John's heartbeat quickened—
No, pounded—so loud and heavy in his ears that the rest of the world seemed to fade into a distant hum.
He stopped walking.
His boots scraped lightly against the cold stone floor as he planted himself firmly in place. His brows furrowed. Something was wrong. Or maybe… something was changing.
The sensation wasn't just physical. It ran deeper—threading through muscle, bone, blood, and spirit. It was like a second pulse beneath the first, a heavy drumbeat echoing in the core of his being.
Slowly, cautiously, John closed his eyes and shifted his awareness inward.
---
The first thing he noticed was silence.
No rushing wind, no hum of energy, nothing. Outside, the cavern felt ordinary—almost dead. But within his body?
It was like he'd opened the door to a roaring tempest.
From nowhere—literally out of thin air—Origin Energy was flooding into him. Not trickling, not flowing—it was pouring, relentless and unstoppable, as if the universe itself had decided to fill him to the brim.
John's breath caught in his throat.
This was impossible. Outside, he couldn't feel even the faintest trace of energy. It was as if the outside world had been stripped bare. Yet here, inside his own flesh, the very air seemed to burn with pure, untainted origin essence.
---
His focus shifted deeper—into his Spiritual Sea.
The endless expanse stretched out before him like a cosmic ocean under a white sky. And there, floating at the very center, was a crystalline core, which is the crystallization of origin energy at the 3rd stage of the Star Wizard.
Perfectly spherical.
It pulsed with faint light, a rhythm that seemed to sync with his heartbeat.
And as he watched, that core greedily drank in the incoming origin energy, pulling it in like a starving beast.
The strange part? He couldn't sense where this endless supply was coming from. There was no visible source—no river, no whirlpool, no cosmic gate. The energy was simply… there. Like a well with no bottom.
"What… is this?" John muttered under his breath.
No answer came.
---
Time passed strangely.
He didn't know if it had been minutes or hours—but when he finally pulled himself back from the trance, he realized his body hadn't stopped absorbing. Not even once.
The crystalline core kept pulling, faster, stronger, until the very air in his spiritual sea seemed to ripple from the pressure.
Outside, he stood frozen in place, eyes closed, face calm—yet his insides were a maelstrom.
Hours blurred together.
And still… it didn't stop.
---
And then it hit without warning.
First, a dull ache in his limbs—like the soreness after endless training. Then it sharpened, slicing through every nerve. His muscles trembled involuntarily, his bones groaning under the strain.
A splitting headache followed, a white-hot lance of agony shooting straight through his skull. His breathing turned ragged.
The truth hit him like a hammer—
His body and his core had reached maximum capacity.
One more drop of energy and… he would burst. Not figuratively. Literally.
His mind painted a gruesome image of his flesh shredding apart, his core shattering like glass, his essence scattering into nothingness.
"No… I have to…" He clenched his fists, but his body refused to obey. The torrent kept coming.
---
Far away—yet in no place that could be mapped—Eccaruss sat in a realm of endless white.
His eyes snapped open.
The faintest ripple brushed against his senses, a thread of power far too strong for the boy who bore it. His head turned sharply, gaze piercing through dimension until it landed directly on John's form.
The old being's expression darkened.
"Tch." His voice was low, dangerous. "How can this boy be so careless? He's going to get himself killed."
Without another thought, Eccaruss vanished from the white expanse—space itself folding around him.
---
The next moment, he stood before John and Tony.
The Bahamut dragon egg still pulsed faintly in the background, but Eccaruss ignored it. His hand swept outward—space rippled—and in the blink of an eye, the small dimension around them shattered like glass.
The trio reappeared under the open sky of another realm.
Before Tony could even speak, Eccaruss grabbed him by the collar and hurled him several meters away—gently enough to avoid injury, but firmly enough to keep him far from John.
Tony hit the ground, rolled, and shot back to his feet, eyes blazing. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?! John's—"
"You cannot stay near him."
Eccaruss's voice was sharp enough to cut stone. "Your brother is about to break through to Tier Three. If you remain close, it will kill you both."
Tony froze mid-step. "Break through…? What are you—"
"Stay where you are."
Something in Eccaruss's tone made Tony obey despite himself. His jaw clenched, but he didn't move forward.
---
Minutes crawled by. Tony's fists tightened until his knuckles turned white.
From here, he could see John's body swelling unnaturally—bloated, distended—like someone forcing more and more air into a balloon about to pop. His face was barely recognizable, his frame warped by the sheer density of energy trapped inside.
It made Tony's stomach churn.
He turned to Eccaruss again, his voice tight. "What's happening to him? Why so suddenly? Can't you just fix it?"
Silence.
Eccaruss didn't even glance at him.
Tony's breath quickened. "I'm talking to you, old man! If you know what's going on, tell me—"
Finally, Eccaruss spoke, his tone deep, grave, and utterly serious.
---
"In order to break through to the Third Tier, one must survive a calamity," Eccaruss began slowly. "It is the heavens' way of testing worth. The form it takes depends on the path one walks.
"Follow the path of fire… and the calamity will be fire itself.
"The path of water… water will seek to drown you.
"And even then, the chance of success is only fifty percent."
Tony's eyes widened, but Eccaruss's voice grew heavier still.
"Your brother…" He paused, his gaze fixed on John's trembling form. "…does not walk a single path."
Tony's mouth went dry. "Meaning…?"
"Meaning he will face all calamities."
The words struck like thunder.
"Fire. Water. Ice. Lightning. Earth. Wind. Light. Darkness. Space. Time. Soul. Wood." Eccaruss's tone was as cold as the air around them. "Each one will try to destroy him. And he must endure them all. If he fails even once… he dies."
Tony's voice cracked. "Then help him! You're—"
"I cannot." Eccaruss's gaze did not waver. "This is a trial only he can face. If I interfere, the calamity will simply restart, stronger than before. His survival is in his hands alone. But…" His voice dropped to a low rumble. "If he succeeds, he will be the most powerful Tier Three individual in the entire omniverse."
But there was something Eccaruss didn't tell Tony—how a Tier 3 breakthrough could be this monstrous was simply unheard of. Even Eccaruss believed John had very little chance of coming out of this alive.
---
Tony felt his legs weaken. He staggered, barely managing to stay upright.
His heart hammered painfully in his chest, his mind refusing to process the weight of what he'd just heard.
Numerous calamities. No help. Fifty percent chance at best—and John had stacked the odds against himself.
His throat tightened. "…Damn it, John…"