ACC Chapter 29 Tribulation(6)

When I reached almost 3m away from the man, I squatted down and let out a sigh. This hadn't been what I had been expecting. The relief at having helped Renah take revenge hadn't arrived. Instead, I felt as if a hollow had formed within me.

"Renah... Ah! You were that so-called cousin? You were the one that got her pregnant?!" The man's face warped at that moment, just like mine.

It was as if lightning from a tribulation had just struck my very body, paralysing it. Pregnant?! Pregnant?! Renah had been with child?!

The hollow was instantly filled with an apocalyptic rage, with my body moving before the mind could catch up, cracking the tiled floor with the release of my full force.

The air started to impede me, and I could see everything clearly, like how Roland's eyes widened when I unleashed my full strength. These people hadn't even deigned to check my true realm, thinking that I must have been weaker than them to have resorted to bio-warfare. This was the way of the sects. They always thought themselves better.

The distance between the throne-like chair and me vanished, with me getting ahold of the man's neck, which I used to lift him up.

"Was she really pregnant?!"

I practically roared out, causing the entire space to feel as if it was vibrating, due to my voice.

But the man didn't so much as flinch at my rage. It seemed that he was nursing a grudge himself. But did that matter?

"She was! And I had thought you to have scampered off after finding her remains, having understood the folly of enraging me!"

With futility, his hands clawed at me, weakened due to the virus within his system.

With rage having taken over my mind, I willed my blood, making it pour out of my pores and solidifying into a lump filled with spines, which I proceeded to stab into one of his legs, making the spikes to start elongating within muscle and vessel alike by assimilating his blood.

He howled at the pain, but this time, there was no hollow. Instead there was satisfaction as I watched those screams even though they were muffled because his throat being within my grasp.

"So, this is one of your inner turmoils..." The voice came from the tortured Roland, causing me to hurriedly back off, having sensed a potent threat.

The rest of the scene had become greyed out and frozen, like a black and white painting. And that's when everything clicked.

I was undergoing my Deity Transformation tribulation. With a deep breath, I tried to steady myself, but the embers of rage weren't so easily put down. This was being influenced by the Devil.

"This face... You can never forget this hateful mug, can you?"

The question stoked the embers, almost causing them to ignite, but I doubled down. If I gave in, then the Devil would take over.

"What? Do you think that just standing there and trying to suppress the rage, would give you a remote chance of resisting takeover? A Deity Transformation body... Too many things would be possible with it..."

I frowned at that, becoming even more wary of the Devil.

"Where was your previous bravado? Why are you quiet?" It taunted before a sigh escaped its lips, with its body enlarging and morphing into an amalgam of faces.

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""Why did you kill us?"" I paled as that cacophony of tortured voices entered my ears, almost causing me to slump to the ground in guilt, with the rage vanishing like a burst bubble.

One of the faces, a young boy, with chubby cheeks, probably around 12 stared back at me, with hate in his eyes that caused my stomach to sink.

There was a girl with pigtails, a teenage boy with an innocent face, an old man on the cusp of dying, a little boy, a little girl...basically every single one of these faces, were the people I had killed in the Gale Sect.

My massacre hadn't been exactly honorable. I had slaughtered everything within the sect formation. Though, I had spared all the children under the age of ten the torture those above had faced.

"This guilt of yours... Its delicious! It is even far greater than your rage!"

With an intention of will and resolve, I pushed away the guilt that was threatening to keel me over, standing proudly, with a straight back.

"Devil, I know what I did isn't honorable by any means. And if its revealed, even my seat as the President wouldn't be secure. But I have moved on from the guilt. I can't bring back the dead, nor pacify their souls. But I swore to myself that I will spend my life atoning for my sins. Instead of wanting to sway me, what do you say we get to the really interesting part, the battle?"

Even the spear, Renah, who was here with me in spirit lit up with a crimson glow in approval.

The battle took some time to finish, with me having to destroy each and every piece of the Devil. Their soul arts were interesting, but troublesome to deal with. If even a single fragment remained, there was a chance at ressurection.

After taking care of all that, my perception turned outwards, where the second bolt of the last three had struck my body, killing many cells, while those that tenaciously clung to the embers of life started evolving beyond the physical prowess of the Nascent Soul, to a higher paradigm.

When the last of the bolts was endured, the spear, Renah spoke, "Master Taylor...!?" Her first words were somewhat garbbled, but as they rang within my mind, joy bloomed within my chest.

There was bewilderment, joy, and a certain attachment. I grinned as I felt the emotions that came with being a father. Now I understood how most of the people I knew to be fathers, had beamed when speaking about their children.

I transmitted feelings of warmth and care within our bond. So far, it was still an infant.

After placating it, I placed my attention towards the tribulation clouds, which started to disperse, vanishing into the void of space, leaving behind zero fluctuations of their previous existence.

With the lack of tribulation induced gravity, weight vanished and I felt as if I could float off into the void.

This had been one hell of a tribulation. But now, I was about to face another. Would the Deity Maker work as intended, or would I die?

The red mist, floating around me, unaffected by anything within this void of space, even the chaotic spiritual energy ocean, was sparkling. Each and every particle within it was giving off a polished crimson glow like that of a red ruby.

With a thought, I tried to pull it towards me, to once again become whole. And this time, there was no impediment.

I gritted my teeth as pain shot up within me. Every particle that entered me seared my body as it melted and integrated into every cell. The burn was reminiscent of having each cell cast into a blazing fire.

Then I felt it. The huddle that had failed may others before me. The advancement of my being was feeding upon the spiritual energy within my body to fuel itself, with lethargy almost overtaking me. Once the spiritual energy ran out, my life would be forfeit! My body would simply turn into a red crystal, becoming the most highly valued resource in the world.

Blinding light erupted from the ring as blue wards erupted, layering themselves into a transparent sphere before the chaotic spiritual energy vanished.

Pure spiritual energy was released by the ring, in the form of beams that encased my body.

A sigh of relief escaped me when I felt the spiritual energy being absorbed like water to a sponge, making up for the deficit.

With my own power, I sat down onto the platform, feeling as if I had somehow set it as my anchor. The absence of gravity was no longer affecting me. Could this be one of the abilities afforded to those at the Deity Transformation stage?

Every cell cheered as they drunk in the spiritual energy, creating tiny fusion cores within themselves, with each having a little bit of my will. I was sure that should my body be obliterated, leaving behind only a piece of me, a new body could be birthed with just a bit of time. Plus, I had a feeling that I could even create clones of myself, or spare bodies!

Though, I felt that should such a body be created, there was a chance that a Devil would possess it in the long run, or it could awaken its own mind!

And these were just some of the minor things I could feel! But there was something even larger! I felt as if I was within fabric, like a star.

Was this the spacetime fabric that our theories spoke of? I had gained sufficient mass to feel it?