Way of the Knights

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"What the hell is this pressure!!!?" 

Almost everyone in the team exclaimed these words as soon as they took one step out of the 13th Checkpoint. 

They can't even stand properly. It was as if an enormous mountain was pressing them down. It was extremely heavy that the thought of even taking a single step forward seems to be impossible. 

Of course there's no way that this pressure was normal. Four people in this team carry the title of War Gods while Raven - although being the weakest in terms of cultivation realm, has a physique that could rival them. There's no way that a strong pressure would be able to affect them like this since, therefore it is quite clear that this is regular pressure. 

It felt like a strong gravitational pull that penetrates their soul. No matter how hard they tried to muster up some strength to resist this pressure, it just presses them down even further. Breathing became a bit harder, veins started appearing from their face and they can't even lift their heads up with this. 

"Damn! Damn!" Logan cursed as he stubbornly tried his best to at least take a step forward. However no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't do it. 

The rest similarly tried however it's just impossible. The one who's truly struggling was Theo since his physique isn't admittedly as strong as his companions. Unlike them, he excels at controlling the rhythm of the battle. He won't casually clash with his enemies head on if there's no need for it. This is not to say that his physique was weak, it's just that he didn't put as much attention to making it stronger compared to his companions. 

'Well, this is bad...' Raven thought to himself as he felt the overbearing pressure pressing them down. 

Unlike the War Gods, the influence of the pressure fazed him but not as much as it did to them. At least he could remain standing straight under it's influence when the rest couldn't. 

That being said, he's still affected by it. 

'It's a little bit challenging to draw something under this mighty pressure.' Raven thought to himself. While it doesn't look like he was struggling from the pressure due to his indifferent expression. It's effect remained there. 

"Let's calm down shall we?" Raven's soothing voice echoed on their ears. 

The faces of the War Gods lit up, expecting that Raven could do something about the pressure but what he said next doused their excitement by a lot. 

"For now, it's still a little bit challenging for me to draw a rune under this pressure. I'm not even sure if I could life my arm properly in the first place." 

Those words caused the War Gods to feel a bit depressed. Of course, if they are struggling to endure the heavy pressure pressing them down, then Raven would undoubtedly have more difficulties on doing so. They've been relying on him so much that they actually forgot that they were supposed to be protecting him. That's why they insisted to not allow him to participate on the trials anyway. 

"Don't go all depressed on me now." Raven said after noticing their expressions. "I said that it's difficult, not impossible. Give me some time and I'd do it."

"Meanwhile, try your best to get acclimated to this pressure. They to slowly chip away it. Regain control of your body little by little. We are in no hurry right? Plus, isn't this a great chance to improve yourselves? This pressure can't be found everywhere. Take advantage of it and milk as much benefits from it as you can." 

Raven words resonated within their souls, causing their eyes brighten up. That's right, this pressure doesn't exist everywhere. It is quite rare for something of this level to fully suppress them, and since they're already here, why not seize the chance to grow stronger? 

"The Guardian said that there won't be any beast interfering with us. If that's the case, then good. At least we can focus on this without any distractions. We've got time, so no need to be in a hurry." Raven added. "That being said, why don't we have a little competition yeah?"

His words sparked an interest to the War Gods, and they were listening to him closely. 

"We'll compete on who can regain their arm movement first. The last one to do so, have to do the dishes. Sounds good? Blink if you agree. I can already move a finger by the way." 

Without ay hiccups, all of the War Gods blinked, which caused a smirk to appear on Raven's face. 

"Alright, if you regain movement on one of your arms, just raise it to declare your done - ooh! I can move a second finger now." 

The War Gods were speechless. They decided to no longer pay attention to Raven and began concentrating on regaining their arm movement. 

'Hook, line and sinker.' Raven muttered inwardly when he saw the fiery fighting spirit radiating on their eyes. 

Baiting them through a simple competition sounds childish but for these four, it was strangely effective. Who amongst the War Gods aren't competitive by nature? They wouldn't acquire their current position if they were afraid of challenges in the first place. 

The first step on defeating an undefeatable foe is to stop believing that it's invincible. 

Sure, the mighty pressure pressing them down is truly out of this world and seemingly insurmountable but such is not really the case. This was already proven by Raven since unlike them who lost all manner of movement under the pressure, Raven could still talk freely and sound like this pressure was nothing but a slight inconvenience to him. Which was of course then followed by his provocations/announcement of him being able to move two of his fingers already, which was true by the way. 

If Raven, who's supposed to be weaker than them, was able to do it. Then why couldn't they? 

Time went on silently like that. The team was busy on their task that they weren't really paying much attention to it.

The first to regain his arm movement was of course none other than Raven. He raised it under the gazes of his teammates so it was proven. Now he was working on regaining movement for the rest of his body. 

The next one who did so was surprisingly Theo, who felt rather smug about it. It was truly unexpected considering that Theo had a weaker physique than his companions but the results never lied. He raised his right arm and even summoned a plume of fire to annoy the rest. Of course he too worked on regaining the rest of his body movement. 

After that, it was followed by Charles and Henry, leaving Logan at last place. 

"This is unfair! I got six arms!" He complained. 

"Excuses! None of us told you to lift all of them! Only one you dumbass!" Henry snorted. 

"But my physique is different from you!" He retorted. 

"We can see that." Charles stated, "You know it too so you should have more understanding of your own body that we do yet you still couldn't do it. Now, that's on us. That's on you." 

"True." Henry sagely nodded since apparently he could do that now. 

"Well, I think it's a blessing for you to have six-arms." 

"Theo-"

"...since that would make washing the dishes six times faster! Ain't that great?"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Grr!"

Raven just chuckled at their antics and left them alone. Logan lost and he wasn't a sore loser so he would definitely honor the bet. 

For now though, they could forget about eating since they can't even move properly yet. 

Time passed some more and before they knew it, a whole day passed. Raven successfully managed to regain control of his entire body under the heavy pressure. He's also the first one to take a step forward. 

At first his step was a little clumsy, yet that clumsy movement completely gobsmacked the War Gods. Here they were still trying to work on the lower half of their body yet Raven already took a step forward. 

It didn't take long before Raven's second step occurred, followed by the third and so on. Before they know, Raven was already walking in circles around him. 

Although his face looked rather unimpressed, there's this whole annoying vibe around him saying that 'Heh, I'm better than y'all.' Which absolutely ticked off the War Gods. 

This caused them to put even more effort on their side. It didn't take long before they managed to take their first step one by one. 

Their progress gave them a rather satisfying feeling. No matter how simple it might seem, progress is still progress, who wouldn't feel satisfaction from that? And yes, while 'taking their first step' might sound unimpressive, considering that they did under the mighty pressure, was something to be proud about. 

By the time that the War Gods managed to regain their movement and could walk around freely, Raven was already done making his preparations. 

Considering that he's a step ahead of them, of course he won't just forget about his role here. 

"Alright, I've set up the Formation. Get in!" 

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