The First Strike

The golden sea crashed into the Magic Circle with chaotic ferocity, causing the Circle to develop cracks that deepened the more Primordial Essence was poured on. Eventually, the light being emitted by the Circle stuttered out like a dying lightbulb as its daunting aura vanished. Clearly, It had lost power.

CRISSSSHH!!!

The enormous Magic Circle that was twice the size of the entire World shattered like glass, raining down softly like red snow. The sight was eerie and ethereal yet absolutely beautiful, it was definitely a sight that could cause minds to stall. Especially when it was surrounded by the infinite cosmos.

But Eridel didn't dare to admire it.

'Quickly!' Eridel thought as he summoned forth even more Primordial Essence. The golden sea grew to terrifying scales that slowly morphed in shape, becoming a dome-like forcefield that encased the World, Moon and Magic Circle.

'Annoying…' Eridel thought as he looked at the biggest Mana Construct that he had ever crafted. He couldn't help but feel frustration at the amount of Primordial Essence it had cost, because it had definitely tapped into his finite depths. This was completely incomparable to the small cages that shackled the Laws of Destruction.

'At the very least, this should stop anyone from sensing what's going on, allowing me to-... It's coming.'

The shattered Magic Circle pieces that looked about to vanish suddenly brightened up like crimson stars and froze in the air as if time had stopped. It was like red fireflies had been frozen in mid-air and the disturbing sight caused Eridel's thoughts to stutter. Not because of the view but because of what he knew was coming next.

ZUUUUUUUM!

A sound that suspiciously sounded like time reversing boomed throughout all the space within Eridel's barrier as the Magic Circle particles began floating back to where they came from, getting brighter and brighter as they did so.

'Never would I have thought that I, Eridel… would become the first victim of my own trap. How ludicrous.' Eridel would have laughed at the thought, if it wasn't reality. A very perilous reality.

The broken pieces became bigger and bigger as they connected and fused with others but Eridel could only watch in silence. 5 minutes later, the Tribulation Circle was back in place and good as new except there was something that was blatantly different.

'Fuck…' Eridel groaned in his mind.

By now he had already come up with a few scenarios that could possibly help him to survive the ordeal in one piece and maybe even gain unknown benefits, the Tribulation's purpose wasn't to simply hurt you after all. But… he knew he was about to enter a world of unprecedented suffering.

He was about to experience a pain that he had never in his life experienced before and if he managed to survive he was sure he would never forget it.

Floating above his planetary body was a Tribulation Circle that was 5 times bigger than before positively glowing with mind-crippling power. Eridel knew it was coming, the countermeasures that came with attacking a Tribulation were not defensive but instead extremely offensive.

He was aware of the fact that there would probably be a time where 'Sons and Daughters of Heaven' that were blessed with peculiar abilities capable of damaging the Tribulation Lights would be born sooner or later, so he had decided to install some 'defensive' measures just in case.

At that time, he remembered thinking-

*FLASH* The Tribulation Circle pulsed.

'...' Eridel felt a feeling akin to racing blood but he kept his silence.

At that time… he remembered thinking something along the lines of: 'Let me see if any one of you would dare to overcome fate. There's no escape!' Now,he couldn't help but feel like a fool.

*FLASH* The Tribulation Circle pulsed..

At this point the Tribulation Circle was flat out vibrating, struggling to compress the boundless amounts of Essence that it was gathering. Eridel didn't even know where the energy was coming from but it was most certainly not him. He felt that if he could comprehend the Runes being used on the Circle then he could-

*FLASH* The Tribulation Circle pulsed.

Eridel's mind lit up as he burst into action, forming around his body another defensive dome that he compressed to the extreme. If one was to look at it from the outside, they would think that they had lucked upon some World-sized gold.

BOOOOOOM!

A red pillar of light burst out of the Tribulation Circle and crashed into the shield with its full might, instantly causing cracks to spread along its surface.

"NNNGH!" Eridel groaned out loud as unholy amounts of pain assailed his soul in repetitive waves. It felt like he had been staked by blades of diamond all over his body and his mind almost blanked.

Straight from the White Grade, Tribulations started targeting the souls of the recipients so Eridel wasn't totally surprised by the fact that just the pain of his shield cracking was causing him so much pain.

'But fuck me… I need to find a way to get rid of this.' Eridel thought as the waves of pain finally fled his soul. He was dead set on making sure that he never again experienced a Tribulation when a sudden thought came to mind. 'Without the Tribulations, how can I pay back my Fortune?' Eridel thought as his thought-processing speed started picking up.

He decided to put the matter to the back of his mind before focusing on his planet, checking for damage.

The World was still quaking and growing, having not finished its evolution. But everything was pretty much left unharmed with all the residents still sleeping… even if most had blood leaking out of their ears.

'I'm going to need to heal them after this.' Eridel thought warily. It could be said that he was the cause for their unjustified suffering and he had no qualms about rectifying it.

Eridel temporarily ignored the undercurrents of the Tribulations after-effects and focused on the next strike.

Even though he was still feeling raw from the pain, he felt that it wasn't all bad. In fact, he had already discarded the notion that he wouldn't survive the ordeal. He had suffered a lot of pain, but he wasn't truly damaged at all.

ZUUUUUUUM!

'...Nevermind.'