The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Rumble

Five minutes after Klaus leveled up, the heavens made their presence known. In an instant, he felt a powerful force bearing down on him, as though a will was being exerted over him.

However, Klaus just smirked, and just like how any defiant person would, he gave the heavens the middle finger, as if to say he wasn't a pushover and they should get things over with.

As expected, the heavens responded immediately.

The clouds churned, and from the dark, lightning-infested sky, a colossal python's head appeared.

"Hmm, looks like the heavens upped their game this time," Klaus muttered.

"You're growing stronger, Klaus, so it's only natural for the heavens to get desperate," the senior spoke from within his soul sea.

"Oh, so there's more to come, huh?" Klaus asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, there will be between four to six stages in this tribulation. If the first one is already this intense, imagine the ones yet to come," the senior said. "Plus, you've really offended them this time, brat—this might just be your make-or-break moment."

"Relax, senior. Just be on standby and follow my lead," Klaus replied. "My soul sea is yours to command this time around."

"May the Paragon stars have mercy on you, brat." The senior couldn't understand where Klaus's arrogance was coming from. The tribulation was starting off intensely after all.

From within the clouds, more colossal heads began to appear. Soon, large python bodies charged toward Klaus, who sat calmly on the ground, gazing back at them.

"And we're off," Klaus said, as a thick, pointed 64-inch needle appeared. But that wasn't all—a crescent moon-shaped, razor-sharp disc about 2 feet in diameter appeared and began spinning immediately.

The two spirit weapons shot forward, and before long, lightning runes filled the air. Klaus sat there, controlling the spirit weapons to slay the 70-meter-long pythons charging from the dark clouds.

The runes moved and began entering his body. He sat there, controlling the Void Piercing Needle as it traveled and killed one python after another. It was both shocking and mesmerizing.

As for the second spirit weapon, it was something Dharma, the Overlord had given him—one of the rewards he received after completing the quest set by the overlords.

It had a razor-sharp edge, much like the Razor Disc that Lucil integrated into the Mecha Zombie's weapon arsenal during his time at Stone Valley.

It's called Crescent Disc/Arc and just like its name, its shape is like a half-moon and incredibly sharp, very sharp in fact. Just a single slice was enough to kill a monster.

And thanks to Klaus's superior...

Now up in the air, it started slicing through the not-so-strong lightning pythons. Although they appeared somewhat real when killed, no blood flowed out; instead, they transformed into sparks of runes which get sucked into Klaus's body.

This, of course, had begun tempering his body. Klaus wasn't in a hurry, so instead of using the Tribulation's Prison to easily deal with them, he wanted to wait for the bigger threats. One might even say his appetite was rather large.

"The first stage is not having much effect compared to last time," Klaus said calmly, sitting as the monsters were slain by the Void Piercing Needle and the Crescent Disc.

Sometime later, the heavens churned, and more lightning pythons poured out, startling Klaus slightly, though he looked on with amusement.

"Oh, they seem pissed," Klaus smirked. "What do you expect, you weaklings? This young master is not easily bullied."

The monsters kept pouring in, but even without much effort, the spirit weapons continued the killing. At one point, Klaus rubbed his arm.

"Don't worry, little fellow, you'll get your chance to dominate the skies." The dragon tattoo on his right arm glowed as if responding to his words. It had become several times stronger now.

After using the golden energy to upgrade it, Klaus could feel the Chaotic Nirvana Flame growing stronger. At first, it was powerful, but now it had become even stronger. When it transformed, it seemed to have a much denser appearance.

"Brat, why aren't you capturing the lightning?" the senior asked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Relax, old man. There's better prey on the way—the appetizers just aren't worth fighting for." Klaus didn't even want to bother with them. He wanted the good stuff, which, if his calculations were right, would arrive in the third stage.

Rumble!

The heavens shook again, and the dark clouds stirred ominously. The pressure they exerted was potent now, bringing with it an even more terrifying will. The second stage was about to descend, meaning the heavens had upped their game.

Suddenly, 5-meter-long spears appeared, shooting toward Klaus.

"Looks like their aim isn't that bad," Klaus smirked, muttering under his breath. Suddenly, a bell appeared, and within a second, it grew to a height of 4 meters with a diameter of about 2 meters.

It moved and then dropped down on Klaus, enclosing him. At the same time, the spears collided with the bell, causing it to ring and send out sonic waves.

This time, only sonic waves, no soul attacks.

Thanks to Fruity's efforts, Klaus had learned how to fine-tune the bell to focus on only one of its attacks. The bell could deliver both soul and sonic attacks. Initially, when he activated it, both types of attacks were sent—both soul and sonic.

However, he had now learned how to concentrate on just one at a time, and he could also adjust it to maximize the output of either. Despite this, Klaus wasn't attacking the souls now; he simply wanted to shatter the spears.

The spears, like the pythons, had no hearts, so using soul attacks against them would be a foolish move.

Sonic attacks were doing the killing now, and from the looks of it, the Spears stood no chance. The bell showed no signs of cracking.

Every time a spear struck it, the sonic wave would shoot out, shattering the spear into runes. The runes then traveled and merged with his body inside the bell. It was just as Klaus had observed in Fruity's memory.

Back then, he had been very jealous of how Fruity was clearing the tribulations, and now that he was experiencing the same thing, he couldn't believe how comfortable it felt.

'That bastard sure had it good, hadn't he?' Klaus sighed.

***

Ohema continued to watch the tribulation with a mesmerized look.

"He is making it look simple, but this stage is already enough to overwhelm a Sage. Just what kind of monster have I entangled myself with?" she smiled faintly.

The last time, her heart was a step away from being crushed when Klaus struggled to face the final lightning. So now, seeing him just sitting there, doing nothing yet still handling the tribulation, she couldn't be any happier.

"If not for my special situation, I would have rewarded him with a pleasurable night after this tribulation," she sighed.

Just like Hanna, she also had a heaven-defying constitution, but she couldn't use it just yet. It was dormant for now. Once she reached a certain stage but wasn't able to awaken it, it would cause problems for her.

But that wasn't her main worry. Her pain lay in the fact that she couldn't fully serve her man like her other sisters could. She could only sigh and look forward to good news when Klaus asked his Overlord friend.

Rumble.

The heavens roared again, signaling that the third stage of the tribulation would be coming in the next second.

"Finally, they are here," Klaus muttered, looking up at the ominous clouds ahead.