OBS Chapter 304 Kukulkan: My brother's name has changed here.
Chapter 304 Kukulkan: My brother's name has changed here.
To be clear, since Nata hadn't been published when the outline of this book was being drafted, I named the Fire Dragon King, or rather, all the original Dragon Kings, after gods from Greek mythology. Now it seems I've been thoroughly betrayed.
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The four Shadows of Sky Island, along with the Elemental Dragon Lords familiar to Kiana, are gathered together. To be honest, this is the first time such a scene has ever been seen in the history of Teyvat, and the one who brought them together is Kiana, who has just returned to Teyvat.
"Do you mean you're carrying that person's reincarnation?"
After finally digesting this shocking news, Apep asked with difficulty, while the others looked at Kiana, who seemed a little embarrassed, in silence.
"I suppose so. Before Nighold died completely, I extracted the last remaining fragment of his soul that hadn't been corrupted by the abyss and nurtured it within my own body. I did originally intend to put that fragment into my first child, but I never expected it to happen so soon..."
"Can you tell us who the father of this child is...?"
Navelette stepped forward. As the second-generation Water Dragon King, he possessed the legacy of the previous Water Dragon King. From these inherited memories and knowledge, Navelette could vaguely sense that Nighold would not dissipate so easily, but he never expected that it would be continued in this way.
"And if his soul is merged into your own child, what will happen to your child's original soul?"
“There is no original soul, because the fusion of souls was completed from the moment I successfully conceived the child. You could say that the child’s soul is the complete soul of Nighold’s incomplete soul. As for the child’s father, I will take you to meet him later. I’m mainly here now to inform you and prepare you mentally.”
"To be honest, this news is a bit too shocking. Are you really pregnant?" Istaru asked again to confirm.
"Does this need to be confirmed? It's not like those present are incapable of confirming this."
Istar could only shrug helplessly. Just as Kiana said, it wasn't like there was no one present who couldn't check. Even the Ruler of Life and the Grass Dragon King Apep could feel the surging life force in Kiana's abdomen.
"But then again, I didn't expect you, Apep, to have a human form. I thought you, who hate humans and gods the most, would disdain creating a human appearance for yourself."
In response to Istaru's sarcastic remarks, Appepp simply snorted.
"And the way you're doing this, tsk tsk tsk, are you imitating the Lord?"
Indeed, Apep's current human form is a white-haired, blue-eyed female figure, but she looks quite different from Kiana. If you had to say, Kiana looks more like the wife of a certain dragon-loving company president.
Kiana was also very curious about why Apep had created a human form. Seeing Kiana's curious look, Apep knew he couldn't hide it any longer, so he sighed and slowly revealed the origin of his human form.
In short, after learning that Kiana was Ahmael's teacher, Apep had the idea of meeting Ahmael. Of course, this did not mean that she was interested in Ahmael, but rather that she wanted to see why Kiana had taken Ahmael as her disciple. Ideally, she could secretly turn a demon god against her and make Sky Island feel disgusted.
So Apep consciously sculpted a human-shaped figure to resemble Kiana, but Apep's figure didn't look quite right, so much so that he was recognized the moment he got close to Akhmar.
At that time, the goddess of flowers was still alive, so Apep's plan to turn Ahmar against him did not succeed. However, he did develop a deep friendship with Ahmar, although Apep himself did not want to admit it.
This is why Apep later agreed to Ahmar's request to swallow his body after his failure in order to seal away forbidden knowledge.
It could be said that Apep knew from the beginning that Ahmar was setting her up, but she still agreed. After all, she thought that dealing with mere forbidden knowledge would be a piece of cake with her own power. However, she didn't expect that the forbidden knowledge would be comparable to the abyss, and that swallowing it would instantly trigger a chain reaction that caused her old injuries to relapse.
If Kiana hadn't come to her rescue, Apep might have died from forbidden knowledge, just as Ahmar had planned, and the grass element power she unleashed would have completely revived the entire desert, leaving no desert in the entire Sumeru region.
The story is over, and the origin of the humanoid's appearance is clear, but this reason makes Kiana a little embarrassed. And why does Kiana always feel that Apep is more like a spoiled, arrogant blonde loser in this story? And was that statement about not being interested in Ahmael serious?
Those who have said similar things often end up deeply entangled in their own problems, and Kiana doesn't believe that Apep never developed even the slightest bit of affection for Ahmar afterward. After all, dragons may lie, but her mental fluctuations don't.
Whenever Akhmar was mentioned, Kiana could clearly sense a significant fluctuation in Apep's mental state. This fluctuation wasn't caused by anger or similar emotions, but rather by sadness and longing. In short, Kiana simply didn't believe Apep when she said she had no feelings for Akhmar at all.
Why would I have a dream where a blue-eyed girl falls for a starfish-headed girl?
Chaos, everything is in chaos. Kiana felt that this Teyvat was toxic; why did the characters on Sumeru's side always resemble those in a card-playing, world-saving anime?
Who could understand why Kiana felt her mind go blank when she saw the Flower Goddess, who looked so much like a woman from a tomb-guarding clan wearing millennia-old jewelry? Not to mention that Ahmar actually had a priest named Set under his command.
Even though Kiana still had a lot to say, it all turned into a heavy sigh in the end.
"...Never mind, I'm not very interested in your love story with my cheap apprentice." Kiana continued, ignoring Appepp's anxious denial, "Besides informing you that I have a child, I also want to choose one of you to be the child's godmother or godfather."
Upon hearing this, Istaru and Apep's eyes sharpened instantly. Their gazes collided, sparking like lightning and fire in the air, causing everyone else to take a half-step back.
"Ms. Kiana, can you tell me why?" It was finally Vilette who spoke up, interrupting the silent dispute.
"Well, how should I put it?" Kiana scratched her head in distress. "For some reasons, as you know, I'm not often in Teyvat. Although I really want my child to grow up by my side, for safety reasons, I think it's better for Him to stay in Teyvat."
As she spoke, Kiana's brows furrowed slightly with a hint of disappointment. After all, as a mother, she certainly didn't want her child to leave her side; nothing could be happier than watching her child grow up healthy and strong.
But as Kiana herself said, she couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't have to face Him on the journey ahead. Even Kiana herself couldn't guarantee she could protect her companions under His threat, let alone her own child who was still young. Letting Him grow up in a safe place was the best option for now.
Navelette understood what Kiana was worried about. After all, because of the Water Dragon King's special nature, Kiana had talked to him a lot and he knew some of Kiana's arrangements. Therefore, after Kiana said it herself, he chose to remain silent to show that he understood.
Seeing that Navelette had no objections, the other dragon kings naturally did not raise any objections either. Since Navelette regained control of the ancient dragons and benefited from the special status and importance of the water dragon king, he had become the de facto leader of the dragon race. Even Apep, the oldest elemental dragon king, tacitly approved of this situation.
After all, according to the dragon prophecy, the second-generation Water Dragon King was to lead them to overthrow the rule of Sky Island, although this prophecy has now been abandoned due to the current situation. However, the fact that Vilet would lead the dragons has become a reality, since Apep couldn't possibly lead them either.
For so many years, she had been more focused on accumulating power for revenge, and compared to Naviette, a junior who had worked diligently in the position of ruler for five hundred years, she was still somewhat lacking. After all, she had only held a sinecure managing the World Tree, and the responsibility of leading the dragon race was entirely entrusted to Nighogd and several other dragon kings.
Afterwards, Fanes defeated Nighold and destroyed the dragon civilization, and began to transform Teyvat. Apep, the previous administrator of the World Tree, was the first to be targeted. After being stripped of her control over the World Tree, she was sealed away until Nighold returned from the Abyss and was freed.
However, at that time, she was too weak, and because she sensed the danger of the abyss and felt a strange calling, Apep did not follow Prometheus to join Nighogd in overthrowing Sky Island.
Furthermore, she believed that with Prometheus's help, Nighold's strength had greatly increased, and dealing with Sky Island would be a piece of cake, if not a sure thing. However, she did not expect that even with the power of the abyss, Nighold was still unable to defeat Fanes.
Ultimately, he completely lost his mind and transformed into a pitch-black dragon. Farnese chose to perish together with Nighold, who was completely swallowed by the abyss. Severely wounded, Farnese, while still conscious, chose to sacrifice himself so that Teyvat could continue.
The four shadows, following the final order of Fanes, dropped Heavenly Spikes across the entire Teyvat region corrupted by the Abyss.
It was at this moment that Apep realized just how dangerous the Abyss was. But faced with the temptation of that immense power, the remorseful Apep finally reached out his hand to the Abyss. However, before he could accept the Abyss's gift, a celestial nail fell from the sky, interrupting Apep's absorption of the Abyss and severely injuring him.
To recover from his injuries, Apep chose to go into a deep sleep. However, Apep never expected that the call he had received was actually issued by Kiana. After all, Apep was still a member of the Nighogd clan and had lived with Kiana for a period of time. Kiana would not have allowed Apep to dabble in the power of the Abyss.
As for Prometheus, there was nothing he could do. Upon sensing Nighold's return, he immediately responded to Nighold and accepted the power from the abyss. Moreover, he made this decision despite Kiana's warnings. Given Kiana's mental state at the time, seeing Prometheus's stubbornness, she completely abandoned him.
The position of Fire Dragon King remains vacant. For some unknown reason, Yuan Huo has not yet had a successor to the Fire Dragon King, and the whereabouts of the Fire Dragon King's younger brother, Kukulkan, are still unknown. Kukulkan, being of the same origin, would have been the most likely dragon to inherit the position of Fire Dragon King if he had been willing, but he did not do so.
While Apep was brainstorming here, Kiana answered her question.
"Of course, in addition to the two things mentioned above, there is another matter that needs to be resolved upon this return, which is to prevent Kukulkan from activating the Viclopochtli device."
"What is Vichilopochtlina?"
Everyone looked at Kiana with confusion, hoping she could provide an explanation. Kiana, of course, didn't mince words and explained directly.
In short, when Prometheus and Nidhogg failed to overthrow Sky Island, Nidhogg perished along with Phanes, while Prometheus was plagued by the corruption of the abyss.
Later, thanks to the Sky Isles dropping celestial nails to purify the Abyss, Prometheus was not completely corrupted by it. It was at that time that he began his research on the Abyss with the intention of expelling it.
The so-called Viclopochtli was Prometheus's final solution, because he discovered that even the mighty Abyss could not withstand high concentrations of phlogiston energy. The device's effect was to convert the entire Nata into phlogiston, turning it into information that would remain in the world and eventually spread throughout Teyvat. Prometheus also believed that with the dragons' adaptability, they would eventually regain their dominance over this world.
Kukulkan initially rejected this plan, but ultimately agreed to it for his brother's sake. After that, he turned his attention to humanity, hoping to find a second way to expel the Abyss, thus eliminating the need to initiate this final plan.
Unfortunately, as time went by, Kukulkan gradually began to favor activating Viclopochtli, since most of his long-term plans had ended in failure or due to unforeseen circumstances.
However, like Prometheus, Kukulkan did not activate the device directly but waited for humanity to expel the abyss as he hoped; otherwise, he would activate the final solution.
Since he had already devoted his body to the source fire, he no longer had the ability to activate Vichilopochtli. Therefore, he dug out a Fire Dragon King training plan called "Blessing of Fireworks" to cultivate a dragon with the bloodline of the Lord of Fireworks to activate the device.
The matter is now clear: although the Abyss of Nata has been resolved, Kukulkan seems dissatisfied. In the future Kiana saw, he still chose to activate Vichilopochtli. Whether he successfully activated it or not, Kiana didn't explicitly say, but she did mention the approximate time of that crucial turning point—after the birth of her child.
However, everyone present had to prepare for the worst, namely that Kukulkan would eventually activate the device.
Although this result did not affect the dragon race, things are different now. With Kiana's child, who possesses Nighogd's soul, the dragon race naturally cannot just stand by and watch Kukulkan activate the device.
After all, no one could guarantee that the unborn child would survive. In any case, Nighold was important, at least that's what Apep thought. So she became the first dragon member to stand up and agree to Kiana's request.
Seeing this, the others naturally followed suit. After all, unlike Appepp, they had more ties in this world. Even if Appepp disagreed, they would definitely agree, since there was no choice from the beginning, right?