Dragon Monarch System Chapter 1195:- Heavenly Tribulation [V]; Defiance

Aditya was currently somewhere around five to eight kilometres away from Axel City. Boris narrowed his eyes while staring in that direction before continuing. "It is already extremely impressive that he managed to endure four Heavenly Thunder strikes without making any preparations beforehand. If I had been placed in his exact situation when I was at Peak Fifth Order, I doubt I would have even made it to the fourth Heavenly Thunder strike."

Malakor Harrington silently nodded in agreement. As someone who had also personally experienced Heavenly Tribulation, he understood better than almost anyone else present just how terrifying Aditya’s current situation was.

"Unfortunately, the stronger the cultivator, the more powerful their Heavenly Tribulation becomes."

"The Heavenly Thunder that Aditya is facing is far more powerful than what ordinary Peak Fifth Order cultivators would face when attempting to reach Beginner Sixth Order."

Boris completely agreed with him. Both of these old men had experienced the same Heavenly Tribulation when they were once at Aditya’s cultivation level, so they could clearly recognize the difference.

"If we had faced Heavenly Thunder of this level when we were attempting to reach Beginner Sixth Order..." Boris paused briefly before shaking his head.

"Neither of us would have made it. We probably would have perished by the second or third strike." Neither Boris nor Malakor was exaggerating. They could both clearly feel that every Heavenly Thunder strike descending upon Aditya contained considerably more power than the strikes they remembered facing during their own breakthroughs to Beginner Sixth Order.

Of course, those memories were incredibly old. Boris had faced his first Heavenly Tribulation nearly twenty thousand years ago, while Malakor Harrington had experienced his more than ten thousand years ago. Yet neither of them could ever forget something as terrifying and important as the Heavenly Tribulation that had allowed them to step into the Sixth Order.

Just as Boris and Malakor were discussing this, the heavens suddenly changed again.

FLASH!!!

The fifth Heavenly Thunder strike descended. Everyone immediately stopped speaking.

Boris’s expression hardened. Malakor’s eyes narrowed sharply. Athena, Rin, Amelia, Riya, Sasha, Lilith, Wahid, Spencer, Nathan, and everyone else watching from around Axel City stared toward the distant location where the golden Heavenly Thunder had descended.

The moment Boris and Malakor sensed the power contained within the fifth strike, their already serious expressions became even more tense. This was the strongest Heavenly Thunder strike so far.

And from this distance, none of them could immediately tell what had happened to Aditya after it struck him. Worse of all, because the Heavenly Tribulations were still going on, no one could go close to him; otherwise, the Heavenly Tribulation would target that person. And that would mean suicide.

Aditya lay weakly at the very centre of the enormous crater. He was no longer standing on the hilt of his black sword. He was not even sure whether his legs could support his weight anymore. His body was too exhausted, too wounded, and too broken to rise and challenge the heavens one final time.

There was only one Heavenly Thunder strike remaining. One final strike between him and Beginner Sixth Order. Yet right now, that final step felt farther away than ever before.

Aditya weakly brought up the System panel and looked at his remaining Health.

『Health - 98』

For a few seconds, he simply stared at that number. Then his burned lips slowly curved upward.

"Heh..."

A weak laugh escaped his throat, immediately followed by more golden Divine Dragon Blood spilling from his mouth. He had never been this close to death before.

Calling him a mangled corpse would not have been much of an exaggeration. His body was almost completely unrecognisable. His armour had been heavily destroyed. His flesh was burned and torn apart, several bones were fractured or completely broken, and golden Divine Dragon Blood covered what remained of his charcoal-blackened body.

Since beginning his rise, Aditya had fought countless battles. He had faced millions of enemies, challenged cultivators stronger than himself, survived assassination attempts, destroyed powerful factions, and repeatedly walked through situations where a single mistake could have ended his life.

Yet none of them had ever brought him this close to death.

And even then, they had failed to make him surrender. Aditya slowly moved his eyes upward.

Above him were the endless dark clouds covering multiple Dukedoms. The enormous projection of his Divine Crimson Storm Dragon had disappeared somewhere within those clouds after happily swimming through them moments earlier.

But Aditya was no longer looking for the projection. His eyes were fixed on the dark clouds themselves. It almost seemed as though he was staring beyond those clouds, directly at the heavens responsible for his current condition.

Every breath sent agonising pain throughout his body. He could barely move. He could barely see clearly. Even speaking felt like forcing broken glass through his throat.

"So this is all you can do...?" Aditya whispered. More golden blood slowly flowed from the corner of his mouth.

"You burned my flesh... broke my bones... and nearly destroyed my body."

His weak smile slowly widened. "But I’m still alive."

Aditya stared straight into the dark heavens. "You had five chances to kill me." His voice was so weak that even he could barely hear it, yet every word carried the stubborn pride of the Dragon Monarch.

"And you failed five times." The heavens had nearly broken his body. But they had not broken him.

"So unfortunately for you..." Aditya slowly tightened his blood-covered fingers against the destroyed earth beneath him. "I have no intention of dying today."

"If you want my life..." Aditya’s smile became almost mocking.

"Then stop wasting my time and come take it." The destruction surrounding him showed exactly what he was challenging.

The fifth Heavenly Thunder strike had devastated an area nearly ten kilometres in radius. Farming fields, roads, trees, and villages that had once existed around Aditya had been completely destroyed. Fortunately, the villagers had already evacuated after the Heavenly Tribulation began, but everything they had left behind was gone.

Their houses had been destroyed. Their farming lands had been torn apart. Entire sections of the surrounding countryside had disappeared beneath the devastation caused by a single Heavenly Thunder strike.

Even Axel City, located approximately 7.8 kilometres away, had felt the impact. Fortunately, the city’s Defensive Dome Structure had already been fully activated, protecting everyone and everything within the city from the destructive force that reached it.

Outside that barrier, however, the landscape had been completely transformed. Where villages and farming fields had once existed, there was now an enormous crater spanning several kilometres.

The crater was so massive and deep that an ordinary person standing at its outer edge would need several minutes just to carefully make their way down toward its centre.

And at the deepest point of that crater lay Aditya.

Yet as he stared toward the heavens, waiting for the sixth and final Heavenly Thunder strike, there was still a defiant smile on his face.

Before the sixth and final Heavenly Thunder strike could descend, Aditya suddenly gathered whatever strength remained within his broken body and released a deafening roar. Aditya roared as if he was roaring at Heaven and declaring his defiance to Heaven, the earth and everyone who was here to witness history today.

His roar spread across the devastated land as his body immediately began transforming. Crimson light erupted from him. His broken human body rapidly expanded as crimson scales replaced his burned flesh. His limbs transformed into enormous draconic claws, a massive tail extended behind him, and two gigantic wings unfolded from his back.

The entire transformation happened almost instantly. In less than a second, the badly wounded human lying at the centre of the crater disappeared. In his place appeared Aditya’s true form.

A gigantic crimson Dragon several hundred meters long appeared beneath the dark heavens. Crimson scales covered his enormous body while Crimson Lightning flickered violently between them. Even in his miserable condition, his true Dragon form carried an overwhelming presence that made his previous human body appear insignificant in comparison.

His fully transformed Dragon body looked even more gruesome than his human self. He rose to the ground high enough that everyone could fully his his miserable state. The women he loved shed tears seeing his miserable state.

First was the painful absorption process; now this was this. And he was shouldering everything alone without any help. Aditya had always been like this. He always shoulders everything alone. Till this very moment, he stayed true to his character of burdening himself rather than burdening his loved ones.

But the heavens did not give him even a second to adjust. The moment Aditya completed his transformation,

The Last and Final Heavenly Thunder had come for him.

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