-Vritra, you have proven yourself by arriving inside the Zhorian Tomb.
Currently only one person remains who still remembers my existence, if you can go through the last challenge then you shall gain strength beyond your wildest dreams.
This will be the last time we would be talking in a long time, fight as hard as you can and surpass everyone.-
With that the message ended, Vritra was already on the verge of collapse he hastily read the procedure the more he read, the more shocked he became.
This was not humane at all, just thinking of this his heart was pounding madly; after reading the entire procedure he placed the book away and raised his tired eyes to look at the corpse lying not too far away.
He was left with no choice now, it's either follow the gods plan or just end up dying here. His heart was filled with coldness, yet he gritted his teeth forcefully suppressing the fear of his heart, moving his frozen body, each step was like he was moving several boulders.
Not just the physical burden but even his brain seemed to have stopped responding after thinking what he has to do, but he took one step towards the corpse then another.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
It was taking every ounce of strength he could muster, and with each step he took messages kept popping in front of him to which he barely paid any attention.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
As he got closer to the corpse, Vritra took out the knife he was carrying then he bent slightly and tried to make a little cut over the hand of the man who still seemed to be just in his sleep.
But the knife wasn't even able to leave a scratch, for some reason he had expected this shakily rising to his feet Vritra glanced at the walls to find the blade that was mentioned in the book, it didn't take him long to notice something shiny.
It was just a three to four centimeter long piece of some knife, with just a little pull it came out pretty easily, then he lightly pressed the blade against the corpse's skin and it easily cut the skin without the slightest resistance.
Without pondering he dragged the body back to the container at the centre of the room, with great difficulty he somehow managed to push the body into the strange fluid filling it up, then he took a deep breath and entered the pool as well.
His hands were shaking continuously as he got ready to start, holding the blade tightly he began to make long cuts on the chest of the corpse as instructed, the cuts were around 2 centimeter deep.
Blood poured out of the body like fountain but instead of red blood it had purple blood, Vritra surprised at first continued to make the cuts over the arms, forehead and even legs of the corpse.
After he was done, Vritra took off his robe and threw it to the side.
Finally, it was time to start the hardest part of the procedure, his hand shook even more violently and his brain threatened to just collapse, mustering all the courage he raised his right hand while holding the blade.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
…
Even in his previous life he had never gone through such a torture or this level of pain, it was worse than death.
Finally, he placed the small blade at the top of his forehead, tightly closed his eyes he pressed it hard enough to make a deep cut then he moved his hand downwards in a straight line, tearing through his skin and flesh.
Blood was madly pouring out as Vritra felt like dying, every inch of his body screaming in pain yet he gritted his teeth tightly than ever as he just released muffled groans. The blade continued to move down his throat and then his chest, the cut wasn't as deep near his throat but once reaching the chest the blade moved deeper and he finally stopped near his belly.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 1% permanently.]
…
Losing all the strength his body simply slumped down in the tub, still he somehow raised his hand and made more cuts over his body. Left hand, shoulders, right hand and leg, after he was done, he finally let go of the blade, messages were continuously ringing in his mind, Vritra wasn't even sure how he was still alive.
The level of pain had gone off the charts, but there was still one last step before the process would start, his entire body was shaking impossibly there was just a little amount of blood left in his body.
The last step seemed the most difficult as he coughed blood in the midst of his ragged breathing, the bloody scene was enough to scare the living shit out of any person.
Vritra raised his right hand once again, brought his bloody fingers close to his face his heart felt as if it was about to burst while his mind had never felt this level of fear. Finally, not able to hold back he released a soul wrenching scream that reverberated inside the room, then he mustered every bit of his courage and strength as his finger moved further.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 5% permanently.]
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 5% permanently.]
…
In the next instant, his fingers plunged into his eye socket as Vritra forcefully pulled out his eye ball, experiencing the level of pain that he never could have even imagined. He was about to pass away but before sinking into darkness he made the last effort as his hand once again shot towards his face and this time his finger ripped out his left eye ball.
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 10% permanently.]
[Perdurist trait activated. Your spirit has increased by 10% permanently.]
…
Finally, as his sight was filled with darkness he lost all sense, all that remained was pain and suffering his body submerged into the fluid, which rushed into his lungs as he tried to breath but could only feel a burning sensation.
But just after a minute, a cool sensation enveloped Vritra as all the pain disappeared since he literally couldn't feel anything, almost as if only his thoughts existed without any body.
If Vritra were to see the process taking place at this moment, he might have been even more shocked, his body was slowly being ripped to shreds. The skin of all over his body was being torn apart and the same was happening with his flesh.
Even his internal organs received the same fate as all the bones in his body twisted and were destroyed, something similar was happening to the body in front of him yet it was completely different at the same time.
Changes continued to occur inside the tub while he remained unconscious, at least the pain was no longer there, the fluid in the tub continued to change in color sometimes red then purple and sometimes completely different.
******
Vritra wasn't sure how much time had passed when his senses began to return, all of a sudden, his body began to feel a little cold, at first, he ignored the sensation and just wanted to have a long sleep but soon it became just too difficult for him to stay lying.
Feeling a shiver across his body he suddenly sat up, and found himself lying naked inside the empty tub, before he could make sense of anything strange texts began to appear in front of his eyes.