The three-headed dragon near the Dniester River was known as Zmey Gorynych—the same dragon slain by the legendary Russian hero Dobrynya Nikitich, as recounted in the byliny (Russian heroic epics). In the Type-Moon universe, it is said that Nikitich's wife once took care of Gayanskaia for a time during the Tunguska event in later centuries.
However, that dragon should have been slain around the year 1000 near the Pula River, some 200 kilometers from Moscow.
So why was it now wreaking havoc by the Dniester, near the Black Sea?
At that moment, the sun rose over the mountain, casting golden light upon the dragon's pitch-black body and upon the two crows circling overhead.
"O dragon of foreign soil,"
"The time is ripe. I shall grant you divine power worthy of praise—go forth and destroy the terror that is about to awaken."
As the voice—like the whisper of the forest itself—faded, Zmey Gorynych twisted its necks, turning its eyes sharply toward the only entrance.
Truth be told, if it hadn't been forcibly summoned here, Gorynych wouldn't have come to a place so far from home. It had spent months terrifying the locals—but resistance was futile. The being that summoned it was not one it could defy. Perhaps only a pure-blooded primordial dragon could resist that kind of force.
Still, it wasn't so bad. All it had to do was kill a human. Not a problem—especially now that it had been blessed with divine power.
Gorynych was feeling optimistic. After all, it was quite a chatty dragon at heart.
Before long, it spotted the human it was meant to kill. Under the morning sun, the man's ocean-blue eyes gleamed, as if they might devour the dragon whole.
Naturally, Gorynych prepared to unleash a roar. At once, the sky darkened with storm clouds, and a terrible rumble tore across the heavens.
And then—
"I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I didn't do anything—I've got kids to take care of back home!"
The fearsome three-headed dragon unexpectedly blurted this out.
Avia, who had been ready to kill the dragon, paused and looked at it in confusion. He could tell the dragon was genuinely sincere, though he couldn't quite understand why. But that didn't matter—if the fight could be avoided, that was ideal.
In truth, Zmey Gorynych had sensed a dense aura of pure-blooded dragonkind emanating from Avia—something that simply shouldn't exist in this era. How could it dare attack someone like that? It had a family! Best not to meddle in a clash of beings far beyond its league.
"Well, how about this," Avia said, lowering his gun. "Why don't you come with me—join my Hunnic tribe. We could use the extra strength."
"The mind of the Giant... why does it carry the scent of Greece?"
Just as man and dragon were peacefully chatting, thunder rumbled across the storm-clouded sky again.
It wasn't a sound—not a voice in the normal sense—but a presence that echoed directly in one's mind.
To Avia, it felt oddly familiar. Reminiscent of the time he had confronted Yahweh. Similar—but still far less overwhelming.
"Are you an incarnation of Zeus? No... perhaps a god like Zagreus who walks among mortals?"
"No, that's not it either. You're not a god. You're human. And yet you carry a mingled essence... Wait—was it you who activated that lunar machine once used by the Greek moon goddess?"
The sudden voice did nothing to startle Avia. He simply stared with calm, oceanic eyes into the forming humanoid shape within the lightning.
"Who are you?"
The figure was humanoid, but clearly not human. It was storm, it was strife, it was the blade and death incarnate.
At first glance, it looked like a one-eyed old man wielding a brilliant spear. But its essence radiated awe. It was the world. It was the ancient. It was Mystery made manifest. His form was visible, yet it was impossible to say what part of him was truly real.
When the figure descended with a thunderclap, all motion in the world came to a halt.
Its True Name was—
"Odin."
In the year 400 AD, amidst thunder and lightning, an apparition from a higher dimension descended. It was a supreme phantom of infinite wisdom—so far beyond the mortal realm that even the most advanced minds could only imagine its power. This was the High God of the Norse people, the Allfather Odin, who had unified the Norse tribes with his divine insight.
"Avia."
It was not his true body, but a mere projection of Odin that now approached, spear in hand.
"Avia? That name... hmm. So why is it you here today? It should have been Attila who arrived here, not you."
"You sent the dragon to distract the Huns, didn't you? So you could kill her?"
Odin's words quickly helped Avia piece everything together.
It seemed that—for some unknown reason—this god had intended to use Zmey Gorynych to assassinate the not-yet-fully-grown Attila.
That puzzled Avia. After all, Odin himself had created the Valkyries using the remnants of a giant's corpse. Why would he now consider Attila a threat to the world?
Unless—
"Is it because... of the Moon?"
At that, Odin nodded.
"You're more perceptive than I expected. Yes—just as you said. It has begun to loosen its seal."
Recently, Odin had noticed that his Valkyries were showing signs of unconscious rampage. Upon closer investigation, he discovered that the ancient giant sealed on the Moon had begun to stir.
Odin suspected that this may have been triggered by the Huns excavating the remnants of its brain core, which awakened some new state in its main body.
And so, he sought to eliminate the threat.
But instead of meeting Attila, he encountered someone else entirely—someone unreadable. Not a god. Entirely, indisputably human.
And yet, Odin felt a strange desire to recruit this man to Valhalla.
"...Truly, this is an era of chaos."
In the stillness of time, Avia sighed.
He believed Odin's words. After all, the Norse Allfather was known for his strange sense of responsibility.
Corrupted churches to the west, a sealed ancient god about to awaken—and now—
"Yes," Odin replied, as if reading Avia's thoughts.
"And that cursed Rhinegold you carry... once imbued with Fafnir's dragon factor... because of the Greek essence in your blood, it has awakened Typhon, one of the primordial dragons."