Chapter18-Submission, or Death?

"It seems these projections are extraordinary, and from their display of strength, each one has already reached the level of a 2-star dragon god!" Alan spoke calmly.

"It appears that Nidhogg has indeed made some progress."

Saying this, Alan smiled.

As Alan and Fafnir continued to move forward, Alan then released his own divine aura. 

This was the unique majesty of the Almighty God, a power so immense that it could claim its own domain, its own realm. 

Even within the dragon race's forbidden area, it could obliterate the surrounding forces of death, destruction, and the suspended eerie cosmic dust of the forbidden zone!

The next moment, as the forbidden area's power was purified, a vast construct made of star dust with a destructive aura suddenly lost a large chunk. 

A giant construct, resembling a burning eye with blue flames, now had a big gap.

Fafnir and Alan, surrounded by holy light, sensed a familiar aura emanating from it. 

It was an ancient, world-weary aura, tinged with a sense of an impending apocalypse.

Then, Fafnir and the holy light-enshrouded Almighty God Alan saw a massive dragon shadow ahead. 

It was indeed the coiled figure of the Despair Black Dragon God Nidhogg, seemingly nestled within a bizarre bud. 

At the moment Fafnir and Alan discovered Nidhogg, it suddenly awoke as well.

Its oil-red eyes then fixed upon them.

"You are the Elemental Dragon God Fafnir and the Almighty God Alan?!"

The voice seemed to carry an ancient echo, as if it were a cry emanating from the depths of the soul.

"You have disturbed my recuperation. Do you wish to battle me?" The voice of the Despair Black Dragon God Nidhogg carried a tone of readiness for combat.

Hearing this, both Fafnir and Alan remained composed.

Alan spoke quietly, "What are you talking about, Nidhogg? Have you just woken up and lost track of the times?"

"Don't you remember, when you fled into this forbidden area for refuge, I had already become the Almighty God?"

"Do you really think I haven't progressed over these years?"

"Or that I haven't thought of ways specifically to counter you?"

Upon hearing this, the Elemental Dragon God Fafnir glanced at Alan, showing a hint of wariness.

In fact, there was a time in the Divine Realm when the dragon race was the dominant force. 

However, that changed with the creation of a weapon specifically designed to counter dragons, known as the "Dragon Slayer Spear."

With this weapon, the dragons once faced massive slaughter and even suffered the humiliation of becoming mounts and subordinates to the old gods.

Eventually, the dragons managed to destroy the "Dragon Slayer Spear," scattering its fragments across various forbidden zones.

But if it were the Almighty God Alan, reassembling the fragments to recreate the spear might not be impossible.

"Now, choose: submit to me or face death?" Alan continued.

Simultaneously, he used his Beast Taming System to assess Nidhogg and found, just like with the Elemental Dragon God Fafnir, the probability of taming Nidhogg was also 0%.

Of course, the reason for this was that both Fafnir and Nidhogg were 9-star deities, placing them in a rank very close to Alan's stature as the Almighty God. 

However, proximity in divine rank did not necessarily equate to similarity in power. 

In fact, in Alan's eyes, these two dragon gods were still significantly inferior to him.

At this moment, Nidhogg, after casting a glance at Fafnir and then at Alan, unexpectedly transformed into darkness and fled towards the distant rear. 

Seeing this action, both Alan and Fafnir immediately gave chase.

Ahead was the direction Nidhogg had retreated to, the most dangerous area of the dragon race's forbidden land: the Shattered Rift. 

This was also the origin point of the dragon race's forbidden zone, originally the collision point between the Divine Realm and another unknown world's plane. 

The forces here were bizarrely turbulent, demanding cautiousness even from 9-star deities. 

Otherwise, they risked being sucked into the chaotic rift currents, disappearing, or possibly becoming trapped in some strange alternate plane.

However, Nidhogg seemed very familiar with this place, or perhaps he was just boldly gambling for survival.

Observing the Shattered Rift, Alan was momentarily speechless.

Bolstered by supreme divine powers such as "wisdom" and "nature," Alan understood that if Nidhogg could discern some patterns in this area, so could he, allowing him to track Nidhogg's escape route.

However, at that moment, Fafnir looked at Alan, visibly stunned. 

He too was aware of the special and dangerous nature of this region.

Seeing Alan standing there motionless, Fafnir thought he was scared.

He then spoke up, "Alan, what's the matter with you?"

"Are we still pursuing, or are we just going to stand guard here?"

Hearing this, Alan shook his head.

"I've roughly figured out where it fled to, and besides..."

"I've just realized that it's more interesting to trap it here forever than to chase it inside."

With that, he unleashed his supreme divine power and began to interfere with the Shattered Rift in front of them.

Subsequently, as Alan's divine power was activated, the various colored fragments and wave-like materials of the Shattered Rift began to reassemble.

Alan successfully influenced these plane fragments with his power, causing their connections to become unstable.

Moreover, the pace at which the plane fragments of the Shattered Rift were destabilizing was not very fast, a deliberate setting by Alan.

Some fragments within the Shattered Rift contained powers of death and destruction, others were devoid of energy and only held remains and ashes, while still others were like regular planes, similar to a corner of the Human World, unable to provide sufficient energy supply to the Despair Black Dragon God Nidhogg.

If trapped inside continuously, Nidhogg's power would gradually wane, and its divine rank might even fall!

It could potentially fall back to 9-star, or even 8-star.

This was certainly something it would not want to see.

Nidhogg's original plan was to keep diving into and out of the Shattered Rift to evade attacks from Alan and Fafnir, buying time and giving itself a chance to catch its breath.

Meanwhile, by emerging for battle occasionally, Nidhogg might have been able to seize the initiative and absorb the destructive energy from the surrounding dragon race's forbidden zone. 

But what it never anticipated was that the Almighty God Alan could achieve such a miraculous feat!

Soon, without Alan making any large-scale adjustments to the Shattered Rift, the Despair Black Dragon God Nidhogg emerged from it. 

It appeared somewhat disheveled, even bearing some wounds on its back. 

It seemed that the perilously chaotic Shattered Rift, under Alan's manipulation, caused some plane fragments to collide, injuring even Nidhogg, a deity above the 9-star level.

"You despicable Almighty God Alan!"

"You cunning lower realm human!"

"I should have destroyed the Human World when I had the chance, damn it!"

The Despair Black Dragon God glared at Elemental Dragon God Fafnir and the Almighty God Alan, displaying a look of hatred.

"Perhaps, but now you need to make a choice. Fight or surrender?" Alan's voice was incredibly calm.

He then glanced at the Elemental Dragon God Fafnir next to him, before returning his gaze to Nidhogg. 

"You can choose to surrender or to die. If you surrender, I promise you, in front of the current Elemental Dragon God Fafnir, I will not kill you!"

"But, you will have to serve as my mount for a hundred years."

"Your power will also be suppressed."

Hearing this, Elemental Dragon God Fafnir frowned slightly.

He was essentially the most prideful being among the dragon gods. 

If he were in a position to choose, given that he was not a pureblood god but had a bloodline of elemental creation, possessing profound mastery over elemental magic surpassing that of elemental mages, his prideful nature would likely compel him to choose death over servitude as a mount.

Elemental Dragon God Fafnir, faced with the choice between becoming a mount or death, would resolutely choose death!