Chapter 88 – The Mirror of Truth and the Sea God's Warning
The sky was no longer a part of the natural world. It had become a jagged wound of violet and obsidian, held open only by the sheer, unyielding will of Lakan Diwa. Standing on the prow of the Agila, Lakan's muscles were locked in a state of high-frequency vibration, his silver blood painting a path down his neck as he anchored the portal.
Below the ship, the ocean had gone silent, as if the water itself were holding its breath for the judgment to come.
The Inner Sanctuary: The Trial of the Talinghaga
Inside the Rakshasa Inheritance Temple, space and time did not exist. Bibi Dong floated in a void of amethyst mist, her new Deep Sea Demonic Whale King Soul Spirit humming within her Sub-Dantian like a dormant volcano.
In the original timeline, this place would have been a nightmare of rotting flesh and the screams of the damned. But as Bibi Dong walked forward, the Baybayin scripture "ᜆ" (Tapat) on her spiritual sea flared with a warm, golden light. Lakan's influence acted as a filter, stripping away the Filth of the Rakshasa and revealing the Truth.
Suddenly, the mist congealed into a throne room—the old Supreme Pontiff's palace. Standing there was the man who had been the architect of her lifelong agony: Qian Xunji.
"You are nothing but a tool for the Spirit Hall, Dong'er," the phantom sneered, his golden armor radiating a mocking, angelic light. "You are stained. You are broken. You belong to the darkness I forced upon you."
In the past, this vision would have sent Bibi Dong into a frenzy of suicidal rage. But now, she simply stopped. She looked at the phantom of her rapist with eyes that were no longer clouded by resentment, but sharpened by Absolute Judgment.
"You speak of stains," Bibi Dong said, her voice echoing with the bass-heavy resonance of the Whale King. "But you were merely a shadow. I am the one who gave that shadow power by fearing it."
She reached out her hand. The Whale King's purple thunder crackled between her fingers, merging with the Rakshasa's scythe energy. "Lakan showed me that the past is not a cage, but a foundation. You are not my master. You are simply a debt that has already been paid in blood."
She didn't scream. She didn't weep. With a flick of her wrist, she unleashed a wave of Abyssal Judgment. The phantom of Qian Xunji didn't shatter; it dissolved, the dark energy being consumed and purified by the Tapat(Loyalty) mark. The Filth of the Rakshasa Godhood began to peel away, revealing a core of pure, unyielding Law. The God of Evil was being rewritten into the Empress of the Abyss.
•••••••••••••••••
Meanwhile, at the Poseidon Island
While Bibi Dong was rewriting her soul, the external world was reacting to the birth of a rival divinity.
Thousands of miles to the west, on the peak of the Sea God Mountain, a woman of ethereal beauty opened her eyes. Bo Saixi, the High Priestess of the Sea God and a Rank 99 Limit Douluo, felt a shiver run through the ocean's very soul.
"A God is being born... but not the one Prophesied," she whispered, her gaze piercing through the distance. "And the scent... it is the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King? No, it is something much more terrifying."
She raised her scepter, her blue robes billowing. She didn't seek war, but she had to Eliminate this intruder. "By the authority of the Sea God, I probe the shadows."
She struck the ground. The ocean responded.
••••••••••••••
Back at the Agila, the horizon suddenly vanished. A wall of water, three hundred meters high and infused with the Sea God's Power, was rushing toward the ship. It wasn't a natural wave; it was a Divine Probe, a mass of water so dense it carried the spiritual pressure of a Rank 99 powerhouse.
"Sovereign! The ocean is rising!" Shui Bing'er shouted, her Twelve-Winged Ice Phoenix manifesting to shield the deck. Zhu Zhuqing slipped into the shadows of the mast, her Void-Walking Panther ready to strike the very water if it got too close.
Lakan, still holding the portal open with his Law-Mirror, gritted his teeth. The silver blood was flowing faster now. "So, the Priestess wants to play? Fine. Let's show her that the Agila doesn't just fly—it also rules the sky itself."
"Bing'er! Zhuqing! Use the ship's focus!" Lakan roared. "Engage the Chaos Cannons! Don't let that wave touch the portal!"
Lakan couldn't move his hands, but he could command the ship's Anito-Artifact brain. The Agila's ten-fold blade-wings shifted, glowing with a violent, iridescent light.
"Seventh Hue: Heavenly Origin—Ventral Discharge!"
The underside of the dreadnought opened, revealing massive crystalline barrels. These weren't firing shells; they were firing concentrated beams of Chaos-Refined Fire.
BOOM!
The beams hit the Divine Probe with the force of a falling star. The sea-god-infused water met the Phoenix-origin fire. The resulting explosion of steam was so massive it created a localized storm system. The three-hundred-meter wave was literally vaporized in mid-air, turning into a scalding mist that shrouded the Agila.
But Bo Saixi wasn't finished. From the mist, a giant blue spirit projection of her scepter emerged, thrusting toward the portal like a spear of judgment.
"You're persistent, lady!" Lakan growled.
Because he couldn't move, he did something desperate. He channeled his Genesis Adarna Nirvana through the portal's stabilizing anchors. He lent his Law of Simulation to the portal itself.
The violet-black portal suddenly rippled, projecting a massive, translucent image of Lakan's Sovereign Avatar. The giant, four-armed warrior made of rainbow light caught the blue scepter projection with two of its hands.
"Stay on your island, Priestess!" Lakan's voice boomed across the ocean, carried by the Seven-Tone resonance. "The Empress is busy. If you want a meeting, wait for an invitation!"
The Sovereign Avatar squeezed, and the Sea God's spiritual projection shattered into a million blue sparks.
The ocean settled. The Divine Probe had been repelled, but the cost was visible. Lakan slumped slightly, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The Translucent Gold 8th Ring behind him was flickering, the strain of Simulating a God-level defense while anchoring a Divine Portal nearly pushing his mind to the breaking point.
"Lakan!" Zhu Zhuqing rushed to his side, her hand glowing with a comforting shadow energy to steady his soul.
"I'm fine... just... a bit of spiritual indigestion," Lakan joked weakly, though the silver blood on his face told a different story. He looked back at the portal. "She's almost done. I can feel the Whale King's energy being fully digested. The Empress of the Abyss is about to walk through that door."
Shui Bing'er looked toward the West, where the faint silhouette of Sea God Island was visible through the settling mist. "She felt us, Lakan. The High Priestess of the Sea God Island knows we're here. When Tang San arrives... he won't be entering a holy land. He'll be entering a battlefield."
"Good," Lakan smirked, his eyes regaining their sharp, narcissistic glint. "It's been too long since I've had a proper challenge. Let the Sea God prepare his successor. We have an Empress to crown."
The portal began to hum with a new, stabilized frequency. The chaotic purple-black energy was turning into a polished, obsidian silk. The trial was reaching its end.