Long, gnarled nails extended from each finger of the massive hand, as if each nail was a weapon. A massive chain wrapped around the slightly exposed arm, which stretched back into the shattered rift.
Fear appeared on John's face as he looked at the creature. Its power was completely overwhelming, and he was having trouble just standing in its presence.
"Gah!"
John's mind was suddenly assaulted by a strange energy emanating off the hand, threatening to drive him insane.
"Hmph," the creature scoffed. It opened its mouth, and an incredibly powerful ball of Qi began to gather.
An incredible attack exploded out of the creature's mouth, piercing directly towards the hand.
BOOM!
An absolutely apocalyptic explosion radiated outwards as the attack landed on the hand, engulfing the void in the explosion.
A pained, guttural growl once again escaped from the shattered hole in space, its power completely overwhelming. The creature suddenly looked backwards, and noticed John on the ground, grabbing his head.
Not only was the aura of the hand completely overwhelming to John, each growl was so powerful that it nearly killed him.
"You cannot stay here. I will handle this, but I'm afraid our time together has come to an end," the creature stated as he waved his hand towards John.
John felt himself wrapped up in a spatial energy, and his body was quickly carried away. A massive hand suddenly pierced towards his escaping body, attempting to snuff his life out.
"Hmph," the creature scoffed once more, as a saber suddenly appeared in his hands. He slashed it out, and an incredible, world-shaking attack collided against the hand.
Grahh!
Another guttural growl echoed through the void as the hand was knocked back once more. John's body slipped through unhindered, his vision suddenly going white.
"John!"
A surprised and excited cry suddenly filled John's ears. He quickly looked around, suddenly noticing the overwhelming pain was no longer assaulting his mind. Two familiar faces appeared before him, and John quickly came to his senses as to where he was.
"You're alive. Does that mean you managed to pass the trial?" Miko asked John in an excited tone.
John sat up from his pained position, and cleared his head as best he could.
'Just what the hell was that hand, and the creature that hand belonged to? It was unlike anything I have eve-' John's thoughts suddenly stopped as he recalled something incredibly familiar.
'That hand...although it wasn't the exact same, it reminds me of the creature I saw in the illusion formation in the Elysian Lighting World.'
When John had taken the trial to get Kirii, the final trial had been to stand firm in the face of sure death. It was an illusion trial, in which an absolutely massive creature asked John to become its slave, or die.
The guardian spirit of Kirii said that Kirii had a "certain fate" with that creature, but it had just been an illusion. However, the hand John had just seen was no illusion. It was completely real, and completely terrifying.
'Just what the hell is that creature? And what secrets does this world hold? Does that creature have something to do with why our world has regressed from ancient times?'
"Did you pass?" Adam's voice suddenly entered John's ears, snapping him out of his deep thoughts.
"You must have, since you're still alive. What happened inside the trial?" Adam asked with a curious expression.
"John? You okay?" Miko suddenly called out, noticing that his mind was elsewhere.
John finally snapped out of his daze. "I'm fine. I'm fine. As for the trial...I did manage to pass," John replied with a smile.
The creature's power was so overwhelming that he could do nothing about it right now, and so John decided to put the event in the back of his mind for now.
Shock and surprise covered the faces of all the disciples in the area. A large crowd had gathered before the fifth arch as soon as John had entered, waiting to see if he would pass or not.
"How did you pass so quickly though? You've only been gone for a few hours," Adam asked curiously.
"A few hours? I was inside there for weeks!" John explained. Between the comprehension trial and the bridge trial, John had indeed spent weeks, perhaps months, inside the trial.
"Weeks? How is such a thing possible?" Adam exclaimed.
"I'm not sure. I guess time flows differently in the trial when compared to here," John guessed. "Anyways, I'm alive, so clearly I passed the trail."
"That's true. So what trials did you have?" Miko asked with great curiosity.
"What trials? Let's see, first I had…"
John explained his trials in great detail to Miko and Adam. He first went over the comprehension trial, and how he had barely managed to pass it. Afterwards, he had crossed the bridge, barely pushing himself to the edge.
When John explained the creature and the three attacks he had to take, both Miko and Adam took in a cold breath of air. However, he left out the parts with the mysterious man from within his palace realm.
"How frightening. That creature sounds like a nightmare. What happened next?" Miko asked.
John paused for a moment before explaining the final trial. He depicted his fight with the youth, as well as the overwhelming sword arts he used.
"Someone in the same realm as you gave you such a hard fight?" Miko asked in surprise before he started to laugh maniacally.
"Hahaha, I guess we might be amazing compared to the Yuan Continent, but apparently there's a much larger and more powerful world out there. It makes me want to raise my strength even more!"
John nodded his head in agreement. Based on everything he had seen in the trails, the world was much much larger, and more powerful, than either of them knew. His desire to explore the world intensified, as well as his thirst for strength.
"So what then?" Adam asked once more.
John snapped out of his thoughts, and continued.
"After I fought the youth, I was determined to have passed, and the trial ended. I was then sent out here," John explained. He didn't detail the final parts that had happened.
"That's it? Did you not get a reward?" Adam asked.
"Oh yeah, apparently there's another trial further on that's the true reward, but the creature explained that only those who pass the fourth and fifth arch can enter that trial," John explained.
He kept the item he had received a secret, as he had no idea what it meant or was used for. Until he found that out, he didn't want anyone to know of its existence.
"What? That's bullshit!" Adam exclaimed
Although he had not taken his trial yet, he knew based on John and Miko's descriptions that he would not be able to pass either trial.
As if summoned by John's voice, a loud boom suddenly echoed out in the distance. All the eyes of the youths turned to stare at it. The sound came from the black monolith staircase in the distance. At the base, a new door had suddenly appeared, leading to a set of stairs continuing downwards.
"That must be the entrance," John said. "Let's go check it out."
The three of them stood up and quickly walked over to the new door. Many of the disciples had already rushed towards it to enter the next area, but found that there was an energy restricting them from entering.
"What the hell? Why can't we enter?" A Supreme Battle Sect youth exclaimed.
"Maybe we need to use force to get in?" another exclaimed as they used their full might to try to push forward. However, no matter what anyone did, they were unable to enter.
John, Miko and Adam reached the entrance by this time, and stood there for a second to inspect it. A large crowd had already gathered around it. After a momentary pause, John stepped forward, his body unobstructed by the energy.
Miko quickly followed behind, finding himself also able to enter.
"Hey, why can you only enter?" A Supreme Battle Sect youth exclaimed.
Miko turned to look at the youth, his face full of displeasure at being talked to like that.
"Go pass the fourth or fifth arch trial, and then you can follow us. Otherwise, shut your mouth."
The youth immediately stopped talking, as Miko barked out at him. After his fight with the Sword Emperor, Miko, or the Soul Sage, had become even more elevated in his status. No one wanted to offend him.
John turned to look at Adam, who was still stuck behind.
"I'm afraid this is where we part for now. Go take one of the trials, either the second or the third. We'll meet up again eventually."
Adam frowned, but nodded his head as he watched John and Miko turn around. They descended the stairs, and soon disappeared from sight. The crowd watched them leave, before an uproar surged through the crowd.
"We can follow them if we pass the fourth trial!"
"Let's go!"
The crowd quickly rushed off to the arches once more, and a stream of enthusiastic but stupid youths entered the fourth arch. However, none were seen again. The others quickly noticed this, and their enthusiasm died down as rationality once again took over.
From that point on, no more youths entered the fourth or fifth arch, which were now deemed the "death trials."
While the youths were taking the trials, another person slipped into the new entrance, unnoticed by anyone.
…
John and Miko continued to descend down the dark stairs for some time, and a unique aura continued to grow in power as they descended. They finally hit flat ground, and a large expansive area came into view, although it was mostly obscured by darkness.
"This must be it," Miko said as they looked out into the darkness.
John raised his hand, and a bright ball of lightning suddenly danced on it, illuminating the room before them. Both their eyes suddenly widened in surprise, as they stared at the brutal scene before them.
"What...happened here?"