"This is exhilarating," Muria surveyed his surroundings, observing the massive claw marks, the seemingly endless trenches, bottomless craters, and craters with a radius of at least hundreds of meters. Scattered fires burned around him, arcs of electricity flashed, and occasionally dark red glows flashed in the sky, filled with killing intent—the residue of the diluted divine power from the Dragon Hunter. This area had turned into a desolate place, unsuitable for any ordinary life to exist.
"In a battle of legends on the surface, the victor is responsible for cleaning up all residual power," Muria muttered, looking at the devastated region.
The power of legends could reshape the world's landscape, but such a radical change, with residual divine power, was not allowed. Such an environment would take thousands of years to naturally degrade, during which no creature weaker than a legend could survive.
"You, come here," Muria, in his golden dragon form, gestured arrogantly and dismissively to the trembling legends and soul-bound beings who had survived the legendary battle.
"Dragon, even under threat of death, we will not yield," protested a legend, still weak from being grazed by Muria's dragon breath, which had sapped his strength. This was his last stand.
"Cleanse this area of all residual legendary and divine power, and I will give you a chance to survive," Muria said with half-closed eyes. Survival and freedom were different concepts. These legends would obediently be sealed and placed in Synapse's energy-absorbing array.
Hearing they could survive, the legends and remaining soul-bound beings looked at each other and quickly agreed, starting to clean up the lingering power.
After the cleanup, Muria kept his promise and sealed the legends and soul-bound beings, throwing them into his demi-plane, effectively capturing the most powerful dragon hunters on the continent.
"My cleanup is done. Do you plan to come with me, or return home?" Muria asked the two ancient dragons in the icy castle.
"Your Highness, I am willing to go with you," the ancient white dragon, living a hard life on this continent, immediately threw itself at Muria's feet, eager to cling to this rare opportunity.
"Your Highness, I..." The ancient crystal dragon hesitated, concerned about leaving his clan behind. Being of a different dragon species, he couldn't just leave with Muria.
"I understand." Muria, in human form, jumped onto the ancient white dragon's head, then turned slightly to the side, warning, "Don't randomly slaughter humans. If I find out, I'll deal with you personally."
"What about the dragon hunters?" The ancient crystal dragon, sensing Muria's nonchalant attitude, felt somewhat disappointed, realizing Muria did not particularly value him.
"Do as you wish," Muria replied. He wasn't merciful enough to stop dragons from hunting dragon hunters.
To Muria, this dragon-hunting operation was over, but for the White Dragon Duchy and Synapse's enforcer dragons, it was just beginning. Muria had cleared the top dragon hunters, but many remained at lower levels, posing a threat to young dragons.
"Your Highness, you're back!" As Muria returned to the central cloud island of Synapse, his maid and chief steward, Mia, hurriedly approached him.
"How is Claudia's war of expansion going?"
"Master Muria, there was an unexpected development. The war was progressing well, with Claudia conquering three principalities, but suddenly ten human cardinal archbishops got involved, stalling the progress."
"The Church of the Benevolent God again," Muria frowned. "Don't they know Claudia is my dragon? How dare they interfere?"
"Your Highness, even if Claudia isn't considered an evil dragon because of your influence, she's still a dragon. And she's attacking human countries. How could the church not intervene?"
Muria fell silent. A change in rulers often meant a change in religious beliefs, which the gods could not tolerate, so their agents intervened in the war. This was not surprising.
"How troublesome," Muria sighed, his brow furrowed. Initially, if Claudia's campaign had gone smoothly, he planned to move Synapse to another continent, but now it seemed impossible.
"I guess we'll have to force them to submit and then negotiate about religious distribution," Muria rubbed his brow, feeling a headache.
For Claudia to conquer and rule the North long-term, a balance among the gods, particularly in terms of religious influence, was necessary. Otherwise, unification would be impossible, even with Muria's support.
However, the North's religious domain had long been divided. Claudia's invasion disrupted this balance, necessitating a new division, including the ice and snow gods Muria introduced to subdue the frost giants.
Of course, calling them evil gods now was inappropriate, as they had revised their doctrines per Muria's instructions. This included not only the Ice Goddess Auril but also other deities like the Frost Giant God, the Raven God, and the Frost Wolf God.
Many evil gods had signed cooperation contracts with Muria, allowing them to preach among humans. They handed over their frost giants to Muria, and without human believers, the deal couldn't work.
"The pie isn't big enough. To satisfy all the gods, the pie must grow," Muria mused. "So we need policies to encourage population growth in the North, a topic to discuss with Claudia."
"But first, we need to make those human churches submit. We need to make them sit down at the negotiation table!" Muria disappeared from the Wind King Castle before his seat could even warm up...
In the sky above the frontline, where Claudia's White Dragon Legion faced the North Alliance's millions of troops, a massive golden dragon tore through space, roaring and emitting a tangible dragon might.
"Come out, agents of the gods!" Muria's voice boomed like thunder. As soon as he spoke, a series of rainbow-like beams shot out from the North Alliance's side, each carrying legendary pressure, enough to counter Muria's dragon might.
Behind Muria, Claudia led a group of ancient white dragons and the legends Muria had sent her, facing the North's legends.
"Speak, what will it take for you to withdraw from this war and not interfere?" Muria ignored the northern legendary dukes and addressed the ten cardinals in red robes at the forefront.
"Your Highness, that's impossible."
"Don't you think the North has been divided long enough? Unifying into one kingdom is beneficial. Why do you oppose it?"
"The North does need unification, but it shouldn't be done by a dragon," one cardinal said, glancing at Claudia.
"Why can't I unify the North just because I'm a white dragon?" Claudia scoffed, disdainful. Humans, inherently weak, couldn't have occupied such vast territories without their gods' backing.
"It's just a matter of faith," Muria said to the cardinals. "If I promise that after Claudia unifies the North, we won't interfere with your church's preaching, will that suffice?"
"You're joking, Your Highness," a cardinal smiled politely. In the past, they had the same status in the North. No local lord dared suppress their preaching.
If the North were unified, the situation would change. Divine authority could easily be suppressed by royal power, as a church's strength could never be fully concentrated in one place.
"Understand this: once the North is unified, despite the population loss from war, there will be a population boom afterward, providing ample faith. While your churches might temporarily lose followers, they will eventually recover and grow."
"However, Your Highness, unifying the North is better left to humans, not a white dragon."
"Rejection after rejection. Don't you understand? You only have one choice," Muria's dragon eyes flashed with lightning. He was losing patience...
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]