Hitman with a Badass System
chapter-687

The Holy Church's interior was completely made of gold. Even the benches were pure gold. Michael was dumbstruck by the show of wealth. The hall resembled a typical church's interior on earth. At the end of the hall, statues of the sun and moon erupted to honor the great one and two. The Holy Church believed the Great One was the Sun and the Great Two was the moon. Vishriyan asked them to wait and pray to the Great One and Two while he asked permission to offer a safe haven to Michael from His Holiness. He wasn't the same his holiness Michael met on Royal Land.

Michael and Gaya pretended to pray by kneeling before the Great One and Two. For some reason, Michael had a strange feeling when he knelt down. He felt like something inside him was telling him not to kneel down before anyone. He was a god, after all. But Michael did not listen to this feeling. If kneeling down would save his life, he would rather kneel down than die on his feet.

Except for the howling wind, Michael heard nothing. The silence calmed his mind and soul. Nightmare sat on one of the gold benches and stared at the place with a bewildered look. Everything glowed, radiating golden light. Nightmare scratched the golden bench with his claw. He wanted to rip everything from the church and hoard it in a secret place. Although he grew up with Michael and Gaya, he still had his dragon instincts to hoard valuables.

"Control yourself," Nightmare ordered himself,"

After waiting for almost fifteen minutes, Vishriyan finally walked out of the door.

"Believer Ghost," Michael slowly opened his eyes. He slightly looked up to see Vishriyan standing before him with a gentle smile.

"His Holiness has agreed to your request, Believer Ghost," said Vishriyan with a smile.

Michael stood up. There was no doubt in Michael's mind that the Holy Church would deny his request. How could they when Michael offered to give millions to the church as a donation? Still, Michael pretended to be relieved and elated.

"Gratitude to the Great One and Two," Michael bowed like an honest to the core believer.

"He's also sending his personal holy guards to ensure no one interrupts your heavenly tribulation,"

"His Holiness is so generous and kind," said Michael.

"But if I may ask believer Vishriyan, how strong are these holy guards?" asked Michael. Since he threatened Victoria, it was only natural for Thusia to send people to end his life. King Barnes wouldn't take the risk of retaliating against Bradford or anyone close to Michael due to Michael's threat of exposing the Cosmic Stream. At the same time, he wouldn't send Half Immortal Stage warriors after Michael, either. First, suppose he had sent Half Immortals after Michael, it would draw the attention of the Council of the Immortals. Second, King Barnes might not have any Half Immortals because no one has seen a heavenly tribulation in Thusia. So unless King Barnes found a way to hide the heavenly tribulation or to reach the Half Immortal stage without triggering one, Michael was sure of Thusia's lack of Half Immortals.

But once the news of Michael triggering the heavenly tribulation reaches Thusia, Maxim Barnes would definitely use the Cosmic stream to reach the Half Immortal stage himself. He would have no choice by then.

"Soul Refining stage but each of them is strong as a level four Fusion Stage cultivator,"

Michael wondered how but he didn't ask any more questions. He doubted even if he asked, Vishriyan would answer them.

"So when are you planning to start your heavenly tribulation? I have to say, believer Ghost, you are truly blessed by the Great One and Two to have such monstrous cultivation speed,"

"It's also a burden, believer Vishriyan. As much as I want to walk the path of kindness, I always end up with more enemies. Even now, I need a safe haven because some wanted to kill me,"

Vishriyan didn't seem surprised by Michael's words. He just sighed.

"Even the Great One and Two has enemies they have to battle,"

"Hmm," Michael nodded.

"Where should I cultivate, believer Vishriyan?"

"Follow me," Vishriyan gestured at them to follow him. He led them through the door near the statues. Soon they reached the backyard. The scenery pleasantly surprised Michael. Red maple trees shed their leaves, blanketing the snowy ground. The Royal Land holy church grew yellow maple trees, and here, they grew red maple trees instead. The winter didn't affect the red maple trees for some reason. They all swiftly danced in the blowing wind.

A frozen pond in the middle glimmered like obsidian glass. Several yellow mats were placed around the frozen pond for worshippers of the holy church to cultivate and meditate. To Michael's surprise, the entire holy church seemed to be empty. Other than Vishriyan, Michael saw no one. He couldn't help wondering why. The royal land Holy church was buzzing with worshippers and holy guards. However, Vishriyan's church had no one except him.

"Do you have everything you need to successfully cross the heavenly tribulation believer Ghost?" asked Vishriyan.

Michael nodded. Honestly, Michael didn't need anything. In stark contrast, the cultivators of this world needed several artifacts, pills, and potions to increase their chances of survival. In Michael's case, he only needed five days of time. During these five days, the system would reconstruct his body and soul cell by cell.

"Then, there is no time like the present. But if you want to wait till the Holy Guards reach here, feel free to meditate under the red maple shade. It will soothe your soul and mind," said Vishriyan.

Michael thought about it for a moment and ultimately decided to start breaking through without waiting for the Holy Guards.

"I would like to start now, believer Vishriyan,"

Vishriyan nodded.

"I'd give you some time alone and go check on the runes one last time," Vishriyan disappeared from the backyard, leaving Gaya and Nightmare alone with Michael.

"Take this," Michael flicked his wrist as several golden scrolls materialized in his hand.

"Bring the protector of Voldigards and all our allies in Elon," said Michael as Gaya nodded.

"But do not ask anything about your mother to the Kane family elders until I am done with tribulation. Got it?"

Gaya was reluctant, but in the end, she agreed.

"Before I go," Gaya stepped closer. She hugged him tight before placing a gentle kiss on his lips and forehead.

"I'll be fine," said Michael with a gentle tone. Although Gaya seemed normal, Michael noticed the concern in her eyes. She was hiding it well, but Michael knew her too well. He waited until she disappeared into the cloudy sky.

"Let's begin," Michael took a deep breath. He walked toward one of the mats and sat in a meditating position.

"System, it is time," Michael said to the system.

[Are you sure host?] Surprisingly, the system questioned Michael. It even sounded a little bit worried.

"I am,"

[The host cannot use the system for five days]

[The host will be conscious but unable to move your body]

[The host's protective spells will not work during these five days]

The system informed Michael. It was indeed a risk to start the tribulation, yet Michael chose to do it because it was time to destroy Thusia. He would have been far safer in Mazeroth if it wasn't for Wulfric. According to Gaya, when a cultivator triggers the heavenly tribulation, the energy fluctuations would create a violent storm. As a result, streaks of lightning would strike the area the cultivator was. To successfully reach the Half Immortal stage, the cultivator needed to survive this barrage of lightning strikes. Many believed luck played a big role in the heavenly tribulation. They weren't wrong. If a cultivator didn't have good luck, he would get struck by lightning continuously and turn into ashes.

Thanks to the system, Michael didn't need to rely on luck. However, Michael wasn't clear about his heavenly tribulation. He doubted his would be similar to the rest of the world.

Showing all the thoughts to the back of his mind, Michael drew several deep breaths. Finally, he closed his eyes. Everything became dark. He felt tingling electricity running down his spine. Seconds passed, and those seconds turned into minutes and minutes to hours. He emptied his thoughts, calming his mind. After an hour, Michael heard murmurs around him. People were gasping in shock. He could hear them.

Soon, their words became inaudible due to the rumbling thunder and howling wind. Every time he heard a thunderclap, the ground beneath him shook. At that moment, Gaya hovered in the air far enough from Michael and the holy church to see his figure. To her surprise, several prominent figures from the Awor continent appeared near the holy church. Shock and surprise were written on their faces. It was obvious they didn't expect such a young man to trigger the heavenly tribulation.

She could even see elves and dwarves among the crowd. Their numbers increased with the passing minutes.

As promised, the holy guards guarded Michael at a safe distance. The sky above Michael slowly darkened as streaks of purple lightning flashed across it.

Many among the crowd, especially cultivators with white hair, looked particularly stunned. The reason was they had seen heavenly tribulations before. But they had never witnessed the storm appear on the very first day of the tribulation instead of the fourth or fifth day.

Gaya and Nightmare looked worried, although Michael reassured them. As they were witnessing the heavenly tribulation, there was a battle going on far away from the Holy Church. The battle was between none other than Diana and the five Fusion stage cultivators of Thusia, who were sent by Maxim to kill Michael.