"Survive a fraction of your killing intent?"
With slightly furrowed brows, Corey muttered as he looked at the Ancestor of Paragons with pondering expression on his face.
"Yes, survive a fraction of my killing intent and you pass."
With his arms folded, the Paragon Ancestor spoke and Corey replied after a few seconds passed.
"What do you mean by survive?
How do I know when I've survived?
What do I do to 'survive'?"
Corey asked with a calm expression and a smile formed on the lips of the Paragon Ancestor.
He snapped his fingers and in the next instant, Corey found himself slightly farther away from the Paragon Ancestor.
Corey frowned slightly when he realized that he had been moved or teleported with a method he had no idea of.
'Been weak truly sucks.'
Corey thought and just as he had this thought, the Paragon Ancestor spoke:
"There are thirteen steps between us. You must take at least ten steps towards me to pass my test and receive my rewards. The higher the number of steps you take, the better the reward I'll give you."
With a small smile on his lips, the Paragon Ancestor paused for a second before he continued:
"The highest any challenger has ever reached was twelve steps, I wonder if you can reach there."
"So… Do you want to take the test now? Or you don't want to take it at all?"
Corey glanced at the Paragon Ancestor for a second before he looked down with a pondering expression.
Some might feel or think that the test given by the Paragon Ancestor was easier than battling the Paragon Ancestor.
Not only that, they would think or feel that passing the test should be breeze.
And honestly, Corey knew that the test was much, much easier than battling the Ancestor of all Paragons.
The past minutes where he almost died and also died, were reasons enough for him to know that battling and defeating the Paragon was definitely the Paragon of impossibility.
Despite the fact that the test was definitely much easier than battling the Paragon Ancestor, Corey did not think the test would be a breeze.
In fact, he felt that the test would definitely be dangerous.
Although he did not fully know what and how dangerous killing intent was, but for the Paragon Ancestor to make his test about surviving his killing intent, Corey knew the test was definitely not a breeze.
After all this thoughts went through Corey's mind, he looked up, then looked at the Paragon Ancestor, and with a calm expression, he gave his answer.
"We can start now."
Hearing Corey's words, the smile on the lips of the Paragon Ancestor widened slightly.
A soft chuckle escaped his lips, then he removed his folded arms and placed his hands inside the pockets of his trouser… And as soon as he did that,
WOOSH!
The very air changed color before Corey's very eyes which widened in shock and his heart started beating faster and louder than normal as he saw his surroundings change to something that was akin to a nightmare of kids and adults alike.
Splash
Splash
Splashing sounds resounded into Corey's ears and with a confused expression, he looked down and when he did, his confusion turned to a flabbergasted expression as he saw the ground filled with a blood red liquid that reached his ankles.
As he looked at the red liquid at his feet, he instantly knew what the liquid was.
'Blood.'
Corey thought with squinted eyes and with a slightly trembling heart, he removed his gaze from the blood at his feet and he looked around, and as he did, his eyes squinted the more and his heart and mind shook.
'So much blood, so much corpses, so much bones, so much hatred, so much negativity, so much death.'
Corey thought with his hands trembling as he looked at his surroundings which had so much blood that Corey decided to call it a 'Blood Sea'.
Apart from the blood sea which Corey could not see the end of, there were numerous hills and piles of corpses and bones of various beings.
There were some corpses and bones that were gigantic, while some looked humanoid and some looked like beasts.
As Corey looked at some of these corpse and bone hills, he noticed that the faces of some anger had varying emotions, some had anger, some had regret, some had so much hatred in their facial expressions that Corey could imagine and feel just how much hatred this person, this being had, before it's death.
Not only did the corpses have varying expressions, in the mouths, eyes, nose and ears of every corpse, blood flowed out continuously into the blood sea.
'Is killing intent meant to be like this?
Isn't this too much?'
Corey thought as he tried to calm his body which was still trembling even after some seconds had passed.
"Ten steps, take at least ten steps towards me and you've passed the test."
A deep voice filled with authority, calmness, pride and coldness reverberated throughout this death filled environment causing Corey to look at the source, and when he did, he saw The Ancestor of Paragons sitting on a throne that was made out of various kinds of bones.
This throne was on a corpse hill that was not too high and not too low, it's height was such that Corey could look up and he could see the Paragon Ancestor clearly.
Just as Corey was looking at the Paragon Ancestor, a part of his eyes caught a glimpse of the corpse hill the throne of the Paragon Ancestor was on.
Due to curiosity, he looked at the corpse hill and when he did, his eyes widened when he saw the faces of the corpses.
'Isn't that?'
With a baffled expression, Corey thought as he looked at the faces of the corpses which had more than two pairs of eyes. The faces did not have a nose and neither did they have a mouth.
Their skin was as dark as night and the colors of their wide opened eyes varied.
'Don't they look like the face with numerous eyes that appeared when the apocalypse started?
The All-Father?
Are those… Supremes?'
Corey thought with a baffled expression and after a few seconds passed, he looked at the sitting Ancestor of Paragons with a deep gaze.
Meanwhile, the Paragon Ancestor who had crossed his legs and was placing one of his fist on his face, looked at Corey for a few seconds, then he spoke:
"You want power... You want revenge... You don't want to be weak.
But let me ask you, do you have what it takes to be a Paragon?
A Paragon suffers, they fight, they kill, we are not liked by most and most would definitely choose to hunt you if you remain weak as a Paragon.
Just because we are one of the top two races in the entire multiverse, doesn't mean we have it easy.
We surpass limits, we break limits.
Show me that you deserve to be a Paragon and take at least ten steps.
Just ten steps."
With every sentence spoken by the Paragon Ancestor, Corey felt his heartbeat and brain activity increasing slightly. He felt like dopamine was introduced into his body.
Corey glanced at his hands which were trembling slightly for a few seconds, then he released a soft sigh and without hesitation, he took the first step.
---
[A/N: Sorry for uploading late. Today had to be one of the most busiest days of my life. I've not even had a wink of sleep since last night.
I might also upload late tomorrow by the way. Sorry for the inconvenience.]
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