Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 442: Pitch Black

Taking his time to savour the euphoria while heightening his recovery, the cube encompassing the platforms suddenly shifts at it usually would.

Only this time, Ezra is unprepared.

The construct tilts, and Ezra stumbles, his arms flailing for balance.

"Oh come on!"

With fast reflexes, Ezra uses the momentum to leap onto another platform, which got in place just in time to catch him.

Standing, Ezra sighs in annoyance.

"This place just won’t give me a damn break"

Looking at the sentinel’s remains, it had begun to disassemble into essence.

Heading towards the pills of shard, they completely disappear, but no reward is left.

Rather bewildered, Ezra simply looks to the exit canyon and promptly heads towards it, assured that the reward would be there.

With no light beams trying to disintegrate him, Ezra takes his time moving from platform to platform, and reaches his destination without disturbance.

Stepping onto the canyon, Ezra glances at the exit before surveying the surroundings for his reward, but nothing lay atop the canyon’s surface.

To this as well, Ezra makes no change in expression, and surely enough, half a minute later, something happens.

A section of the ground opens up to reveal a thin book raised high on a rather small pulpit.

This book lay with its cover holding a small luster while coloured in bright yellow, with the words ’Shining Thread Cultivation Technique’ written atop it.

Blinking, Ezra lifts the book, his head darting in both directions, looking over the surroundings.

’What is this? Where are the essence shards? This can’t be all of it...can it?’

Looking over the surroundings for two minutes, Ezra’s straight face fades as he realizes that there are no other rewards to be gotten.

Fuming for an additional minute, Ezra lets out a breath, releasing his pent up frustrations.

What was the point in getting angry when it wouldn’t change anything?

Instead, Ezra shifts to a positive mindset, and decides to save his energy for the trail in the third section.

In anycase, he’s curious to know the worth of this nova refinement technique, so he calls his advisor.

"Zydrax"

Five seconds later...

[You called]

"Yes" Ezra nods, gesturing to the book. "Can you tell the rank of this nova refinement technique?"

[It will take some time]

"Alright. Do that" Ezra nods, inducting the book into the sovereign universe.

Giving a mental nod, Zydrax returns to his work.

Ezra takes a look over the second section, checking for anything he has missed one last time before turning to the exit.

The exit lay in the form of a large swirling vortex of bright yellow hue, just like the entrance of the ’Alchemist Tomb’ when he was a Transcendent.

Ezra burst into laughter at such thoughts.

’Back when I was a Transcendent? That’s less than six months ago’

With his mood now better, Ezra walks into the exit.

—--------

Appearing on the other side, Ezra is hit with a blinding burst of light, forcing him to avert his gaze.

He shields his eyes with an arm, squinting as his vision adjusts to the sudden brilliance, though he’s eventually forced to close it.

"What now...?" Ezra mutters, looking up only to be astounded.

Right in front of his face lay a floating orb, or gem? Ezra couldn’t really tell, so he summarizes it as the ’crystal ball’.

This floating ball, unlike an orb lay with uneven edges, being maltifaceted upon a closer look and radiates different colours through each edge like a prism, illuminating the surroundings with its shining rays.

For the time being, Ezra is unable to see anything beyond the crystal ball.

But unlike other people, i front of such a beautiful object, Ezra is wary rather than eager.

Blatantly presenting a gem even before the start of the trial?

This had not happened until now, so Ezra is naturally suspicious of its true purpose.

Rather fall into such an obvious trap, Ezra bends, ducking low before walking past the rays of light.

*pam

Or at least tries to.

’What is this?’ Ezra wonders, using his hand to feel the barrier stationed beyond the floating gem.

Pushing against it, Ezra finds to be a strong barrier, though the bright light coming from floating gem blocks him from deciphering the barriers colour.

The floating gem in conjunction to this causes Ezra to change his mind.

’Instead of a trap. Maybe its an integrated part of the next trial?’

This explanation now seemed more likely.

So with a deep breath, Ezra plucks the floating gem, pulling it out of orbit.

Grabbing it, Ezra finds to be about the size of his fist and as he inspect it further, a change occurs.

The space Ezra lay in suddenly contracts like a jelly before expanding, pushing him forward.

As though being shoved hard, Ezra unintentionally crosses the space the barrier had previously been blocking.

Coming to a stop, Ezra finds himself in a pitch black space, with nothing visible, not even his own body.

It’s so dark that Ezra would’ve doubted whether his eyes were open if he didn’t have the cystal ball in his palm.

The resplendent crystal ball looks almost lethargic with its light dimmed.

Furthermore, the glowing rays of light it kept showing off from moments ago is nowhere to be seen.

Now, it looked subdued by the environment.

That part sticks out to Ezra, so he creates a small of flame to test his theory.

’As expected’

Immediately, a force starts pulling on flame, forcefully sucking away the energy from it with seconds.

At this, Ezra gains a realization.

’This section, it’s function to devour all sources of light’

It is the best explanation to the phrase ’devoid of light’

This firstly because it’s nature, and then because despite blocking his sight completely, his other senses felt perfectly fine.

He could still smell, hear and feel touch without any noticable deficiency.

Such setting made Ezra more curious about what the content of the upcoming trial would be.

Guessing, Ezra is half convinced that it’s probably going to be another sentinel whose able to perfectly camouflage in this darkness and perhaps even manipulate the darkness to its will.

Ezra grips the dimmed crystal ball tighter, his mind racing as he adjusts to the suffocating darkness.

He takes a moment to center himself, the stillness around him amplifying every small noise his movements make.

The absence of light doesn’t unsettle him as much as the anticipation of what might come next.

His breathing steadies as he silently channels his energy, preparing for whatever lies ahead.

’If this trial really feeds on light, then it’s only logical the challenge will exploit that weakness,’ Ezra muses, his senses on high alert.

The subdued crystal ball lay in his hand faintly pulsing as it resists the darkness.

Ezra feels his heartbeat thrum in his ears, the absolute silence amplifying every faint rustle of his movements.

The air is unnaturally cold, heavy, and suffocating, each breath weighing more than the last.

He studies his surroundings—or at least tries to—but the absence of light swallows even the faintest glimmer of his vision.

He stretches his senses further, relying on sound, touch, and the delicate flicker of Qi flowing through his body.

Holding the crystal ball up, Ezra’s grip tightens as he begins to walk forward with cautious steps.

While he had guesses about the nature of the trial, he doesn’t forgo the possibility that he might be wrong.

Suddenly, a low, eerie sound slices through the silence—a faint slithering, like a snake creeping across a surface.

Ezra freezes, his body swiveling towards the source of the sound.

At this moment, Ezra belatedly realizes that fighting with scythe while holding the crystal ball will have him at a disadvantage, so he turns Skyfall into twin sword form and puts one in the sovereign universe.

Getting in posture for battle, Ezra’s instincts scream!

Instantly, he leaps back just as somethings passes in front of him, slashing where he had stood but a moment ago.

How did he know it was a slash? Because the surface skin of his left leg was cut, or rather grazed, unable to get out of range.

Ezra’s expression turns tense.

’I couldn’t feel its presence at all!’

Ten meters from him, a creature fully emerges from the darkness—a formless shadow with razor claws extending from its wispy limbs.

Standing around like a zombie for a while minute but without any change in expression, it sinks back into the blackened floor, merging seamlessly with the void.

Afraid to moves, Ezra expands his senses in all directions but fails to detect anything, drastically increasing his anxiety.

Cursing under his breath, Ezra flexes his fingers, the dim light from the crystal ball casting weak rays onto the ground.

It’s enough for him to notice slight distortions in the darkness—a ripple effect as the shadow moves, like oil gliding over water.

"You’re tracking me through this, aren’t you?" He lifts the crystal ball, realization dawning.

The faint light radiating from the artifact is what betrays him, acting as a beacon in this realm of shadow.

Another slithering sound.

Ezra sidesteps just in time as another claw emerges, this one faster, thoroughly slashing his arm.

A chilling sensation spreads where it brushed against his skin, and he staggers back.

His energy...it became weaker.

Eyes narrowing, Ezra steadies his breathing. "Right. You feed on energy"