At another corner of the secret realm, Zhen observed with a contemplative look. Ruchir's victory had stirred something within him as well, but it was not the same hope that Huojin felt.
Zhen had been lost in his own world of jealousy, envy clouding his thoughts and distracting him from his true purpose.
Seeing Ruchir triumph despite being underestimated by so many, including himself, forced Zhen to confront the uncomfortable truth about his own insecurities.
He chuckled softly to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. "All this time, I thought I needed to prove something to everyone else," he muttered under his breath.
"But maybe... just maybe, the only person I need to prove something to is myself."
Zhen's lips curved into a wry smile, and a sense of peace washed over him. Watching Ruchir had made him realize that his journey wasn't about being better than others.
It was about being better than the version of himself from yesterday. For the first time in what felt like forever, Zhen let go of the bitterness that had gnawed at him.
"Ruchir, you've given me more than you know," Zhen thought, smiling quietly to himself. "Maybe I can finally move forward."
Meanwhile, Yura stood rooted in place, her gaze fixed on Ruchir. But unlike the others, she couldn't quite place what she was feeling.
There was something… strange, almost mysterious, welling up inside her. Watching Ruchir claim victory didn't stir envy or anger in her, nor did it ignite a sense of competition.
Instead, it felt as though she had witnessed something profound, something far beyond the usual trials and battles.
She couldn't help but feel a sense of connection, almost as if Ruchir's victory signified something more than just strength or power. The way he had fought with determination, even as he was cornered by the Red Panther, resonated deeply with her.
"Why do I feel this way?" she murmured, her brow furrowing slightly. "It's not just admiration... It's something deeper."
She didn't have the words to describe it, but the feeling lingered—an odd, almost ethereal sensation that seemed to wrap around her, making her feel as though she was part of something much larger than herself.
While some like Huojin and Zhen found introspection, others had far darker reactions to Ruchir's triumph.
Garok and Rarok, the infamous Twin Ogre Blades, stood at the edge of the battleground, their faces twisted with fury.
The two had fought fiercely against Yura and believed that the orb could have been theirs, had circumstances been different.
Watching Ruchir take what they believed to be their rightful prize filled them with seething resentment.
"This isn't over," Garok growled, his voice a low, menacing hiss. "That orb should have been ours!"
"We'll make him pay," Rarok added, his tone equally venomous. The twins exchanged a look, their minds already churning with schemes. They wouldn't let Ruchir's victory stand. Not without a fight.
In contrast to the rage of the Twin Ogre Blades, other competitors were consumed by despair.
A young fighter, barely out of his teens, had been clinging to the hope that the Four Turn Miraculous Orb would be his salvation.
He had come to the secret realm with dreams of changing his life, of becoming strong enough to protect those he loved. But seeing Ruchir absorb the orb with such ease had broken something inside him.
"It should have been me," he whispered through tears, his knees buckling as he collapsed to the ground. "It should have been me..."
His sobs echoed through the realm as others looked on, some with pity, others with indifference. The reality of the situation was harsh—there were no second chances here.
All the while, Ruchir stood motionless, his mind still processing what had just transpired. The energy from the orb still flowed through him, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
In the back of his mind, he heard the faint, amused voice of his master, the Raven Master, echoing as though the words had been carried on the wind itself.
"So what will you do, Ruchir? Now that you've overcome this trial, will you be content, or will you strive for more?"
Ruchir didn't respond, but his gaze turned inward. He had won the battle, absorbed the orb, and broken through to the 7th Limiter Realm, but now the weight of what came next pressed down on him.
He had fought hard for this victory, but it didn't feel like the end of a journey—it felt like the beginning of something much greater.
There was no time for celebration, not yet. The Red Panther's lifeless form at his feet was a reminder of how close he had come to defeat. And there were still others who would come for him—those who coveted the power of the Four Turn Miraculous Orb just as much as he had.
"The path ahead will be difficult," Ruchir thought, his face set in grim determination. "But I won't let anyone take this from me."
As the tension in the air began to settle, Ruchir took one last look at the orb, now a part of him. His journey was far from over, and though the immediate battle was won, many more awaited him.
Outside the secret realm, far beyond the scope of the battles taking place within, the Raven Master sat on a floating cloud, observing the events with a quiet smile on his face.
"So, Ruchir… you've won this battle. But there are still so many things you have yet to experience. How far will you go?"
He chuckled softly, amused by the unpredictability of life.
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."
For now, the master was content to watch, letting the future unfold naturally. Suspense and curiosity were far more entertaining than knowing everything in advance. After all, where would the fun be in that?
As Ruchir stood over the defeated Red Panther, victorious and bathed in the energy of the Four Turn Miraculous Orb, the ground beneath him rumbled. At first, it was a slight tremor, almost imperceptible. But then the rumble grew louder, the very walls of the secret realm beginning to vibrate violently, as if the entire dimension was suddenly thrown into chaos.
Ruchir, still catching his breath from the battle, felt an overwhelming sense of dread creep up his spine. "No... this can't be..." He looked around, eyes wide, realizing what was happening.
The secret realm was collapsing.
Somewhere far away, Huojin was leaning against a rock, nursing his wounds from his earlier fight with the Red Panther. He heard the ominous sound of the ground splitting and felt the tremors. His face paled. "Oh no," he muttered, looking at the sky, which had started to ripple like a distorted painting. "This is bad. This is really bad."
Without thinking twice, he sprinted towards what he hoped was an exit.
Meanwhile, not too far from Huojin, Zhen, who had been lost in deep contemplation after Ruchir's victory, snapped out of his thoughts as the ground under him cracked open. "What is this?!" Zhen leaped to his feet, balancing himself as the entire realm seemed to shudder.
"Why now?" he grumbled. "Just when I was having a moment of self-discovery!" Zhen's face was a mixture of frustration and disbelief. His character arc was clearly incomplete, and now this chaotic interruption was threatening to ruin his dramatic introspection.
The real panic set in at the center of the secret realm, where the more inexperienced competitors were frantically running in circles, screaming at the top of their lungs.
"The realm is collapsing!" one merchant-turned-adventurer yelled, waving his arms wildly as if that would somehow stop the ground from caving in.
"I didn't even get to fight anyone yet!" cried another, trying to shove all the stolen treasures he'd grabbed into his bag as the bag began to tear from the weight.
"Does anyone know where the exit is?" someone shouted, only to be met with blank stares. Apparently, in the excitement of treasure hunting and power-grabbing, no one had bothered to remember the way out.
Garok and Rarok, the Twin Ogre Blades, who had been plotting how to steal Ruchir's victory and the orb, found themselves utterly lost.
"I told you we should have paid attention to the layout of the realm!" Garok shouted at his brother, sweat dripping down his face as a massive boulder fell from above, nearly squashing them both.
Rarok, always the cooler-headed of the two, waved him off, though even he was starting to look nervous. "Relax, we'll figure it out. It's just a collapsing dimension. No big deal."
"NO BIG DEAL?!" Garok's voice reached an octave Rarok had never heard before. "The sky is falling! THE SKY!"
At this moment, Yura was leaping from rock to rock, her mind racing as she tried to figure out a way to escape. Her earlier defeat at the hands of the Twin Ogre Blades still stung, but that was quickly pushed aside by the more pressing issue of not dying in a collapsing realm.
As she jumped, a mischievous voice echoed from behind her. "Running away again, little Yura?" It was Garok, his smirk as wide as ever despite the chaos around them.
Yura glared back at him mid-leap. "I'd rather escape than die stuck here with you two morons!"
Rarok, looking only half-insulted, replied, "Oh, come on, don't be so harsh! We were just getting along earlier—well, before we tried to kill you."
"That's your idea of getting along?!" Yura shot back, dodging a piece of debris as it crashed next to her.
Meanwhile, Ruchir was standing on a floating rock, trying to figure out the best course of action. He had absorbed the Four Turn Miraculous Orb and felt stronger than ever, but even with his newfound strength, escaping a collapsing realm was no small feat.
He glanced around, noting the growing cracks in the sky and the chunks of ground vanishing into nothingness. "Well," he muttered to himself, "this wasn't part of the plan."
From the corner of his eye, he spotted Huojin sprinting toward him, half-limping, half-running. "Ruchir!" Huojin called out, his voice slightly out of breath. **"Any bright ideas? Because if we don't get out soon, I'm pretty sure this place is going to crush us like pancakes."
Ruchir's brow furrowed. "No idea where the exit is. But I'm guessing it's where the most chaos is happening." He pointed towards the center of the realm, where competitors were fighting over what they thought was the last exit, only to be swallowed by a sudden black hole.
Huojin blinked. "So, we run toward the chaos? That sounds—"
"Insane," Ruchir interrupted with a grin. "Yes. But it's our only shot."
Just then, a voice thundered across the realm. "Hurry! The realm won't hold for long!"
It was the Raven Master, watching everything from outside, floating casually in the clouds as if this entire life-or-death situation was nothing more than entertainment for him.
He chuckled softly. "Ah, Ruchir... always finding yourself in the thick of things, aren't you?"
The other heavenly beings around him, sitting on their own clouds, raised eyebrows.
"Shouldn't you, I don't know, help him? He's your disciple, after all," one of them asked, sipping tea as if it were the most casual conversation in the world.
The Raven Master waved dismissively. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, he's got to learn how to handle situations like this on his own. You can't spoon-feed them forever, you know."
The others shrugged, going back to their tea and snacks.
Back inside the realm, the chaos had only intensified. The once solid ground was now a patchwork of floating platforms, jagged rocks, and swirling energy. The sky was a twisted mass of cracks, and it seemed like reality itself was being torn apart.
Huojin and Ruchir were running for dear life, dodging falling debris and leaping over chasms that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Is it me, or does this feel like some kind of bizarre obstacle course?" Huojin panted, narrowly avoiding a boulder that crashed where he'd just been standing.
Ruchir, ever focused, replied, "Well, at least it's a good workout."
At the center of the chaos, a group of competitors had stopped fighting and started frantically trying to figure out how to escape.
"I think if we use enough spirit energy, we can create a portal!" one of them suggested.
"Or we could just fly?" another chimed in, already half-levitating off the ground.
But before they could execute any grand escape plans, a giant piece of the sky came crashing down, flattening their hopes and sending them scattering in all directions.
"So much for that idea," someone muttered.
Garok and Rarok, still bickering about whose fault it was that they hadn't found an exit yet, suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"Hey," Garok said slowly, pointing at a swirling vortex in the distance. **"I think that might be it."
Rarok squinted. "The exit?"
"No, you idiot. The end of the world!" Garok shouted. "YES, the exit!"
Without another word, the two sprinted toward the vortex, ignoring everything else around them. Yura, seeing their mad dash, rolled her eyes and followed suit.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of running, jumping, and avoiding being crushed, Ruchir and Huojin made it to the vortex too.
Huojin glanced over at Ruchir. "You ready for this?"
Ruchir smiled. "Do we have a choice?"
And with that, they leaped into the swirling vortex, just as the entire secret realm collapsed behind them.
Outside, as the competitors emerged one by one, gasping for air, the Raven Master sipped his tea, his smile never fading.
"Well, that was entertaining."
One of the other heavenly beings raised an eyebrow. "You have a strange sense of fun."
The Raven Master merely chuckled. "You've got to keep life interesting."
And as the survivors stumbled out of the ruins of the secret realm, one thing was clear: this adventure was only the beginning.