Ascension of the immortal Asura

John's battle axe slashed outwards, slamming against the tail attack of the Hellflame Wyrm, which was like a fire whip from hell. The power and heat from its attacks were monstrous, and even John had to be careful to not be hit directly lest he suffer serious wounds.

His battle had been raging for over fifteen minutes, a testament to the Hellflame Wyrm's power. Each whip of its tail was equivalent to a battle art unleashed by a Middle Heaven Tribulation cultivator, while it also spat out beams of concentrated fire at John. The beams were even hotter than the lava that he had encountered before, and so John had to be careful to not take them directly head on. At the same time, the Hellflame Wyrm had tough scales on its exterior, making its defense quite formidable and hard to pierce.

Despite controlling the battle, he didn't know how many more stages there were to this True Warrior Trial. He could no longer afford to trade blows with his beastly opponents, and only focused on victory. However, without his Bloodline Ability or Asura Transformation, a Middle Heaven Tribulation beast was as strong as he could fight against.

Sky Sundering Axe!

A massive gold axe image slashed out from John's battle axe and slammed down onto the Hellflame Wyrm, who met the attack with its powerful fire breath. John's body flashed down and to the side of the Hellflame Wyrm, as a tail attack slammed onto his position. His body flashed again, narrowly dodging the attack as he unleashed a Lightning Disintegration.

Bang!

The lightning beam slammed onto the side of the Hellflame Wyrm, where an injury had already been created. The lightning beam burrowed deeper into its body, causing it to seize up as it struggled against the rampaging lighting.

John slashed out with his battle axe again, unleashing another Sky Sundering Axe while his opponent was recovering. The massive golden axe image slammed against the side of the wyrm, knocking it backwards and into the distant wall of the cavernous arena.

It quickly recovered, but a shallow wound was opened up on its side where the battle art had landed. Blood seeped out, but the wyrm ignored its injuries as it was not a true, living creature, which made it much harder to fight. Only by truly defeating the wyrm would it finally stop attacking without regard for its injuries or 'life'.

John sped towards the wyrm, who opened its mouth to unleash another devastating fire attack. A small smirk appeared on John's face as he studied the wyrm's attacks long enough, and was waiting for this opportunity.

Heavenly Lightning Domain!

Hundreds of lightning nodes sprung up in the air all around John, surrounding both him and the wyrm. They were spaced in varying distances from John, some close to his body, all the way to a hundred yards away. Three of the nodes appeared in the open maw of the massive wyrm, which John focused all his Qi on. He ignored the other nodes as he only activated the nodes within the wyrms mouth, as powerful lightning suddenly sprung out between the nodes.

Bang!

The wyrm unleashed a powerful flame attack, which John narrowly dodged. The lightning nodes were damaged from the attack, but John's essence Qi flared out as he quickly rebuilt them, forming the lightning connections between the three nodes once more.

The wyrms mouth attempted to close, but it clamped down connected lightning nodes instead, which forced its mouth to remain open. It bit down harder to destroy the nodes, but was unable to fully do so, as John quickly reformed a node when it was broken.

A fiery light began to form from within the wyrm's mouth, while John's smile only grew larger as he pointed his finger towards the wyrm.

"Too late!"

Lightning Disintegration!

John unleashed his most powerful Lightning Disintegration, which pierced directly into the open maw of the wyrm before it could unleash its fire breath to destroy the lightning nodes. With its flesh mouth the weakest part of its body, the lightning beam pierced right into the internals of the wyrm unhindered. A cry of pain bellowed out from the wyrm as if it were a real creature, while smoke and blood flowed out of its mouth.

"Quick, hit it with an attack," John called out to the girl, who had been standing in the distance watching the battle take place. The girl quickly did as John said, as a blue staff appeared in her hands, and she unleashed a powerful water battle art at the creature. The water battle art looked like a bird made of water, which slammed against the creature, although it didn't do much damage.

The wyrm struggled for a moment before it collapsed on its stomach. The internal injury coupled with all the previous ones had become too much to bear, and the wyrm finally ceased its movement. After a moment of pause, it slowly vanished into thin air, signaling the end of the battle.

"Whew!" John sighed as he popped another Qi recovery pill in his mouth. Three successive battles between Middle Heaven Tribulation beasts had started to add up, as he felt his essence Qi reserves halved. Although he still had a lot of fighting strength due to his remaining essence Qi as well as massive reservoir of beast blood essence for his body Qi, the battles had still been grueling and strenuous.

John felt the strange sensation on his chest once again, and confirmed that he had received another two hundred Jade Marks. The girl, still stunned despite seeing John's power before, walked over to him, her staff in her hands.

"Why did you ask me to attack it?" the girl asked. "You had already defeated the creature."

"Do you not want Jade Marks?" John asked as he glanced at her. She had to have some contributions, no matter how tiny, in order to receive marks.

"Ah…," the girl made a noise, before a bashful expression appeared on her face. "Thank you," she said to John, feeling guilty at him doing all the hard work.

"No need to thank me," John replied, as her getting a score did not lower his own. His gaze shifted towards the girl's staff, as he thought of something.

"A staff…are you…a War Mage?" John asked curiously.

"I am," the girl replied.

"Ahhh, so that's how it is," John said to her. The last War Mage he had met was Ryan, who was still living on the Yuan Continent. War Mages were relatively rare, as one needed to have the natural born talent to become one. While they could unleash devastating attacks, they also had a massive weakness.

"No wonder you struggled so much against the earth golem," John continued. "War Mages can unleash powerful attacks after channeling them for some time, but require both time and distance to be able to do so safely. With the confined space of these cavernous arenas, you were unable to unleash your most powerful attacks."

The girl stared at John for a moment as he came to the correct conclusion, and nodded her head silently after a moment, confirming his words. John could tell she still felt guilty about surviving while her friend died, and so he decided to change the subject.

"That's right, you know my name, but I do not know yours," John said to the girl.

"Ah…I'm Ziora," the girl replied, "from the Mistfall Academy."

"Academy?" John mused, but quickly recalled the term from one of the books he had read.

'Academies are like sects, but focused on channeled Mage Arts, instead of battle arts like normal sects. They're also more astute and scholarly, as they focus on more than just battles and cultivation. I believe they even offer to become advisors to powerful nations, clans, and sects, and also study the more arcane mysteries of the universe.'

"Well Ziora, I think its about time we pay advance to the next trial, what do you say?" John said to her.

"Let's go," Ziora replied, her confidence in John's power firm after seeing his combat prowess on full display.

John nodded his head, and turned towards the green formation barrier that had appeared after the Hellflame Wyrm had fallen. The two of them quickly entered, and found themselves transported into near darkness, unable to see anything at all. John could tell that something was not right, as his instincts were flaring with warning.