The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases-Chapter 521 - 314: My Child

With the activation of the Authority: Gluttony, David had thought he would see everything his Red Dragon ancestor, Christoph, had glimpsed. Instead, he saw only a river—a mighty stream of time.

Through it, David seemed to see the origin of the Multiverse. He witnessed the grand Dawn War, saw the Dragon God Tiamat raining down a meteor shower that birthed a host of dragons on Toriel, and also beheld the tragic and lamentable Dragonfall War.

Everything was like an epic tapestry unfurling before his eyes.

In that instant, David had an epiphany.

So, this was the Dragon Heritage of the dragons.

The collective memories and experiences of all dragons, linked together within the river of time.

The ultimate confluence of destiny.

Just as David was mesmerized, unable to curb his curiosity, and began searching for his own figure, even attempting to glimpse the future course of his fate—

He suddenly saw a figure on the banks of this river of time that made his scales prickle.

It was a figure as timeless as a mountain, so imposing that its mere presence seemed to obstruct the river’s ultimate destination.

Ba-ha-mut! David felt a paralyzing shock!

David, who had once been thrashed by this Platinum Dragon God so severely his very dragon soul had nearly been knocked out of him, almost suffered a PTSD relapse.

And just as David reeled in shock, the King of the North Wind turned his head towards him and spoke slowly,

"You’ve come, my child..."

This overly familiar address, however, left David at a complete loss.

Are we that close?

At the same time, David quickly realized that something about the King of the North Wind’s current state was off.

If the Platinum Dragon God he had seen previously in the Grey Wilderness embodied silence, and a madness lurking beneath that silence—

Then the King of the North Wind before him now resembled an old man, his prime long past, fishing by a riverbank.

His eyes were filled with weariness and the profound weight of ages.

He heard the aged dragon elder look at him and continue,

"Since you were able to reach this place, it means that we... we have finally succeeded. That is wonderful..."

"Succeeded in what?" David asked cautiously, squinting.

But the Dragon God seemed not to hear him, continuing his monologue,

"I knew that choosing you was right. Only you can end this unending cycle of suffering, my child... Pafila..."

Pa... Pafila?

My child?

David felt as if struck by lightning.

So... this meeting was actually intended for his mother, Pafila...

Immediately, an earth-shattering possibility sprang to his mind.

And soon, this possibility was confirmed by the Platinum Dragon God’s own words,

"I know you must be very confused right now. But thankfully, I finally have the chance, here and now, to reveal everything to you.

"But first, I need to apologize to you, my child.

"Correct. It was I who orchestrated it back then. Or rather, it was I, having descended into Cecilie, who stole you from the Red Dragon’s Lair before you hatched. For decades, I taught you, day in and day out, using my divine power to immerse you in all the knowledge from the Dragon Heritage held within the river of time...

"...making you a prodigy that even Tiamat coveted—a dragon destined to become a Deification Dragon."

David looked in disbelief at the Platinum Dragon God—or rather, at the temporal projection this Dragon God had left behind—and clicked his tongue. "So it was all your damned scheming, you old scoundrel!"

At that moment, David finally understood how his mother, Pafila, had developed her almost withdrawn, ’autistic-like’ personality!

"It was precisely because of your existence that Tiamat could feel at ease, entrusting everything to others so she could focus wholeheartedly on settling our age-old grudge.

"And this, in turn, sealed her failure.

"Because my innate talent is named—’Heart of Platinum.’

"No matter how many times I fail, upon death, I can traverse the stream of time to return to the point of my last ’Nirvana,’ carrying the experience of that failure, to make a comeback.

"Therefore, whether in Babylon or this world, Tiamat was doomed never to defeat me."

...Hmph. Tiamat’s loss wasn’t undeserved, David could only lament. After all, who would have guessed that the King of the North Wind, a figure of such apparent righteousness, was actually using cheats! And such a powerful one at that, allowing him to defy fate countless times.

So... Tiamat still lost that final battle?

"But this ability, while it is the source of my invincibility, is also the shackle that imprisons me.

"I imagine you’ve already guessed it," Bahamut said with a bitter smile.

"Correct. Thirty thousand years ago, during the Dragonfall War, Tiamat’s treacherous combat tactics forced me to undergo ’Nirvana’ once again.

"At that time, just as The Slaying King Star ascended, I fell into an ambush orchestrated by the Moon Goddess. Ultimately, I was trapped on The Slaying King Star.

"That frenzy has constantly eroded my spirit and memory. So much so that every time I ’awoke’ after a Dragonfall War, driven by ’justice,’ I would inevitably repeat the same tragic pattern."

David was utterly speechless. Is this what they call using such a ridiculously overpowered cheat that it corrupts your save file, leading to a dead end?

"In these countless cycles, I too have struggled countless times, but each previous attempt ended in our failure.

"Our Dragon Race lacks a decisive power, the kind wielded by the chief gods of other pantheons.

"Yet Tiamat, isolated and outmatched, always chose to suppress her urge to settle scores with me for the sake of the chromatic dragons’ safety. This, in turn, led to the utter rout of our Dragon Race, from top to bottom.

"So, in the end, I could only choose you.

"Pafila, you are special.

"Your soul originates from beyond this river.

"Only thus can you bear this infinite potential.

"And only by fostering another Dragon God capable of shouldering this immense responsibility would Tiamat finally relinquish everything to engage me in a battle to the death. This would allow the divine mantles of the Nine-Faced Dragon God to unify once more, creating an opportunity to shatter this endless cycle."

Saying this, the Platinum Dragon God paused and moved aside, clearing the view of the river of time before him.

David’s pupils suddenly constricted. He clearly saw that the far end of the river of time was completely devoured by chaos; the flow had been severed...

Doesn’t this mean...

He then heard Bahamut continue,

"But what I never anticipated was this: after I successfully ascended to become the Nine-Faced Dragon God and utterly destroyed The Slaying King Star, the Elves would face a reckoning from the dragons and the Drows’ revenge. Driven to utter despair with no way out, they would embark on a path that plunged the entire world into irredeemable calamity."

And indeed, through the river of time, David saw the High Elves. Witnessed by their ashen-faced chief god Corellon, and under the personal direction of their Divine Queen Angreis, they once again activated the teleportation gate that soared to the heavens.

Behind the gate lay a void of deathly silence. Yet, beneath this silence, a clamor seemed to gestate—a roaring chaos potent enough to drive all to madness.

Ultimately, this wind of madness poured into this world. All living beings in this world were corrupted by it, descending into a shared frenzy.

"Behind that gate lies the former homeland of the Elves.

"The final...

"Ferodiel."