"Who are you?" Bruce struggled to ask the question as he was getting suffocated by the man's aura.
"It doesn't matter." The man left the throne and retracted his aura.
The man stood in front of Bruce, but his face was still not clear to Bruce at all.
"You will find out who I am soon enough." The man said with indifference.
"How mysterious…" Bruce muttered.
"Since you managed to chip away at the seal, you will get to witness that day." The man turned around and walked away.
"Remember this, you must find her and protect her at all costs" The man and the throne disappeared while Bruce was trying to process what just happened.
The floors beneath his feet shattered and he fell to another location.
He looked up to see where he was only to find a hellish scene. A war among gods was fought at his location. Countless beings in the sky fought one another. The shockwaves from the battle destroyed surrounding planets. Even ancient beasts are no exceptions as they fell from the sky.
Suddenly, he was transported to a battle where a man holding a halberd ruthlessly swung his weapon toward his enemies and split the universe.
Bruce could not imagine someone can be that powerful. Standing next to him is a peerless beauty. Her silky black hair flowed in the wind as she battled along the man. She masterfully controlled thousands of swords in a rhythm while smoothly moving around the battlefield.
Whenever Bruce looked at the woman, he would feel his heart split into pieces. As the battle raged on, the man was getting overwhelmed when his enemies final gained an advantage. A Phoenix covered in lighting snuck behind him to strike for his heart.
When Bruce saw what happened next, his tears started to fall again as he screamed out loud.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
The woman protected the man from the sneak attack. Her heart was pierced by the lightning phoenix, but she still held the phoenix in place. The man turned around to see his beloved dying to protect him. He lost his mind and slashed the lightning phoenix in half causing the entire land to explode. The place turned into a hellscape as fire was everywhere like Purgatory Realm.
Looking at his companion in his arms dying, the man cried out loud. He tried to save her, but he was powerless. The man wept after she took her last breath.
His enemies took the chance to strike him down during his moment of weakness. The man stared at them all with great hatred. A red aura appeared from his body and destroyed their godlike existences in a flash.
The red aura extended to the surrounding stars and destroyed everything. In the empty space, the man still held onto the woman as he wept.
With all his strengths, Bruce tried to walk closer to scene where the man held his companion in his arms. Unfortunately, he couldn't move forward.
The scene stopped and Bruce couldn't find out what happened next. All he felt were despair, rage, sadness, and regret. His emotions ran wild as his body in real time started to absorb the surrounding energy.
Outside the Purgatory Realm.
"Deion, what is going on in the sky" Edward looked up in shock.
"Shit!"
"Everyone, get away, it's a thunder tribulation!" Deion yelled out.
The other groups in the trials also ran away from the thunder tribulation.
"What the hell is going on? Thunder tribulations should only appear when one is attempting to break through to Great Emperor Realm." Edward said exasperatedly.
"It must be related to Bruce's trial" Deion answered as the group continued to run away from thunder tribulation.
"We should be far enough to not get impacted from the thunder tribulation" Sophia stopped everyone from moving any further.
"I hope he's okay" Meredith walked beside Sophia and looked at the thunder tribulation.
"He will shine more than ever after he comes out of the trial" Sophia said to Meredith.
"Are you interested in him?" Meredith asked while already knowing the answer.
"Yes, he will be my companion in the future" Sophia answered directly.
"You!" Meredith turned furious upon hearing that Sophia planned to steal her man.
"Don't act so childish. All is fair in love and war" Sophia replied.
"Many women will chase after him in the future, do you think that you can just hoard him for yourself?" Before Meredith could respond, Sophia wanted Meredith to accept the reality.
"I already planned on allowing him to obtain more women, but I alone will be his most beloved"
"If you want to drop out of the competition, feel free ahead" Sophia walked away leaving Meredith frozen in place.
Sophia had been raised in the Church of Light where her father has hundreds of members in his harem. To her, it's normal for a powerful man to have multiple women. However, only her mother obtained the highest position in his heart in the harem.
"Edward, don't you just hate how lucky Bruce is?" Deion teared up in jealousy after he heard the conversation between the two girls.
"Hm? What are you even talking about?" Edward didn't know what Deion meant.
"My god. You need to stop training and go out on a date once in a while!" Deion could not believe this fighting maniac is the most popular male student in the Imperial Academy.
Edward still had the blank look on his face which caused Deion to face palm.
"Why is a thunder tribulation happening in a Divine King breakthrough?" The Phoenix Queen said in shock.
Never in her millions of years of experience had she seen this scenario. Thunder tribulation only appears in Great Emperor breakthrough because cultivators need to earn the approval of the world to become Great Emperors.
A Divine King breakthrough is too insignificant for the world to care about. Why would the world want to test this kid?
Seeing that Bruce was still unconscious unable to defend himself from the incoming thunder tribulation, The Phoenix Queen debated in her head if she should block the thunder tribulation for him. The consequences would be severe, and her soul body could disappear forever from this world.
Before she could even do anything, a lone figure appeared from Bruce's Body. The figure stood on the ground with an indifferent expression.
"Impossible, that's Soul Crystallization!" The Phoenix Queen yelled in shock. Such a technique can only be used by soul specialists in the Worldly Supreme stage.
The figure ignored the Phoenix Queen and looked up at the sky that was about to throw lightning strikes at Bruce.
"I told you that I want to forget everything."
"Why did you forsake our agreement?"
"TELL ME WHY!"
The figured yelled at the sky and completely obliterated the incoming thunder tribulation. The world trembled as the figured aimed his fury at someone beyond the stars. All the Worldly Supremes in the planet felt deep fear as they were connected to the planet itself.
Earthquakes happened across the entire planet as the world had to bear his fury.
The Phoenix Queen shuddered herself when the figure unleased his rage into the sky. She had never felt that much power before.
'Is this person at the Overlord level?' The Phoenix Queen thought to herself not daring to say anything in front of this figure.
Not hearing anything back from the universe, the figure was not disappointed because he expected as much.
"Coward"
If people knew who he had just called a coward, they would faint from shock. No one had ever dared to insult the Celestial.
The figure looked at Bruce one last time and disappeared. The Phoenix Queen finally regained her breathing as she saw the entire phenomenon. She looked at Bruce who was rapidly absorbing the surrounding energy for his breakthrough and smiled.
'Looks like I made the correct bet this time'
As the ancient phoenix blood essences finally fused with Bruce's bloodline, Bruce's body began to undergo extreme changes. His body muscles got stronger. Black fluid impurities began to pour out of his body. At that moment, Bruce was completely reborn.
The artificial changes that he made to his face washed off. His hair returned to its natural pure snow color. His aura began to rapidly increase and breaking through the pinnacle of Soul Manifestation to the Divine King level.
The Phoenix Queen saw Bruce successfully breaking through to the Divine King level and gathered all the surrounding energy of purgatory to his location so that his foundation would be perfect.
Bruce opened his eyes slowly to see the Phoenix Queen staring at him. For some reason, he felt great reverence from the Phoenix Queen.
"Your majesty, how long have I been out?" Bruce asked.
"You've been out for 2 hours" The Phoenix Queen replied.
"That long huh" Bruce muttered while trying to process what happened when he was unconscious. He didn't really care about his cultivation stage as he was trying to process his emotions.
"Your friends are in great danger as the trial had finished for a considerable amount of time" The Phoenix Queen warned him.
"Unfortunately, I cannot reveal myself outside of purgatory to break the rules, so you have to save them yourself"
The Phoenix Queen passed the cultivation method of her clan to Bruce before he leaves the Purgatory Realm.
"I wish you best of luck, Bruce Pendragon" Phoenix Queen bid farewell.
Bruce looked back at the Phoenix Queen and corrected her.
"Your majesty, my name is not Bruce Pendragon."
"It's Bruce Stellae."