The Thunder struck, the first strike, weak, but not too weak. The sheer force caused an explosion of Qi, breaking what was said to be a law of nature and creating more energy. The Qi flowed out, and Kaida pulled the Qi in, her body acting like a vacuum for the Qi. It shifted, within her, a sphere slowly formed, a liquid, slushy form. And as soon as it did, another bolt struck, like a star falling from the sky; the ground sizzled from the intensity of its heat. The Qi quickly absorbed into the shield and then towards her. The shield shook, as if it were going to crack. She took note of this. No noise came from her, and Akari watched from afar.
The taste of metal as Kaida felt her insides shifting; her organs, or what was left of them, moved and completely dislodged themselves from their original location, moving right to the Core. She sat stunned in surprise as the third thunderbolt hit the qi barrier, absorbing into her as the Core slowly began to solidify, holding her entire internal system, which included her brain.
"Wh-" Kaida spat out a magnitude of blood, her head getting dizzy as she saw the qi barrier cracking further after the third strike. It wasn't going to last against the fourth strike. She coughed, her eyes twitching, and her chest feeling intense pain. The Qi spun around her body, circulating like blood, infusing itself within the blood, and then the Core, which solidified at the top first.
The fourth strike occurred, like a beam of light burning through the skies, which split it apart from the sheer force. Its strength surpassed her ability to handle it, from which the Qi Barrier was to shatter, had it not been for Kaida forcefully absorbing Qi into the barrier, just barely holding it together.
The rest of the Qi from the tribulation was purer, translucent, and transparent in appearance. Through absorption, it had made her significantly more powerful than she should've been for a typical Core Formation. The feeling lingered, and the sky turned to a deafening halt. Something even Akari could feel, this was different.
"..Two bolts in one. That's... Rare. Kaida! You'll need extra protection since this combines the fifth and sixth strike!" Akari warned her, shouting towards her while floating back just in case, even when she could handle it. The sky shook, and space itself bent, shattering as Kaida looked up. Her body was coated with four layers of Qi, with the rest of it used to fully stabilize the Core.
Both bolts of lightning struck, breaking the Qi barrier and hitting Kaida with most of its force, an unimaginable pain, like being ripped apart piece by piece. She held back a scream. The pain was unthinkable, at least to those who felt. Once it finally ended, the magnitude of Qi was multiple times more than what Kaida could ever hold.
She felt a thin aura around her, one that couldn't expand due to the coating that blocked anything from entering or leaving unless she allowed it. It was what Akari had, an Aura; it showed how much power one held. Kaida, on the other hand, held her Aura still, forcing it to stay without fluctuation from her demeanor, trying to remain as calm as possible. The silence after the fifth strike rang louder than Thunder.
Her Core, finally stabilizing and forming, melted, turning transparent, entirely as it looked like it didn't exist in the first place. This was expected of a Void-Born, of which she was thrilled it wasn't a shattered core, one which was extremely powerful but Volatile and easy to damage. "...If I don't survive this, then I've failed my resolve."
A ringing noise swarmed her head, like a volcano's eruption, as the seventh strike flew down, striking directly at Kaida's layer of protection. The ground split below her, needing her to hold herself up as the land she sat on was eradicated entirely.
Her blood boiling now, she'd changed them to be able to handle the temperatures that Akari could reach, which was higher than the surface of the sun. Yet this was hotter. She shifted the internal temperature of her body, lowering it to the level it should've been. Once the heat dissipated, Kaida had regained her composure.
The Eighth Bolt struck down, directly at her, not hitting the ground and instead being absorbed into her Qi Coating, only for the two extra layers to completely shatter from the sheer force. Kaida's eyes widened in surprise as she absorbed the Qi to hold up more, so her reserves were a magnitude of times larger, and thus she could use attacks much stronger than herself.
Her insides, all the flesh which was around her, turning to dust and reforming, a smooth feel when touched, yet if launched into with force, would harden and become extremely hard to hurt or even damage her. She made it so it could handle speeds way beyond what she based this new outer layer on. Her Core, at the center, formed a tiny, imperceptible dot, pale blue in color, as it stirred in the vast emptiness of her Core.
"Is the ninth one not coming?" Kaida tilted her head; it'd been a few minutes since the eighth strike. Only to remember she had only one coating of Qi, she moved, forming six more layers, each one being solidified and hardened to make sure it could handle the most force, though before she could finish with the sixth one, the final ninth struck, slamming down, the force shifting the space of the Qi, pushing and bending the Qi like it was light hitting a prism.
"How the hell is she taking all of the strikes... I thought you needed an Elder's help... I'll have to ask Elder Veliona." Akari thought to herself, confused, that she'd had help from the elders, so she hadn't died, gaining a lot of Qi but not the exact amount she had.
The dreaded Ninth Strike, the final one of the Core Formation Tribulation, also known as 'the Blade of Ascension,' had a force almost ten times greater than what a Core Formation should be able to handle. Kaida knew this, trying her hardest not to actually get hit.
The fifth barrier, and the fourth had been completely evaporated, being absorbed back into her body, the force not slowing down, and the third layer gone already, before she could even add something else to protect herself further.
The strike began to slow down and weaken at the second layer, which was already cracking. Kaida, on the other hand, tried to repair it as quickly as possible to chip away at the tribulation's excessive power.
In a sudden moment, the second layer broke, yet the Ninth Bolt had finally dissipated, leaving her drained of energy, yet filled with an influx of Qi. Which, from Cinder, she had gotten a new notification.
["MA'AM!? HOW- What were you doing?! Also, another thing, your Qi, as expected, had evolved from its Impure status, which usually exists within Core Formation, Astral Formation, or Manifestation, as some say, Divine Transfiguration. This Qi's more abundant basically. It gives more control over the environment, also I'm coming over. NOW!" Cinder reacted in absolute panic; she expected Kaida to at least warn her that she was going to reach a higher realm.]
She chuckled softly at Cinder's reaction. Without any more suppression, her Qi spun around. It made the air Denser, a feeling of intense power, enough to push down those who weren't strong enough. With that, she released the Aura she had obtained after reaching Core Formation. Presumably, it had no real use in battle, but it was there, reaching fifty meters in length without suppression, though still dwarfed in size by Akari's, which reached the size of an entire city. Even when a single realm is up.
"...With this, I could probably match what Akari's regular attacks do, at least with Andromeda... So I'll need to make sure they don't cause that much damage."
Kaida took a small breath, and she stretched her arms. Noticing she was a lot taller and her body was smoother, she turned to Akari, only to move in surprise as she saw Akari's blade right at the edge of Kaida's hand. "WOAH-" Kaida obviously reacted and jumped back, kicking Akari to the chest with her full force, though the pressure was only to Akari to not cause any more damage.
Akari, on the other hand, was left completely unfazed by the attack; she was strong, but could barely even hurt her, only pushing her back somewhat. Releasing a chuckle, she spoke once more. "Still Cautious, I see. However, don't worry, your arm will now automatically heal. As long as your Core isn't destroyed, you can regenerate from even a single drop of blood... From personal experience. Which wasn't fun."
Kaida blinked and groaned. She didn't want to feel it, let alone be on the receiving end of it. But she could understand why Akari told this. She could survive any attack now, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful, except for those that went after her soul or anything more.
Finally, Kaida saw a flash of light as Cinder appeared, a surprise for her, and she instantly knew that while still a child, Cinder was magnitudes of times faster, seeing as it took her less than a second, less than even a hundred milliseconds.
"Ma'am, you could've warned me at least, but now that you've, uh, reached Core Formation, I'm pretty sure your home's location is changing."
Kaida blinked, thinking this was obvious, though right now she was thinking of feeding Vael, who'd grown a lot bigger. She simply pats Cinder on the head, with Akari moving closer, her blades sheathed. "Who is this girl? Your daughter? Don't tell me you already did this much in such a small time."
Kaida turned to Akari. "No, I just take care of her, also her name's Cinder, I guess you can call her my daughter, though she's more of an adopted."
Akari's eyes widened, and then went back to normal. "Adopted? What does that mean? Like, did you take her from her parents to take care of her?"
"I don't even know if she has parents. I just take care of her. I don't want to deal with the semantics right now, though." Kaida spoke bluntly, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation. Her hand moved and pulled the blade, which was left on the ground. It flew up and snapped into her hand. Seeing that it was lightly scratched, she would take care of it and find more materials to enhance and strengthen it.
In a moment, Kaida moved, her newfound speed having increased drastically, requiring a boost just to reach reentry speed. Moved like a star whipped around a black hole, at a speed about a few thousand times the speed of sound, yet only a sliver of light-speed.
It took a few seconds to reach the Foundation peak, and she walked up right to her room. Feeling the power difference was only getting bigger, she had no idea how she had managed to win against Akari before. A sense of bewilderment grew, thinking she might not have deserved that win... But even Akari herself saw it as a win for her. So she didn't know what to think of it.
In that moment, Vael, who was done hibernating, flew over, a larger form, physically bigger than the house, burning bright, his wings shaped like a dragon's, yet still feathered like a Phoenix. On the other hand, Amaris ran over, jumping at Kaida, who was just barely able to react after lowering her guard.
Omph! Kaida fell to the ground as Amaris jumped on Kaida to give a hug, as if this was an achievement within itself. "What's wrong, Amaris-"
"Nothing, just a milestone for you, especially since well.. You're from another world, unlike me, and you still caught up this quickly."
["Warning, Ma'am, you and Amaris don't seem like the only people to come to this world, except they'd reincarnated, so they could be almost anyone."]