Chapter 105 – The Mastering of the Shroud, The Condition of the Trinity, and The Final Preparation
The Agila sat motionless on the gelatinous surface of the ocean, a silver island of logic in a world of divine chaos. Around the ship, the Sovereign's Wall remained—a mile-wide radius of De-tuned water that served as a buffer between the Spirit Empire's elite and the desperate fleet of the Five Shield Alliance.
Trial 4–8: You must progressively master the Shroud of Non-Existence, Shadow Multilation, and the arena of the Timeless Void.
Within the Shadow Trench of the ship, Zhu Zhuqing began the most grueling stretch of her ascension: Trials 4 through 8. Which is The Mastering of Nyx's Domains
This was not a series of separate events, but a continuous descent into the Non-Existence of the Night.
Zhuqing starts training the Shroud of Non-Existence (Trial 4):
Zhuqing stood on the deck of the Agila, facing the open sea. The Sea God's presence was everywhere—in the salt, the wind, and the light. Lakan watched from the bridge, his Nirvana Spiritual Core processing the divine data of the environment.
"The Sea God claims everything the light touches," Lakan's voice whispered in her mind. He is directing her and helping with her training. "To master the Shroud, you must become the thing the light cannot touch. Use the Demonic Nyx Core to erase your frequency."
Zhuqing closed her eyes and calms down as she focus on lowering her presence and becoming nothing. She didn't hide, she Un-existed. She used the DDEGT's Space-Time attribute to fold her existence into a sub-layer of reality.
After attaining some achievement, she suppressed the excitement she's feeling and focus, and decided to test and make a move.
As she moved, the light passed through her as if she were a ghost. She walked across the gelid water, and where her feet touched, the Sea God's influence didn't just fade—it was Excised. She was creating a Dead Zone, a pocket of pure Nyx, or Night, where Poseidon's eyes were blind. Meanwhile, in Sea God's Island, Tang San who is also equally doing his Divine Trial felt something that feels violating, but can't seem to figure out what that is, so he put it back on hisind for now as he has a more important things to do. After all, with Lakan's threat looming over his head, he can't afford to get distracted.
After spending more time on Mastering the shroud, she decided to move on and train next on Shadow Mutilation & The Arena of the Timeless Void (Trials 5-7):
As time passed, on what seems like days, then turn into a year. During this time, besides training and dual training with Bibi Dong, Lakan would also go to Extreme North to check the progress of Shui Bing'er, but seeing she is having easier time than Zhu Zhuqing, after giving some few pointers, Lakan would focus then on Zhuqing.
After all this time, she made a lot of progressed, the trials manifested the Shadow of the Sea—a conceptual construct of Poseidon's wrath made of dark water and divine pressure.
Zhuqing didn't use claws, she used the Scissor of Time-Space. She engaged in a battle of Conceptual Mutilation. Every time the Shadow of the Sea struck, Zhuqing cut the space-time coordinates of the attack. She wasn't just dodging, but also was amputating the Possibility of being hit.
Finally, she expanded her own domain: The Arena of the Timeless Void. Inside this sphere, time didn't just slow down; it ceased to be a linear progression. She moved through the Gaps between nanoseconds, her form flickering like a corrupted video file. She dismantled the Shadow of the Sea not with force, but by Deleting its presence from the void.
By the end of the 8th Trial, Zhuqing didn't just master the domains, she also became the Domain. She stood in the center of the ocean, a pillar of absolute, silent obsidian.
While Zhuqing mastered the Night, Lakan Diwa was undergoing a system check of his own existence. He sat at the center of the Agila's meditation chamber, his three cores spinning in a terrifying, vertical alignment.
Lakan's Nirvana Spiritual Core (Upper) was a prismatic galaxy, processing millions of variables per second. His Seven-Tone Lotus Flame Core (Middle) was a rainbow sun, providing the alchemical heat of the Seven Hues. His Bloodline Chaos Core (Lower) was a dark-gold pearl, pumping the ONE bloodline through his Iridescent Jade-Steel bones.
"The Cores are stable," Lakan murmured, his Radiant Silver Pupil spinning as he looked inward. "But they are still three separate Dimensions. To reach the Phoenix Heart Core, I need the Grand Axiom—the law that allows Chaos, Fire, and Spirit to become a singular Singularity."
Yes, Lakan has thought this for a while now, he plans to fuse all three Soul Cores to create a one Singular Divine level Core. Doing so will allow him to build the foundation for the True God Core he is pursuing for his Unique God Position.
But he isn't fusing them yet. He was Conditioning the pathways. He used his Nirvana Spiritual Core to simulate the internal pressure of the fusion. He calculated the exact friction required between the Chaos Qi of the Lower Dantian and the Seven-Tone Flames of the Middle Dantian.
The heat within his body reached a point where the air in the chamber turned into a plasma-mist. His 36 Heavenly Star Acupoints acted as safety valves, venting the excess Conceptual Heat into the Agila's engines, giving the ship a momentary surge of speed that made it flicker in and out of the physical plane.
"I am the Forge," Lakan whispered, his voice layered with the echoes of the Sarimanok. "And I am the Ore. I just need one more spark... one more Truth from the world to act as the catalyst."
•••••••••••••••
On Sea God Island, the psychological toll of the blockade was becoming a rot.
Tang San stood at the Pillar of the Sea God, his hands trembling as he tried to absorb the divine energy Poseidon was desperately funneling into him. But the energy felt... hollow. Every time Tang San tried to reach for the Universal Law of the ocean, he felt a Dead Zone in the distance—the place where Zhu Zhuqing was Cutting the Sea God's reach.
"He's taking the sea from me," Tang San gasped, blood trickling from his ears. "Master... I can't feel the tides. There's a hole in the world."
Bo Saixi, the High Priestess, looked at the horizon with a sorrow that transcended words. She saw the Agila—a silver speck of absolute defiance. She realized that Lakan wasn't just fighting a war, but he was alsp Rewriting the System. He was making the Gods irrelevant by proving their laws were just Data that could be de-tuned, mirrored, or deleted.
"The Sea God is breaking," Bo Saixi realized. Then she sigh and shook her head "He is pouring his divinity into a vessel that is already leaking."
Lakan rose from his meditation, his three cores settling into a low, harmonic hum. He walked to the bridge where Bibi Dong was waiting, her Abyssal Aegis armor shimmering in the twilight.
"Zhuqing has finished the 8th Trial," Bibi Dong noted, her voice carrying the regal weight of the Rakshasa. "She is ready for the Final Apotheosis. She is ready to meet the God of Darkness face to face."
Lakan looked at the Shadow of the Night returning to the ship. Zhu Zhuqing looked like a crack in reality, her presence so dense that the light seemed to curve around her.
"The North is frozen," Lakan said, looking at Shui Bing'er and Yue'er who were refining their Glacial Song on the lower decks. "The Abyss is claimed by you, Dong'er. And now, the Night is ready to be crowned."
He looked toward the Sea God Island, his All-Seeing Eye of Chaos peeking into the immediate future.
"One more trial," Lakan said, a dangerous smirk touching his lips. "Zhuqing will take the Darkness God Core. I will use the Friction of that event to ignite my Phoenix Heart Core. And then... once we step onto that island, we will not present ourselves as challengers, but as the new Owners of the World."
Lakan turned to his Queens, his silver-and-gold eyes glowing with the ONE bloodline. "Prepare the Mandala. We're going to to the God of Darkness and have him bestowe his God core to Zhuqing."