Life - Challenge 3: Trial of Wisdom (2)

Support my contracted main novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!

Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!

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In an instant, it was over.

The heart merely PUMPED one time, sending potent, puissant ripples surging through the vicinity and all of Sam's body. And then the ripple went beyond her body, pulverising even the small rocks on the ground within 5 metres around her, turning everything to dust.

If earlier, blood was flowing like a faucet from her 7 orifices, now it was like someone stepped on a water balloon; blood spurted out of her body in a rush!

...With effects of such magnitude just in her surroundings, how much greater then were the results within the small enclosure of her thoracic cavity, right beside her heart...?

The struggle within her ceased. The black and white mass of tissues - or whatever was left of it - dissipated into the bloodstream, returning to the depths of the enthroned, sovereign divine entity that was the dark yellow, almost black heart. The bird-shaped mass gave off the image of a child or servant humbly and obediently lowering its head to its true and acknowledged master.

A golden glow emanated from her chest, nourishing and restoring her. A small amount of the golden mist was lost from the glow, a miniscule and usually unnoticeable amount. It was absorbed into the girl's body, solidifying and compressing her body even further, to a level that should not be possible based on the nature of a human's body.

And then, after the turbulent hidden battle that lasted less than a minute, it was silent. All the blood around her began to flow backwards like a reversal of time. Where the blood had gushed out violently before, now it was as meek as a lamb before the slaughterer, submitting to the hegemony of their ruler. Before flowing back into her, the blood would vibrate slightly, removing all contaminants such as dirt, soil or bacteria.

After the last drops of blood had re-entered her body, the skin and muscles all across her body writhed and squirmed for a few more seconds as it underwent self-repair. Then it was completely still; quiet.

The silence was broken by the sounds of breathing; a deep gasp of air as she inhaled oxygen for the first time since the strife in her veins began.

She lay on the ground, panting, tears, snot and stomach acids regurgitated on the floor beside her head.

She was trembling; not in hunger anymore, but in fear.

'What... What is happening to me...??!' She touched her face, breathing out a sigh of relief when she saw that her hands, fingers, body, feet...

'Phew...' She continued her exploration and observed the remodeling her body had gone through. She was also thankful that her clothes were intact; unaffected by her body's changes. They also weren't torn in the fight, as she had always avoided every strike to her body by a good margin of ~0.5cm; preserving the precious clothes given by Auntie Emilda[1].

As she checked her body, back and front, top and bottom, she was glad... Everything still looked the same. When she touched her face, she still had a neck, a chin, a mouth, a nose, 2 eyes. Everything looked fine.

'Oh right! The mirror!' She happily walked over, forgetting about her earlier encounter and injuries - now erased when she went through the evolution.

Looking into the mirror; she saw a reflection of herself.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the large training grounds; shrill and filled with sorrow, loss.

She collapsed to her hands and knees once more, just like before, sobbing.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She had no eyebrows.

.....

Then the no-eyebrows girl's reflection stepped out of the mirror to punch her in the face again.

As their desperate battle began anew, the fully-recovered and greatly powered up girl and her reflection smashed their fists and legs against each other.

But though they should be equally strong, and though the girl had gained much in terms of skill and experience from their earlier intense clash, there was one very, very big gap that could not be surmounted in a matter of minutes.

You see, Sam was countless times stronger from the changes in her body[2]. But she had no time to adapt to those changes. Whereas her opponent had no such difficulties - the clone had perfect control of its monstrous strength from the get-go.

Sam's only respite was that the mirror-clone had no advancements in its comprehension and application of laws. If previously the reflection had a comprehension level of over 90, Sam's would be somewhere around 15. Now Sam's was slightly higher at a comparative value of 25 - around 3 points higher from "eating" her clone's energy; but mostly from "eating" punches and strikes filled with her enemy's mastery of the Laws of Space[3].

Experiencing it first-hand was always better than hearing the theory - even if it was experiencing it on the receiving end!

And so Sam was still beaten bloody, this time worse than before. Sam was terribly, terribly angry; fuming even.

'Crap!!! She's so rude! How can she hit a crying girl!!! I'll show her!!!' Sam, though reeling from her signature combo (executed on her by her clone), ignored her enemy's follow-up axe kick, choosing to take the impact head on.

Instead of dodging or blocking, she chose a mutually damaging exchange - but one she was confident in.

The God's Devouring Strike.

This time when the hunger came, she felt like she could control it. In her mind's eye, the image of an obedient little black and white bird appeared, waddling around a sinister, pulsating mass of dark yellow flesh behind it. It was surrounded by a golden light that seemed to soothe and nourish her slowly, but that contained too much power to be absorbed as it was.

Her claw strike sped forward. Despite her starting the movement slightly later, the small and tight movement of a hand strike connected faster than the high-power, world splitting axe kick. And she did not need any special control or application of force to do one simple thing - lash out with all her might, ignoring any ideas of defence.

A decision she could only regret just a second later.

Her claw strike landed solidly on her clone's arms which were crossed over its chest; causing her clone to lurch from the impact - but nothing else happened. No devouring. No slaying. No vanishing. Only the simple impact of a full-powered strike that was cleanly blocked.

It was not enough to dispel the mighty descending impact of her adversary's axe kick crashing down on her.

Legs were definitely stronger than arms. The spinning, gravity-assisted momentum of the downward chopping heel kick landing on her shoulder was too much for her to take, she felt and heard a *crack* reverberate through the entire training area, then blanked out for a millisecond due to the unbearable pain of her left shoulder bones breaking and fracturing.

It was so painful that she could not even cry out - before the pain could clearly register on her slow mind, she passed out for a split second, only coming to when she was hit in the chin by a follow-up uppercut.

She soared through the air, dizzy, without even the state of mind to wonder how her God's Devouring Strike that had worked earlier was left inefficacious[3].

...What left was there that she could do?

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[10 seconds later]

Sam was bloody and battered; one arm rendered useless and her ribs cracked; aching.

'This... This can't go on...'

Her opponent was calm; ruffled and also not unhurt - but she was still in full fighting condition - unlike Sam.

Her 2m tall, 400kg female opponent charged towards her, not giving Sam a moment to catch a breath.

Sam executed her utmost best circle-walk footwork; desperately trying to stay away from her enemy's bone crushing fists.

But she could not escape the mastery over Spatial Control that her counterpart possessed; a mastery that far exceeded hers.

'The space... Its being locked down again...' She felt the air and void around her constrict her movements; making her feel like she was wading through a pit of mud and clay; immersed to her neck.

She could not avoid the incoming strike in the constricted space around her.

Her opponent smiled confidently; taking a low lion stance in front of her; before calling out the names of her life-reaping attacks.

It spoke for the first time. Verbose, long-winded. But victorious.

"Full-Burst. Disruption. Baguazhang style – Lion Stance - straight palm-strike. Demon's Slaying Fist."[5]

"Goodbye."

Sam's body was subjected to immense crushing as space was fractured from the law-infused strike.

The seemingly slow, soft and gentle palm strike instantly impacted her crossed-arm defence; a strike that slammed into her with the force of ten thousand horses; tearing through her resistance and undulating through her body with endless twisting, contortion and blood boiling vibrations.

Then she vomited blood; her consciousness nearly swept away - turning to a vision of red and black as she slammed into a hard surface with a crash.

*CRACKKKK!*

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[1] You forgot who she is? So did I! She was last mentioned in chapter 38 and gave some of Marie's clothes to Sam. Also, trust me; even if Sam is blown to shreds, her clothes will stay intact. *They* are the true universe's strongest, just like the Incredible H*lk's pants!

[2] The results of her evolution will be explained in later chapters. It doesn't fit the flow now... Heh heh heh....

[3] This is NOT a power or levels system for comprehension! It's just a comparison for us to understand that Sam has grown - a little...

[4] Inefficacious - I typed it then surprised myself that it really is a word... Hmm... Sorry, I never had the chance to learn grammar or vocab in school... And then in Uni I took Math... My English isn't that good.

[5] Whistles. Not a typo.

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GAME and the ANSWER!

Someone's Mum has 4 sons, [line 1]

North, West and South. What is the name of the fourth son. [line 2]

ANSWER:

The name of the fourth son is "What".

Line 2 is NOT a question....

For those who lost, please post this following passage on your instagram and share the link here!

"Someone's Mum has 4 sons,

North, West and South. What is the name of the fourth son.

I lost to Ierrech."

And share the link in comments!

...And prank many others hehehehe...