After leaving the elven kingdom, I wandered the world without any particular destination. However, I soon felt a wave of drowsiness—the same one that had been troubling me earlier—wash over me.
When I asked for the reason, the Voice of the World answered.
"The evolution into an awakened demon lord has begun. The Harvest Festival will commence, using the souls of the humans you harvested as a sacrifice."
Awakened demon lord? Evolution? It was still the kind of terminology I could barely grasp, but right now, it didn't matter. All I wanted was to surrender to the exhaustion and lie down.
I leaned against a tree and drifted off. The baby dragon, too, settled onto my lap and fell fast asleep.
As I sank into slumber, the bodies of both the baby dragon and myself began to change, little by little.
~~~~
Dark... completely black.
All around me was nothing but darkness. A pitch-black void without a single ray of light.
Then, scenes began to flash before my eyes like a revolving lantern of memories.
In my youth, I had proudly considered myself a genius. Back then, I was brimming with confidence and passion, believing I was the absolute best.
But eventually, I faced a day that forced me to realize my own helplessness. During a surgery, overconfident in my own skill, I missed one tiny, insignificant step. As a result, the patient lost their life.
Because of that minuscule error, the flame of a human life was extinguished. That incident became the catalyst that turned my blind confidence into a vicious cycle of arrogance.
In a position where one is responsible for another's life, a single mistake is equivalent to driving that patient toward death.
After that, I paid meticulous attention to every detail. I could no longer tolerate even the slightest error in anything I did.
[Notice. The evolution of the draconic lineage has succeeded. Additionally, the acquisition of Extra Skills: Tyrant's Haki, All-Purpose Sense, and Spatial Dominion has succeeded.]
Perhaps because of that trauma, I could not simply ignore the sight of a life fading away before my eyes. Whenever I saw those who did not understand the value of life, I found myself consumed by an uncontrollable rage.
I will not be foolish again. I won't allow even the slightest mistake!!
With that thought, I awoke from the dream. Was that what people called a dream world? Or had it simply revealed the darkness hidden deep within my heart? No matter how much I wracked my brain, a dream was still just a dream. It was too late to dwell on the past.
"Kyuui, kyuui!"
Hearing the baby dragon's cry from my lap, I looked down and saw that its appearance had changed.
Its horns had grown larger, feathers had sprouted across its body, and rainbow-colored jewels were embedded in its skin. Its eyes had changed as well—the right was red, and the left was blue. Seeing this, I gave the baby dragon the name Gaia.
After seeing Gaia's transformation, I checked myself and found that many things had changed.
The massive number of souls I had obtained when I erased an entire nation with [Draconic Impact] had been consumed.
While my outward appearance hadn't changed much, the amount of magicules flowing through my body had increased beyond comparison.
Furthermore, unlike before, when I could only manipulate ordinary, burning, and cold lightning, I could now unleash purple lightning.
What is the property of this lightning?
"Answer. It is a special lightning effective even against spiritual life-forms. It drains the target's energy and converts it into your own."
Lightning that works on spiritual beings and steals magicules... that would be lethal for those whose bodies are composed of magicules.
Additionally, a new Extra Skill, Cold and Heat Manipulation, had appeared. Judging by the name, I assumed it allowed me to control both extremes of temperature. My Unique Skill, [Twin Thunder Heaven], had evolved into the Ultimate Skill, [Zeus], the King of Lightning. Its effect allowed for the creation and manipulation of lightning with various properties, as well as the ability to give lightning a physical form.
After confirming these changes, I began to contemplate my next move. This rampage had revealed my existence to the entire world; likely, many nations would now unite to oppose me.
But why did my magicules increase so exponentially?
"Answer. Because you evolved into an awakened demon lord in exchange for tens of thousands of souls. The magicule count increased by the awakening is ten times your previous level. Combined with the innate magicules of your draconic lineage, the total amount has increased even further."
Come to think of it, I remember hearing that the dragon princess had evolved into an awakened demon lord. Is this the same process?
...More specifically?
"I cannot speculate further. Additionally, through the awakening, your Unique Skill [Twin Thunder Heaven] evolved into the Ultimate Skill [Zeus]. Furthermore, the Unique Skill Observer evolved into the Ultimate Skill [Prometheus], the God of Prophecy."
"...And the effect?"
"You can perceive events occurring throughout the world in real time."
That's a completely broken ability.
After hearing the full explanation, I thought deeply about my future. My original plan was to spend my second life in peace and leisure. However, when Prometheus told me that I had been reborn as a member of the draconic lineage—of which only four exist in this world—I was so stunned I was speechless.
It felt as if a god that should be unique in this world had suddenly been duplicated.
Knowing that humans view the draconic lineage with a mixture of terror and reverence, I had intended to hide my identity and live quietly. But through this incident, my identity had been exposed to the world.
Those who noticed my presence would likely approach me soon. Since I had not yet fully adapted to my new form and power, I decided that staying put would be dangerous and chose to flee immediately.
*****
As I searched for a place to hide, my personal assistant, Prometheus, spoke.
"Those who have detected your presence have begun tracking your trail."
Prometheus warned me that I was being hunted.
"Still, the Voice of the World is a bit too stiff. Don't you have a more human-sounding name?"
"If you insist, you may decide on a name yourself."
I thought about it. It really did feel unnatural not having a name to call it.
"How about Prome?"
It was a simple shortening of Prometheus, but nothing better came to mind.
"Notice. From this moment forward, the God of Prophecy [Prometheus] shall use the name Prome. I look forward to working with you."
"Then, Prome. Who is chasing me?"
"Yes. One of the Primordials, the Primordial Red, also known as the Lord of Darkness and the Dark Emperor, Guy Crimson; his follower, the White Ice Dragon, Velzard; and the Destroyer, Milim Nava. For your reference, Milim Nava is the dragon princess I mentioned previously."
...As I feared, the most dangerous beings are coming. This is a disaster. Two of the most lethal demon lords and a member of the draconic lineage.
If it were just one, I might have a chance. But against three beings who exist entirely outside the norm, it's only logical to assume I have zero chance of winning.
In that case, there is only one option.
"The best way to win a fight you can't win is to avoid it entirely."
**
Inside the White Ice Palace.
Guy Crimson could not understand why he was unable to find that draconic lineage. It had been two years since he sensed a massive energy reaction and detected the birth of an impossible new draconic lineage. Despite searching for this irregularity for two years, he had not found a single trace. He was currently discussing the matter with Velzard and the fellow demon lord, Milim Nava.
"You still haven't found it!? It's been two years since you started looking!"
Milim slammed both hands onto the ice desk and stood up abruptly. The desk shattered into fragments, prompting Velzard to sigh as she manifested a new one. "You really have no patience," she grumbled.
"Even so... previously, I could at least get a rough idea of where it was. If we went there and found nothing, it just meant it had moved. But now, it's erasing its traces so thoroughly that tracking has become nearly impossible."
Guy clicked his tongue. If the target had been as careless as before, he would have found it by now. But this time was different; the target's meticulousness in hiding its trail was hindering the search.
"...Perhaps, by destroying that nation, its skill awakened into an Ultimate Skill? If that's the case, it makes sense that even Guy's Ultimate Skill cannot detect it."
Guy and Milim both nodded at Velzard's suggestion. If that were true, the failure to locate the target was logical.
Until now, Guy's group had been attempting to pinpoint the location using a skill copied via his Ultimate Skill, [Lucifer], the Prideful King, combined with Milim's innate [Dragon Eye]. Yet, they had found nothing. Some skill was actively interfering with their detection.
To think it actually awakened an Ultimate Skill... How troublesome. But it's been a long time since my heart has raced like this.
Guy wore a faint smile as he thought to himself.
An Ultimate Skill can only be countered by another Ultimate Skill. If that were the case, Milim's Dragon Eye would be useless. However, telling her that would only make her upset, leading her to shout, "Then I'll just find it myself!"
"What?! Then how are we going to find it! Are you saying even your ability is useless?!"
Milim spoke with visible irritation. Her point was valid; if Guy's Ultimate Skill couldn't find the target, what hope did they have?
"I'll use the detection skills granted by my Ultimate Skill at full power. I can't think of any better alternative."
At Guy's words, Velzard, who had remained silent, spoke up.
"...I don't believe there is any other way. My Ultimate Skill is not of the detection type."
Velzard agreed with Guy. Milim looked unconvinced, but she eventually nodded.
Until now, Guy had avoided using his detection capabilities at full power to ensure he could maintain other Ultimate Skills simultaneously. However, he now realized that without committing his full power to the search, it would be impossible.
Velzard's Ultimate Skill was [Gabriel], the Patience King, which possessed the authority to fix states and respond to unforeseen events. Inherently, it was not suited for tracking. Therefore, Guy's Ultimate Skill was the only viable option.
(Milim's Ultimate Skills are all combat-specialized, too...)
"First, let's visit the nation where the draconic lineage left its last trace. There might be a clue. Or rather, is there even a nation left? Regardless, I'll use my power at full capacity. Once I find it, you two catch it. Sound good?"
Velzard and Milim nodded at Guy's improvised plan. With that, they departed for the ruins of the nation where the new draconic lineage had first appeared to investigate the remaining traces.