The Shield and the Changing Heart
"Leave this to me!" Yao Xuan's voice cut through the tension. Soul power surged, and his first purple soul ring ignited with brilliant light. "Ancestral Dragon Sky-Rending Claw!"
Nine-colored energy, dense and sharp as fractured light, coalesced around his already-transformed dragon claw, extending it into a larger, phantom manifestation of pure draconic might. With a forceful tearing motion, he unleashed the energy claw. It detached, shooting forward like a comet of razored light, and met the descending yellow-green net head-on.
BOOM!
The collision was a sound of ripping reality. The sticky, venomous web didn't just tear; it disintegrated under the supreme rending authority of the Ancestral Dragon. The net evaporated into a rain of sizzling, yellow-green droplets that pattered to the forest floor.
Hiss—SIZZLE!
Where the droplets fell, leaves blackened and curled into ash, soil smoked and pitted, emitting an acrid, chemical stench. The sheer corrosive potency was a stark reminder of the spider's deadly nature.
"Well done, Yao Xuan!" The relieved exclamations of his teammates were brief, swallowed by the immediacy of the threat.
Yao Xuan didn't pause. "Gu Yue, buff and control. The rest, hold position and support!" His orders were crisp, his eyes locked on the spider.
"Understood." Gu Yue's reply was calm, but her silver eyes held a fierce focus. Her first two soul rings—yellow edged with the deepening hue of approaching purple—flared to life. Elemental Tide. Elemental Control. The air around her grew dense, malleable to her will.
She gestured. A benevolent gale wrapped around Yao Xuan, streamlining his movements, granting him an extra edge of speed. Simultaneously, she struck. Two orbs of condensed, white-hot fire materialized and shot toward the spider's multi-faceted eyes.
The Human-Faced Demon Spider reacted with contemptuous speed. Its forelegs swept up, batting the fireballs aside. They detonated against the armored limbs in blossoms of searing flame. The heat washed over the creature's carapace, scorching the air but leaving only superficial black marks on the lustrous purple chitin. The attack hadn't crippled it, but it had angered it.
A low, chittering vibration of rage emanated from its form. Its compound eyes blazed, fixing squarely on Gu Yue—the source of the stinging annoyance. Eight legs propelled it forward in a blur of lethal motion, a nightmare centaur charging the silver-haired girl.
"Your fight is with me!"
Yao Xuan moved. Empowered by Gu Yue's wind, he was a golden streak, interposing himself between the spider and its intended target. The Ancestral Dragon spirit behind him resonated with his will. Soul power burned as his first purple ring flashed once more.
"Sky-Rending Claw!"
He didn't just activate the skill; he fused it with the physical might of his transformed Right Claw and the deep, ancient pressure of his bloodline. As he launched himself, a wave of primordial draconic authority radiated from him, pressing down on the spider's savage spirit. Its charge faltered, ever so slightly; its movements lost a fraction of their deadly precision.
Yao Xuan met its lunge not with a block, but with a supreme counter-strike. He dropped low, then erupted upward, his glowing dragon claw aimed for the softer junction where the spider's leg met its body.
CLANG—CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
The sound was metallic, final. Yao Xuan's claw, empowered by the "Absolute Armor Penetration" effect—a focused expenditure of his soul power—shattered the spider's defensive aura and bit deep into the hardened chitin. A web of fractures exploded across the foreleg. With a sickening crunch, the tip of the massive limb shattered into fragments of spiritual chitin.
The force of the blow, multiplied by the Overlord Body and his momentum, was catastrophic. The Human-Faced Demon Spider, weighing several tons, was lifted and hurled backward. It crashed through a stand of thick trees, snapping trunks like kindling, before skidding to a heavy, disoriented stop in a cloud of debris and dust.
"Brother Xuan is incredible!"
"Boss! You sent it flying!"
The awe in Tang Wulin's, Xie Xie's, and Wang Jinxi's voices was pure, platonic admiration for their leader's strength.
But Gu Yue was silent.
She watched Yao Xuan's broad, scaled back as he stood protectively before her, the aftermath of his devastating blow still rippling through the clearing. A complex torrent of emotion, foreign and warm, flooded the carefully guarded chambers of her heart.
Is this… what they call 'care'?
From her birth as the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena, existence had been solitude, icy slumber, and the cold weight of a shattered legacy. The only warmth had been those two years as Na'er—years of simple food, shared laughter, and unconditional trust in the boy who was now this young man. That warmth had created the split within her: Na'er, who loved, and Gu Yue, who calculated and remembered the old hatred.
Yet now, witnessing him—feeling him—place himself as an unbreakable shield between her and oblivion, that calcified hatred found itself cracking. The 'love' Na'er embodied, which Gu Yue had tried to treat as a strategic variable, was reawakening as her own.
The evidence of his unique draconic essence was now 99% certainty to her sovereign mind. He was connected to the Dragon God. But the human heart beating within her chest, the one remembering his kindness in Aolai City and his unwavering protection now, asked a different question: Was the ancient vendetta against humanity truly the only path?
Her time at Donghai Academy, seeing human ingenuity in the Spirit Pagoda, their efforts to understand soul beasts through the Platform, their capacity for both greed and generosity… Perhaps coexistence wasn't a fantasy. Perhaps the technology of spirit souls and simulated realms could one day bridge the abyss of conflict.
But… Di Tian, Xiong Jun, Bi Ji? Their hatred was older, deeper, untempered by any experience of human kindness. They would never accept such thoughts. Not yet.
I cannot speak of this change to them now, Gu Yue resolved, her gaze softening as it rested on Yao Xuan's poised form. First, I must recover my full power. Only then can I hope to gently steer their hearts, as mine is being steered.
The decision was made quietly, amidst the chaos of battle. It was not a renunciation of her duty, but an expansion of her hope. The Sovereign's calculation remained, but now it was fused with the heart of the girl who had been shown, once again, what it meant to be protected. The battle for survival continued, but within Gu Yue, a quieter, more profound transformation had begun.