Volume 2, Chapter 4: The Joining of the Soul – The First Step to the Throne
The Abyssal Cage was no longer a dark prison. It had become a chamber filled with raw, blinding light. The Golden Dragon King's massive body was gone, completely dissolved into energy. All that remained was the Golden Dragon Core — a pulsing, crystalline sphere of pure sun-fire energy floating quietly in the center of the room.
Gu Yuena stood in front of it. Her long silver hair moved slowly even though there was no wind. Her violet eyes stared at the core with a mixture of hope and deep worry. She could feel the raw power inside it — the destructive hunger of the Golden half trying to swallow her whole.
"If I take this now," she said softly, almost to herself, "I might turn into the same monster we just fought."
"Not while I'm here," Lakan said, stepping up beside her. He wasn't wearing his full battle armor. He simply stood there in a relaxed way that somehow made the dangerous situation feel less frightening. Around them, the space felt different — safer. He had created a small protected area using his own power.
Lakan turned to Ji Dong, who was standing a short distance away. "Brother, I need your help. Use your Yin-Yang fire to keep the energy balanced as it enters her. Don't let it get too wild. If it starts to spike too much, I'll freeze the space around it."
Ji Dong nodded. His face was serious. He understood how dangerous this was. He didn't just call up normal fire. He fully transformed. A pillar of cold blue-black flame rose on one side of him, while a pillar of bright golden-red flame rose on the other. Together they formed a swirling vortex around Gu Yuena.
"Begin," Lakan said quietly.
Gu Yuena reached out. The moment her fingers touched the Golden Core, the entire chamber seemed to scream.
The core didn't just release energy. It fought back with pure vengeance. A wave of sharp golden power slammed into Gu Yuena's silver aura. The force was so strong that it would have destroyed any normal god instantly.
Lakan's eyes glowed with 6D Vision. He saw the rushing energy like tangled knots. He drew Buan ng Bukas, the silver kampilan.
He didn't swing it wildly. He used the blade's ability to ignore distance and cut with perfect control. Every time the golden energy tried to tear through Gu Yuena's body, Lakan's blade would gently fold the space inside her veins, guiding the power along a safe path. He was carefully reshaping the flow inside her in real time.
The destructive nature of the Golden half met the balanced nature of the Silver half. Like fire meeting water, they began to clash and cancel each other out.
"Ji Dong, now!" Lakan called out.
Ji Dong acted immediately. He sent his Yin-Yang spiral fire straight into the point where the two forces collided inside Gu Yuena's chest. The black and gold flames acted like a gentle buffer, absorbing the violent shock and turning the raw explosion into a steady, flowing stream of balanced energy.
Gu Yuena's mind started to blur. She wasn't just feeling pain. She was seeing old memories. She saw the betrayal of the Time and Space Dragon Kings. She felt the moment the Dragon Prince was killed. The grief was overwhelming, like a dark poison trying to drown her.
Lakan's Phoenix Heart God Core pulsed with a strong violet-gold light.
"Look at me, Yuena," Lakan said. His voice reached straight into her soul. "The past is just a ghost now. I am the beginning of all things, and I say your real story starts today."
He used the power of Ang Unang Hiwa in reverse. Instead of cutting life, he cut the painful emotions away from the memories. He removed the crushing weight of the trauma, leaving only the clear knowledge of what had happened.
After what felt like forever but was only a few intense minutes, the Golden Core finally settled inside Gu Yuena's body.
Her form changed. Silver scales now had golden veins running through them. Her aura surged powerfully, reaching the level of a Supreme God-King. She had become something new and terrifying. But when she opened her eyes, they were still her own violet color. She was still Gu Yuena.
"I… I hold the power," she breathed. Her voice now carried two tones at once — one soft and melodic like silver, the other deep and powerful like gold.
"You hold the power, Yuena," Lakan said, sheathing his blades and wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead. "But you don't hold the full seat yet. To do that, we need to go to the Dragon Valley. That's where the real test begins."
A week later, the Grand Hall of the High Council felt heavier than usual. This was the first official meeting of the new Unbound Pantheon, and the air was thick with importance.
Lakan sat at the head of the round table. To his right were his four wives — each now a true God-King. Bibi Dong, Shui Bing'er, Zhu Zhuqing, and Qian Renxue sat with calm confidence. To his left were the new God-Kings of Evil and Kindness, Ji Dong and Lie Yan, along with the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life.
Gu Yuena sat at the far end. Her presence alone made even the God of Destruction sit up a little straighter.
"The merging worked," Lakan started, his voice calm but carrying natural authority. "Gu Yuena now has the Golden Dragon Core. But we all know the old stories. If we leave her like this, the missing piece could cause problems later."
The God of Destruction crossed his arms. "The Dragon Valley. It's a broken piece of space that drifted away after the old war. You want to send her there for the Ancestor's Trial?"
"I'm not asking," Lakan said simply. "I'm deciding it. But this time she won't go alone or as a beggar. She will go with the full support of the Sovereign's Mandate."
Gu Yuena looked at Lakan. There was real hope in her violet eyes. "If you can make this work… the entire Dragon Clan will owe you more than we can ever repay."
"I don't want debts," Lakan replied, looking toward the dark direction of the old prison. "I just want a world where we don't have to lose family again."
As the council continued talking about the details of the journey to the Dragon Valley, Lakan's gaze drifted to Bibi Dong. He noticed how she kept looking at the empty seat where the Asura God used to sit — not with sadness, but with the sharp look of someone seeing an opportunity.
Lakan leaned back in his chair, fingers lightly tapping together. "Since we're already talking about changing how power works in this universe, there's one more thing. The Asura Core is still with me. I kept it after everything that happened."
The hall became very quiet. Everyone knew what the Asura Core was. It was the ultimate judge of the universe — a source of terrifying, cold killing intent that could punish any crime, no matter how powerful the offender was.
Lakan looked straight at Bibi Dong. "You are the Goddess of the Abyss. You already understand darkness and malice better than anyone. But malice without proper judgment is just chaos. And judgment without real strength is often too slow."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice becoming more personal. "I want you to take the Asura Core. Not to replace what you already have, but to combine them. I want you to become the only true Slaughter God in the multiverse — someone who has both the will to punish and the wisdom to decide who truly deserves it."
The Asura Core was special. It wasn't just power. It was the concentrated essence of judgment and slaughter, forged from countless eras of divine wars. It demanded absolute willpower from its user. Even Tang San, with two lifetimes of experience, had struggled when he first received it and nearly lost his mind. He had needed Xiao Wu's help to stabilize himself. But Bibi Dong was different. She had already survived the heavy corruption of the Rakshasa path without losing herself or her purpose. Lakan believed her will was strong enough to handle the true Slaughter God's power.
Bibi Dong's eyes lit up with a dark violet glow. The idea of uniting two powerful but conflicting paths — something no one had ever done before — clearly excited her.
"The Only One," she murmured, a slow, dangerous smile forming on her lips.
"Exactly," Lakan said. "But that is a story for another day. First, we make sure Gu Yuena gets what she needs. Tomorrow, we open the path to the Dragon Valley."
The meeting ended, but Lakan and Ji Dong stayed behind for a moment. They stood together looking out through the massive windows at the huge, beautiful expanse of the Phoenix God Star.
"You really don't do anything small, do you?" Ji Dong said with a tired laugh. "A new Dragon God, a new Slaughter Goddess… you're not just ruling this place. You're completely rewriting how everything works."
"Someone has to," Lakan replied, his eyes tracing the distant stars. "The old forces want us to stay small and afraid. I'm just showing them that the boxes they put us in were never really locked."
He looked down at his hands, feeling the steady pulse of the Phoenix Heart God Core.
"We're going to the Dragon Valley soon. And when we come back, this universe won't just be stable anymore. It will truly be ours."
End of Volume 2, Chapter 4