Ascension of the Immortal Asura

John sped forward once more, his actions grabbing the attention of the Elder's in charge of maintaining the formations. While they could feel that something incredible was happening outside, none of them dared to abandon their posts. As such, they had no idea what was truly going on outside.

"Who is that?" an Elder asked as he watched John speed towards the cauldron.

"Who cares, stop him!" another Elder barked out an order. Going near the cauldron was not allowed, and John was clearly approaching it with ill intent. 

The dozens of Elder's all sped forward at the same time, their Meridian Forging and Heaven Tribulation cultivations flaring out powerfully. John arrived before the cauldron, which towered over him. Its size was even more incredible up close, and rage once again flowed through his veins as he looked at it. The amount of mortals sacrificed to fill it up was unimaginable.

The Elder's arrived behind John, trapping him between the cauldron and them.. However, none of them dared to unleash rash attacks, as they were afraid of damaging the cauldron or the formations on and around it.

"What are you doing here boy?" one of the Elder's asked with a raised voice.

They had never seen John before, but could tell that he was not afraid, even when surrounded by this many Elders. His skin was charred all over, as if he had been burned in a fire, startling the Elder's further as to what was going on.

John glanced over his shoulders at the Elder's before he looked up to the ceiling of the chamber high above. His eyes narrowed for a moment, and his body tensed up once more.

"Its coming," John replied to the Elder.

The Elder's looked at each other, confusion on each of their faces, before they looked back at John.

"What's coming? Speak clearly, or don't blame us for killing you where you stand," the Elder barked back.

John's eyes shifted to the Elder once more.

"Your death's," John replied with a monotone voice.

BOOM!

The ceiling of the chamber suddenly shattered into thousands of pieces, as if it had been struck by a massive hammer. The Elder's all looked up at the commotion in shock, and their shock only grew as they noticed what had caused its destruction.

John's axe slashed out with all his might to meet the attack.

Before any of them could run, the next tribulation lightning beam struck down on John's location, bathing him and all the other Elder's in apocalyptic lightning. The lightning snaked in all directions as it sought to destroy not just John, but those nearby as well.

Cries of startled pain rang out, before they were quickly silenced. The large boulders from above continued to rain down, crashing into every inch of the chamber below.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The sound of crashing debris rocked the chamber for some time, before it eventually came to an end and silence once again returned to the chamber.

John suddenly jumped out from beneath the rubble and landed on top of it. His body was even more damaged than before, as the lightning began to take its toll on his body. A cursory glance of his revealed that none of the Elder's had survived the blast, giving him slight enjoyment within this hellish tribulation.

After inspecting the surroundings, his vision landed on the cauldron next to him. His eyebrows raised slightly as he inspected the damage.

"It's only very slightly damaged, despite part of the tribulation striking it! Just how durable is this cauldron?"

John had expected it to be half destroyed, but the truth was completely different. It was just some superficial surface scratches, and not something significant at all.

"Will I be able to destroy the cauldron, even with this lighting?" John mused to himself. 

He quickly jumped up to see if he could do anything to it from within, but found that the cauldron had been closed, as it was seemingly at the end of the summoning process, and no more blood was needed.

He couldn't stand under the cauldron either to shield him from the tribulation, as an inferno raged below powerfully, far hotter than his body could handle.

"Oh well. The only thing I can do is carry out this tribulation here, and hope it's enough."

John stared up at the clouds above, which now could be seen through the shattered ceiling of the chamber. The tribulation clouds continued to brim with absolute power, but he could tell that it had weakened considerably since the start of the tribulation.

"It seems like it's coming to an end soon enough. I just have to endure as long as I can."

John gripped his axe tightly as he waited for the next tribulation lightning strike. The clouds above brewed for a moment before it once again flashed brightly, and another lightning beam struck down on his location.

Sky Sundering Axe!

Sky Sundering Axe!

John sent out repeated Sky Sundering Axe's as fast as he could muster, which slammed against the approaching lightning strike. Each collision weakened the lightning slightly, but the lightning still struck down on him with incredible power.

Just like before, John allowed the lightning to rampage within his body as he sought to absorb its power. The internal struggle continued to raged on once again as he revolved his Celestial Lightning Script to its absolute peak state. 

Blood and smoke spewed out of John's clenched teeth as the battle reached its climax. 

"Gah!"

John fell to his knees as he finally absorbed the last thread of tribulation lightning. His breathing was heavy and ragged as he struggled back on to his feet. His gaze once again shifted to the cauldron, and then the clouds high above.

'I'm at my limit for absorbing tribulation lightning. Absorbing it has increased my Lightning Attribute Body and resistance to tribulation lighting, but if I try to absorb anymore, I'll die. I need to fight the remaining lightning strikes head on to get through this tribulation. Its time I go all out.'

The lighting at this time had reached an absolutely terrifying level of power which John could no longer hold back against. His eyes narrowed as a resolved look appeared on his face. His eyes suddenly turned blood red, as two small protrusions jutted out from his skull.

Blood red formation lines began to glow on his skin as he felt his power surge like never before.

Immortal Asura Transformation Art!