Chapter 178: Ch 178 : The Arena of Emphiany

The Trial of Might had been going on for what felt like an eternity, yet the excitement in the Arena of Epiphany had not waned in the slightest.

For a month in the planetary accelerated time, a grand parade of divine and monstrous forms from across the multiverse had taken their turn, each a unique testament to their creator’s ingenuity.

The parade was endless and wondrous. A demigod whose lower body was a churning vortex of sand. A living statue of jade with eyes of emerald fire. A creature that was a walking, sentient fungal colony.

Sunny watched them all, he was learning, seeing the boundless creativity of the Gods he now ruled.

Then, a new name flashed on the roster: Octa.

A demigod materialized before the Pillar of Might. Its form was unlike any other.

Its body was a slender, almost fragile construct of shimmering, silver metal. But its head was a single, flawless, multifaceted diamond, completely disconnected from its neck, spinning slowly in the air a few centimeters above its shoulders, a silent, beautiful, and unnerving sight.

This was Octa, the first demigod of the God Strategist, a being designed not for battle, but for wisdom.

With a quiet sigh that was more of a movement of internal gears, he stepped forward and threw a single, light punch. There was no boom, no shattering of stone. Only a dull, unsatisfying thud.

The pillar glowed a dull, unforgiving red. Failure.

For Strategist, watching from his high throne, it was not a shock. He had known Octa’s physical strength was his weakest attribute.

But for Octa, the failure was a cascade of complex data he could not process. He stood there, his diamond head spinning slightly faster, replaying the punch in his mind, analyzing the angle, the force, the point of impact.

He was searching for a logical error in a problem that could not be solved by logic alone.

And then, something shifted. The very air around him, saturated with the unique, potent energy of the arena, seemed to rush into him. His diamond head stopped spinning.

The trillions of facets on its surface began to glow with a brilliant, internal luminescence. He had entered a state of epiphany.

“Gaining an epiphany from a single punch,” Sunny’s voice was a low murmur of appreciation. “Your demigod truly possess great wisdom, Strategist.”

He decided it was time to reveal the arena’s greatest secret. His voice boomed, not with the authority of a king, but with the excitement of gaining some more faith through this.

“I believe I have forgotten to mention one of the biggest advantages of this arena!”

A wave of speculation ran through the crowd, but it was Strategist who typed in the God Chat, his own mind alight with a sudden, brilliant hope.

Strategist: “Is it… epiphany?”

“Bingo!” Sunny’s voice confirmed, and a wave of understanding and excitement washed over the six billion Gods.

The name of the arena was not just a name; it was a promise. This wasn’t just a stage for battle; it was a crucible for growth.

This tournament was not just to divide spoils; it was to elevate the strength of his entire empire.

Sunny, feeling a surge of benevolent impatience, decided to help the process along. He focused a sliver of his will and cast a subtle spell of time acceleration, a personal bubble of fast-forwarded reality that enveloped only the meditating Octa.

For the audience, what should have been a process of years unfolded in two breathtaking minutes.

Octa’s eyes, unseen within his diamond head, snapped open. The brilliant light receded, and he looked at the Pillar of Might with a newfound understanding.

He stepped forward and punched again. There was no visible increase in speed or power. But this time, when his fist connected, the pillar didn’t just thud.

It resonated, a deep, harmonic hum that vibrated through the entire arena, a perfect transfer of energy. The pillar flashed a brilliant, triumphant green.

“You passed, Octa,” Strategist whispered from his throne, a rare, genuine smile touching his lips. “Thank you, Emperor Cosmos, for giving him this opportunity.”

Sunny just smiled back. Every increase in the strength of a subordinate was a direct increase in his own. ’And you wouldn’t want to know,’ he thought with a private smirk, ’that I am currently using your very own ’Children of Wisdom’, maybe it’s another reason for such an emphiany.’

“And next,” Adam’s voice boomed, his own face alight with joyous anticipation, “is Nova!”

The live chat, which had been buzzing with analysis of Octa’s epiphany, exploded into a supernova of pure, fanatical excitement.

The lifeforms of Veridia, the billions of souls who saw Nova not just as a demigod but as their sacred Guardian, typed a single, unified roar that echoed across a billion worlds.

“SMASH THAT PILLAR, GUARDIAN NOVA!”

Nova, in her elegant humanoid form, heard their collective prayer. A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips. She appeared before the Pillar of Might.

Then, she began to grow. Her form expanded, her obsidian scales shimmering as she shed her humanoid shell, her size increasing to a degree that defied all logic.

The arena, a structure larger than a star, suddenly felt small, cramped. The pillar, which had seemed to touch the heavens, was now a mere toothpick before her.

She looked down at the insignificant stone, then at the trillions of her adoring fans.

She gave them what they wanted. With a casual, almost lazy pinch of her colossal claws, the pillar shattered. Not into rubble, but into fine, microscopic dust.

But her power did not stop there. The sheer, overwhelming weight of her divine form pressed down on reality itself, and the floor of the arena, a construct of a Goddess, groaned and cracked, a web of fissures spreading out for miles from beneath her.

No green light was needed. No announcement was required. The entire universe understood. A wave of thunderous, adoring cheers washed over her.

The other demigods, who had just been displaying their own immense power, now looked at her with a new, profound horror.

This was a different level of existence entirely. With her point made, Nova shrank back to her normal size and teleported back to her stand, her expression as calm and unreadable as ever.

For the next month in the planetary time, the Trial of Might continued. The demigods of Veridia and the other powerful Gods put on a spectacle that would be talked about for a thousand years.

And through it all, there was no boredom, no tiredness. Every mortal, every demigod, and every God watched, their hearts filled with a single, burning thought: what could possibly come next?

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