Tribulation

'Which means the Pope was a variable within their plans they didn't account for.' Caine frowned, his thoughts racing. 'I've already concluded that they wanted to stall me in that fractured reality—and kill me.'

'There's no way that Monkey King was supposed to stop me…?' His eyes widened as another realization struck him.

Nobody truly knew just how powerful or talented he was.

Caine had assumed his abilities were well-known, a fact established during his countless spars. But now, he wasn't so certain.

It made sense if Zao had intentionally wiped everyone's memories after their battles—excluding the elders of the respective clans, of course.

To the world, he was an enigma.

'So maybe that fractured reality wasn't entirely their doing. They tried to kill me during the first trial using that woman by attacking my mind. When that failed, they had a failsafe—the second trial. They were hoping I'd die to her or the Monkey King.'

His frown deepened, his mood souring. 'If that's the case, then what was that fractured reality? And why were my bond eggs there?'

The questions mounted, his frustration building.

'If I go deeper into this… how did they even get my bond eggs in the first place? Whether it's the Pope or those old bastards, someone gained access to them. By logic, they should've been left with Zao. But if that's the case, it would mean he's the one behind all this, and that's impossible.'

Rage sparked in his silver pupils.

'At my birth, my parents kept my eggs with them. Whoever's behind this must've taken them from my parents.'

Caine's fists clenched tightly as chaotic thoughts swirled.

'I was told something happened moments after my birth… surely this isn't…'

Without him realizing, clouds of chaotic qi had begun to whip around him, slaughtering the assassins who had come to kill him. Their bodies crumbled, shredded by the sheer force of his untamed energy.

The skies darkened further, thunderclaps booming loud enough to quake the air.

'It's not as simple as I imagined. We have enemies within the alliance—but we also have major ones outside of it. If I had to guess, they're working together.'

His thoughts sharpened.

'But for what purpose? The Velios hold no treasures—at least, none we don't share through the Alliance Treasury. What could we have done to provoke this much hate and envy? What could my parents and I have possibly done?'

BANG!

His musings were interrupted by another deafening clap of thunder, shaking the ground and echoing across the skies.

Caine's gaze snapped upward, rapidly narrowing as he took in the strange sight above.

The skies had darkened beyond the natural night, the zone above him veiled in an unnatural shade of black emptiness.

Golden arcs of crackling lightning danced within the thick gray clouds, swirling in tandem with harsh winds. Chaotic waves of qi formed a dome around him, stretching for thirty kilometers.

'A tribulation.'

Yet even this revelation did little to faze him. What concerned Caine more was what the tribulation revealed.

This was a punishment for his heretical actions in the fractured reality. At first, Caine had been unconcerned, believing the fractured reality to belong to some faraway world.

But now, it was clear that wasn't the case.

The fractured reality he had just left wasn't a fragment of some distant realm—it was a warped period of time from his own world, The Five Brilliant Sky World.

Whether it was a distorted piece of the past or the future, he couldn't yet tell.

Instead of providing clarity, this realization only left him with more unanswered questions.

RUMBLE!

As if offended by Caine's indifference, the clouds above shifted. The first streak of lightning fell.

Caine's gaze met the bolt of golden lightning descending from the heavens, its fury laced with divine retribution.

Raising his hand, he clenched his fingers into a fist.

CRACK!

The lightning shattered into countless particles of chaotic qi, scattering into the turbulent winds surrounding him.

For a moment, the world fell silent, as if the skies themselves were stunned by his audacity.

But before the clouds could retaliate, Caine raised his other hand. Pressing his palms together high above his head, he began to part them slowly.

As he moved, the swirling storm clouds above began to sunder. The more he parted his hands, the more the skies above dissipated, light spilling through the cracks.

Unfortunately, Caine's inexperience betrayed him. Born a cripple in his previous life, he lacked the knowledge most experts gained about tribulations.

What he had just done was the single worst thing he could have attempted.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The earth trembled violently as the skies themselves tore apart. From the depths of the void beyond, a single, grand, and majestic eye emerged.

This was no fractured reality.

The pressure emanating from the eye was indescribable. Mere moments after it appeared, Caine collapsed to his knees, blood erupting from his mouth.

The eye, known as the World Will Eye, was the manifestation of his world's consciousness.

The difference between the fractured reality's will and that of a full-fledged world was staggering.

BANG!

Blood qi burst forth from Caine's body, countering the suppression. His back straightened as he wiped the blood from his mouth, his heart steady despite the unimaginable pressure bearing down on him.

His gaze met the colossal eye, a fierce smile spreading across his face.

It felt as though he was staring into the core of a smoldering universe—chaotic, destructive, and utterly beyond his reach.

An ant facing a God—no, an ant facing the Heavens themselves.

Yet, despite this, Caine made no move to summon his rings, crown, or spear.

RUMBLE!

More eyes began to form in the void beyond the torn skies. From one, they became a dozen, then a hundred, until their number was beyond count.

The pressure intensified, accumulating with every new eye. Despite their apathetic gaze, hints of rage flickered within their depths.

Caine's grin only widened.

With unshakable confidence, he uttered a single word:

"Come."