Most insidious of all was the complaint of the body. His body didn't like the pressure and wanted it to stop, so his body kept urging him to surrender.
His body was like a traitor for the enemy. It was demoralizing him.
Even if his body could continue to endure the physical pressure, he still had to contend with the internal pressure from his body urging him to quit so that the pain would be over.
Fortunately, he had the dominating fire intent flowing through his blood. He had already made up his mind not to quit. No matter what his body says, he won't quit.
It is just like Augustus telling him to let go of those snarky youths who made fun of him. He didn't listen to Augustus back then, and he won't listen to his cowardly body right now either.
Be that as it may, sometimes the situation is bigger than one's capabilities. As they say, the mind is willing, but the body is weak.
The pressure got so bad that his eyes and ears popped. He became blind and deaf because of his injuries.
The pressure to give up increased because of the sensory deprivation, but he still didn't give up. He didn't give up when he began to feel pain in his bones.
His bones began to creak, and his joints groaned as the pressure increased. His muscles were squeezed until the blood vessels in them ruptured and they began to tear. He began to bleed into his body and through his skin.
Soon his body became bloody all over. He was bleeding all over his skin, from his eyes, and through his nose. It wasn't just his ears and eyes that were bleeding anymore.
The pain became so bad that it began to cloud his mind. He grit his teeth to keep his eyes open to keep himself awake. He couldn't see through his eyes but keeping them open helped him to focus.
He was struggling to hold on because the pain had clearly crossed his threshold. He has never experienced anything this bad.
The closest he has even been to this kind of damage to his body was when his mother broke his legs and the time she cut him all over with her sword and the time she broke his ribs with a punch.
As he thought about those things, he chuckled and said, "Those last two times were the same. She cut me up and broke my ribs when Brooks refused to do the dirty deed for her."
The thought helped to relieve the pain a little bit, but it was not nearly enough to alleviate his bad situation. A good memory could only help so far. After the chuckling came intense pain.
It was as if the pain had returned with a vengeance. It was bigger and meaner than before.
Things got worse when his bones began to snap under the pressure. It was his rib cage that caved in first.
As his ribs broke and pierced his lungs, he chuckled because it reminded him of the injury his mother had inflicted on him.
He chuckled and then coughed out pieces of his lungs and blood. Unfortunately, this brief moment of mirth didn't last long. His pain continued to increase as more ribs caved in to the pressure.
He thought to himself, "I'll die at this rate."
He had said that he would hold on until he fainted, but he was beginning to think that he might not have the luxury of fainting or the strength to surrender.
The rules stated that his injuries will be healed, but he doesn't think they can heal death. If a rib pierces his heart, he might not survive the injury. This made his will begin to waver.
He took a look at the second wall and saw that his name was nowhere in the top 100. It means that there were 100 people doing better than him. This caused his dominating fire intent to flare in defiance.
But this flare didn't do much in encouraging him to hold on. This matter has stopped being about pain and endurance. His life is literally in danger. He doesn't think it is smart to continue at the risk of his life.
He wavered and eventually gritted his teeth and said, "If I give up before I reach my limit, I will surely regret it. At the very least, I should reach my limit so that I can say with confidence that I tried my best."
He decided to continue to hold on. It reminded him of his first day in the training center of the Dyson family. He made the decision to reach his limit not just for the reward of blood pills but to better and improve himself.
He decided to do the same now. He is unwilling to accept that there is someone better than him in a certain aspect, but he will be damned if he doesn't even try his best first.
He can't change how others perform, but he can determine how well he performs. So he will try his best.
Arthur continued to hold on despite the pain. His arms snapped, and his spine was crushed. This made it so that he couldn't sit up straight anymore.
He lay on the ground, bloody and deformed in a slowly growing pool of his own blood. His legs and his heart were crushed soon after.
They were crushed at the same time. This happened to be his limit.
No matter how dedicated he was, his eyes still closed after this injury. It took a while, but they closed completely, and he lost consciousness.
While he was unconscious, the force that had destroyed his body disappeared. Then a floating array of green runes made of light appeared above him.
This green array fell on his crushed body and sank into it. This restored his fading life force. He stopped dying. Then his broken body began to heal and restore itself.