Chapter 432: Mars Dragon: I Have Been So Wronged!

That voice descended from the Highest Heaven, whispering softly into the knight's ear,

The knight suddenly lowered his body and lunged toward the dragon wielding a scythe,

The dragon swung the scythe, trying to block the knight, but the knight ducked beneath the blade and slid past,

"Die, you whore!"

The knight roared, and the fire-wreathed longsword in his hand thrust straight toward the underside of the dragon's left wing,

Just as that voice had said, the knight's longsword, wrapped in surging psychic energy, pierced into the dragon's body,

The dragon let out an ear-splitting wail that made the whole of Mars tremble,

The torrent of the Highest Heaven poured forth without end, channeled through the knight's longsword into the dragon's frame,

The dragon writhed and twisted, but the knight stomped on its head, pinning it hard against the gravelly ground of Mars,

Then, the ever-burning stellar radiance in the dragon's chest guttered out; the talon gripping the Blackstone scythe drooped onto the crimson sand, and the scythe itself crumbled back into mere Blackstone,

The dragon was not yet dead — a being as mighty as it is hard to truly kill — but it no longer had the strength to fight.

Zhou Yun watched the scene in utter silence,

Not until the knight in the dream bound the dragon's neck with the banner that had once been tied to his shattered spear did Zhou Yun finally speak:

"That voice told you something, and you just believed it?"

That voice that warned Hua Di Huang was fifty percent likely to be Tzeentch and fifty percent likely to be Xi Xi Gaoqi,

Whichever it was, they were among the top four con artists of the galaxy — and considering Hua Di Huang was still a pure-hearted knight back then, and the Deceiver had already been shattered to bits, that made them the top two,

They dared to say it, and Hua Di Huang actually believed it

"Didn't you have even the slightest suspicion of that voice's purpose?" Zhou Yun asked.

"At that time I had not yet perceived the strangeness and evil within the Warp."

The brown-haired youth said softly:

"I took it for nothing more than a well-meaning Warp entity."

Silence — Zhou Yun fell utterly silent,

He looked at Hua Di Huang; now he knew where Magnus had inherited it from.

"Whether it was Xi Xi Gaoqi or Tzeentch, both actually had reason to help me defeat the dragon."

"What the dragon intended to do had crossed the line; neither Xi Xi Gaoqi, Tzeentch, nor any other god could permit a single deity to hold power over both the Warp and the material universe."

"If a player could both leap onto the board and beat the pieces, and also normally summon his fists to pummel the other players, then the game would be unplayable."

"Even beings like the two of us, who possess bodies in the material universe, are enough to make them envious and jealous."

"First of all, I am not a god — don't lump me in with you lot." Zhou Yun said with a grave expression.

"What a coincidence — neither am I." The brown-haired youth smiled faintly.

The knight in the Dragon's Dream bound the dragon's neck tightly with the banner,

He cast a deeply regretful glance at the broken Blackstone scythe on the ground,

Then he dragged the weakened, powerless dragon all the way to a nearby mountain cave,

"I have defeated you; by rights I should kill you, even though it would be very difficult."

The brown-haired youth wove the great power of the Highest Heaven into shackles, layer upon layer binding the silver dragon,

"But I will not do so. My gift of prophecy tells me that at some moment in the future, you will play a tremendous role."

"I command you to live; I will imprison you here, and in the future I shall make use of your power."

"This is the judgment I pass upon you — wholly fair and just, in keeping with order, and in the spirit of the Roman law of all peoples."

"After all, you destroyed the pure silver spear forged from my savings of thirty years, and slew the fine steed I had bred over three hundred years; I am entitled to compensation from you."

Zhou Yun felt the dragon's emotions through the Dragon's Dream,

Wronged — terribly wronged,

It was willing to be judged for all the slaughter and destruction it had wrought in the war in Heaven, and even willing to be judged for those experiments it had performed upon mankind,

But it — a majestic god of the material universe — had been brought low over a single spear, on a backward, primitive planet, and judged by a damned knight,

It — it was simply too grievously wronged,

In terms of dignity, the dragon even felt that being utterly slain like the Flayer would have been more dignified than this.

"It still dares to cry injustice?"

The brown-haired youth said, a touch irritated:

"That was my favorite spear. Erda herself designed the carvings and ornamentation for me; Emperor Diocletian himself sighed in admiration at the sight of it, and my comrades-in-arms envied me greatly for it."

"Setting aside the spear, there was also my horse — a fine horse, that one. And to bind it, I even lost a good banner."

"I hope you love some of your children a little more than you loved that spear." Zhou Yun's mouth twitched as he could not help saying.

"I love the great majority of my children more than that spear." The brown-haired youth emphasized: "And I would also be willing to give up that spear for all of my children, even though many of them have played a role far less significant than that spear."

Zhou Yun could hardly bear to hear any more; he turned his head and continued watching the Dragon's Dream,

Yet the vision of the Dragon's Dream abruptly cut off, shifting to the dragon's eternal confinement within the mountain cave on Mars.

"What happened afterward, you probably already know."

The brown-haired youth said calmly:

"On the day the Old Night descended, I already knew the dragon could be put to use."

As he spoke, the brown-haired youth gently waved his arm, and a ripple stirred through the Dragon's Dream,

Zhou Yun was thus able to see that the great dream of the Dragon of Mars spread over the entirety of Mars, linking with the spirit of every single person on Mars, and even stretching farther outward, linking with the Magos of the Cult of the Machine on yet more worlds.

"This is what I did. The dragon's dream gave rise to the first generation of Martian Magos of the Cult of the Machine. Within the dragon's dream, the Tech-Priests obtained the first designs of machines, and also acquired the primal yearning for knowledge, and gained the worship of technology."

"For that reason they braved danger, crossing the Warp-storms of the Old Night, gathering technology, and building Forge World after Forge World. They carried out their mission admirably, preserving vast quantities of technology, and shaping many Forge Worlds capable of producing weapons of war for the Empire."

The brown-haired youth continued calmly:

"Of course, these are not the most critical part."

"I have studied the Dragon over the past tens of thousands of years; although not as direct as your entry into the dream, I have also deeply understood the Dragon's nature."

"The Dragon achieved a certain success in its crude modifications; relying on the Black Stone, it could absorb power from the Subspace, yet its own body could not truly accept this power."

"Thus, I spread a false faith using the Dragon's former title, Omm Messiah, and, using the Dragon as a relay, stole power from the Malevolent Arts Domain."

"Many machines that were impossible to operate began to function; many technologies that were impossible to be born came into existence; many weapons that originally lacked will generated Machine Souls."

As the brown-haired youth spoke, Zhou Yun saw,

in the Dragon's dream, the devout faith of countless members of the Mechanicus over tens of thousands of years, along with that thirst for knowledge, worship of technology, and impulse to forge new weapons,

all of this, everything, gathered within the Great Dream of the Dragon of Mars, constantly converging toward the Dragon of Mars, yet driven away and suppressed by the Dragon of Mars's own rejection of Subspace power, drifting around unable to coalesce into form.

"This is everything done using the Dragon of Mars."

"Some will condemn me for twisting the fates of countless Mechanicus members and Forge Worlds, committing a great crime."

"Some will accuse me of being the most despicable liar in history, stealing the title of the Dragon of Mars and becoming the False Omm Messiah."

"But everything I did was for humanity."

The brown-haired youth said calmly:

"Humanity needs weapons, needs loyal weapons that will not defect, will not suddenly betray."

"Humanity needs technology, needs safe technology without danger, technology that will not easily corrupt."

"Humanity needs a Fire-Stealer, needs to use the Dragon of Mars to steal power from the Malevolent Arts Domain—of course, that was in the past."

Speaking, the brown-haired youth turned his head to look at Zhou Yun: "My friend, do you want to turn lies into truth?"

"Do you want to become Omm Messiah, become the true God of All Machines?"

(End of this chapter)