The entity turned toward Ezequiel with rage in his eyes and clarified what had just happened.
"The Trial of Life takes into consideration your age, and since you are a Destiny Child of Emptiness, that factor is even more consequential than for those naturally born." It was clear by his tone that weakening those Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness was not something he wanted to do but was forced by the trial's rules.
Ezequiel began to smile as he understood that his chances of survival were much higher. He knew that his reaction would bother the entity, but since this one had already made his intention clear, what would be the point of feigning courtesy.
"Go in there. Your one hundred years start now!" The entity waved his hand, making a gray force envelop the Supreme Neo-Demon, and thrust him at an incredible speed toward the Empty World.
"¡BOOM!"
Ezequiel crashed on the world's surface less than a second later, generating a massive crater. Luckily, the gray force protected him from any damage, so he was not hurt despite the speed and momentum he carried.
The entity had to follow some rules, and a crucial one stopped him from harming the Supreme Neo-Demon. At least directly.
Ezequiel frowned as he stood up. However, he did not have time to get angry with the entity as his instincts kicked in.
He slowly raised his head and saw two large eyes full of wildness staring at him.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Son of a bitch!" The Supreme Neo-Demon roared his frustration away as his body vanished into the ground.
"¡BOOM!"
Not even a second later, the massive Outlandish Beast of Emptiness trampled the ground, generating an enormous blast that destroyed everything around it.
If the Outlandish Beast of Emptiness had performed that attack in a Principal World, it would have reduced the entire continent to ashes, and the world's origin would have suffered immensely.
Luckily, the durability and laws of the Empty World were vastly superior to that of a Principal World.
Ezequiel was thousands of kilometers from the surface thanks to his Earth Origin Essence. Yet the shock waves still reached his body, making him puke blood.
He would have perished if the Outlandish Beast of Emptiness were still at its full power.
'Damn it. After being weakened, its power is still at the Peak Beyond Limit Stage, extremely close to the Beyond Redemption Stage.'
Ezequiel could barely face someone at the Initial Beyond Limit Stage, much less one at the peak. His eyes glowed with silver flames as he figured out a way out of this predicament.
The Outlandish Beast of Emptiness kept trampling the ground as a massive amount of energy gathered in its mouth, ready to fire at any second.
Just as the beast was about to send the beam where its instincts told it the Supreme Neo-Demon was, it saw someone emerge from the ground.
He was identical to the humanoid that appeared by its side a second ago. Anyone else would have been confused by such a change, but not the Outlandish Beast of Emptiness. If the enemy emerged from the ground, it only meant that it would be easier to kill him.
A black energy beam emerged from the Outlandish Beast of Emptiness' mouth, instantly vaporizing the humanoid. It began to walk away, not questioning why it was so easy to kill that humanoid.
Due to his connection with the elements, Ezequiel saw everything that happened on the surface. He did not dare to unleash his consciousness, as he was sure that would alert the Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness.
He knew that the creature would not stop chasing after him, so he gave it a target. The one who perished was one of his avatars, and since their life force was identical, the beast noticed nothing odd.
The Supreme Neo-Demon advanced carefully. Hiding under the ground was not a solution, as he had already detected some Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness were also moving through the earth.
He spent the first month doing some reconnaissance. By the time he finished, a map of the entire continent had already formed in his mind.
It was immense, almost three times larger than one of Baator's hells. A massive ocean surrounded every piece of it, and he felt several powerful beasts in it.
The one thing that surprised Ezequiel was that other than Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness, there were other life forms in the Empty World.
The creatures resembled monstrous insects covered in powerful exoskeletons, with bodies several kilometers long. They were not that powerful, with most of them at Peak Rank 7.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAt first, he did not understand how that could happen, as the beasts should have killed them, but after some research, he found out the reason.
Those creatures were parasites that emerged from the Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness. They would eat anything, even earth, before going back to the beasts.
Once Ezequiel finished his reconnaissance, he tracked one of the parasites and waited until it was completely alone and there was no one in the surrounding area.
The Outlandish Beasts of Emptiness' parasite devoured a mountain when suddenly a man bathed in white lightning with a silver star floating on his forehead emerged from the ground, right beneath its belly.
Ezequiel's right hand resembled a blade and carried all his power as he pierced the parasite. Although he managed to kill the creature instantly, there was a flash of surprise in his eyes.
He intentionally chose a weak parasite whose power barely reached the Initial Rudimentary Form Stage and was nowhere near Peak Rank 7. Yet, he almost failed to kill it before it could alert anyone.
'Its defenses were almost as strong as those of a weak Rank 8 life form.' The Supreme Neo-Demon did not have time to wonder about the oddness of the parasite's body as it crumbled into billions of black dots in the next second.
Ezequiel could not do anything as those dots fused into his body.
Although the Supreme Neo-Demon was worried at first, soon, a large smile appeared as he felt those black dots tempering his centers of power.
Things did not end there, as they also improved his Outer Origin Essence, Inner Origin Essence, and his grasp of Return to Origin.
Ezequiel's smile grew larger as killing intent and hunger appeared in his eyes.