Right behind him!
And it was closing in on him at a speed much faster than his own.
The thought of a certain possibility made David's blood, which had lain dormant in the uninhabited depths of space at minus two hundred seventy degrees for nearly thirty years, seem to surge with his suddenly racing heartbeat.
But all he could do was suppress the unknown excitement and agitation in his heart. He continued to accelerate, correcting his trajectory and narrowing the gap between himself and the other.
Finally, after three months and seven days, thirty years later, David, in this uninhabited vastness of space, finally encountered the other...
However, when they drew near, the words David had been brewing in his mind could not be transmitted by magic.
For what was gradually approaching him was not the smiling Attilicia he remembered, nor the dazzling Magic Ship that had caught his eye.
It was, instead, a micro-meteorite made of various metals completely fused with the twisted remains of a dragon, now drifting alone in the universe due to inertia.
Upon witnessing this scene, David's pupils first dilated sharply. It took quite a while for them to return to their normal shape before he let out a resigned smile.
He first used Meteor Magic to continuously reduce the other's speed. Then, he carefully emerged from his own meteorite shell and, like a gecko, clawed his way onto it. With a light flick of his tail, he patted the 'Dragon Dad Ash Fossil's' spine and communicated voicelessly in the vacuum of space:
"Dad, your starry sky delivery was successful; I've received it."
At the same time, he finally understood what had been ceaselessly calling out to him: it was the Magic Spirit Attilicia had created to aid his flight, similar to a Tower Spirit that controlled the mechanisms in a magic tower.
Only, Attilicia probably never expected it to turn out this way. The Magic Spirit was still there, while he himself was gone.
David could even imagine how proud Attilicia must have felt after using the sun's gravitational slingshot to complete his acceleration and trajectory correction.
Then, as he was about to depart, facing the sudden eruption of solar flares, Attilicia must have felt utter frustration and Despair watching the outer shell of his construct melt away.
Indeed, Attilicia had used the soul projection of a Bato Devil, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel physical pain.
On the contrary, Attilicia, whose projection was pulled back to Barto Hell, would only feel even more spiritual torment.
In the following twenty years, Attilicia must have tried countless times to contact David, only to repeatedly fail due to the immense distance.
But all this pain and torture were about to end, because David had seen it.
He had seen The Slaying King Star, that notorious orb.
And at the moment of seeing it, an unprecedented chaos and impulsiveness surged through David's thoughts.
Unless they obliterate the entire Slaying King Star from physical space... well, hehehehe.
I am going to take on The Slaying King Star today!
This was the Dragon Madness Arrow, secretly crafted by the Moon Elves over four millennia—the weapon that had nearly exterminated the great dragons of Toriel.
And he, David Uthos, would initiate the countdown to destruction with his own claw!
Time trickled away, moment by moment.
But thoughts that were once mere flashes in David's mind now surged forward en masse, fueled by an unprecedented focus and tension:
Although this method is already quite covert, Tiamat herself confirmed there are two incarnations of Elf Gods on that comet—one of them possessing intermediate divine power. What if this fails?
No, no, no, it cannot fail! The enemy might still be slumbering.
But what if the Platinum Dragon God is really on The Slaying King Star? Can Father handle such a mental shock? And what will become of his relationship with Dragon Island?
No, the bigger problem is, if it's true, wouldn't that trigger a second Dragonfall War?
After all, having reached the edge of the Toriel system, I can't possibly return to the Prime Material Plane with evidence. Those Metal Dragons will never believe that the benevolent king they worship, the king of good dragons, could commit such atrocities.
Thus, the four hours that should have been brief felt somewhat agonizing for David.
As countless thoughts boiled over in David's mind, he drew nearer and finally caught a clear view of The Slaying King Star.
Its surface was covered in dim yet blood-red magical runes, a result of the Dragon Mad Lock.
However, aside from these, it was just a barren comet.
No Elf God incarnations were to be seen, nor the so-called Platinum Dragon King, Bahamut.
This outcome brought all the conflicting thoughts in David's mind to a simultaneous halt. They transformed into a ringing in his ears, yet he also heaved a sigh of relief.
In the next moment, he witnessed firsthand his Dragon Dad's construct remnants crashing into The Slaying King Star like a micro-meteorite.
There was no sound, but the moment of impact still produced a brilliance comparable to the flash from Dragon Mother Pafila's fusion Dragon Breath on the shores of Skanis. Debris, dust, and gas were ejected simultaneously, forming a long cometary tail.
Such a spectacle would surely be visible if observed from Toriel's Ghost Soul City with a custom-built 'Astronomical Telescope.'
Seeing this light, you should be at peace now, Father...
David thought, his eyes finally adjusting to the dimming glare.
He saw that the face of The Slaying King Star had been struck, leaving a huge impact crater.
A bit of a pity.
The energy from the collision was equivalent to tens of thousands of tons of TNT, yet it had only carved out a crater.
But it was the most destructive power I could muster right now.
Time to go back.
Let's see, by my calculations... huh, I'm a young adult dragon now!
Just as David thought he had completed his mission and was preparing to 'log off'—to return his consciousness to his main body in Barto Hell, embracing the anticipation of his young adulthood—
Perhaps it was the shockwave from the collision, reverberating through the comet's interior, that eventually cracked open a fissure.
David instinctively looked over and saw, deep within the crevice—
An azure eye opened.
The two stared at each other in silence across the expanse of space.
But David's pupils suddenly contracted.
Because, as a dragon, he was certain—that was a dragon's eye!
Bahamut?!
Wrath.
Engulfed in an instantaneous, furious rage, David was about to use Magic Messaging to confirm the other's identity when a magical gleam from The Slaying King Star swept over him.
David's projected body in this world, the sole observer, was silently turned to stardust.
...
「At the same time, on the great incline of Malboggi in the sixth layer of Barto Hell.」
BOOM!
A large bulge appeared on the stone surface, then suddenly burst open.
After thirty-two years of slumber in hell, the Red Dragon David finally 'rose from his coffin.'