Suffering is the key to win

John new he would have to do something drastic to turn the battle in his favor once more, John sadistically smiled at Sal sending a chill up his spine. Sal stopped attacking and got into a defensive stance, Sal knew that he was getting slower and more clunky with his movement due to his shoulder and the burns all across his flesh, so he wasn't willing to suffer another wound like those. Lightning sparks began to fill a three foot area of him as well, John just continued to smile as he noticed that fact. Sal had to actively use his "breath" to defend from his flames that used none of his energy reserves, he was nearly still at his peak condition other that the hole but Sal's condition was worse he was riddled with first and second degree burns that were very painful to fight with and a hole in his shoulder that leaked blood every time he moved it.

John realized that all he had to do was win a battle of attrition after a few moments of consideration. He shot another mass of flames towards Sal, this time though he just continued to supply the mass with more fresh flames so Sal struggled to deal with the flames due to their seemingly endless supply. Sal panicked and had to think of what to due in the incredibly surprising situation he was in, a low ninth realm cultivator had drawn him into a stalemate and injured him to boot. John's Individuality also recognized his shocking achievement and supplied him with more power to fuel his task in escaping. Suddenly an explosion of lightning utterly destroyed Johns flames in an instant, and a figure pierce through the flames and destruction.

A loud squelching sound hammered in John's ears, a spear had replaced where his left lung was. As blood shot through his throat John's face reflected the fact that he hadn't taken his opponent seriously. 'Am I going to die'. Was the only thing filling his mind, but John still had an ember of fight left in him that burned brighter that the sun it's self.

Chuckling to himself as his life seemed to start fading from him he opened his mouth, but what came out of it shocked and terrified Sal to his core.

"You should have gone for the head". John said through the blood gurgling in the back of his throat, he liked his lips and his gauntlets punctured Sal's eyes. In an instant his brain was destroyed and Sal had died finally and due to the fact that John could change his form and size at will, he easily ate Sal's body in an instant. The flesh turning into energy that flooded his body and cementing his ninth realm power level for not just his body but also the rest of his centers. His heart had also under gone a change with the black membrane collapsing and fusing with his hearts walls elevating the organ into a more reliable center of power which he had finally figured the advantage of having at this point. The forth center which he dubbed as the the cursed star/black heart, had the ability to purify and increase the potency of the energy that enters in his body. It also assists the creation aspect of his individuality while making destruction easy by providing a better and more efficient vessel of destruction.

Having another sudden rise in power caused those around him to look towards the wreckage and calamity. John stood in the middle of it all, blood caked the ground in low amounts in some spots while others had masses of it. Some areas were dry but there was still a red tinge to the areas. Gasps resounded through the cave, or at least the parts where cultivators could sense in the background there was still the low and dull thuds of fists pounding against walls.

One of the guards seemed to get inspiration and a desire for revenge as he not only started to sprint towards John with several behind him as well, but the man also pulled out a piece of parchment it flowed for a few seconds then he put it away. The message he sent is as follows: "We need support at labor camp alpha, one of the prisoners has lost it and killed one of or tier two officers. Every guard near is heading to quell him, but he advanced in realms after the fight and now poses a large threat, hopefully we can buy enough time for one of the tier two captains or one of our higher ranked members".

John stood where he was not noticing the men heading his way due to the sudden comprehension of a law. Black and foul lightning crackled at his gauntlets finger tips, the aura radiated pure destruction and caused some guards to hesitate and stop for a second or two. Not wanting John's enlightenment to gain him an upper hand in the impending battle, some of the still moving guards volleyed spells at him.

John opened his eyes and from within a glow shined, he still had a crazed appearance even though he was the calmest he had been in a while. He extended his left hand and from it two massive bolts shot out of his palm, the bolts headed straight up for about a millisecond before John manipulated the bolts to strike each other. A large explosion ensued and destroyed the spells being flung at him. A crazed look appeared on John's face as he felt an immense bloodlust break free from his form. Barely containing him self John put one hand to his head as he tried to fight it, not being able to suppress the intense desire he chuckled.

"I guess, these poor men are going to be descended upon by a blood thirsty demon of death". He continued to chuckle as he let the bloodlust take control.

Lightning bursted from his feet propelling him forward at an immense speed as it mixed with his wings speed, the guards couldn't keep their eyes on him as he moved so fast that he almost blended in with the ground. When he reappeared he shot a bolt of lightning at the largest group of gathered guards, whilst distracted John found his first target and before either of them knew the man had an arm size hole in his chest. The man's body disappeared after John killed him, with another meal filling his stomach he had a bit of clarity as he felt the bloodlust become manageable. Inside his mental sphere there was a blinding light as the formation on the wall of the sphere lit up and allowed him to take control once more.

John who had reappeared for a few seconds as the events in his mind went on, disappeared once more. This time when he reappeared he used several different techniques to end a group of men in an instant. Fire wrapped around the first five of the fifteen in the bundle, bolts of lightning pierced another four of the mens chests while John used a newly fabricated technique on another man , a mix of a red and blue light flashed on his hand while he punch outward at one of the men. The man's chest exploded as the combination of fire and lightning energies was extremely unstable, he wouldn't have dreamed that he would ever be able to die that, but by using his lightning law and forcing the energies to only react as he contacted with the man with his slight martial art knowledge. A ring on John finger glowed slightly as the body's of the men vanished.

'Late night snacks for later' John thought as he then "teleported" to his next victim. Like this John took out thirty more men(including the rest of the group mentioned above), he then looked into the ring of the first guy and found a map of the empire he was in. This was useful for when he escaped, but he wasn't able to find anything on the place he was trapped in.

Deciding that he didn't need a map, John then scouted the walls with his eyes and found what he desired. One of the buildings had a sign stating 'return portal', thinking that it could only mean one thing John headed for it. He use even more breath to get to the building faster, but before he got within a mile of it he had an idea.

He ducked into one of the buildings and removed his clothes and he felt the gauntlets retreat back under his skin with enough willing of them to do so. John put on the guard uniform that was most intact, using some breath he infused it into the clothes and they stitched back together. He attempted this after he had remembered seeing a magical shop with regenerating clothes before his ended up in the wilderness a while back.

John took a moment to compose himself and check his gains from the prior battles. The most note worthy was the law he had acquired, he looked it his spirit and noticed the new law that took the form of a mass of dark lightning floating next to his material law that was just a mass of rocks, he didn't notice that a clear orb that was in the shape of a gauntlet. As John focused on the lightning he found out that its name was simply lightning comprehension tier one. The other gain he had was his new realm, after he had killed and ate the other guy he was pushed into the semi second tier on his body, but his mind dantian, and cursed heart would take longer to advance they were at the peak of the eighth realm the only required his comprehension to increase.

John snuck out of the house and leisurely waltzed toward the building. He tried not to appear suspicious, but it was hard for him seeing as he never needed to do so prior to then. John suddenly bursted into the building which was very plain on the inside with a desk at the back wall and a few rooms with closed doors. He approached the desk frantically and once he got close enough, he used his spectacular acting skills.

"Why hasn't one of the stronger guards came yet, we have an insanely powerful prison that is going berserk and killing everyone, I need to go up to get one otherwise everyone will die". Mentally patting himself on the back for his performance.

The two guards that were sitting at the desk quickly rushed to the room behind them and motioned for him to follow. Inside the room there was a large circle on the floor that was intricate and had all sorts of magical words and several items on the floor that were powering the formation. The two put some shards on the floor which he noticed were filled with power and were almost at the second tier, stepping onto the formation he he teleported to a place he was oblivious of. He was in a large plaza and it took him a while to regain his stability and focus due to him never teleporting with a formation.

John pulled out the map that he had found in the dead guys ring and looked to see where he was. Noticing that he was in the northern part, John quickly tried to formulate a escape route. Finding the route after about ten minutes of scouring the map, John then quickly followed the map after he had takes off and stored the guards uniform.

John arrived at the exit of the empire and noticed that there was a very large line, sneaking into the line John tried to blend in and hid inside one of the groups carriage that had materials covering most of it and not leaving any space for them to sit so the walk beside it. Or that's what he wanted to do, but right as he was about to hop in the carriage after scouting it out someone stopped him.

The man who stopped him held firmly onto his shoulder and when John turned to look at him, a shiver ran up his spine and he had failed his escape mission. It was a guard who had stopped him and the man did not look pleased.

"What are you doing, you obviously haven't joined an organization so how do you expect to leave the empire. You should know that it's the law that civilians aren't allowed to leave the empire without being sent on a mission. Come with me, you really shouldn't be skipping the exam either". John could do nothing because the guard who had "abducted" him was firmly at the peak of the second tier.

John was taken to a large clearing with at least fifteen trout other people his age. All of them ranging from eighteen to twenty five and it seemed that they all had their attention on the end of the clearing and John found out why pretty quickly. An enormous amount tower was placed at the end and it radiated an immense power and that wasn't including the woman who sat a top this tower, she radiated the aura of at least the sixth tier which frightened John to his very core.

All of a sudden the women on the tower waved his hand and an enormous force pressed down on every single person there. John remembered it being the same aura as before when he had first entered the empire. Every single person in the clearing other than the guards had been forced to bow by the force, but John wouldn't accept this power play she was doing. John planted his feet firmly and resisted the force with his entire existence, he even managed to step forward a few times.

Noticing that John was resisting her the woman felt a bit of rage buildup, she increased the power of the force once more, but it was entirely focused on John. The others still weren't able to move because her aura alone was enough to stop them. John gritted his teeth as he felt his body lowering, John used everything at his disposal to prevent him from lowering his head to her. Lightning cackled around him and small embers ignited everything within ten feet of him, John also let the cursed hearts power flood his veins and his realm increased as his ambition drove him to be more powerful as he was currently not strong enough to resist the law she was using.

Suddenly in John's mind a bunch of random concepts began to fuse together and create an overarching concept. Being left with nothing else that he could do, John activated the new law he had just acquired. The area around him started to glow and John finally felt that the aura had died down and lessened. He raised his head as high as possible and started the woman directly in her eyes.