Chapter 117: The Truth of Thirty Thousand Years Ago

"Ah, a new master, I've been so lonely here, finally someone comes to keep me company."

A cute boy's voice rang in Naimi Xisi's mind; it was the voice of the Chaotic World Demon Star.

"Wait—a giant dragon? Damn, those devils really know how to find a master!" The black egg seemed to have discovered Naimi Xisi's identity, and grew somewhat irate.

He sighed helplessly and said, "Listen, big fellow, I don't want to force you to slaughter your own kind, but those devils placed a vile mind curse on me; even if it's just one, you must let me devour a dragon's soul each year, or you will fall into utter madness and launch a frenzied slaughter of your kin."

Naimi Xisi gave no answer, but raised an eyebrow; the soul inside the black egg seemed not to want him to slay the dragon?

As for the so‑called mind curse, he scoffed at it; even the unknown evil god guarded by the Magic Net cannot breach the seal of the Mind Gem, so what are mere high‑level Artifacts?

"Who are you?" Naimi Xisi asked bluntly.

The black egg hesitated for a moment, sighed, and said, "If it were any other host, I wouldn't tell you, but you're different; you're a dragon, you're my kin, I can feel our hearts linked, and now you're not a mad dragon‑killer."

"My name is Tu Tankenas; the material that forged this black egg was my own body in life."

"That ancient Hellfire Dragon?" Naimi Xisi was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, I have another identity as well: I am the first Hellfire Dragon transformed by devils, and also the first Ruthless Dragon born in Hell."

"The power of Hell is so wicked; having once been a Ruthless Dragon, I can be called the very embodiment of evil."

"But the great Lord of the North Wind, Bahamut, summoned me."

"Ugh," Naimi Xisi's eye twitched at that; a Ruthless Dragon summoned by the god of good dragons? That's completely absurd.

"I originally intended to spread the doctrine of the good‑dragon god among my kin, to summon more of my companions, and to lead enough Ruthless Dragons out of Hell to join the divine kingdom of the Lord of the North Wind."

"Asmontis discovered me," Tu Tankenas's voice grew low and despondent.

"To punish me, he turned me into steel, literally slicing my flesh and carving it into the shape of a black egg; he transformed all the Ruthless Dragons into Hellfire Dragons, and ordered Zariel to steal the divine power of the Five‑Colored Dragon Queen to forge me into an Artifact that would destroy the dragon race."

"How laughable that Zariel obeyed her master; unfortunately, when the Five‑Colored Dragon Queen raged and, together with Bair, imprisoned her, Asmontis pretended ignorance and abandoned her."

"Heh, thirty thousand years ago, Hell granted me an elf."

"Later, that elf, to wield my power, raised an army and invaded the planet called Toriel."

"That elf allied with dwarves, launched an assault against the dragons and giants that ruled this world, and in the meantime, he raved, slaughtering my kin and using my power to forge one ancient Hellfire Dragon after another."

"Those of my kind called me 'Dragon‑Mad', saying I was the prime cause of the dragon race's ruin; they swore to find a way to destroy me, and I welcomed it gladly."

"But that elf went mad; he sacrificed all the ancient Hellfire Dragons to the Magic Net, using that overwhelming power to create a vile curse, which he whimsically named — the Dragon‑Mad Curse."

"All the dragons fell into madness, turned on each other, the world was flooded with blood, and from the heavens the disappointed Lord of the North Wind hurled meteors, destroying everything of the ancient elven empire on the Feren Continent."

"And I, forever, have slumbered here."

"This is me, a sinner of the dragon race, Tu Tankenas."

The story ended, the black egg fell silent; the whole origin was merely a dragon seeking to escape Hell, provoking the malicious retaliation of the Lord of the Nine Hells. The war thirty thousand years ago, the blood feud between elves and dragons, the formation of the Fallen Star Sea, and the Lord of the North Wind's withdrawal from Toriel and his cessation of divine miracles.

Everything stemmed from Asmontis's revenge.

The devil's mind is so narrow, and his schemes are so impossible to guard against.

Naimi Xisi can imagine that thirty thousand years ago, after the Lord of the North Wind fell into complete disappointment and pain and sent divine miracles to annihilate the elves, he would be subjected to the severe punishment of that great one, causing him to forever leave Toriel.

So that over these ten thousand years, even Golden Dragons could not obtain Bahamut's divine decree on Toriel.

In fact, the Platinum Dragon God, the divine name of the Lord of the North Wind, would have long vanished into the ashes of history if Golden Dragons had not preserved a human form and passed it down through human society for generations.

"Now, I have welcomed another master, and even more laughably, another of my kin, heh."

"Everything will become just like it was thirty thousand years ago."

Naimi Xisi shook his head and said, "No, you need not worry about that."

"Your so‑called mind curse has no effect on me; trust me, I'm not the kind of being who, for the sake of power, would slaughter my own kind without any limits."

"Perhaps in the future an evil dragon will offend me; perhaps I will slay it and repurpose its waste, injecting it into your body, but beyond that I will never use your power to slaughter any innocent dragon." Naimi Xisi declared emphatically, his confidence undeniable.

He has always been like this, and will continue to be; he has his own principles and will never allow anyone to exploit him.

"What damn devil, what damn mind curse—he will never submit to either."

"Raphael!" he shouted, stopping the devil who was looking at the shelf.

Naimi Xisi walked over, smiled, and said, "Thanks for Hell's gift; trust me, someday I will 'repay' your goodwill."

"Whatever you call a repayment, there's no need to tell me; I had no part in this and don't want any part; this is all the arrangement of the Lord of Hell."

Naimi Xisi gave him a deep look and said, "That's for the best."

After speaking, he looked at the shelf; at the very top rested a raised crown, beneath which several Magic Items orbited it like stars surrounding the moon.

"Is that the Naiser Crown you seek?" Naimi Xisi asked with a playful glint in his eye.

Raphael gazed at the crown, his eyes filled with longing, and said, "Yes, that's the crown I want."

He reached out, took the crown off, and toyed with it in his hand; Naimi Xisi, seeing this, smiled mysteriously, "Perhaps with its power, you will no longer be content with being merely a count."

Raphael jerked his head up to look at him; it was his first time here, and he examined the other seriously.

He knew something—his own secrets, his own plans; he must have known something.

Damn, how did he know? Do others—no, do other devils know the myriad thoughts converging in Raphael's mind? At this moment his heart was in turmoil.

(End of Chapter)