The Art Of Slaughter.
No one could be bothered with anyone else at this point because you can't say no to an extra mark. The most ferocious people are the ones without marks and the ones on a streak, those aiming for full marks.
To achieve the perfect pass and skip to the last section of the trial, they must achieve seven marks. So these people looking for a perfect pass are competing with those without one knowing full well that the price for failure for them is death. You can't feel guilty on the path of perfection. It is the survival of the fittest.
Gerald couldn't help but take notice of some of these ferocious people. They could become his future competition. He also noticed elementals, especially fire elementals. All they were doing was spewing fire and accumulating kills. He was jealous of them. They were like walking flame throwers.
He noticed participants of various races and the ease with which they kill in battle. Races like vampires and their blood magic, phoenixes and their everlasting flames, giants and their supreme strength battle sage monkeys and the lethality of their attacks, Griffins and Pegasus with air superiority, not to mention Dragons.
The saying that Dragons are supreme would explain the monstrosity of the damage they can dish out. They are the monsters of the battlefield. He doubts any dragon in this trial has lost a mark, and yet they were still going all out.
They have transformed from their humanoid form into their natural flying reptilian form and are using their dragon breath to decimate the horde of enemies. He has to admit that Dragons are the closest race to perfection.
He saw all this, and he was jealous. The sight of all these unfair advantages spurred him on. These species are already supreme. But he won't be satisfied with Supreme. Only utter perfection will do.
"I won't fail, I must not fail, I will not fail, I shall not fail, I won't fail."
Again and again, he chanted, his very being resonating with unstoppable determination. He turned the energy welling up within him towards slaughter.
Rumour has it that the path of perfection leads to eventual perfection, the reformation of a being, no matter how flawed, into a perfect existence. He doesn't know just what this "Perfection" is. Probably only the old monsters at the world god realm do.
But he isn't going to wait that long. He planned to take whatever perfection he could acquire now, and for that, he must not fail.
The killing went on amidst the sound of clashes, roaring beasts, dying monsters, and yells from the participants. Gehald's eyes, at this point, were already bloodshot. He had entered a strange balance of the fusion between his law of death and that of slaughter.
In this strange state of mindless slaughter, his comprehension of the laws of slaughter and death increased exponentially. It was not enough to complete them, but it was more than enough to increase his damage output.
Deathly reddish black flames spread out from within him to his surroundings, and all the beasts that were touched were scorched if the injury was light or completely burned in severe cases.
Those who were scorched found their bodies desiccating before they died. He rushed alone into the midst of the beasts whenever he found his surroundings empty of enemies.
The slaughter continued for years. The participants would retreat to the fortress to rest once in a while before going back to the slaughter. When five years of this were over, they were all teleported out.
They were all teleported to the world where the gravity trial was taken. The sovereigns and grand gods slumped as soon as they were teleported. They are all tired. Their mind is tired, and their body weary.
The atmosphere was deathly silent. The various participants have already been informed of their results. They either got a mark or they didn't. Some started to cry, some had pale emotionless faces, and others steeled their mind for the next ordeal.
The barrier around each of them prevented communication or interaction, so no one could hear the silent crying or pleading. Reality has come crashing down on some, while some were indifferent to the circumstances and have verified that they are truly special, truly geniuses. Others have to deal with the bitter truth that they are nothing special and that they are probably going to die soon.
Gehald wasn't paying attention to anything except his comprehension of the two laws of slaughter and death. He knew that the supreme law of slaughter and death went hand in hand before this strange experience, but he didn't know how it worked.
Now that he has realized the link between them, he intends to take advantage of this profound knowledge and fully comprehend the two laws. He hopes that he will be able to achieve this so that his soul can achieve a boost that will guarantee his passage in the next trial.
The next trial will make you either lose a mark if you have one and you fail, gain a mark if you pass, or lose your life if you don't have any marks and fail. He already has five marks, and he would like to keep it that way.
He isn't alone in this train of thought. Everyone is trying to improve themselves for the last trial, the soul trial, also known as the trial of death or life. It is one of the most dangerous trials that they will face.
The soul trial is the last trial of the first section of the trial of heaven. It is similar to the gravity trial. Every participant will be subject to harmful soul fluctuations at the same time. The participants must defend with their divine sense instead of their bodies, like in the gravity trial.
In this trial, only those with a mark or those who can remain until the last 30% will survive.
Those without a mark have to somehow survive to the end or die. If you have marks, you will lose one of them to survive. Your mark will grant you access to the next section of the trial instead of dying. But if you don't have a mark, then this is the last opportunity to get one or die.