Chains Of Heaven

After completing the second trial Enkidu was once again face to face with Gugalana, his figure even more miserable than before and his mind extremely tired.

"You did well." Gugalana said. "Now, you only must win this one last trial. The trial of your character."

As Gugalana said this a red light entered Enkidu's eyes, his mind becoming clouded by fury. Fury rising from deep within himself, a berserker-like energy rushing out from every fiber of his being and his mind being clouded by all the anger and resentment from every moment he has ever lived before.

All the repressed emotions, the emotional scars, the anger, the fear, the hate, the disgust, every single negative emotion he has ever felt was at once pushing forward, clouding his normally peaceful and pure soul.

Gugalana left Enkidu there, feeling and experiencing all those negative emotions at once, he concentrating his already weary and tired mind into keeping his emotions in check even as the berserk-like emotions and energy caused havoc inside his mind.

His energy was being stimulated, his energy becoming exuberant as his mind was filled with the purest rage.

Meanwhile, outside the trial grounds, in the mountain where the trial was happening the search for Enkidu did not stop at all. This entire time the Hyuga clansmen continued their search for him, wanting to kill him due to the orders of the higher ups and also to deal with Enkidu who they judged now to be a possible great threat in the future.

However, that was not all that was happening. In one of the corners of this mountain a girl from the clan was running away from the other members.

Hinata Hyuga was a pitiful girl. Born in a powerful clan as the heiress of it she should have been what many call the pride of heavens, someone who stands above all others and represents the grandeur of the Hyuga clan for all to see.

However, that was not really the case.

Unlike her clansmen who were extremely prideful and thought of themselves as inherently superior to all others, thinking themselves justified in all their actions and acting like tyrants towards everyone else, believing themselves the best in existence, she was nothing like that.

She was a kind soul, despite her clan focusing on how to use their eyes for killing blows she preferred to study how to use her eyes to help others, learning acupuncture in order to help others when she could. She preferred taking care of plants and disliked the sight of blood or injuring others, whenever she spared with others she would always hesitate to attack in fear of hurting others.

She even treated the slaves well, never punishing them for no good reason and trying to treat them as people. She was an anomaly for the clan, an absolutely great anomaly that was unlike everyone else.

That alone would not be enough for her to be attacked now, but the fact that she was the clan heiress certainly was.

Could the Hyuga ever accept someone so unlike them, someone who disagreed with their principles and ways of acting, that was considered weak by all of them due to her hesitation when fighting, someone who showed none of the pride of being a Hyuga?

The answer was no.

They could never accept it. For a long time now she has been an eyesore for all the clansmen, if not for the girl's father not allowing her to be killed due to a promise to her mother she would long be dead. However, that was just it.

While she was never killed or physically attacked, spars were perfect enough excuses to wound her in which the clan head would never speak up and would even silently approve of their actions to 'toughen her up'. She had more than once to hide from some cousins who tried to take some liberties with her as she grew older and more beautiful and whenever it was time to distribute the resources amongst the young generation of the clan almost half of what should be hers was redirected to her younger sister who showed every single aspect that was expected of a Hyuga.

Her being sent to the tournament, not to participate but to observe, was a way to get her away from the clan compound where she was an eyesore for the elders and also to humiliate her, show that even a member of the branch family, second class people in the clan.

She knew this, she was not stupid, but being away from the clan where she was looked in scorn by everyone seemed like a wonderful idea as far as she was concerned.

She was wrong.

When she was no longer in the clan main compound the abuse she had to endure only worsened and she was forced again and again to fight in sparing matches against profound beasts that were stronger than her and against other older and more experienced fighters of her clan. The branch members in special were especially vicious as they took this as a chance to vent their resentment of not being on the main clan in someone they considered unworthy of such an honor.

And now, when she and her clan was far away and inside this mountain that most don't dare enter, it was the perfect chance to kill her as far as her clansmen were concerned. They knew that, should she perish here, there would hardly be any investigation and the elders would not even try to punish them should they be found out, instead only paying some lip service.

These branch members that were originally following her as they searched for Enkidu had already sneakly attacked her, wounding her side and almost killing her. If not for her sealing the bleeding through acupuncture and running away she would likely either already have died or captured by those who should be family to her but their gazes of killing intent and lecherous were anything but the ones family should have.

She never even wanted to be here. She was brought along with everybody else to hunt Enkidu, but she did not want him to be found.

She knew that her clan was in the wrong, that they should not be dong any of this and that Enkidu should not even be an enemy, to hunt him like this because they lost in a tournament was absurd in her eyes, extremely shameful even, but no one listened to her.

The Hyuga was a clan used to be the superior one, they were always an overlord amongst other clans and, even if they were defeated, the clansman that was in the tournament should not have been defeated by someone like that. It was a slap on the face for this clan so used to being the best, and they would, as always, wash away any perceived insult with the blood of their enemies.

That was why, despite her eyes having been able to see where Enkidu was even when he was so deep underground and so far away, she did not say a single word. No one in the clan realized that her bloodline was the purest in the last few thousands of years, she being able to 'see' much better than everyone else even if she was not given the resources to improve her eyes nor allowed to study the more advanced eye techniques of the clan.

It was at this point that a powerful wave of power descended around this place. A black thundercloud appeared in the sky and a lightning bolt descended as if a river due to how large it was.

When it ended there was only a crater left there, no Hyuga even seeing what had just happened and instead just seeing three of the soul lamps used to indicate if someone is alive or not losing their color and going out.

///---///

Back in the trial grounds Enkidu was with his head firmly pressed on the ground, the sensation of rage and fury consuming his mind and to vent it he started hitting whatever was around him as if he was a mad beast going berserk. This was an image no one who had interacted with him would think him even able to show, such was his looks.

And it was in this condition, with extreme fury in his eyes that Hinata was put in front of him. She had her hands and feet loved and could not speak due to a seal on her as well, she was bleeding out and could only stare in terror as Enkidu moved his gaze over, berserker fury covering his senses. It was also at this moment that another red energy entered his soul and l.u.s.t and d.e.s.i.r.e moved forward, making his rationality falter even further as his prime instincts were all being tested at once.

"This is your final trial. This girl was amongst the clan that was hunting you down, she may not have tried to hunt you for real but in her veins runs the same blood. She also is the princess of the clan and with her blood purity you could remove her eyes and implant them into yourself without issue, making yourself stronger. You could take out your anger on her. You may even take her body and use to your p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, someone with her blood purity could serve as an excellent furnace for training, make yourself more powerful using her.

"Now, what will you do? You have until the hourglass finishes to show your decision."

As Gugalana finished he observed as Enkidu's eyes gleamed in red.

In his mind the dark emotions, every single darker aspect of his mind turned into what looked like tiny demonic beasts, attacking, again and again, his soul to try and corrupt it.

The lake would return to normal afterward but the impacts kept happening, his soul trying it's best not to be controlled by it.

It was almost possible to faintly hear the sounds of impact in Enkidu's soul, such was the difficulty of what was happening. Feeling himself without a choice Enkidu started chanting to himself the Heaven's Path Soul Art, trying to obtain back control over his baser instincts.

As he chanted great changes happened inside, chains emerged from the lakee and locked down on those beasts. The beasts were still able to dream the chains, but whenever one broke one of them another two would come to take it's place. More and more chains appeared and started to refine those beasts, make them smaller.

Gugalana, in the sky, was inwardly shocked at what he was sensing. This that Enkidu was doing was not something he expected him to be able to do, but this process would take a long time and the hourglass had already passed more than half over.

With his mind no longer under the pressure of being controlled by his emotions, but still feeling them intensely, Enkidu stood up. Now no longer acting like a beast he could finally gaze at Hinata.

He noticed her curvaceous body and appealing face, she clearly was a extremely beautiful woman that many could even call country toppling. Despite himself, his l.u.s.t was still very much active and he could well imagine all sorts of things he could do to a body like hers.

Next, he thought of how her clan treated him. Hunting him down, injuring him, endangering those around him. Even now he could not say for absolute certain if the others are safe or not and this girl was the princess of the clan who did this. Most would certainly say that he would be justified on killing her out of vengeance about what happened.

And finally, the words of Gugalana regarding her eyes and her being a furnace for cultivation showed some appeal as, with this, he could satiate his l.u.s.t, get his revenge, AND get stronger in the process. He hated the fact he could see the point, but he could in the end see it.

As he looked at Hinata intensely he slowly approached her, his steps measured and she shivered as she too had heard everything Gugalana had said. She knew that she could not do anything, sealed as she was, and even if she wasn't she still knew she was absolutely no match for Enkidu. She was only a member of a clan that was an enemy for him, simple as that.

"... I see, so this is your choice then."

"Yes." Enkidu said before sitting down in meditation, blood covering his form as he did so and he had to concentrate to use what Light Profound energy and Wood profound energy he could to help close his wounds slowly.

And, up in the sky, Gugalana smiled to himself at the choice made, that this is what Enkidu did.

Gugalana was certain now, Enkidu was the right one to entrust Tiamat to. He could raise the God Beast well, perhaps make that which was one of the Vicious Ten able to no longer be such a danger.

After all, how many would be able to hold themselves back, and, instead of lashing out, actually help someone they may one day call enemy?