Rebirth of a Divine Body
"Stop, Nux… tell me. What in the heavens is happening?"
Felberta leaned across from him, elbows braced on the decorative agate table, her chin balanced on the back of her hands. Her violet eyes, normally cold as knives, blinked doubt and aggravation.
Nux's voice was steady, abrupt, nearly impersonal. He gave her the truth—but not the whole truth. The Wife Taking System was his secret.
"I did not intend to rise," he stated callously. "So I decided to reshape and rebuild. This Genesis Lotus… it's the treasure that can rebirth me."
Felberta's lips puckered into a tight line before she exploded in rage. "Are you fucking stupid?!" Her dainty hand pounded the tabletop. "You could have crossed the tribulation and survived! Why would you willingly throw yourself into divine lightning? Do you want death so much?"
Nux didn't reply. His silence just made her chest sear hotter.
"You don't get it," she told him, her voice shaking now, less anger and more sorrow. "If you had crossed, you'd have been conspicuous—you could've been a God, Nux!"
Finally, he turned his head. His dark eyes did not reflect defiance, but a strong, unflinching fire. "And what's so great about being a God?"
Felberta blinked at him, her eyelashes quivering. "What's good?" she repeated, amazed. "You become a God, you go to the God Realm! Immortality, limitless power—what more could you want?
Her jade fingers curled individually as if she ticked off treasures to give to him. Her voice grew sharp, but the trembling betrayed her overlying emotion. She appeared to be a porcelain doll that had cracked under the pressure of caring too much.
"Yes… the God Realm possesses everything," Nux said tenderly, his eyes unyielding. "But…"
His words fell into a whisper that filled the room like waves on a pond.
"The God Realm doesn't have you."
The words hit like lightning.
Felberta went rigid. Her purple eyes went wide, their luster shattering like dropped starlight. She simply stood there for a moment or two, frozen and panting irregularly.
"You… what did you just say?" Her voice trembled as if she had been hurled into a hurricane.
"Nothing."
She glared at him, her face knotted—gentleness she never permitted herself to express flashed for one fleeting moment before she pushed it back beneath the armor of pride.
"Then why?" She spat the words out, voice rawer now, though her hands shook. "Why tempt death? Why blow yourself to pieces on tribulation lightning?"
Nux then leaned his head to her, his eyes narrowing in a playful smile. "Tell me, Felberta… were you pleased when I exploded it?"
Her body jolted. Feelings she had attempted to suppress now surged back, taking her composure in shambles. Her chest rose and fell, her dainty body shook, and her violet eyes gleamed with ripples she could no longer conceal.
"Millions of years of cultivation down the drain, all at once," she breathed, her voice breaking. "I just want to know one thing. Was it worth it?"
"Why don't you ask me something else?"
"Then do you regret it?" The words tumbled out before she could catch herself, her voice ragged, bereft of the Moonborn Dragon Queen's authority. She wasn't the queen anymore. She was simply Felberta.
Nux's response was adamant, instant. "Not regret."
Her heart cracked. Something within her—something she'd contained for aeons—exploded. She parted her lips, ready to release all she'd held back, but—
"Hahahaha!" Nux's thunderous laughter burst from the lotus, resounding across the chamber.
Felberta's anger flickered back in a flash. "Why the bloody hell are you laughing?!
He laughed again, without remorse. "Silly girl, I was just joking. I did not jump into lightning for entertainment. My resurrection was for a reason."
"You have the audacity to tease me now, when I've lost everything I hold dear?!" Fire seemed to burst forth from Felberta's purple eyes.
Nux taunted a second time, his tone banter. "Admit it, come on. Didn't you catch yourself falling in love with me for a split second there?
"Heh!" Felberta flung back her silver locks in a proud snort. "Me, fall in love with a human? Don't fool yourself. Impossible. Not in this lifetime."
"That's good then," said Nux with a feigned sigh of relief. "For a second, I was afraid. If you were to fall for me, and I were to find someone else later… you'd likely chop me into little pieces with that hatchet temper of yours."
"Asshole! Don't flatter yourself. This queen would never fall for you!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm clearly not good enough for you."
Felberta's lips parted with an insult on her tongue—something like bastard—but she bit it back. All that remained was a cold snort, but in her violet eyes, hidden deep, was a light she couldn't extinguish.
Nux let out a sigh within himself. The Wife Taking System required him to capture women of Spirita, but Felberta… she was different. Not that he didn't enjoy her company—he did—but her pride and strength as a fighter would make her a menacing lover. If he flirted with another woman, ever, he might well get hacked to pieces.
I apologize, Fel, he thought to. I swear you this: when you're raised up, when you stand as Moonborn Dragon Queen, I'll see you rule your clan. I'll see you bend the Gods to their will. I swear it.
Something Nux didn't realize was that dragonkind never did practice monogamy in the first place.
________________________________________
Three days later.
The pool lay dry. All the spiritual liquid had been absorbed by the Genesis Lotus.
The twenty-four petals whirled wildly, emitting golden radiance, sucking in each strand of energy from miles around.
Then—
Boom!
Light burst. Lotus flowers opened in a whirlwind of perfume, flooding the room.
Felberta's purple eyes widened, her breath stuck in her throat.
Out of the opening golden lotus emerged a figure—like a deposed immortal stepping into the mortal world.
A twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy, his face wonderfully refined: sword-shaped brows, narrow lips laced with haughtiness, and eyes as dark as the abyss but shining with charm. His physique was slender but proportionate, each line of his physique in accord. Even wrapped in holy light, he emitted an aura of natural charm, a charisma that somehow caught the heart right away.
It wasn't merely his appearance.
As Nux looked over his new form, he could feel it—nine orifices wide open, the eight extraordinary meridians clear, golden light flowing through his veins. A divine form, perfect.
He laughed to himself. Even William White, with all his years of practice and immortal herbs, only managed to barely open his meridians. Compared to me? He's nothing.
"Hey, crooked! Wake up!" Nux waved a hand in front of Felberta's dazed face.
She blinked, shook off her daze—and then her cheeks turned scarlet.
"Y-you… shameless bastard!" Her fist flew out instinctively. "Why aren't you dressed?!"
"Wait, wait—Ancestor, mercy!" Nux exclaimed. But too late—her fist landed with a blow that sent him crashing into the wall with enough strength to shake the chamber.
Coughing, he dragged himself loose, holding his chest. "Agh… Felberta, easy! I just acquired this body. If you destroy me now, I'll be useless!"
Felberta's anger broke as she saw what she had done. His cultivation had decreased—her carefree strike could have killed him. She flung herself at his side, panic on her proud face. "Nux! You don't dare die!"
"Ahem. Barely alive. still. Another hit like that, and I'm a goner." He smiled weakly.
Her purple eyes scanned his chest. She stood there, her gaze on the unblemished lines of muscle, the golden veins that glowed like a radiance. She reached out without thinking and touched him.
"F-Felberta, what are you doing?! Attempting to take advantage of me in your hidden room?" Nux squealed.
She didn't listen to him, her hand shivering against his flesh. "Your body… it's too perfect. Not a single flaw at all."
"Of course. Otherwise, your punch would've turned me to dust." He swatted at her jade hand. "Watch it. If you keep touching me like that, I might commit a crime."
Her cheeks blazed with crimson. She whirled about, hiding her face. "Shut up, you shameless brat!"
Nux could only sigh. This girl… either slow to react, or making excuses to touch me. Which is it?
At that time, the golden lotus petals rose from the pool, curling around him.
"What now—?"
The petals exploded into light, disappearing into his body.
As the radiance died, he stood changed: black hair bound by a golden crown, an indigo robe flowing over his body, a jade sash around his waist, cloud-patterned boots on his feet. His aura cut, tempered, completely divine.
Felberta had wheeled around just in time. She looked through her fingers, and caught her breath once more.
"Nux… I think I've found something…"
He lifted an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"
"You're… a bit handsome." She twiddled with her finger, talking to herself under her breath.
"A bit? Try a billion points."
She brushed off his haughtiness, speaking with unusual sincerity in a whisper. "Your body… it's the number one divine body in all Spirita. Nobody could compete. Your presence—it's like poison to women. When you venture out into the world, I fear you'll leave a trail of heartbreaks behind you."
Nux scoffed. "Don't overstate. I'm not that special."
"I'm serious," Felberta said, her tone shifting back to her queenly weight. "This isn't a joke."
He coughed lightly, smirking. "You sound awfully convincing… like you've tested it yourself."
"Go to hell!" She raised her fist again, her face scarlet.
"Alright, alright. I'll behave."
But as soon as she turned her back, her cheeks flushed, her lips tilted ever so slightly. With Nux, her queenly frigidity dissolved, and there was only a girl torn between pride and… something more.
"Nux," she blurted suddenly, her voice back to normal. "What are you going to do now?"
He smiled weakly. "Fel… I'm leaving the mountain."
"You're leaving?" Her face didn't change, but her eyes trembled, revealing the turmoil raging inside.
"Yes."
"Where are you going?"
"First stop…" His eyes hardened in determination. "…the Soulforge Citadel."