496 Lightning Tribulation Part 1

"Come!"

*Rumble!*

The Heaven sent forth yellow lightning to site Alex.

Because this was the first time she saw something like this, Stina could not help but mutter, "Is Heaven angry right now?"

Anya chuckled before explaining it to her. "No. I have explained it to you before there are many worlds outside there and each world has its own system, varying from the speed, power, and difficulty. And just think the path that Alex takes is this which has its own characteristics."

"Is that so?"

"Well, just watch him, shall we?" She shrugged.

Without hearing their voices, Alex simply focused his attention on this yellow lightning. He raised his sword, swinging it toward the lightning.

"Bam!"

A Rank 6 Fire Element Sword finally revealed its power as it sliced the lightning like nothing. Unexpectedly, Alex suddenly looked at his sword, blinking a few times like he was surprised by something.

This action did not escape Anya's and Stina's eyes, making them think he was amazed by his sword. However, they learned it was wrong the moment they saw the second strike.

*Rumble!*

The sky brightened by yellow color before another lightning struck forth. Stina opened her mouth in surprise. Anya already told her that it would become stronger and stronger until the last strike, but she was still surprised because the lightning did not get stronger linearly. Instead, it was coming by exponentially.

Alex also figured this out as he closed his eyes, moving the soul inside his body to step the ground. Because of the Gathering Array, his body managed to gather more strength than usual.

"Spirit Step."

He clenched his sword as hard as possible after receiving the strength, slicing the lightning once again with 350 Dragon Strength.

Surprisingly, Alex couldn't cut it in a single swing. Anya furrowed her eyebrows, thinking it was something unusual even for Alex.

The clash was over a few seconds before Alex managed to break the lightning strike, creating a powerful shockwave in all directions.

Kai took a deep breath, looking at the dark cloud. One thing for sure, the Lightning Tribulation was harder than usual.

That lightning strike alone had a certain kind of power that could strengthen itself. Unfortunately, he had yet to know what that power was.

Activating his Spirit Eyes, he would not let anything escape from his eyes again, including that mysterious power.

After another rumbling sound, the third strike charged at him.

He pointed his left finger toward the lightning, creating a small fireball. The ball slowly turned into a fire tornado, engulfing the lightning. Although his Firewave of Emission was not as powerful as his other techniques, it was versatile enough for another thing.

Seeing the tornado was burning the lightning, chipping its strength bit by bit, Alex took a step forward while clenching at both his weapons.

He could clearly see with his Spirit Eyes that the Fire Tornado was not enough to destroy this third lightning strike.

After more than ten seconds burning it, the lightning finally broke through the tornado, charging at Alex with less than half of its strength.

Alex simply pierced the lightning before destroying the remnant power of the lightning with his sword.

*Rumble!*

All of them looked up, watching the yellow flash inside the dark cloud turned into blue. Stina clenched her fists, asking, "This is the second stage of the lightning tribulation, right?"

"Indeed. This is the fourth wave and the power will be far stronger than the yellow one. Alex would need to be serious when facing this." Anya nodded.

The fourth strike finally arrived, coming toward Alex with its powerful might. Pulling his spear to the back, he threw it with all his might.

"Spin Throwing Art. Spin Throwing."

He had not used this technique for a long time. The technique itself was an Earth Tier, which made Alex pretty surprised since he got the technique back when he was in the lower world. After knowing the limit, Alex realized it practically linked to his spear. If he had a powerful rank 8 Spear, it would bring a greater might. However, having seen the limit, he doubted it would be as effective as now if he threw it when he was a Martial Emperor or even Martial Monarch. It would seem he needed to search for another technique when he went back.

*Bang!*

The lightning sparked, clashing with the spear, specifically with the intent in the spear. The clash did not give birth a shockwave, but it was enough to create a dreadful atmosphere around.

Stina muttered, "This is only the fourth. He still needs to beat six stronger lightning strikes. I have seen his fight against the dragon prince, Qeigess, and I know he has yet to use all his power. Still… six more…"

If he had the same power as her, it would be a piece of cake destroying all these lightning. Unfortunately, he needed to do it now with only 10-Star Martial King's strength.

The lightning finally blew away the spear, making its way toward Alex.

He channeled his domain into his sword, making the sword flash a bit. Spiritual Energy also started gathering inside his sword as Alex struck the weakened lightning.

"Heaven Breaking Sword."

His intent instantly cut the lightning several times, scattering the lightning arrow. At the same time, the main blade struck the lightning core and destroyed it.

"Fu." He never thought he needed this much power for the fourth strike. He might even need to use his Pure Fire to the fullest in the next strike as to burn its power a bit.

*Rumble!*

The sky started rumbling again, leaving Alex no time to recover. Unlike the previous Lightning Tribulations, this certainly was the most abnormal as Alex felt he would need time to recover his strength even just for a bit.

Alex took a glimpse of the fifth strike, waving his left hand before taking his spear again.

"Fire Phoenix Art, First Stage. Phoenix Summon."

The Fire Phoenix flew toward the lightning, bringing a blazing flame in its core. And the moment it collided with the lightning, the phoenix itself was burning the lightning as usual. Until at one moment where the Phoenix was destroyed, the blazing flame exploded, scattering the lightning around.

Alex purposely concentrated a denser amount of energy inside the phoenix just for this. The scattered lightning struck the ground, shaking it a bit. At the same time, more than half of the lightning fused again and came to his way.

He was not afraid of this little lightning again and swung both of his weapons simultaneously.

"Heaven Breaking Sword."

"Berserker Strike."

These two Martial Arts shattered the lightning without a problem because Alex also enhanced his power with Spirit Step.

*Rumble Rumble!*

Like it could not accept Alex managed to destroy its strike, the dark cloud sent the sixth strike in the instant Alex broke the fifth strike.

"!!!" Alex noticed that there was concentrated energy inside the lightning. "Oi oi… Are you copying me?"

The concentrated energy inside the lightning was to prevent Alex from using his Phoenix again because if he tried to scatter it again, it would only break the outer layer while the core would strike at him.

Seeing this, he pointed his index finger and shot out a laser attack.

"Flame of Extinction."

His Pure Fire immediately revealed its prowess as it melted the outer layer of the lightning in an instant before exploding in the clash against the core.

Sadly, it did not manage to disperse the core, only chipping a portion of its energy away.

Alex only smiled, thinking it was enough. He struck the lightning with his weapons again.

"Heaven Breaking Sword."

"Berserker Strike."

Because Flame of Extinction carried more piercing power than the phoenix, it managed to damage the lightning core more than the phoenix, giving Alex an easier time. But just like the difference of power for two Fire Arst, the two lightning also had a significant difference in might.

The moment Alex struck the lightning, he instantly felt the heaviness in its power, making a small crater under his feet.

Alex focused his energy toward his hands and his feet to make sure the lightning strike did not throw his balance.

The collision between his weapons and the lightning created a powerful shockwave that blew the sand nearby.

Stina immediately made a shield to protect them from the sand and continued observing Alex. She felt the attack was comparable to Qeigess's breath, so Alex should not have a problem.

If he did not conserve his strength, he would destroy the lightning already. Unfortunately, Stina had yet to realize the true terror of the last strike, making her doubt Alex in his decision for the sixth strike.

After a minute, under the constant clash between power, Alex managed to destroy the lightning with his weapons.

"This is certainly not good…" Alex sighed, recalling the last strike. Usually, he would only start having trouble with the purple lightning. Yet, this time, he already had a bit of a problem with the sixth strike.

He really hoped he had access to Martial Arts in this world. He had seen the Martial Arts that Zwaka possessed and no Martial Art fancied him, albeit he could relate that as Zwaka was an Elemental User and Array Master. Because of this, he felt his power was a bit lacking.

Luckily, he got a few minutes to breathe as the lightning transitioned from blue into purple. The transition was a bit longer than usual, but it was certainly more terrifying, making Stina a bit tense. Sherry and Anya did not care about the lightning because they had absolute trust in Alex. They thought, 'If it is Alex, it will be possible.'

*Rumble Rumble*

The purple lightning came out of the cloud. Surprisingly, the lightning started forming into a giant sword.

As soon as the sword was coming down, Alex pointed his finger, using his Flame of Extinction to weaken the lightning.

The laser collided with the tip of the sword, halting its progress. Albeit, after doing it for a minute, Alex felt it would only be a waste of Spiritual Energy, so he decided to end it in one go.

"Seven Stars Cut!"

Using both weapons, Alex shot a cross Sword Wave.

The clash was no joke as the Shockwave birth from the clash even made his barrier tremble.

"!!!" Alex split his attention a bit to check the barrier. However, there was no abnormality in the barrier and the energy was still full, so he focused back on the lightning.

The clash went for quite a while, making Alex think if he should send another attack toward the lightning. Luckily, his sword wave started splitting the sword into two. Even with the energy inside the sword wave slowly diminished, Alex had no doubt the sword wave would win the battle.

In another ten seconds, his sword wave finally broke the lightning, albeit it was destroyed after that for having no energy left.

"Eight Strike…" Alex clenched his weapons, thinking up his plan for the next attack.

*Rumble!*

The eighth strike also appeared in the form of a sword, so Alex swiftly sent another cross Sword Wave.

"Seven Stars Cut."

Unexpectedly, in this clash, his sword wave immediately had a sign of breaking in just a few seconds, making him wave his hands.

"Fire Phoenix Art, First Stage. Phoenix Summon!"

The phoenix flew toward the sword's body, creating a huge explosion that shook the sword. Because of this, his sword wave managed to destroy its pointed tip. Sadly, it was then destroyed by the sword.

Alex confirmed the energy first with his Spirit Eyes before striking it with his weapons.

"Heaven Breaking Sword."

"Berserker Strike."

"!!!" The lightning almost made Alex fall to his knees upon contact, showing how powerful the lightning was. Even Anya knew this, looking at him with worry as she clenched her hands.

Noticing how dire the situation was, Alex abandoned his spear and covered his fist with fire before turning into a claw. He struck the lightning with the claw.

"Fire Phoenix Art, Second Stage. Phoenix Claw!"