The barrage of energy beams struck the monster’s chest—right where a normal creature’s heart would be.
ZZZT... ZZZT... ZZZT...
Every shot hit its mark, just as Ethan had hoped.
But then... nothing.
Ethan’s eyes widened in disbelief. For an instant, ti itself seed to stutter. His breath caught; the world around him dimd, colors bleeding into one another as if refusing to accept what he was seeing.
HUM—
The thunder beast’s form shuddered. Instead of piercing through its body as he’d expected, the energy was absorbed.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—
Worse, from the stumps of its three missing arms, a sickening, bone-like snapping sound echoed. In the blink of an eye, three new, fully-ford limbs sprouted and grew to their full size.
"You have... got to be kidding ," Ethan muttered, his brain stuttering to a halt before a wave of fury washed over him. "You have GOT to be KIDDING !"
He realized his mistake too late. The energy he’d just fired was identical in nature to the heavenly tribulation itself. He’d just emptied that entire gadget, refueling the damn thing. He’d literally healed his enemy. For a heartbeat, his mind blanked completely. The world seed to narrow to that single, absurd truth—his own brilliance turned traitor. A low, incredulous laugh escaped him, half-mad and bitter, before dying on his tongue.
"ROAR!" The beast flexed its newly-regrown arms, almost as if inspecting them. It didn’t seem grateful. It lunged again with terrifying speed.
BOOM!
Ethan hastily raised the Twilight War Spear in a cross-block, catching two of the creature’s claws. But a primal, heart-stopping dread surged through him. He didn’t think; he just acted.
"Swift Stride!" he yelled, activating the skill from his boots.
He threw himself sideways with everything he had.
KABOOOM!
The thunder beast’s six other arms, which Ethan hadn’t blocked, slamd together in a colossal clap right where he’d been standing. The concussive blast pulverized the rock beneath the creature’s feet, cratering the ground several ters deeper.
The move, however, left the beast reeling. Its six arms hung limp, visibly damaged by its own overwhelming force.
Seeing this, a spark of understanding ignited in Ethan’s eyes. ’It’s still mindless. Like an Ethereal boss. It runs on pure instinct.’
He was an idiot for trying to trade blows with it.
"Seals... out!" he commanded, ntally calling to Beastie, Aqua, Oblivion, and Gale.
SHWOOP!
The Four City Lord Seals materialized in their true forms.
"Hold it! Buy so ti!" Ethan yelled, backpedaling rapidly.
BOOM! BOOM!
The four seals swelled to massive size and shot forward, spinning like tops as they slamd into the thunder beast. The creature ignored them completely, its singular focus fixed on Ethan. It simply bulled through their attacks, its charge barely slowing.
A grim smile touched Ethan’s lips. Perfect. No brains. Full agro on .
He watched as the seals, for all their power, were hopelessly outmatched. They struck and were flung away, only managing to make the beast stumble montarily.
But it was enough. It was all the opening he needed.
"Ga’s over. Ti to die," Ethan whispered, his expression shifting to fierce determination.
He spun the Twilight War Spear in a fluid arc, its tip tracing patterns in the air. "White tal Radiance...!" He choked, a torrent of blood spraying from his lips. A golden light flared, etching a new line of power alongside the existing erald one on the spear’s shaft.
"Water Flow Radiance...!" Another spray of blood.
"Fire Blaze Radiance...!" More blood.
"Earth Mountain Radiance...!" His body shuddered with the effort.
The Twilight War Spear was now a riot of color—blue, gold, crimson, obsidian, and silver—mirroring the hues of the Quintessence Bone deep within him.
But he wasn’t finished.
Under the stunned gaze of the Dragon of Consumption, Ethan wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, his teeth stained a grueso red. He looked like a man who’d just crawled out of his own grave.
"Five-Colored Divine Light... manifest! White tal as the core... converge and transform!" he roared, his voice ragged. "tal Annihilation... SLASH! BREAK FOR ! GO!"
He began to spin the spear with both hands, faster and faster, like a martial artist wielding a staff. It beca a blur, a high-frequency rotary saw blade whirring in his grasp. He balanced the spinning vortex of energy on his palm for a split second before hurling it forward.
The Twilight War Spear traced a graceful, lethal arc through the air, flying out and then curving back. Where it passed, reality itself was sheared open, leaving behind ragged, black-purple spatial tears.
Ethan recalled the Four Seals.
Freed from its impedints, the thunder beast charged at its maximum speed.
Ethan, anwhile, was bent double, hands on his knees. Blood dripped steadily from his nose and mouth, splattering onto the scorched earth in tiny, crimson flowers. His gaze, however, was calm and steady, locked on the oncoming monstrosity.
The beast was fast. But the spear was faster.
Had it flown straight, it would have connected instantly. Its arcing path had taken a fraction of a second longer, but it was worth it.
SHHHHRRRIP!
Just as the thunder beast closed to within twenty ters, the tal Annihilation Slash sliced in from its blind side.
KRAK-OOM!
The creature was cleaved cleanly in two at the waist. A mont later, its entire form detonated into a cloud of shimr, chaotic lightning.
As the thunder beast exploded, the air filled with a dazzling storm of thunder runes—the concentrated essence of its form.
"Devour," Ethan gasped, the word a ragged breath.
HUM—
Even in his utter exhaustion, he wouldn’t let this treasure go to waste. He raised one trembling hand, palm up. A powerful attractive force erupted, and the floating runes sward toward the purple vortex swirling in his palm.
These runes were the fundantal code of the tribulation’s manifestation, its very essence. A normal heavenly trial would never produce such a thing, nor would it take a physical form driven purely by annihilation. True tribulations always held a spark of life and opportunity within the destruction. This... this was sothing else entirely.
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