Chapter 21 - Dragon God

"Master?"

'The elemental spirits are roaming about in the air. Who is this master they speak of?'

Tahir looked in the direction of the elemental spirit that had answered him.

To his surprise, the master of the elemental spirit that answered him was levitating in the air.

"Is that... A dragon?"

It was a creature that looked like a dragon.

However, Tahir was unsure whether it could be considered a dragon.

The dragon's body was not made of flesh and blood.

Instead, it was made of thousands of stars.

It was as if the stars in the entire sky had gathered together to form the shape of a dragon. With the origin space's darkness as its background, every star on its body was dazzling.

The dragon that was made of stars wore a five-colored crown on its head. They were made of light spots of five different colors, red, blue, black, silver, and green.

Above the crown, however, was yet another crown.

The crown above the multi-colored one was made out of soil. However, above the soil was an almighty water sprout, and surrounding said water sprout was a ring of flaming stars that ignited sparks of electricity from time to time.

"I see."

Tahir knelt on the ground weakly.

Tahir did not understand what the multi-colored crown represented.

However, Tahir understood the second crown's significance.

It represented all of the elements of magic.

Without a shadow of doubt, the crown of five elements was the symbol of the Ruler of Magic and Elementals.

Such a being had never been recorded in literature, as due to the lowly nature of human beings, they were not fit to learn of its existence.

However, even if they were to come to learn of its existence, they would not live to tell the tale.

'What is magic to us humans?'

In the final moments of his life, Tahir began to look back on the meaning of magic, a power that had accompanied him for most of his life.

According to the scholars of humanity, magic was a mysterious existence. It was a power that was born of specific rituals, movements, and incantations.

In other words, everything that humanity had utilized thus far was done by the book. They had only memorized the knowledge that was passed down from their forbearers. Very few of them had ever attempted to explore the true essence of magic.

Tahir was proud of himself for gaining some insight on the essence of magic.

After a long period of practicing magic, Tahir realized that magic was the materialization of the surrounding elementals.

For example, by combining the fire elementals roaming in the air, he could create a ball of flames once their concentration had become high enough.

He thought that he had touched the ceiling of the field of magic. He believed that there was no one, no living creature, throughout the entire continent, who was more knowledgeable than him when it came to magic.

That is, unless they were a god, a god who was in charge of the elementals and magic.

Although Tahir had postulated the existence of such a being, throughout all his journeys throughout the continent, he had never heard of such a god being mentioned.

However, upon spotting the celestial dragon, all the dots in his mind had connected.

It was not that the so-called God of Elementals and Magic did not exist.

They had merely not ascended to godhood yet.

"Great..."

Tahir wanted to beg the celestial dragon for mercy, but the moment he opened his mouth, he realized that he was not even sure how to address them. 

"Great God of Elementals?"

Tahir spoke tentatively, but there was no response from the celestial being.

"Great... God of Magic?"

Tahir did not give up. If he could manage to figure out the being's title and address them respectfully, he might be able to talk his way out of the situation.

Nevertheless, the celestial dragon remained silent time and time again.

Meanwhile, the surrounding elemental spirits were starting to become restless.

The elemental spirits materialized into specks of light and joined together to form a colorful river. While doing so, they were constantly giggling mischievously.

"Hehehe."

"Hehehe."

"Only... One... Chance ... Left."

"Only... One... Chance."

...

Seeing as the celestial dragon was still remaining silent, Tahir gulped audibly, and his lips trembled uncontrollably. With his now dry throat, he made one last attempt.

"Dragon... God?"

Following Tahir's last attempt, the elemental spirits dispersed and they opened up a path for him.

At the end of this path, the celestial dragon extended its claws.

"My name."

"Is Max Agatha Hill Alexander."

A booming voice that sounded like the resonance of thousands of planets, poured into Tahir's mind along with a sharp pain.

Tahir was stunned. He had heard this name once before!

'Isn't this the True Name of the Dragon Hatchling from before?'

'Could this celestial dragon be the true body of the Dragon Hatchling from before?'

A series of questions arose in Tahir's mind, but in the next second, he realized that he could no longer think.

The Celestial Dragon had already pressed down its claws on Tahir's body.

The Celestial Dragon did not even bother to use magic.

Instead, it used the most primitive and violent method known to all creatures to crush Tahir into a stardust.

Although there was no wind in the origin space, the wind elemental spirits present had cheekily blown away the dust that used to be Tahir.

"Don't!"

Upon seeing this scene, Max helplessly stretched out his claws.

"How am I supposed to eat this person after you've ground him into dust?"

"Mia is still hungry!"

Without an ounce of hesitation, Max had immediately summoned his strongest form upon the start of the Battle of Existence.

This was the first time he had seen with his own eyes just how powerful his future self was.

As a transmigrator, Max had already made some mental preparations beforehand. He decided that no matter how powerful he was in the future, he would not become excited.

However, upon the appearance of the celestial dragon, Max could not help but think aloud, "Holy sh*t!"

'Too strong.'

Before the appearance of the celestial dragon, Max was living in a medieval world.

However, upon the appearance of the Celestial Dragon, Max felt that he was now living in a fairytale.

Fortunately, the celestial dragon was Max's future form.

Had the celestial dragon been his enemy, Max would feel that his transmigration was in vain.

'This is an extremely powerful creature!'

'The celestial dragon isn't made out of flesh and blood.'

'Each of the light spots on its body represented a planet!'

'In other words, this celestial dragon isn't a carbon-based lifeform at all!'

'It's a celestial lifeform!'

Although Max knew that as a transmigrator, he would become very powerful in the future... 

He had never expected himself to grow this unimaginably strong!

With Tahir's death, the origin space began to dissipate.

The celestial dragon also began to dissipate. Before it left, however, it exchanged a glance with Max.

Strictly speaking, they were the same person. One was the present Max, and the other was the future Max.