Thunderzen sat on his simple throne in the Heavenly Lightning Sect, parsing through some important documents.
"Hmm?"
Thunderzen suddenly looked out towards a certain direction, seemingly staring through the walls of the Heavenly Lightning Palace. He could feel an incredibly faint aura, unlike anything he had ever felt before. It reminded him of heavenly tribulation, but was also completely different.
His body suddenly vanished, and quickly appeared on the large balcony overlooking the sect below. His gaze pierced into the distance as far as he could see, but he was still unable to make anything out visually.
The Vice-Sect Leader suddenly appeared next to Thunderzen, as she had noticed his sudden movements.
"What is it, father?" she asked curiously. She could tell that something had caught Thunderzen's attention.
"I'm not sure," Thunderzen replied. "But it seems as though something spectacular is occurring within the Forbidden Lands."
"The Forbidden Lands?" she asked. "Could it be related to John?"
Thunderzen thought about it for a moment before he shook his head in disagreement. "This energy is quite spectacular, even over all this distance. John is incapable of causing something this grea-"
Thunderzen's voice trailed off as his thoughts went back to a certain event that had briefly occurred many months ago. He could still vividly remember that when John broke through to the Qi Condensation Realm, tribulation clouds formed above the Heavenly Lightning Sect for the absolute briefest of moments.
Thunderzen fell into deep contemplation as he considered all the possibilities, while the Vice-Sect Leader remained silent next to him. She could tell her adoptive father was deep in thought.
After a short while of thinking, Thunderzen snapped out of his thoughts and gazed into the far distance once again.
"John still hasn't crushed his talisman, so I doubt it has anything to do with him. However, we will still plan for the worst," Thunderzen said to the Vice-Sect Leader.
"You mean?" the Vice-Sect Leader asked for confirmation.
"Yes," Thunderzen replied while nodding. "Summon the Battle Elder's and set out at once towards the mysterious energy. In the meantime, I will go ahead and check it out myself."
Without waiting for his daughter's reply, Thunderzen reached out before him and grabbed the empty space before him. As if tearing something apart, his hands began to part from one another, and after a short struggle, a hole in space was torn open.
His body quickly flashed through the hole, and it closed behind him. The Vice-Sect Leader watched Thunderzen disappear, before she quickly followed his previous commands.
…
High above the Bloodfiend Sect, a hole in space suddenly opened, and a single man stepped out from it. Such an action would normally be easily detected, but with the current happenings within the Bloodfiend Sect, it was easily overlooked.
Thunderzen stepped out of the spatial channel he had just created and quickly surveyed the area before him. His eyes widened greatly in absolute shock as he took in the scene before him. His gaze looked up to the tribulation clouds above, before it focused on a group gathered far below him.
"Goodbye Elder Praxx. Tell Damon I said hi!"
These words entered Thunderzen's ears, and a deafening thunderclap entered his ears as a tribulation strike pierced right by him. Thunderzen hastily dodged to the side, narrowly dodging the lighting strike, before his gaze once again focused on the ground below.
BOOM!
The tribulation beam struck onto John and Elder Praxx, showering the nearby area in an explosion of tribulation lightning. The explosion quickly faded, revealing John standing before the charred corpse of Elder Praxx, and the horrified Elder's looking on at John.
Thunderzen gazed at John, then the tribulation clouds above, before gazing at John once more. His eyes lit up slightly as he put the pieces together.
"So this is what I felt. How interesting," Thunderzen mused while stroking his chin. He was about to intervene and save John, but he quickly understood that immediate action was not necessary.
As such, Thunderzen slipped up higher into the sky, out of the sight of anyone in the Sect. He could capture Allfiend immediately, but without John revealing to him that Allfiend had done something forbidden, Thunderzen couldn't make hasty decisions.
With his figure hidden from all below, Thunderzen watched as John destroyed the Bloodfiend Sect. His amusement rose with every lightning bolt, until he noticed that John was starting to lose out on the tribulation lightning.
As powerful as he was, he knew he could not interfere with this lighting. Not because he would not be able to survive it, but because he knew this tribulation was only one of many trials John would have to overcome himself in order to fulfill his prophecy as the Asura of Annihilation. If he sheltered him now, he would only be dooming him to misery and death later on.
Thunderzen's gaze focused intently on the tribulation lightning, as new insights began to creep into his mind.
…
"Thunderzen!" Allfiend called out angrily as he noticed Thunderzen floating before him.
Thunderzen's power flared out, washing over John and instantly freeing him from Allfiend's clutches.
"I'm afraid you won't be touching my disciple today," Thunderzen replied calmly. His gaze shifted to the nearby cauldron, of which he could instantly tell what it was about. He had wanted to destroy it, but the Cauldron was made of some of the most durable materials known to the cultivation world.
"A demon summoning?" Thunderzen asked. "To dare have the gall to attempt such a thing beneath my nose, it seems as though you no longer place me in your eyes. Do tell me, how did someone as lowly as you get your hands on a cauldron made of pure Profound Malecorum?"
"Heh," Allfiend sneered at Thunderzen. "You do not need to know the reasons for that. Just know that today marks the beginning of the end for you, and the entire Honorable Alliance."
Boom!
A muffled boom echoed out from the cauldron, followed by another one, and another. The booms grew progressively quicker and louder, and John could feel a horrifying energy begin to emit from the Cauldron.
Thunderzen's eyes locked onto Allfiend, who stared at him with a mocking expression on his face.
"I initiated the summoning fifteen minutes ago," Allfiend sneered. "It's too late to stop it. While its early activation will lessen its power, it should still be enough!"
BOOM!
The lid of the cauldron suddenly exploded off, as an absolutely horrifying and powerful aura escaped from it.
John felt the power overwhelm him, before Thunderzen suddenly appeared before him. John saw his vision blur, and quickly found himself on top of a distant mountain, dozens of miles away.
Roar!
A deafening roar rocked the Bloodfiend Sect, its power destroying what little remained of it. Both John and Thunderzen turned to look at the source of the guttural cry, and John's eyes quickly widened as he spotted its source.
Rising from the crumbling remains of the chamber of anguish, a creature over one hundred yards tall began to stand up. Its skin was dark red, and it had two horns growing out of its head. Its mouth was large and wide, and sharp teeth were visible whenever it roared. A long tail swished behind its body, and sharp claws extended from its hands.
"A demon!" John exclaimed. He had seen depictions of demons before, and could instantly tell that this was one of them.
"It is indeed a demon," Thunderzen replied as he looked calmly at the distant creature. After a moment of silence, he looked towards John with a soft smile on his face.
"You've done well, child."
John felt a wave of emotion wash over him, mostly due to the fresh pain of watching Kirii nearly die. Even now, he still didn't know if Kirii would survive.
"Now wait here while I take care of that creature, before it destroys the entire continent," Thunderzen said to John before his body suddenly vanished.
Bang!
A distant bang echoed out, catching John's attention once more. Lightning surged out from a figure hundreds of times smaller than the demon, and crashed onto its body with incredible might.
The battle between titans had begun.