The Demon Race displayed strength and ambition far beyond everyone’s expectations.
From the very beginning, they launched multi-front campaigns, and within just one month, the entire Northern Continent had fallen except for the Dwarf Kingdom and the Elven Forest.
The Dwarves retreated deep into their castles, refusing to budge, while the Drow were corrupted by the Demons and split away from the other two races.
As a result, the Elves’ strength was greatly diminished, forcing them to retreat into their holy land, barely able to protect themselves relying only on the blessings of the Treants and the Sacred Tree.
At the point when the Northern Continent was nearly fully conquered, the Southern Continent remained somewhat spared.
Because the Demons focused their military efforts elsewhere and the Humans, under the slight protection of the God Race, were able to cling to survival.
However, the God Race also suffered heavily.
Having just descended, they were ambushed by the Demons, caught completely off guard, and their elite legions suffered devastating losses.
Yet, the remnants of the God Race, facing their mortal enemies the Demons, chose not to retreat back to the Divine Realm.
Instead, they prepared to regroup and fight the Demons once more.
As the only force on the Southern Continent capable of resisting the Demons, the God Race were worshipped as saviors by the surviving Humans.
People spontaneously formed churches devoted to the God Race, attracting more followers and eventually establishing a theocratic state.
When the Demons realized the situation was deteriorating, they began sending reinforcements to the Southern Continent.
The God Race immediately responded by dispatching more angelic legions to descend upon the South.
…….
Meanwhile, on the front lines, the Dragon Race also suffered heavy losses resisting the Demon onslaught.
When the Demons tore up their pact, the White Dragon King was assassinated in an ambush by the Demon Lord.
Even with Kaont, the strongest combatant among the Dragons, present, he could only contain the Demon Lord and couldn’t spare himself to assist the other dragons.
The remaining Dragons had to fend for themselves.
High-ranking Demons continued to pour out from the Demon Realm’s gate endlessly.
Though the individual fighting power of a dragon far surpassed that of Demons of the same rank, Dragons were still falling one after another.
The battle ultimately ended with the Dragons’ retreat.
Though they killed many times the number of Demons, Kaont only brought back less than sixty percent of the dragons that set out.
What made the Dragons’ situation even worse was that, enraged and ready to seek revenge, they found their home on Dragon Island had been stolen by the Demons.
The forces left to guard Dragon Island were completely incapable of defending against the overwhelming Demon invasion from the void.
Young dragons were abducted, dragon eggs stolen, and among all the metallic dragons, the Golden and White Dragons suffered the most tragic losses.
Especially the White Dragons—they were utterly innocent victims.
The Demons’ original target was only the Golden and Silver Dragons.
But because Silver and White Dragons share similar habits and their eggs look nearly identical, even unfamiliar dragons could easily mistake one for the other.
Since White Dragons have lower intelligence, their eggs were often buried in more obvious places compared to Silver Dragon eggs, making them easier to find.
This ultimately caused the Demons to steal the wrong eggs—emptying White and Golden Dragon eggs, while Silver Dragon eggs survived.
When later the Demons invested immense effort to accelerate the hatching of dragon eggs in their attempt to exterminate the Metallic Dragon Race, they were shocked to discover White Dragons emerging from the shells instead.
That was an entirely different matter.
By the late stage of the war, when the Demon-controlled corrupted dragons joined the battle, the Dragon Race was filled with fury.
No matter the cost, they vowed to kill all Demons and corrupted dragons who dared defile their bloodline.
The achievements of the Dragons were gratifying, but the cost was enormous.
After the war, less than one-fifth of the Dragons remained.
Many dragons suffered repeated injuries and curses that severely shortened their lifespans.
The Demons’ earlier theft of dragon eggs and their dark magic played a massive role in this.
Dark magic was not just a type of magic but a collective term for the various sinister abilities that the races of the Eternal World used against the Demons.
The Demons could manipulate demonic energy to create various miraculous effects, such as Shadow Demons’ blade enhancements and disguises, Succubi’s mental control, spatial seals, and void concealment, as well as Liches’ undead control and the Blood Demons’ evil blood magic.
When the Demons abducted the dragon eggs, their intent was to use Blood Magic to curse the eggs’ parents retroactively.
Because the White and Golden Dragons were cursed the most and most dragons died during the war, the White Dragons were effectively wiped out, and only Kaont remained from the Golden Dragons.
……
The Demons’ lightning-fast, all-out assault naturally couldn’t last forever.
But after only two months, the Eternal World’s side was already overwhelmed.
Various races resisted but were ultimately enslaved by the Demons.
Thanks to the Dragons’ fearless persistence in the late war, holding the front lines and drawing the Demons’ focus, conditions were created for the God Race’s counterattack.
Seeing the Demons’ decline, the God Race launched their counteroffensive.
After a long and grueling battle, the creatures of the Eternal World united with the God Race to defeat the Demons.
With the Demon Lord slain by an enraged Kaont, the two remaining Demon commanders fled back to the Demon Realm, and the Demon Realm’s gate was smashed to pieces.
This brutal war finally came to an end.
After the war, the Dragon Race, battered and broken, focused on recuperation and no longer left Dragon Island.
They lost their status as overlords of the Eternal World.
Meanwhile, the Humans, thanks to their high fertility and strong learning ability, rapidly rose to become the dominant race.
Returning to the Dragons, the pureblooded Great Dragons’ numbers drastically declined, and the Golden and White Dragons became things of the past.
Moreover, the Dragons’ original goal was never achieved: the God Race gained the right to preach on the Southern Continent and formally entered the Eternal World.
It was only then that Lu Qiuchen understood the God Race’s true reason for entering the Eternal World.
Originally, it was because the ruling Dragons were tyrannical and cruel, and the Humans could no longer endure it.
Later, by coincidence, some Humans discovered legends of the God Race in ancient ruins and, through a fortuitous prayer, successfully sent a message to the Divine Realm, attracting the God Race’s attention.
Lu Qiuchen was speechless.
Up until now, all of this had happened solely because of Kaont’s stubbornness.
Was he showing these things to himself? Was he setting himself up?
Seemingly knowing what Lu Qiuchen was thinking, Kaont’s voice carried annoyance.
“Hmph! Soon, you will know what Odurin, this traitor among the Dragons, has done!”
Hearing Kaont call Odurin a traitor piqued Lu Qiuchen’s interest, and she continued watching.
On the screen, a black dragon’s forepaw ripped a giant dragon’s heart out of its chest, the heart beating in the black dragon’s hand.
Lu Qiuchen knew Kaont had long been cursed by the Demons.
Killing the Demon Lord had cost him his life force, leaving his body very weak.
Ultimately, everything that happened was caused by him, so she was not surprised by the turn of events.
After negotiations with the God Race ended, it was reasonable for Odurin to attack Kaont, whose body was weak and cursed, while returning to Dragon Island.
If she were in Odurin’s place, she would have done the same.
“The Dragon Race will be ruled by me from now on! The old fools who made mistakes and cling to outdated ideas should just die soon!”
A young voice spoke from behind.
Despite having his heart torn out, the Golden Dragon’s powerful physique kept him alive long enough to turn his head toward the voice.
He found Odurin standing there, unmistakably accompanied by a Lich — one of the Demon commanders!
Lu Qiuchen was shocked; she truly had not expected this development.
The screen darkened, and the white misty space reappeared.
Kaont’s voice echoed in her mind:
“Now, do you still think all of this is my fault? No! This is all Odurin’s conspiracy!”
His voice was filled with gnashing hatred.
Lu Qiuchen thought of the destroyed Demon Realm gate on the screen and recalled the intact gate she had seen before.
She began to waver.
Had Odurin secretly collaborated with the Demons ten thousand years ago?
Was her own coming-of-age trial and everything that happened afterward a staged play orchestrated by the Dragons and Demons?
No! That happened over ten thousand years ago.
That image could not explain why Kaont’s soul still lived.
“If I were Odurin, I would never have let him live! And why would Kaont’s soul appear here?”
Lu Qiuchen shuddered and quickly tried to exit the mental space.
She took a step back but suddenly felt herself collide with a body.
This was a mental space! How could there be anyone else here besides her?
Startled, Lu Qiuchen jumped forward a few steps, stiffly turning her head to look back.
A strange old man stood behind her, with a nickname tag above his head reading in large characters: Odurin???
The old man smiled kindly at her, but Lu Qiuchen saw only horror within that smile.
The elderly figure, suspected to be Odurin, stood with his hands behind his back and bypassed the rigid Lu Qiuchen to shout ahead:
“Sealed away for ten thousand years, yet you’re still a bit too clever. Truly disappointing.”
“Odurin!” Kaont’s voice thundered through the space, but from that furious roar, Lu Qiuchen sensed deep-seated fear.
“Found you!” Odurin’s eyes flashed with a sharp gleam, and a black giant dragon appeared before Lu Qiuchen.
As soon as the dragon appeared, it lunged forward and vanished instantly upon reaching a certain boundary.
Shouts of anger and terror echoed throughout the space, quieting down after a while.
After a short time, Lu Qiuchen opened her mouth wide, watching as Odurin returned, holding a creature no larger than a chick.
The chick-like creature glared angrily at Lu Qiuchen and shouted:
“My heart! Odurin! You actually gave my heart to someone else, may you die a terrible death!”
Lu Qiuchen was stunned as the chick’s glare followed her gaze down to her left chest, where the outline of a heart was clearly visible.
While still bewildered, Odurin’s forepaw moved slightly, clutching the chick’s neck, silencing it forever.
Odurin approached her and commanded, “Transform into dragon form.”
At that moment, Lu Qiuchen realized Odurin must have tampered with her, allowing him to follow her into this mental space.
Under his oppressive authority, she obediently complied.
Seeing Lu Qiuchen reveal her Silver Dragon form, Odurin nodded lightly, a trace of approval on his face.
“Not bad! It was indeed the right choice to entrust you with this Golden Dragon Heart!”
Lu Qiuchen doubted she was facing the real Odurin.
Why was he so gentle today? Had someone taken over his body?
“Hmm? You’ve come into contact with the Sky Shard before?”
After seeing Odurin’s expression shift from satisfaction to surprise in a very short time, Lu Qiuchen took the opportunity to ask,
“What exactly is the Sky Shard?”
If a powerful figure like Odurin paid attention, then this “Sky Shard” was undoubtedly something extraordinary.