After sending Onyxia to the "Light" level of the Serakhen Divine Palace, Ekseltus did not linger.
He locked onto the coordinates used to banish Deathwing, tore space apart again, and stepped into that dead, banished land.
Absolute silence instantly enveloped him.
There was no wind, no sound, no stars, and no sign of life here.
Beneath his feet was a vast, crimson wasteland, stretching to the horizon.
The sky was a murky leaden gray, constant and unchanging.
The air was extremely thin, almost a vacuum, and the temperature remained at an extremely low level.
This was a dead planet, with only emptiness remaining.
For mortals, such an environment would be fatal, but for Dragons, it was merely "harsh."
Ekseltus's vertical pupils scanned the wasteland, his perception spreading out.
Deathwing's unique, twisted energy fluctuations were like a lighthouse in the darkness, impossible to hide.
He precisely locked onto the direction and flew towards that area.
Just as he was descending, preparing to land—Rumble—!
The wasteland beneath him exploded without warning!
A giant crater, hundreds of meters in diameter, instantly formed, and a terrifying shockwave, laden with shattered rock, swept outwards like a tsunami!
The earth groaned, and countless bottomless fissures, radiating from the explosion's epicenter, spread and tore in all directions!
A dark shadow, carrying the scent of lava, sulfur, and destruction, shot up from the center of the explosion!
Deathwing!
Many parts of his elemental armor were damaged, and the flowing lava quickly cooled and blackened in the frigid air, looking like grotesque scars.
But the madness and fury in his eyes burned more fiercely than ever.
The humiliation of being banished, the rage of the interrupted ritual, and the fear of being cut off from his source of power, completely ignited him.
"Blasphemer! Insect!!" Deathwing's roar shattered the silence of this dead world, sound waves creating visible ripples in the thin air.
He gave Ekseltus no chance to speak, his spike-covered tail sweeping horizontally, accompanied by a piercing shriek that tore through space.
At the same time, his massive maw opened wide, and a long-prepared breath of Shadowflame spewed forth, directly at Ekseltus, erupting with a roar!
Behind him, long-accumulated spells followed like a meteor shower!
The attacks were overwhelming, instantly sealing off all escape routes.
Deathwing's first move was an all-out assault, intending to utterly crush this existence that dared to humiliate him into dust!
Facing this destructive storm, enough to make even Wild Gods tremble, Ekseltus merely floated calmly in the air.
There wasn't even a ripple in his Dragon eyes.
He raised a Dragon claw and gently pressed it against the void in front of him.
Whoosh—an invisible domain field suddenly descended!
"Bang!"
The sweeping tail was like it had hit an invisible and indestructible wall, abruptly stopping, unable to advance another inch.
The violent impact also recoiled upon him, producing a dull thud mixed with the sound of cracking bones.
The breath of Shadowflame, while still some distance from Ekseltus, silently split and dissipated like waves crashing against a reef, finally vanishing into nothingness.
The spell projectiles that followed didn't even manage to create a ripple before disappearing without a trace.
For the first time, clear horror was reflected in Deathwing's molten gold vertical pupils.
His proud power, capable of tearing the earth apart, was so vulnerable before his opponent?
Ekseltus's Dragon claw, pressed against the void, suddenly tightened!
"Boom—!"
A terrifying force appeared out of nowhere and slammed heavily onto Deathwing's body!
"Crack!" The elemental armor let out a screeching wail, shattering in large chunks!
Deathwing didn't even have time to let out a cry of pain before his mountain-like body was slammed towards the ground by this immense force!
So fast, it even left a trailing afterimage!
"Bang!"
As the former Earth-Warder fell, the ground trembled violently!
A crater, larger and deeper than the one Deathwing had made before, instantly formed!
Fissures spread wildly, almost tearing apart the wasteland!
Smoke and dust, mixed with cooled lava debris, shot into the sky, forming a giant gray-red mushroom cloud.
Ekseltus's figure slowly descended, hovering at the edge of the giant crater.
As the dust gradually settled, Deathwing was seen deeply embedded in the rock at the center of the pit.
Large areas of his elemental armor had shattered and peeled off, revealing charred, twisted flesh underneath, oozing viscous lava.
He struggled to get up, but each movement exacerbated his injuries, and lava-like blood gushed from his mouth, nose, and wounds, hissing on the cold ground.
The madness in his molten gold vertical pupils was replaced by intense pain and the daze of being utterly crushed.
Ekseltus landed at the bottom of the pit, his enormous shadow enveloping the dying Destroyer.
He ignored Deathwing's weak growls and struggles, placing a Dragon claw directly on Deathwing's head.
Divine power instantly invaded.
What presented itself to Ekseltus's will was not a complete soul, but a chaotic and violent vortex.
Countless twisted, screeching fragments of whispers—from NZoth's seduction and corruption, like maggots in bone, permeating every corner—and the obsession to destroy everything—resentment towards the Titanss, hatred for the world, and a mad craving to reshape the world—formed the basis of the vortex's violent rotation.
And in the deepest part of the vortex, some extremely faint fragments of "Neltharion" were hidden—the responsibility of the Earth-Warder, the warmth towards his kin, and—the faint glimmer of his initial Guardian will.
The three wildly churned, tore, and merged, forming the mad Destroyer known as "Deathwing."
They had long become one, indistinguishable.
If divine power were used to forcibly strip away and cleanse the corruption, it would be like tearing apart a ball of yarn with brute force, inevitably leading to the complete disintegration of this fragile soul, leaving only an empty shell driven by corruption.
Ekseltus withdrew his probing will.
This was consistent with the initial judgment; forced purification would not work.
He gazed at the dying Deathwing at the bottom of the pit, whose eyes held only pain and chaos, and made a decision.
His Dragon claw once again pressed onto his head; this time, it was not for probing.
Instead, it was the ability granted to him after the birth of the "Glimmering Dream," allowing him to forcibly put other creatures into a dream.
The light in Deathwing's eyes quickly extinguished, his heavy eyelids closed, and his body completely slumped in the deep pit, falling into a profound, forced sleep.
"Memories." Ekseltus mobilized his divine power, beginning to guide and weave the dream.
Not to create an illusion, but to retrace.
To retrace the deepest and most ancient memory fragments of Deathwing—or rather, Neltharion—buried by madness and corruption within his soul.
It was like salvaging golden grains that had not been completely contaminated from a muddy swamp.
The power of the dream gradually took effect.
The sleeping Black Dragon King's body twitched slightly, and the blood flowing out seemed to slow down a bit.
In the depths of his consciousness, the fragments belonging to "Neltharion"—those forgotten images of guardianship, responsibility, and—a touch of warmth—began to be forcibly awakened.
Like fragments of a shipwreck, they floated faintly in the chaotic maelstrom.
—Divider—Under a primitive and wild sky, the scent of decay enveloped the earth.
Young black Proto-Dragon Neltharion and blue Proto-Dragon Malygos flapped their wings side by side, soaring through the cold air.
Their target—Galakrond.
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