Chapter 109: Mandy's Heavenly Tribulation!

While Mandy stood there motionlessly, staring at the forest below, the sky above was quickly getting covered by dark clouds, causing the area around us to noticeably darken and the forest below to look even more spectacular; however, we could appreciate the beauty of the forest later.

"Will Mandy be alright?" Asked Elif seriously, with slight concern, having sensed the vast amount of Qi radiating from the sky while standing just behind Illumia, who was currently protecting them.

"It is hard to say, your Highness. Mandy is a very capable cultivator; however, Heaven does not discriminate against cultivators." Stated Illumia blandly, as usual, though even she found it hard to hide the concern in her voice.

As we stood there watching Mandy absorb a ridiculous amount of Qi, time slowly passed, and after what felt like an excruciatingly long time, Mandy finally seemed to snap out of the trance she's been in, only for her to look up at the rumbling sky with a solemn expression.

It wasn't even a full second after Mandy exited her trance-like state that Heaven let out a loud rumble before sending out numerous lightning bolts toward her, each one carrying an unbelievable amount of power, yet Mandy was effortlessly destroying them; at least I believed so, Mandy was moving far faster than what I could perceive.

Several minutes passed by with us watching Mandy destroying lighting bolts before the attacks slowly died down, allowing me to finally view Mandy's condition.

'She's fine; that's good.' Thought Elif while releasing a sigh of relief, everyone else having similar thoughts as well.

"Mandy! Here, take this as a precaution." Exclaimed Elif as he summoned a different artifact from his dimension ring before tossing it to Mandy.

"I'm deeply honored for you showing such concern, your Highness. However, I can't accept this; If I can't even survive a Heavenly Tribulation on my own, then I have no right to be your personal guard." Declared Mandy with a slight smile and a bow as she caught the artifact and returned it to Elif, much to his surprise, though he merely let out a slight chuckle.

"So be it then; however, you must not die to the Heavenly Tribulation, you've been my guard for several years, and I'd be quite annoyed if you were to just die." Said Elif seriously as he caught the artifact and stored it in his dimension ring while eyeing Mandy.

"I understand, your Highness." Replied Mandy with a smile before shifting her attention to the dark sky above with a solemn expression.

Shortly after our little interaction, the dark clouds above had just finished forming the first lightning tribulation, which Mandy effortlessly destroyed with a swing of her large sword; the second and third lightning tribulation was no different from the first, except Mandy was just forced to use slightly more power than before. Also, Mandy did something I never thought of while Heaven was forming the next

lightning tribulation, Mandy would use that short period of peace to quickly refill her lost Qi, and while I'm sure she wasn't able to completely fill her Qi reserves, her actions could easily change the outcome of the Heavenly Tribulation.

'I'm feeling quite foolish for never thinking of something so simple.' Thought Elif as he watched Mandy cover her large sword in an aura similar to sword aura before destroying the fourth lightning tribulation with relative ease.

"That, was that Sword Will?" Asked Elif curiously as he felt how vastly superior the power, density, and purity were compared to his sword aura.

"No, that was Sword Heart, your Highness, one level above Sword Will." Said Illumia calmly as she watched Mandy cleave the fifth tribulation lighting in half before quickly pulling out a spirit stone and absorbing its contents.

Mandy took care of the sixth tribulation of lightning without too much difficulty; however, none of us had been worried that she wouldn't be able to deal with the first six lightning tribulations; it's mainly the last three that concern us.

The moment the seventh tribulation lighting finished forming, it instantly shot down toward Mandy, radiating a tremendous amount of Qi. When it neared her location, for the first time since the Heavenly Tribulation started, she used one of her techniques and destroyed the lightning bolt, and it didn't seem nearly as difficult as the sixth one. However, Mandy's technique was quite interesting; it seemed to be both defensive and offensive.

A short while later, the eighth lighting tribulation launched itself toward Mandy; however, seeing as she was about to use the same technique as before, I figured this must be the strongest one in her arsenal. Using her Qi, she created a mini-tornado with her in the center that absorbed the Qi in the atmosphere before turning them into Qi blades and launching them toward the incoming lighting bolt; however, while those attacks didn't do much, the moment the lightning bolt slammed into the tornado, the tornado would constantly grind the lighting bolt into pure Qi before absorbing it, which in turn increased the power of the technique.

After a while of being in a constant struggle, Mandy eventually overcame the lighting tribulation and destroyed it; with the lighting bolt now gone, Mandy most likely used that chance to quickly absorb as much Qi as possible; I was purely guessing as the tornado hid her figure from view.

'Here comes the last one.' Thought Elif, slightly nervous, as he looked up at the sky and eyed the final lighting tribulation that radiated enough Qi to kill everyone except Illumia, Zulo, and Zala.

When the ninth tribulation lighting was finished, the sky let out a deep rumble so loud that the entire area trembled, and not even a second later, Heaven released the final lighting bolt. With speed, I wasn't able to perceive; the only thing I saw was the lighting bolt disappearing before reappearing after colliding with Mandy's tornado, which had grown to an immense size, yet even so, Mandy was still getting pushed back.

The stalemate continued for quite a long time, and even though Mandy had been on the losing end, she didn't allow the lightning bolt to pierce her technique; however, the deadlock would have to come to an end eventually, and luckily Mandy was the winner. After staying in a constant struggle, Mandy's tornado finally managed to grind the lighting bolt till it was nothing but pure Qi; with that outcome, the dark clouds vanished just as quickly as they appeared.

"CAPTAIN MANDY!!" Yelled the guards excitedly as they quickly rushed toward Mandy, who had just stopped supplying Qi to the tornado, which caused it to slowly dissipate, allowing everyone to see an injured and exhausted Mandy. However, she had a large smile on her face.

"Haa, that was quite intense, though I'm glad she survived." Said Elif with a slight smile as he sighed in relief while storing his personal protective artifact, the stick, in his dimension ring.

"I'm also relieved, though the Heavenly Tribulation has caused the surrounding area to be extensively damaged." Remarked Illumia with a light smile while eyeing the surrounding area, which was filled with burnt craters and no sign of vegetation within a one-thousand-kilometer radius.

"Ugh, I only now noticed the damage the forest had sustained." Muttered Elif with a frown as he looked at the magnificent forest now filled with destruction.

"Well, it's not all bad; at least your arrival will be something to remember." Said Marley, though Elif, Illumia, and Idonea merely looked at her with dumbfounded expressions.

Shaking at me head Marley's words, I did the intelligent thing and ignored her before flying over to Mandy, who was trying to quell the joyous guards.

"Calm down, you rambunctious lot; I know you guys are overjoyed at Mandy's survival; however, you are Royal Guards; show some dignity." Declared Elif, which made the guards silent while they intently focused on Elif.

"Mandy is currently injured and exhausted; the Fairy Clan's residency shouldn't be too far; she can receive help once we arrive." Added Elif as he turned around and headed toward the carriage, followed by the guards.

'Your Highness, someone from the Fairy Clan has arrived.' Said Illumia via divine sense.

'Hmm, they must've been waiting for the Heavenly Tribulation to end before approaching.'

Once back at the carriage, I ordered the guards to put Mandy inside the carriage while I waited beside Illumia for the approaching guards, who arrived swiftly.

"Prince Elif, welcome to the Divine Fairy Clan! I'm Hail, Young Mistress Eyvor's personal servant, and on account of your arrival, I've been stationed here by Young Mistress Eyvor so that I may guide you to the Fairy Clan's residency." Announced a translucent woman named Hail as she bowed to Elif while smiling, wearing a maid's attire with two large yet beautiful wings sprouting out of her back.

"It seems I must thank Eyvor when I see her." Said Elif with a slight smile, though he was mainly trying to avoid talking about the destruction Mandy caused.

"Also, Prince Elif, you do not need to worry about the destruction the Psionic Forest sustained; within a few months, it'll have restored itself and the surrounding area to its original appearance. The Psionic Forest isn't considered one of the nine Immortal miracles for no reason." Stated Hail as she eased Elif's worries.

"That is good to know. Well then, if you don't mind leading the way." Replied Elif while mentally sighing in relief as he and Illumia entered the carriage that Idonea, Marley, and Mandy had already occupied.

As the carriage followed behind Hail, roughly fifteen minutes passed by before I started sensing signs of life similar to Hail; looking out the window, I was met with a humongous piece of floating islands surrounded by smaller yet still giant pieces of floating islands in the distance.

Once we neared the floating islands, I observed them, yet most of the floating islands were what I expected them to be; each one was like a mini-city with hundreds of millions of Fairies living on them; using my deduction skills, I concluded the island floating in the center was where the top echelons of the Fairy Clan resided.

'Such a beautiful sight; I would love to have a painting of this in my room somewhere.' Thought Elif in fascination as he observed the Fairy Clan's residency.

When we approached the floating island in the center, I sensed Eyvor and several other people were already there waiting for my arrival; with Zulo and Zala gently landing the carriage on the floating island near the stables, I made sure to quickly fix my hair before exiting the carriage.

"Ms. Eyvor, what a pleasure it is to finally see you in person again; I hope you've been well." Announced Elif with an elegant smile as he exited the carriage and swiftly approached Eyvor before grabbing her hand and kissing it, resulting in him earning the goodwill of almost the entire audience.

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 116: Time to Gamble?) and Hero of Harmony (Chapter 2: MONSTER!!) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]