The woman apostle took Aeron to a strange building, a floating star-shaped geometric structure.
As Aeron entered inside, he saw people in the hall facing a giant rectangular stone standing upright. It had a star-shaped pattern on it that glimmered with different colors.
"They are here to pray. Everyone must pray for half an hour every morning."
She put Aeron in front of the stone and opened the prison.
"Kneel and recite this."
A piece of paper floated before Aeron.
Aeron looked at it and stopped himself from frowning. Putting aside what was written, he could feel something nefarious in it.
If he recited it, he might be affected in some way.
So instead of kneeling and reciting, he turned around and looked at her.
"I want to meet Almighty Raal."
The woman laughed. "You are not worthy. Not yet. If you want to meet him, you must complete his missions and maintain his faith."
The paper floated in front of him, moving as he turned.
Past it was the woman, her eyes on him, growing cold.
"Now turn around, kneel, and recite." Her voice sharpened.
"Okay, but I have a question about this line." Aeron stretched his hand, pointing at the paper.
"What?"
Just as she spoke, his nerves sparked. His thoughts stirred.
Tommy the Reaper manifested, reloaded with Despair Bullets, and instantly fired at her from almost point-blank range. She had no chance to dodge.
All one hundred bullets struck her, dealing no damage at all. But her entire defense was stripped and added to Aeron.
At the same time, three Colossus Anchorbuxes spawned, skin-tight around her as they pressed with full power to keep her in place and activated a skill.
Ground Lock.
Ground Lock made them one with the earth, rendering them completely immovable and indestructible for five seconds.
The woman apostle reacted quickly as well. She burst out with her full power in the next second, about to detonate in a powerful explosion.
But in that one second, Aeron had already reloaded his Tommy with Death Bullets.
Death Bullet dealt one percent of the target's current health as damage per bullet. If one hundred bullets struck a single target, Death Bloom could be unleashed to deal fifty percent of the target's maximum health as damage.
The explosion occurred and blasted Aeron away as he crashed into Almighty Raal's stone. It remained uncracked, but all one hundred Death Bullets struck her, creating a hundred tiny holes across her body.
Her explosion managed to crack the Colossus Anchorbuxes, but they remained in place, keeping her locked.
With the damage Aeron inflicted, her knees weakened as she gasped for breath.
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
"How?!"
Aeron got up and walked toward her.
"Where is your Almighty Raal?"
"You will die." The woman's eyes turned crazed as she grinned. "I merely rank one thousand and thirteenth among the apostles, and I just sent messages to my friends."
"You caught me off guard, bu—"
Before she could finish speaking, Aeron triggered Death Bloom.
Boom.
Deader than dead.
Without wasting time, Aeron used Death Undone to make the woman apostle his servant.
He named her Braindead, then took back his Anchorbuxes while summoning a Hunter Skyrift to escape quickly.
"I can't deal with multiple strong apostles right now."
Aeron jumped onto Hunter Skyrift's back.
He could feel his power increasing as he received rewards for killing this Tier-5 lifeform apostle.
But he could also tell she was not lying about being ranked one thousand and thirteenth, and that was bad news. It meant there were insanely strong apostles out there.
Aeron had just exited the star building when his vision was blinded by intense light.
In the next moment, he felt an absurd instant of heat overwhelming every sense and thought before it completely disintegrated him.
Boom.
Everything within a one-kilometer radius was turned to raze.
The entire star building and thousands of people ceased to exist.
At the center of the massive crater, a man descended with a pair of phoenix-like wings burning with flames.
Not a human, but an elf. He was tall and handsome, yet his eyes were utterly cold, contrasting the inferno he had caused.
"Active Harbinger number one hundred seventy-eighth on Planet R31 is eliminated. Apostle Zaligesi is martyred."
After reporting this into a crystal, he vanished.
Aeron's ghost heart turned cold as he heard everything.
He was there, barely ten meters away in his ghost form.
Death Ruler's Imprint did it works, and he also got some shocking information.
"So I am not the only Harbinger here. Others across the universe who practiced this technique and chose Doom Difficulty are also here. If I was the one hundred seventy-eighth, that means there are one hundred seventy-eight active Harbingers right now."
"Holy shit."
"And this is just one planet."
Now he understood why the objective was to survive for one year.
Aeron's eyes blazed. His focus locked in.
His goal would not change.
No matter which planet Almighty Raal resided on, he would find him and eliminate him.
And complete this Doom Difficulty trial to acquire the great legacy behind it.
Aeron flew away in his ghost form, unrestrained by physical laws, moving effortlessly and swiftly.
This was a good opportunity to scout and find a place to begin his journey, grow stronger, and move toward his goal.
…
What Aeron did not know was that the time difference between the Doom Difficulty dimension and reality was immense.
The requirement was to survive for one thousand days. But one thousand days there equaled just one day outside.
And that day quietly passed.
In the top-grade training room, Aeron's eyes slowly opened.
He spent a total of 743 days inside.
The moment he opened his eyes, something happened within the Geoxar Network, which covered half the galaxies of the Maxim Universe.
Planet Earth was a Gravel-grade member of this network, the lowest grade.
It was also the only planet of the human race, which was ranked 9485th among the top 10,000 races in the Maxim Universe.
Unbeknownst to the major powers, the Crown of Forbidden Arcana had quietly found its bearer.
Third day of Neolus Month, Geoxar Year one hundred four thousand three hundred two.
One of the seven Forbidden Techniques existing within the Geoxar Network, Battlefield of Death, was erased from every corner of the network.
Not even a single proof of its existence remained…of course, except for in one tiny place in this grand universe of Maxim.