Eternal Thief

"[Heaven's Terminate Manifestation is a manifest of Heavenly Punishment which only appeared when Heaven has failed to kill a target multiple times or when a target is deemed to be too strong for a Heavenly Punishment. Unlike the typical heavenly punishment, the Heaven's Terminate Manifestation will not end after just a single thunder strike, and it will last as long as the target is either killed or the target finds a way to destroy it instead.]"

The system finally replied to Ace's question while he was looking at the giant glow eyes of blue and red colors. His expression was extremely solemn and indigent as he questioned again, "So this thing is alive?"

"[Not alive, but more like a puppet who only knows how to either kill or be killed by the target. But even a puppet won't be a good term to describe Heaven's Terminate Manifestation, but it's the simplest term host can use to think of it until you'll reach the level where you can truly understand what Heaven's Terminate Manifestation is. Of course, if you were able to live that long, that is.]"

Ace wanted to cuss, but he knew the system was just telling the truth, but still, he was a little bit shaken by the revelation that something like Heaven's Terminate Manifestation could appear in Heavenly Punishment.

"Then how can I destroy it?" Ace asked the most important question as the small lighting bolt of blue and red were already started to bolt down all over the archipelago.

Those bolts were probably for those guys who were caught between the heavenly punishment, and they were as strong as the thunderbolts Ace had endured during his last heavenly punishment.

Furthermore, Ace also noticed something which has never happened before. The red thunderbolts seemed to be martial while the blue was soul. In his previous heavenly punishment, the soul thunder always came last, but this time, it was raining down with the martial thunder.

This only made Ace's expression even more solemn and grave because this heavenly punishment seemed, even more, ghastlier because of the presence of Heaven's Terminate Manifestation, and he needed to know just how to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

"[Host has to find yourself. Just like how you always did with your previous Heavenly Punishment. The only hint system can give the Heavenly Intent…]"

Ace was flabbergasted by this replay, and his expression was quite dark, but he knew the system too well to bicker with it. He had already got what he should, and now he was on his own.

But the hint wasn't too hard to understand either, for he had some idea what the system was hinting at.

'Heavenly intent? Does it mean Heavenly Law Intent?' Ace mused as he thought it was most likely the case.

"Rumbleeee…"

A powerful thunderous sound reverberated at this moment, and Ace's heart sank because over twenty meters large, ten thunderbolts rained down over his head.

But they were clearly not the true heavenly punishment as it hadn't even started yet because there were still many people scattered on the islands, and those small thunderbolts were for them.

Nevertheless, Ace couldn't complain; instead, he knew this was a chance, a chance to absorb these lesser versions of the heavenly thunder into his sword cores!

Ace was far stronger and more knowledgeable than he was last time, and he knew just how extraordinary his both sword cores were. The heavenly punishment was nutritious for them, and he won't be going to miss this chance while he had it.

So, without any intention of dodging, Ace let those deadly thunderbolts strike him like a lunatic.

"cheeee…"

Ace's eyes winded as the thunder finally hit him, and he felt his body and soul both start to burn in terrible pain. He ground his teeth since this thunder bold was still in his endurance level and let them enter his martial and soul space where the sword cores were waiting for them.

The moment the heavenly thunder invaded his martial and soul space, the dark sword cores, which were usually dormant, suddenly trembled, giving off a powerful reaction that was out of Ace's expectation, and then something even more absurd happened.

Without even Ace commanding them, those sword cores seemed to be activated on their own, and suddenly, they were enveloped by dark golden runes!

Ace knew those dark golden runes too well since they materialized over them the last them when he condensed them with heavenly thunder.

However, this time, both his sword shape and sword cores seemed to fully submerge in those dark golden runes as if they were coated with them. The moment they appeared, the heavenly thunder seemed to have forgotten about everything else and menacingly bolted toward them.

But to Ace's astonishment, the moment those thunderbolts touched the sword cores, they started to get absorbed into them instantly.

Furthermore, another phenomenon took place right at this moment. The dark golden runes suddenly started to turn red in the Martial Thief Sword Core and blue in the Soul Thief Sword Core, just like the heavenly thunders they were absorbing!

But those thunderbolts didn't seem to be enough as they quickly got absorbed, and only a tiny part of the runes on the sword cores' hilts changed color before those two sword cores went dormant.

'Don't tell me, the more they absorb those high-grade heavenly thunder, the more those runes will light up in their color and become powerful?' A sudden realization dawned upon Ace as his eyes glowed like starry sky because the sword cores had absorbed the heavenly lightning simply too fast, and all that ghastly pain was gone in moments' notice.

But what happened next was something even more unexpected, Ace suddenly felt a strange warm energy released by the sword cores in his martial and soul space, and he almost moaned because of that pleasurable sensation.

However, it vanished as quickly as it appeared, but Ace was gobsmacked because he suddenly felt…robust!