The moment Garon saw the guardian angel, he sensed a tremendous threat.
A threat lethal enough to kill.
Having just destroyed the Strange Mechanism Pyramid, Garon had expended a significant amount of his temporal power to break through its defenses. Not at his peak and already in a bad state, he knew that even at his best, the guardian angel was a formidable enemy.
"Damn it," Garon cursed inwardly.
Two Imaska relics were within his reach, but Garon wasn't feeling overjoyed.
Time travel could help Garon find lost legacies and relics to arm himself, but it was risky.
Because this wasn't the main timeline.
Due to the time river's lack of cooperation, initiating the Time Dragon Backflow took time. A sufficiently lethal attack could kill him before he could activate it.
This was also why Garon had been lying low.
Had it not been essential to destroy the Strange Mechanism Pyramid, he wouldn't have shown himself.
In the next second, the guardian angel locked onto Garon.
Raising the Imaska scepter, it cast a series of powerful control spells: Extreme Immobilization, Extreme Dizziness, Extreme Binding, Extreme Deterrence. These spells were cast almost instantaneously. As they were embedded in the Imaska scepter, they required no preparation time and were unleashed the moment the target was locked on.
Boom!
The silver dragon's wings shook violently.
The remaining power of time erupted, causing waves of yellow sand in the vast desert. The silver dragon soared into the sky, turning into a straight line, swiftly moving away from the guardian angel.
Meanwhile, several spells hit Garon.
Thanks to his powerful magic resistance, Garon's body only paused briefly before he dispelled the effects of the spells. Although numerous, none were of legendary level, so Garon could withstand them.
But it was that brief pause.
A tremendously dangerous attack rapidly approached from behind.
Elsewhere, the guardian angel raised the Imaska scepter.
The Imaska crown burst with dazzling energy, its energy wings extending to their maximum, concentrating destructive energy at the scepter's tip, forming a black orb surrounded by space cracks.
This was the guardian angel's most lethal weapon—the Extermination Sphere.
Both the Imaska crown and scepter could enhance the lethality of spells, significantly so.
Enhanced by the two Imaska imperial relics, the Extermination Sphere's power was undeniable, possessing a god-like destructive effect.
Feeling its chilling and destructive aura, Garon knew he couldn't dodge this attack.
So, the silver dragon slowed down slightly.
Garon cast several protective spells on himself, unfortunately unable to use the Imaska magic ring as a carrier for the time-space portal, depriving him of its defensive capabilities.
His temporal power was ready to burst forth.
The Time Dragon Backflow was being prepared.
However, Garon's temporal power had just entered the surface of this timeline's river of time, making the casting of Time Dragon Backflow significantly slower; it wasn't ready yet.
Garon knew his strength wasn't top-tier in the main material plane.
Facing a half-god-level guardian angel, fleeing was the best option.
Meanwhile, the Extermination Sphere at the Imaska scepter's tip compressed, shattering space around it.
Garon's speed was fast, but the guardian angel had locked onto him.
The Imaska crown glowed.
Blue gems shimmered, emitting energy waves that could affect space.
A small spatial gateway opened before the Extermination Sphere.
Then, the sphere, no bigger than a baby's fist, shot out, enveloped in the power of the Imaska crown, entering the spatial gateway. The guardian angel spread its wings, vanishing from the spot, pursuing the silver dragon with a series of sonic booms.
At the same time, Garon tensed.
He felt the dangerous energy behind him suddenly disappear.
This abnormal phenomenon put him on high alert.
He knew this wasn't the enemy abandoning the attack.
And he was right.
In the next breath...
Buzzing. Space shattered.
A small black orb suddenly appeared in front of Garon.
It flashed by, leaving a dangerous black trace in space, heading straight for Garon's head.
Garon didn't expect this move.
An attack formed behind him suddenly appeared in front of him, sudden and dangerous.
Just looking at the space fragments shattering around the Extermination Sphere, Garon knew its lethal power and that he couldn't take it head-on. If hit in a vital spot, he doubted his defenses could withstand it.
And since he wasn't in the main timeline, Time Dragon Backflow wasn't ready.
Fortunately, Garon never solely relied on Time Dragon Backflow.
He had been on full alert since seeing the guardian angel.
Thus, despite the suddenness of the Extermination Sphere, Garon reacted in time.
He cast a Delaying Spell on the Extermination Sphere, slightly reducing its speed, but that was enough.
The silver dragon spread its wings.
Time power was released generously.
Invisible ripples appeared, halting time.
Sand and hot air stopped abruptly.
The Extermination Sphere in the time-stop field should have stopped too—but it didn't.
Under Garon's intense gaze, the black orb, despite being in the time-stop area, still moved towards him at high speed. The time power was continuously neutralized by the Extermination Sphere, which slowed down and shrank over time.
With Garon's strength, his enemies' level also increased, making his time-stop less invincible.
The guardian angel was generally less powerful than the Wild God avatar, but its destructive power was not inferior.
Maintaining the time-stop field, Garon moved agilely, avoiding the incoming Extermination Sphere.
But the sphere, locked onto Garon, changed its course, continuing its pursuit.
Inside the time-stop area, although the Extermination Sphere wasn't completely halted, its speed was greatly reduced. With focused mental power, Garon dodged its attacks repeatedly.
As time passed...
The Extermination Sphere shrank and slowed down.
But Garon's time power was also running low, not being at his peak.
Seconds later...
Garon heard a distant sonic boom.
Turning back, he saw a straight silver light approaching fast—the pursuing guardian angel.
"My temporal power is nearly depleted."
"If I can't shake it off, it'll be dangerous."
Garon's expression darkened.
He looked at the relentless Extermination Sphere and made a decisive decision.
Without solving it, he couldn't escape the guardian angel's pursuit.
The time-stop field suddenly dissipated.
Without the restraint of the time-stop field, the Extermination Sphere regained its momentum, speeding towards Garon's heart.
Before the Extermination Sphere even touched him, Garon felt a piercing pain at his heart.
This indicated his scales couldn't withstand the Extermination Sphere's destruction.
With a half-god-level guardian angel approaching and the fatal threat of the Extermination Sphere, and Time Dragon Backflow not ready, Garon's situation was dire. Yet, his mind was utterly calm, his gaze cool.
The more critical the moment, the more calm was needed.
With the time-stop's heavy consumption gone, under Garon's will, his time power flowed like water, concentrating on his dragon claw, coating it in a layer of chaotic temporal illusion.
The Time-Space Rupture Claw.
Time seemed to slow down as Garon stared at the Extermination Sphere, extending his
Time-Space Rupture Claw.
Hiss. The Extermination Sphere collided with the claw, rotating wildly, releasing destructive energy shocks.
In this close contact, Garon's dragon claw scales shattered under the Extermination Sphere's impact, fragments of bloodied scales scattered like crushed silver, whistling through the air.
However, the Extermination Sphere, firmly grasped by the Time-Space Rupture Claw, rapidly dissipated.
Soon, as Garon's claw bled profusely, the Extermination Sphere vanished.
Intense pain radiated from his claw, but Garon finally sighed in relief.
Under Garon's control, the bleeding stopped.
He glanced at the guardian angel, his eyes cold and icy over its Imaska crown and scepter.
Immediately, the silver dragon accelerated to its limit, leaving a long trail in the sky. The guardian angel relentlessly pursued, the dragon and the half-god Mechanism fleeing and chasing, soon leaving the desert's confines.
Across the desert, over the wilderness, hills, bays, and basins, a long chase ensued.
The guardian angel wasn't known for its speed.
This top-tier Mechanism creation's strength lay in its destructive power.
However, the Imaska crown had powerful spatial abilities, breaking through dimensional anchors. Though it couldn't activate continuously, whenever Garon almost shook the angel off, it used spatial teleportation to reappear in his sight.
Whenever Garon had a chance to breathe, he used spatial teleportation to escape the guardian angel's pursuit.
During this, he sustained certain injuries.
Fortunately, it didn't affect his mobility.
The chase lasted a month.
Now, Garon arrived at Starfall Sea, sinking his body into the deep sea, hoping the dense water layers would weaken the guardian angel's sensory lock.
Garon's temporal power was nearly exhausted, his once sleek silver scales tarnished and broken, wounds all over.
While the guardian angel was still catching up, Garon rested in the pitch-black sea.
Before long...
A familiar spatial fluctuation arrived.
Heavy currents stirred in the deep sea.
The guardian angel, also silver, stepped out, its energy wings illuminating the dark sea, following Garon's spatial trace once again.
The silver dragon raised its head, eyes landing on the guardian angel's smooth, mirror-like face.
Despite being heavily injured and having less than a tenth of his temporal power left, Garon showed no fear or tension.
Because during the long chase, his Time Dragon Backflow was ready. But having suffered so much, using it felt like a loss. So, he tried to shake off the guardian angel himself.
But this half-god-like Mechanism lifeform was relentless, pursuing him for a month without rest.
Garon was tired.
He wouldn't run this time.
"You deliberately destroyed my Imaska Empire's Strange Mechanism Pyramid."
"I will chase you to the ends of the earth until I capture you," the guardian angel stated indifferently.
It was a Mechanism creation but also a Mechanism life, carrying the thoughts and will of the Empire's emperor.
The guardian angel didn't know Garon wasn't planning to flee.
In its calculation, Garon had enough temporal energy to keep evading for a while. It was so persistent in capturing Garon because it knew of his abilities.
A power that could influence time.
Moreover, the guardian angel could analyze a creature's age.
Upon discovering Garon's age, it was shocked.
It thought Garon was an ancient dragon, but he was just an underage dragon in dragon terms.
Such terrifying growth speed, far from half-god, but the peculiar power to escape it for a month without reaching his limits was classed as near-divine.
Therefore, the guardian angel fixated on Garon.
The Imaska Empire, seeing gods as hypothetical enemies, wouldn't miss any power comparable to transcendent divine power.
As the Empire's guardian angel, it wanted to capture Garon to study temporal power.
"I'll give you a choice."
Seeing the silver dragon not fleeing, the guardian angel continued, "If you agree, the Empire will invest resources to nurture you, hastening your growth, granting you god-like power, making you the strongest being in the material world."
Garon sneered at the offer.
"So, what's the price?"
The guardian angel replied calmly, "Become the Imaska Empire's guardian dragon, sign a contract, coexist with the Empire, and dedicate your power to it."
The so-called guardian dragon was just a fancy term.
In essence, the guardian angel wanted Garon to be the Empire's dog.
Garon had no interest in serving a doomed mortal empire.
Besides, the god-like power offered seemed cheap to Garon.
"You know nothing of the power of time."
Garon shook his head slightly.
Then, his gaze sharpened.
Time Dragon Backflow was ready.
Perhaps a future Garon was watching this moment. Unafraid, Garon decided to test the half-god's power, engaging in a direct battle with the guardian angel.
The guardian angel, seeing Garon wouldn't agree, prepared to capture him.
But just as the battle was about to erupt...
A divine and vast power suddenly descended.
And it was just the beginning.
Waves of transcendent divine power emerged, like falling stars tearing through planar barriers, descending onto the land of Faerun.
The simultaneous arrival of gods caused an anomaly in the material world. The sunny sky turned stormy in an instant, dark clouds gathering, covering the heavens, lightning and thunder accompanying the gods' wrath, almost enveloping all of Faerun.
Starfall Sea became tumultuous.
Thunder roared, rain poured.
Tidal waves rose, forming a tsunami.
Both Garon and the guardian angel in the deep sea sensed the world's changes.
"Finally here."
Garon narrowed his eyes.
He knew that after the destruction of the Strange Mechanism Pyramid, the arrival of gods was only a matter of time.
The guardian angel was unaware.
It fell silent, its mirror-like face displaying chaotic lines, rapidly changing.
Then, as Garon was about to strike first, taking advantage of the guardian angel's distraction, it seemed to receive a message. Its energy wings spread, piercing through the sea, fleeing Starfall Sea.
After its spatial teleportation ability cooled down, it tore open space, stepping into a portal, disappearing into the stormy world.
Splash!
The tumultuous sea surged and shattered, countless splashes scattering.
Following the guardian angel, the silver dragon leaped out of the sea.
"This..."
Just emerging from the sea, Garon looked towards the Imaska Empire and immediately focused.
In the northeast, near the Imaska Empire, a sky-reaching beam had appeared, connecting earth and sky, radiating blinding light. However, only a few creatures in Faerun could see this beam.
Two ships shrouded in endless light, carrying silent figures, appeared within the beam.
With Garon's vision, he shouldn't see these images from such a distance, especially far from the Imaska Empire.
Yet, strangely, when he looked towards the beam, he saw them.
The figures on the ships weren't tall, just average human size.
However, their sacred and vast aura made them appear colossal, like towering giants, compelling others to worship.
"Are these the avatars of gods?"
"They feel so strong."
Garon's heart raced, licking his lips.
Compared to the avatar of the Goddess of Doom he had seen
before, these godly avatars seemed almost all half-god level, with divine privileges, making Garon feel even stronger than the guardian angel.
Faerun was about to change.
Garon realized this.
After pondering, the freshly emerged silver dragon changed direction, diving back into Starfall Sea.
Garon's injuries were unhealed, his condition poor. Caution was necessary amidst such chaos.
"The Imaska Empire will probably wage full-scale war against these godly avatars."
"Let's observe for now."
Garon took a deep breath, beginning to heal.
Meanwhile, the silver dragon, submerged in the deep sea, closed his eyes, focusing on the time mark—branded on the guardian angel.
Even with half-god-level power, the guardian angel hadn't detected Garon's time mark.
Now, images of the guardian angel's surroundings appeared in Garon's mind.
It returned to the Imaska Empire through flight and spatial teleportation.
A magnificent complex appeared in Garon's vision: towering metallic buildings, mechanical airships in the sky, countless flying Mechanisms, and proud Imaska people on the streets. Occasionally, other Mechanism lives like the guardian angel, carrying Mechanist souls and wills, were visible.
This was the capital of the Imaska Empire.
The most prosperous Mechanism city.
Despite the pouring rain, the city was shielded by a huge energy barrier, isolated from the storm.
Many Imaskans were unaware of what had happened.
The heavenly beam was the Beacon of Light's path, visible mainly to legendary beings, obscuring the ships and figures within. Ordinary creatures couldn't see it or sense the divine power's descent.
No slaves were seen in the Mechanism city.
It was an Imaskan city.
Slaves of the Imaska Empire were mainly in construction areas, building great Mechanism wonders with their blood and lives.
At the moment...
Slave overseers were furious.
Just now, the slaves had massively revolted, dropping everything, crying and laughing madly, bowing towards a mountain range northeast of the Empire, hitting their foreheads on the hard ground and even on sharp stones, ignoring the overseers' anger.
Imaska overseers whipped them relentlessly.
But these usually cowardly slaves ignored their rage, even with flesh torn.
This bizarre behavior filled the overseers with fury and a chilling foreboding, clueless about what was happening.
At the same time...
Various majestic figures descended along the heavenly beam.
Seconds later, the light faded.
The beam, felt only briefly by certain creatures, disappeared.
The dark clouds vanished quickly, the stormy weather clearing in an instant, the golden sun shining again, but the terrifying scenes of thunder and storm lingered in many minds.
In the Imaska Empire, northeast.
A range later known as the Watchers of the Gods Mountains.
The Beacon of Light's radiance concentrated on the highest peak here.
Atop the rugged mountain, over twenty holy figures, emitting divine auras, appeared as the white light vanished, divided into two groups, each centered around one individual.
These were the avatars of the holy gods.
Creatures living in the mountains looked up at the summit, bowing in awe.
Enser and Mulholland holy avatars looked towards the Imaska Empire.
No one spoke.
But thoughts passed among them, communicating silently.
Holy avatars were parts of gods, stripped of much divinity and created differently from normal divine avatars.
They were part of gods, yet independent beings, sharing a delicate connection with their deities. They could think independently, though their thought patterns closely matched their deities, considering themselves gods.
Minutes later...
The holy avatars reached a consensus.
Neither Enlil nor Radu were evil gods.
Both were revered as 'loving fathers' in their pantheons, adored by their progeny and followers.
As holy avatars, they decided to give the arrogant Imaska a chance to repent.
The avatars had shown mercy. Whether the Imaska Empire could grasp it depended on whether they still held a shred of reverence for the gods.
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