Volume 2, Chapter 9: The Crimson Guest and the Defense of the Damned
The quiet room inside the Sovereign Palace was supposed to be a safe place. It was meant to be peaceful while Lakan helped Bibi Dong merge with the Asura Core. But the Universe's Will had other plans. It had whispered into the one ear that should never have heard it.
Lakan felt the change before anything appeared. The air grew cold and heavy, carrying a thick metallic smell like a butcher shop in the middle of the day. A thin grey crack formed on the ceiling. It didn't break open violently. Instead, it slowly bled. A single drop of dark, thick liquid fell from the void and landed on the floor between Lakan and Bibi Dong.
Then it began to grow.
The blood rose up from the floor and shaped itself into a man sitting on a throne made of lotus petals. He wasn't fully present — just a strong projection — but the pressure he brought made the entire palace groan. His skin looked like old parchment, and his eyes were two deep pools of dark crimson.
This was Minghe. The Lord of the Blood Sea. The ancient being who had created the very idea of slaughter and gave birth to the Asura race at the beginning of time.
"So," Minghe said. His voice was calm and polite, like a teacher explaining why a student had failed. "This is the Phoenix the Will kept complaining about. And this… is the woman trying to steal my seat."
Lakan didn't let go of Bibi Dong's hands. He could feel her pulse quicken against his palms.
"Wow," Lakan said, leaning back slightly with a sharp, teasing grin. "You know, most people knock first. Or at least say hello. You're kind of ruining the mood here, Minghe. We're in the middle of something delicate."
Minghe's cold eyes shifted to Lakan. "The Law of Slaughter is not a mood, boy. It is the pure end of life. It needs cleanliness. It needs a heart that is completely empty." He gestured toward Bibi Dong. "She is a mess. She carries human anger and the poison of a spider. She is unworthy."
With a small flick of his blood-red sleeve, Minghe didn't attack directly. He simply changed the space around them.
In an instant, Lakan and Bibi Dong were no longer in the obsidian room. They were in a vast, empty white void that felt like the inside of a giant bleached skull. There was no sound. No wind. Just the three of them and the heavy red Asura Core floating in the air like evidence in a trial.
"This is the Court of the Blood Sea," Minghe said as he stood up from his lotus throne. He looked like a man who had never smiled in his long existence. "Here, we do not talk about power. We talk about reason. If she wants to become the only Slaughter God, she must prove that her malice is not just anger from being hurt."
"A courtroom, huh?" Lakan stretched his arms casually, acting like he was at a relaxed gathering instead of facing an ancient god. "Alright, let's do this. I'll be her defender. But I have to say, your opening statement was pretty weak."
Minghe didn't look angry. He looked bored. "Let the record show the first stain."
Minghe waved his hand. The white void around them changed. Suddenly, they were standing in a dark, damp cave. The smell of stale air and old fear hit them strongly.
Lakan felt Bibi Dong's hand turn cold in his grip.
In front of them was a younger version of Bibi Dong. She looked vulnerable, scared, and completely alone. It was the moment of her greatest pain — the betrayal that had broken her life.
"Look at her," Minghe said, his voice echoing through the cave. "This is the malice you want to mix with my pure Judgment? It comes from pain. It comes from a girl who was hurt and wanted to hurt others in return. It is small. It is personal. It is weak."
Minghe continued, his voice echoing. "I created the Asura from my own blood at the beginning of time. They were born to judge, to punish, and to end what must be ended. Their hearts were empty so they could carry pure judgment. But her…" He looked at Bibi Dong with clear disdain. "She carries the Rakshasa. That power comes from a different path — born from curses, resentment, and the desire to corrupt everything it touches. It is messy. It is personal. It is the opposite of what I created."
Lakan raised an eyebrow. "So you made the Asura to be perfect killing machines with no feelings. Clean, cold, and empty. Sounds boring. And lonely."
Minghe didn't deny it. "True Slaughter does not need emotions. It only needs purpose."
Lakan stepped forward, still holding Bibi Dong's hands. "Then let me tell you about her path. The Rakshasa power wasn't born from nothing. It comes from deep resentment and the will to survive no matter what. It takes pain and turns it into strength. It's not clean, but it's real. It's the kind of power that comes from someone who refused to stay broken."
He looked at Bibi Dong with steady eyes. "Her malice isn't just anger. It's the fire that kept her going when the world tried to crush her. You call it messy. I call it alive."
Minghe waved his hand again. The white void changed. They were suddenly standing in a dark, damp cave. The smell of stale air and fear hit them strongly.
In front of them was a younger Bibi Dong — vulnerable, scared, and completely alone. It was the moment of her greatest pain, the betrayal that had broken her life.
"Look at her," Minghe said. "This is the malice you want to mix with my pure Judgment? It comes from pain and the need for revenge. It is small. It is personal. It is weak."
Bibi Dong started shaking. The green Rakshasa energy inside her began to boil, turning her skin a sickly color. The memory was pulling her back into that dark time, making her feel helpless again.
"Lakan…" she whispered, her voice strained.
Lakan stepped in front of her protectively. He didn't look at the painful memory. He looked straight at Minghe.
"You really like butting in where you don't belong, don't you?" Lakan said, using a bit of that familiar confident edge. He looked Minghe up and down with mocking pity. "You've been sitting in your Blood Sea for so long that you forgot how real life works. You call it messy. I call it real."
"Real is for the weak," Minghe replied coldly.
"Is it?" Lakan laughed. It was a bright, confident sound that felt out of place in the dark cave. "You think pure and empty is better? An empty heart has no reason to move. Bibi Dong didn't just want revenge. She survived. She took that pain and turned it into strength over many years. You want something clean and sharp? That only happens when someone cares enough to keep sharpening it."
Lakan walked right up to Minghe's projection, stepping close without fear. "You say her malice is weak because it comes from being human. But that's exactly why it's strong. A god's judgment is just cold numbers. It's boring. But a person's judgment, carrying the fire of someone who refused to stay broken? That's dangerous. And that's what scares you, isn't it?"
Lakan remembered his own hard days back on Earth — sitting in hospital rooms, feeling angry at the world and at his own body. That anger had kept him going. He looked at Bibi Dong. Right now, she wasn't a powerful goddess. She was just a woman trying not to drown in her painful past.
"Don't listen to the old man, Dong'er," Lakan said, his voice softening but still strong. "He's like a teacher who has been saying the same thing for a billion years. He forgot that the best students are the ones who change the rules."
Minghe's eyes narrowed. The stagnant blood in his gaze began to swirl. "You talk too much, Phoenix. But words cannot change the nature of the Law. Let us see the second record. Let us see the moment she chose the spider's poison over the light."
The cave began to fade, replaced by a swirling purple abyss full of venom.
"Wait," Lakan said, raising his hand. "We're not finished with the cave yet."
"I have seen enough," Minghe stated.
"But I haven't," Lakan replied. He snapped his fingers, and his Seven-Tone Harmony spread through the space. He didn't destroy the illusion. Instead, he added something new to it.
Suddenly, the younger Bibi Dong in the memory looked up. She saw Lakan standing there. The memory itself began to change.
"You see, Minghe," Lakan said, sounding like he was explaining something obvious. "You think the past is set in stone. But to me, the past is just a rough draft. And I think this draft needs a little fixing."
Lakan didn't use a big attack. He simply reached into the memory and offered the younger Bibi Dong a simple glass of water. It was a small, ordinary act of kindness in a place where there had been none.
It broke the perfect purity of Minghe's trial. The memory became messy. It became human.
Minghe's projection flickered. "You dare change the Record?"
"I'm her defender, remember?" Lakan said with a wink. "And I just found a way through. Her malice isn't a weakness, Minghe. It's the armor she wore to survive and reach me. If you think you can use it to break her, then you clearly don't know what a strong woman can do when she's had enough."
Bibi Dong let out a shaky breath. The green and red energies inside her began to settle, not by becoming perfectly clean, but by learning to exist together.
But the trial was far from over. Minghe was not someone who gave up easily. If he couldn't win with words, he would try with raw power.
"The second record," Minghe hissed, his calm mask finally cracking. "The Trial of the Spider. Let us see if your clever words can protect her from the weight of a million souls she has consumed."
The white void turned a deep bruised purple. The air began to taste like poison.
Lakan held Bibi Dong's hands tighter. "Bring it on, Lolo. I've got all day."
End of Volume 2, Chapter 9