After cutting off Drogo's head, Viserys immediately ordered the soldiers to separate the corpse and the head.
Soon, the horse-like lower body returned to normal human form.
The soldiers collected the bodies of fallen comrades while guarding Drogo's corpse.
"This bastard... is seriously huge."
One rather carefree soldier stared at Drogo and muttered in obvious envy.
Viserys sat nearby, resting.
He looked at the "glass horse" only he could see and hesitated over whether he should absorb it now.
This was not some ordinary essence.
Once absorbed, there was no taking it back.
What if the divine essence affected his personality? It would probably be safer to ask the old turtle about it first.
This battle had granted Viserys three things he had never seen before.
The first was divine power.
The second was the [Saint Child Essence] obtained after the real Drogo died.
And the third was the [Divine Essence].
Only now did Viserys notice that the options to absorb or transfer the [Saint Child Essence] were both greyed out.
Perhaps because he did not possess a complete divinity yet, and certainly was not a true god, he was not allowed to have a Saint Child.
'Who should I choose to become my Saint Child someday?' Viserys was still thinking when sudden cries erupted nearby.
The soldiers guarding Drogo's corpse shouted in alarm.
The headless corpse suddenly stood up on its own. Orange-red flames burst from the severed neck.
'Holy shit, are you kidding me? We already killed you twice!'
Viserys drew his sword and stared wide-eyed at the scene.
The soldiers were frightened too, but after helping Viserys kill a centaur monster earlier, they managed to steady themselves.
They raised their Valyrian steel spears and surrounded the corpse.
Unexpectedly, the flaming headless body simply stood there. It neither attacked nor died.
It looked more like some bizarre statue.
One soldier cautiously thrust his Valyrian steel spear at the corpse.
There was no reaction.
"Your Majesty, perhaps you should lea—"
Before the officer beside Viserys could finish speaking, his entire body froze.
The other soldiers were the same.
More than five hundred men instantly became living statues.
The flaming corpse slowly turned around, pushed through the frozen crowd, and walked toward Viserys.
Viserys tried to defend himself, only to realize his own body could no longer move.
"Viserys, you could have lived a few more years."
The voice appearing in his mind this time was completely different.
For some reason, it sounded strangely similar to the High Priest Benerro from the Lord of Light temple in Volantis.
"Who are you?" Viserys asked silently.
"The Red God. The Lord of Light. Or you may call me... R'hllor."
Viserys glanced toward Drogo's severed head.
"So Bargo was your ally?"
"Ally?" R'hllor chuckled coldly. "Merely a hound."
A god serving another god as a dog?
Viserys suddenly remembered Bargo crying for help before his defeat.
Was he calling out to R'hllor back then?
"Your sister, Daenerys, is the savior I selected. She has her own destined path. But you forcibly changed her fate. That is why I must kill you early."
"Her fate? What fate?"
"The Three Losses. That is her destiny."
R'hllor seemed somewhat interested in Viserys.
Though headless, the movements of the corpse made it clear he was studying him.
And so he did not mind answering.
"The so-called Three Losses are loss of kin, loss of protection, and loss of blood."
"I may as well tell you her fate. She was supposed to lose her mother, Rhaella, at birth. Then lose the one protecting her at age five. Then miscarry at fourteen."
"Only by enduring these trials could Daenerys become the savior. Only then could she defeat the Long Night and the White Walkers."
"Viserys, by changing her destiny, you have become this world's sinner."
R'hllor's voice rang like temple bells.
Like judgment thunder descending from the heavens.
Viserys felt dazed.
In his mind appeared visions of humanity struggling through endless darkness while White Walkers ravaged the world.
And the source of it all... was himself.
"I'm a sinner..."
"I'm a sinner..."
"I shouldn't have changed her fate..."
"Yes," R'hllor replied. "But there is still time to correct it."
He pointed toward the basin of molten gold still bubbling nearby.
"Place the molten crown upon your head, and fate may yet return to its proper course."
Viserys stared at the burning gold and slowly walked forward.
Targaryens possessed resistance to heat. He stood only one step away from the fire.
"Put it on. Put on the molten crown. Restore destiny to its rightful path."
Viserys grabbed the handles of the basin and lifted it.
Slowly, he raised it toward his chest.
"Loss of kin... loss of protection... loss of blood..."
"Loss of kin... loss of protection... loss of blood..."
The silver-haired king repeated the words like a man possessed.
The flaming corpse silently watched him.
As though waiting for him to kill himself.
Then suddenly—
"Loss your mother's head!"
The purple eyes regained clarity in an instant. Viserys hurled the molten gold directly at the corpse.
R'hllor casually stepped aside and avoided it.
The flames around the neck surged violently.
He was furious.
"R'hllor, don't think I don't understand your game. Savior? Three Losses? Those are just rituals and tricks to strengthen yourself!"
"You just want to use the Targaryens as stepping stones for your own power!"
"Tell me! What's your relationship with the Great Other?!"
"Or are the two of you actually the same being?!"
Earlier, the old turtle had told Viserys that gods rewarded those who followed their will.
That strengthened them.
And even earlier, he had said that great deeds could create divinity.
Then Daenerys becoming the savior would undoubtedly count as a great deed.
Only the deed would not make her a god. It would become nourishment for R'hllor instead.
Viserys did not know why R'hllor wanted greater power.
But if his method required harming Viserys's family, then there was no room for compromise.
Even mutual destruction would be preferable.
"Ignorant fool."
The contemptuous voice echoed in Viserys's mind.
Then he realized his body could no longer move again.
At that moment, the spilled molten gold and stone basin suddenly reversed themselves as though time itself had flowed backward.
The golden liquid returned to the basin.
The black stone container floated above Viserys's head.
"What a waste."
After speaking those words, R'hllor's corpse finally lost all vitality and collapsed.
And the stone basin above Viserys tilted downward.
Molten gold poured onto his head.
___________
Upto 20 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/BloodAncestor