bookpower Chapter 533: Golden Prophecy
Chapter 533: Golden Prophecy
The isolation bay was a wailing of failing alarms. Red warning lights bathed the room in a chaotic strobe. Iria lay unconscious on her dialysis bed, entirely oblivious to the blaring sirens. Xavier ignored her and walked straight to the bio-stasis tank.
Lyra floated in the amber gel. Her condition had degraded past the point of cellular repair. Black, necrotic veins spiderwebbed across her pale skin. Her Lykaios bloodline was actively tearing her DNA apart, rejecting whatever genetic tampering she had endured in her past.
The monitors beside the tank flashed critical organ failure. And medicine was a dead end.
Xavier opened his inventory.
The Demonic Core materialized in his palm. It was the size of a human heart, slick with dark violet energy and radiating pure malice. Then, he looked at the dying girl behind the glass.
He pulled his right arm back and drove his fist straight through the reinforced polymer of the tank.
The pod shattered and a torrent of amber gel and broken glass flooded the deck. Lyra spilled out with the tide, her body limp and fragile. Xavier caught her before she hit the metal grating, dropping to his knees and laying her flat on the floor.
He placed the Demonic Core directly over her sternum. To force an evolution, he needed an absolute command. He needed the power of the trial.
Xavier ignited the Golden Authority.
The red in his eyes burned away, replaced by the terrifying, layered gold of the divine lineage. And his hair flashed white.
The moment the power surged through his veins, his physical body revolted. He was a hybrid, a mortal vessel carrying the blood of kings, but he was not a pureborn. The sheer magnitude of the divine command began to tear him apart from the inside.
Fine, jagged cracks appeared along his forearms, splitting his skin like dry porcelain. Liquid gold seeped from the wounds instead of blood, searing his flesh with unimaginable heat.
He ignored the agonizing physical toll and clamped his hands down over the Demonic Core and pushed.
The golden light merged with the violet corruption. He forced the abyssal energy directly into Lyra’s failing heart, using the divine authority to command her unraveling genetic code to consume the core and rewrite itself.
The reaction was catastrophic.
Lyra’s back arched off the deck, and an inhuman shriek ripped from her throat. Her eyes snapped open. The familiar amber of her irises was gone, replaced by a swirling storm of violet and gold.
Her bone structure shifted audibly. Thick, blackened claws tore through her fingertips. Her fangs elongated into predatory daggers. The Lykaios bloodline mutated, weaponizing the demonic energy.
She lunged at him.
It was a blind, feral attack driven by pure survival instinct. Her claws raked across Xavier’s chest, shredding his shirt and carving deep gashes into his collarbone. She snapped her jaws at his throat, trying to rip his jugular out.
Xavier grabbed her wrists and slammed her back down onto the metal grating. She thrashed wildly, her augmented strength denting the floor plates beneath them. She kicked, snarled, and fought like a cornered beast.
Xavier simply leaned his weight onto her, crushing her wrists just enough to immobilize her arms, pinning her entirely beneath him.
"Wake up."
Lyra fought the hold. Her claws scraped uselessly against the deck. The violet and gold energy raged across her skin, fighting to establish dominance within her new biology.
Xavier held his ground, his own arms bleeding liquid gold, his muscles screaming under the strain of containing the authority.
The feral light in her eyes began to fracture. The animalistic rage gave way to painful clarity. Her frantic struggles weakened, turning into exhausted shudders. Her fangs retracted slightly, and the thick claws on her fingers shortened back down.
She went limp beneath him, gasping for breath. The evolution was complete. She was alive. A faint, glowing ring of violet now encircled her golden pupils.
Xavier released her wrists and immediately severed his connection to the Golden Authority.
His hair turned black. The gold vanished from his eyes. He collapsed backward onto the deck, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood. The cracks on his forearms stopped glowing, leaving behind deep, scarred tissue which slowly began to heal.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his chest heaving as he stared at the ceiling. And then... he fell unconscious after not having slept for days.
———
Half a universe away, hidden within a nebula of burning starlight, sat the Golden Heaven.
It was a fortress of absolute, crushing divinity. The architecture was forged from stellar cores and frozen light, dominating the surrounding galaxy. High above the central spire of the Golden Palace, the eternal bells began to toll. The sound was deafening, a physical force that rattled the foundations of the planetary capital.
A man marched through the massive, vaulted corridors. His boots struck the crystalline floor with extreme violence. His eyes burned with the arrogant gold of the Lineage. He bypassed the royal guard without a glance and shoved open the heavy doors of the central cathedral.
A priestess knelt at the altar, her head bowed beneath a towering, faceless statue. She wore robes of woven sunlight, her hands clasped tightly together. The tolling of the bells echoed through the cavernous space, vibrating in the stone.
"What did the Goddess decree?" the man demanded. His voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling, carrying no respect for the sanctuary.
The priestess did not turn around. "The Golden Trials have been conquered. A soul has walked the path, faced the judgment, and claimed the Golden Authority."
The man stopped dead. His hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. "That is impossible. No one from the Lineage has stepped into the transition zone in a year. There are no candidates in the Heaven."
He narrowed his eyes, a dangerous thought forming in his mind. "Is it that bitch? Did she find a way to bypass the lock?" He shook his head immediately, dismissing his own question. "The Golden Emperor sealed her Authority himself. She cannot access the trials. Only he can unseal her."
He suddenly froze.
The realization hit him like a physical blow. "She birthed a child. She passed the bloodline to a mongrel before we dragged her back here in chains."
The priestess finally rose to her feet, and turned to face him, her expression completely devoid of fear.
"Does the origin matter? The trials are a sacred crucible designed by the Goddess herself. They are absolute. If a soul passed the judgment, they proved their worth. They earned the Authority. The Goddess witnessed the ascent and allowed it to happen."
The man scowled, his face twisting with sudden rage. He stepped toward her, his golden eyes flaring with violent intent. "The Goddess may provide the test, but she does not govern this domain."
He turned his back on the altar and marched toward the exit. "Only the Golden Emperor decides who is worthy of the Lineage. Only he decides who gets to wield the power."
He stormed out of the cathedral, leaving the doors wide open behind him.
The priestess watched him leave and then looked at the statue of the goddess, wondering what the goddess had called the individual who had passed the trails.
"Intergalactic... Emperor?" she wondered.