Inside the fortress, a man was seen sitting at a large table, indulging in a grand feast. Beside him, several women were attempting to catch his attention in any way they could.

  “Haha, you girls might enjoy your freedom, but if you keep this up…” the man said, a lustful grin on his face. Just as he reached over to pull one of the women onto his lap, a loud boom echoed throughout the fortress, causing the ground to rumble in the dungeon.

  “WHO DARES TO ATTACK MY FORT?!?” screamed the man.

  “I do,” said a voice behind him, startling the man. A fist, crackling with electricity, slammed into his face, sending him flying backward. As he caught himself, the man turned to face his attacker. Astonishment washed over him when he realized it was just a boy, still wet behind the ears. Rage began to boil inside him, angered by the fact that someone so young had been able to knock him back.

  “Do you know who I am boy? Clearly, you do not, otherwise, you would have never attacked me or even shown up in my vicinity. My name is Toshiba the wrathful, be careful boy I will not be holding back.”

  Damien almost scoffed in response, ‘Who does this guy think he is?’ his whole speech sounded over the top but nevertheless he was not going to let his guard down, Ruby’s teaching had ingrained that into him.

  Taking a step Damien vanished before reappearing behind the man, blue lightning crackling around his body. On his right fist a lighting-charged attack, swinging his fist at the man's abdomen it boomed into Toshiba.

  Dust flew up all over due to the shockwaves of the attack, it was one of the things Damien had learned to do after practicing his mana manipulation. Using his lighting affinity his wrapped his fist in lighting and continued to add more and more lighting onto them and then attacked someone with that charged attack. The result was a massive explosion of lighting, frying the being it hits inside out.

  As the dust settled a look of surprise appeared on his face, Toshiba was unharmed… “Nice attack boy, I see where you get your confidence from. Now let me show you why my name is as such.

  With that, a red aura started to seep out of the man's body. Feeling the aura coming off of him Damien almost shivered as it felt almost sinister, a feeling of pure violence and rage.

  Before he could think further about the aura the man spoke, “Prepare yourself, boy.”

  The man disappeared, feeling chills creep up his back he hastily dodged to the right barely avoiding a fatal blow. Turning around he realized he needed to take Toshiba seriously, otherwise he would die.

  Damien covered his entire body in lighting, loud cracking could be heard once more. When he did this it allowed him to speed up not only his body but also his thinking speed, thousands of thoughts and ideas appeared in his mind as Toshiba slowly approached.

  Seeing that Damien has closed his eyes the man adopted an interested expression, ‘Alright then I’ll respond in kind.’

  Suddenly the aura around the man exploded reducing the surroundings in a ten-meter radius to rubble. Dashing forward the man took out a giant battle axe covered in the same aura his body was, “Choose your opponents more wisely from now on.”

  Ignoring the man’s words and watching the attack slowly descend Damien smiled, emptying his mind of any unnecessary thoughts he raised his senses to the max. ‘Let's give this a try shall we’ Damien thought.

  Right as the attack was about to hit Damien a tear in space opened up sucking the man's hand in before swiftly closing causing Toshiba’s arm to be severed at the elbow. “What was that? Asked the man, having to yet realize his arm was missing.

  Damien smiled instead of responding and pointed at Tohsiba’s arm. Looking down a grim look appeared on his face seeing the now missing limb.

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  After a while the grim expression faded and the man quickly closed the wound using the red aura from before, “What is your name?” said Toshiba as he genuinely respected Damien now, he had not taken him seriously because not only was Damien young but no one had been able to wound him for a long, long time. Even more so for someone at Damien’s level.

  “Damien”

  The man nodded his head in response and smiled, “Well Damien, congratulations. You passed the second trial.”

  Taking a second to register the man's words Damien could not help but question if he was being serious. “I thought the second trial would end with me killing you? Or having to make some difficult choice?”

  “HAHAHAHA, Damien, I don't think you understand how grand of an achievement what you just did is,” Toshiba said while laughing loudly at the boy’s words.

  “What do you mean? Damien asked confused as to what he was trying to imply.

  The man sighed and said, “While I can’t tell you much I can tell you that I was like the spirit outside, a person who used to be alive. Back then I went by the name I told you along with the title people had given me, being one of the strongest back then on the planet almost no one could harm me let alone do what you did.”

  “This trial was never meant for you to beat me or even be able to harm me, it was meant for you to impress me enough to believe you have what it took to move onto the last trial. While I was holding back massively you still managed to inflict a wound that would have been devastating even to myself when I was alive.”

  Understanding appeared on Damien’s face, “So how strong are you then?” he asked as he was quite curious about how strong people were back then.”

  “You’re E rank from what I can tell so let’s just say I was three ranks above that when I was alive.

  “... Right, well I get why you would not be using your full strength then, so how does that whole spirit thing work anyway? Are you the same as the guy before or?”

  Toshiba shook his head saying no, “I’m a little different, in order to allow the people to fight me we had to do a special method to allow me to attain immortality but it's not the version you are probably imagining. It came at a price…”

  “What price”

  Toshiba sighed once again, “I can never reincarnate, meaning if I truly die one day and I will as the immortality also makes me slowly regress in power hence why I said “when I was alive” earlier, but yeah when I do die I will never be reborn. My soul will cease to exist.”

  While Damien did not understand what that truly entailed, he understood enough to know that the man before him would never exist in any form ever again. Sad but it was the path he took and the sacrifice he made for this temple.

  Honestly, Damien was a bit surprised he was being allowed to pass so easily, with the way that old spirit explained the trials he figured the second trial would force him to choose between two difficult choices. Instead, all he did was cut Toshiba’s arm off and the man let him pass, thinking about this he decided to ask why that was.

  “Oh, I was supposed to do something like that but if I am being honest I’d rather do things my way, and based on what I’ve seen the third trial is going to be a breeze for you. Speaking of which time for you to move on Damien.”

  “Wait, one last question,” Damien called out.

  “Hmm?” “Can you show me your strongest attack?”

  Hearing Damien’s question Tobisha was a bit shocked before a massive grin appeared on his face. “Sure, just don’t shit yourself.”

  Once he finished speaking his aura exploded once more but this time it felt twenty times more dense and caused Damien’s knees to buckle under the pressure. Releasing his primordial presence he tried his best to fight it off and managed to stand with gritted teeth.

  “Oh?, not bad boy.” Taking a stance Tobisha took a deep breath sucking in a ton of air, ‘Asura’s fist’ he said inside his mind, and immediately after the wall in front of Damien and himself vanished

  All that was left was a giant hole where the wall used to be stretching for what looked like miles. Looking at the pure destruction Damien’s jaw almost hit the floor.

  Seeing his expression Tobisha laughed once more and spoke one final time, “Alright boy, I’ve kept you long enough time to send you on your way. Do me a favor though in the final trial, make sure you attain first.”

  Damien wanted to ask why but the man waved his hand and Damien felt a pull on his body and his surroundings changed. Glancing around the room he found himself in he saw one other person the clocked figure from before.

  Looking up the figure’s eyes met his, “What is your name?” asked the hooded man making Damien feel puzzled at the man's sudden question.

  “My name is Damien… do you know me?” he said in response unsure of the man's intentions. However, upon hearing Damien’s words the hooded man locked in place before speaking.

  “At first I was unsure if what I was seeing was real, after all, everyone believed you to have died after you seemingly vanished,” he said cryptically.

  Damien’s eyes widened in astonishment a bit at his words, “Who are you?” he asked not sure whether he should raise or lower his guard since the man knew things that only his family and friends would know.

  The hooded figure chuckled in response while slowly removing his hood, “Long time no see Damien.” Gazing upon the man in front of him Damien almost let out a gasp of shock.

  “Adam?”