At the same time, Sterl faintly sensed, with the disappearance of the prompt text, a translucent figure in front of him pointing an accusing finger at his nose and berating him.
"Are you even human?!"
"Someone loves you so much!"
"You could feel that something was wrong, you even predicted the future, yet you still insisted on letting her die 99 times. No, wait, adding the previous time, that makes it 100 times."
"You're a worthless beast!"
With a swoosh, the Fire of Ten Thousand Souls swept through, effortlessly incinerating the figure to nothingness.
To Sterl's surprise, he discovered—
"Wow! This figure was that powerful? That's equivalent to the souls of two gods."
"Wait, no, it's not that he was powerful; the souls of the gods were inherently weak."
He shook his head.
With the conclusion of the first phase of the trial, Sterl also retrieved the memories of the 99 cycles.
His only thought was—
Is this it?
He had roughly guessed that once ensnared by the illusion, choosing to remedy his regrets would lead to complete consumption...
In most novels and movies, that's how it goes.
It should be like that, right?
He analyzed this, wondering if it was a bit too difficult to require 99 cycles to clear.
Sterl suddenly felt a bit uneasy...
He sensed...
Could there be another approach to clearing the trial?
For example, bravely facing his guilty conscience and overcoming it!
"And my approach to clearing is to stubbornly stick to my views, no matter how many cycles I go through..."
"That's why the evaluation turned out like that."
Sterl's unease wasn't for any other reason; primarily, even though he was in an illusion, having sacrificed Licitris 99 times still made him feel a bit guilty.
But...
That was as far as it went.
His expression quickly returned to normal.
Now, Sterl did feel some guilt, but it didn't change his mindset; to him, Licitris's soul was still a reserve, a resource to be used in critical moments.
If he ever found himself in a situation where he couldn't use a divine-level soul as a resource, and if Licitris was still around, Sterl would do everything in his power to resurrect her...
After resting for about an hour,
Sterl felt himself floating in the void, with energy continuously flowing into his mind, helping him regain focus.
Then the surrounding scene changed once more.
[Face your fears...]
Sterl was taken aback, but someone was shouting nearby.
He discovered he was seated at the exit of a cave.
The one shouting was Rosalie.
"Master, what should we do?"
"There are just too many Devourers of All Things."
"Ah??"
Although Sterl felt confused, he quickly got into the zone, recalling the current situation.
Disaster had befallen, and although Sterl had worked hard to improve himself, he had only become an ordinary Supreme-level warrior, still far from achieving divinity.
Yet, the Devourer of All Things had already attacked the base where he was located.
Sosia, Sonis, and Teresa had long since perished in battle.
Now, only Linna and Rayna were trembling in a cave opened up by a spatial formation, along with Rosalie, who was appearing as the Undying Imperishable incarnation of the Illuminated King.
That was why Sterl felt fear.
In the same scenario, he once again found himself unable to protect those around him, letting Linna, Rayna, and Rosalie perish as well.
But...
This didn't make sense!
Even if Sterl had accidentally used the Holy Spirit Bloodline's skill evolution prematurely,
in the current intense battle, an Iridescent-Level Silent Domain should be sufficient to suppress the whole area. It wasn't unreasonable to think he could wipe out the Devourers of All Things in one fell swoop or create an easy escape route.
"Teresa and Sosia, how did they die?"
"How could I not protect them?"
"Under my full power, even if the intensity of the battlefield doubled, I shouldn't have to fear!"
"Teresa and the others shouldn't have died unless I was being reckless, deliberately letting them leave my side to meet their demise."
"But I didn't let them leave!"
Images began to form in Sterl's mind.
Faced with the onslaught of several Devourers of All Things, he had helplessly fled alone, while Teresa and the others, despite their significantly lower strength, still charged toward the enemy, trying to buy time for Sterl.
It didn't add up!
"Other than the possibility of me choosing to abandon Teresa and the others at a critical moment, nothing else made sense!"
"The strength of these Devourers of All Things—I could easily crush them even without ascending to godhood!"
The more Sterl thought about it, the stranger it felt.
He casually struck out with his palm; a weak Divine Power-level Devourer of All Things in the distance was silenced, then shredded by the blade-like Divine Power contained within Sterl's hand!
According to Sterl's predictions, he used the evolution skill of the Holy Spirit Bloodline every day, gaining insights into the blade divine authority ahead of time.
The calamity had officially erupted, and it was time for him to master this divine authority.
He tested his output capability, and everything seemed fine.
But how had Teresa and the others perished?
"Is there something wrong with my memory?"
"Wait, why am I saying 'according to my predictions'?"
His mind was in a state of confusion.
No!
No!
No!
A word echoed repeatedly in Sterl's mind, its volume growing louder.
As his thoughts continued, the world, already shrouded by the black sunlight of the Silent Domain, became even grayer, with distant sounds of cracking and shattering echoing in the air.
Sterl tilted his head to listen—
"Could it be that I've fallen into an illusion or some sort of trial?"
He reached this conclusion.
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It wasn't that Sterl had particularly keen perception to see through the Inquire Within instance; rather, it was a common trope in various novels and films from his previous life before transmigrating.
He was simply guessing!
Sterl shot into the sky: "Rosalyn, take care of Linna and Rayna; I'll be back soon."
At this point, Sterl felt a wave of fear.
If he wasn't there alongside them, how could Rosalie, as a demigod, protect his two family members during a calamity?
Hmm?
Why should he rely solely on her?
"Because I have my own means!"
"Bionic Tear!"
Sterl summoned his clone; Bionic Tear possessed all of his combat power and would be more than enough to guard Linna and Rayna.