Beneath the Red Dragon

Thus, Paul Atreides both obeyed the fragments of future prophecy he foresaw, seeking help from the Fremen, and resisted that terrifying future where he would rule the Fremen through religion and become the Fremen Messiah.

For the path of the Messiah, in his eyes, cannot lead humanity toward the future. When those fervent Fremen spread war across the Cosmos in the name of god, he, Paul Atreides, could not stop it.

He is now like the one predestined in dreams and legends, stepping into the vast desert, yet carrying a heavy burden akin to shackles. Fear surrounds him, but he must slay the fear.

”This is also a man trying to escape the hands of fate,”

Karon smiled faintly, while the Red Dragon, having acquired vast amounts of information, input one piece of information and variable after another into his mind, probing at his own trajectory.

In an instant, countless result branches appeared before Karon, but even after contact with Paul Atreides and gaining a wealth of intertwined information, the union of this knowledge painted a picture of the world situation and changes, predicting various futures based on Paul Atreides’ character and thinking.

Including the preset variable of the Fremen, which hadn’t actually intersected, Karon still could not grasp the endpoint that belonged to himself and the Golden Imperial Legion.

Every line extends and grows into a future that even the Ancestral Red Dragon cannot see at least a few thousand years down the line.

Intertwined densely, even Karon’s current abilities cannot clarify the train of thought.

So Karon turned around, swept his gaze toward the distant Fremen hidden in the dark desert canyons, observing their faces and life fluctuations, visible entirely to him.

When he saw a familiar face, Karon’s mind sparkled, it was the Fremen Paul dreamed of several times, a Fremen Warrior, a Fremen girl.

And the information attached to each of these Fremen people was all activated one by one by the Ancestral Red Dragon and then consolidated and unified.

Grasping this spark of Spiritual Light, the calculation of the mind and the foresight of Heart Energy operated together, swiftly collecting the infinitely spreading segments of the future line, with numerous branches indicating the path of the Golden Empire, in the future after three thousand five hundred years.

Yet this was a result that the Ancestral Red Dragon and the Golden Empire had never directly intervened in.

If Karon led the Golden Empire Legion to directly intervene in the direction of the whole event, their path would meet its end in twelve years.

Or they would retreat to the Icaria World’s stronghold, or they would disperse within the Interstellar World, only the Ancestral Red Dragon could persist here.

”So, the Plane God in the World of Ice and Fire wishes to confine the Golden Empire in this world for three thousand five hundred years, using this result to make us retreat and abandon the original plan?”

Karon raised his head, looking at the two moons in the sky, excitement color revealed in his pupils.

The abundant energy within his body supported the swift operation of his mind, discarding, selecting various potential branches, and finally locking them down.

”Well then, let’s see who can break free from the predetermined trajectory and escape the original fate!”

The turning of thoughts, in a mere fleeting moment, during this brief moment, Karon exposed the few locked segments of the future line one by one.

Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica had just recovered from the Emperor’s True Words Decree, and got up from the ground.

Jessica was both frightened and shocked; the Witch’s True Word from the Sisterhood only had two states, effective and ineffective.

Such a situation had never occurred before, clearly effective before the opponent, awakening the power of the True Word, yet unable to affect others.

Most crucially, that person who seemed to step out from legend, perhaps not human, learned the magic of True Words in an instant, yet this was a Witch’s True Word, only females could learn it, except for Paul Atreides, unexpectedly created by the Sisterhood as a Warlock.

Paul Atreides was far calmer than his mother, he only looked at Karon in confusion. Although Karon used the True Word to make him kneel, Paul did not sense any malice or conspiracy from Karon.

”Who exactly are you?”

Paul Atreides asked calmly, but his hand hidden behind his back quietly grasped his weapon.

”It appears you have not understood,”

Karon looked at Paul Atreides, exposing a gentle smile.

Though using True Words was spur of the moment, it was also a probing action towards Paul.

Now Karon knew that although the opponent possessed cross-time and space thought capability, he did not possess cross-time and space power.

This implies that the still growing Paul had not reached the anticipated level, hence could not comprehend Karon’s actions.

”Understand what?”

Paul Atreides’ puzzled gaze looked at this man whose perfection the moonlight could not compare to. Although his foresight ability was not yet mature, he had strong warnings about himself, he could predict every danger coming his way.

Yet standing in front of this man did not trigger his foresight, hence he was not too tense.

”Dreams may be splendid, but important matters occur outside the dream, because only when we are awake can we accomplish what is necessary,”

Karon’s tall figure looked at Paul Atreides in an overlooking posture, but his gaze carried a gentle compassion like a god watching the world.