Chapter 588: The old friends meet new

"Th-Three tails?" Maximilian gasped, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. "She is the reincarnation of Gumiho."

He had read about this creature in the scriptures of his clan. When his father began his conquest of the two realms of Vyoman, he encountered many rivals of similar strength and fought countless life-and-death battles, but in the end, he always emerged victorious. However, there was one person, or more accurately, one goddess whom he couldn’t defeat. She was an Eight-Tailed Divine Fox, considered to be as powerful as a Late Stage Divine Ascendant Realm Dragon.

Each time the two fought, the battle ended in a draw.

However, in truth, the Divine Fox emerged victorious in each battle. Still, she let him go. She didn’t wish for war. All she wanted was to protect her lands and the beasts residing there.

But that remained a hurdle in the path of the Sovereign’s conquest, a stain on his glory.

In the end, he had to resort to underhanded methods. When the Divine Fox was about to ascend into her final form, the Gumiho, she was ambushed by the Sovereign and his most powerful general, Frederick. Together, they severely injured the Divine Fox during her breakthrough, turning her into a cripple.

She died not long after that.

This part wasn’t recorded in history. It was told to Maximilian by his father himself. The proud dragon who had forced the whole world to bow to his will was forced to resort to an ambush to defeat someone. The humiliation was too much to be written into his otherwise unstained glory. However, being the soft-hearted father he was toward Maximilian, he told him the truth, thinking that it would reduce some of the negative karma he had accumulated from the countless lives he had taken during his reign.

Nevertheless, he didn’t regret ambushing the Gumiho. If she had truly taken her final form, no one in the world would have been her match. The strange thing about her that the Sovereign revealed to Maximilian was that she deeply resonated with the very world of Vyoman, as if she were the will of this world itself, manifested into reality.

Maximilian still remembered the words his father had told him.

"The Gumiho is deeply connected to this world. She will surely reincarnate in the future. If I’m not present during that time, you must eliminate her at all costs before she regains her strength. She is the only creature in Vyoman who can threaten the dragons."

The corner of Maximilian’s lips rose ever so slightly as he looked at the figure of the Three-Tailed Divine Fox before him. She was barely as strong as a Low-Tier Cultivator.

Maximilian’s gaze lowered to the ground, where he could feel a strong presence, someone similar to his level.

Two striking demi-beasts knelt there in the presence of their Divine Goddess. One of them was young, likely around the same age as the Gumiho, while the other was a middle-aged man with a short beard. Both of them had black hair with strands of gold mixed into it. They had whiskers on their cheeks.

The younger one of the duo looked at Maximilian with narrowed eyes.

"Father, who is that—"

Before he could finish, the other man immediately grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground.

"Forgive me, Lord. My son is young and naive," he blurted.

’Oh, I accidentally transformed back into my demi-human form by using too much Celestial Soulforce,’ Maximilian sighed as he realized that the wings on his back had appeared along with his other draconic features.

"Haha, I don’t mind," Maximilian replied, trying to sound casual so as not to intimidate them.

He turned his focus back to the Gumiho, whose cries were growing even louder, causing even more rain to pour from the clouds. It was as if the clouds would burst if she continued any further.

"Oy, stop crying, or you will bring calamity upon Vyoman," Maximilian said, moving his hand toward Gumiho’s forehead.

The moment his finger touched her, Gumiho’s cries stopped, and she began to fall.

Maximilian turned to the beasts kneeling below and said, "Serve her well. She is your goddess, after all."

His tone was calm and nonchalant, yet it carried so much authority that the beasts couldn’t help but obey.

Gumiho’s fox form hit the ground with a wet thud.

’Strange... why am I still feeling so distressed even after she stopped crying?’ Maximilian muttered, his hand tapping his chest where his heart still beat loudly. He thought that her cries might have resonated with the world, which caused the world to weep along with her and most likely made him feel the grief she was suffering.

However, when he looked closer at her unconscious figure and noticed all the horrible scars across her form, from her face to almost every part of her body, the gnawing feeling only intensified.

He moved down to the ground, reaching the tiger demi-beasts, and asked, "How should I address you?"

"My name is Vyomendra, my Lord," the middle-aged man introduced himself, his forehead still firmly pressed against the ground. "This is my unfilial son, Vyaghra. He doesn’t know much about the world. Please don’t take offense at his actions."

Even though Vyomendra seemed to be at a similar level to him, his limbs were shaking in raw fear.

’So this is the image the dragons have formed of themselves in the hearts of the lower realm species,’ Maximilian muttered inwardly, his brows knitting together. ’Absolute tyranny.’

Vyaghra forcefully removed his father’s hand from his head and rose, his forehead bleeding from how hard Vyomendra had struck him.

"I’m Vyaghra, the heir of the Tiger Clan," he introduced himself, rising to his feet and looking straight at Maximilian. Similar to his father, he also had defiant golden eyes, but they had more of an auburn hue to them. "I bow to no one except my parents, and I only respect the Battle God Aruma, who is no more. Don’t think that I will cower before you just because you are someone of high status."

"Vyaghra!" Vyomendra shouted, launching a fist at him. It was better that he beat his son half to death than have him be mercilessly killed by a dragon or, even worse, turned into a slave.

Bam!

The punch that he had launched at Vyaghra’s face was stopped mid-air, firmly grasped by Maximilian.

"M-my Lord. Please don’t be offended," Vyomendra blurted. "He is an ignorant brat. Please punish me for not teaching my son any better."

Maximilian remained silent, his expression unreadable.

’Damn it. How did we attract the attention of a cursed dragon?’ Vyomendra muttered inwardly. ’If he still insists on harming Vyaghra, I will just have to kill him right here. He seems to be alone. If I send his dead body to the Senseless Dimension, the other dragons might not be able to track it down to us.’

The claws of his other hand behind his back sharpened, dark Soulforce dancing around his palm as he prepared to attack him.

"I’m Max. Do you wish to become my friend?" Maximilian asked Vyaghra, his eyes brightening with excitement.

"H-huh?" Both father and son looked at Maximilian with confused expressions.

"What do you want from my son, My Lord?" Vyomendra demanded, the claw behind his back only tightening.

"Does the word friend have a different meaning in the lower realm?" Maximilian asked, his eyebrows rising in confusion. "I mean that I wish to be acquainted with this young man."

"For what reason would someone of your status wish to be friends with my son?" Vyomendra asked, his words clear.

Maximilian’s curious gaze now shifted to Vyomendra. "On a second note, I wish to be friends with you as well."

Now Vyomendra was convinced that this dragon was up to no good. The so-called friend he was referring to might be his way of turning them into his slaves. Most of the dragons had twisted desires, after all. How could this one be any different?

He was about to launch his claw straight for Maximilian’s throat when he continued,

"A son who doesn’t bend his principles even if it means death, and a father who first tries to avoid conflict like a true leader but would throw everything away if the life of his precious one were endangered," Maximilian declared, his lips carrying a wide smile. "I respect men of such character, which is the reason I wish to be acquainted with you two."

After a brief pause, he continued, "Lord Vyomendra, you may relax your hand. I will not harm either of you."