Of course, the Lord of the Black Prison’s progress on the path of Law was clearly faster than the Earth Giant Dragon’s.

In fact, he was already attempting a breakthrough.

Otherwise, how could the Black Prison Race have possibly retreated to the Black Prison World? If the Lord of the Black Prison weren’t at a critical juncture in his breakthrough to Pillar God, he would have clashed with Lince and the other three of the Four Gods long ago.

The combination of the Earth Giant Dragon and the Dawn Giant Dragon was undoubtedly a powerful one.

Otherwise, they couldn’t have possibly survived for over thirty thousand years after the war under the immense pressure of the Titan Race.

Perhaps back then, neither the Titan Race nor the Giant Dragon Race had produced any Authority Level Deities.

But now, as time flew by, and as the Earth Giant Dragon and the Dawn Giant Dragon forged a completely new path based on the development of their civilization, their promotion to the Authority Level was only a natural course of events.

Conflict and crisis were indeed powerful catalysts, for both civilizations and individuals.

"Yes."

"That’s what I find strange as well. But if we were to say the Titan Race is behind this, I honestly have no idea what they could be planning."

"After all, the enmity between us goes back a long way. We are both well aware of each other’s methods, so what good would this do them?"

"Even if they could strip the Bloodline Power from our kin who fell at their hands over thirty thousand years ago, and even if they could forge new Fake Dragons, a fake is still a fake. There’s no way they could fool us."

As the Dawn Giant Dragon spoke, a trace of inexplicable hostility crept into her expression.

"Indeed. They already used the Fake Dragon tactic over ten thousand years ago. I’m sure even they know it’s impossible to deceive us by trying the same thing again."

"Besides, Fake Dragons are newly created, after all. Their lack of strength is a problem that can never be remedied in the short term."

"Furthermore, we both remember with perfect clarity the old comrades who fell to the Titans—even those whose bodies are still in the Titan Race’s possession."

"We know their Abilities and the Laws they commanded all too well. So even if the Titan Race could find a way to compensate for the Fake Dragons’ lack of strength, they still couldn’t fool us in this regard."

"Therefore, I really can’t think of any reason to logically connect the situation here with the Titan Race."

Over thirty thousand years ago, during the great war between the Dragon Race and the Titan Race, the bodies of a great number of Dragons fell into the hands of the Titans.

Naturally, the Dragon Race also acquired the bodies of many members of the Titan Race.

Setting aside the ordinary Clan members, let’s consider the Ancient Gods.

The Dragon Race lost six Ancient Gods, all of whom were either devoured or captured by the Titan Race.

As for the Titan Race, the bodies of four of their Ancient Gods were either devoured or captured by the Dragon Race.

In short, both Races suffered immense losses among their Ancient Gods.

After all, while the home planets of both the Dragon Race and the Titan Race were prolific in producing Ancient Gods of their kind, the total number of Ancient Gods who emerged from the primordial wilderness and unified into a single Race was less than forty for both sides combined.

The Dragon Race actually had even fewer Ancient Gods than the Titan Race.

They were also slightly inferior in terms of combat Power.

If not for a powerful Race from a nearby star system launching a sneak attack on the Titan Race’s home base while they were in an all-out war with the Dragons, the original homeland of the Dragon Race might have ceased to exist.

The Fireseed Project might never have been successfully carried out either.

But regardless, both the Dragon Race and the grievously wounded Titan Race ultimately survived.

And now, they were far more powerful than they had been back then.

In fact, over the past thirty thousand years, the rate at which the newly born Ancient Gods of both Races advanced was astonishingly rapid.

Thirty thousand years of growth was somehow equivalent to three hundred million years during the primordial era.

The true reasons for this were twofold: the catalyst of war, and the backdrop of the entire Cosmic Star Sea entering an age of civilized competition—a great chaotic war among civilizations.

Once a civilization ventured beyond its home planet, it would inevitably and rapidly embark on a path of plundering other civilizations.

This was a sign that the Cosmos’s growth and development had entered a mature and complete phase.

It symbolized not only the abundance of species and resources in the Material Realm of the Cosmos but also that the Cosmic Law had become sound and complete, allowing Deities to better perceive and apply it.

"Dawn... Zenobia, do you think it’s possible? That our old comrades have really found their way back?" the Earth Giant Dragon finally said after a moment of contemplation.

"How could that be possible!"

The Dawn Giant Dragon, Zenobia, immediately refuted the idea. "Of the three teams that left—our seven old comrades—the only one I believe had a real chance of escaping the Titans’ pursuit was the team composed of Fiery Sun, Space, and Frost. The other two teams, while not weak, had worrying actual combat capabilities."

"Even if they all managed to escape our original World Community and the pursuit, it’s questionable whether they could even conquer a civilization to serve as a place to rest and recuperate."

"After all, back then, among the seventeen of us old-timers, only you and I were on the verge of breaking through to the Star God Tier."

"Fiery Sun and Space were merely equivalent to Deities at the Initial Entry of the Main God Tier. As for the rest... well, they were what they were. Looking back from our current perspective, with that level of strength, trying to survive in a Star Sea teeming with countless civilizations and an unknown number of powerful Races... it was just fraught with too many uncertainties."

"And although the core of our Fireseed Project was for the other two teams to provide cover for Fiery Sun’s team to escape successfully... looking back now, if only we had waited a little longer... even if more of our old comrades might have died in the interim, at least the survivors could have stood with us here today as pillars of the entire Dragon Race."

"How did it end up like this? We don’t even have a few more companions to discuss things with."

At this point, the Dawn Giant Dragon Zenobia’s tone shifted as she continued:

"So, even if Fiery Sun’s group did manage to escape, they certainly wouldn’t return so rashly."

"Besides, we agreed back then that once the Fireseed Project succeeded, the Dragons who left were not to attempt a return, nor were they to seek revenge."

"The continuation of the Race was to be the top priority."

"This is what we agreed upon. Knowing the personalities of Fiery Sun, Frost, and Space, I am certain they would never be so reckless as to return."

"And even if they did return, how would they have found us?"

"Surely they didn’t return to our original world’s region, brave the blockade of those old undying bastards from the Titan Race, and somehow find information that led them here, right?"

"Furthermore, if they had the ability to find us, why not just meet with us directly?"

"So, El Salvador, the possibility you mentioned is absolutely impossible."

"I miss our old comrades dearly as well, but reality can’t be changed by wishful thinking."

An inexplicable sadness crept into the Dawn Giant Dragon Zenobia’s expression.

She thought back to the dawn of their civilization, when the ’Dragon Race World’ had emerged from its primordial era. The Ancient Gods had merged their Power, mutually empowering one another, and finally formed the ’Dragon Race’ with a unified physical form.

Back then, the entire Dragon Race was filled with vibrant, youthful ambition for the Star Sea.

But very quickly, the Dragon Race suffered a rude awakening in their exploration of the Star Sea.

Yes, they had encountered another Ancient God Race that had similarly unified the power of its world: the Titan Race.

And that encounter ultimately led to the decline of the Dragon Race.

Seventeen Ancient God Dragons... and in the end, only she and the Earth Giant Dragon were left.

It had to be said that reality was sometimes just that cruel and merciless.

Often, it is just when you believe yourself to be strong, when you are filled with ambition, that calamity comes knocking.

The Dawn Giant Dragon’s words sent the Earth Giant Dragon into silence.

"But then, how do you explain the situation here?"

"To appear and disappear so suddenly, without any warning, even evading our Divine Vision... besides an extremely powerful individual possessing an incredible amount of Space Power, an ordinary Divine Tier being couldn’t do it."

"And yet, the aura that appeared here was only at the Divine Tier. Even if one of the old undying bastards from the Titan Race came here in person, it would be impossible for us not to notice."

The Earth Giant Dragon was getting fixated on it. It seemed he couldn’t let it go until he got to the bottom of things today.

He didn’t even seem inclined to leave anytime soon.

Seeing the Earth Giant Dragon like this, the Dawn Giant Dragon sighed in resignation.

In the end, she had no choice but to accompany the Earth Giant Dragon in a thorough search of the surrounding, more distant Star Realms.

It had to be said, a part of the Dawn Giant Dragon was also holding onto a glimmer of hope.

Although she too believed it was impossible.

’But what if? What if there are reasons and factors we don’t know about?’

And so, amidst this investigation, even the Dragon Race World ’Aubri,’ which should have been constantly wandering through the Star Sea, remained stationary in this region of space for a long time.

「Roughly two years later, on a certain day, it all finally came to an end.」