Child of Destiny

...

On the other side of the forest, Arthur was leading the rest of the group as they head over the coordinates that Shin had sent earlier.

He seemed to be a little distracted as he was leading the group, which caught Leonard's attention. "What is it? Is there something bothering you?"

Arthur quickly shook his head and replied. "It is nothing much. I am just thinking that something didn't add up."

"So, what is it?" asked Leonard once again.

Arthur was silent for a moment before continuing. "Do you remember I said that the Dragon Worshippers are an ancient religion? And they were wiped out by the Winter Goddess long ago?"

"But based on the information that we have right now, the setting when the background of our quest occurred is during the Repelling Era, which doesn't add up with what I know!"

"Why are there still Dragon Worshippers if they are already been wiped out? And what are they doing in this place if they are supposedly following the will of a dragon? They should be staying near the Dragon Sanctuary instead!"

Leonard couldn't help but shake his head after hearing those words. Arthur's obsession with dragons was really something.

He then turned to the dragon fanatic and spoke. "Yeah, yeah! There must be a reason. The original resident of this place, which also happens to be Dragon Worshippers, must be the surviving descendants of the first generation."

"That is the most logical assessment that I can make," he added as he patted Arthur's shoulders.

Arthur nodded his head. "Yeah, that is most likely the reason. Yet they are still wiped out by another God related to winter, ice, and snow, which is too much of a coincidence."

"Maybe that god is the same as the one that you already know," commented Leonard nonchalantly, which also trigged something inside Arthur's head.

"If that is the case, then whatever god is a mortal enemy of the Dragons," said Arthur as he squinted his eyes.

*********

On the other side of the forests.

As Shin was looking cautiously at the seraph that suddenly appeared in front of them. Lycan was slowly putting down Lupus on the ground while calling Zero over. "Please, take care of Master for a moment."

Zero quickly appeared beside Lupus and grabbed the massive werewolf before heading over to Shin.

Shin slightly nodded his head and asked. "Is brother Faker not done yet?"

Zero quickly apologized when he heard that. "I am sorry for sending him there. He is the person who is fitted the most for that job. He still has more strength than us despite using the Reality Manifestation for an extended period of time."

"It is fine. If you think that it is a variable that can affect our quest, then it is the right call to send brother Faker over there. He is also the fastest member of our group," said Shin as he shook his head.

After that, he turned back to Lycan and the seraph and waited for them to continue their conversation. For a powerful NPC like a seraph to appear in this place, Shin could at least guess that this was supposedly a part of the quest.

'There are too much of variables on this quest. The first is the Saint Heaven Kingdom and its first king. Then its relationship with the God of Winter and the Dragon Worshippers.'

'After that was the disaster that occurred during the Repelling Era. The contract between a Great Demon Lord and the descendant of King Grey, who is also the first Vampire.'

'Then that war between the Vampires and the armies from the Divine Empire. And the sudden betrayal, which also led to the two forces teaming up with each other fighting the seraphs of the God of Winter.'

Shin listed out all of the things that he wanted to know inside his head. He already got the answers on a few of them after listening to Lycan earlier, which also coincided with their initial assessment.

He only had a few things that he wanted to get clarified, so he stood silently on his spot and observed from the sideline.

...

Lycan was glaring sharply at the seraph in front of them and said with a threatening growl. "I did not expect you to descend on the world, Michael."

The seraph, who was addressed by Lycan as Michael, stared at the wolf with a calm expression before replying. "I noticed that some cracks appeared on the Hourglass of Contract, so I just want to personally check what just happen."

"It seems like you are still a loyal dog of that wicked god after losing the master that you are originally serving," sneered Lycan, which caught Shin's interest.

"How long are you going to let yourselves get controlled by such a fake god?" he added with a mixed tone of pity and sarcasm.

Michael didn't immediately reply as he silently observed Lycan. And after a few moments of silence, he suddenly opened his mouth. "Lycan, you are an enlightened and sacred beast that has the qualification to become a high-ranking transcendent being."

"It is just a pity that your refuse to undergo an ascension ritual and choose to stay in this mortal realm," he added.

Hearing his tone, Shin couldn't help but felt a little strange. He thought that Michael was neither sneering nor mocking Lycan. He felt like the seraphim genuinely pitying the wolf.

"Don't try to persuade me again. I rather stay in this 'lowly' realm than associate myself with the hypocrites of that place," refuted Lycan sharply.

"Aside from the ancient and original gods, I will not serve any of those newly ascended gods. Especially the wicked god that you are serving right now." continued the wolf as he remained vigilant.

"You keep on calling our god wicked, yet she is only doing her best to save this pitiful world from those greedy Gods and Demon Lords," said Michael in a heavy tone. It was clear that he was starting to get offended by Lycan's remarks.

Hearing that, Lycan started throwing a much sharper remark. "Hah! Protect this world? You are calling her greed protection? Don't make me laugh!"

"If not for her using her divine powers to interfere during the Warring Era and wiping out the Dragon Worshippers, then they should be one of the races who manages to emerge victorious during that time."

"But she couldn't accept the fact that their religion is not worshiping a god but just a race of a Transcendent Being, which is said to be weaker than those Divine Beings residing in the Divine Realm!"

"She refused to acknowledge their beliefs and tried to prove them wrong by sending her envoys to fight them. But she did not expect the Dragons to be that powerful, especially their King, the first Divine Dragon."

"Her direct envoy, who was wielding her powers and acting as her representative in this realm, had lost miserably and she suffered great humiliation."

"Afraid that the other gods would learn about it, she sacrificed a portion of her divine authority to trick the law of causality and personally descended on this Mortal Realm."

"She killed the Divine Dragon King and wiped out the Dragon Worshippers to erase that humiliation. She couldn't kill the other dragons since she would be exposed to the law of causality, so she used another divine intervention to wipe out that event from the historical records."

"Unfortunately for her, there was still a lot of them who managed to survive on continued their lineage on this land. They might not know the truth but they were somewhat aware that their believers were at risk because of the appearance of a certain dragon."

"That Dragon seemed to know the truth about that incident. But it couldn't carelessly reveal it because the God of Winter will immediately notice."

"Instead, that Dragon decided to create a series of sacred tomes that carried the history of the Dragon Worshippers and their relationship with the God of Winter."

"Then the other Dragons broke free from the false information that the God of Winter had created and learned the truth. Even though it was still not whole, they were at least aware that she was a mortal enemy of their race."

"But they couldn't do anything about her or get back at her believers since she pulled all of them towards a higher realm!"

"In the end, the Dragons chose to set aside their rage for the time being and continued their lives. But it didn't mean that they forget about it, they were just bidding their time and waiting for the right opportunity to get their revenge."

...

Shin who was listening attentively from the side finally put the pieces together. He immediately got the whole picture of the real background of this Empire Quest and why it was given to Arthur.

He could also guess what happened in the next course of events. 'The God of Winter most probably discovered the surviving Dragon Worshippers.'

'She was afraid that her humiliating defeat against a lower being to get out so she slowly orchestrated a meticulous plan to eradicate them.'

'She then treated the first king of the Saint Heaven Kingdom as a pawn and manipulated them through those so-called oracles.'

Now he became more interested in how the Dragon Worshippers lost despite having a powerful bloodline and a mighty force.

The Saint Heaven Kingdom at that time was one of the weakest countries, so it was impossible for them to win against such a powerful nation. Shin could initially guess that the God of Winter played another trick behind the scenes.

Setting that aside, Shin was also interested in another matter. And that was how the Lycan and the Divine Empire learned about that event if the God of Winter erased everything from the historical records.

Arthur was someone who was obsessed with dragons. And after being together for such a long time, Shin also learned quite a few things about dragons from him.

With that knowledge, he knew that the dragons were prideful beings, they would never bow down to anyone or tell anything that could cause them humiliation.

Since Lycan and the army from the Divine Empire teamed up with the vampires to fight against the seraphs of the God of Winter, he could only guess that they learned the truth in this place.

"This development was becoming more and more interesting," muttered Shin with a smirking tone.

...…