chapter 1953: surtr's ascension begins!

as andromeda constantly fought the venerable and bought time, she glanced into the skies above, where things were beginning to change greatly.
rumble!
the skies trembled, the clouds became darker, as surtr floated amidst these clouds, a red- colored ring could be faintly seen coming from his aura. his divinity was rapidly beginning to evolve- no, to be sacrificed.
his powers constantly flowed into the ring, which then began to float above him, the black clouds constantly sending thunderbolts towards his body, trying to punish him, this was a tribulation.
a deadly one at that!
ten thousand thunderbolts, a deadly tribulation that is born from the world itself as it tries to stop someone from ascending.
drake had faced his own set of tribulations when he ascended as well, and now, as surtr was recklessly trying to ascend, he was going to face it as well!
boom! boom! boom! boom!
the thunderbolts punished his gigantic body, and yet his physical body remained strong, he resisted the pain and held on his own, the agonizing attacks could only push him so far.
his powers had increased a lot after his brother asmodeus "unlocked" part of it, and even his body and physical might, stamina, and vitality had been multiplied by at least ten times.
"nnnggh! t-this damn annoying thunderstorm! is this really something i have to go through, brother?!"
surtr complained as he continued trying to focus into the ascendancy law refinement. the soul of asmodeus and all of his other dragon siblings were constantly refining the ascendancy law with him, guiding him in every step, even a part of his mother's soul, the great muspel, primordial dragon of fire, was doing the same.
fluooosh!
as the ring continued becoming real over each passing second, its faint, ghostly form became more solidified, redder, glowing with fiery flames.
"it is necessary for your evolution and ascension, surtr! this is the world's way of trying to stop you. a venerable's existence goes against the natural order of yggdrasil, did you know?"
"w-what?!"
"indeed, the true supreme beings should have always been us, the primordial dragons, and our children the divine dragons, then the primordial titans and their sons, the divine titans. lastly, the gods, born from yggdrasil's fruits. only them and us, were allowed to be the real rulers of the world, the divine beings."
"its power is being redirected to the ascendancy law through the formation we've created!" muspel said. "my son, you must go through this pain for your ascension!"
"can't you redirect the whole lightning then?!" surtr asked while feeling sickly.
"the lightning alone would destroy the ring, which is its original intention but your present redirects it towards you instead," asmodeus explained. "the primordial energies contained within this tribulation are then imbued into the ascendancy law ring."
"d-dammit...!"
surtr gritted his teeth, he felt weaker, he was unable to use magic to heal himself as he had to put everything he had into the ring's creation.
a single moment of interruption would mean the ring would shatter and he would receive enough backlash to kill him.
therefore, without someone else healing him, he would have to endure the pain until it was done!
"when will this be over, hours? days?" surtr asked. "we can't take so much time, andromeda is fighting that monster and-"
"it will start now."
asmodeus and muspel's voices echoed at the same time.
rumble!
the gigantic ring began spinning around, growing even larger with each second, trembling as
it became bigger and bigger.
"w-woah...!"
surtr's eyes widened as he saw the massive ring, and then, he saw his own body beginning to tremble, his powers being drained.
"you must now sacrifice what makes you who you are, surtr!" asmodeus said. "sacrifice your divinities, divine abilities, and everything else you have!"
"so this is how the ascendancy laws are made... i must stripe myself of everything i've built so far, of all the effort i've put in my life, just for this moment?"
"yes, to ascend into a venerable is to give up all of your past life just for this moment, surtr!" his mother said. "now, my son. you will become the second of our kind to ever step into this
new level!"