Divinity

Alfie felt like he had awoken from a long dream. He had no idea just how long he had been standing around pondering his thoughts. 

The archway was still standing in front of him but instead of the noon's high sun illuminating its shimmer, the gray clouds above dimmed its mysticism. 

Looking above he saw gray clouds converging upon his location, and through the lens of spiritual sense, he saw the massive amounts of energy gathering in its core. 

His immediate thought went to Zeus but he remembered he didn't exist in this universe. It must've been something else. 

While Alfie was in his state of enlightenment a loose crowd had formed around him due to his sudden stillness. 

When the clouds began forming above, however, most backed away a good distance. Even the most devoted kept their distance, knowing it was best for the Lord. 

Rummaging through his memories, he learned the origin of the lighting above him. 

Something like this was only supposed to be happening during his ascension and yet it showed up already? 

He was fucked. The lightning above him held enough power to destroy islands, and at most his body could withstand an explosion to level a building. 

Searching through his memories he wondered if the charms imbued into his windbreaker jacket could protect him but alas it couldn't. 

For heavenly tribulations, they required a very specific charm made especially to counter it. 

 And unfortunately, his jacket held no such charm. Heavenly tribulations were events that people would take years to get prepared for.

He was certain his family possessed thousands of such charms, but they hadn't added it to his arsenal simply due to the fact it wasn't necessary. 

That meant Alfie was on his own. He could use nothing except his own strength to complete this trial. 

The sound of crackling awoke Alfie from his pondering. The first of nine lightning strikes were about to start. 

With the pressure of death on his shoulder, Alfie promptly gathered spiritual energy into his body. 

He gathered as much as he could, but there stood a problem. Due to his low level, his body couldn't efficiently use the energy to reinforce itself. 

Globs of spiritual energy were stuck around his muscles not being able to be absorbed due to their saturation. 

He needed to find a solution fast, but it was then that the first lightning struck his body. 

A searing pain echoed through his whole body, leaving the poor Alfie alive but aching. 

His eardrums burst from the deafening sound, and the ground beneath him was charred black. 

The first of nine were done, only eight more to go. 

Alfie wouldn't be able to survive all nine if he continued exactly the same way. He needed to try different things, and although the pain dulled his mind, he still had ideas. 

Spiritual energy bends reality to its will. Alfie hypothesized that it was this enlightenment that had caused his whole charade. 

Although spiritual energy in its purest form could bend reality, people couldn't use it as such. 

They had to filter the energy through their body, and through that process, the energy would gain affinities and contaminations. 

Alfie on the other hand didn't seem to have such limitations. Whether it was the energy in the atmosphere or inside himself he could use it the same. 

However, the energy he filtered appeared to be much purer and refined. Unlike other people's stars his rotated at a constant rate filtering out any contamination. 

His muscles were saturated with spiritual energy, but it was filled with unfiltered filthy energy straight from the atmosphere. 

Without delay, he began to circulate the spiritual energy within his body, and with each second that passed it began to go faster and faster. 

Not only that but without the filth, he was actually able to input even more spiritual energy into his circulation. 

The crackling above signified the second coming of retribution, but this time Alfie was much more prepared. 

The second stuck Alfie, and though it caused him similar amounts of pain to the first he was left standing. 

His plan had worked, and not only that but the circulation of spiritual energy inside his system was continuing to speed up. 

He was growing his strength with each subsequent second. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth strike went the same but the seventh left him on his knees. 

There had been a jump in strength from the third to fourth, but the one from sixth to the seventh was something of a different caliber. 

There were only two more strikes till the end, but Alfie wasn't sure if he'd be able to survive the ninth. 

Through observation, he was able to see that the lightning that struck him each time was made up entirely of pure spiritual energy. 

The main purpose of the heavenly tribulation other than providing a challenge was purifying the target. The process of cleaning up a person's body and energy of contamination was painful and destructive.

But due to Alfie filling up his body with similar pure energy, it allowed him a sense of resistance against the lightning. With fewer impurities to clean up, there was less damage for the lighting to do. 

As the eighth strike hit him, he was brought straight down to the ground. Laying face first parallel to the dirt, Alfie was in agony at the pain. 

The power of the eighth strike was unparalleled to that of the seventh strike. Instead of every third strike the power now increased every single strike. 

He wouldn't be able to survive the ninth and final strike, he was sure of it. The eighth one had charred his skin, leaving him to look like a burnt crisp. 

He needed to gamble on this last strike, there was no other way he could survive without doing so. 

The once sparse clouds had at this point gathered into a single dense cloud. The clouds rumbled in anticipation, giving no time for Alfie to prepare. 

Spiritual perfection allowed Alfie access to his soul space. With his creativity, he used it to rapidly search through his memories. 

The most important aspect of Spiritual perfection though was the absolute control over spiritual energy. 

The lightning that kept striking him was also just spiritual energy. Throughout the constant strikes, he hypothesized the possibility that he could control it. 

Controlling the lighting while it was still in the air was impossible, but the moment it touched a single atom of his being he would be able to exert the maximum power of spiritual perfection. 

For that though he needed an extremely fast reaction time. A moment's hesitation and he would be burnt to ashes. 

Spiritual perfection allowed Alfie divine control over souls, and with it, he planned to manipulate his own to slow down his perception of time. 

It was a risk, he had never controlled his soul, or even another's for that matter, but it was the best chance he had. 

Alfie looked up towards the sky, preparing his mind for the strenuous task at hand. He was scared, he wasn't afraid of death but instead of losing the connections he possessed. 

His breath was shallow, and his eyesight hazy. He was sitting on the ground, unable to stand from the fatigue and pain. 

As the last bit of spiritual energy condensed into the source of the cloud, he manipulated his soul to slow down. 

In the millisecond after Alfie's command, the spiritual energy held within the cloud lunged towards him. 

The second his perception switched he saw the bolt of lighting near centimeters away from his eye. 

Alfie wanted to shout in shock but his body simply didn't allow it, although his mind could perceive time faster, his body could not keep up. 

Remembering his task he concentrated fully on his spiritual sense. When the very first particle of energy struck his eyelash, Alfie mustered every bit of his strength into spiritual perfection. 

He controlled the flow of energy entering his body, converting it into his own. 

It was slow but he channeled the energy into his body. Having a surplus of time, he began to use spiritual energy to heal his body. 

People needed an affinity towards healing to use spiritual energy in such a way, but Alfie through spiritual perfection replicated the same procedure. 

For what seemed like hours in his perspective he began to repeatedly repair and destroy his body, making the end result a greater whole. 

He didn't stop at just his body though, he began to purify his first star, allowing it to filter energy so pure that it rivaled the lightning itself. 

With the passing of a full day in his perspective he felt his strength begin to reach a limit. Despite that, he still had half of the lightning's energy. 

There was only one thing that he could do. It was time for him to create his second star. 

He repeated the same steps from when he created his first star. Compress, and rotate till the spiritual energy becomes something new. 

***

To Alfie's subjects who were watching from far away, less than a millisecond had passed since the ninth lighting stuck. 

In an instant, they witnessed the burnt crisp of a corpse regain its life. The final lightning strike seemingly disappeared, leaving only the Lord in its place. 

The shockwave that preceded his reappearance caused a wave of shock in their hearts. Though faint they witnessed a faint light shining around the Lord, his aura warping the space around him. 

The sky began to clear as a ray of light broke the clouds, shining upon the Lord. 

They knew the man in front of them was their lord, but his presence caused a shiver to run down their spine. 

Through instinct alone they kneeled in the presence of his Divinity.