At the current stage, the gravity value had reached the equivalent of 20 times that of Earth and people were still standing with ease at Draco's side while cries of anguish could be sensed from the very back as many collapsed to the ground.
Of course, the moment they gave up, the pressure around them disappeared and they were allowed to recuperate. Rather than sending them back outright, they were allowed to stay and envy those front of them who preserved longer.
20x, 25x, 30x, 35x, 40x...
The gravity spiked quickly and the number of those who could withstand it began to reduce rapidly with each second. By the time it reached 100x gravity, the people who remained were within eye view of Draco, yet even they began to display frowns and furrowed brows.
By the time it reached 150x gravity, only the top 50 were left standing, with just the top 20 able to handle 200x gravity. This number got reduced to half once they hit 300x Earth's gravity, the remaining ones were gritting their teeth with bent knees.
Meanwhile, Draco was still standing ramrod straight as if he had been exempted from the entire test, his head tilted upwards with one finger on his chin. Looking at the slight smile on his face and the far away look on his eyes, could he possibly be... daydreaming?
Soon, it hit 350x gravity leaving only three participants, with second and third place gasping for air while on all fours.
They looked like anime protagonists who had been beaten and in the midst of doing that 'I'll never give up!' bullshit that always allowed one to triumph over enemies, no matter how much more powerful they were just a moment ago or how many years they had spent plotting their evil plan.
Unfortunately, these fellows did not have that kind of fortune or luck, so the moment the countdown came to an end, they slumped to the ground and gave up. This left Draco as the only viable candidate, causing all eyes to fall on him.
The onlookers were speechless at his nonchalance and frowned deeply, wondering how long he could last. Since they were here, they would see for themselves where the limits of this fellow lay!
Meanwhile, Draco continued to daydream about one time around 4 years ago when his daughter Lucitera had kissed him on the cheek after he had crafted her a special hairpin as a gift. That had been one of his happiest moments. Another fond memory of this was when those brats Loki as well as Lucitian had been forced to 'beg' him for some special accessories for their preferences.
Given the tsundere nature of his two sons, they had naturally made a ruckus by claiming that he should treat it as an honor to do that, but Draco eventually gave them each a nougie and settled them down. Seeing them weakly mutter 'please Dad' while trying to keep up their tough look made him feel very amused and warm.
Hm?
Draco was snapped out of his trance when he felt a slight strain on his body, causing him to frown and see what was happening. He didn't even need to cast his senses, he could see that the area around him was warped and full of a black light that seemed eager to swallow everything, while those nearby had expression of shock and horror on their faces.
It was then that Draco realized that the gravity counter had surpassed 1,000,000 times Earth's gravity, which caused a small gravity well to emerged where he was. He understood the problem and slapped his forehead, regretting falling into a daydream because he had overdone it!
Due to their bloodline, the Evil Trio could literally travel in the void of Space, crash through planets and even survive in the center of a black hole. Of course he would surpass a counter of what was effectively 1 million times that of Earth since an average black hole had 100 billion times the Gravity of earth.
Draco immediately howled and fell to the ground, acting as if he had reached his limit while tapping the ground, stating that he was surrendering.
Candidates: "..."
Testing system: "..."
Cerea: "..."
Who do you think you're fooling?!
You know what, do what you want. Other candidates are trying their hardest to display their best side and show their limits so that they could get better treatment but there was someone actively suppressing themselves from shining too brightly!
Draco was helpless about this. His bloodline was not magic focused like Eva nor physically focused like Shuangtian, but had a smattering of both as well as being mostly spiritual.
BOOM!
However, when the punch from Draco connected with its own, the apparition only showed an expression of incomprehension, its body slowly fading away into ash. Before it disappeared, Draco shook his head and revealed the simple truth.
"Who said that was my full strength? What you have is what I wanted to show."
Draco's words were heard by those nearby and they felt like they were about to have mental breakdowns. The strength he had revealed which had already been ten times higher than the best candidate here had been him limiting himself?
Then... what was his true strength?
The Endurance Test came to an end and the results were displayed.
1st – Draco: 9,800,000N (Gravitational Force), 500,000 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Apparition Destroyed (Resilience).
2nd – Bafira: 3,500N (Gravitational Force), 1190 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Averagely Withstood (Resilience).
3rd – Deork: 3,450N (Gravitational Force), 1150 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Poorly Withstood (Resilience).
4th – Huskar: 3,390N (Gravitational Force), 1030 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Poorly Withstood (Resilience).
5th – Ashwanda: 3,220N (Gravitational Force), 995 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Sufficiently Withstood (Resilience).
6th – Scurle: 3,180N (Gravitational Force), 980 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Sufficiently Withstood (Resilience).
7th – Recume: 3,120N (Gravitational Force), 960 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Poorly Withstood (Resilience).
8th – Pilkin: 3,030N (Gravitational Force), 955 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Greatly Withstood (Resilience).
9th – Laeser: 2,990N (Gravitational Force), 950 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Greatly Withstood (Resilience).
10th – Abardurn: 2,950N (Gravitational Force), 935 atm (Vacuum Pressure), Sufficiently Withstood (Resilience).
The rankings didn't not shift much at the top but the rankings below 50 changed wildly as many of the candidates proved to have better endurance than strength. Of course, this would also count to the final ranking, but that was clearly for the end.
The positions shifted once more, adopting the results of the Endurance test as the next stage was upon them, the test of intent.
「System to Player Announcement
The objective of the Intent Test has been set. Player Draco must strike a being with ethereal killing intent, withstand the pressure of unaffiliated killing intent and state the meaning of intent to clear this task.」
Draco raised an eyebrow as this test was as he suspected it to be, one about combative intent, or specifically, killing intent. After all, this was the Test of Body which was split into these five smaller tests, and given that this was the WAR MANIAC PAVILION, it was natural they would care about something like this.
Draco was just not sure how well he would do here because while his killing intent after living two lifetimes and slaughtering billions of beings was heavy, he was not arrogant enough to assume that he was topmost here.
After all, these fellows who were his fellow candidates could be 1000 year old monsters who drank blood and ate flesh for a living, being the evilest of beings with limitless killing intent.
So... this test might actually pose a challenge for Draco!