When the topic turned heavy, Sylvia's gaze paused. She knew some of it, but she was not a direct witness, so her understanding was only rough.
"I only know that Edward was first let into Dragon Valley by you. He used unknown means to seize a body and become a Gold dragon, then devoured half the remains of a rusted iron dragon to seize Authority." "After that, he attacked the former Silver Dragon, killed and devoured them, and the remaining half of the Authority inheritance passed to me." "Then for the past thousand years, he kept attacking the outside world as a Great Dragon, devouring Dragon Soul, and using Silver Dragon Authority to dominate them as his puppets. I don't fully understand his goal, but it seems like he wanted to gather the four high ranked dragon species."
"That's mostly right. There are still details you don't know. Let me ask you this. Do you know why, among the four high ranked dragon species, only the Gold dragon has no Authority?"
Why? This was something Sylvia also wanted to know. The Silver Dragon could connect and unite the power of other Dragonkin through Empathic Communion. The Bronze Dragon could observe and reproduce past time, while the rusted iron dragon could create small worlds that even possessed time.
So why was it that the Gold dragon alone had no Authority granted by the Dragon God? Sylvia did not know, but there had to be a difference.
"Heh. Because the Gold dragon, rather than being one of the four high ranked dragon species created by the Dragon God, is actually a favored one of the Dragon God." "The foundation of the Gold dragon is that of a divine favored of the Dragon God, essentially a proxy that carries out Bahamut's will."
This truly shocked Sylvia. Not only because of the nature of the Gold dragon, but because if that logic was reversed, it meant Bahamut truly existed and was alive.
"Then doesn't that mean Bahamut truly exists? If all this happened, why didn't He come out to stop it…"
Wait.
Sylvia suddenly thought of a certain Black Dragon that had left not long ago. That dragon had protected her the first time they met, then slaughtered its way through Demonkind territory to save Ham, and finally crushed Edward.
Was it possible that He did intervene, just a bit late?
"Don't worry. The Black Dragon you met earlier was not Bahamut. What I'm about to say now is what truly concerns the real Bahamut."
"Hmm?"
Safas's expression became visibly serious and tinged with sadness. When he tried to speak, his lips trembled, showing his hesitation. In the end, he sighed and spoke anyway.
"Do you know why Bahamut did not intervene?" "From the very beginning, after Edward seized the Gold dragon with the help of forbidden power from Abyss, he used the identity of a divine favored to approach the weakened, sleeping Bahamut." "Then, Bahamut's original Dragon God soul was torn apart with Rend, and half of it was taken."
"What?"
"That's impossible. Bahamut, even if the four high ranked dragon species are close to gods, they are still mortals. How could they truly harm a god like Bahamut?"
This time Sylvia was completely shaken. Her race's god had been harmed from the very start, and she had known nothing about it. How was that even possible? Using a god's own power to tear apart that god was absurd beyond reason.
"The reason shocked me as well. Did you know? Bahamut is a Dragon God, but that is only in terms of race. His true Authority is Fate." "Fate Dragon God: Bahamut. In short, one day a thousand years ago, for reasons even I cannot understand, this god personally smashed His own Authority and Divine Kingdom, abandoning His divine throne." "Because of that, the severely weakened Bahamut fell into deep sleep and entrusted another god, Dawn, to let His soul reincarnate. From then on, there would no longer be a Fate Dragon God." "It was at that moment that Edward guided power from Abyss and tore Bahamut into two with Rend, splitting the reincarnation into two bodies." "In that process, he seized half of the original Dragon God soul, and one reincarnated body died." "From then on, the original Bahamut was left with only half of His true name and soul, and His remaining memories were sealed."
…
After hearing this hidden history, Sylvia felt dizzy. There was simply too much to take in, Abyss, a Dragon God being torn apart and reincarnated. The facts felt impossible, yet they were right there.
She took several deep breaths to calm herself and then asked, "What does all this have to do with me? Didn't you say Ham has a problem?"
"I've already said this much. You should have some guesses by now."
"…Those guesses can wait until I calm down. I'm asking about this child's condition."
Sylvia's mouth twitched. She really did not want to link a certain Teddy Bear's usual behavior with the Dragon God of myth. Ham? Bahamut? If it were true, it would explain the split true name, but why split from the middle?
It also explained why Ham had no Dragon Soul inheritance. A Dragon God was the ancestor itself, so who could pass anything down to Him?
Then Safas's next words sent a chill from her head to her toes.
"Because Edward is not dead." "…No, that's not accurate. That guy is definitely dead. Tricked and still thinking he profited. Damn it." "What isn't dead is the other half of the original Dragon God soul, and Fate Dragon God itself."
"…Not dead?"
Sylvia muttered, not fully understanding this strange state of being dead yet not dead. But the meaning was clear enough. This was not over.
Wasn't this ridiculous? That bastard had been reduced to ashes more than once. How could he still come back?
"The process of Bahamut splitting His Authority was extremely long. The past was split off first and forged into the Bronze Dragon." "Then came the present and the future. The present was endowed with Silver but has now also been split in two. As for the future, only the complete Fate itself can perceive it." "Edward kept devouring Dragon Soul and creating Dragon Calamity to find the library that stores the Bronze Dragon, all to gather these three Authority." "That is why I stayed there. As long as Fate Dragon God was not fully dead, and the Bronze Dragon was only an incarnation of Authority, Edward could not open that door with only half of the original Dragon God soul." "So he deliberately set a trap to lure Ham there?"
Everything connected at once. From the start, the scheme was meant to draw out Ham, arranging coincidences to slowly awaken the other half of the original Dragon God soul and revive Fate.
Sylvia realized it clearly. The other side wanted to ascend and become Fate.
"Right now, the other side is awakening and trying to call the other half of the Dragon God soul. Ham has no choice but to resist that call instinctively through deep sleep." "Then what should we do now? Is there any way to stop or sabotage this ascension? Not just for Ham, but for all Dragonkin. That madman will definitely…"
"This part you don't need to worry about too much. We actually have a response plan. You don't need to do anything for now. Just wait for my news."
At this point, Safas's expression became somewhat strange. Sylvia frowned and asked, "What are you going to do? How will you respond?"
After a moment of silence, Safas replied, "…Call for reinforcements."
"Call for reinforcements? Who could possibly help? Could it be…"
As she spoke, Sylvia's expression also turned strange, matching Safas's. She subconsciously touched the black scale in her pocket. She seemed to know exactly who he was going to look for.
"By the way, do you know the true identity of that Black Dragon?" Sylvia asked.
She felt he would know, and sure enough, Safas nodded silently. "I don't know His name, or how many memory Shard fragments remain in His mind. But I can tell you His origin. You remember, Bahamut had two reincarnated bodies, and one original Dragon God soul was taken by Edward." "The body is still there, but the chance of hatching is very slim, and at best it would only be a mindless dragon beast."
"Wait, stop right there. By what you're saying, are you telling me…"
Sylvia's expression grew even stranger as she worked her brain, her voice trembling. "You mean that Black Dragon is… No, isn't that too absurd? You said it was just a dragon beast, right?"
"I don't believe it either, and I want to deny it. But based on bloodline identification results, that's exactly the case."
Faced with Safas's confirmation, Sylvia felt dizzy. The good news was that she no longer had to wonder whether that being was her ancestor or an eight year old child. Both were correct.
An eight year old ancestor.
"…Maybe I should have brought back both eggs back then. By the way, where is the dragon now?"
"La la la… I suddenly feel like sneezing. Who's talking about me?"
On the road to the capital of Faris Empire to get rid of Augustus, Belial rubbed his nose and looked around.
"Whatever. Everything else can wait. Taking care of that bastard comes first."