The Tale of the Void Emperor

Athan could only go through two essence catastrophes with 27 fruits since it's taking him ten fruits to call one catastrophe in essence order catastrophe phase.

The next day, Athan and Linci decided to use their quota of entering into a  high-grade chaos phenom dimension and went there to hunt chaos beast and bring some items for the task they accepted.

Linci didn't want anything from those tasks, but she still accepted some for Athan.

Athan's plan was to get some more Monolith Credits and buy Kuriazak fruits.

But while Athan and Linci went to high-grade chaos phenom dimension, Sen, Shiromi, Tealery, Arcued, and Theo also decided to go somewhere.

"Let's go, everyone! We will go definitely survive special training in Purgatory Hill and come out better." Sen pumped her fist as she spoke with the fire of determination in her eyes.

Purgatory Hill.

It was the only place in the Chaos Monolith Hill where deaths occurred. Not often, of course, but there were indeed cases of people dying every now and then because their will was not strong enough not to survive the special training there. 

The main thing about Purgatory Hill was that the entry was free, and one could only enter one time in each major stage. This means you may enter one time when you are at Orderic Catastrophe and a second and a third time when you break through to Zen order. There was no section for the Evagon order stage since people can ascend to the upper-Chaosverse once they break through to the Evagon order stage.

"Theo, your decision to go with us is also final, right?" Shiromi asked with a serious expression.

Theo looked at everyone and took a deep breath before he grinned," Don't look down me! I have sworn the same oath with you all, and I consider myself to be a tough guy. To keep up with Athan and see a new height with him, I will not let pass any chance to get strong."

Theo then laughed out loud and spoke with pride and ambition in his voice, "My ancestor went to upper-Chaosverse and told us that if you are weak-willed without ambition and scared of death, you might as well just stay here. But I am not willing to do that! Now let's go. Purgatory or whatever, I am going take it head-on!"

Arcued laughed out loud, hearing that as he smacked the back of Theo before saying, " That's my brother! hahaha, Let's go."

Sen, Shiromi, and Tealery were also determined as everyone flew towards Purgatory Hill.

After arriving there, They went to the section for Orderic Catastrophe and registered themselves.

The staff lady with red bunny ears looked at them and asked in surprise, "Are you sure you want to enter right now? Although you are at the end of your essence order catastrophe, It's best to use this chance after you break through to the Soul order catastrophe phase. After all, you will spend three years inside."

Sen shook her head and smiled, "But we heard that if we break through to soul order catastrophe while being inside the purgatory, we will receive a greater boost in soul strength."

The staff lady looked at them and sighed, "Then you should also know that breaking through inside is very difficult and...among all who tried to do that, only two out of ten people survived."

"We know! But we are not afraid. There is a companion of ours who goes through hell without batting his eyes! He...is unbelievably strong despite having a lower order base than us." Shiromi spoke with a deep voice and steeled resolve before she faintly smiled, "He hasn't received any supreme blessing or anything, and his fate...has been very unfortunate. We can't even imagine one percent of his suffering, but we know because of him that without suffering, we can't surpass the norm."

"Also, hehe, we believe in ourselves that we can do it! We have received strength from him, and if we want to go to new heights with him, we can't let go of any chance to get strong," Tealery spoke with a grin.

Indeed, They all receive powerful innate physiques because Athan became master of Efyeed, and in the past year, They had made some progress in them and matured their physique's power to an extent.

They believe that they can fully mature it to their current level after entering Purgatory Hill.

"Let's go! After three years, we will surprise Emperor!" Arcued shouted with an excited face as he was the first one to enter the gothic-hell-like portal.

Others also entered the portal with steeled resolve.

The staff lady was dumbfounded, "Emperor? To ignite such fire in them, I wonder who their companion they spoke about is?"

...

Sen and others didn't tell Athan about it, but they told Efyeed where they were going.

Inside the high-grade chaos phenom dimension...

Athan and Linci were moving together inside this catastrophe environment of chaos phenom dimension.

Linci was finding the materials from caves and other places while Athan was fighting the chaos beasts.

"This...is Starmetal vine?" Linci spoke with a surprised expression while picking up Orichule vines inside a valley.

Starmetal vine was a valuable high-tier material that could be used to create extremely solid armors and weapons like hammers, giant poles, blunt staves, and such weapons. 

After all, their specialty was extreme heaviness and impact scatter attributes that were useful against defending and also striking with wide and heavy attacks of the hammer and such weapons.

"This will let Athan buy at least eighteen to twenty Kuriazak fruits if we were to sell it at the market...Hehe, lucky." Linci smiled as she happily started gathering the single string of Starmetal vine. "

On the other hand, Athan was trying out new combos to create RenKen order techniques while fighting against peak 6-star beasts.

This CPD had chaos beasts up to early-stage 7-star beasts, but he had yet to encounter a 7-star beast.

After killing beasts, he would take their bones and, the most valuable part, chaos core before moving again.

Chaos cores are only found on 4-star and higher beasts, and they can be used to create many Alchemy-related things.

Each chaos-core had its own chaotic attributes, which can be used to make different things.

While Athan and others were busy doing their things, Dean Lenix decided to release those kids he had trapped after telling them what to do.

When he told them that even Ruzald was dead, everyone became shocked and felt that things were getting out of hand.

Though, he still didn't tell them that Athan was the one who killed Munvald and Ruzald.

Dean Lenix swept his glance at everyone and spoke in a solemn voice, "Remember, there are bigger players behind this plot and several organizations, so you better keep your mouth shut and spread the version about Munvald being killed in special grade chaos phenom dimension. As for how his father died? That has nothing to do with you since I can attest that you were all here when his father died."

He looked at Illias, Maejas, and others from Great Bridgade Palace before asking in a deep voice, "Understood?!"

Illias and others wiped the sweat from their face as they hurriedly nodded and responded in a grave voice, "Understood, Dean Lenix. We know nothing about this matter now."

"Good," Dean Lenix smiled and nodded as he waved his hand to remove the Evagon Domain so they could freely leave this hall.