Chapter 169 - "My Little Dream..."

*CRACK*

"Sss…" Red cannot help but hiss as the first tribulation lightning, as thick as a bamboo pole, strikes down on him.

He feels his skin burning as the lightning envelopes the entire surface of his body.

Fortunately, he finds the pain tolerable, and the lightning was not enough to injure him.

After gathering himself, he immediately absorbs the thick superior spiritual energy that has come along with the lightning. He will not let a hill's worth of Spiritual Energy Crystals go to waste.

"huuuuu…" With a deep breath of his cultivation technique, his meridians go on to work faster than usual to feed his diamond-like cultivation core.

After sweeping all the remaining spiritual energy from the lightning, he pumps his core to immediately refine his meridians and his organs.

As soon as he is done, *RUMBLE* he hears the void lightning among the clouds finish gathering.

The next moment, *CRACK* the second tribulation strikes down.

The lightning this time, is just a bit thicker and more vigorous than the first.

"Sss…" Red hisses once again.

The second lightning not only digs to his skin just like the first, it also digs deeper in his being, and reaches under his skin. He cannot help but tremble feeling as if his skin is being flayed from his muscles.

He takes a moment to stabilize himself before once again absorbing the thick spiritual energy that came along with the lightning and using it to refine his body even more. 

Even though the process is more painful than the first time, he immediately became accustomed to using the tribulation lightning for his benefit. For now, he can rest easy as he knows that he will have no problems with the next two or three tribulation lightnings to come to come.

*CRACK* The third tribulation lightning, thicker in size than the second, strikes down, punishing each muscle in Red's body.

While it was painful for Red, his ever adapting tolerance endures it and he continues to hungrily absorb the thick spiritual energy that came along with the lightning.

*CRACK* The fourth tribulation lighting, thicker than the ones that came earlier, strikes down, sinking deep down in his bones.

"Oof.." This time, he cannot help but softly grunt.

The lightning this time, almost felt corporeal, that hammered down on him. He already expected it however and was able to brace himself.

After recovering, he once again goes on to exploit the benefits of the lightning.

*CRACK* The fifth tribulation lightning came down.

"OOFF." Red grunts harder.

He feels his organs being tormented by the lightning. Lesser willed men would be wishing for death at this point. If he, in his long existence, did not experience all sorts of pain from injuries in battle, or have built up his pain tolerance by inflicting pain on himself, he would be screaming his head off.

After a moment of recovery, he manages to once again absorb the very rich spiritual energy that came along with the lightning.

*CRACK* The sixth tribulation lightning comes down.

"MMMMFFHHHH…" He cannot help but let out a prolonged growl.

He feels that each cell of his entire physical body is being torn to pieces. Instead of putting an effort in stopping the pain or fighting the damage being inflicted to his body, he simply lets it happen while gritting his teeth.

A few seconds pass and he gets worried. He feels that the lightning is still tearing at his body. While is using the lightning's effect to inflict trauma on his body, he does not want too much of it, or else it will be more than just dangerous.

Before he can start fighting it, to his relief, the pain stops blaring and is now consistently pulsating; a sign that the lightning's effect has stopped wreaking havoc in his being.

He then puts his meridians and core to overdrive and repairs as much as he can, the damage that was done to his being by the tribulation lightning. Even though he is now injured, and is only fifty percent in his capacity, he knows that his tribulation had been smooth up to this point.

What worries himself instead, is the upcoming eight lightning.

*Rumble*

He hears the eighth lightning brew in the sky and he looks up.

Unlike the previous lightnings, he does not hear a crack as the lightning hits him. Instead, his world turns dark and finds himself in a dark abyss.

Within the darkness, the only light is coming from his body.

He finds however that he no longer is in the body of Terra's Red Darra, but in his previous body as the Red Sovereign.

Suddenly, a figure of a woman fades into existence in front of him.

"Father." She greets him with a beautiful smile.

"… My little dream…" Red can only utter the nickname him and his wife used to call her when she was a child.

He wants to approach the woman, but he cannot move.

When was last time he saw his daughter? When did he watch her return to the Void? He already lost track how long ago it was.

Her image however never faded in his memory.

"How I yearned to see you once again, father." His daughter says with a bitter sweet smile.

"I…" Red does not know if it really is his

daughter in front of him, or simply an illusion made by the Void, but he cannot help but feel that she is here with him.

"I longed for you too, my little dream." He utters.

"I'm proud of you, father." She says, the bitterness in her smile disappears.

"You are?" He returns a smile.

It is more likely that the daughter in front of him is an illusion made by his tribulation, but he decides to indulge himself in it at least for a little while.

"I always knew, father, that you would one day become the Overlord of the infinite realms. That you would then have the power to bring me back. Bring mother back. Bring brother back. If it weren't for the other sovereigns…" His daughter laments with a sigh.

"…" He is stunned.

He knows that this is simply a trick by the void during his tribulation, but he cannot help but feel a pang of guilt in his heart.

He knows that he could not have survived his last battle in the infinite realms no matter.

But he did become an Overlord even though it was only for a few breaths before his death.

He now regrets to not have attempted to bring his loved ones back as a last-ditch effort to see them again.

He remembers an important matter however and it soothed his guilt for a bit.

"I'm sorry, my little dream. When I became an Overlord, I was no longer a father, nor a friend to anyone, nor the leader of my people. I became as indifferent as the Void itself. I no longer cared about Okuba, or the people I've come to love.

"You, your mother, and your brother did not even cross my mind, as if you were but strangers in a distant memory..." He reasons to himself and to explain to his daughter.

"That… is lonely." His daughter says sadly.

"It was. That's why I was grateful to the void for sparing me that fate, and let me die while wishing for the void to follow you all in the next life if there really is one." Red says with a consoling smile.

"…" His daughter beams a smile at him.

"And yet, here we are. It seemed that the Void did not grant your wish for a true death?" She asks.

"That seems to be so." Red nods.

"You are special father. The void bringing you to a new world is the evidence of that. What if you can ask for more?" His daughter asks.

"What are you saying?" He frowns.

"To be reborn with us… in the afterlife. Eternal bliss with your family and all that." His daughter clarifies.

"Is there really an afterlife?" He asks. This time, addressing the void.

"You've spent countless of years cultivating, father. And along with that, has lived longer than the permanence of many things. Isn't it time to rest? To come with me?" His daughter says however, the void not speaking through her more directly as he hoped.

"There might be an afterlife father, there also may not be." His daughter continues.

"If there is, then me, mother, and brother are there waiting for you. If there is not, then look at it as a way out that the void is giving you, for you to return to it, for you to finally achieve your eternal rest." She concludes.

Red does not indeed know if there is an afterlife or not. What he knows however, is that he is not special.

He had become one with the void, and while it was only for a short while, he realizes that while the void is a conscious overseer, it sees all things equal.

A Sovereign and a single-celled organism do not make a difference to it. After all, it is eternal and all things, no matter how powerful will return to it in the end.

"My little dream…" Red addresses his daughter this time.

Even though there is the slightest chance that it really is his daughter in front of him, he decides to be honest and candid.

"Was I a good father?" He asks.

"You were the greatest man I've ever known, father. But as a father?"

Red sees deep confliction in his daughter's eyes. 

"I do not know. I should say yes because you have loved me and my brother. That you have raised us to be the best we can. And yet… I did not feel any more special than the countless other people who see you as their father figure. It might be my selfishness, or my immaturity, father, but…

"I simply cannot say with all my heart, that you were a good father to me." She says apologetically.

"I understand." Red sighs. 

He always knew his children have been jealous, he just never heard them say it. "

Can you risk it? Father? In our next life, I want a share of your undivided attention that I longed." His daughter pleads.

"My little dream…" Red smiles bitterly. If he can embrace his daughter right now, he would.

"I will find a way to be with you again. So, can you wait for me a for a little longer?" He asks.

"This moment, father. Is it not the way? The void itself is giving it to you." His daughter asks in sadness.

"It is not, my little dream. I know it is not…" Red shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, my little dream. But I will definitely find a way for our family to become one once again." He promises in finality.

"… very well…" His daughter whispers, but he sees deep sadness in her eyes.

While the way his daughter looks currently breaks his heart, he knows that the tribulation is not the answer.

In fact, this test by the void simply pulled out his long lost desire.

He does not know where he is in the infinite realms, or if he even is in it, but he hopes that the answer he failed to find in the infinite realms, he will find in wherever this place the void brought him to. 

As if the dark abyss was affected by his heart, *crack* a bright crack appears in it, swallowing the darkness within.