A/N: Sorry for disappearing for so many days. I had exams, and after barely studying the entire semester, I at least wanted to put in some effort before getting cooked by reality. But the exams are finally over, and the updates are resuming from today.
I’ll consistently upload 2 Chapters daily again. That little break helped clear my mind a lot... though this heat is trying its absolute best to evaporate my soul out of existence. Truly amazing weather. Very enjoyable. 10/10 experience.
Stay hydrated, everyone, unless you also want to become roasted chicken under the summer sun.
Anyway, enjoy the Chapter. ✨
****
Golden Lightning?? How is this possible...???
Perseus was a little taken aback by the unexpected turn of events. After all, just a moment ago, he had clearly seen the Violet Lightning strike the person floating, yet in the very next second, all those shocking phenomenas surrounding them vanished completely.
The raging pressure in the air calmed down, and after the blinding flash of lightning faded, the visage of the person behind everything finally came into view.
The person was completely unscathed, as if the Heavenly Lightning has never touched him in the first place. Moreover, his appearance, aura, and even race were entirely different from what Elizabeth had told him before, which further cemented his belief that the person standing before him was not the same individual Elizabeth had mentioned.
But that still did not answer the biggest question in his mind.
Why did the Lightning Tribulation upgrade? Is the Law he comprehended truly that abnormal and unique?
Perseus knew that such things were not entirely unheard of. Sometimes, if the Law one infused into the Immortal Seal was special enough, the Heavenly Tribulation would increase by an entire stage as if the heavens themselves had acknowledged the terrifying potential hidden within that Law.
As that thought crossed his mind, his heartbeat unconsciously quickened.
An unknown Law unique enough to force the Lightning Tribulation to rise by a stage was something unimaginably rare. Across the countless billions of years in the history of the universe, the number of people who had achieved such a feat could likely be counted on one hand.
The more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.
I need to make this person my friend at any cost!! I want to fight him and learn about that unique Law....
Perseus had always been extremely optimistic when it came to growing stronger. In his eyes, pride was meaningless compared to the opportunity to advance further on the path of power. Even if he had to lower himself or swallow his pride completely, he would never hesitate if it meant gaining the chance to improve.
And now, with such a splendid opportunity standing right before him, there was no way he was going to let it slip away.
But for now, he could only observe and do nothing.
Perseus watched as the Second Lightning Strike, filled with destructive Golden Lightning, ripped through the sky toward its target with terrifying momentum.
-BOOOOMM!!!!!!!!!!!
The Golden Lightning was incredibly powerful, powerful enough to instantly shatter the innate barrier of Ash that had formed after the creation of the First Immortal Lotus Seal.
Ash’s skin turned black from the impact, and his entire body convulsed violently as horrifying currents of lightning surged through every inch of his flesh.
[Energy Devour]
Without any delay, Ash activated his ability to calm the raging storm of Golden Lightning running wild inside his body. He forcefully redirected all of that violent lightning toward his heart and.....
The instant he did that....his body shook and trembled so violently that it was hard to believe it still belonged to a living being.
Every muscle twitched uncontrollably as his heart endured shock after shock, the terrifying currents stimulating it repeatedly in an attempt to force it to beat.
It was an utterly insane thing to do, but this was one of the most effective path Ash had seen that could allow him to overcome many obstacles in the near future.
There might have been other safer and more stable methods to make his Cosmic Heart beat again, but Ash did not possess the privilege of knowing what they were, atleast it was not possible to do it in the current situation.
Thus, to him.....using the Heavenly Lightning was the only path available.
The pain that followed after directly shocking his own heart was enough to bring pain just through imagination alone.
If someone else had attempted such a suicidal stunt, they could have already said goodbye to their life.
After all, Ash’s heart was not normal, and because of that, it could endure those raging lightning currents without immediately collapsing.
The Lightning Tribulation did not stop after the second strike.
Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh.....
One after another, bolts of heavenly lightning continued to descend upon Ash, and with every impact, the destructive power behind those strikes continued to increase at an alarming rate.
By the Eighth Lightning Strike, the power of the Lightning Tribulation had already reached the absolute peak of what was possible for a Golden Lightning Tribulation.
In other words, it had become the kind of Lightning Tribulation that only appeared when someone formed the Ninth Order Lotus Immortal Seal.
Naturally, Ash was no longer unscathed after enduring so many terrifying strikes. His body was burned and charred everywhere, while the form of the Aquatic Race he had transformed into looked severely injured and on the verge of collapse.
At least, that was how it appeared from the outside.
In reality, his body was absurdly durable. Other than his heart, he possessed no true internal organs, so only his muscles and flesh had suffered damage. His bones remained perfectly intact, and even his energy pathways had not suffered the slightest disruption.
However, the Heavenly Lightning lingering within his flesh was slowing down his regeneration considerably. His ability, Energy Devour , was slowly absorbing those remnants of Heavenly Lightning and continuously using them to shock his heart again and again, but despite all of that effort, his heart still showed no signs of beating at all.
Blood could be seen flowing from many of his wounds, but it did not spill uncontrollably because of his blood-related abilities.
But alas, he was not the only one present there who possessed a high affinity with blood.
The Vampire Prince, Kane Wilson.
A Celestial Rank being, the same as Perseus and the two other people currently present in the Endless Ocean.
The moment Ash’s blood was exposed to the surroundings for the very first time, the Vampire Prince almost lost control over his instincts and turned into a rabid beast driven purely by overwhelming hunger.
It was only because of his superior willpower that he managed to stop himself from falling into complete depravity.
What was that intoxicating smell??? This fragrance... this sweetness... this power enough to fill the entire surroundings with such an intoxicating scent...I WANT THAT BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For a brief moment, Kane’s mind went completely blank.
The rich scent spreading through the air was unlike anything he had ever smelled before in his entire life. It carried an unnatural attraction that seemed to directly stimulate every instinct buried deep within a vampire’s existence.
Can you imagine it?
A Celestial’s heart beating so violently that it felt as though it would burst apart at any moment, blood rushing through the veins at such terrifying speed that the bodies of ordinary mortals would instantly implode from the pressure alone, and eyes clouded by nothing except uncontrollable hunger.
That was the state of the Vampire Prince when he smelled Ash’s blood for the very first time.
Even after calming himself down, Kane was still breathing heavily, while blood veins bulged visibly within his eyes, making him look extremely terrifying at that moment. Naturally, such a state did not go unnoticed, but the other three Celestial Rank beings simply ignored him because their entire focus was already locked onto Ash, who was about to face the final Heavenly Tribulation.
Ash raised his head and looked toward the dark clouds above him and the Golden Lightning swimming violently through them, but suddenly his [Hyper Intuition] began blaring danger signals frantically inside his mind.
Yet Ash did not panic.
Here it is....
He had already seen this happening beforehand, although he had no idea whether anyone else in existence had ever possessed the privilege of facing a Lightning Tribulation beyond Golden Lightning.
Because right before everyone’s eyes, the color of the lightning slowly began to change.
From Golden...
To a light shade of Red.
The moment that Red Lightning appeared, the pressure radiating from it instantly caused chills to run down the spines of everyone present there, including the Celestial Rank beings themselves.
The atmosphere became suffocating.
Even the surrounding space seemed to grow unstable under the terrifying pressure emitted by that crimson lightning.
I can’t survive that Red Lightning....
Ash knew it immediately without needing anyone to explain it to him.
The power contained within that Red Lightning was far beyond anything ordinary. It possessed enough destructive force to kill him completely.
Well, not exactly completely.
The Red Lightning would not affect his soul, but it would absolutely reduce his body, or rather even his newly reformed body, into ashes if he endured it for even five seconds.
But that was exactly the point.
He only needed to endure for one second.
Just one second was enough.
The terrifying power hidden within that Red Lightning would be sufficient to awaken his dormant heart, and that was the path shown to him by his visions.
Originally, Ash had hoped that by concentrating all the accumulated Golden Lightning inside his body, he would somehow succeed in awakening his heart naturally.
But he had failed.
And now, there was no other choice left except to face that Red Lightning head-on, survive for a single second, and after that fool the Heavenly Tribulation itself to dissipate.
It sounded easy, right?
Like hell it was.
But Ash already had a plan, and now the only thing remaining was to execute it perfectly.
{Do you really want to take this dangerous path??}
Eva’s concerned voice echoed inside his mind. There was clear worry in her tone because even she understood how absurdly dangerous this attempt was. One small mistake, one second too long under that Red Lightning, and Ash’s entire body would be reduced to ashes.
Although it won’t be anything bad, but it would expose that he can come back to life and a power like this can actually be a very glaring evidence that might expose his identity in the future.
Hearing her question, Ash simply chuckled softly.
Who can say ’No’ when by just taking a risk, I can get a trump card for myself? I mean, sure, I can definitely escape this time even without awakening my heart, but what about next time... or the time after that?
Ash knew very well that strength was never something permanent. Just because he could survive today’s enemies did not mean the same would remain true tomorrow.
The universe was too vast, and the unknown dangers waiting ahead were far too many for him to remain satisfied with his current strength.
His eyes remained fixed on the crimson lightning moving within the dark clouds.
The future is uncertain, and I would rather overprepare than realize too late that I was not strong enough...
To Ash, preparation was never meaningless.
If there was even a small chance to obtain a power capable of saving his life in the future, then no matter how dangerous the process was, he would still choose to walk that path without hesitation.
{Sigh...okay. But just telling you, your Soul Space has changed tremendously. I would say, as soon as all this is over, check it out.}
Eva could already sense that something abnormal had happened inside his Soul Space during the Immortal Seal formation, but this was neither the right time nor place to explain it further.
Sure.
And with that, Ash silently waited for the Lightning to strike him.
Unlike him, however, nobody else present there could remain calm anymore.
***