Eternal Thief



Submerged in the red and blue thunder, Ace was tremendously shocked and didn't dare to take this lightly. He thought that Heaven's Terminate Manifestation's presence would make the heavenly thunder less potent, but he was extremely wrong. 

It was nowhere near weak but gravely strong and destructive, far more than all the heavenly thunder he had endured in the past combined. 

Not to mention this was just the start, and there was still the unknown yet terrifying Heaven's Terminate Manifestation lurking somewhere within the heavenly punishment clouds. 

Under the massive onslaught of the heavenly thunder, Ace wanted to use the Pag-09 from the get-go because it was simply too powerful, and a strong sense of despair was gripping his heart. Yet, he endured and let those that heavenly thunder wreak havoc in his entire being. 

Because the sword cores' runes were already activated again, and all that thunder was getting greedily devoured by them, and the dark golden runes were slowly but surely changing into red and blue color, respectively. 

Furthermore, the same unknown Qi was again released within his martial and soul spaces again, and despite the terrifying pain and destructive intent, he was being continually healed, and his endures were slowly rising.

This was first for Ace as he never expected that the day would come when he would be able to turn the heavenly punishment into nutrition for himself. Nevertheless, the process the extremely painful, and only someone who has been going through the same sort of process could endure it.

Ace's body was always getting refined after every heavenly punishment, or even the Law-Awareness Realm Cultivators won't be able to endure much longer before perishing under the abolishment despair thunder. 

After a few seconds passed, which felt like an eternity to Ace, the thunder-fall finally ended, revealing his charred and haggard body. But his eyes were still burning brightly with fighting spirit as his charred skin seemed to be shedding, and new pristine skin was quickly taking its place. 

'Over 40% of my sword cores have been changed just after the first volley of the heavenly thunder. Not to mention, I'm feeling tremendous strength seeping into my soul and body. There is also something else…' Ace thought with a hint of uncertainty but also extreme ecstasy when he looked at the rumbling heavenly punishment clouds. 

The two giant eyes were still there, seemingly biding their time before they lunged at their prey. 

The dark vortex eye again started to collect more thunder, and within a few seconds, another thunder-fall shot down on Ace; without giving him any chance to recuperate, but it failed to notice the anticipation hidden under Ace's disdainful expression. 

Just like before, Ace again felt entering a meat grinder, but this time, he visibly felt it wasn't as bad as before. The pain seemed to be lessened by about twenty percent and continued to be. 

However, another thing changed, though, when the thunder-fall was over, the sword cores were only changed about 25% more, unlike before. It appears as they were reaching competition, they needed more heavenly thunder, or it was because Ace was also getting stronger. 

Furthermore, Ace felt his mind was getting clearer, and he was starting to peer into a strange feeling or understanding of a gloomy destructive darkness rising, which was none other than his own despair lightning! 

"Hisss… rumbleee…" 

A thunderous roar suddenly rang from the sky, and it was so loud and majestic that it could be heard from hundreds of miles radius. It was like the sky itself was full of fury and hatred. 

Ace's heart palpitated when his happy expression didn't last for long as he looked up, and he became instantly solemnly because the giant eyes seemed to be moving… closer!

'So, this guy can't wait any longer, huh? The Heaven's Terminate Manifestation is coming!' Ace thought as he didn't dare to let his guard down, and despite healing and getting stronger by the second, he quickly ordered the system to release EXP and SP so he could heal even faster. 

The pitch-black clouds were brightly lit in two color lights at this moment and started to split as something was slowly crawling out from within. 

Two long sharp blue and red thunder horns suddenly appeared and followed by a giant red head which had no face and was only made with red thunder, the eyes were actually those two horns!

Followed by the face, a red torso of a female appeared with four arms gripping a sword, spear, lance, and bow, with an arrow. But the lower body was of a blue lion. The creature was made with entire red and blue lightening, and it was 40 meters in size.

Ace's eyes burned slightly when he looked at the magnificent creature, and the aura it was giving off was the same as the heavenly punishment, or even stronger. 

'Well, I should've expected nothing less from something named Heaven's Terminate Manifestation…' Ace thought bitterly as he knew this was going to be a long battle. 

Far away, the human and demon ships could also look at the heavenly punishment clouds, and all those people were looking at Heaven's Terminate Manifestation with awed and horrid expressions. Even from that distance, they could still feel the terrifying aura that gave them nothing but a feeling of despair and the urge to kneel. 

Noa and Freya were the gloomiest ones, not to mention shocked. They clearly remembered that there was nothing like that creature the last time Ace broke through. Even they felt tremendous fear from this distance, and they could only imagine how Ace, who was directly facing it, would feel. 

"Just what kind of bloody trial is this? Who can pass them? This is too unfair!" Noa coldly stated as she suddenly felt a strange disgust rising from her heart. 

Freya also agreed with Noa, but her concern was something else, "Now I kind of understand why we never heard of anyone who can walk on the path of martial and soul. I can't even begin to imagine just how difficult it would be for some to pass each realm if they experience this sort of trial every time they attempt to break through. This sort of power is more like a curse than a blessing!"