The Tale of the Void Emperor

The next day, Athan and others started to move to find another trial and soon came across a trial entrance.

In front of them was a tall gate that looked demonic. There were no doors and just darkness.

" Is this really an entrance to the trial? It looks way scary and creepier than all other trials' entrance we came across. " 

Qerin commented after seeing the demonic gate that was giving off bad vibes.

Athan thought for a moment and said, " No harm in checking it out. Though I will send you all inside the special space and go alone. "

Seeing that they were going to object, he said while shaking his head, " I am not taking a NO for an answer. Don't worry; if something is wrong, I will immediately come inside. "

He then sent everyone inside and started walking towards the gate and entered.

After a brief moment of darkness, He appeared at devastated lands covered in fire and dark clouds with lightning raging in the sky.

[ Welcome to the Trial of Bloodbath ]

[ The trial will be paused due to lower level energy being entering and will adjust the rules. ]

[ Adjusting ]

...

There were currently thousands of beings inside this trial, and many were coming here each minute and second.

Many were irritated and angry due to the pause of trial, while even more were relieved.

Athan took everyone out from the special space, but just as they came out, they disappeared.

" Fuck!! " Athan was shocked as this was totally unexpected and hurriedly used his soul technique to see if they are in the same space and if he could bring them back.

Tiana, Avelia, Qerin, and Mike were teleported to different places, and they also panicked because they suddenly found themselves alone and in a different place.

But after a few seconds, They felt Athan's technique working and disappeared from there before arriving inside the special space.

Athan sighed a relief when he succeeded in bringing them back inside the special space.

At this time, the trial was also done with its adjusting as a frame appeared in front of all participants about the adjustments.

[ The adjustment is complete. ]

[ The only new change is that the strength and plane of existence of every trialist will be capped at Peak-Profound Domain Plane. They won't be able to utilize higher levels of energy and powers beyond that of the profound domain plane. ]

[ The old rules remain the same: Everyone will have their positions changed every ten minutes, and every time you kill someone, you will receive rewards. The only way to leave this trial is after killing twenty people. ]

[ The trial will resume in one minute. ]

Athan was surprised and also...excited.

This trial was by far the fairest since everyone will be at the same strength, but Athan and others will still be weaker since they just broke through to the profound domain plane.

But they had their own advantages.

Avelia and others inside the special were also astounded as Tiana spoke with a smile that hid some excitement, " This trial will truly temper ourselves. "

Others also nodded, and Athan understood this, so he brought them out, but the same shit happened.

They disappeared right after he brought them out from the special space.

He tried to check the connection with all others as he had used his soul technique which will last for 8 hours before entering the trial gate.

When it's almost 8 hours, He will send them inside the special space via the soul thread connection.

But when Athan tried to check the connection of his soul technique, He frowned as a grave expression surfaced on his face, ' I can't sense my connection with Tiana's soul. Wait...I can sense, but it's very faint. '

He tried to send Tiana into the special space, but unfortunately, he failed.

" Dammnit..." Athan cursed while gritting his teeth.

The connection was very faint, but it might change after ten minutes because the trial will change their positions.

' Tiana is not that weak, especially with her Genome Art. ' Athan was worried, but he knew Tiana was not that weak.

The one minute was up, and the trial also resumed. 

...

Tiana was currently inside an underground cave.

When she was teleported here, The first thing she did was to summon her altar spirits and check her surroundings.

Stormy was sitting on her shoulder, Slevyn was flying around her, and Liena was standing on the ground beside her.

Slevyn looked like a dark snake with white linings with two wings, and Liena looked like a white sabertooth cat with red and black patterns.

All three of them were in their miniature forms.

Tiana moving with caution but suddenly stopped.

Devilish wings appeared behind her, and her altar spirits were ready to take action as they looked at the left side of the cave, which had another pathway. 

" Stormy, Activate your domain. "

*screee...*

After the domain was activated, Tiana waved her left hand as several small horizontal tornadoes were formed before they went inside the pathway.

But right after that, Her face changed as she dashed to her right side.

*Booom....*

The place she stood before was destroyed, and after the dust settled, Tiana saw a burly being of Blumbra race.

He grinned at Tiana before clapping his hand powerfully as waves of dark blue slashes shot towards Tiana.

Leina roared as three silver spinning disks with red and black patterns materialize as they cut through the waves before attacking the Blumbra race being.

The Blumbra race being already started his defense after he threw the attack, so the three disks hit the two square shields that appeared on the giant hands of the blumbra race as he blocked the disk with those shields.

He then put both of his hands on the ground as it started to crack. Tiana's face changed as she jumped up but then realized that she fell into his trap.

Two more hands appeared from behind the blumbra race member right after Tiana jumped as he shot two golden orbs with blue lightning around them towards Tiana.

Slevy produced two dark umbrella-like shields with white linings as the orbs were attracted towards it while Tiana focused on the attack that came from below the ground that looked like a dark blue flame geyser.

She slightly used her geno power as she activated her Geno Art: Solace of Blood Night.

A thin red veil appeared in front of the dark blue flame attack as the veil absorbed everything before a faint red outline appeared around Tiana.

She could absorb the power with her geno power. It would convert whatever power it absorbed into a powerful enchantment that could strengthen her physical body, soul, and mind for a certain duration.

But during this time, she will also suffer pain.

' I have to hurry. ' Thinking this, Tiana used her Leina's domain power as a white nova appeared behind her.

The blumbra race member had prepared four shields around him as he was ready to execute a big move, but Tiana didn't give him a chance as she instantly appeared behind with her the nova jump ability of Leina and pushed both of her hands that she coated in red and dark blue lightning in the form of claw inside the Blumbra race member.

" H-how? " The blumra race member was shocked because she completely pierced through his defense.

Tiana was breathing heavily as she was also feeling pain due to Solace of Blood Night's power-up, but that was also why she could instantly appear behind him along with Nova jump and how she could pierce his defense.

She didn't waste time after piercing her hands inside his body and instantly directed her powers in her hand before blasting his body into pieces.

Tiana was breathing heavily, but after a few seconds, She started to recover due to the white gold energy.

  She was covered in dark blue blood, so she cleaned herself using water energy while her altar spirits stayed vigilant.

Tiana shook her hand and muttered with frustration, " I wanted to beat him without using genome power. " 

' He was more cunning in his attacking and defensive patterns. I should also think several steps ahead and think of possibilities before the fight starts. ' Thought Tiana as she started to recover her energy while looking out for any enemies.

...

Avelia was at another place, and she was fighting with a Grakil race being.

She knew that the female grakil race being in front of her was a tough nut to crack, so she instantly used her Disruptive Ray, which rendered her useless, and she easily finished him off by shooting two dark silver blades to cut her head and destroyed her body.

...

Athan was having the easiest time among them.

Lucky was shooting Destructive Orbs while Athan was using various offensive abilities of his altar spirits without holding back since he didn't have to worry about energy.

The being in front of him was a crysax race being, and he could only defend himself with not even a single chance to attack Athan.

Athan threw colorful blades that were imbued with time, gravity, and other energy as they paused in the air without depleting their energy due to the time cage. After that, he broke the crysax race being's defense with other attacks before the colorful blades hit the crysax race member.

' What is this monstrous human? Does he not care about depleting his energy and not being able to fight when someone else comes? ' The crysax race member died with disbelief. 

Athan finished the battle in under a minute.