About an hour later, the fifteen young men and women were clinging to the rocks hundreds of feet up, their bodies scorched and sweaty. Esther secured everyone with her Sky Mending Chains, tying the ends to everyone's waists, while Kenzo led the climb.
Despite the young man's frail looking frame, his physical prowess surpasses even Esther's monstrous raw strength. While the flames surged around him the strongest, he was also the one making the most progress, traversing several feet at once.
Even as the purple flames torched his flesh, his expression remained sharp, showing not an ounce of pain nor discomfort. Esther was slightly worse off, with drops of sweat dripping down her face.
Meanwhile, everyone else had varying conditions. Most of them were sweating profusely, their bodies blacked from the fires burning at them. Occasionally, they would swat at a few clinging flames that ate away slowly at their clothes.
Ramiro, Nina, and Ivan were the worst off. Being mental and supplementary type Awakeners, their physical bodies were not as trained as their mind. However, they were still core members of the Void Subjugation Corp, thus through sheer will, they were able to endure.
While it was a tedious task, with Kenzo leading the way, finding the best footholds and nooks in the rock, while bearing much of the flame's onslaught, they were quickly making progress.
Hours passed, and they were reaching the halfway mark, about three thousand meters high. It was hard to determine the current time, as the tall mountains shrouded the sky above, and the purple flames tainted their visions in a vile purple glow.
At this point, they were forced to make a quick stop, as Ramiro and Nina were about to faint. Their conditions were the worst out of everyone, and the physical labor of climbing a mountain was much too arduous for their frail bodies.
Of course, this was only the case because of the special environment of the Valley of Enlightenment. In regular circumstances at a regular mountain, they would have been able to scale it with relative ease, with or without their powers. Awakeners of their rank, even though they had no physical focus, were still powerful nonetheless.
Here however, it was as if a magical suppression pressed down on their bodies, making every inch of ascent feel like they were pushing through molasses.
Adding the unceasing purple flames, which clung to the mountain face and burned them as they dug their fingers into every crack in the rock, the climb was one of the most demanding trials they have taken a part in.
After several moments of heavy breathing, each moment passing like an eternity, the duo managed to catch their breath, wincing as the flames continued to scorch their bodies.
By now, there was no avoiding the flames. Each movement encouraged the fires to gather around them, searing into their flesh and refusing to come off. It was like being covered head to toe in a particularly persistent tar, obscuring their vision from time to time.
As such, they let the flames cling to their bodies, growing like a parasite with each foot of elevation they gained. They had found that trying to cleanse themselves of the flames only wasted more time and energy, and it was much simpler to endure through sheer will instead.
This was after all, a trial, not an execution. The flames did not burn them to a crisp, which they all understood clearly was completely able to. The Sage who had put them through this severely limited his power, otherwise they might not have been able to even get close to the mountain face.
Several more hours passed, and Kenzo suddenly stopped.
By now, every single one of them were smothered in purple fire, their skin dried and burnt. Some of the physically weaker ones had much of their skin melted off, though their clothes were fine, worthy of something provided by the Harbinger.
Nonetheless, they paid no heed to the grisly sight, as such horrible injuries were commonly witnessed in their world. It only took one healer to put them back together, so long as their heads and star cores were intact, that is.
Esther glanced up at the young man, her burned face revealing white bone, but the rebellious intensity in her eyes never once faltered, "What is it?"
Kenzo leaned back slightly, looking up while holding onto the rocks with just one hand, his other busy wiping away the flames shrouding his face. His incredible physique left him largely unharmed, though some parts of his face and body were torched and melted off, revealing ripping muscles.
With the purple flames dancing over his body, one might have thought that he was an emissary of death.
"Only about a thousand feet left. We are almost there, and I can see the night sky through the fires. However, it'll take longer most likely. I feel myself slowing down from the heat and fatigue"
Esther formed a frown on her face, her muscles twitching. She wasn't much better off, and knew how difficult it was going to get. Glancing around, she found that Nina was actually missing a few dainty fingers, while everyone was largely worn out.
She finally turned her eyes to Julian, "Could you create a small domain for a bit?"
Julian, whose pale skin had been largely burned, revealing red muscles and fat, calculated for a few moments, his cold eyes darting around. At long last, he nodded his head.
"With my Eternal Frost Crown, I should be able to maintain one for an hour"
Hearing this, everyone climbed to the same elevation before Julian took out a dazzling crown from his trench coat. The crown was made of a light blue steel, encrusted with long sapphires with two protrusions of steel jutting downward, signifying the sides of the crown.
He set it on his head, and instantly, a cold aura emanated from his body. His black trench coat transformed into an icy cloak, his body lengthened, fingers becoming boney, ending in sharp nails.
Exhaling a breath of cold air, Julian muttered to himself, "Icy Spirit, Frosted Domain"