Fire and smoke raged across countless worlds, like an unending disaster.
Iron dragons, red dragons, black dragons, gold dragons, multi-headed dragons, purple dragons, crystal dragons, and mithril dragons fought for a long time. When Garon's final sliver of will withdrew from a sea emperor dragon, the Eternal Hall's dragon lair was still.
The silver dragon slowly opened his eyes, a hint of fatigue flowing from his platinum gaze.
"Avatar battles aren't as intense as those of true forms, but they are still quite fierce."
Garon exhaled a long breath, but the fatigue in his body remained, lingering like a shadow.
This fatigue didn't stem from his physical body but from mental exhaustion combined with the depletion of his temporal power, making Garon feel unwell.
"An avatar's life or death doesn't significantly affect the true form."
"But this time, I split my avatars into too many material worlds."
The temporal power consumed by the numerous avatars descending into the material world for battle was supplied by Garon's true form. When piloting the avatars, it was Garon's will in control.
There was no choice—extraordinary divine power was fine, but if only temporal power was given, the avatars wouldn't be able to use it.
Or descending with only his will, Garon found it hard to manage unfamiliar dragon bodies against giant god avatars.
Only by descending both his will and temporal power could he become a divine weapon to turn the tide of battle in a material world.
"Moreover, not all my avatars won."
"My avatars never encountered the Stormlord, but they fought nearly every other giant god's avatar."
"Stone Giant God Skoraeus, Fire Giant God Surtr, and another powerful deity of the giant pantheon, Annan's eldest daughter, Nature and Hunting Goddess Siatti."
"The battles with these giant gods' avatars were mixed, but I won against all other giant god avatars without exception."
Lying on layers of gold and silver jewels, feeling the comfort as his scales rubbed against them, the silver dragon flipped over, murmuring softly.
The Fire Giant God Surtr had faced Garon the most, as Garon had deliberately chosen to descend where Surtr was. In about 80-90% of their battles, Garon emerged victorious.
As for the Stone Giant God Skoraeus, their battles often ended in mutual exhaustion. This god was highly skilled in defense, always taking Garon's relentless attacks in silence, like a mute boulder.
"The Frost Giant God Solum, the Fire Giant God Surtr, and the Stone Giant God Skoraeus."
"These three intermediate deities are the pillars of the giant pantheon."
They were siblings, the second-generation offspring of Annan.
The first-generation offspring were the Stormlord and the Nature and Hunting Goddess, two powerful deities.
Other gods like the Hill Giant God, Sub-Giant God, Cloud Giant God were third-generation offspring. They had been exiled by Annan and, though also intermediate deities, were weaker than the second generation. When encountering Garon's avatars, they were all easily defeated.
Garon efficiently defeated them without much expenditure of temporal power, leaving him with enough strength to cleanse the material world's giant forces.
Lastly, Nature and Hunting Goddess Siatti faced three of Garon's avatars, winning two and losing one.
She was currently one of the strongest deities in the giant pantheon.
Besides the main god Stormlord, the giant pantheon had two other powerful deities: one true powerful deity and one quasi-powerful deity.
The true powerful deity was the Nature and Hunting Goddess.
As Annan's eldest daughter, she had grown up in the Stormlord's shadow due to Annan's favoritism and had performed poorly in the Dragonfall War with non-combat domains.
After the Stormlord's rebuke, Siatti developed new domains of hunting, war, and weaponry, gradually increasing her combat power.
The last deity was not truly a giant.
The quasi-powerful demon lord Baphomet, the King of Minotaurs.
Baphomet's relationship with the giant pantheon was similar to Yeenoghu's, but Baphomet was much stronger, holding a special status within the giant pantheon.
The King of Minotaurs did not participate in this avatar war.
"Avatars more or less reflect their true form's level."
Garon thought silently.
Closing his eyes, Garon recalled and analyzed each battle, making notes of the powers used by each giant deity and ranking their strengths.
The strongest: the Stormlord.
Second tier: Nature and Hunting Goddess Siatti and Demon Lord Baphomet, King of Minotaurs.
Third tier: Frost Giant God (deceased), Fire Giant God Surtr, Stone Giant God Skoraeus, with the Fire Giant God at the forefront.
Fourth tier: Hill Giant God Grolantor, Sub-Giant God Karontor, Cloud Giant God Memnor, Yeenoghu (deceased).
Fifth tier, quasi-deity level: Annan's second daughter, the Giant Love Goddess Iallanis, Annan's third daughter, the Giant Trickster Goddess Diancastra, the Ogre God Vaprak, the Lord of Wrath Kostchtchie (deceased).
"Divine Garon is currently an intermediate deity, roughly able to contend with third-tier giant deities."
"As for me, I can easily deal with fourth-tier, but I'm not a match for third-tier due to the significant power gap."
Garon had a clear understanding of his situation.
"However, in material world battles, be it avatars, saints, or even true forms, I can still give it a try."
"Even facing the Stormlord, I may not win, but he won't be able to kill me."
Countless battles, numerous enemy corpses, and repeated victories had forged an unyielding, indomitable resolve within Garon.
Garon turned his gaze to the Force Dragon maiden beside him.
Yona was now with her eyes closed, wings drooping by her sides, their ends resting on parts of Garon. Atop her head, the Dragon Court contract formed dragon horns emitting a faint glow, carrying Yona's will and power to the material world.
Compared to the fatigued Garon, Yona was in good spirits.
She hadn't split into many avatars, fighting about one-tenth as much as Garon at any given time, so she remained energetic and enthusiastic.
After a glance, Garon withdrew his gaze.
Then, the silver dragon slowly closed his eyes again, pulling his mate's tail as a pillow, entering a state of sleep.
Garon needed sleep to recover his mental energy and temporal power.
But since the war showed no signs of easing, Garon left a sliver of his consciousness awake, monitoring the situation through the Dragon Court contract. If something urgent arose, this sliver of consciousness would alert him.
The dragon lair fell silent.
As Garon slept, rhythmic pulses of the time river flowed with his breaths, replenishing his greatly depleted temporal power.
Meanwhile.
In a certain material world.
Gale-force winds howled, and torrential rain poured down.
The rain had fallen for weeks, almost filling a sunken ring-shaped basin below, drowning countless creatures. Swollen, blurred corpses floated in the faintly blood-colored waters like drifting duckweed.
Occasionally, lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the dark world for brief moments.
Looking up, one could see two radiant, awe-inspiring deities standing in the sky, repelling the storms and rain around them, untouched.
One deity had five heads.
Red, blue, green, black, white—five fierce dragon heads, each as large as a hill, their scales shining like small suns of different colors.
Behind the heads were long necks, sharp claws, robust bodies, expansive wings, and powerful tails. Five-colored light flowed over this form, radiating divine and draconic majesty, blinding to behold.
This was the divine avatar of the Immortal Dragon Queen of the Dragon Pantheon.
Opposite her stood another deity with a rugged yet calm face, surrounded by flashing lightning arcs. The descending storms and thunder seemed centered around him, tamed and docile, like he was the king of storms.
This was the divine avatar of the Stormlord of the Giant Pantheon.
Boom, boom, boom!
The Stormlord's face remained calm, eyes filled with wisdom and reason.
He stretched out his palm towards the Immortal Dragon Queen, and instantly, thousands of dazzling lightning bolts descended, lighting up the world, endlessly striking at the Immortal Dragon Queen.
Gale-force winds like blades, towering tsunamis, hailstones like cannonballs, and strange lightning fires surrounded the Immortal Dragon Queen in a simultaneous onslaught.
Meteorological Domain: Heavens' Moving Phenomena!
Buzz.
An evil aura-filled five-colored light burst forth, forming a barrier around the Immortal Dragon Queen, resisting the meteorological calamities.
Ordinary natural disasters couldn't even scratch the Immortal Dragon Queen's scales, but these disasters, imbued with divine power, could easily destroy worlds and were not to be underestimated.
"Stronmaus, you rebellious one, do you think you can be invincible with Annan's power?"
"Haha, Annan was killed by his own offspring, a false name. His power is nothing special."
"You are like a child with a new sword, stumbling, blinded by arrogance."
The Immortal Dragon Queen was accustomed to finding her opponent's psychological weaknesses, mocking as she defended against the Stormlord's attacks.
"You are not qualified to judge Father God's power."
The Stormlord replied.
To lead the giants to glory, the Stormlord had killed Annan. But this didn't mean he hated Annan. In fact, the Stormlord couldn't understand or agree with Annan's attitude towards the giants. Deep down, he still respected Ann
an, who had always favored his eldest son.
However, this didn't stop the Stormlord from killing his respected Father God for his ideals.
When he sought Annan in the outer realms, the Stormlord asked Annan to take up the mantle of the giant pantheon's main deity, to protect the giants.
If Annan had agreed, there would have been no ambush in the Beastlands.
Unfortunately, Annan was determined to retire, and the Stormlord knew his Father's stubborn nature wouldn't be swayed. So, with a heavy heart, he committed patricide to usurp the throne.
On the other hand, to defeat the dragon race, the Stormlord took a desperate gamble, killing his respected Father God to seize Annan's power, showing his resolute determination.
"You know nothing of my resolve."
The Stormlord raised his arm.
Millions of lightning bolts descended, forming into spears, converging in the Stormlord's hand.
Simultaneously, a radiant sun broke through the thick clouds, casting golden light. The sun's entire glow infused into the lightning spear, etching a scorching sun mark on it.
Next, the forces of the sky and sea boiled, weaving blue patterns on the lightning spear, with storm currents coating its surface.
Finally, the Stormlord's muscular body bent, his arm cocked, locking onto the Immortal Dragon Queen's position, and hurled the lightning spear.
Among the Stormlord's titles, one was "Thrower of Lightning."
The spear, once thrown, seemed to pierce through space and time, instantly reaching the Immortal Dragon Queen.
Boom!
The five-colored barrier resisted for a moment before shattering, pierced by the spear.
Boom, boom, boom!
The Dragon Queen's five heads simultaneously opened their jaws, unleashing torrents of dragon breath.
Flames, lightning, poison, acid, and ice breath, with no loss of energy, eerily and perfectly concentrated on the spear, clashing with it.
The Stormlord's gaze sharpened as magical energy in the world resonated, constructing a powerful divine spell with divine power.
Dragon-Slaying Spear!
Combining Annan's knowledge domain with his other abilities, the Stormlord devised many techniques against dragon gods.
Various elemental energies surged, forming a shadow that merged with the lightning spear.
Whoosh!
The spear, previously on par with the five-colored dragon breath, instantly pierced through the breath, heading straight for the Immortal Dragon Queen's chest, tearing through her scales, exiting her back, and piercing her body.
In the next second, the forces of the sky, sea, lightning, and sun, the domains of the Stormlord, rapidly corroded the Immortal Dragon Queen's avatar.
"The final spell breaking my breath... Annan's knowledge domain."
The severely wounded Immortal Dragon Queen's dragon face darkened, her aura plummeting, rapidly weakening.
Boom, boom, boom!
Bolts of lightning descended again, shattering the Immortal Dragon Queen's remaining divine power, killing the avatar, leaving no corpse.
The Immortal Dragon Queen's avatar disappeared, leaving only broken space.
Simultaneously, in the Beastlands, the Shining Forest, the Storm Fortress.
"The Immortal Dragon Queen is still weaker than the Metallic Dragon God."
Through this avatar clash, the Stormlord's true form swiftly analyzed the situation.
Previously clashing with the Metallic Dragon God, the Stormlord confirmed that the Metallic Dragon God couldn't match him now.
As for the First Adamantine Dragon King, he was clearly weaker than the Metallic Dragon God and the Immortal Dragon Queen, a level below.
"The giant pantheon has me, Siatti, and Baphomet."
"I'm the strongest, Baphomet second, then Siatti. With me, against three quasi-powerful dragon gods, our top strength slightly surpasses theirs."
"The uncertainty is whether that time dragon has lost the Reverse Time Dragon ability."
This was the biggest variable.
The Stormlord's eyes deepened with countless thoughts, considering if Garon might be feigning weakness to lure him.
"Gods aren't omnipotent."
The Time-Severing Thunder Spear wasn't used by the Stormlord personally. Based on Garon's performance, he couldn't judge if Garon was truly injured or if the spear's effect was as good as claimed.
To the Stormlord, it seemed Garon was likely injured.
"Can't be entirely sure. Step by step, cautiously. If a powerful time dragon emerges in the war, the giants will face an endless abyss."
Given the stakes, the Stormlord maintained a final thread of doubt.
Moreover, internal issues within the giant pantheon also troubled him.
Even if certain Garon lost his reverse time ability, defeating the dragon pantheon wasn't assured. With the gods' true forms not yet involved, the battle wasn't clear, and the dragons seemed to hold an edge.
Considering internal matters, the Stormlord pondered silently.
The Stormlord had always monitored the giant pantheon, now knowing more hidden truths as the main god.
The giant pantheon appeared united but could fracture at any moment.
"Baphomet and the Demon Mother Graz'zt are allies in the Abyss. Their layers have even built a dedicated portal for meetings."
"The Night Lord, Graz'zt's proudest offspring, collaborated with the dragon pantheon to kill Solum."
"Was Graz'zt behind this? Does Baphomet know?"
Baphomet wasn't a giant, so the Stormlord couldn't fully trust this quasi-powerful demon lord, despite his role in the patricide and usurpation.
"Since the Dragonfall War, Surtr has secretly amassed weapons in the Firelands, not sharing with others, keeping them for himself."
The Fire Giant God's divine realm was in the second layer of the Outer Plane Ysgard, called the Firelands, under Surtr's control.
Fire giants were hard to find outside, silently growing stronger in the Firelands.
"My foolish sister Siatti resents me for Father's favoritism, now hating me for patricide. She follows orders under pressure but does the bare minimum, plotting to replace me."
As Annan's eldest daughter, Siatti had conflicted feelings towards her Father.
On one hand, she resented Annan for favoring the Stormlord.
On the other hand, she longed for Annan's approval, admiring and revering him.
So, Siatti participated in the patricide but regretted it, resenting the Stormlord, who keenly sensed this.
"Skoraeus is indifferent to war, only caring for his stone giants. His participation is due to dragon pressure, not wanting post-war retribution. The stone giants obey only him, stubborn and fearless, even I can't command them."
Stone Giant God Skoraeus, Annan's second-generation offspring, was strictly neutral, indifferent to anything beyond his stone giants.
In the Dragonfall War, Skoraeus participated half-heartedly. Stone giants were the only giants not hating true dragons, avoiding conflicts.
To the Stormlord, Skoraeus was still half-hearted, his stone giants prioritizing survival, rarely fighting bravely.
"Solum, my most trusted sibling among Annan's second-generation offspring, fell first, obsessed with Auril. Sigh."
With countless thoughts, the Stormlord sighed deeply, feeling the weight of his burden.
Facing the dragons, the external pressure temporarily united the giant pantheon, but many hidden dangers remained.
During the Glorious War, dragon unity differed from giants'. Dragon divisions stemmed from true dragon arrogance towards other dragon species, while dragon gods had internal friction but were united against outsiders.
Thus, guided by dragon gods and battle experience, internal conflicts significantly lessened.
But the giant pantheon had fewer conflicts among giants, with hidden dangers from the deities. Annan retired, deeply disappointed by his seemingly united but truly divided offspring.
This was far more severe than the dragon pantheon.
Difficult, difficult, difficult... In the cold, empty temple, the Stormlord sighed again.
Winning this war was difficult—the Stormlord knew this.
But war was inevitable. After consuming the Glorious War's victory, dragons would grow stronger and target giants. The Stormlord had to face the challenge.
With a light sigh, the Stormlord, undeterred, radiated vigor, eyes flashing with electricity.
"Father God, standing in your position, I understand your disappointment with the giant pantheon."
"But I will carry your power and prove that the giant pantheon is not beyond redemption."
"I will make this war a crucible for the gods, uniting the giant pantheon into an unstoppable force, destroying the dragons, becoming the second multiverse hegemonic pantheon."
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