Shang's next opponent was a beast with a Water and Lightning Dual Affinity.
The battle went surprisingly well for some time, but then the beast managed to hit Shang by combining several different kinds of attacks.
From that moment on, Shang was on the back foot, and he was concentrating more on staying alive than actually winning.
Of course, due to the way Shang fought and since he was weaker, this meant that he essentially had no chance at victory anymore unless he was very lucky.
In the end, Shang used an all-out attack with the Entropy ability of his swords, but the beast quickly avoided it by moving to the side.
Shang could only look at the big blue stork with a couple of silver feathers.
Several balls of lightning and water were floating around the area, which had been the reason for Shang's difficulties.
The stork had seen how Shang absorbed the surrounding Mana to increase his power and used the balls of lighting and water to block his Void Break.
Of course, if Void Casting were so easily countered, the Mage Lords wouldn't use it.
There were several ways to deal with something like that.
But there was one issue.
Control.
Shang could see the balls, and he could focus on absorbing only the neutral Mana, but the stork's mind was too strong, and its reactions were too quick.
As soon as Shang decided to absorb a smaller bit of Mana, the balls of lightning and water would shoot to that place and fuse with the Mana, resulting in Shang partially absorbing Mana with the stork's will on it.
If Shang's mind were more powerful, he could simply ignore the balls of lightning and water.
Sadly, the stork's mind was an entire Realm above his.
An Initial Beast Lord could fully counter Shang's Void Break.
A Peak Ancestral Beast could partially counter Shang's Void Break.
And a Late Ancestral Beast wouldn't be able to do anything as long as Shang used a bit of effort to use Void Break.
Of course, as Shang's mind became more powerful, he would also be able to use it against stronger beasts, but for now, this was where his limit was.
The stork had completely countered his Void Break.
If he used it, he would get severely injured.
If he used it and canceled the will on the Mana, he would use more Mana than he was gaining.
If he destroyed the balls, the stork would just make more, and since it had far more Mana, Shang would essentially use more Mana than it, proportionally speaking.
At the moment, Shang's body was half-dead, and he had also used up all of his Death Mana.
When Shang had used Radiation, the stork had just surrounded itself in a bubble of water and lightning.
All the Death Mana entered the water, and after the stork dispersed the bubble, the Death Mana just scattered.
However, Shang didn't give up.
He knew that he would lose.
There was no way around that.
But if one wanted to experience the true essence and weight of death, one had to die at someone else's hands.
Because of that, Shang decided to keep fighting, even though he knew that he wouldn't win.
BANG!
Shang quickly jumped to the side as a bolt of lightning exploded on the ground below him.
And then, time seemed to stop as Shang saw another bolt of lightning right in front of his face.
It was like reality had been transformed into a singular image.
It was the end.
In that brief moment, Shang could only have one thought.
'No!'
This single "no" represented all the unwillingness, helplessness, and terror of being in such a situation.
It was death.
There was no way to avoid it any longer.
And then, it was over.
It just abruptly ended.
No specific last thoughts.
No regrets.
No life shooting through one's mind.
No happiness.
No sadness.
No climax.
It was just over.
It was even abrupter than falling asleep.
The process of falling asleep was similar to how life and death worked.
One closed their eyes and waited.
They wouldn't know when they would fall asleep, but at some point, they would.
And when it happened, it happened so quickly that the person wouldn't even take note.
It was just over.
Death was like that but without retrospective.
Death was the great equalizer.
One could save a million people, but when one died, it didn't matter.
One could kill a million people, but when one died, it didn't matter.
A good person wouldn't be able to appreciate their past deeds and see the people honor them.
A bad person wouldn't be able to regret their actions and see the people despise them.
A popular person wouldn't be able to appreciate how long their name would remain known in the world.
An unknown person wouldn't be able to lament that no one missed them.
It didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
When death arrived, all of one's life's accomplishments were worthless.
It could be compared to a job. At the end of the month, two workers would get the same payment, no matter how productive they were.
Why put in the work when you get the same income as your lazy coworker?
It didn't matter.
It was hopeless.
Pointless.
Disheartening.
Discouraging.
It was regret.
Paradoxical regret.
The act of dying itself was almost always filled with regret, but after one had died, there was no regret.
A dead person didn't have feelings and, therefore, couldn't feel regret.
Shang thought about all of this as he sat on the ground in his inner world.
The God had already resurrected him.
Shang remembered his first death in the first trial.
Back then, he had also died to a bird, but a different one.
His death back then had been crueler than this.
Shang remembered how harrowing it had felt to die back then.
This time, it wasn't as bad.
Shang's goal had been to die to comprehend the level four Concept of Death.
Because of that, he viewed his death with a dissociative mindset.
Additionally, Shang had changed a lot, and he was used to going through horrible experiences.
'Hopelessness,' Shang thought. 'When I was dying, everything felt hopeless and useless.'
'I felt like achieving my goal wasn't as important since everyone will be the same eventually anyway.'
'So, what's the point of working so hard to reach my goal?'
'But now, while the logic is sound, I can't empathize with that mindset.'
'My goal matters, and I want to reach it.'
'I am not dead, and I want to become the strongest.'
'Does it matter that we will all be the same in the end?'
'From an objective standpoint, probably, but from a subjective one, I don't think so.'
'Value is what I perceive as value.'
'And if I have a shot at becoming the most powerful being in existence, I will do my best to get there.'
'To me, value is power.'
'Without power, you will be suppressed.'
'Without power, people will abandon you.'
'Without power, you have no control.'
'Without power, you have no freedom.'
'Without power, you have no happiness.'
'Without power, you have no life.'
'Without power, you have nothing!'
'Power is the most important thing!'
'It's the core of life itself!'
Shang stood up and readied his two swords.
"Start the next trial."
