Beneath the Red Dragon

But to Paul’s surprise, these mighty warriors have pride as strong as their power.

”I am not the angel you speak of, nor is the master I serve the True God or Creator,” Lenis said, descending the dune to stand beside the kneeling Fremen.

These warriors, like the entire Golden Empire, possess a dragon-like pride, disdainful of stealing such faith, even if the Fremen are useful to them.

”I am a Divine Warrior, but the god I serve is the Dragon Emperor, the master of humans and all races. Remember,” Lenis’s tall figure stepped onto the sand, and his deep, powerful voice echoed forcefully, ”Do not confuse my master with other Divine Spirits!”

All the Fremen showed looks of astonishment and disbelief, and even the usually composed Paul, whose eyes turned blue due to excessive spice consumption, revealed a shocked expression.

But these warriors, as strong as angels, ignored the noisy Fremen who started chattering, regrouped, standing tall like legendary giants, creating an intense sense of oppression for the Fremen.

However, the warriors did not engage in too much conversation, instead, they crossed the dunes, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

After the warriors departed, Paul regained control of the tribe, leading the constantly debating Fremen to kill the remaining Harkonnen Warriors, then prepared to set out again.

But as they crossed the dune, the oasis in the desert appeared suddenly before their eyes, like a paradise descending upon this mortal world.

Stretching to the edge of the desert expanse, the endless green and plants made everyone tremble and fall to their knees, gazing at the lakes shimmering with water ripples, raising their hands to pray and praise the Creator’s mighty power and grace.

And Paul, from his throat, uttered a sentence, ”That’s not the True God, that is the Dragon!”

But apart from his beloved Chini beside him, no one cared about the Prophet’s words, and the excited Fremen, after praying, rushed towards the oasis and lakes like madness.

However, a booming sound echoed, and giant sand worms, several hundred meters in length, emerged from the edge of the oasis, revealing grim mouthparts, emitting strange gurgling sounds, blocking these frenzied Fremen.

”Oh my, this is a sand worm larger than the grandmother-level worms, holy Xia Hulu, how are there so many sand worms gathered here,”

”The largest sand worm I’ve seen was only over two hundred meters, this one far exceeds four hundred meters,”

Fear surged in the hearts of the Fremen who worship the sand worms, in front of worms of this level, the few thousand Fremen left may only suffice for half a meal for these worms.

But these sand worms did not attack the Fremen, instead lowered their heads, mouthparts closed, laying between the oasis and the Fremen, surrendering, bowing to the oasis.

The formidable warriors in front, like giants, at this moment also knelt on one knee towards the center of the oasis, welcoming the master of that silent and solemn aura.

Roaring,

The wings spread like shadows covering the earth, dragon wings of forty-eight meters rose from the center of the oasis, a creature shimmering as if reflecting sunlight soared upwards, making everyone believe a dazzling sun had risen at that moment.

A distance that would take the Fremen a whole day to run, under the wings of this majestic creature, only required a gentle flap to reach.

The Ancestral Red Dragon descended in front of the submissive giant sand worms, an invisible wave of mind swept over everyone, making the Fremen who had no dragon words shout out.

”Dragon, Giant Dragon, this is the Giant Dragon served by those Divine Warriors!”

In the past half year, due to feeding on the growth traits of sand worms, the Ancestral Red Dragon accelerated its developmental pace, growing from twenty-one meters to twenty-three meters.

The originally element-glow shining red scales became even more dazzling, and the incredibly thick limbs appeared broader than rock columns, the metallic glow scales looked more sturdy than the alloy used for constructing ships.

Ancient mysterious patterns adorned the gigantic wings, appearing as streams of various colors flowing within the motifs.

Karon’s huge, majestic, and elegant head raised high, six gigantic horns like scepters, bearing regal nobility.

Yet the spines growing on the Ancestral Red Dragon’s back and those massive, sharp teeth surpassing crafted divine weapons made the Ancestral Red Dragon appear fierce and formidable, terrifying to behold.

The thick dragon tail and the body’s knotted bulging muscles pushing against scales further emphasized its unparalleled sense of power, nobility, majesty, ferocity, mystery, and strength.

This was the immediate impression born in everyone’s mind.

Those enormous sand worms, in front of the Ancestral Red Dragon, became nothing but ugly foolish counterexamples.

Thus, at the moment the Ancestral Red Dragon spoke, the Fremen had already dropped to their knees, worshipping this perfect divine being that had never existed before in the world.

”Do you understand?”

Karon spoke, the dragon’s tone was like ancient echoes, rolling heavily, causing even Paul, who was so close for the first time, to involuntarily clasp his hands and begin to praise this perfect being.

Upon hearing the Ancestral Red Dragon’s words, Paul instinctively used his ability to calculate and observe the future, and as his ability had grown to this extent, he was already able to observe the trajectory fragments of many years into the future.

He saw the future, his revenge succeeded, but the Fremen of Dune Planet became the new nobility of the world, waging wars in his name, causing religious conflicts in Paul’s name, ravaging other planets in the cosmos.

Dune Planet was saved, but other planets fell.

In the grand scheme, even if Paul became emperor, it would be useless, becoming a spiritual leader would be useless too, he becoming a Savior in religious terms was just a pretense, an excuse for humanity to continue waging wars.

The Fremen leaders also utilized Paul’s name to instigate wars, achieving freedom and revenge in his name, rather than rebellions being hunted by the entire Imperial forces.

While he had the ability to foresee the future, ultimately he was just a mortal, unable to control this fervent religion.

What worried him even more was that even with numerous future branches observed, Chini’s death would inevitably come.

This outcome was also the reason Paul did not believe in theocratic rule.

Yet in the past, the silhouette of the Ancestral Red Dragon that had crossed paths with Paul but could not be observed turned into a variable, added by Paul with a heart of mutual understanding. He gained permission from the Red Dragon and thus could observe other trajectories.

That endless despairing trajectory branches instantly unfolded into paths of hope in Paul’s eyes.

With the support of true divine power, Paul would become a real influential leader and religious leader, and those images of Chini’s demise were turned one by one, changing pale faces into smiles.

Even though Paul’s consciousness in his mind still believed that Messianic theocracy could not bring humanity the deserved future, he lowered his head, expressing his respect to the Ancestral Red Dragon.

In Paul’s calculations and predictions, even without him, relying on the opponent’s power, it was still easy enough to rule these Fremen.

But excluding himself, his revenge plan would never succeed, and the future would not head towards the scenes he sought.

”So, God once loved me in Chini’s name!”

Karon smiled faintly, showing his fangs. He couldn’t predict the true path Paul would realize, just countless branches, but could add himself as a variable among them.

But while this method is optimal, it does not mean there are no other ways, Karon just appreciates this warrior and covets the immense potential population in this cosmos for making this choice, thus, Paul’s statement was not wrong.

So the Red Dragon covered his Dragon Claw over Paul’s head, the deep dragon language voice sounded with an invisible mental wave, ”Go forth, you are not the child of the True God but a Messiah Warrior of the Dragon,”

”I give you a future, you give me the entire world!”

Paul lowered his head, then turned around, faced all the Fremen, raising his arm and shouting angrily, ”God bless the warriors!”