Dragon of Apotheosis!

Just as Adrian and the others were gripped by unbearable tension, a scorching ball of fire plummeted from the sky, engulfing the priest of the evil dragon. Karlberg's face twisted in terror as he cried out toward the Red Dragon Emperor, "Your Majesty Cassius! Have you made a mistake? I was swearing fealty to you! We are all willing to become your devout worshipers!" He struggled violently, trying to cast a spell to halt the terrifying dragonflame. But the blaze only grew fiercer, quickly burning his robes to ash and clinging directly to his flesh. Soon, Karlberg's skin scorched black and split open. His features contorted into a monstrous, agonizing grimace amid the roaring flames. "No—Red Dragon! Why are you killing me?! We can still be of use to you!" Yet the Red Dragon Emperor merely looked on with cold eyes, letting the flames consume the priest's body until nothing remained but a charred skeleton. "Of use?" Cassius surveyed his surroundings. A playful smile touched his lips, his tone light and breezy, yet sounding utterly chilling to the ears of the Cult of the Dragon: "No, faithful of the Cult of the Dragon, your worship means nothing to me. "To my eyes, you are merely garbage that should be thoroughly purged—pitiable wretches abandoned by Tiamat." Cassius turned his head slightly toward the players gathered nearby and commanded in a booming voice, "Citizens of the Cinder Empire, hear my decree! Purge every last one of these disgraceful cultists! Kill them on sight!" "Holy crap, a new quest popped up! It even gives Faction Contribution! This is practically free handouts!" "For the contribution—er, for the Empire!" "Hurrah!" "For the Cinder Emperor!" "Long live His Majesty Cassius!" Before his voice had fully faded, the players erupted into earth-shattering cheers. Yelling at the top of their lungs with manic excitement, they surged toward the cultists in a colossal, unstoppable wave. Like a pack of savage beasts in a frenzy, the players swung heavy warhammers and slashed greatswords the moment they spotted a cultist, their eyes bloodshot as they pounced. It was practically a one-sided slaughter, leaving the surrounding onlookers dumbfounded. "Tiamat above!" "Gods!" "They're absolute madmen! Damn it, they really mean to butcher us all!" Most cultists broke and fled in panic. A handful of the evil dragon priests attempted sporadic resistance, but they were swiftly swallowed up by the deluge of players, their voices snuffed out completely. Meanwhile, up in the air, the green dragons—having lost their patron—flapped their wings frantically, fleeing toward the depths of the dense forest in desperate panic. Yet how could players from elite powerhouse guilds like the Machine Cult and Magic Coin pass up such a golden opportunity? Beams of concentrated energy pierced the sky, while massive, razor-sharp dragon-hunting ballista bolts tore through the air. In the distance, shrill wails tore from the green dragons as they fell one after another from the heavens. Thrashing in pools of their own blood, they were swiftly carved up and claimed by the swarming players, who descended upon them like starving wolves. The shriek of cultists, the reek of blood, and the pungent stench of gunsmoke and scorched earth blanketed the battlefield. Cassius coiled lazily in the sky above Forest Hawk City, watching the massacre with detached amusement. Count Adrian approached the Red Dragon Emperor, respectfully dropping to one knee, and said in a grave voice, "Your Majesty Cassius, on behalf of the entire Seleucian people, I offer you our deepest gratitude. "You braved immense peril to descend here, slew Erebus, eradicated the Green Dragon Sect, and salvaged the situation in the north. We have no way to truly repay such a debt..." Cassius waved a foreclaw dismissively, answering in a casual tone, "There is no need for such talk. The Empire and your people share common interests. Eradicating the Cult of the Dragon and thwarting Tiamat's descent are what everyone desired. Why speak of gratitude?" "Your broad-minded magnanimity commands my deepest admiration." Adrian hesitated for a moment, tension surfacing on his face, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on, "Yet, Your Majesty, I still must ask... after the war ends, the territories once seized by the green dragons... how will they be handled?" Cassius gave a faint smile and replied nonchalantly, "They belong to your Kingdom of Seleucia, of course. The lands usurped by the Cult of the Dragon should naturally be restored to the people of Seleucia." Adrian froze in shock. Then a glimmer of pleasant surprise shone in his eyes, and he could not help but marvel, "You are truly this selfless..." Cassius cast a disinterested glance at him and continued smoothly, "It is just that... for now, you lack the power to defend this land against further incursions from the Cult of the Dragon. The Empire will dispatch garrisons to various regions to help you govern and protect northern Seleucia." Adrian let out a sigh of relief and nodded slightly. "Thank you, Your Majesty." The Cinder Emperor's response had far exceeded his expectations. Adrian had already braced himself for the red dragon to annex and partition their territory, yet Cassius had not demanded an inch of land and had even offered them further assistance. At this thought, Adrian was overwhelmed with emotion and felt even deeper gratitude, thoroughly convinced that the grim rumors he had heard about the Cinder Emperor were nothing more than unfounded slander. "Master, you are far too lenient with these nobles. What use have they been in this war? "If not for the Empire's aid, these wretched Faedrans would have rotted in the green dragon's poisonous miasma long ago. Yet they still shamelessly demand territory from us—" Standing in attendance beside the Red Dragon Emperor, Misha furrowed her brows, her face filled with indignant anger. "There is no need to be angry over this, Misha. These Faedrans still have some use to the Empire. It will not be too late to kick them aside once the Cult of the Dragon is utterly destroyed," Cassius said calmly. "Forgive me, Master. I was reckless and failed to grasp your farsighted intentions," Misha said, hastily lowering her head and speaking in a subdued tone. "Besides..." Cassius paused, his voice radiating absolute confidence, "without an army or funds, they are at best puppets on the Empire's stage. What right do they have to play chess against us?" Watching the retreating figure of Adrian, the chosen scion of the Sun God, the Red Dragon Emperor's narrow, vertical pupils held only disdain and contempt. Cassius was naturally no selfless saint. He refrained from making territorial demands right now only because the Cult of the Dragon had not yet been wiped out. The Second Faedran Front formed by Adrian, Franz, and the others still possessed a degree of 'legitimacy' that could rally resistance fighters across Seleucia to their banner. Furthermore, the Empire's expansion was currently too rapid. They had only just begun digesting the core regions of Thrace. Annexing Seleucia at this juncture would place too heavy an administrative burden on the imperial government. Once the Cult of the Dragon was crushed, the Empire could use its garrisons to achieve de facto control over Seleucia. Through dumping goods and exporting capital, they would turn the region into a semi-colony of the Empire before gradually completing the annexation. This entire process was something the Empire's merchant magnates and factory owners had already mastered down to a fine art. "Still, the more pressing matter right now is dealing with the spoils taken from that great wyrm. Anything that drove Tiamat to descend in person, heedless of the cost to Her divine power, is bound to be a once-in-a-lifetime prize." Cassius raised his dragon claw, staring down at the pair of dragon eyes glowing with an eerie radiance in his palm. Then he tore open space itself, departing for the northern territory of the Empire thousands of miles away. Down below, in Forest Hawk City, the streets bustled with traffic and crowds. Seleucian soldiers and imperial players poured in like a surging river, demolishing the altars of the Cult of the Dragon. Countless humans, dressed in rags and gaunt to the bone, were rescued from cold, damp cages. Feeling the long-lost warmth of sunlight upon their skin, their hollow expressions remained numb... *** Cinder Empire, the Great Anzetta Waste, the summit of Dragonblood Mountain. As the Cinder Empire grew in power and stature, the strength of the Imperial Domain had become exceedingly formidable—so much so that even gods could not pry into its internal affairs. To Cassius, this was the safest place in the world. The Red Dragon Emperor produced the pair of dragon eyes shimmering with divine light and examined them thoroughly using his system interface. The eyes hovered in midair, their colors shifting ceaselessly: at times a pale gold like molten lava, at times a pristine white like frost and snow, at times a pitch black like pure shadow... The intertwining gleams of divine power radiated a dark, sinister, and profound aura. [Eyes of Tiamat] [Wondrous Item, Mythic] [Divine Domains: Dragons, Chromatic Dragons, Evil Reptiles, Intrigue, Greed] [Effect: Unknown] [Description: Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, the Immortal Queen. Across the multiverse, She is revered and feared as the legendary Mother of Evil Dragons. She is said to be the progenitor of all chromatic dragons, and Her cult is spreading rapidly across Feanso. It is said that Her slit pupils can awaken the deepest greed and desire within mortals' hearts, causing the most austere ascetics to plunge into hedonism, the most loyal knights to be bought with coin, and even the most resolute monks to succumb to lust. (Note: This wondrous item contains lingering divinity and will of Tiamat. If used forcibly, the user's mind will be warped, or they may even be turned into Her puppet.)] Scanning through each line of the description, Cassius could not help but remark: "Tsk. As expected, Tiamat left behind a trap. Had this been before, I probably would have fallen right into Her scheme and ended up an involuntary 'devout follower' just like Erebus." In the original timeline, Kazul the "Crimson Cinders" had devoured the other two heralds of Tiamat—Erebus, "Lord of the Rotting Mire," and Gorazdla, the "Thunder Tyrant"—evolving into a three-headed dragon surpassing a demigod to serve as the mortal vessel for Tiamat's descent. If Cassius rashly used these eyes, he would most likely be reduced to one of the three heralds, bound to Tiamat's control. Cassius stared at the eyes and sighed, "A fine prize indeed. A pity it does not belong to me." The corners of his mouth curled into a savage grin. "In that case... I'll just have to resort to rougher methods to forcefully purge every trace of Tiamat from it." Mortals could absorb divinity to prolong their lifespans and bolster their power, but doing so was fraught with peril—because divinity carried the personality and convictions of the deity, which could allow the divine will to usurp a mortal's vessel. Typically, collectors would scrub the original deity's imprint from the divinity before absorbing it themselves to serve as the spark for igniting their divine fire. —And that was precisely what Cassius intended to do. The Red Dragon Emperor opened his gaping maw. The dragon crystal embedded in his chest flashed with a breathtaking brilliance. Within it, the Flame of Order and the Chaos Fire intertwined and fused, culminating in a red-and-white Plunder Breath that erupted from the depths of his throat! *Boom—!* The air shattered. Crimson and silvery-white flames twisted together, casting overlapping ripples of light as they slammed into the hovering Eyes of Tiamat. Sensing the impending peril, the pair of dragon eyes flickered frantically like living organisms, releasing intense bursts of divine light that condensed into a miniature phantom of a five-headed dragon, letting loose a raspy roar. "You dare resist on my territory?" Cassius sneered and extended a claw. The crushing authority of the Imperial Domain's laws descended, instantly suppressing the resistance of the Eyes of Tiamat. Immediately following, the dragonflame roared in, turning into a searing deluge that tore the five-headed phantom apart in shrieking ruin and incinerated the dragon eyes down to their core. Under the purging power of the Chaos Fire, every trace of Tiamat's brand within the eyes was eradicated. The divine power they contained was effortlessly unraveled into countless drifting motes of light, reduced to its most primal, chaotic state of raw energy. Then, guided by the silvery-white flames, the dispersed energy obeyed an underlying order, coalescing once more under Cassius's will into a luminous orb that pulsed with undulating ripples of radiance. —This was primal divinity, a trait belonging to divine beings that encompassed supernatural might, intellect, influence, and esoteric essence. It dictated a deity's standing and sway across the multiverse, and it was the wellspring of personal supreme power. Because this bundle of divine energy originated from Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon Queen, it harbored the mystical essences symbolizing dragons, chromatic dragons, evil reptiles, greed, and darkness, capable of manifesting transcendent divine powers across those domains. "Divinity... what an intoxicating thing. No wonder great wyrms like Erebus and Kazul succumbed to it, willingly degrading themselves into the Dragon Queen's puppets..." Gazing upon that orb of divinity, Cassius could not help but run his tongue over his lips, his eyes gleaming with boundless greed—much like Tiamat Herself. The Red Dragon Emperor extended his massive claw, his voice ringing with absolute, resounding conviction: "Except now—it belongs to me!" *Rumble!* Space buckled and shook violently as beams of multi-hued light surged skyward. Their shockwaves even breached the walls of the world, sending ripples across numerous Outer Planes. With a ferocious bellow, Cassius gripped the divinity with all his might and threw his gaping maw wide. His features twisted into a ferocious scowl, every muscle coiled taut. A colossal, churning vortex formed within his gullet, while flying stones, gale-force winds, and crackling lightning whipped around him in a terrifying maelstrom. The full weight of the Imperial Domain's laws crashed down, suppressing the struggling orb of divinity to help the Red Dragon Emperor accomplish the monumental feat of devouring it. In this crucible of wills, Cassius's personality, convictions, power, and even his tenets of conduct were branded into the sphere of divinity, infusing it with traits uniquely his own. *ROAAAR—!* With an earth-shattering roar, Cassius stretched his neck, opened his jaws wide, and swallowed the orb of divinity whole. In an instant, his entire body ignited with blinding light, enshrouded in a hazy radiance. A deluge of divine power surged through his flesh, churning relentlessly as it aggressively remolded every inch of the red dragon's flesh, every scale, down to the very cells of his body. Bathed in that incandescent glow, Cassius curled inward. His mountain-like frame rose and fell with each breath, growing increasingly sacred, majestic, and suffused with the aura of planar law. Simultaneously, countless notifications flooded Cassius's system interface. [You have obtained primal divinity! You will gain an immortal lifespan and power that transcends the essence of material existence!] [You have unlocked the advanced class path: Dragon of Apotheosis]