Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Destroying the Kree Armada
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Back a few minutes ago, at the center of the planet, Edward had successfully led the Golden Dragon into his array. As he did, the array flew by itself to brand itself onto the hide of the Golden Dragon.
The effect of the array was to steal the Soul of a being, thus killing them without harming their spirit. However, because of it's size, it took some time to the array to find the Golden Dragon's soul, and extract it.
At the same time, the array somehow formed a connection with the Soul of the Golden Dragon and the Queen Parasite, which was why it was able to trace him so easily after that.
Thankfully, the Kree Empire had provided him with a good distraction as it gave him enough time to extract their souls out of their body.
Then, resurrecting them was pretty simple, all he had to do was to push the souls he had stolen back into their mortal shells.
At the same time, their souls were branded by his Spirit, and were he to wish for it, he could destroy both of their souls with but a thought.
Also, it allowed him to give them some simple commands, so he forced the Queen Parasite into one of his pokeballs, before looking at the Golden Dragon.
Intelligence shone in the eyes of the great being as an ancient sounding voice made itself heard into Edward's mind, "Thank you, human, for delivering me from this parasite. At least I will be able to die knowing I have avenged the life I nurtured."
Edward rose an eyebrow at that and asked, "You nurtured? How long have you been able to think?"
The Golden Dragon didn't seem to be reluctant in answering his question as it replied, "Before any sign of life appeared on Markar. I watched them over the years, some species going extinct, others blooming with a wonderful future. Unfortunately, even the greatest of them was decimated by those parasites."
The Golden Dragon's voice palpitated with wrath, but Edward concerned himself with something else.
"Why die now? You should be able to create another planet around yourself." Edward asked, unsure.
The Golden Dragon's giant head shook a little as it explained, "I have long been connected with Markar, and now that it has been destroyed beyond repair by the battle, my death won't be far. At least I wasn't turned into a tool for those parasites."
Edward scratched his head before pointing at his chest and asked, "If you want to make yourself useful, why don't you let me absorb you? It would be much easier with your approval, and I was the one to help you with the Bloody Parasites, so…"
Edward knew that if his conversation with the Golden Dragon was heard by anyone else, they would call him many bad names, but the only reason he had given the Golden Dragon it's intelligence was for the assimilation to become easier anyway.
He didn't think it would have such a high level of intelligence, as he wanted to rely on his Royal Will and Aura to make it submit, but since it was capable of conversation and feeling emotions, he might as well use this.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the Golden Dragon didn't seem angry at the request, and actually replied, "I wonder how such a tiny body could assimilate me. Tell me, what do you intend to do with your power?"
Edward could simply erase it's soul with a thought of his and assimilate it by himself, but if answering a few questions could make the process easier, then…
"Protecting, mostly. My family, my people, my world, my reality."
"Don't you have any selfish goals?"
Edward shrugged and replied, "I already completed most of them, and they didn't really need power to be done. If that's what you're wondering, I am more of a Creator than a Destroyer."
The Golden Dragon remained silent for a few minutes, mulling over his words, while Edward patiently waited. At the same time, Super Skrull was hiding on the planet below, both looking at the fight above and searching for a ship to escape.
The situation was quite dangerous for him too as initially his armor was capable of allowing him to survive in space, but it had been destroyed in the fight, so as soon as the air around him depleted, he would die of asphyxiation.
Besides, with the core of the planet gone, the magnetic field had disappeared, meaning the destroyed parts of the planet started scattering into space, and the air was even faster.
Finally, back into the sky, the Golden Dragon gave it's answer, "I suppose it's only fair I reward you for what you did. I accept, tell me what to do."
Edward was pleasantly surprised by its answer, most living beings would rather die than letting them be absorbed by another, it wasn't the best kind of death after all, but the dragon wasn't just any being.
Edward muttered, "All you have to do… is to let go." With his soft-spoken words, the Golden Dragon started feeling an attraction force coming from Edward, and as it was told, it did not try to break out of it.
To it's shock, it found Edward to be become bigger and bigger as it approached him, and only as it looked down did it understand that it wasn't him who was getting bigger, but it who was becoming smaller.
Actually, it was somewhat wrong as in reality while it was indeed getting much smaller as it approached Edward, he himself was also growing in size.
With his power, all sorts of things were possible, and magic was wonderful sometimes. He grew bigger and bigger, until he reached more than a hundred meters tall. As for the dragon, it huge form slimmed even more as it became just a few meters in diameter by the time it entered Edward's body.
This was an extreme feat of Space Manipulation, and the nature of Edward's powers also helped. Because the Golden Dragon was an enormous source of Yang Chi, it made any manipulation to it much easier than it should have been.
Anyway, as it entered Edward's body, Edward felt it travel through his meridians and blood as an overall transformation took place into his body. At the same time, Edward felt his Core greedily reaching toward the power of the Golden Dragon, to absorb it and evolve on it's own, but Edward used his Spirit and the Freezing Crystal to keep it in place, while the Golden Dragon was being assimilated into his body.
On the outside, as the Golden Dragon's body was completely absorbed, Edward's body started shining like a sun and emitting a terrifying heat as a magnetic field created itself around him.
On the inside, his bones, flesh, muscles and skin were all being reinforced by the Golden Energy as they underwent a transformation not unlike when he brokethrough a realm. Actually, Edward could feel that his Core wanted to breakthrough along with his body, but Edward continued using his Spirit to stop them.
If Edward wasn't wrong, there were multiple paths forward. After forming his Core, it seemed that he could take any of the four paths, Body, Core, Soul and Spirit individually, breaking through with one of them to strengthen that aspect.
However, that would be letting down the other three, so it was the worst of the possible paths, a subpar method if you will.
Then, the slightly less subpar, maybe the average path, would be to fuse two components of the same attribute, such as the Body and the Core. This was what Edward was going through, or at least what would happen if he didn't stop it. Fusing two linked components, like Body and Spirit, was probably in the same category.
Then, the superior method, the true Nascent Soul Stage, the fusion of two opposed elements, such as Body and Soul, and Core and Spirit, this would give rise to a great power.
And finally, the path Edward was aiming for, the perfect realm, the fusion of all four components, Body, Soul, Core and Spirit. He used to want to call it Nascent Soul Realm, but he realized it would be rather lacking.
It wasn't just a Nascent Soul, it was a complete fusion of his entire being… he would have to find a new name. Anyway, before any of that, he needed to finish his absorption of the Golden Dragon and find something for his soul.
Compared to his breakthroughs, this time the power up Edward went through went relatively smooth. The hardest was to contain his Yang Attributes from fusing or breaking through on their own.
After a couple of minutes, the energy in Edward's body settled down as the Golden Dragon's spirit dissipated, truly becoming Edward's.
Stretching out slightly, Edward felt how strong his body had become. At the same time, he could also feel his Royal Aura had been strengthened by quite a big deal.
At first, Edward's Royal Aura was derived from his Royal Will, which came from both his Will and his Spirit, but now his Royal Aura was being influenced by his body.
He seemed to have his aura of regality increase with the absorption of the Golden Dragon, which wasn't strange as dragons were revered as gods in Ancient China, the Emperors were believed to be the descendants of dragons.
However, as he opened his eyes, Edward saw something unsettling. He was glowing with a golden color. In the past, his blood was already golden in color, but now every part of him seemed to have been turned into gold.
Closing his eyes for a second, the glow on Edward's body gradually disappeared as he turned back into his usual appearance.
Then, he once again opened his eyes, and looked around. His eyesight had naturally been increased with the improvement of his body, and so he easily found Super Skrull, who was struggling for breath.
Edward landed on a nearby part of Markar, which had been turned into an asteroid, and with a powerful jump appeared next to Super Skrull.
The asteroid he had used as a jumping platform had been reduced to rubble, and the piece of the planet he landed on too trembled, and looked like it would break anytime.
However, in the next moment the expanding cracks stopped and mended themselves as Edward used his powerful Earth Concept.
Other than strengthening his body, the absorption of the Golden Dragon had also allowed Edward's Earth Concept to skyrocket as he reached the limit for this one too.
So it was with ease that he fixed the piece of rock they were on. Then, he brought some more air from the surroundings, allowing Super Skrull's now blue face to return to it's natural green.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone