Freedom

[Some hours ago]

Jean was keeping fighting with the statue.

If it wasn't for his corpses vanishing after death, he could fill the entire Blue Pole Star with them…

He fought for 5 entire months against that thing. 

Wielding its scythe with such fluid movements that confused even Jean, the statue killed him countless times, and everytime it was with a decapitation.

The only thing that could cause even a small bit of damage is Paverschlev combined with the Destroying Sky Decimating Earth, the strongest attack he can muster, and all it could do was scratching the statue…

He passed an entire year to fight for his freedom, he evolved to resist the incoming attacks, he even "Inverted" so he can gain additional power from his broadsword…

Just to end here?

Why couldn't he do it?! What did he miss?!

What did that glitched entity want from him?! Was everything a test? Then make it possible to pass it!

After he was hit on his sides with the blunt side of the scythe, his mangled body flew towards his throne, who didn't move an inch…

His gaze went down, and saw blood flowing out from his mouth, making a small puddle on his clothes… Well… He will be lucky the next time…

...Wait a second.

Could he pass it if he burns his Blood Essence?

He almost forgot about it… He ignored it because it could cause either death or a decrease on his powers. It would be extremely dangerous doing that before, because there were more waves of statues to clash against.

But this was the last one, if he would be able to pass, then he can use the schrift Sigma to create again the Blood Essence that he lost before…

Well, now or never…

Jean's blood started to carry a certain glint, and Jean waited for the increase of strength that would come by burning his Blood Essence…

"What are you doing, Jean?!"

Ah, the voice on his mind… He ignored it since it just kept asking for him to come back, to where? He didn't know, he didn't know where the feminine voice came from but it was annoying…

However, the increase of his powers never came, so Jean opened his eyes and saw the statue in front of him, with his scythe raised up…

*Clang!*

But when the scythe came down, it clashed against something.

When Jean blinked, he was suddenly covered from an armor.

The sensation it gave was familiar, he was wearing his throne…

Unconsciously, a word came out from his mouth…

"Spirit Armor: Ratelibish…"

Ratelibish, the name of his new armor. The armor activated with Blood Essence…

"Emperor of Annihilation: Shekinah…"

Shekinah, the sword forged from his own Blood Essence mixed with the remaining fragments of his throne and fused with Nehemah.

Jean was surprised at their appearance… He made another evolution.

Inside the Sky Poison Pearl, Jasmine was also shocked about the sudden turn of events. Albeit thanks to burning his Blood Essence, his power was slightly lesser than it should be, his current power is on par with that of the statue wielding the scythe, 7th Sovereign Profound Realm.

Jean looked down on the scythe, even if it scratched his armor, it didn't reach his skin. With a maniacal grin, Jean raised Shekinah and used the Sky Wolf Slash on the statue, leaving a big gash on the statue.

"YES!!"

Excited like never before, Jean dashed at the statue. His sword and its scythe clashed countless times in the span of a minute, the force of their attacks caused the ground to tremble and the air to shake.

Suddenly, Jean's arm flew away…

...But it was an appropriated price to pay for his victory…

*CRACK!!*

Sticking Shekinah inside the statue's head, he used his Profound Qi to make the blade vibrate, reducing the head into fragments.

But Jean didn't finished yet. He channelled the power of the Evil God on his blade and slashed downwards. "Falling Moon Sinking Star!"

*BTOOOM!!*

The statue, now powerless, was utterly crushed from the power of the attack… Only fragments remained.

Jean could hardly believe it…

He did it…

He did it!!

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jean let out a yell. He finally did it!! He finished the 100 waves!

"Y̶o̷u̵ ̷d̷i̵d̷ ̷i̸t̶.̴.̴.̶ ̴C̸o̴n̸g̵r̷a̸t̷u̵l̴a̵t̸i̸o̸n̷s̸."

That voice…

"No! Wait! At least tell me why you did it!" Jean wanted answers, why was he forced to do this?! Just why?!

"D̸e̷f̸e̸a̶t̵ ̶m̵e̸,̵ ̵a̶n̴d̷ ̸y̷o̷u̸ ̵w̵i̷l̵l̵ ̶k̸n̷o̷w̶ ̵e̴v̸e̴r̴y̵t̶h̷i̵n̸g̶.̷" With that, Jean's sight turned black for an instant, before he appeared over a wasteland.

"You did it!" That feminine voice coming from his head sounded out again, before in a flash, a red-haired young girl popped out.

Jean froze at her appearance… She looked familiar to him…

"Jas… mine…?" That was the only name that he could associate with her.

Jasmine turned around and nodded. "It is a long time since we see each other, Jean."

So she was that voice in his mind…

Jean's sight went to his watch.

[17:28]

[17/5/1997]

[P: "Power"]

Now that he was outside from that dimension, his watch started to work again. And he immediately felt a massive increase of his power, he felt as if he had no problems going against someone at the 10th Sovereign Profound Realm.

He clicked the screen once, and a familiar menú opened… He clicked gallery, and countless photos appeared.

Xiao Lingxi… Jasmine… Cang Yue… Fen Juechen… And some videos about different places.

He had a small headache at the sudden flow of memories in his mind, but his pain tolerance ignored it.

"Guys…" Jean started to cry and kneeled down.

"...I'm back…"

At the side, Jasmine smiled. They were finally free from that year of hell. Now they can continue their adventures in the world again.

Her eyes went to the sky, and murmured something.

"I'm still ok, Caizhi, Big Brother…"

After some minutes, Jean's sobbings turned into laughter, his bloodied shoulder with the missing arm made a small puddle of blood on the ground as Jean stretched his body and laid on his back.

"Hahahahaha! I will find you, bitch! And I will make you spill everything!" He was obviously referring to the words that the glitched entity left him.

Jasmine shook her head and said. "Jean, stand up. It's time to turn back to home."

"...Right…" Jean didn't care about his missing arm or the Blood Essence, once it will be the last day of the month, he will use Sigma to recover both of them.

For now he stood up and his metallic dark purple wings floating behind his back seemed to open, before Jean started to fly at north, to turn back at the Blue Wind Empire and look for everyone.

[Present]

Jean and Yun Canghai looked at each other, after Jean removed his helm, he smiled and said.

"Hey Grandpa, I'm back."