The time froze and out of nowhere, a dragon claw appeared. It caught Asura Ryuu and retreated back to the crevice of the space from which it came, and with it the flow of time returned.
The ball of energy didn't explode because the devil had a very fine control over his Spiritual Energy and knew there was no need to do anything anymore. After all, the owner of this space had interfered. He took the girl with himself and flew off to the direction from where he initially came.
-----
In a pitch-black space, Asura Ryuu opened his eyes.
Asura Ryuu: "Eh? Where have I felt this feeling before?"
He tried moving but couldn't. There was a chilly feeling on several places in his body - the parts of his body that were missing, destroyed by the energy brough by the spear. His body was torn apart and hollowed out, but there was no more pain. He felt elated.
Asura Ryuu remained silent for quite some time and then said out loud: "Everything has its beginning and end, huh?"
He didn't expect anyone to answer; it was just a feeling that he had to say that sentence out loud.
He couldn't move, and he couldn't see below, above or behind himself. The only direction he could see was in front, but there was nothing to be seen, only ever-reaching darkness.
He let out a heavy sigh filled with countless untold emotions.
Asura Ryuu: "After the Curse of Samsara I thought everything would change, but the heavens still resent me..."
Silence.
Asura Ryuu: "I wonder if she's okay..."
Yet again, silence.
*sigh*
Asura Ryuu: "Even Gods die at some point, huh?"
---"Yes."
Deep and powerful voice replied.
Asura Ryuu was shocked and surprised. He thought: "There was someone here?"
The owner of the voice didn't know what he thought, or didn't care.
---"Even Gods die, but even in death they cannot rest, can they?"
Asura Ryuu's mind thundered at the complexity of that question. It was simple but filled with many years of pain, suffering, loneliness and seemed as if nothing could influence it anymore.
Asura Ryuu seemed to realize something and asked: "Are you a God as well?"
The owner of the voice didn't respond immediately, but regardless his answer came.
---"I was once. I was... much more than a God."
Asura Ryuu: "Then are we both dead?"
---"You are not dead, but I am."
Asura Ryuu: "If you can still be alive in death, you must be extraordinarily powerful, right?"
---"..."
Asura Ryuu: "Seems like I was right."
---"Why did you have to come?"
Asura Ryuu: "Huh?"
---"I was supposed to disappear in a few thousand years, why did you have to come here and give me hope?"
Asura Ryuu asked with visible confusion: "I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean."
There was no answer, but the world around him changed. He could move once again and his body was healed - or rather, returned to the state before the energy of the spear destroyed it.
In front of him was a magnificent sight.
A pair of rainbow-colored eyes stared deeply into his own, imbuing a potent feeling of suppression inside his soul. The eyes belonged to the dragon with four horns and ten wings. It was a winged dragon, not the coiling dragon type.
Its four limbs stood on the space, carrying its massive body with scales each the size of a planet. Above the dragon were the roiling clouds of destruction, pierced by lightning as thick as the dragon's limbs every second. The dragon was so magnificent but seemed somewhat illusory, just like the clouds above him.
The scene didn't last for long before it vanished. In front of Asura Ryuu a small snake appeared. No - it wasn't a snake, it was a nine-colored coiling dragon about a meter long.
The snake-like dragon didn't open its mouth, yet its voice thundered in the surroundings even though it wasn't loud.
---"Your spear, where did you get it?", the dragon said circling around the floating spear next to Asura Ryuu.
Before Asura Ryuu could say anything, he felt his mind roll as if an invisible hand stirred it, searching through his memories. One had to know, Asura Ryuu's Mental Power wasn't small. First, he was a God, and second; he lived nine lives in hell. How could it be so easy to search his mind?
Yet here it is, the one who could do that.
In an instant, he had seen Asura Ryuu's past experience as well as every moment of his nine lives.
---"Interesting. The Curse of Samsara, eh? I didn't see it for a long time. Little one, it seems you and I were fated to meet."
Asura Ryuu just stared in silence, and a bit of unpleasant feeling arose in his heart. Even if he was willing to let others search his mind, it was still uncomfortable. He felt as if he was stripped naked before someone.
---"Why a long face? Here, I'll let you see my memories.", the dragon said as if it was nothing serious.
The snake-like dragon shone with a bright glow and his form pierced through Asura Ryuu's forehead, appearing in his Spirit World. As soon as it appeared inside, Asura Ryuu felt a splitting headache and his Spirit World started cracking. The Dragon's eyes widened in surprise, and now it was its turn to feel surprise when it saw the Celestial Tree. Nobody knew the reason why, but he was very, very surprised when he felt the aura from the tree.
He only murmured: "Spirit Avatar... Spirits.", and the surrounding glow transformed into nine streams of stars, forming a river that disappeared into the tree. When the last bit of the star-river merged into the tree, its shape changed and congealed into a core made up of shiny rainbow colors. There was no more tree, just that core-like thing in the middle of Asura Ryuu's spirit world, shining with a ten-colored radiance and remodelling the broken Spirit World.
As all of that happened, the splitting headache rose in intensity, but this time Asura Ryuu couldn't lose consciousness. This was his mind, therefore, even if he lost his consciousness he would still be aware of everything that happened.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-----!"
Gut-wrenching roar surged out of Asura Ryuu, fueled by anger and pain. He was angry because the dragon's memories had a huge influence on his mind and state of heart. His Spirit World was undergoing a complete ground-up restructuring and essentially evolving because the dragon's Divine Energy was still pouring into his Spirit World, causing it to crack and expand over and over again. The process resulted in a head-splitting pain even stronger than when his body burst apart from the Spiritual Energy influx a while ago.
---"Little one, I'm giving you my fate in your hands. Whether it's a blessing or a curse will be up to you to decide.", the dragon murmured to himself and coiled around the core that was previously a tree.