Chapter 4599: Struggle! III

Noah had fought many battles across his journey through Existence, but the battle he was about to engage in now was something that anyone with common sense would immediately scoff at.

Going against THE classification.

He knew it would be immensely difficult to face someone at The Level One Scale of Existence.

He knew he would be placed in an immense struggle filled with genuine pain and the real possibility of collapse. He understood these truths intellectually.

But he had to do it regardless. He had to struggle, to push himself beyond reasonable limits, so that his people could live when The Fallout finally arrived.

It was wild to imagine that he was actually attempting this as at this moment, Raijin Katsuro gazed at him with utmost coldness across the vast arena.

The monk’s bearing as a prisoner completely disappeared as he pulsed with a sense of glorious majesty that had been suppressed during confinement.

Purple lightning began coursing around his body with increasing intensity as Noah felt a terrifying sense of oppression erupting from this entity, causing his own body to experience both trepidation and excitement simultaneously.

Yeah. This was THE classification.

A power level he had run away from in the past when survival had demanded retreat. But not today. Regardless of the sense of trepidation screaming through his Existence, today he would face it directly.

At this moment, Raijin Katsuro raised one hand and began playing with tendrils of purple gold lightning that represented his Way of Existence, his voice carrying imposing weight across the vast distance.

"I am Raijin Katsuro, THE Monk of Ten Thousand Storms. I came to Ginnungagap deliberately to challenge myself against the legendary Malformed Ginnu Lifeforms, to test my cultivation against entities who understand Existence at fundamental levels. When I was defeated and imprisoned, I understood clearly that it was due to my own lack of power and depth. I accepted my sentence without complaint."

"Even while jailed, I waited patiently to battle again as I suspected this would eventually be my purpose here. But the battles I was waiting for, the opponents I expected to face, for my first match to actually be against a weak Pre-THE Existence who is not even a Ginnu Lifeform himself..."

His expression twisted with genuine anger.

"It makes me so unbelievably furious. So profoundly insulted that I can barely contain my rage at this arrangement."

BOOM!

Purple lightning exploded around his form as he continued speaking with building intensity.

"I can see clearly that there is some form of relationship between you and the Ginnu Lifeforms here, some connection that grants you favor. And that they actually plan to use me, a THE Surface Depth of Absolute Sovereignty entity, as merely a whetstone to sharpen you like a dull blade being prepared for future use. This alone infuriates me beyond words."

"Do you understand how it feels to forge your own Way through dedicated effort, to build your Sovereignty through countless trials, to achieve THE classification through genuine struggle, only to be used as a stone to sharpen someone else? This whole situation is utterly baffling and deeply offensive to everything I have accomplished."

His eyes blazed with purple gold radiance.

"But since that terrifying entity commanded me to unleash my full power without holding back, I will do exactly that. Since this is supposedly a real battle for your development, I will treat it like one with absolute seriousness. I will show you the unbridgeable gap between our positions faithfully and professionally. I will go for collapsing your Existence completely, or at least ninety-nine percent of it at minimum. Do you understand the situation you have placed yourself in?"

Noah looked at this being as warning signals screamed through every component of his Existence.

Raijin Katsuro now appeared wreathed in purple lightning that pulsed with internal hues of gold, creating a spectacular display of concentrated power. His eyes released rivers of terrifying Sovereignty, authority so concentrated it became visible as flowing energy.

It felt like he held absolute control over everything at this moment, like reality itself bent to acknowledge his dominance.

Noah’s Existence screamed danger warnings at him, as if all parts of his being instinctively recognized they were being locked onto by an apex predator.

Raijin’s voice continued with dark satisfaction at Noah’s obvious tension.

"My Way, my Civilization, my Sovereignty over Existence itself. Someone that has not achieved any Depth in Absolute Sovereignty would never even begin to truly understand what this means. Do you know why you cannot comprehend it? Because as I have been talking, explaining myself and giving you time to prepare, every single Weaving of Existence in the surrounding landscape across Gigaparsecs has already fallen under my Sovereignty."

BOOM!

Instantly, Noah felt an overbearing and unfathomably heavy weight pressing down from all directions simultaneously.

The smooth floor beneath his feet, the obsidian blue sky above, the air itself, everything within perception suddenly crackled with purple gold lightning that had not been there moments before.

Raijin’s expression looked almost forlorn as he shook his head with what might have been pity.

|In this place, within the reach of my Sovereignty, I am the only thing that is now inevitable. I am the only certainty. If you had any Depth of Absolute Sovereignty at all, even the smallest foundation of civilizational authority, you might have been able to fight with me on equal terms regarding this. To express your own view and impose your own Way against mine. But you have no Depth whatsoever. I alone control all Weavings of Existence in this nearby expanse, and I alone say what can and cannot occur. And right now, there can be no expression of Sovereignty but my own. And right now, I decree that I should be the only one standing. Everything else should be kneeling. You should be kneeling before THE.|

BOOM!

The words carried inviolable authority that crashed against Noah with crushing force.

The Sovereignty was suffocating, overwhelming, absolute.

The moment Raijin’s words finished speaking, Noah found himself unable to do anything but feel the terrifying Depth of Heavenly Lightning pressing against every component of his being.

Even when his Existence buzzed with resistance, even when every refined cell and nerve cried out in defiance, absolutely everything felt horrifically suppressed.

His Existence that had been reinforced by The First Tongue, that had been refined by eighteen Phonemes flowing continuously through his foundation, actually showed a glimmer of genuine resistance.

For a brief moment, THE Foundation of The First Tongue pushed back against the imposed Sovereignty with linguistic authority.

But he had only just begun this process of reinforcement. THE Foundation of The First Tongue had only just started to be properly established.

It was still young, still developing, still accumulating the necessary Depth to stand against THE classification.

He had not nearly accumulated enough foundational weight yet.

So shockingly, after that initial flicker of resistance, something terrible occurred.

Noah felt like all of Existence itself bore down on him with crushing intent. Contrary to his mental commands, contrary to him thinki his body reinforced by The First Tongue would have sufficient resistance yo at least stabd against THE classification...

BOOM!

His Barrier of Hunger, that defensive construct he had relied on many times, shattered like glass under the weight of imposed Sovereignty.

And an instant later, before he could even process that failure...

BOOM!

Noah felt his knees, against all his will and intention, hit the smooth floor of The Primordial Genesis Arena with devastating force.

What?

His knees? On the floor? Him? Kneeling?

Him?!

The shock of it crashed through his consciousness with intensity.

Raijin looked down at Noah while wreathed in magnificent purple gold lightning, his voice carrying dark satisfaction.

"What did you think would happen when you stood against THE classification? This is an entirely different Scale of Existence from anything you have experienced before. Did you genuinely think you would be capable of some form of meaningful opposition? To deny THE? Denying THE is functionally equivalent to denying Existence itself."

"I exist here, and I have laid absolute claim on all Existence within my reach. Anything I say goes without question or resistance. My Sovereignty commanded you to kneel, so you kneeled. It is that simple. Why do you have that expression as if this should not have happened? What else could have possibly occurred? You have no Depth to resist with. You have no claim over Existence to make. I do not know what unique power you possessed that you thought would have helped you here, but this is reality. This is the gulf, and this is the discrepancy between me and you. Between THE and Pre-THE. It is like I am facing a helpless child at this moment."

His voice grew colder.

"This profound mismatch was the reason for my shame and fury and disrespect at being placed against you. Let me have you feel exactly the same helplessness and humiliation I experienced. Remain kneeling. Do not even attempt to look up at me. You cannot even gaze upon THE with that weak foundation. Stare at that floor beneath you and reflect on your insignificance. Do not speak. Do not do anything. Just feel that absolute helplessness, and it will give you a small glimpse of how I felt when I was imprisoned and bound."

BOOM!

Noah’s Existence buzzed at this moment with unprecedented fervor as everything about his being cried out in furious rejection.

He had known THE classification was grand and powerful beyond normal comprehension. He had thought his extensive preparations had been somewhat sufficient to at least stand.

He had thought Ul’moreth’s words about needing to Master all eighteen Phonemes to stand against THE were guidelines, that he would somehow be an exception due to his unique advantages.

But for him to be forced onto his knees? To be made to kneel against his will?

New prompts erupted before his vision with critical information.

|For the first time in your cultivation journey, your Quintessence has been challenged in an inviolable way.|

|Your fundamental nature as an entity who kneels to no one has been directly violated.|

|If you do not overcome this challenge to your Quintessence, this core distinction will be forever lost from your Weavings.|

|Your identity as one who stands regardless of opposition is at stake.|

|OVERCOME OR BE DIMINISHED.|

The weight of those words crashed through Noah’s consciousness as he stared at the smooth floor beneath him, feeling the crushing Sovereignty of THE pressing down from all directions.

His knees were on the ground.

He was kneeling.

And somewhere deep within his Existence, something fundamental began to burn with absolute refusal to accept this state!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.