Path To Godhood Begins With Marrying Wife And Gaining SSS Rank Skill

Pain hit her instantly and completely. Her body trembled in hard violent waves as heat surged through her veins and bones alike. It felt like something was burning through her from the inside, tearing its way through her blood and rewriting everything it touched.

“Ahh, wuwuwuwu,” the sounds came out broken and involuntary as she jolted against the pain. It was heart wrenching to hear.

“Ethan, it hurts you bastard!”

Ethan moved instantly and caught her before she collapsed completely. He had known the first time was going to be genuinely life threatening and it showed in how quickly and firmly he moved to get her off the floor. This was not just pain.

This was a process that broke a person down from the inside because it was a change in bloodline and that was never gentle regardless of how prepared you were for it.

“Sophia!”

“I’m fine!” she forced out but her voice cracked and broke apart on the last word.

Her fingers dug hard into his arm as her body arched against another wave and her breath came in ragged uneven bursts.

“Ahhhh!”

“Sit down and meditate,” Ethan said firmly.

In that moment he wanted to scold her properly because there was a process to this and she needed to be in a focused and active meditative state before taking it, not gulping it down in one go like it was water. He pushed that aside for later and instead made her sit down properly against him and pressed her to concentrate on controlling her breathing and gathering her focus inward.

Her skin began to glow faintly red and thin lines of light spread outward across her body like cracks running through heated stone. Her breathing turned erratic and her heartbeat pounded loud enough that she could feel it in her ears and her throat and behind her eyes all at once.

It felt like her blood was boiling. Like something trapped inside her was trying to break out through her skin by force.

Ethan held her firmly and kept her upright as she struggled against it, his grip steady and his presence grounding even as everything inside her felt like it was coming apart.

“Stay with me,” he shouted in a low but firm way, leaving no room for anything else.

Sophia gritted her teeth hard against the next wave and her whole body shook in his hold. “It burns,” she managed to get out between sharp and uneven breaths.

Her nails dug deeper into his arm but Ethan did not move and did not flinch.

“It’s the transformation,” he said. “Hold on.”

Her back arched sharply as another wave of pain crashed through her and she cried out again, the sound raw and unguarded in a way that Sophia almost never allowed herself to be.

“AHHH!”

A faint draconic aura began to leak out of her body in thin visible wisps and the air around her trembled slightly as the energy pushed outward through her skin and found no clean way to escape. Her veins glowed beneath the surface and her body kept convulsing as the power forced its way through her system one layer at a time, rewriting as it went.

Time stretched. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt unreasonably long.

Sophia’s voice had gone hoarse but the words still came out between the shaking and the pain, quiet and deliberate and meant only for herself.

“I won’t break.”

Ethan’s grip on her tightened slightly and he stayed exactly where he was, steady and unmoving, giving her something solid to hold against while everything inside her changed.

“Good,” he said.

Sophia’s body continued to tremble as the transformation pushed deeper into her system.

Her breathing was uneven and each breath came out hot and heavy against the air. Sweat covered her skin and strands of her hair stuck to her face as the heat inside her kept rising steadily with no sign of stopping.

Ethan stayed beside her with one arm supporting her back and the other steadying her shoulder firmly.

“Focus on yourself. Don’t fight it,” he said quietly. “Guide it.”

Sophia clenched her teeth hard. “I am trying.”

Another wave of pain surged through her and her body arched sharply against it. “AHHH!”

The draconic aura around her flared stronger this time and the air around them shook slightly as a faint pressure spread outward across the room. The cracks of light running across her skin grew noticeably brighter.

Then a low and almost inaudible sound came from somewhere deep within her, like something breaking cleanly apart. Ethan’s eyes sharpened immediately. “It’s starting,” he muttered.

Sophia’s fingers tightened around his arm almost to the point of drawing blood. “It feels like something is tearing.”

“Let it,” Ethan replied firmly. “Don’t resist it.”

Her body suddenly went still for a brief moment and then a powerful surge of energy burst outward from within her.

BOOM!

A wave of heat spread across the room and caused the curtains to flutter violently while the floor beneath them cracked slightly under the pressure. Ethan did not move and tightened his hold to keep her steady.

Sophia’s eyes snapped open and for a moment they glowed faintly with a reddish gold hue that had not been there before. Her breathing slowed but her body remained tense.

“Ethan,” she said quietly.

“I’m here,” he replied immediately.

Another surge came but this one was different. It was not as chaotic as the ones before it and the energy began to stabilize gradually. The glow on her skin started to fade and the cracks of light disappeared one by one. The draconic aura that had been leaking outward began to settle back into her body and find its place there.

Sophia’s grip on his arm loosened slowly. Her body which had been rigid and shaking for so long began to relax and her breathing came out steadier with each passing second.

“It’s calming down,” she said softly.

Ethan nodded slightly with his expression still focused. “Good. Keep it that way.”

She closed her eyes again and followed his words, turning her attention inward and focusing on the energy settling inside her. The violent burning sensation began to lessen and instead turned into a deep and spreading warmth that felt almost bearable by comparison.

Time passed slowly.

After a while the last traces of unstable energy faded completely and the room fell silent again. Sophia’s body went limp and Ethan adjusted his hold quickly so she wouldn’t fall.

“Sophia?”

She didn’t respond immediately and then after a few seconds let out a long breath. “I’m alive.”

Ethan let out a quiet breath of his own. “Yeah.”

She opened her eyes slowly and they were different now. A faint golden red tint lingered in them and there was a subtle sharpness sitting behind them that had not been there before. She looked down at her hands and with a single thought scales began to form along her arms and extended into claws. A faint flame aura lit up around them and flickered steadily.

“I can even use aura somewhat,” she said and her eyes lit up with genuine surprise at her own words.

Ethan helped her sit up properly. “That’s normal.”

She flexed her fingers slowly, watching the claws extend and retract. “This is cool. Also…” she paused and closed her eyes for a moment as if reaching for something inward and then opened them with a look of pure shock crossing her face.

“I am at the peak Emperor realm. How is this possible,” she gasped.

She had been at mid King level just before this and now she had shot straight up to peak Emperor realm as a knight. It was extraordinary but the how of it sat in her mind like an unanswered question.

Ethan gave a small nod and smiled. “The potion worked, that’s why.” But that was not the only reason. He had mixed a breakthrough potion and an S rank potential potion into it as well and that combination was also a large part of why the pain had been as severe as it was.

Sophia stayed silent for a moment and focused on feeling the changes moving through her body. Her breathing, her heartbeat and even her senses all felt sharper and more present than they ever had before. Then she looked at him with a tired but steady expression.

“That was hell. However, people were right.” She paused once. “No pain, no gain.”