Pain.

That was what was happening at this moment.

More pain than any of them had ever felt in their lives. More pain than they had ever experienced, they who were at the Planetary level, beings who saw pain as nothing, they hardly reacted to injuries, but now, now, they knew it, they felt it, they convulsed from it, their entire existence trembling under a sensation that far exceeded anything they had ever endured before.

Michael, Irene, Mitchelle, and Collins all opened their mouths and screamed at the top of their lungs as though their existence was being ripped apart in real time, as though unseen forces were tearing into their very souls. When Anthony had told them about pain earlier, they thought nothing of it, after all, they all had ridiculously high pain tolerance thresholds, they had assumed it was something minor, something trivial, something they could endure without effort.

But now... they all knew it... they were all wrong.

Their screams overlapped as their voices echoed violently, at this moment, they didn’t seem like the Sword Saint, or the Saintess Of The World, or the Lightning God, or the Crimson Witch Of Destruction, their titles useless as the pain reminded them that at the end of the day, no matter how powerful they had become, they remained mortals who still felt pain.

Anthony stood stunned as he watched, he had thought everyone would be able to endure, after all, if Spectre and the rest could endure, surely his parents and grandparents could endure, no?

But now, he knew his thoughts were wrong, naive, painfully naive.

Back then, when he had used the Blood Servant on Spectre and the rest, they were all within the Mortal Rank, the changes the golden blood had to enact were minimal as their existence hadn’t progressed far, their foundations still fragile, still malleable.

But Michael, Mitchelle, Irene, and Collins were different, they had existed for more than a thousand years, reached the Planetary level, their existence deeply rooted and stabilized, obviously the changes they would go through would be far more immense and far more painful as their entire existence had to be rewritten in real time, forcefully reshaped into something entirely new. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Michael’s body twitched violently, he vomited blood, thick and heavy, his body spasming as he convulsed uncontrollably, his bones breaking to a degree he had never thought possible, fractures stacking upon fractures, his flesh peeling as though the process desired nothing more than to skin him alive where he stood, stripping him down to something raw and fundamental.

Irene, on the other hand, screamed more than everyone, her voice rising to a pitch that bordered on inhuman, she had the lowest pain tolerance out of everyone as she was a healer, one who alleviated pain rather than endured it, her beautiful crimson hair, once lush and carefully arranged, started to fall off from her head in clumps as though she had suddenly developed cancerous cells.

Blood poured from her eyes as she cried blood, thick crimson tears streaming endlessly, blood flowed from her ears as her eardrums ruptured under the pressure. She couldn’t hear anymore, yet paradoxically, she could still hear her own screams echoing.

Collins, on the other hand, held his chest tightly, it felt as though some sort of black hole was forming within him, sucking his heart inward, compressing it, as though his heart was collapsing into itself under an immeasurable force. His ribs shattered violently as they punctured every organ within his body, each fragment twisting and bending to impossible degrees, turning his insides into a grotesque landscape of sickening painting.

Mitchelle felt as though her soul was lit ablaze, she didn’t just feel physical pain, she felt something far deeper, far more profound, as though a higher power was rewriting her DNA, her sense of being, her sense of self, her sense of state, her sense of existence, altering the very foundation of what she was.

Blood pooled below them, forming expanding puddles, sweat soaked their bodies completely, their clothes tearing and ripping apart under the strain, their life force dropping with every passing moment as though they would cease to exist at any moment from now, their presence flickering between existence and nothingness.

Their natural, innate Apexus Mana Rank regeneration was rendered completely useless, it was as though something had naturally blocked it off as every torn flesh, crushed bone, torn ligament, twisted cartilage, remained as they were, none repaired, none restored. Their essence burned like a living sacrifice to some unknown God as it was being erased and rewritten, their blood thinning with every second that passed.

Anthony stood frozen, unable to move, he had never seen his parents in such a state, never seen them reduced to something so fragile, so broken, he had never even seen them raise their voices, not even at him or anyone else, even when Mitchelle invaded the Demon hideout to rescue him and his classmates during his Omni Peak Academy days, her voice, although cold and filled with killing intent at the time, had remained controlled and low.

His chest tightened painfully as he watched them scream, watched them suffer, Anthony couldn’t help but question his choice, doubt creeping into his mind, maybe he should have just transferred them into the Mirror Dimension during his Ascension rather than forcing them to go through this unbearable process.

But then, he cautioned himself immediately, suppressing those thoughts, telling himself not to waver, even if he had done that, his parents would end up being reliant on him because they didn’t have sufficient talent to survive there. Besides, Clement and the rest had survived during their time, surely his parents and grandparents would too.

His mind couldn’t help but drift back to Donna and the rest, during their time, they had fainted and stopped feeling the pain, hence having an easier time. Anthony couldn’t help but wish his parents and grandparents would faint so they would stop feeling the pain, even if only temporarily.

But as beings who stood at the Pinnacle of the Mana Rank, how could they just faint? Their minds were too strong, their wills too firm. In fact, to them, they needed to hold on to complete the process, they had misunderstood, believing that if they fainted, they would fail the process entirely.

Anthony could only stand and watch, his fists clenched tightly as their screams echoed continuously within his ears.

Although he was tempted to use some skill or ability to nullify their pain, he couldn’t take a step as various what-if scenarios consumed him entirely. What if he interfered and they died? What if he interfered and they gained less than they should? What if he interfered and the entire process failed, leading to them gaining nothing at all, hence suffering through all of this for nothing?

So, with countless questions raging within his mind, he stood rooted in place, ready to act the moment the process was done.

’Maybe I should have asked ??? to remove the pain aspect for them,’ he thought to himself, but he shook his head the next moment and discarded the thought entirely, after all, without ??? to begin with, this moment wouldn’t even be possible.

And with that, he watched as his parents’ and grandparents’ bodies turned into what seemed like pus, blob-like a grotesque, shifting mass of unstable flesh. Anthony couldn’t help but frown as this hadn’t happened the last time he used the Blood Servant ability.

But before he could take a step and make any rash decisions, an unknown energy descended upon the entire Mirror Dimension, bypassing its restrictions as though they didn’t exist at all.