Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1065: Moon Goddess's True Intentions.

Returning to the outside world, Yasenia blinked a few times, feeling slightly dizzy. The forceful ejection from the ritual place was not as smooth as the entry, and everyone took a little break to recover. To make sure that everyone was alright, the dragoness asked aloud. "Is everyone here?"

Looking around, she counted the people in the surroundings and counted an extra person, making her blink. Looking over, she saw the Moon Goddess, wearing her gorgeous and fairy-like white robes, standing in the snow and looking at the sky. 

The wind blew, and even as a spirit, her gorgeous long and black hair moved with it, creating an ethereally beautiful sight. The Moon Goddess continued looking upward, even though all they could see was mist, and spoke softly. "A different sky… Who knew that even a clouded world could look so novel and refreshing?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Those words carried a trace of melancholy and sadness that was hard to miss. The soul standing there had spent who knows how many years alone in that trial place, and because of a mistake when creating her, the Soul Strand developed feelings that were not different from other people.

The solitude during those years must've been crushing.

Yasenia asked her, curious. "What now?"

The Moon Goddess stopped looking at the sky and lowered her gaze toward Yasenia. Her dark eyes shone with a silvery light, reflecting the beauty of the moon on a dark night. "... Who knows. However…" Extending her own hand, the Soul Strand showed that her fingers were starting to gain a translucent hue. "My time is limited."

Yasenia's body had a strange chill as she looked at the Moon Goddess, a sense of impending danger. She was not someone who ignored these types of extraordinary sensations, so she ordered aloud while summoning Draheart. "Gather!"

The Moon Goddess was surprised when everyone followed Yasenia's words and made a defensive formation against her. She faintly raised one of her eyebrows and asked with a half-smile. "What's the meaning of this, Dragon?"

Yasenia looked at her closely and spoke up. "We've already saved you from that place. We owe you nothing, so leave. We want no conflicts with you."

The Moon Goddess Soul Strand smiled faintly. "But… You can't do anything to stop me, Dragon." The Moon Goddess deployed her [Moon Intent Domain], entrapping everyone in it in an instant. Then, she stepped forward and appeared in front of Cecile while everyone was frozen stiff.

Yasenia's eyes widened when her body couldn't move a single inch. When the Moon Goddess deployed the Intent Domain, it felt like her existence froze, not her body. Even thinking was complicated.

Cecile looked at the woman who appeared in front of her, and she heard the Moon Goddess speaking. "You see, while I can probably live for a few centuries with my current energy reserves, I need a body to keep myself from deteriorating." Tracing Cecile's jaw, the Moon Goddess laughed softly. "You seem to either be one of my descendants or someone who has inherited a good chunk of my power. Your compatibility with me is good enough that I might be able to go beyond just using your body as a temporary vessel."

Looking at everyone frozen around her, the Moon Goddess sighed. "I am truly grateful to all of you. However, I really need her body. I swear that I won't kill any of you. Once I get what I want, I'll leave, and you can go your way. Only…" Looking at Cecile, the Moon Goddess sighed. "This woman won't be able to follow."

BOOOM!

"Hm?"

Looking over at the source of the violent aura explosion, she saw the dragon woman looking at her with a terrifying face. A pair of bloody red draconic eyes looked at her while the waves of killing intent around Yasenia melted the snow around her. "I'll… Kill… You!"

A low, angered growl reached her with such rage that made even the Moon Goddess feel a sense of threat. '... She has such a violent aura. Thankfully, our strength level is just too far apart.' 

Other than speaking in chunks, the Moon Goddess's [Moon Intent Domain] was just too oppressive to allow Yasenia to do anything else. The "freezing" nature was deep enough that everything inside, even energy, had been frozen. Due to that, even using her Spatial Ring was impossible.

The Moon Goddess pondered. "You are her Soulmate, right? Hm. That complicates things a little. If I want to control this Phoenix Woman's body completely… I need to deal with you as well."

Another pair of red eyes looked the Moon Goddess's way, but instead of the flaring rage of the dragoness, they carried such chill that would scare even ghosts and wraiths. However, she didn't move or do anything and just observed.

Cecile, looking at the Moon Goddess, managed to speak a few words with a mocking tone. "Interconnected… Soulmates…"

The Moon Goddess, who was about to attack Yasenia, paused on the spot and looked at Cecile with widened eyes. "You two are interconnected souls?" Her eyes flashed with a silver light, and then she sighed. "It's true. I almost made a big mistake."

Knowing that they were so tightly bound, she couldn't deal with Yasenia. If she killed Yasenia, Cecile's mind would collapse, and her body would probably follow, making it useless. The grief from losing an Interconnected Soulmate was not something that could be healed in a few years, decades, centuries, or even millennia. The process was slow and would completely change a person. 

After thinking for a few moments, the Moon Goddess muttered. "Well, it seems that I will need to do things from the inside." Looking at Yasenia, she hummed. "Moreover, you don't really seem to have a Soul Cultivation technique, so the soul should be your weakest link…"

When she heard that, Tatyana's eyes flashed with contempt and mockery. 

The Moon Goddess didn't notice and looked into Cecile's eyes. "Now, little one, open your soul to me." The Moon Goddess's eyes shone silver, and she shot a beam into Cecile's eyes.

Cecile's mind felt as if it was hit with a hammer, making her vision go white as pain filled her entire body and soul. 

Yasenia, feeling Cecile's pain, growled again. "Your death will be agonizing enough that the prison will feel like a paradise, Moon Goddess! Mark. My. Words!"

Her speech surprised the Moon Goddess since someone in the mortal realm shouldn't be able to move so much. However, she was now focused on penetrating Cecile's soul defenses, so she ignored her and continued shooting silver rays into Cecile's eyes. 

Some say that the eyes are the window of the soul, and while it was not literally true, some skills needed symbolism to work. Even then, the Moon Goddess couldn't help but have a frown appear again on her face. 'Her defenses are so solid… Why? She has yet to practice any Soul Cultivation technique…'

Looking deep into Cecile's soul, she found an extremely powerful energy enhancing it. "Hm…? What's this? A True Phoenix aura… Did this girl soak in some fluids related to a Primordial Phoenix?"

After absorbing the [Void Soul Phoenix Tear] back in the Secret Realm, Cecile's soul became extremely powerful. That tear from a True Primordial Phoenix didn't only purify her body, but it also enhanced her soul with a regenerative power that affected all Phoenix's bodies.

Therefore, as the Moon Goddess tried to erode her soul, the constant regeneration created a powerful shield that made her feel slightly annoyed. "Stubborn woman… Since you are so against it, let's see what you can do from within."

Then, her body turned into silver energy and dove straight into Cecile's soul. The place she arrived was an endless plain of silver snow where powerful winds constantly blew. The sky was filled with clouds that rained white fire, as the horizon seemed to be covered by two massive Phoenix Wings. 

This was Cecile's soul, which represented her own existence. There was one thing that didn't really fit here, which confused the Moon Goddess. Looking up, she muttered. "Why is there a Sun and several stars in the sky?"

A dot appeared in the middle of the Sun, baffling her even more. 'Is there something in her Soul…? Huh?'

ROOAR!

A rumbling dragon roar that carried tremendous anger made space itself tremble, intimidating the Moon Goddess for a moment.

Outside, the second the Moon Goddess drove straight into Cecile's body, Yasenia blinked forward and placed her forehead against Cecile's, entering her soul with her own soul. "I am going to slaughter you, Moon Goddess."

This action, which usually would be impossible, is something Yasenia had done when she was in the Third Realm! Now that her knowledge was incredibly vast and profound, it was effortless for her to do it.

When Yasenia appeared inside, she manifested in her dragon form. Quickly scanning the entire place, she spotted the Moon Goddess in the middle of Cecile's soul, about to start spreading her influence.

Cecile, by this point, was unconscious from the Moon Goddess's attempts at taking her over. 

When she spotted the Moon Goddess, the dragoness descended like a meteor and manifested the entire strength of her own soul without holding back anything. Cecile's soul, being part of hers in a way, could easily bear the strain of Yasenia's soul.

"MOON GODDESS! I AM HERE TO FULFILL MY PROMISE!"

The Moon Goddess saw, stunned, how a beam of pure Sun Energy descended from the sky, encompassing several kilometers in width and with speeds that made it impossible to dodge. "What?"

She quickly lifted her hand, summoning a large silver dome to defend against it. 

BOOM!

Her shield was blasted open while simultaneously blocking the Sun Dragon Breath that descended from the sky. Still, this fact was something the Moon Goddess couldn't accept. 'A mortal's soul is equal to mine!?'

Her face gained a touch of seriousness, and she quickly released her own aura. "Dragon! You coming over makes things easier for me!" Extending her hand, a gorgeous and elegant silver sword with a black handle manifested. 

Then, she shot skyward to meet with the descending dragon. 

Yasenia's rage-filled roar filled every inch of space. "DIE!"

Her energies surged like crazy, and the Dragon and Moon Goddess's Soul Strand collided.

BOOOM!

The strength of both sides made the clouds in the sky disperse as if a bomb had exploded. Their violent energies would be enough to damage any other soul if Cecile's affinity with both of them was not so perfect. 

After the first clash, the Moon Goddess's heart tightened. Her sword was actually trembling after clashing with the massive claw of the Dragon. Moreover, the Moon and Sun on Yasenia's wings also made her realize that this dragon woman had many secrets she didn't know about.

"You… Are you related to me as well?"

Yasenia's wrathful gaze locked onto the Moon Goddess, and, as an answer, she opened her maw wide, creating a gorgeous rainbow of celestial light. "[CELESTIAL DRAGON BREATH]!"

BOOOOOM!

The Moon Goddess' body was thrown back several hundred kilometers, cratering into the distance like a meteor.