"In order to use me to my fullest potential, both body and mind needed to be strong, walking through this fire will burn your soul, there are five corridors one after the other, walking through a corridor will burn your soul if you can survive there is a space between each corridor that can heal your soul and strengthen it." the voice said again.
"Unlike the last test there is a time limit for this test, and it is four days, your time starts now."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Three days and fourteen hours, you have passed the second test, your soul has been strengthened enough to handle the primary power of the scythe." says the scythe spirit.
Shane was currently standing in complete darkest as his soul, was now brighter than ever, the pain he experienced in this test was beyond belief, but he could feel the rewards were worth it.
Shane could clearly feel how insignificant he was before, but instead of getting drunk on this power, all Shane felt was fear and respect, was it this easy for the creations of Cul to change someone's life?
Isn't the soul supposed to be something mysterious even to gods?
If these servants already had this kind of power, what about their master?
As these thoughts flooded Shane's mind the fear and respect he felt for Cul grew even higher.
But what he didn't know was, that the scythe spirit was observing his mental condition, while also reading his mind.
After being strengthened, and obtaining new power the mindset of people would change, and depending on this change, the spirit would either destroy them or, let them move on to the final test.
If Shane had become arrogant, or satisfied with this power, the spirit would have destroyed him right away, Cul wanted strong servants who had the will to become stronger but weren't arrogant, and the spirit knew this.
If his thoughts when in the direction of betraying Cul, or thought he could stand up to Cul he would be destroyed, this would prove he was foolish and short-sighted and wasn't needed, if Cul could give him this power, it would obviously be nothing for him to take it back or kill him.
The only acceptable route was the development of respect for the person the granted the power the tester now holds, and fear for the power the person who could grant such power holds.
"You, have passed the third test, the fourth will now begin." the spirit announced.
Hearing this Shane snapped out of his thoughts as confusion appeared on his face.
"I passed the third test?? And wasn't there only three tests anyway?" asked Shane.
"The third test was to test your mind and thoughts and you passed, you have the mindset to understand your current situation and make the right choices, and your respect and loyalty are steady, as for your second question the first three tests are to give the qualification to wield the scythe to the tester.
The first test lets them develop their scythe handling ability, the second test strengthens your soul giving you the soul strength needed to form a primary bond with the scythe, and the third is to test your mindset. If that little bit of power could change you to a great extent then you are not worthy to wield me." says the scythe spirit.
"So you could already be considered to be half owner of this scythe, the last two tests aren't really tests but, they are still very important, if you make a mistake you will die." says the scythe spirit.
"Okay, but you said primary bond, what is that?" asked Shane.
"You will find out if you pass the last two tests."
"What are they then?" asked Shane
"The next test is simply to get the approval of the original serpent."
".....'
As Shane heard this he was in complete shock.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(In the serpent realm)
Like any other day lately, Cul was currently sitting on his throne looking out into the universe, things were slow lately.
Cul had no wars to fight or anything that has fought his interest enough for him to act personally.
There was no one that would come find trouble with Cul, maybe Galactus or another cosmic entity, but the chances were low.
It wasn't secret earth was part of the many planets under the protection of Cul, and there wasn't anything here that would draw the attention of other cosmic entities strongly yet.
Of course, over the years Cul had some run-ins with cosmic entities, but as with death, there wasn't really any big fighting, as they didn't encroach on each other interests, and a fight between beings of their strength wouldn't bring any benefit fo either of them.
As Cul was wondering about the universe from his throne he received some information that made him change the direction of his projection as it disappeared and appeared above the Earth.