The golden light of the Immortal Book surged through Kael's veins, burning brighter with each heartbeat. His aura, which only moments before had been shattered and dim, now roared like a second sun inside the trial grounds.
"His… his level…" one elder gasped. "It's climbing… Tier Four… Tier Three…"
The glow intensified.
"No… it's not stopping!" another elder shouted, his voice cracking as the ground began to quake.
The stone pillars rattled. The trial gate itself trembled. Students staggered back as waves of pressure pressed down on them like the weight of mountains.
"Tier Two… Mid Stage…" Sylara whispered, her hand tightening on her blade. Her voice shook. "Late Stage… Impossible!"
The light seared brighter still, each pulse making the air ripple and warp.
And then, the breaking point came.
---
The Rise to Godhood
Kael's eyes snapped open. They burned pure gold, their brilliance like miniature suns.
The entire planet quaked. The Azure continent's seas rose in towering waves. Mountains split across the Gold Continent. Storms erupted in the skies above the Mystical Continent. And even in the distant Box Scan Continent, cultivators knelt in confusion, feeling a divine pressure pressing their souls into the dirt.
Every being across the world felt it. A god had awoken.
Arathor's calm face finally cracked, fear in his eyes. "Tier… Tier One… God realm…"
Every elder dropped to their knees. Even instructors who had long stood proud bowed without hesitation, their bodies refusing to resist.
The intruder himself froze, sweat pouring down his face beneath the cracked mask. "W-What… what are you…?"
But Kael was no longer conscious. His body stood, glowing, but his soul had slipped into unconsciousness. The Immortal Book pulsed within him, guiding his flesh like a divine puppet.
---
The Finger of God
Kael vanished.
One moment he stood across the hall. The next, he was before the intruder, so fast the human eye could not follow.
His right hand lifted. One finger extended.
That finger pressed against the intruder's forehead.
For a single heartbeat, silence.
Then reality itself screamed.
The intruder's body didn't shatter. It didn't burn. It simply ceased to exist. Erased. No trace of qi, no scrap of flesh, no whisper of soul remained.
But the strike did not stop there.
The golden finger thrust tore through the academy wall behind the intruder. In the same instant, the shockwave continued for a thousand kilometers.
Cities crumbled. Forests flattened. Mountains cracked and fell. A scar of golden destruction seared itself into the world, straight and endless, a reminder that one boy's finger had the power to rewrite reality.
Even Arathor, even the Azure King himself if he had been there, would have felt fear.
Sylara's heart pounded as she whispered, "What… what kind of monster talent is this child?"
---
The Collapse
The light faded.
Kael's body trembled. His golden eyes flickered. His divine aura receded like a tide rushing out to sea.
And then he collapsed.
Students gasped. Elders surged forward. Arathor raised a hand, halting them. He could feel it.
The boy's cultivation, once risen to godhood, had burned itself away.
Kael now lay still, his breathing shallow. His aura dropped—Tier One… Tier Two… Tier Three… until it crashed back into late Stage Tier Four peak.
The Immortal Book's power had left him drained, but alive.
His body, however, glowed strangely—his skin alternating between heat and cold, as though fire and ice fought inside him.
---
Aftermath
The battlefield was silent. No one spoke. No one dared.
The intruder was gone. Not slain, not defeated—erased from existence. The wall of the academy itself lay ruined, its destruction stretching into the far horizon.
Students stared in terror. Some trembled. Others whispered, voices shaking:
"That wasn't human…"
"Kael… what is he…?"
"Even the Academy Master looked afraid…"
Sylara knelt beside Kael, placing a hand on his chest. His heartbeat was erratic, his body blazing with both heat and chill. She withdrew her hand quickly.
Arathor stepped closer, his expression unreadable. "Carry him to the inner chamber. Let no one disturb him."
"Yes, Master!" several elders said at once, rushing to obey.
As Kael was lifted, unconscious, his golden aura flickered one last time before fading completely.
The elders exchanged uneasy glances. The students could not shake the fear in their hearts.
Because for one moment… Kael had not been a boy.
He had been a god.
And gods were terrifying.