Chapter 19: Eternal Ember Godbody Codex
The instant Malikai's fingers brushed the ancient bark of the sacred tree within his spiritual sea, his soul form dissolved.
No warning. No pain. Just obliteration.
And at that same moment, his real body, still in meditation within the clan's secret cultivation chambers, vanished from existence.
What followed was unlike anything he'd ever known.
He reappeared in a world beyond imagination.
Verdant mountains stretched endlessly beneath a sky of gold and silver hues. Divine energy hung in the air like fog, so thick he could breathe it. Every breath flooded his lungs with vitality. Yet, paradoxically, his Infernal Aura—so natural, so dominant—was heavily suppressed. It was like trying to roar with no voice.
He clenched his fists, discomfort rising.
His demonic essence... couldn't break free.
He glanced around, wariness in his eyes. In the far distance, rising like a divine monolith into the clouds, stood a mighty twelve-floor pagoda. It shimmered with golden-black light, etched with runes that exuded a pressure not even his instincts could comprehend.
It wasn't just a sacred artifact.
It was... something more.
And behind that pagoda... a tree.
A massive, towering tree identical to the one he'd seen in his spiritual sea. Its roots cradled mountains, and its leaves hummed with power. The presence of it alone stirred something ancient in his blood.
Malikai's thoughts stirred like a storm.
"So that's how it is ..."
The dreams. The chaos. The wars. The victories. All those memories of lives he never lived—now made sense.
"I've always suspected... that this wasn't my first life."
He didn't have all the answers. But the signs had been there from the start—his unnatural instincts, his abnormally powerful soul, his impeccable control over the Asura Devouring Technique awakening, the ever-looming sense that his soul was not entirely new.
"Even if I am a reincarnation... I will never become a shadow of who I once was."
His crimson eyes sharpened with resolve.
"I don't care who I was. I will walk my path, even if that path is forged by fire and blood. I will become stronger, but it will be I who rises. Not a ghost of the past."
With that oath burning in his chest, he stepped forward toward the pagoda.
The doors opened as if responding to his intent.
Inside the first floor, divine mist swirled like celestial clouds. Floating at the center was a single ancient scroll, pulsing gently with rhythm, as if it had a heartbeat. Beside it sat a shallow pit filled with molten golden blood, so pure and brilliant it looked nearly solid, like liquefied divinity.
Malikai's gaze was drawn to the scroll.
As he reached out, it floated into his hand.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the parchment, knowledge flooded his mind. The language wasn't anything he had ever seen in any Doom Clan manual—but he could read every character perfectly.
Eternal Ember God Body Codex
A body refining scripture. But this was no ordinary technique.
The scrolls in the Doom Clan library had taught him the difference: Body refinement, Essence cultivation, and Soul cultivation were three paths. Most Asuras, especially those of the Main Bloodline, focused on essence due to their already monstrous bodies. Very few dual-cultivated body and essence. Almost none took the path of pure body refinement—save for madmen like Aamon and some of his descendants.
But this scroll… It didn't feel like madness.
It felt like sovereignty. Like the scroll commanded the body to become something divine.
Even his Asura Devouring Technique—a supreme inheritance of the Doom Clan—felt lesser in comparison. This Codex carried weight, as if it had been written by a being beyond gods. Something that had once stood above the very concept of flesh.
Malikai stood before the pool of golden blood.
He did not hesitate.
With staunch determination, he disrobed, then he stepped into the pit and sat cross-legged. The blood burned against his skin—like liquid suns—but he gritted his teeth and endured. Then, he lifted the scroll and began to chant.
"Embers of divinity, awaken the marrow... burn the weakness… ignite the sovereign flesh…"
The words echoed through the world.
The golden blood surged around him, swallowing his body in light. His skin cracked open as if rejecting its current form. Muscles tore and reknit. Bones shattered and reformed. His heart exploded, only to beat again, stronger.
The Eternal Ember had been lit.
And Malikai Doom's body… was being born anew.