Eternal Thief

Ace didn't wait for the heavenly thunder to charge and instantly flew within the cloud's vortex right above him.

Almost immediately, the five-color heavenly thunder rushed in his direction to get rid of him. But he was ready for this, and the intent of Gluttony manifested as he let the heavenly thunder wreak havoc within his body while he let his sword cores absorb it.

Right now, his sword cores shimmering with mystical runes as they were all becoming more and more complex and overbearing while absorbing the heavenly thunder.

Furthermore, his other law comprehensions were extremely high at this moment, thanks to the intent of gluttony and heavenly thunder. At this moment, the heavenly thunder only has a 40% effect on him despite being at the seventh rank already.

Ace's target was the rift hidden within the clouds that he saw a few minutes ago, and he also wanted to see if Heaven's Terminate Manifestation was naturally formed or if it had also come from that rift.

Lastly, he wanted to see behind that rift if he could, but he wasn't planning on charging in because it would be simply too reckless since behind that rift might be something out of his wildest imagination. He just wanted to see the origin of heavenly thunder!

However, the moment he tries deeper into the clouds, all his senses suddenly cut off, and even his vision goes dark. He could not sense his body, laws, or even his vision was gone.

'It's just like when I drink the elixir of darkness!' A thought surfaced in his mind.

Right at this moment, he heard a majestic voice that was extremely familiar, "It is not time yet, Child of Darkness!"

The darkness suddenly broke like a mirror, and he regained his senses, and not even a moment had passed.

Ace was still within the clouds while the five-color thunder was rushing towards him from all directions to exterminate him.

'It's not time yet? Was it a warning not to go there?' Ace thought as he was filled with cold sweat, and he stopped his advance.

He knew the warning came from the throne that granted him the first authority of darkness, and it wasn't his imagination because he knew this feeling too well.

Ace finally hesitated. Ultimately, he really put a hold on his plan to seek the origin of heavenly punishment. His life was, after all, more important, and at least he found the heavenly thunder wasn't from this world and was coming from a rift.

It wasn't naturally formed, and he can stop it from worsening if he tries to go towards the rift. This result was already far more than he hoped to achieve, so he didn't become greedy.

But he didn't leave the heavenly punishment clouds because there were still no traces of Heaven's Terminate Manifestation, and he was already getting heavenly thunder without much of a risk.

It was like a loophole.

As his sword cores absorbed more and more heavenly thunder of both martial and soul, his understanding of the laws was getting skyrocketed with each passing second, which meant his strength was rising the same.

A minute passed, and the heavenly thunder was becoming more and more overbearing, but it just couldn't make Ace exit the clouds.

At this moment, the clouds suddenly started to expand for the first time since Ace started to go under the heavenly punishment, and the aura rose even more, and a trace of a new color of thunder began to show.

'Could it be the heavenly punishment is trying to get even stronger? Like I let it…' Ace coldly snorted as page-09 appeared in his hand again, and instantly the surrounding clouds started to suck into the page the moment it appeared!

Ace had almost confirmed that Heaven's Terminate Manifestation is formed within the clouds or it needed some time to appear, which Ace wasn't giving it.

His sword cores were already fully adjusted to this level of heavenly thunder, so there was no point in enduring it any longer. Letting page-09 end it was the right choice.

Since he now knew that page-09 could absorb the heavenly punishment clouds as well, it would be a waste not to use it to his advantage.

"Rubmlleeeee…"

A thunderous boom rang within the clouds as the aura increased even more, but soon, it started to decline because it did not affect page-09's ability to absorb the clouds. It was like it was the bane of heavenly punishment.

At this moment, when 95% of the clouds were gone, Ace again spotted a bright rift within the remaining clouds, and he was astounded when he discovered that the rift was even bigger than before.

But the moment he looked at it, the rift began to close again.

Yet this time, Ace heard an emotionless voice booming within his ears, "Heaven's Stealer thy fate is irredeemable!"

There wasn't any authority or majesty in this voice, but when Ace heard it, he quivered as an unknown fear coursed through his veins.

'Boomm…'

The next moment, the rift instantly closed, and Page-09 was done absorbing the remaining clouds.

'What just happened?' Ace was stunned as he looked at his shaky hands holding the page-09. He had no idea who that voice belonged to or why it made him feel this kind of unknown fear, as if he was just a speck of dust in front of that voice.

But he didn't have time to mull over it because, for the first time, page-09 showed signs of activity as it began to shake in his hands, and a gentle golden light bloomed from the pitch-black page.

Yet, something even more startling occurred when a dark blue chain shot out from his glabella and directly pierced into the glowing page-09.

Before Ace could even react, a vile force released from page-09, and the dark blue chain yanked strongly and pulled backward!

The page was freed from Ace's hand and instantly drawn back into his glabella with the dark blue chain and vanished with it, leaving gobsmacked Ace there.

The system's emotionless voice rang,

[Congratulation, Host, for successfully crossing the seventh form of Heavenly Punishment!]

[Martial and Soul breakthrough process has been started!]

[Page-09 [Avatar of Holy Twilight] from B.E.L.L has been acquired!]

[New Panel, [B.E.L.L] has been added to the system!]