Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 812: Tribulation And Incarnation

CH0812 Tribulation And Incarnation

***

What was even more extraordinary was that the tiny lump of flesh was rapidly morphing into forms Alex had never seen before.

In fact, his mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he was looking at.

There was, however, one thing he did understand.

‘These are… glyphs. Incredibly powerful glyphs.’

He recognised them only because the Written Wisdom Concept granted by his Sage True Name had been triggered.

The Concept instinctively attempted to decipher the meaning behind the ever-changing forms.

It failed.

Alex’s mind—and the entirety of his accumulated knowledge—could not even begin to grasp their significance.

More accurately, given his current understanding, direction of study, and level of comprehension, it was fundamentally impossible for him to learn the meaning of these glyphs.

A sudden realisation dawned on him.

‘This… this is why the Universal Will moved.’

The hidden Concepts attached to his Sage True Name tugged insistently at his instincts, urging him to preserve the tiny lump of flesh at all costs.

He must never allow this knowledge to be lost.

Yet beyond those instinctive urges, Alex had no intention of abandoning it regardless.

The tiny remnant represented the Nest Queen’s unyielding determination to survive.

Understanding what it was trying to do, Alex willingly lowered every instinctive defence protecting his Mindspace.

The small lump of flesh drifted forwards before sinking through his forehead.

Inside his Mindspace, however, it did not appear as flesh. Instead, the mysterious glyph manifested beside OmniRune.

The moment it did, a strange resonance formed between the two.

Meanwhile, the physical remnant of the Nest Queen entered Alex’s mana pathways, drawing upon his mana to sustain its feeble existence.

Now that it was inside his body, Alex gained a far clearer understanding of what it truly was.

It was the condensed core of the Nest Queen’s existence.

As long as that core endured…

…the Nest Queen could one day be reborn.

Rumble!

The dark clouds overhead thundered with unmistakable fury.

The Heavenly Tribulation had sensed that Alex had dared to shelter the very target it sought to erase.

Its wrath immediately shifted towards the human who had refused to acknowledge his place.

‘Not again!’

Alex’s eyes blazed with determination.

He drew upon everything he possessed.

Every ability… Every reserve of strength… Every ounce of his will.

Bloodline Manifestation!

A towering humanoid avatar, formed from his bloodline power, materialised above him.

Although its bestial features had softened considerably since the Heavenly Stele trials, the regal aura of dominance it exuded had become incomparably sharper.

The Sage Rune upon its forehead glowed softly as its domain—formed from the chaotic harmony of every Concept Alex possessed from his two bloodlines—expanded explosively, shattering the invisible pressure weighing him down.

Alex seized the opportunity without hesitation and sprang to his feet.

He didn’t stop to think.

[Body Strengthening Magic]! [Silver Body]!

[Bear Strength]! [Buff: Strength Up]! [Buff: Agility Up]! [Buff: Defence Up]! [Buff: Endurance Up]! [Buff: Speed Up]!

[Featherflight]! [Featherfall]!

[Fleetfoot]! [Haste]! [Dragon Kumite: Burst]!

[Abyssal Conqueror’s Step: Third Step—Wraith’s Crossing]!

He ran!

This was not an enemy Alex could confront head-on.

The Heavenly Tribulation had already far surpassed the one he had barely survived during the Elemental Stele trial.

He immediately reverted to his original plan.

‘I need to drag others into this.’

Calm Madness!

A cold light flashed through Alex’s eyes.

He poured every remaining drop of mana into strengthening his body before unleashing every movement spell and movement technique at his disposal.

His sole objective was… to run!

Boom!

Alex shattered the sound barrier almost instantly, accelerating to multiple times the speed of sound.

‘Faster…’ Even then, he wasn’t satisfied. ‘Faster…

‘FASTER!’

He knew his current speed was still insufficient to outrun the Heavenly Tribulation’s lightning.

He pushed his body harder—Faster… Beyond its limits.

At that desperate moment, the mysterious Concept buried deep within his fused bloodline—a Concept he had never been able to invoke deliberately—suddenly awakened.

Limitless!

The enigmatic Concept spread outward from the Bloodline Manifestation, which rapidly shrank until it cloaked Alex’s body like a warrior’s aura coating.

His speed exploded once again!

He accelerated by several more Mach numbers in an instant.

Soon, even Alex no longer knew how fast he was moving.

Nor did he care.

There was only one thing that mattered.

Reaching his destination.

Without realising it, his comprehension of the Lightning Element deepened, and so too his elemental affinity, gradually merging with the lightning trail generated by Wraith’s Crossing itself.

Alex neither knew how long he had been running… nor how far he had travelled.

It didn’t matter.

Rumble~!

Then, despite his astonishing speed, he suddenly sensed something catch up to him.

A split second later…

BOOM!

Something kicked him away.

Yes… kicked.

“Wha—?”

Alex forced himself back to his feet, shock filling his eyes.

He looked up to find a familiar silhouette standing before him, its body forged entirely from crimson-gold lightning.

This was the one who had kicked him while they were both travelling at such terrifying speeds.

Had it not been for the immense enhancement granted by his buffs spells and the protection of his Bloodline Manifestation, Alex didn’t even want to imagine the extent of the damage that single kick would have inflicted at such high speeds.

Bearing the pain, he looked at the figure, and a cold smile slowly spread across his face.

‘Well, look at you… pulling out a cliché move, are we?’

Standing before him was none other than… himself.

A perfect replica of Alex, composed entirely of tribulation lightning and radiating the overwhelming pressure of a Saint Rank existence.

‘No… only its mana is at Saint Rank. It doesn’t possess a domain.’

Alex calmly analysed the figure through his Truth-Seeker Eyes.

He then raised his gaze towards the dark, oppressive clouds overhead.

‘I knew this Heavenly Tribulation is different… and more difficult… but I never imagined it would be this ridiculous.’

Alex had never heard of a Heavenly Tribulation manifesting as a duplicate of the one undergoing the trial.

Even so, there was one principle he knew to be absolute.

The Heavenly Tribulation was governed by an unbreakable law of balance.

No matter how terrifying it appeared, its strength was always determined by both the severity of the cause that had triggered the Tribulation and the strength of the one being judged.

At first glance, it seemed absurd for a mere Class Three cultivator to face an opponent with the mana reserves of a Saint Rank existence.

Yet that only told Alex one thing.

The offence committed by—or that was— the Nest Queen… was truly that serious.

‘In that case, the original Heavenly Tribulation meant for the Nest Queen must have surpassed even a Legend-ranked Tribulation.’

‘An Epic… or perhaps even a Transcendent Tribulation?’

‘Just… what exactly did I create?’

His eyes returned to the tribulation doppelgänger, which stood motionless as though patiently waiting for him to make the first move.

Merely facing it caused every instinct within Alex to scream in warning.

Even so, he already knew what he had to do.

He had to survive.

He had to outlast this lightning incarnation of himself until its power was finally exhausted.

‘Easy peasy…’

The thought carried a bitter note of self-mockery.

Alex glanced around.

‘Well… on the bright side, I made it to my destination.’

Neither of them stood alone.

They had arrived only a few metres from the main tributary of the Rotbark River— directly in the midst of a horde numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Perhaps… even a million Berserk Beasts.

“Come, Heavenly Tribulation!” Alex roared with maniacal laughter. “Become my borrowed knife!”

As though answering his challenge, the tribulation doppelgänger vanished.

[Abyssal Conqueror’s Step: First Step—Ghost Step]!

Alex had no intention of remaining where he stood to be struck down.

He disappeared at the same instant.

Thus began a deadly game of cat and mouse between two Alexs—in the middle of a sea of frenzied Berserk Beasts orgy.

***