Chapter 499: Behind Her Soul

There is an unwritten rule among the dragons, in fact, that exists in many other races, but dragons as such proud creatures respect that even more. It's about not interfering in a duel.

Yet, when Lord Han sees his son begging at his feet while Aylin threatens his life, he stops thinking about pride.

"This wasn't supposed to be a fight to the death!" He speaks in an authoritative tone to Aylin.

Aylin's eyes glow golden as she points her naginata at Lord Han and his son. "You come to my home to offend me and force me to serve your selfish purposes, so I have the right to defend my honor, even with your blood!"

"This is madness!!" He complains as Han Feng struggles to get up, but even the treasures in his body cannot fight Aylin's overwhelming golden energy.

"No…" Garen also gets into a combat stance as he looks at Lord Han. "This is a duel, and you must not interfere."

Lord Han can't help but also go into a combat stance as he feels his son's life is threatened. Knowing that a battle between their groups is about to start, he looks at his allies, the other old dragons behind him.

But those dragons take steps back, getting away from him. One of them even shakes his head at Lord Han. "We won't support you if you act irrationally."

"He is my only son..." Lord Han begs for help.

"You shouldn't let him get into a duel if he can't fight alone." Another old dragon responds.

Lord Han doesn't understand how things got to that point. He had it all planned out, but he couldn't know about Aylin's unbelievable power. Now, with no choice, he summons his soul weapon, an ax also dark-golden, and points at her.

"If you force me to do this, I'll have to fight. Even if I die today, I'll make sure I take you with me." Lord Han threatens Aylin as he releases a powerful aura.

"Immortal Realm peak..." Garen comments and then stands next to Aylin. "Don't underestimate him, as he is actually the strongest dragon in this room."

"Yes, he is." Aylin smiles while her eyes glow golden. "I actually have to thank you, Lord Han.... I wasn't finding an opponent strong enough to help me with a problem, so you came to me willingly."

"Aylin, please..." Garen can see what she wants to do, and he can't help but worry about her safety.

While Lord Han, his son, and the other dragons are confused, Aylin orders Garen in an authoritative tone. "Don't get in my way; I'll take care of them both."

"Father..." Godric also fears for Aylin's safety, but Garen cannot disobey a direct order from his Queen, especially in a situation involving her honor and self-pride.

"Father..." Han Feng begs his father's help again, and Lord Han extends his hand to him, breaking the duel rules.

"Humph!" Aylin makes a mocking sound before flapping her wings, flying towards them. "You won't be able to disrespect me again!"

"Stupid girl!" Lord Han swings his ax towards Aylin, creating a cloud of dark energy much larger than his son's attack.

That black cloud begins to darken the throne room, but the golden light from Aylin's naginata acts like a sun, pushing away all darkness and blinding those who look directly at her.

Lord Han's aura is really powerful, as someone very talented from Immortal Realm peak should be. His power is above most other High and Royal Dragons.

Yet, his legs tremble as he and everyone in the room feel Aylin's aura rapidly growing more powerful. Nobody understands from where she's getting more power from because not even the best known treasures could do that.

They don't understand what's going on, but Lucien, who is inside Aylin, experiencing everything she feels, begins to understand.

[She's like Pride...] Lucien thinks. He didn't realize that before as he wasn't familiar with the energy of Pride, but now he clearly sees how similar they are.

Lucien's mind goes back to Aylin's first war. He clearly remembers how good she felt fighting for her people and killing those Gods.

Aylin felt so powerful, brandishing her golden naginata in front of her army. But that didn't really was about the war or the fight, but rather how people were respecting her at that moment, empowering her soul, just like those old dragons are doing now in the throne room.

Before Lucien notices it, he is no longer in that throne room but in front of a huge golden gate, just like those inside the naginata.

[Am I back?] He wonders but then notices that Aylin is beside him.

Seeing her that way is different from seeing things through her eyes. So Lucien watches Aylin closely as she gazes at the golden gate with her glowing eyes.

"You're so perfect..." Lucien doesn't only talk about the beauty of Aylin or her power, but mainly about her personality, which he admires so much.

But his words do not make any sound in that place that is not in his time and space. And he can only look at her as a painting he will never get tired of admiring.

[Finally…] Aylin comments as she walks to the golden gate. Her body shines with a golden aura, just like her eyes.

[I'm not that smart, charismatic, or influential...] She reflects about herself as she reaches out her hand to touch the golden gate.

The shine in her eyes becomes even more intense. [But I will make them respect me... by force, they can't ignore me!]

As soon as Aylin touches the golden gate, it opens, and an even brighter golden light blinds Lucien. But that light does not blind Aylin because how could the light of her own soul blind her?

She disappears into the golden light, but Lucien still feels the same way she does. He feels her getting stronger as she understands more about her own soul; he feels her connection to the golden naginata getting even stronger…

He feels that she still has many questions about that but is still taking another step towards the unknown infinity within her soul. Aylin fears nothing, not even what is hidden deepest within herself.

[So it's like this...] Lucien understands. [That's how she opens the gates... It has to do with others, but it's mostly about herself.]

He is happy for both Aylin and himself. [It's like she's looking deeply into herself and... touching her own soul.]

Lucien realizes that the golden light stops blinding him, and somehow he feels that he is no longer experiencing Aylin's memories; he went back to his time but is still in front of the golden gate inside the naginata.

[Why?] He looks at the empty space inside the gate and doesn't understand why he's still there... [Is there something for me inside?]

Wasting no time, he walks inside the golden gate as Aylin did once. After walking for a few seconds, he finds himself in a kind of oval room. Well, he doesn't see walls, but the golden light illuminates a small circle-shaped area around a short pillar that glows brightly in the center.

Above the pillar is an unfamiliar symbol resembling letters in ancient dragon language floating within a beam of translucent light.

Lucien feels a powerful aura coming from that symbol, but he also feels deeply connected to that. Also, he feels like touching that.

[This...] He touches the symbol, which glows brighter than before as it runs over his skin like a living tattoo.

[What???] Lucien is confused as he feels that symbol run through his body, taking along with it many waves of power that make him feel exactly like Aylin a while ago.

He feels much more powerful, and also his connection to the golden naginata improves quickly. That feeling only starts to calm down when he notices the symbol stop moving after reaching the top of his back and losing its radiance, staying there like a new tattoo.

Lucien tries to look at the symbol on his back, but as it is right in the center, he obviously can't.

Then he tries to summons the golden naginata, which immediately appears in his hand, glowing brightly.

[Hmm...] Lucien smiles as he realizes that despite looking the same as before, the naginata is very different. Its weight seems to have increased thousands of times, now weighing the equivalent of hundreds of mountains.

Yet, the naginata doesn't seem to weigh anything in his hands. It's like a feather floating in his hands with the power of his thinking. Lucien moves it in various ways, and the weapon seems to directly respond to his will at the speed of his senses, which works at a much higher speed than his body can reach.

[Amazing!] Lucien can't help but get excited at how quickly he can move the naginata. In fact, it seems to be moving his hands instead of the contrary.

He also feels so much power coming from the naginata and making his whole body stronger, faster, and tougher. And he can feel that the symbol on his back has to do directly with that new level of connection he has with the naginata and Aylin's soul.

[Aylin...] He thinks about her. [This power is your power... so, thank you.]

Lucien again focuses on that power coming from the naginata, which starts to glow more and more intensely. Then he closes his eyes and again feels an instinctive urge to roar like an enraged dragon.

*ROOOOOARRRRR!!!*

He finds himself again in the Blue Star, attacking the Leviathan with the golden naginata. The weapon's glow grows brighter as Lucien's aura explodes, making him several times more powerful than before.

[Huh???] The Leviathan is shocked when she feels Lucien's aura get so much more powerful. [He looks even more like that woman...]

Despite being surprised by Lucien's burst of power, the Leviathan is still very confident of her power. But then she gets even more shocked when she feels the naginata tip actually enter her body, piercing her tail. [No way!!]

Dark blue blood splashes over Lucien's face as he smiles, watching his naginata pierce that creature's hard skin.

*Bam*

But her tail is too big, also hitting Lucien, who is thrown back when the Leviathan uses even more force in her attack.

However, the damage from that attack is minimal compared to the previous ones. In fact, that blow doesn't even make Lucien bleed, and he quickly regains control of his body by flapping his wings in the air.

'Lucien!!!' He hears Lust's worried voice in his mind. 'You… you are actually okay!? And how did you manage to hurt the creature!?!?'

Lust is just as confused as the Leviathan in realizing how much power he is literally extracting out of nowhere. She can't even understand how his current power can be classified into power levels.

'The power of Aylin???' She asks. 'You managed to learn how to use the power of the soul, don't you?'

'I think so…' He comments as he looks into the eyes of the Leviathan, who looks more excited than upset after having her tail pierced.

"Hahaha..." The creature starts to laugh. "You did it, little dragon; you took a step towards being like that woman... Now let's continue; we shouldn't waste time, right?"

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