Chains Of Heaven

"Your first test shall be reaching me, the great Bull of Heavens and the mount of the Evil God, Gugalana!" Gugalana spoke as an aerial bridge appeared before him. It was a simple thing and not particularly wide. Seeing it Enkidu took a deep breath, this place was far from something he would appreciate to be tested in any way.

Enkidu was special as he was a genius rarely seen in over 100.000 years even if you consider the entire Realm of the Gods when it comes to Wood, Metal, and Water while he was a talent that likely suppressed even the Evil God when it comes to Earth, but Enkidu could sense that this place carried none of these elements in the surroundings. Instead, the wind and thunder elements were heavy all around him, he could sense how these elements were the only ones around and Enkidu knew well enough that any technique involving the elements he was great at would do any good in this place.

If he could choose he would rather not try this, it was a 99 chances death for one life, but he had no option in these circ.u.mstances so he could only face it head-on.

As Enkidu stepped on the aerial bridge, he immediately felt a dreadful pressure crushing down on him. This was the pressure a God Beast not too far away from him exuded, greedily eyeing him and judging his decisiveness of facing a challenge he was unfit for.

For those that were too weak, just this pressure would have made their minds shake and unable to display even 50% of their true strength. Like this, they would have already lost from the start, unable to take even 10 steps before being unable to move forward.

Enkidu took one step forwards at a time. No enemies appeared, he feared he would be forced to face waves of enemies while in such position but there was nothing like that. Rather, the pressure on him became increasingly heavy, more and more he felt like if a mountain was pressing down on him in every direction and the air became harder to move as if fighting a more and more dense water.

Enkidu continually adjusted his breath, keeping his mindset in a state of calm.

Walking by himself, above this unfathomably deep abyss which he could not see the ground and which promised death if he were to fall, the horrifying aura from the abyss rolled up into the skies, causing Enkidu's clothes to flap in the wind. After what felt like days of moving but could well have been just a few hours, Enkidu turned around to see that he had actually walked a considerable distance away from where he began, not able to see where he started it anymore and the bridge he walked at before no longer being able to be seen, a deep fog covering it.

He could only advance, only bulldoze forward.

Looking at the distant scenery behind him, behind the fog, Enkidu was stunned at what he could see. Behind him he could see a sculpture that was unimaginably large!

This sculpture was that of a giant war god. From where Enkidu was standing, he could only make out the mountain-like head of the sculpture. The rest of it was impossible to clearly be see, as he was still too close to the origin of the statue.

Seeing it Enkidu spoke as if on a daze, as if a part of him knew who this statue represented.

"... The Evil God."

Every edge and turn of this incomparably massive statue represented the infinite true meaning and intense will of all the elements in nature. There were countless mysteries contained within it and just looking at it's head Enkidu felt like he could grasp all the laws of nature, but he could not understand any of them as well.

The Laws of Nature were like a vast moat; only the brave would find victory and be able to understand them!

Enkidu's heart trembled and for a moment he felt like jumping to it, of stoping to study this statue to understand the laws.

However, Enkidu would not do that. He was not someone who would just forget what he was here for and forget about his objective. Even if a voice on the back of his mind kept telling him about how, if he turned back, great gains could be had and he would not suffer from this pressure anymore, even if that was the truth, Enkidu would still not pay it any attention.

'So what if that may be the truth? I know what I must do and I will do it without fail. Even if going back is easier, this is still something I must do.'

One step at a time, Enkidu firmly and decisively moved forwards.

Gugalana, by his part, was slightly impressed by this. It knew better than anyone how the statue of it's previous master could bring about great d.e.s.i.r.e for anyone that sees it, his master himself had carved it with many of the mysteries of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, and Darkness, even Gods would go crazy for it, and Enkidu was able to ignore it despite being only a mortal.

However, would he continue to ignore the easy way out when he was face to face with an even greater challenge?

Suddenly, the void in front of Enkidu began to shake like a rippling lake surface.

Hu - !

Enkidu looked ahead, a massive snow-white phantom appeared in front of him. Its two pupils contained an endless killing intent. This was a White Tiger God Beast!

Soon after, the heavens and earth moved again. Space was torn apart and an Azure Dragon flew forth, its body as long and winding as a mountain range as it clawed at the skies. Its entire body was covered with a vibrant blue spiritual strength that exuded life force.

Following that, a Vermillion Bird God Beast appeared, one that blocked out the skies. Deep beneath the ground, a mysterious creature began to move. This was a Black Turtle God Beast!

God Beast Grand Array!

Gugalana smirked inside seeing Enkidu react to this array his master and him had prepared long ago. It was absurdly hard to set up and Gugalana have had to capture beasts which had the bloodline of each of these four God Beasts to extract the energy of the four God Beasts so as to create this grand array.

Ancient God Beasts originally evolved from the Laws of the heavens and earth. Each type of God Beast represented the purest manifestation of one aspect of the Laws and each one grasped the strongest source strength of their attribute.

This array might have been made using only descendants, but it was the original array that would be used for expressing that dimension and keep it stable before the other array was set up; this array was still more than powerful enough to turn even those in the Divine Extinction Realm into paste.

Now that the God Beast Grand Array appeared, Enkidu felt like a heavy mountain was pressing down not only on his body but also on his soul, shudders and tremors could be seen in it as the array activated around him. Goosebumps rose all over his body.

If Enkidu wanted to walk to the end of this bridge, he naturally needed to pass this God Beast Grand Array that suppressed this land.

Enkidu's blood began to boil as he thought of this. All of the fighting strength in his body was stimulated, becoming increasingly wild. He would face this challenge with everything he had and would not back down at all from this.

He stepped forwards, one step at a time. The terrifying pressure fell onto him like a waterfall, pressing down so hard that it made his bones emit loud explosive sounds and caused his entire body to shake, the ligaments and muscles throughout his body were rupturing and Enkidu could only rely on his body's natural healing to keep moving forward.

This was a horrifying array formation. Enkidu estimated that the strength of this array formation was set by the skeletal age of a trial challenger. Only then would it be accurate in testing a person's talent and his heart. He knew that this array was not showing even a fraction of what it could show, but the power was still on the absolute limit of what someone could hope to bear.

Enkidu thought that, with all he had and with all the advances he had gotten, his talent was already near the peak of all that anyone could hope to reach in this era. But, even so, facing this God Beast Grand Array, Enkidu was hard-pressed to continue.

From this alone, it could be seen how arduous this test really was!

With a roar escaping his lips Enkidu activated all the energy in his body and took out his spear. With it in hand he no longer would move slowly, he could sense that if he were to continue like he was doing before he would just lose so he would just gamble his way to victory with all he had.

As he had decided thus the area around him changed, winds that could cut steel and thunder that could shatter mountains could be seen in the space around Enkidu.

A black storm swept through the sky as if it were devouring all. This was the union of the most destructive aspects of Thunder and Wind Laws. These complex Laws made travel through this storm even more difficult and advancing forward near impossible.

Enkidu's eyes shrank. Facing this great black storm, Enkidu did not falter, instead he grew even more excited. But the difference from a moment ago was that this excitement had a tinge of solemnity, the knowledge that he might perish in the next few moments was felt clearly in his heart.

Moving with his spear he moved forward, he knew that he could avoid the brunt of this storm if he were to use the Heaven's Path Library to see it's flaws, but he felt it would not be the right path to do so.

Enkidu decided on an opening he could see, his spear thrusting out.

With a spiraling potency, the spear light shot into the black storm with Enkidu together with it. The opening formed into a twisting ripple, but just as this ripple appeared it immediately slowed down when Enkidu approached and Enkidu's momentum was dispelled.

'This, is this the Great Mystery of Slow from the Wind Laws?' Enkidu thought to himself.

Enkidu drew back, escaping a powerful thunder strike that passed near him. With trepidation Enkidu continued his movements, his eyes attentively looking forward as he focused all he could into not being caught like that on a fragment of a Wind Law like the Great Mystery of Slow of the Great Mystery of Fast.

As he had approached and entered the storm he understood how this storm was comprised of fragments of multiple Great Mysteries of the Wind and Thunder elements, they were all moving about with their different effects in a way that seemed chaotic but had a certain rhythm to it.

Spear thrust after spear thrust formed beautiful spiral ripples, every one like an arrow entering into water as it impacted the storm. These strikes caused ripples in the storm that propagated for dozens of feet. Because of the intense collision from the power of the strikes and the power of the storm itself, these ripples slowly faded away.

Enkidu kept dodging the power of Wnd and Thunder, moving around like if a ghost as the spear in his hand thrust out at an even faster rate for every second that passed. At this time, a light flashed in his eyes.

Heaven's Path Spear Arts.

This was the perfect spear arts, the absolutely perfect way of using the spear. The pressure of this moment forced Enkidu to the limit, something that the whole tournament failed on doing to this extent and, with the more advanced information he now had thanks to the information in the library of the Master Teacher Association, there were left many things for him to experience in practice so that he could properly use.

In his excitement at sensing himself improving Enkidu got careless for a moment, missing a trace of the power of wind. This small trace of strength rubbed against Enkidu's arm, and his bodily defense and toughness was ripped apart like a thin piece of paper. The muscles on his arm burst open, revealing a wound deep enough to see bone. Blood showered out, instantly disappearing in the storm surrounding him.

"How frightening!"

Enkidu s.u.c.k.e.d in a breath of cold air. He quickly focused his thoughts and re-adapted himself to the power around him as he moved around it or broke the strikes that he could break so as to advance.

Just a touch of the power of the Wind could cause such terrifying cut in his arm, Enkidu could only sigh at the thought of how some people thought that the Wind element users were only good for their speed.

Clearly, this was far from the truth.

As everything got more and more chaotic around him and as the pressure around himself from the array was still in effect Enkidu realized he needed to try something more extreme.

Something MUCH more extreme.

Enkidu released his senses outwardly and closed his eyes, even completely withdrawing all of the profound energy that protected his body. Since that profound strength was fundamentally unable to resist this storm, he might as well take it all away so that he could concentrate his mental strength to an unprecedented level and leave his energy to recover his wounds as they formed.

At that moment, Enkidu's mind was completely emptied of all thoughts; even his spiritual sea was a great empty space. Immersed in this storm, he was completely defensive as he continued to move forward. If he took a single wrong step then he would be crushed to death by this trial, completely beyond redemption!

'To walk on the path of Martial Arts one must not be afraid of dying, just be afraid of losing your path for those who follow it never regret it.' Enkidu thought to himself as he trusted himself in what just might be a pure suicidal attempt.

///---///

5 Days Later

Gugalana looked down at the end of the bridge as it spoke.

"Congratulations, you passed the first trial."

In the end of the air bridge one could see Enkidu, with his spear as support he was trying his best not to fall down as injuries could be seen all over his body. Cuts were the more numerous as, in places, one could see the bones of even the organs of Enkidu, burn marks could also be seen in many places, locations in which he was wounded by the thunder strikes that came from all around.

Enkidu looked like he should not be able to take even one more step, but he did not fall to his knees nor did he say anything else. Instead, he took out some pills and started concentrating in healing himself, his Light Profound Energy being seen by Gugalana who internally nodded in approval.

As Enkidu clearly lacked a Sacred Body then he could only be the possessor of a Sacred Heart, that alone made him someone Gugalana would approve if under normal circ.u.mstances and would lower the requirements for his tests. However, this was a test more important than normal considering it was also the test to know if Enkidu deserves to have Tiamat by his side.

Thus the test was on its maximum level that could be taken by someone on his age group in a mortal realm.

And, for the first test, Gugalana would admit that Enkidu passed it perfectly.