Chapter 431: Mars Dragon: I Am So Wronged!

The voice emerged from the Highest Heaven, whispering softly in the knight's ear.

The knight suddenly lowered his body and lunged at the dragon wielding the scythe.

The dragon swung the scythe to block him, but the knight, hunched low, slid beneath the blade.

"Die, bitch!"

The knight roared, driving his flaming sword straight into the underside of the dragon's left wing.

Just as the voice had foretold, the knight's sword, wreathed in torrents of spiritual energy, pierced the dragon's body.

The dragon let out a deafening cry that shook the entire surface of Mars.

The ceaseless flood of the Highest Heaven poured through the knight's sword and into the dragon's shell.

The dragon writhed and twisted, but the knight kicked its head, pinning it firmly to the crimson sands of Mars.

Then, the blazing stellar light within the dragon's chest dimmed and died; its claw, clutching the black stone scythe, fell limp upon the red sand, and the scythe itself shattered into mere black stone.

The dragon had not died—such a mighty being could not truly be slain—but it was now powerless to fight.

Zhou Yun watched this scene in silence.

Only when the knight in the dream bound the dragon's neck with the flag once tied to his shattered spear did Zhou Yun finally speak:

"You believed that voice?"

That voice warning the Emperor—fifty percent likely was Nurgle, fifty percent likely was Slaanesh.

Either way, both were among the top four deceivers in the galaxy; considering the Emperor was still a naive knight and the Deceiver had already been reduced to dust, they were the top two deceivers.

They dared speak—and the Emperor actually believed them.

"Didn't you question the voice's intent at all?" Zhou Yun asked.

"At the time, I had not yet perceived the treachery and evil within the Warp."

The brown-haired boy spoke softly:

"I thought it was merely a benevolent Warp entity."

Silence. Zhou Yun fell utterly silent.

He looked at the Emperor—and now he understood where Magnus had inherited his nature.

"Whether Slaanesh or Nurgle, both had reason to help me defeat the dragon."

"The dragon's ambitions overstepped all bounds. Neither Slaanesh, nor Nurgle, nor any other god could permit a deity to wield power over both the Warp and the material universe simultaneously."

"If a player could leap onto the chessboard to strike the pieces, and also summon his own fists to punch other players, the game would cease to exist."

"Merely possessing physical bodies within the material universe was enough to make them envious and jealous."

"First, I am not a god. Do not place me among you." Zhou Yun said solemnly.

"Funny—I'm not either." The brown-haired youth smiled faintly.

The knight in the dragon's dream tightly bound the dragon's neck with the flag.

He cast a look of deep regret at the shattered black stone scythe on the ground.

Then he dragged the weakened dragon all the way to the nearest cave.

"I defeated you. I should have killed you—even if it was difficult."

The brown-haired boy wove the power of the Highest Heaven into chains, layer upon layer, binding the silver dragon.

"But I will not. My prophetic gift tells me that, at some future moment, you will play a crucial role."

"I let you live. I imprison you here. And in the future, I will use your power."

"This is my judgment—fair, just, and in the spirit of Roman law."

"After all, you destroyed my thirty-year-forged silver spear and killed my three-hundred-year-bred steed. I am entitled to compensation from you."

Zhou Yun felt the dragon's emotions from within the dream.

Injustice. Utter, unbearable injustice.

The dragon was willing to be judged for every killing and destruction it had wrought in the War in Heaven, even for its experiments upon humanity.

But it—this sovereign deity of the material universe—was judged by a damned knight for having its spear broken on a backward, primitive planet.

It was, it was profoundly wronged.

In terms of dignity, the dragon felt even being utterly slaughtered by the Skinchanger would be more dignified than this.

"It dares cry injustice?"

The brown-haired boy said, irritated:

"That was my favorite spear. Elda himself designed its engravings and adornments. Emperor Diocletian himself praised it. My comrades were all envious."

"Even setting aside the spear, there was my horse—a fine steed. And to bind it, I had to sacrifice a fine flag."

"I hope you love at least a few of your children more than that spear," Zhou Yun said, his lip twitching.

"I love the vast majority of my children more than that spear," the brown-haired boy emphasized. "I would willingly sacrifice that spear for all my children—even though many of them contributed far less than the spear ever did."

Zhou Yun could hardly bear to listen; he turned back to the dragon's dream.

But the vision of the dragon's dream abruptly ended, replaced by the dragon's eternal confinement within the Martian cave.

"The rest you likely already know."

The brown-haired boy said calmly:

"On the day the Old Night came, I knew the dragon would be useful."

As he spoke, the brown-haired boy waved his arm gently, stirring ripples within the dragon's dream.

Zhou Yun saw: the dragon's dream stretched across all of Mars, linking with the minds of every human on the planet, extending even farther, connecting with the Forge-Priests of countless other worlds.

"This is what I did. The dragon's dream gave birth to the first Martian Forge-Priests. Within its dream, they received the first designs of machinery, the primal hunger for knowledge, and the worship of technology."

"They braved the Warp storms of the Old Night, gathering technology, building Forge Worlds. They fulfilled their mission well, preserving vast amounts of technology and shaping many Forge Worlds capable of producing war machines for the Empire."

The brown-haired boy continued calmly:

"But these were not the most crucial things."

"Over tens of thousands of years, I studied the dragon. Though not as direct as your entry into its dream, I came to deeply understand its nature."

"The dragon's crude modifications had partial success: through black stone, it could absorb power from the Warp—but its body could not truly accept that power."

"So I spread the false faith of Omnicol, using the dragon as a conduit to steal power from the domain of Malevolent Arts."

"Machines once impossible now functioned. Technologies once impossible now arose. Weapons once without will now gained machine spirits."

As the brown-haired boy spoke, Zhou Yun saw:

For ten thousand years, the devout faith of countless members of the Mechanicum, their hunger for knowledge, their worship of technology, their drive to forge new weapons—

All of it converged within the dragon's dream, drawn toward it, yet repelled and suppressed by the dragon's own rejection of Warp power, scattering uselessly around it, unable to coalesce.

"This is what I did with the Martian dragon."

"Some will condemn me for twisting the fates of countless Mechanicum members and Forge Worlds, committing great crimes."

"Some will call me the most vile deceiver in history, stealing the dragon's name and becoming the false Omnicol."

"But everything I did was for humanity."

The brown-haired boy said calmly:

"Humanity needs weapons—loyal, unyielding, never betraying weapons."

"Humanity needs technology—safe, free of danger, not easily corrupted."

"Humanity needed a fire-stealer—to steal the power of the Malevolent Arts through the Martian dragon. Of course, that was once necessary."

The brown-haired boy turned to Zhou Yun. "My friend, do you wish to turn lies into truth?"

"Do you wish to become Omnicol—the true God of Machines?"

(End of Chapter)