"Can you give it a damn rest!" Zax howled, "It's been over ten thousand years. How the Hell are you not dead? You're not going to escape."
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"Seriously, stop trying to escape. Do you understand the definition of insanity? Your wasting everyone's time."
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"Arsene, you cannot take anymore. Stop." Zax said softly.
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"Why? Why won't you lower that pride?"
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Resting in the middle of the Labyrinth of Hell, an icy heat pressed against my charred bones and muscles, trying to force me to bend, to break.
But how could I? How could I be felled by something that was once mine? I wasn't a dbz character. I was Arsene Snow.
I will not fall.
NEVER!
Even when the Hell's flames coursed through my bones like blood, even when my soul had been battered and tattered by my suffering. This trial taught me many things I needed to know, like how to peer into the Weave without wasting Soulforce and how to control the Concept of Eternity.
And with each attempt, I was slowly etching closer to destroying this accursed Labyrinth. The runes along my arm had long since stretched to almost half of my chest, making it easier to devourer the Flames of Hellfire. Which, in turn, allowed the pace at which I deconstruct whatever I eat faster.
"Arsene," Zax once again said, "do you genuinely care to escape, or do you just want to defeat me? To prove you can escape from this nightmare? It has been seventy thousand years, and you had so many chances to escape, to run, but didn't. You have an empire to run and children to raise. You have so many things to do, but you chose to remain here."
His words struck me deep, but I needed to do this.
"Pride and greed are one of the strongest sins, in my opinion. They come in so many forms, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't do this. So to make sure you will never succeed in escaping, to make sure you never have a sense of accomplishment, I am ending your trial. Congrats, Arsene, you have officially completed your trial."
Eh?
My mind blanked for a moment, emptied out, leaving nothing, as I felt the flames that were once cooking me alive fade into the nothingness, leaving behind—
"No,"
"Yes," He coldly said, in a crackle of laughter, "Fall back to Zpheris and recover." He said, and I slipped back to the planet below the moment he commanded me.
"I lost?" I softly said, burrowing through the winds trashing against my tattered flesh that was not healing. My body had grown too strong to be healed instantly with Qi. I needed a few days, if not months.
"I lost," I repeated as a cry of anger shattered erupted, pushing apart the flames from entering the Theromsphere left my mouth. Anger like no other flared to life, erupting like a burning star, as I burrowed through multiple layers, crash landing into the land below, causing a towering mushroom cloud to explode.
Tears filled my eyes as blood gushed from my lips, staining my charred lips, "Zax, you bastard, I swear I will not forget this. I swear."
"Everyone loses Arsene. That is how one becomes the best. All I did was turn that pride of yours against you. What you do next is up to you. You are, after all, your greatest enemy."
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'Who the Hell is he? Commander Termion has never been so angry. I'm surprised he didn't outright kill this thing. What is he? Look at its charred flesh; it must have been in a great battle."
"Shut it, Greg. What if the prisoner wakes? You know protocol states we cannot speak around the prisoner."
"Oh, come on, Sei. Look at how fucked up he looks; even his cock looks like it's about to fall off. Can you imagine that, bro? A man's worse nightmare."
Feeling the icy air against my open wounds, the darkness became my eyes, revealing two heavenly lords standing just outside what appeared to be a cell.
Too weak to stand, much less make a sound, I stood in the emptiness of this dark room, completely bound by chains attached to the wall, contemplating my failure.
Did I really escape? Due to my last attempt, Zax had granted me another thousand years. And I had only completed seven years of the thousand.
My fingers dug into my palms, peeling away the dried flesh, black as night, till a trickle of blood slipped out.
Was this how it felt to lose? To lose to a person I hate? To be at someone's mercy; to never have the upper hand against my opponent? Fuck the trial; all I wanted was to win against Zax, to prove that—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~" Belloweing in such a fit of burning fury that came from the depths of my being, a flare of Forsaken Qi poured off my body and turned the very structure alongside the people to dust, allowing their souls to enter me.
Never again! NEVER!
Coughing up blood that stained the ground, I groaned, falling into my blood, as I desperately tried to mend my wounds.
"I lost." I weakly said, feeling the iciness of my blood against my cheeks, the cool dusty air skimming over my body, tears slipped from my eyes, and I coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"Attack! Attack!" Cries seamlessly rang one after another.
Flipping my body to rest on my back, I peered up at the sun staring back at me in the supine position. It didn't burn like it used to, but I could still feel the tinge of an ant bite against my flesh.
Fueled by the few dozen new souls, I burnt them away till nothing was left, but even as I did, my injuries remained, lingering as if nothing had happened.
I could feel my body healing naturally, but using other sources to heal wasn't going to work.
Closing my eyes, I pushed my senses to Arkanos and allowed the cold icy void of darkness to take me. I wasn't sure where I was, but I knew no one would believe a half-dead man on his deathbed could kill two heavenly lords with just a roar.
"Come to me, Arkanos," I said through my blood and reached out to Freya, wherever they may be, "you to, come to me."