I raised my hand up in fear, as if it was enough to protect me, and the second bolt struck me before I could scream.

My left arm, which had just healed from the flood of Celestial Marrow, came off at the shoulder.

The lightning bolt had erased the hand I held up, and the stump was cauterized.

I staggered back, more from shock than pain at seeing my body being shattered so violently.

Then the pain came, and I began to scream. I looked up just to see the third bolt descend, and as if the lightning was angered that I was still on my feet, it impacted on my right leg.

The force blew me into the air, and I hung there for a few seconds before I slammed into the earth, hundreds of meters away, leaving a small crater in the ground.

I could barely breathe, not just because of the pain from having my body being ripped apart, but also the judgment in every bolt of lightning that was screaming in my soul that I did not deserve this power, that no mortal would have a Celestial Grade Anima that could reach the level of an Adept.

Even with all the damage, I was not dead, and I could see my essence and my Anima streaming out of my body like a silver mist.

Funny, in the past, I had seen the blood of the Narghul Sorcerers rising into the air because it was less dense than air, and I had not realized that I was the same... my blood had changed so drastically, and yet I was not fully comprehending what that meant.

The fourth lightning hit, and it slammed into my face, eradicating my lower jaw.

Now, even if I wanted to, I could not scream because I had no jaw. I could not crawl because I had no leg. I lay in the ash of the camp, in the blood of my friends, and the gold lightning struck me again and again, each bolt taking something. A lung. A kidney. An eye. A piece of my soul.

I wanted to weep, but I could not. Mortal Shell held me past a point of reason, and my soul no longer had the fragility of the past; killing me was no longer an easy thing.

My blood and my Anima rose into the sky, and it was as if my seemingly undying nature was provoking the heavens as more lightning bolts fell upon me, blasting me deeper into the earth.

[Anima Depth: 68 → 60]

I wanted to die, but the lightning was unmaking me instead.

There is a difference: killing is fast, unmaking is slow. It is the difference between a door closing and a door being taken off its hinges, board by board, nail by nail.

This was what tribulation meant: the utter shattering of a being who thought they could claim what was beyond their station.

I had time to think, between bolts. I thought about my family. I was seeking solace in the warmth of my home. I had thought I had become used to pain and violence, but the lightning was making me pray for death.

Bolts kept falling, and my soul was rising to the sky, my flesh was almost vaporized, and the fragments of my bones were glowing red, yet my soul remained; it was shattering, but it remained.

[Anima Depth: 55 → 46]

My heart was still beating inside my glowing bones, Cor Telluris was being unmade, one complete channel at a time, and the pain was even worse.

[Cor Telluris — Channels: 531 → 355]

The Hollow Avatar spoke. Its voice was calm, even now.

"The tribulation will not stop. Your Anima is liquid. The world will not permit liquid Celestial Anima in a mortal vessel. You must either ascend or be erased."

"I can’t... I don’t understand..."

"The gate is open... You are not. The Third Earth Gate grants the Anima, but it does not grant the vessel. You must become the vessel. You must survive the tribulation, or you must die and try again, and again, and again..."

"Then let me die," I whispered, and my intent freed Mortal Shell from holding the remnants of my life, and the last golden lightning bolt took my life.

∞

I heard the sound of what seemed like an engine the size of a continent, and I felt my soul being drawn into it. This was the first time I was feeling something like this. Perhaps it was because my soul was much more sensitive, and unlike my previous soul, dying no longer broke it, and even though the tribulation had shattered it, this engine had drawn every piece of it back... but I was not grateful because I could feel that there was...

"Up, up, lazy cur. Elric, I say, wake up!"

My eyes flew open, and I saw the silver orb by the side of my head, and I heard the sound of the camp around me.

I sat up and felt around my body to see that everything had returned the way that it should, even the unmaking of the Tribulation had not changed that.

Glancing at my status screen, my eyes widened because I had expected more damage, but everything was even better than I expected.

[Anima Depth: 70 (Adept) (Broken-Celestial)]

[Creation-Anima, Tier Three: Fusing — 3% liquid]

[Cor Telluris — Channels: 531]

Had I escaped the unmaking of the tribulation by dying and yet keeping all the benefits? If I knew that was going to happen, I would not have struggled and held on to my life for as long as I was being decimated by it.

Then the loud camp around me became quiet, and the daylight turned into night. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"What the hell..." I think I heard Rex cry out, and then a massive storm descended on the camp, and my tent was blown away like it was made from paper. I could hardly call my staff to my side before lightning descended upon me.

The tribulation seemed to have followed me across death, and it would not stop until I was erased or I ascended to become an Adept.

I pointed to the sky with my staff and cried out in outrage, but the lightning did not care, and I was struck directly on my head, and if this was the only mercy... I died instantly.