On the other side, within Desdoraka's body, Starlight’s figure was completely enveloped by writhing flesh.
The dark red fleshy walls around him were constantly secreting corrosive slime, producing a bone-chilling hissing sound.
At this moment, Noah’s soul phantom had fully expanded, constructing a translucent silver barrier around Starlight.
The dripping slime immediately turned into green smoke and dissipated into thin air upon touching the barrier, but with every attack it repelled, Noah’s phantom dimmed a fraction more.
“Little Star, my power can probably only hold for another three minutes. You must find and isolate Salenzo’s soul within this time!” Noah spoke urgently, seemingly unwilling to waste even the strength required for speech.
“But I—” Starlight’s doubt was cut short as soon as it reached his lips.
“I have already opened a path for you. Only you can accomplish this.”
“Fine, I understand. I’ll do my best!” Starlight grit his teeth and nodded slightly.
He took a deep breath, looked at the soul chain that had been thrust into Desdoraka’s body, and grabbed it firmly.
Buzz...
A familiar sense of dizziness immediately rushed into Starlight’s mind, but he did not panic. Instead, he relaxed his mind, allowing this power to drag his consciousness into an endless dark abyss.
Watching Starlight’s spirit invade Desdoraka’s body through the soul chain, Noah whispered to himself, “Starlight, this is something only you can do...”
When Starlight regained his senses, he found himself floating in a void of dark space.
There was no concept of up, down, left, or right here. All he could see were several massive dark red chains extending from different directions, converging at a point above him into a beating heart.
“Is that Desdoraka’s soul core...?”
As Starlight slowly approached one of the chains, he discovered that each chain was embedded with countless fragments.
These fragments emitted an unusual light like distorted mirrors, and something seemed to be flickering incessantly within them.
He instinctively drew closer to one of them, and the fragment did not resist him.
The moment Starlight’s fingertips touched that dark red memory fragment, the surrounding void rippled like the surface of water, transforming into a strange scene.
It was a deep underground cavern, its damp rock walls covered in glowing moss.
Salenzo, who had not yet fused with the Dragon God's husk, was coiled in the center. His pitch-black scales shimmered with a sickly luster in the dim light.
A massive magic formation was flickering before him, with dense death power slowly rotating within it.
Starlight noticed that it was no ordinary death energy, but divine power residue with a dark gold hue. Every trace of the leaking ripples caused the cavern’s rock walls to peel and decay.
“Soon... it’s almost a success...”
Mad fire danced in Salenzo’s eyes as his claws slowly reached into the center of the magic formation. “Once I fuse with this wisp of divinity, I can inherit the Dragon God's authority—”
As his claw tips touched the energy vortex, a sudden change occurred.
The death power, which had seemed docile, suddenly erupted, transforming into countless tiny black snakes that burrowed into his body through the gaps in his scales.
Salenzo’s muscles instantly tensed, and a look of agony appeared on his face. His long dragon tail uncontrollably smashed the stone pillars beside him.
“Ugh... ah! No... why is this happening? Why is my body being rejected by this power?!”
He roared in pain, quickly withdrawing his front claw.
In just a moment of contact, the eroded right claw had already turned a deathly grey.
While Salenzo struggled in pain, a lazy, soft chuckle suddenly echoed from the shadows of the cave.
“Heh... isn't that only natural?”
Accompanied by the sound of silk rubbing against the ground, an alluring blue figure stepped gracefully out from the shadows, leaving a faint blue footprint with every step.
Cantia maintained her human form as she approached Salenzo.
She nonchalantly bypassed the somewhat out-of-control death energy and blew gently on Salenzo’s right claw. A layer of ice immediately sealed his wound, stopping the spread of the death power.
“This is energy extracted from the Ancestor’s remains. How can a mortal body like ours easily master it?”
“You knew all along?” Salenzo looked down at her, letting out a low growl.
The Frost-Glow Dragon King did not flinch. Instead, she smiled charmingly. “Is it that surprising? As a magic master of the Dragon Race, isn't it normal for me to know a thing or two about this?”
“Then you must have a solution?”
“A method... of course there is one, and it’s quite simple. You need to collect a sufficient amount of life energy to neutralize this deathly aura.”
“Life energy... you make it sound so easy. To obtain life energy of equal quality, the only place on the entire Leon Continent might be with the elves! Do you expect me to attack the World Tree?” Salenzo snorted coldly.
“I am only responsible for providing suggestions. What you do specifically is up to you~” Cantia chuckled, twirling a lock of hair at her chest with her finger. “However, I think there is someone among the elves who can be used.”
Salenzo paused for a moment, recalling when the various races of the continent had specifically sent the elves to seek allies to resist the Demons not long ago.
“Are you talking about that Yuta? True... his lifespan shouldn't be much longer. A person like that should have the strongest desire for power.”
“Exactly. As for how to win him over, that is your problem, Brother~” Cantia said no more, turning to leave the cavern.
“Stop!” Salenzo’s dragon tail suddenly swept across, blocking her path. “Why are you helping me like this? I don't believe you are being so kind-hearted.”
“Oh my, for you to say that about me, Brother, I’m truly heartbroken.”
Cantia stopped her steps and looked back. “I don't have such grand ambitions as you. I simply find the current continent too boring. Besides, to explore the feasibility of taking the next step, your plan, Brother, is an excellent experiment.”
After saying this, Cantia’s figure shattered into countless ice crystals and completely vanished from the cavern, leaving Salenzo behind with a shifting expression.
“Just for an experiment... she truly is a madwoman. But her suggestion is indeed useful. I’ll go take a look.”
...
The surrounding images came to an abrupt halt, and the consciousness space returned to its previous chaotic void.
“These are... Salenzo’s memories?”
Starlight suddenly realized the truth. He gazed at the other flickering memory fragments; it seemed each fragment here represented a part of Salenzo’s soul's obsessions.
He also realized that if he wanted to destroy the stability of Desdoraka’s soul, Salenzo’s memories might be the perfect entry point.
At this thought, Starlight’s gaze became sharp. He looked up again at the massive heart in the center.
The surrounding chains were transporting something to it like blood vessels. If he could destroy these memory anchors, his goal should be accomplished.
“But as one of the Dragon Kings of the Dragon Race, Salenzo’s soul strength must be far beyond imagination... Even in an unstable fused state, with my current power alone...”
He tentatively released a wisp of mental power, but it was bounced back the moment it touched a chain.
This gave Starlight a bit of a headache. In this void of consciousness space, he had no physical form, could not summon items, and could hardly even condense basic magic.
Although he knew that the flow of time in the consciousness space was definitely different from the outside world, he did not have extra time to waste here.
Just as he was at a loss, a faint blue spark suddenly flashed past his vision.
It was a color that did not belong to this world. Its light was so pure it contained no impurities, resembling the first snowflake on a winter night or a firefly in summer, dancing lightly around Starlight.
It finally settled on the back of Starlight’s hand and merged into his skin.
Starlight was slightly stunned, feeling a trickle of warmth coming from the back of his hand, spreading through his arm to his entire body.
This reminded him of when Noah had sealed the dark-attribute elemental mark on his hand after the great battle with Taros.
At that time, to prevent the elemental mark from going out of control, similar blue patterns had appeared on his wrist.
Those complex runes had entwined around the dark mark like chains, perfectly inhibiting Taros’s lingering power.
However, Starlight was still entirely ignorant of the nature of this power. It did not seem to belong to the elemental systems known in common knowledge, nor did it seem like ordinary mental power. Instead, it was somewhat like Transcendent Power, a higher-dimensional existence.
“Is this also power left behind by Master? In that case... since this power can appear here, it means it must be related to the soul or spirit...” Starlight murmured thoughtfully.
In the next second, as if he had suddenly understood something, he swung his hand abruptly.
A ghost-blue flame emerged out of thin air, dancing quietly in his palm. This flame had no temperature, yet it caused ripples to form in the surrounding memory fragments.
Where the firelight shone, those distorted chains actually began to tremble slightly.
Starlight stared at the dancing ghost-blue flame before him and slowly reached out his index finger toward it.
Buzz!
The flame suddenly expanded, shaped by his mental power into an azure longsword.
The blade was crystal clear, as if carved from the purest ice, yet a lively flame pulsed within it.
The moment Starlight gripped the hilt, the entire consciousness space shook. The surrounding darkness also seemed to have met its natural enemy, slowly retreating backward.
“Well then... let’s give this a try!”
Without hesitation, Starlight aimed at the previous chain and swung the sword down fiercely.
Rate on N.U.
