Crimson lightning spread across the clouds in branches thick enough to hide the darkness between them.
The flashes did not fade. New bolts followed the old bolts, feeding their red light until every ruin beneath them cast several overlapping shadows.
Then thunder struck.
RUMBLE!
Loose stones jumped. A surviving wall split down its centre, spilling dust over the bodies at its base.
Simon looked upward.
He could feel something within the lightning beyond its heat and force. Its presence pressed against his new bloodline, searching for the shape his transformation had finally settled into.
His eyes narrowed.
"That could incinerate a Demon King."
A thicker bolt writhed beneath the clouds.
"Even a Prime Demon King."
Lilith stood beside him with one hand above the array. She did not dispute his judgement.
Simon turned toward her.
"This is a tribulation. Why did you never tell me that I'll have to face a tribulation?"
"I could not."
"Because I was too weak to hear it?"
