"I, Max Agatha Hill Alexander, Swear by my true name to start the Battle of Existence!"

"I am willing to stake my own existence and fight to the death with the Black Dragon that is chasing after my mother!"

"I swear this upon the Mother of the Chromatic Dragons, Tiamat!"

The cryptic words of the oath reverberated in the world, causing the world in front of him to tremble.

The Black Dragon, Adams had a puzzled expression on his face as he stared at the Ancient Red Dragon Agatha, who had been sent flying by his Dark Breath.

Although Agatha was heavily injured, she was still conscious enough to process those words.

'A Battle of existence?'

'Who on Earth had made this oath?'

Adams was an extremely old Black Dragon who had lived for 8,000 years.

He had spent his entire life searching for a way to reach the Ancient Dragon level.

He had a wild ambition, and that was to become a true God!

As a member of the dragon race, the godhood he wished to attain was that of a Dragon God!

However, as a member of the dragon race, it was also abundantly clear that his talent was lacking.

Even after living for 8,000 years, he was still unable to break through to the Ancient Dragon rank.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he still failed to ascend into an Ancient Dragon.

As his life gradually inched towards its end, his obsession to become a Dragon God rampantly grew.

He did not want to die, as dying would mean that his ambitions would come to an end.

For this reason, he did not hesitate to take the wrong path.

He did not hesitate to abandon the glory of the Chromatic Dragons, and had instead sworn his allegiance to the God of Darkness and Death. He had even hunted down the weaker dragons in his race and sold their corpses to the humans, all so he could obtain money and riches.

He offered these riches, as well as the souls of the dragons, to the God of Darkness and Death to obtain the knowledge and secrets that only the gods would know.

All he wanted to know was a way to delay the arrival of his own death, as well as the method to break through the Ancient Dragon rank.

From what he had learned, the Battle of Existence was one such way of breaking through.

The Battle of Existence was as its name had implied.

It was a battle where one's own existence was at stake. It was a technique that had existed since ancient times.

Back in the ancient times, it was a secret technique that the major powers would only use when they were facing off against powerful foes that they had little chance against.

Once it was activated, both sides would be able to choose their strongest form from the past, present, and future to battle against one another!

The victor would be able to obtain everything from the loser!

Life, talent, and even their future!

This was also a backup plan that Adams had prepared for himself.

If he was truly unable to ascend to the Ancient Dragon level, he would challenge a weaker descendant of the dragon race to a Battle of Existence!

However, if he were to carry out that act, he would lose the protection provided by the Dragon Mother, Tiamat.

He would be hunted down by her and cast aside by the gods. After all, none of the gods would want a destroyer of existences like him to exist.

Moreover, the gods have also strictly forbidden anyone from using the method to become a god.

Therefore, the gods had worked together to prevent such an event from occurring. They had set up conditions where its use was allowed.

It could only be used when one's life was in danger due to external interference.

Once it was used, the gods of the participants would sense its existence and arrive on scene to witness it!

If it was discovered that the user had abused it, the gods would annihilate the user. They would put the user of the technique on their kill list.

It was that big of an issue.

After all, the Battle of existence had existed since the primordial era.

For someone to use this secret technique, they had to be either an ancient monster that had existed since ancient times, or they had to have learned it from their ancestors. 

Other than that, they could only have learned it from the gods.

Adams had learned about it from the God of Darkness and Death.

As such, he was surprised to learn that someone in his vicinity was aware of the technique as well. 

'He swore to fight the Black Dragon that was hunting its mother?'

'The Black Dragon that was hunting its mother?'

'Why does it feel like its talking about me?'

After all, Adams was a Black Dragon!

Moreover, he was also hunting a female dragon that had just laid an egg.

With a doubtful attitude, Adams used his spiritual perception to sense his surroundings.

However, no matter how he tried, he did not sense any other dragons around him.

Not only that, because of his and Agatha's arrival, the intense pressure they exerted had already scared off all the wild beasts around them!

In other words, the only creatures present was the Black Dragon Adams and the Ancient Red Dragon Agatha. Other than that, no other entity was present.

Especially not within earshot range.

Adams was even more confused.

'Where's the dragon that declared the Battle of Existence against me then?'

'It couldn't be the egg in Agatha's arms, right?'

The moment the thought surfaced in his mind, Adams immediately burst out laughing.

'What a joke! This is a dragon egg that hasn't even hatched! It can't even be considered a hatchling!'

'Besides, even if it really hatched, it would only be a hatchling.'

'Even if it was lucky enough to be born as an Ancient Dragon, what tricks could it possibly pull?'

'Even if it was the strongest Ancient Dragon to have ever existed, it probably won't even know how to attack!'

Adams immediately ignored the possibility that the dragon egg before him was the challenger.

At the same time, he was somewhat envious of the existence that participated in the Battle of existence.

After all, if one were to win in the Battle of Existence, it would mean that one's lifespan would be extended, and their lifespan would far surpass that of normal dragons.

At the same time, they would also be able to obtain the other party's potential, origin, and even innate abilities. These were all extremely valuable perks!

One had to know that these were all items that Adams desired greatly.

Not long after the oath was sworn, countless chains of appeared around the scene, locking down the surrounding space. The world lost its original color and turned to black and white.

"Is this a sign that the origin space is forming?"

Adams' guess was correct.

As the world's color gradually disappeared, a black and white space gradually formed.

Two powerful forces suddenly appeared in the space.

Adams knew it was the descent of the gods of his race.

One was the god of the Chromatic Dragons, Mother Tiamat, whom Adams was extremely familiar with.

The aura of the other god was becoming more and more familiar to Adams, but he had a bad feeling about the situation.

He had to leave this dimension as soon as possible, otherwise, he might become trapped there.

After all, he was certain that he had no part in the Battle of Existence unfolding before him. Should he become trapped in there, there would only be one outcome. He would be assimilated by the origin dimension and eventually return to the origin. That would be akin to death! This was not what Adams wanted.

He looked at Agatha, who was still heavily injured and lying on the ground, with a regretful expression.

"What a pity. If it wasn't for this, I would have seized your corpse and the egg!"

With that, he prepared to fly out of the origin space.

Just as he was about to fly out of the space, however, the Chains of Order that sealed the world sent Adams flying back, crashing heavily into the origin space!

This sudden turn of events left Adams confused.

'What the hell?'

'Why was I bounced back by the Chains of Order?'

He was certain that he was not a participant of the Battle of Existence!

'Why?'

Adams' heart was filled with doubt.

'If I'm indeed a participant of this Battle of Existence, then who's the dragon that challenged me?'

After all, the only Ancient Red Dragon he had hunted was Agatha.

And as far as he knew, Agatha was only over 3,000 years old. Other than the newly-born dragon egg, she did not have any other offspring.

For a moment, Adams seemed to have thought of something, and his face was filled with shock.

"Could the newly-born dragon egg have triggered the Battle of Existence?!"

As the Black Dragon Adams cried out in surprise, the dragon egg that Agatha had held tightly in her arms flew out.

For a moment, the entire origin space fell into silence!

...