own difficulties.
Moreover, they also shared a common characteristic: except for the fallen Creator Dragon God io, the other Dragon Gods, in their true forms in this universe, were all Lesser Deities.
But the goddess before him was a target excluded by Kalon, a Dragon God of Intermediate Divine Power.
The Ancestral Red Dragon slowly stood up, spreading his wings towards the sky, and flames danced on his scales. He said word by word, "Light of Magic, Messenger of Miracles, Goddess of Magic, Kleska!"