Emperal’s right hand found the wolf’s fur, the same wolf which had been a nightmarish apex predator twenty minutes ago—flinched. Actually trembled from a slender, weak hand.

"Hmph, so much for your earlier arrogance."

Emperal muttered and dragged himself upright using the wolf’s massive body as leverage. His legs were dead; he couldn’t feel them. But they were still usable, getting one knee under him, then the other. Emperal shakily stood up.

Standing up was the wrong word; he was holding the Crimson Maw wolf’s fur tightly, hanging on to it.

The wolf let out a painful whimper.

"Yes," Emperal nodded, looking up at the clouds. "You should be worried."

The third bolt brewed, unlike the first two, this one was far thicker and denser. The first two had arrived without warning, from the sky to the earth in one single heartbeat. But this one descended slowly.

A column of compressed Verth so dense that light itself bent around it inwardly. It was bigger than the first two.

Emperal looked at it, looked at the wolf beneath him, and looked back at the bolt.

The math was pretty simple.

"I am officially cooked."

The bolt descended! Precisely for him, his plan had been pretty simple. Putting the wolf’s body at the top, he was supposed to use it as a meat shield, and the bolt would have gone through the complex Verth pools and threads inside the wolf and then affected him. The wolf had already outweighed him by approximately everything.

Grabbing the wolf’s burned scruff with his own burning hands, he turned and pushed the wolf at the front! 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

His grip held the wolf stubbornly; the poor Crimson Maw wolf scrambled instinctively, its legs finding the ground.

"I’m not sorry, by the way."

The bolt arrived.

C-C-C-CRACK!!!!

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

With a thunderous roar, the bolt descended on Emperal, specifically on the wolf’s back. The effect was almost immediate.

The wolf’s Verth structure absorbed as much lightning as it could and failed almost immediately...the remainder continued through and hit Emperal with mighty force.

AWOOOOOOO!!!!

The Crimson Maw roared one final time before collapsing lifelessly. Emperal took the remainder through his palms. And...

Fainted.

The bolt’s descent was merely a second. After the third bolt, the clouds started to return to normal.

The excess and harmful Verth in the atmosphere slowly started to diffuse and disintegrate. Unbeknownst to Emperal...a dark green light covered his body, saving his dying body at the last moment.

The clearing bed cracked in a burst of dust and debris, the large tree where Emperal had been leaning before lost its last leaves. The bolts had produced three scorching marks on the floor, completing a weird triangle around Emperal.

Then...silence fell all over.

...

From the faraway void, the Infernal Dragon had been watching Emperal the moment he left the darkness.

"...He actually survived."

Behind the Infernal Dragon, huge shadows moved eerily, their mere presence causing disturbances around the void.

But not all of them were of the same size. The ratio of the weakest to the strongest was off the charts.

The Dragon didn’t mean to say it out loud, but...it did. Unlike when Emperal had seen the Infernal Dragon for the first time, instead of its bright dragon and scorching magma scales...the dragon’s body had become translucent...see-through.

Same as that of a ghost.

"...So someone has passed your tribulation...youngest."

From somewhere behind the darkness, a melodious voice echoed. It sounded amused and slightly warm, just like how a gentle big sister would talk with her younger brother.

"...Eighth sister, I guess we can’t see each other for a while now."

The Infernal Dragon sighed, its body dimming further. Its words, however, didn’t suit his earlier arrogant persona.

The void shifted, "Hehe, it’s alright, youngest. The boy seems promising, nurture him well. That way, at least the youngest wouldn’t suffer."

The warmth in her voice was gentle as sunlight. Seeing this, the Infernal Dragon nodded.

"I will try my best, Eight sister."

In the next second, its body completely vanished in the void. Not even its amber was left behind.

For a few minutes, there was silence in the void.

"For a half-blood, you sure seemed optimistic, Eighth sister."

From somewhere deep in the void, another sharp but honeyed voice echoed throughout the void. For a moment, even the being called ’Eight-sister’ was surprised when she heard that voice.

"...Fifth sister, it’s been almost a few centuries since the last practitioner of our powers died. Most of them either died in the youngest tribulation or were unqualified to master his powers...and survive my tribulation."

The Eighth Sister paused, letting her words sink in.

"But...most of them were top-tier geniuses and had a very high cultivation, but failed nonetheless. Even I had lost my hope when the same thing continued in this era."

"...Don’t talk in circles, speak what you mean."

The Eighth sister let out a chuckle, "I’m saying this man seemed promising, and...what’s more amusing than to give our powers to the one who has our Eternal Enemies’ blood flowing through them?"

"..."

In the void behind them, the remaining shadows had gone silent. They were listening. After a few minutes, the voice of the ’Fifth-sister’ echoed once again.

"How can a being possessing half Elven blood pass a Draconic Verth Tribulation? That too, with a trash Spirit Root?"

Her sharp voice soon gave way to incredulity. But she didn’t stop.

"His Elven bloodline even anchored him after the youngest’s tribulation."

"...Yes?"

"And the youngest’s nature has already begun merging with his Dragon blood and...soul."

"...Also yes."

The fifth sister paused; it felt less like silence and more like something being carefully considered and thought through by an old and experienced person.

"Eighth sister."

The honeyed voice of the fifth sister lost a bit of its earlier sharpness. What replaced it was worse—a quiet and still tone.

The tone of someone who has just considered a suspicion they had hoped was wrong.

"Do you know why the original technique was created?"

The Eighth sister fell silent when she heard that, as if a painful memory was forcefully being resurfaced.

The darkness in the void shifted.

"Do you know...what the Elves were trying to seal?"

Silence...