Chapter 155: And Pushing Past
As the last of Jacks flame whisked away with a final spark of infinite sadness, gentle warmth filled his entire being, suffocating him, completing him, burying him under power the likes of which he couldnt even begin to imagine.
His world turned green, a plain of infinite vitality, a pond of life from which he was allowed to drink. His ruined body sucked in the life like a cracked desert absorbs the rain, drinking greedily, desperately. His numbness became infinite pain, filling his every corner. His stump of a shoulder sprouted new flesh, coiling around itself and tightening into an arm. His wounds closed, the skin regrowing and knitting itself shut.
And Jack Rust was made anew.
Suddenly, he snapped back into total lucidity. As the healing powers faded away, he was left flabbergasted.
His body, broken and mangled beyond recognition, had been completely restored. New, rosy skin had appeared over his wounds. His veins and arteries were filled with blood again. His heart was beating, strong as an ox, and his lungs were blissfully empty of liquids.
Even his cut-off arm had regrown. He flexed its fingers; they felt good as new, like they had always been there. Like the battle had been a dream. However, the sight of his previous arm in a puddle of blood served as a grim reminder of just how close to death he had come.
But he had pushed through.
He had survived. Succeeded.
Combat trial, passed, the voice said again, and this time, Jack imagined he heard a hint of approval in its tone. Withheld rewards presented.
Suddenly, a slew of notifications clustered Jacks vision.
Level up! You have reached Level 70.
Level up! You have reached Level 71.
Level up! You have reached Level 72.
Level up! You have reached Level 73.
Level up! You have reached Level 74.
Level up! You have reached Level 75.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.
Level up! You have reached Level 76.
Level up! You have reached Level 77.
Level up! You have reached Level 78.
Level up! You have reached Level 79.
Level up! You have reached Level 80.
He lost his breath. Hed never seen so many level-ups at the same time.
No wonder! he thought. No wonder I didnt get any level-ups during the battle The trial was holding them back, somehow. I didnt even know that was possible.
Despite his surprise and near-death experience, Jack didnt lose any time. He remembered that the voice had mentioned five trials; hed only been through four so far.
In the few seconds of peace, he quickly checked his status screen.
Name: Jack Rust
Species: Human, Earth-387
Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (E)
Grade: E
Class: Fiend of the Iron Fist (Elite)
Level: 80
Strength: 260 (+)
Dexterity: 260 (+)
Constitution: 290 (+)
Mental: 30 (+)
Will: 60 (+)
Free points: 55
Jack was his own torturer. His sense of self ruptured. Inflicting such misery on oneself made no sense. Why not release it? Why not escape?
And yet, he persisted. Blind stubbornness, indomitable will, a burning, unquenchable thirst for the power this pain would bring.
Why do you persist? he asked himself, screaming. Why do you do this to me?
The answer was not clear. It was inside him, however, and Jack pushed.
You are insane! We do not deserve this! Let me go!
NO!
Why!?
Jack screamed again, the sound not even registering. Every nerve in his body was firing off like firecrackers. Every synapse in his brain was flaring.
The drop was sinking through his body slowly. It was like a bubble closing around him, with his heart as the center. But even after all this time, it was nowhere near done.
Why!? One Jack demanded to know, while the other held his hands in a deathgrip around the neck of the first.
His thoughts were loose. His body was jelly. His sense of self was torn, and he struggled to make even the slightest of thoughts. All he knew was that he had to push through, he had to endure, and this was a desire that stemmed from somewhere deep inside him, from the very core of what made him Jack Rust. It came without thought, without consideration.
Why!? Jack screamed again, the voice echoing inside his own mind. Why!?
He did not know. He could not see that far inside him. Why did he fight? Why did he progress? Why did he force himself forward when all that lay between him and triumph was pain?
Why had he fought in the dungeon instead of lying down to die? Why had he joined the Tournament? Why had he stood up for what was right, refusing to be enslaved? Why had he cornered himself, running out to a hostile galaxy to fight against insurmountable odds?
Why could he not just yield and be happy?
Thats not happiness! the torturer Jack screamed back. Thats fake! Lies! Weakness! It is not my path!
That was the core, wasnt it? The path hed chosen, what hed forged himself into, the filter through which he saw the world. His desires were set. His soul was settled. He wanted to be this Jack Rust, not any other. The Jack who fought.
Why!? the tortured Jack insisted, desperate to know why he had to endure such pain.
Jack felt like it had been a century already, but the drop was only halfway through his body. His nerves were frayed, existing in an eternal state of pain. Could he persist all the way? He did not know. But he would try. His outer self was shed away, revealing his deepest core underneath.
He had almost run out of power. He wanted to resist, but he simply couldnt any longer. The drop was approaching completion, but could he last that much? He needed something to fuel him, to support him. Why did he fight? He dug deep inside himself, striving to find the core-most reason and grab on to it like a drowning man on a floating log.
Why!? his thoughts screamed again, his fear, his despair, his weakness.
At the end of his rope, he found the reason.
Because compared to the pain of being weak, this is nothing.
When all else was shed away, this was all that remained. This was Jack Rust. A man who would never yield, never give up, never stop striving for greatness. A man who had seen through the lies he told himself. And he knew.
Without strength, without freedom, life was meaningless.
He remembered the times before the Integration. He was leading a dull life, simply floating along without power, without initiative, without control over his life. He always smiled and nodded, playing by the rules, seeking societys approval, burying himself deeper into the hurtful facade. The Integration had hurt, but it had shown him a way outa way that always existed, even before the Integration, but he was too weak of heart to pursue it.
Now that he saw the truth, he could never go back. He did not want to return to those days. He was afraid of them, and of the person he used to be.
He wanted power. Freedom. Without those, he might as well die.
And the world had listened to his wishes. It had provided him the opportunity. If he gave up now, if he betrayed himself at this critical juncture, he would never recover. His will would be shattered. He would forever remain weak.
He anchored himself to this truth, holding on with tooth and nail, using his despair as fuel to grab on harder.
The pain did not abate, but the tortured Jack stopped resisting, accepting his fate and why it had to be so. Torturer and tortured became the same. He was one again, a unity of will and pain centered around one axis: Strength. Freedom. True life.
The pain came in crashing waves. Jack felt it all, but he no longer suffered as much. He knew he would not relent. He would persist until he died. That resolve took a weight off his chest, turning him into a rock at sea, always battered by waves but never budging, never relenting. His screams became a natural part of the world as his mind receded in a shell of acceptance, watching his own pain as if from afar.
It could have been a second or a year. Jack had no way to tell.
Until everything came to an end.
The pain disappeared. Jack was no longer in a stone cavern. In fact, he no longer had a body. He was in a vision similar to those he got from his Classes, but the scenery was on a whole other level.
He wasnt on a planet anymore. He was in space, surrounded by broken stars and swirling vortexes.
And, right in front of him, the entire world was dark, like someone had stuck a black sticker in the center of his vision.
