Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 251 There Should Not Be a God

"Stand back, you idiots, she has a knife to my neck, she's going to slit my throat,"

Stilger tilted his neck back, trying his best to avoid being cut by Lady Jessica's dagger, but spoke in a calm tone.

The Fremen were all powerful warriors, but Jessica, as a witch who had been strictly trained by the sisterhood, was proficient in body control and fighting skills, and had the ability to influence minds. At the moment the conflict broke out, she counterattacked the Fremen leader who despised women.

A Freman warrior stabbed Jessica with a dagger, but the witch simply dodged it by leaning sideways, then put her hands together and flexibly and lightly cut the Freman warrior's neck, knocking him down.

Stilgar was also knocked down instantly by this combination of witch and warrior, and the crystal dagger in his hand was also taken away.

However, judging from Stilger's tone, this powerful leader is not worried about his situation. Perhaps this is a situation he is happy to see.

Paul Atreides, who had also trained with the family's swordmaster Duncan since childhood and was proficient in fighting skills, dodged left and right under the attacks of the Fremen warriors and easily passed through the encirclement of several Fremen.

Then he jumped onto the rocks in the canyon, passing the other Fremen who were lying on the rocks and watching a show, and quickly reached the highest point. He took out his guns, aimed at the Fremen below, and took control of the whole situation.

The gun in Paul's hand is not a primitive gun that fires bullets, but a weapon that emits lasers. After crossing the interstellar civilization, humans have long abandoned primitive guns.

The Holtzmann shield invented by humans is a shield protection device that forms a protective energy shield wrapped around the entire body of armor with a special vibration frequency. It is the nemesis of kinetic weapons.

The Holtzmann shield can only pass low-speed objects with speeds below six to nine centimeters per second, such as air and slow swords, but it can completely block high-speed objects such as bullets that use kinetic energy to cause damage.

Laser guns and spacecraft laser cannons can penetrate these Holtzmann shields, but they will cause small nuclear explosions.

Therefore, out of some kind of tacit convention, the war groups of the major interstellar nobles now mainly use specially made cold weapon blades in many internal wars.

Those warriors who are proficient in fast and slow swords and can switch attack modes between extremely fast and slow at will are the elite warriors of each major legion.

Only when conquering alien planets will they use large-scale strike weapons that are extremely powerful enough to destroy cities, such as the main guns of spacecraft, or when conducting a war of genocide, like the Harkonnen family and the emperor's massacre of the Atreides family.

But these native Fremen did not have this high-tech Holtzman shield, and could not stop the guns in Paul's hands. So all the Fremen stopped immediately and did not launch an attack rashly.

"Why didn't you just say that you were a witch-like woman? Why didn't you say that you were also a powerful warrior?"

Madam Jessica's face was calm, completely different from when she faced the ancestral red dragon.

She held the dagger in her smooth hands, without wavering, and pressed it tightly against Stilgar's neck.

Her eyes scanned the Fremen surrounding her like a she-wolf, and she slowly put her mouth close to Stilgar's ear and said calmly, "It's too late to tell!"

"Calm down, don't do it, woman, calm down,"

Stilger took a breath, raised his hands to show that he had not made any other movements, and then said calmly: "I was arbitrary just now."

Jessica looked at Stilgar, then put her cheek close to Stilgar's head robe, kissed the man's robe lightly, and let go of the powerful warrior.

"Uh,"

Stilgar freed himself from his crouching position and stood up, raising his head slightly to look at the witch, and extended his hand to Jessica, but his words were directed to all the warriors.

"It's almost dawn. We must reach the Taibu Crypt before sunrise. The fate of these two outsiders will be decided there."

Jessica stared into Stilgar's eyes, then returned the dagger made of sandworm teeth that she had seized from her opponent.

Stilgar then turned and faced the Fremen, saying loudly, "Until then, they are under my protection!" The man then lifted his gloves and gently ran the crystal dagger across the back of his wrist, performing the Fremen's oath, "I promise them!"

One by one, the Fremen who recognized Stilgar's leadership also made such actions to show that they respected the decision of the tribal leader and would provide shelter for the young man and woman before reaching the Tebu Crypt where these Fremen lived.

Paul Atreides, who was controlling the situation from a high altitude, saw this and was ready to put down his gun.

But a young woman's voice sounded behind Paul, "I won't let you hurt my friends!"

Paul Atreides quickly turned around and pointed his gun at the source of the sound.

That was the highest corner. In the shadows, there was actually a Fremen female warrior hiding who he had not noticed before. She was squatting in the corner, holding a dagger, staring at Paul as if she was ready to attack at any time.

Although this female warrior was wearing a distillation suit, her entire body, including her face, was wrapped under the robe, leaving only her eyes and a nose-mounted breathing filter exposed.

But Paul could still recognize those blue eyes. Although they were the same blue as many Fremen's eyes, he had seen the beautiful face and figure of this girl many times in his dreams, as well as those wild, confident, yet gentle eyes.

Paul slowed down his breathing caused by rapid movement and slowly put down the gun in his hand. The girl's sharp eyes also softened, and the hand holding the dagger also retracted, and her tense body posture became relaxed.

The Fremen girl tilted her head slightly and looked at Paul with raised eyes, then she removed the mask on her face and looked at the young man.

“They say you are the Mahdi, but you look like just a pretty little boy!”

Like all the warriors, the Fremen girl brushed the sand off her butt, then stood up and walked towards Paul.

"You chose the most difficult path to come here. I admire your courage. Follow me. It's time for us to go."

A man and a woman jumped off the cliff in the canyon, joined the Fremen, and prepared to go to the Tebu Crypt.

Paul knew that there were millions of Fremen living in these Fremen dungeons.

But the Leo Empire and the Harkonnen family did not know the number of these Fremen.

Due to the special nature of the Dune planet, satellite monitoring is not allowed under the unspoken rule of public opinion.

These Fremen rarely appeared in the desert during the day, so the nobles thought that after a long period of slaughter and hunting, there were only more than 10,000 Fremen left.

The Fremen leader, Stilgar, took the gun from Paul and said to the girl beside Paul: "Protect the safety of outsiders, Cheni, take good care of the newcomers, let's go!"

"I don't accept them," the objection came.

Jamie, who had just taken off the robe covering his face, walked forward and stared at Paul and Mrs. Jessica.

Stilgar stood between the two and said to the warrior from a different faction, "Jamie, I've already given the order, don't mess around."

Jamie looked at Stilgar with his blue eyes without fear. He did not mock or sneer, but said in a calm tone that every Fremen had honed through the desert: "Stilgar, you speak like a leader."

"But only the strongest are qualified to lead, and she defeated you."

Jamie's blue eyes were calm as he glanced at Jessica, then he said, "I'm going to use Emtel's Law (a destructive test that primitive planets often use to test the flaws and limitations of the person being tested),"

Jessica turned around without hesitation and put down her bag. Her calm eyes were like a mother wolf staring at her prey. She was not afraid of the challenge of this Fremen.

"You cannot challenge Sayadina" - Fremen code for priestesses who have not become the Mother of the tribe.

"Who will fight me in her name?"

Stilgar turned his head and looked at him sternly. "Jamie, stop it, that's enough, the night is about to end!"

"Then let the sun witness this death!" Jamie's dark face was calm, cold and stubborn. Even the previous leader could not change his mind.

His voice became rough. "Where are her defenders?"

Paul Atreides looked at this stubborn warrior with a complex look in his eyes, including resistance, pity, calmness and depth.

He must fight on behalf of his mother Jessica and defeat Jamie as Jessica's defender, otherwise he will not be recognized by the Fremen and will not be able to get their protection.

But in Paul's dream, he had already foreseen blood and death. This was his predetermined fate, but he had to do it.

Paul lowered his eyes, then raised his head again, stepped out from the Fremen and stood in front of Jamie.

"I accept her defender." The Fremen warrior Jamie recognized the courage of the young man Paul, then slowly turned around and waited quietly for the moment when the sun rose.

Paul looked back at the back of this stubborn warrior, as if he saw a deep web of fate sweeping towards him, wrapping him up bit by bit and trapping him deeply in it. He supported himself on the wall with his hands, facing the inherited ring of the Atreides family on his hand, and entered into an exceptionally peaceful state of mind.

In this eerie silence, images and fragments of the future flowed through his mind.

In the sunshine, he duelled with the Fremen Jamie, bodies and daggers touching each other, fighting skills colliding with each other.

This is completely opposite to the results predicted before.

During the battle, Paul, who had never killed anyone, died at the hands of a Fremen warrior because of his momentary kindness.

The flashing images and the voice of the ancient female ancestor echoed in his mind like a chant, "Paul Atreides must die!"

"Only Kwisatz Haderak can rise!"

“Don’t be afraid,” the male ancestor’s voice sounded at the same time, like an eerie whisper, echoing in Paul’s mind.

"Don't resist. When you take someone else's life, you will die."

It was not until the sun gradually rose in the sky that Paul woke up from his lost thoughts.

The Fremen girl, Chini, came over and looked at the young boy thoughtfully. She said softly, "I don't believe you are Lisan Algeb, but I hope you die with honor."

Cheney pulled a dagger from his waist and handed it to the clean-cut young boy.

Paul looked into the girl's beautiful eyes with some confusion.

"This crystal dagger was left to me by my family. It is made from the fangs of Shai-Hulud, the sacred sandworm."

Chini's beautiful blue eyes looked at the boy with certainty in them.

"It would be a great honor to die holding it in your hands, and Jamie is a strong warrior, he will not let you suffer."

In the eyes of the female warrior Chenie, a young boy like Paul would undoubtedly not be able to pass the test of a strong warrior like Jamie and would die at the hands of Jamie.

But young Paul dared to stand up for his mother and face Jamie's challenge, proving that the boy has courage.

"Cheeney,"

Paul looked into the girl's eyes, hesitating, wanting to tell her that he had seen her in a dream, but in the end, he swallowed all the words with his moving lips.

He held the dagger that Cheni had given him and followed the girl to the flat ground.

He was surrounded by the cold and inquiring gazes of the Fremen warriors, and his opponent, Jamie, had already been waiting for his arrival.

Paul saw his mother Jessica's worry, but there was also worry about him in Stilger's eyes, or rather, the believer's worry about Paul's other identity.

"May your blade be vulnerable to a single blow!" Jamie stood up from his crouching waiting position.

Paul held the dagger across his forehead and his eyes became serious. When the future was intertwined with the present and fantasy shone into reality, did he have any other choice?

Jamie took a step forward and took the initiative to attack Paul. The movements and traces of the dagger swinging were particularly familiar in Paul's eyes.

In the dream, Paul and Jamie fought each other. With the ability to predict the future, Paul dodged Jamie's attack. The dagger was waving in his hand, and they fought for more than ten rounds in an instant.

Jamie's experienced attacks would always be intercepted by Paul midway, and the collision of arms replaced the fight between daggers.

When the scene seen in the first prophecy flashed by, Paul twisted the dagger that Jamie was about to stab at him with all his might, twisted Jamie's right hand holding the dagger with his left hand, and placed his own right hand on Jamie's neck with the dagger.

"Do you admit defeat or not?"

Paul shouted loudly that he didn't want to die, but he didn't want to kill others either. He hated the revelation of fate.

"Oh,"

The voices of the Fremen were heard all around.

"This young man does not understand the customs of our Fremen people,"

Stilgar said loudly: "There is no such thing as surrender in the Law of Emtel. Either you die or I die."

The Fremen warrior Jamie roared as if he was insulted, pushed away Paul who was waiting for him to admit defeat, and began to attack like a mad dog.

Paul blocked Jamie's attacks again and again, putting his dagger on Jamie's neck, trying to force him to surrender.

The Fremen around him booed, and even Stilgar couldn't help but ask Jessica, "Is he teasing him?"

"No, Paul has never killed anyone," Jessica said with a trembling voice. As a mother, she could fully understand her son's behavior.

Stilgar's expression immediately became serious and he stood up from his sitting position.

In the fight on the field, with continuous attacks, the crazy James made Paul more and more exhausted, and his physical strength was rapidly consumed. He began to understand that if he continued like this, he would die.

Just like the other endings we have seen, if he did not succumb to his fate, he would only have faced a more miserable end.

The anger rolled out of Paul's eyes. In a trance, he heard the cry of his ancestors, "Quisatz Haderak, rise up, climb!"

He dodged and the knife fell.

It was Jamie who fell, and Paul was the one standing.

Paul walked out of the decision site dejectedly, and the Fremen warriors beside him patted his shoulders. This was the warriors' recognition, recognition of his courage and strength, recognition of his courage to kill himself.

"You are one of us now,"

Stilgar said, "One life for one life, and come with us to the Crypt of Tebu."

"No, Paul has to leave this planet," Jessica stepped forward to stop him. She said, "You must have a way. There are smugglers among you who smuggle spices. You have spaceships. You..."

"No," Paul said. This was the first time in the young boy's life that he opposed his mother's opinion.

Paul's face regained its composure, but his eyes were more determined than ever before. He said in a deep voice: "The emperor sent us here. My father is here."

"But not for money, not for spices, but for the power of you Fremen."

"Fate led me into the desert," Paul paused for a second, "I can see it!"

He looked at Stilgar with a determined look, "If you accept me, we will go together."

As the sun rose high in the sky, Paul and Jessica joined the Fremen.

They faced the light, wrapped Jamie's body in cloth and set out on the road home. But when they walked out of the canyon, Paul seemed to have a telepathic connection and felt the gaze of the people watching him.

Then Paul Atreides turned and looked over the cliff.

He seemed to be able to see the phantom there.

That was the creature that appeared in the future memory. At this moment, it was standing on the top of the cliff with the holy angel, as if looking at himself.

There are no dragons in this universe, but the moment he saw that creature, he knew that it was a dragon in mythology, or perhaps a god in the mortal world.

But there shouldn't be gods in this world.

(End of this chapter)