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Chapter 223: Enduring Three Strikes
🕑 Added 2023-06-16 17:37:01 +0000 UTCEva Solvig, the B-Grade commander of the Hand of God’s fleet around Trial Planet, was meditating. Her white hair were sprawled on the ground around her as she sat on the surface of one of the planet’s two moons—a moon she had claimed entirely for herself.
If one watched closely, they could see the air sparkling and shimmering in her near vicinity. Any impurities had already been eviscerated. Even the tiniest speck of dust could not survive within five miles of where she meditated.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. “What?” she said. In the next moment, she disappeared.
She reappeared on the other side of Trial Planet, where a peculiar sight was taking place. Multi-colored storm clouds were gathering in space, appearing out of nowhere. Lightning arced and brewed between them.
“A tribulation?” she asked, frowning. “For what reason?”
It didn’t take long for a few more figures to appear beside her. They were the captains of each starship under her command—all of them C-Grades. One of them, her personal assistant, floated to stand a step behind her.
“Why would a tribulation appear here, commander?” he asked respectfully.
“There are not many things worthy of a tribulation,” she responded. “Someone using an extremely strong treasure to break through would be one reason. Someone disrespecting the Dao would be another. It could also— Wait. It’s firing. Back off!”
All of them flew backward, putting a distance of several dozen miles between them and the tribulation. Eva was intrigued. Where would the tribulation fire? Who was its target?
Lightning cracked and slithered. An explosion came. The clouds were roused. And yet, no lightning bolt flew in any direction.
The C-Grade captains behind Eva started whispering, but she only narrowed her eyes. She could sense a spatial turbulation in the midst of the clouds. The lightning bolts were fired, but they were teleported somewhere else. And, if that happened so close to Trial Planet, there could only be one explanation.
“It is aiming at something inside the planet,” she explained. “But it couldn’t be a breakthrough, since that is impossible in Trial Planet. It couldn’t be a disrespect of the Dao, either—how could mere mortals attract its attention?”
“Then, what could it be, commander?” her assistant asked.
“The birth of an incredible beast…or a supreme treasure.” She narrowed her eyes. “This has to be connected to the Ancient ruins found inside. Have we discovered anyone suspicious yet?”
“No one, commander. However, the latest Garden Assault was completed a month ago, and our Lady reported two suspicious individuals. A man with extreme divination and unknown power, who was probably affiliated with the Black Hole Church, and a recently Integrated man who developed the power of a Lord and managed to steal the Top Treasure under the noses of all three participating Lords. The two of them seemed to be friends, too.”
“Has either of them exited the planet?”
“Not yet, commander. Or, at least, we haven’t found them.”
“Hmm.” She frowned. “This must be connected to the Black Hole Church representative. Put out a warrant with his details, offering a reward that would tempt even C-Grades. I also want all of you to take shifts and join the squads scanning the planet, to make sure none of them escape. You know the Black Hole Church has its ways—without a C-Grade actively watching, they could easily slip by us, if they haven’t already.”
“Since this tribulation is happening, they’re probably still inside.”
“Probably. I will also keep my meditation light so I can intervene at a moment’s notice, if anything happens.”
“We appreciate that, commander,” the assistant replied, bowing low. Eva returned her gaze to the tribulation, which was still firing away at whatever its target was. Then, she turned around again, as if she’d suddenly remembered something.
“Did you say that second man hasn’t come out either?” she asked.
“Yes, commander. However, our Lady reported that he was trapped in an immortal meditation chamber. According to her, the chances of him escaping are close to nil.”
“Hmm. Well, at least he wasn’t one of ours. Focus on the Black Hole Church representative. Whatever treasure drew this tribulation, it must be extremely precious. We must not let the Black Hole Church get it. And summon reinforcements from the headquarters—if this really is a supreme treasure, the Church might send B-Grades to retrieve it.”
The assistant’s eyes shone with fear, but he bowed. “Yes, commander.”
***
Jack’s eyes snapped open. He still felt the same as before the breakthrough, but that was only because it was not yet completed. Soon, he would be a man anew.
But only if he could survive the tribulation.
He caught the eye of Brock, who nodded with a smile, and Old Man Spirit, who watched impassionately. He then raised his gaze high.
There was a power brewing over him. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it; like an eye staring at him from far, far away.
It was coming.
The ceiling of the Final Ring cracked. No—it was space itself that had cracked, not the ceiling. Clouds slipped in through the opening, expanding quickly until they filled the entire ring. Darkness covered the tiny planet as the sun mushrooms were hidden behind the anger of the universe.
Only flashes of light illuminated Jack’s surroundings now. Strands of lightning appeared briefly in the clouds above, arcing between them and gathering more power. They came in all colors of the rainbow. If Jack didn’t know they sought his death, they would be beautiful.
As it was, they were nothing short of terrifying.
He still raised his head to stare at them directly. He followed the path of the fist. Even if the sky fell, his head would remain high.
“Good luck, kid,” Old Man Spirit muttered.
And then, heaven did fall.
Lightning gathered in the cloud directly above Jack’s head. It streamed in from all directions, slowly gathering power. It descended.
In the instant while it tumbled down, Jack braced himself. The lightning bolt fell straight on his head. He was not prepared for the impact. His mouth screamed without his command; so strong was the shock. His limbs spasmed, his legs threatened to bend, and he could see stars as everything burned.
His regeneration acted up. The power of Life coursed through his body, repairing it and smoothening the sharp pain, but the lightning was nowhere near done. One bolt after another crashed down, like an angry giant hammering Jack with his anvil. He screamed. From one moment to the next, the darkness was torn apart by a cascade of lightning, all collapsing from the heavens to Jack’s head.
Flashes burned the world. Light spread everywhere. Jack could see nothing, trapped as he was in a hellish cycle of ruin and rebirth. He heard screams—probably his own. His body was burned and regenerated constantly, his nerves were frayed and healed, his heart stopped beating multiple times but was resuscitated by the same lightning that crippled it in the first place.
When the lightning stopped, Jack stumbled. His entire body was blackened, while smoke rose from his skin. He almost fell to the ground; then, with a titanic force of will, he forced himself to stay upright, not submitting to the test of the heavens.
Just how was one supposed to survive this without his regeneration!?
Yes, he had cheated to break through. He had used a treasure to take a shortcut. That was his choice, and he would take the punishment to prove he was worthy. He refused to fall.
There was no way it was over yet.
“There are three strikes!” Old Man Spirit shouted, as if on cue.
Through the pain, Jack grinned. Of course there were three. “Bring them on!” he shouted to the sky.
The clouds rumbled. More of them appeared, as if angered by his blasphemy, and another round of lightning rained down. It really was like rain. The bolts were blue, this time, and they fell like bullets from the sky. Each was sharp and small, but their piercing power was great. It wasn’t just Jack’s skin that took the brunt this time. The lightning drops bore into him, sending their shock directly to his nerves.
He screamed as he was buried in the rain. His entire body went taut. His head was thrown back without his will, and his neck muscles bulged so hard they seemed ready to pop out. The previous round of lightning had charred his skin. This one was burning him inside-out.
His limbs went out of control. This time, he did kneel, because he could not control his legs. Shocks and spasms ran over his entire body. He didn’t know if he was awake or unconscious—maybe both. A pre-System person’s body would have evaporated long ago, but Jack was augmented by the System and his Dao. Even when lightning fell as a storm, he could take it.
When the rain died down, Jack was left on his knees, panting. Smoke was escaping from his pores. His regeneration was working overtime to fix him, but that didn’t stop the pain. Gritting his teeth was all he could do to avoid screaming even more, and already, he felt exhausted.
The Dao doesn’t hold back at all… he thought, vision blurry. This tribulation is so powerful.
And there was one more strike. One more to go. If it was of the same intensity as the previous two, he could take it…but who was he kidding? Of course it would be even stronger.
On cue, the clouds above rumbled a third time. Red was the dominant color now. One by one, more lightning bolts snaked into the cloud above Jack from the surrounding ones, but these strikes were slow, like ribbons made of fire.
Jack braced himself.
And fire rained down. This was no lightning. It was a literal torrent, a column of fire that fell from the sky. He was instantly engulfed by it. The grass around him evaporated. Fire poured down unendingly, flowing to the limits of where his purple hurricane had been before, forming a small pool that engulfed him.
Jack was covered by hellish fire, bathed in it. He tried his hardest not to scream, as the fire could enter his mouth and burn his innards. He tried to close his nose and ears, to keep the damage outside his body, where it would hurt him less.
Unfortunately, drowned in searing pain as he was, that was impossible. His eyelids burned. His skin bubbled. His pants evaporated, as did his credit card, leaving him alone in a prison that he could not even scream to avoid.
The pain was indescribable. Jack barely held on to a strand of sanity, realizing that this was equally terrible as when he ingested the Life Drop. But he had succeeded then. He would succeed now.
He would accept this price to become stronger. No matter the pain, no matter the torture, he would persevere. He would win.
He gritted his teeth and fought hard to retain his sanity.
It was this unending resolve, this indomitable will, that let Jack survive amidst the flames. He didn’t know how long it had been. All he knew was that, when the red of the world finally receded, he was blind, deaf, and alone. All his senses had been obliterated by the flames. It was just him, his pain, and his exhaustion.
Touch was the first sense to return. He felt the hot, rough ground under his back. Smell and taste came next—and he really wished they hadn’t, for all he could smell was his burnt skin, and all he could taste were ash and iron. When his vision finally recovered, Jack realized he was splayed on the ground in a fetal position, protecting himself with the barest instinct he could muster.
The pain hadn't disappeared, of course. It was everywhere, even as his regeneration worked hard to repair his body. His burnt-off muscles and tendons were replaced with new ones. His charred skin flaked off to reveal pristine, pink one. His nerves regrew, returning him control of his limbs, but also the ability to feel the full extent of this pain.
Only then did he stand, slowly, enduring the pain and injuries. He felt like absolute shit.
But he had survived. He had made it. He had endured the tribulation, proved himself worthy of using the Thousand Essence Flower, and secured a position as an immortal. The barrier that held his Dao back was still there, but it would fall soon, and then…
Then, he would be so strong.
He endured the pain to turn towards Brock and Old Man Spirit. He smiled at them—though he undoubtedly looked horrible. Brock smiled back and gave a thumbs-up. Old Man Spirit nodded in approval.
“You survived,” he said. “That’s good. You can rest at my—”
Suddenly, his words were cut short. His gaze turned to the sky. Brock made a questioning gesture, to which Old Man Spirit replied, “I’m not sure…but something feels off.”
Jack followed the old man’s gaze upward. The ceiling remained covered in clouds, which were slowly dissipating, since the tribulation was over. Everything seemed over…but could the spirit of Trial Planet be wrong?
Suddenly, the purple hurricane around Jack re-emerged. It pulsed with light and rotated faster, almost hiding him from view. The dissipating clouds above froze, then began to re-condense. Jack’s eyes widened. So did Old Man Spirit’s.
“What is going on!?” he shouted. “This… This shouldn’t happen! The tribulation is over! I saw the clouds dissipating. It’s three strikes, always three strikes!”
