Defiance of the Fall

No , this was a test that needed to be overcome , though that didn’t mean he should stand there and eat the lightning bolts . Zac was intimately connected to the domain around him . It was generated by his Dao and Energy from his core , so he roused the domain to meet the gathering bolt . The sky had turned into a huge vortex , and the purple lightning in its center was so condensed , it had almost turned red .

Becoming a Hegemon didn’t mean he’d gained a connection to the Daos like a cultivator . However , Zac could still use the same types of tricks as he did when forming Dao Braids . The Dao Apparitions turned into streaks of light , forming nine rivers that wound into a simple but tremendously powerful spiral . In reality , it looked more like a hurricane than a braid , spinning in the opposite direction of the clouds .

A rumbling roar shook all creation as the first bolt descended , painting the mountain range crimson as it streaked toward Zac . Every step was a hard-fought battle where Zac fought back with everything he had . The bolt grew thinner and weaker the closer it came until it was fully consumed . The first bolt hadn’t even managed to touch Zac’s robes , a testament to his ungodly foundations .

The bolt’s descent had been cut short but still brought benefits . The domain was part of him , and his Dao had been greatly consolidated by pitting itself against the Tribulation Lightning . It didn’t provide any breakthroughs , but Zac felt like a hidden blockage had been shaken loose in his mind . His path ahead felt wider , and his Daos full of potential .

Though handled quickly , it hadn’t come without a cost . The seemingly boundless domain had been almost fully drained in one go , leaving him without outer protection for the second bolt . Zac tried to rouse his will to reform some of it , but his speed was nothing when faced against an angry sky . The lightning ramped up at shocking speed , passing energy levels Zac only expected for the third bolt .

The whole universe was teetering at the brink of collapse as small red strings appeared all around him . They felt like the fault lines of reality , forced to the dimensional forefront from the accumulating energies above . The threat of annihilation surrounded him , and Zac felt extremely exposed without the domain to keep him safe .

Was it because of his Technocrat heritage , or was it for cultivating not one but two boundless Daos? Or was it his bloodline and its connection to the Void? No matter the reason , the threat far exceeded Zac’s wildest expectations . However , he wasn’t given any time to adapt or prepare . The sky was so energetic that the second bolt was spat out on the heels of the first .

Zac’s mind screamed of danger as the remnant energies of the Dao Braid were ripped to shreds without putting up much of a fight . Zac acted on instinct as he activated Void Zone] just before the pillar of red hit him . A zone separated from the Heavens was erected , and the blinding light dimmed as it entered .

Not even the Void Emperor’s abilities could deal with the second bolt of Tribulation Lightning . It forced its way through the Void , and the meter-wide pillar condensed to the width of a finger that hit Zac square on his forehead .

The pain was instantaneous and ubiquitous . His Soul Aperture crackled , his pathways were turned into conducive copper wiring , and the vortices in his cells and nodes fluctuated precariously from being overwhelmed by the sudden influx of energy . The only thing unscathed was the Duplicity Core .

The lightning ignored it for some reason , though that didn’t apply to the Cosmic Core within . If anything , it was the Tribulation Lightning’s main target , and it flooded the core through the still-open hatch . The core that had just stabilized after months of eruptions ran amok as the punishing lightning squeezed into its every crevasse .

The whole thing shuddered as it was forced into a brutal struggle for survival of fighting fire with fire , and a pain Zac had never felt before made him keel over and lose control of his flight . He crashed into the flat peak of Mount Illumination , but the collision was nothing compared to the punishment his body endured from within .

Everything was set aflame and breaking apart . Every part of his body was about to be destroyed , and the Tribulation Lightning may as well have been a bottomless ocean . Zac tried to withstand the onslaught using the Void and his Daos , but it wasn’t enough .

He was inviting disaster but saw no option but to release his Void Heart] . It was the only part of his body that seemed excited by the sudden presence of such unique energy , and it pounced on the Tribulation Lightning the second it was released . A deep thud cut the lightning’s momentum in half , and a second ground it to a halt .