Dawn finally pierced the long night.
The first ray of morning light slowly flowed over the craggy spine of the Cui Luan Mountain Range, painting the broken walls and ruins of Dragon Severing Pass.
However, the smoke of battle had not yet fully dispersed, lingering in the cool morning breeze.
The Red Iron Dragon did not go to inspect the Aura Legion, which had already begun to fully take over the pass and round up prisoners.
He withdrew his combat stance, his size shrinking back to his daily state of about forty meters in length.
Even so, with his still-massive size, his dark red and black scales with their metallic luster, and the Dragon Might he naturally exuded, his mere presence was impossible to ignore.
At this moment, the Red Iron Dragon stood atop a nearby peak.
Overlooking from this high point, the shattered walls of the pass looked like tumbled building blocks. The Cui Luan Mountain Range snaked out to either side beneath his iron-like claws, forming a massive natural barrier. Further away, beyond the last undulating ridge, lay the vast and flat heartland of the Xio Kingdom, shrouded in the morning light.
"Unless Xio wishes for national annihilation and is willing to shed its last drop of blood, the War of the Two Auras is coming to an end."
Galos gazed into the distance, deep in thought.
After the battle at Norton Pass, the Xio Kingdom no longer had any formidable natural defensive lines to rely on.
This barrier of the Cui Luan Mountain Range, upon which they had placed such high hopes, had been breached.
More fatally, most of Xio's Legendaries had been either killed or captured in this battle, with only a few managing to escape by special means or sheer luck.
This meant that Xio had lost its sharpest blade for a counterattack.
On the other hand, the situation for Aura was completely different.
The Red Emperor had personally led two expeditions, turning Xio's toughest nuts to crack into ashes and slag.
None of the Legendaries under his command had perished.
The subordinate lords and generals, thanks to the Emperor's bravery and sound strategy, suffered far fewer losses than expected. Instead, they were tempered by actual combat in this battle. Casualties among the lower-ranking soldiers were also kept within an acceptable range. The entire legion's structure remained intact and robust, still maintaining vigorous combat effectiveness.
Most importantly, the continuous victories, especially the almost invincible image of Your Majesty the Emperor, had pushed the morale of the entire legion to an unprecedented peak.
And this high morale could maximize the power of their military formations.
"Winning the War of the Two Auras and seizing all the territory north of the Cui Luan Mountain Range is already a massive gain."
Galos calculated silently, "As for the wars between other kingdoms... it is no longer appropriate for Aura to participate directly and on a large scale."
He looked up slightly, as if seeing several other burning battlefields on the Romanian Plain.
The contest between Lothorn and Rippos, the fierce fight between Sack and Lion, the conflict between Matna and Cambrook... "If Lothorn or Matna requests support in the name of an alliance, we can send Legendaries or troops as the situation warrants to show our stance, but we cannot be sucked in and bogged down in another war's quagmire."
"Excessive militarism will overextend the kingdom's potential and draw unnecessary vigilance."
In this War of the Two Auras that had lasted for some time, Aura had already reaped sufficiently rich spoils of war.
Everything north of the Cui Luan Mountain Range, including this very location, was now incorporated into Aura's territory.
Furthermore, if Xio wanted a ceasefire and peace, they would inevitably have to pay massive war reparations and sign a series of unequal treaties that might include trade and military restrictions, in addition to ceding land.
Stabilizing the situation, digesting these gains, and truly transforming the new territories into Aura's strength—
—this was what needed to be done most right now.
As for pressing the advantage to annex all of Xio while it was weak, or turning the army to strike at other kingdoms that seemed vulnerable... Galos rejected these seemingly tempting ideas.
Too much is as bad as too little.
Now was not the time.
Aura's capacity for assimilation was not infinite. The integration of the old and the new internally required time, and resistance in newly occupied areas also needed to be suppressed and pacified.
More importantly, while he was powerful, he was not truly invincible.
Among these kingdoms with long Legacies, who didn't have a few trump cards hidden up their sleeves?
He knew very well that the current victory and the fanatical cheers of his subjects were just the beginning, the first deep stake Aura had driven into this plain.
When the curtain fell on the Second War of the States and the dust had begun to settle, the real challenges would surface.
The The Nations of Romania—whether it was the human-dominated Lothorn and Rippos, the Dwarven Kingdom skilled in forging, or the Goblin Kingdom famous for alchemical engineering—all essentially fell under the category of "humanoid races."
Although their cultures, social structures, and ethical concepts differed, they shared basic commonalities.
But the Aura Kingdom... from the Emperor down to the subjects, it was filled with a large number of Dragonborn, Gnolls, Trolls, Ogres, and even more ferocious monster races.
In the eyes of the mainstream humanoid races, its composition made it a complete outlier—a terrifying nation of monsters.
"Those who are not of our kin must have a different heart."
This saying, in many cases, did not stem solely from prejudice but also from a wariness of the unknown and different ways of life.
Aura's swift and violent rise was destined to make the other states feel uneasy.
Like sitting on a bed of needles, like having a thorn in one's back, like having a fishbone stuck in one's throat!
This unease would not just come from the perpetually hostile Rippos in the future; it might also gradually spread to their current ally, Lothorn, and even to all countries collaborating with Aura.
Between nations, there are only eternal interests, no eternal friends or enemies.
Galos's identity allowed him to understand this more thoroughly than any human monarch.
Even if, hypothetically, the current King of Lothorn, OBrien, held genuine goodwill toward Aura, trusting and cooperating from the heart without the slightest grudge due to racial differences—
—how long could that last?
What about the next generation?
And the generation after that?
Human lifespans are as brief as morning dew, while a Dragon's life is as long as the mountains and rivers.
Barring any accidents, the Red Emperor would personally witness generation after generation of human monarchs being born, growing up, aging, and passing away.
Monarchs change, and policies shift. Who could guarantee that the Lothorn of the future would still be the Lothorn of today? Who could guarantee that future rulers of Lothorn would maintain this fragile trust?
What Galos needed to do now was to let the Aura Kingdom develop as quickly as possible while the dust from the War of the Two Auras was settling and other kingdoms were still tied down by their own feuds.
He needed to proceed steadily, solidify his foundation, and assimilate the newly occupied areas, rather than making enemies everywhere and inviting excessive vigilance and coordinated targeting.
He had not yet reached the point where he could do as he pleased.
For example, the battle at Dragon Severing Pass that had just ended actually contained significant risks for Galos.
Looking back now from the position of the victor, he could better analyze the dangers involved.
"If the enemy Legendaries could have truly shared a single goal, discarded their selfishness and suspicion, and united completely, they might have actually posed a fatal threat to me."
Galos's eyes narrowed slightly as scenes from last night's fierce battle quickly replayed and were reviewed in his mind.
That Xio Fate Hunter, Percival, had arrows that could inflict real damage on Galos. However, he was too eager to personally end the life of a Dragon Emperor and too desperate to claim all that glory and fame for himself.
Therefore, in the most critical Early Stage of the encirclement.
He chose to watch coldly from the sidelines instead of coordinating his attacks with the other Legendaries from the start.
However, what the encirclement of Galos lacked was precisely an attacker who could consistently deal high damage, forcing Galos to divide his attention.
That female Dwarven Legendary wielding a giant axe was a threat.
But she was a melee fighter who had to constantly guard against Galos's counterattacks. She didn't dare get too close, so her offensive was inevitably restricted, and her attack frequency was limited.
But Percival was different.
As a powerful Archer-type Advanced Legendary, if he had joined the encirclement decisively from the beginning, he could have stood at a relatively safe distance and continuously fired those lethal arrows.
This would have caused Galos immense trouble. While trying to deal with multiple threats at once, the likelihood of a gap appearing in his defenses would have greatly increased.
In that case, the Rippos Shapeshifter—who, according to Galos's intuition, should have had quite a few hidden trump cards and methods—might have had a completely different attitude.
Seeing that the encirclement was indeed effective, and seeing the Red Iron Dragon begin to show fatigue or flaws under the multi-pronged attacks—
—the wavering and hesitation within the Advanced Caster's heart would likely have been suppressed.
He would have more resolutely brought out his true skills and participated in this dragon-slaying battle that had a hope of success, aiming to secure more benefits for Rippos after the war or simply to eliminate the potential massive threat that was Aura.
"If such a situation had formed..."
Galos thought calmly, "I might have been pushed to the brink, perhaps even losing a life, and then forced to use 'Living Towards Death' to erupt in the face of desperation and blast an opening."
"But even so, the battle after that eruption would still have been a bitter struggle."
"Unless I threw all caution to the wind and pushed my Primal State to an extremely high level—even to the point of losing my sanity—it would have been difficult to win as overwhelmingly as I did now."
Galos's eyes flickered; he did not hide the difficulties involved.
However, at the end of his deduction, he remained certain that the final victor would still have been himself.
The reason was simple.
He was not fighting to the death here alone as a single dragon.
No matter how well Xio's Legendaries coordinated, it was impossible for them to kill or even defeat him in a short amount of time.
And on the perimeter, the defensive line formed by the Unbending Bulwark would inevitably be broken first under the relentless attacks of the Aura Legion at any cost.
Once the defensive line was breached, the Legends of the Aura side would surely come to support immediately.
At that time, the Legends of Xio would either fall into a desperate situation of being attacked from both inside and outside, waiting for defeat and death, or they could only decisively abandon the battle and flee in all directions, completely burying the Dragon Severing Pass and the national destiny of Xio.
However, if things had really developed that way, Galos's fruits of victory would never be as prominent as they were now.
Even if Xio surrendered, it would have more bargaining chips for negotiations.
But history has no 'ifs,' and time will not repeat itself. Percival's arrogance and greed for merit, combined with the Shapeshifter's hesitation, together created last night's disastrous rout for Xio.
"I need to be more cautious in the future, or obtain new skills and means as soon as possible."
"My second life has been completely exposed. Since the enemy doesn't know the real situation, if they still want to target me, they will surely bring out a terrifying lineup to ensure nothing goes wrong and to make sure I don't resurrect a third time or even more."
Galos took a deep breath.
In this battle, he had exposed one of his trump cards. He couldn't rely too much on the dragon jade in the future; otherwise, relying too heavily on an already exposed skill might lead to big trouble.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The heavy sound of flapping wings interrupted his thoughts.
Iron Dragon Sorog and Red Dragon Samantha, one on the left and one on the right, flapped their broad dragon wings and slowly landed on the rocks not far from the Red Iron Dragon's side, folding their wings.
"Hey, next it should be time for those Xio humans to formally bow their heads and submit, right?"
The strong smell of gunpowder and blood still lingered on Samantha, and her voice was excited. "With the few Legends they have left, they can't stop our army's advance at all. Xio's Silverglow City is like a ripe fruit waiting for us to pick it."
In the War of the Two Auras so far, a total of nine Legends from Xio have participated.
Except for Balnar, who was captured by the Gluttony Demon early on in the Ashen Plain, the other eight all appeared last night in the Cui Luan Mountain Range.
It was worth mentioning that after some wavering and hesitation, Balnar ultimately still did not reveal any critical information.
However, Galos didn't care about this.
His true reliance was always himself; everything else was just icing on the cake.
And in last night's battle, the outcome for the eight Legends from Xio who fought was bleak.
Percival and Hosand were killed directly, leaving no remains; one was killed on the spot by Gluttony Demon Karu when he seized an opportunity while they were defending the Unbending Bulwark.
When the pass completely collapsed and the remaining Xio Legends began to flee desperately in different directions,
Galos captured three more alive during the pursuit.
Two other Legends, either possessing unique life-saving secret techniques or utilizing precious curios, managed to escape this death battlefield during the brief interval while their companions were being pursued.
The number of Legends the Aura Kingdom openly possessed was twelve.
After this battle, three were killed on the spot, three were captured, two fled back, and one exhausted their life and turned into a stone statue.
Counting the previously captured Balnar, Xio only had four Legends left on the surface.
Even if there were some hidden Legends within the country, it would be difficult to reverse the disadvantage.
Moreover, it hadn't been long since the end of the first civil war, and the Legendary power of the states was almost all out in the open, with not much hidden power remaining.
"Xio indeed can no longer block our spearhead, whether militarily or psychologically."
Iron Dragon Sorog took up the conversation.
He first glanced in the direction of the Xio heartland, then turned to look at his increasingly majestic blood brother beside him.
"But our current goal should be to force Xio to cede the land north of the Cui Luan Mountain Range, pay massive war reparations, and sign a series of treaties restricting their armaments and opening trade and transit rights."
"As for further ideas..."
"We need to wait at least until you, Galos, go through your next slumber and your strength steadily enters the Advanced Legendary level. Only then will we have enough confidence and power to plan and implement them."
Galos nodded slightly, the scales at his dragon neck rubbing together with a faint clanging sound.
He agreed with the Iron Dragon's analysis.
"By the way, there is one more thing I need to report to you."
The Iron Dragon said, as if remembering something.
"Speak."
"That human commander-in-chief, the one the Xio people call the 'Shield of Xio,' Commander Rodrigo, decisively committed suicide after leading the last of the remnant army to surrender to us."
"He wasn't a Legend, and his Soul strength was limited. After his physical death, he wasn't immediately forced away by other planes."
"I used the hall of valor you previously entrusted to me to capture his Soul in time."
The Souls of Legendary beings are powerful and rare, making them highly attractive resources for many outer planes.
Normally, at the moment of a Legend's physical death, planar rules operate spontaneously, creating a powerful pull.
Unless a Legendary Soul has extremely strong obsession to resist or special protective means, it is difficult for it to linger; it will be quickly drawn to the corresponding plane, have its memories and past washed away, and be transformed into various new planar lifeforms.
As for Souls below the Legendary level, those planes have much less interest, and the pull is not as timely or violent.
Although the hall of valor finds it difficult to snatch Souls from the planes, it has two ways to collect Souls.
The first is to collect them first.
Snatching the newly dead Soul before other planes notice and before the pull fully takes effect.
The second is a pre-agreement.
While the target lifeform is still alive, guide them to voluntarily leave a spiritual imprint in the hall of valor, which is equivalent to signing a Soul-level contract. After signing, when that lifeform dies, its Soul can linger in the material world for a longer period, and its existence will be partially masked by the power of the hall of valor, thereby significantly reducing the probability of being instantly pulled away by the outer planes and creating a window for the hall of valor to collect it.
Rodrigo's Soul was collected through the first method.
Furthermore, about one-fifth of the Aura Kingdom's current chieftains, generals, and individuals who are particularly outstanding in skill, courage, or loyalty have signed the Heroic Spirit Agreement.
After the War of the Two Auras, the number of Heroic Spirits is expected to see a significant increase.
The spirit essence space that accommodates and nurtures Heroic Spirits is not infinite, and it is already starting to look a bit crowded.
However, the good news is that the hall of valor itself possesses growth potential.
Over the past period, the Aura Kingdom has collected some high spirit essence crystals.
After the hall of valor absorbs these high spirit essence crystals and is upgraded with certain specific Materials, it can not only expand its internal space to accommodate more Legendary and mortal Heroic Spirits but also support signing Heroic Spirit Agreements with more lifeforms.
"Hmm, you specifically mentioned Rodrigo's Soul; it seems it's not just to report the collection?"
Galos looked at Iron Dragon Sorog.
He knew his brother; Sorog was very purposeful in his actions and wouldn't mention small details for no reason.
Sorog nodded and admitted, "Yes."
"The tactic the Xio people used at the start of the war, using magical satellites to drop elites for surprise attacks, gave me some inspiration."
"I am conceptualizing the creation of a lightning strike force belonging to Aura, and this conceptualized unit will need an experienced commander."
Galos did not immediately voice his opinion, but only nodded again, signaling the Iron Dragon to continue explaining his full idea.
Sorog considered his words for a moment and then spoke slowly.
"One current drawback of the hall of valor is that it cannot guarantee collecting Souls immediately, especially on a fierce and chaotic battlefield where there are too many accidents. But we have seen the deployment and teleportation skills of the magical satellites with our own eyes."
"So, what if we could combine the magical satellites with the hall of valor?"
"Imagine if our warriors who signed the Heroic Spirit Agreement die, their Souls could be immediately picked up by the satellite's teleportation beam and brought back to the hall of valor in high orbit, thereby avoiding most risks."
"And our Heroic Spirits could also be deployed from the satellite platform to any corner of the battlefield from space."
"They are spiritual bodies themselves, so the consumption of teleportation energy is much lower than for physical units. Moreover, they do not fear death and can be resurrected multiple times; they are simply the most ideal shock troops."
The more the Iron Dragon spoke, the more fluent his thoughts became.
"Not only that, if the citizens and ordinary soldiers of Aura can witness their own heroes' Souls returning to the hall of valor after death, and then witness the Heroic Spirits descending from the sky to assist in battle at critical moments, the boost to morale and national loyalty will be immeasurable."
"Therefore, I want to prepare a major alchemy project, code-named—'Sanctuary.'"
"It aims to create a space platform that integrates Soul collection, Heroic Spirit storage, and rapid deployment."
Galos listened quietly, showing an interested look.
"The idea of mounting the hall of valor on a satellite is feasible, but for now, it's just a theory."
"Whether this Sanctuary Project will work or what troubles will be encountered during implementation needs to be verified step by step. However, practice brings true knowledge, so go ahead and do it."
He approved the Iron Dragon's idea.
Although magical satellites were powerful, they were a technology mastered by multiple kingdoms and could not be considered an exclusive advantage.
On the other hand, things like the Artillery Fortress of the Matna Kingdom were true strategic assets—unique and powerful. The Sanctuary Project was undoubtedly moving in that direction.