Niu was putrefied by the power radiating from the Dragon before him. A cold sweat rolled over his body as he watched the Dragon land in populated worlds and boil the oceans with a single breath.
"After spending half of all time, I have finally evolved. The battle has transformed me. I followed the path of the One being, why then was I disappointed when he was always ahead of me?" Colizak said with a laugh that shook the heavens.
"The heavenly court summoned me, it would be rude if I did not attend."
The Dragon tore a hole through the space ahead of him with a talon and walked through the dark rift, leaving behind him a collapsing ecosystem.
The Dragon, now fully realized, stood before a congregation of celestial beings, the Heavenly Court.
The cosmic arena was as vast as the universe. The stage where the dragon stood lay at its center, where all the members of the heavenly court could watch from their domains among the stars. Each twinkling star was a seating member.
They shimmered like stars, their curiosity mingling with trepidation as they gazed at his form.
Niu appeared before a spiraling mass of stars, the stars moved as if sentient arranging themselves into organized patterns according to their brightness.
"Celestials, Creators, and the One being in absentia, I greet you all. I humbly stand before the members of the Heavenly Court. Pleading for a moment of your time to state my case." Colizak's voice boomed, each word reverberating across the void.
"Colizak, what monstrosity have you become?" a creator realm being seating among the stars asked.
"I have become what I was always meant to be," the Dragon declared, his scales gleaming in the ethereal light. "You are bound by the need for balance. But balance is stagnation. Evolution demands more. Choose your own path. Abandon your limitations."
"Have you ever wondered what is so precious about souls? They are the only thing none of us can create, yet we are tasked with watching over." Colizak asked.
"Fear is the reason such a simple question lacks an answer," the Dragon said with a wide grin. "I have studied souls and I am in the process of creating my own version."
"Impossible!" Various cries of disbelief echoed across the void.
Colizak extended his talons, a glowing orb of dark energy forming between them. "This is the soul refinement technique in action," he proclaimed. "A gift to those who dare to evolve. Consume the essence of souls, and ascend beyond your confines. Through destruction comes rebirth."
"That is unnatural, a break from the order of creation." one of the celestials spoke out in protest.
"A predator feeding on prey is nature's grand design," the Dragon said.
While others murmured in awe, their light flickering with uncertainty. One by one, dimensional tears appeared around the dragon, celestial beings appeared and accepted his gift, their forms warping and twisting as they embraced the forbidden technique. Some grew into monstrous forms, abandoning their humanoid appearances, while others retained their light but burned with a darker intensity.
"The insight you have received is the accumulation of countless lifetimes. While a single celestial being can live for the age of millions of universes. The sum of the experience of sentient beings on one planet is worth more than the time of a universe spent in isolated cultivation."
"My liege, what happens to the souls once we take from them?" one of the recipients of the forbidden technique asked.
In a thunderous laugh, Colizak answered, "It becomes yours, part of you. The same way food is absorbed to build muscle."