( The celestial realm )

" So what is the plan?" Max asked, eager to know what Rudra had in store for him.

" We have only one shot for this to work Max. So before I explain the plan to you, I need you to understand the power behind harnessing karmic essence" Rudra said as he went ahead and demonstrated something to Max.

First he threw a punch randomly in the air, however, Max could clearly see that Rudra had put real force behind it.

The power from Rudra's punch created a sonic boom and parted several thousand kilometres of cloud in the celestial realm as Max politely clapped at this display of strength.

" Very impressive-" he said as he wondered in his head if he could do better? As he felt like he could if he punched near full power.

" Yeah, that's what I can do with my own strength, but watch what happens when I use karmic essence as power fuel" Rudra said as he dug his feet deep into the ground and threw one more punch, however, this time he utilised the strength of karmic essence.

*KABOOM*

The punch created a horrifying sound which made Max involuntarily cover his ears as he had to use his full strength as to not being blown away from the recoil of Rudra's blow.

This time, instead of his punch parting the clouds, it ripped through the fabric of space and time itself as Max could clearly notice dimensional fault lines appearing because of his raw power.

The attack was easily 1000x stronger than Rudra's normal punch and Max shuddered at the very thought of being on the receiving end of such a punch.There was no technique in the universe that could completely block that punch and even if Max used his best defensive moves stacked over one another, he was sure in his head that he was going to still take damage from that attack.

" Woah-" he said in awe as he looked at the devastation left behind by Rudra's punch and then looked towards Rudra whose arm appeared to be a sizzling mess of muscle and melted tissue as it seemed like not even his body could handle the backlash of using such an attack.

" If- *gasp* if- you, use *gasp* it to power a tier8 attack, imagine the devastation it can cause" Rudra said, as he told Max to imagine the strength of karmic essence and what it could achieve, if only it was used to power a proper spell instead of a simple punch.

" If it is this powerful, then it all comes down to me getting that one opportunity to use this and get a shot in" Max said as Rudra nodded his head and fell to his knees gasping for air.

The contamination that started from his hand slowly spread to his chest and neck as Rudra's vitality seemed to be sapped by the lingering karmic backlash.

" Are you okay?" Max asked, feeling concerned for Rudra's wellbeing but Rudra simply waved him off.

" I'll probably die and it'll take me two days to resuscitate, but you need to practise using karmic essence in these two days.

Your body, it's sturdier than mine, handling karmic essence is what I made you train for.

Now you know what it's for" Rudra said as Max watched while frowning as his brother slowly died and agonising death before his own eyes.lightsnovel

lightsΝοvel Nonetheless, Max understood Rudra's intentions and after Rudra died, he sat down cross legged and began exploring the strengths of karmic essence for the first time ever.

Back in the controlled universe, he had no clue as to how strong karmic essence could be, and now that he witnessed it for himself, he was keen on testing it out even if it could potentially kill him.

**********

( 2 days later )

Enel and Junfred were already on Rudra's cliff when his body reformed as Rudra was happy to see those two.

" So- how is he doing?" Rudra asked, as he had already informed the other celestials to let Max be and not visit his cliff before his first match with the perfect warrior, but to instead keep an eye on him from a distance.

" He's something else…. Quite honestly, I never thought I'd see a better warrior than you in my entire life, but your brother….. hot damn he's strong" Enel said as Junfred quietly smiled at this evaluation.

" Why? What happened?" Rudra asked as it was Junfred who answered this time.

" What happened was that he used a tier6 move to test out his karmic essence for the first time.

A tier6 move.

And it still took him 15 seconds to disintegrate after" Junfred said as by just speaking those words he had goosebumps all over his body.

What Rudra never told Max was that while there was no theoretical limit to using karmic essence, most celestials did not have a body that was robust enough to try anything stronger than a tier3 tier4 attack.

Rudra broke that norm and was able to pull off a tier6 attack, however, he disintegrated from the backlash almost instantly.

However, Max was able to use a tier6 move and still be alive for 15 whole seconds which meant that he could probably use karmic essence safely for a minute or two if it was only for basic footwork boost or punches.

" If it's him….. he can probably give the perfect warrior an asswhooping that we all hoped that we could give him ourself" Enel said as Rudra smiled brightly at this news.

He only hoped that Max would be able to pull off a tier6 move with karmic essence, however, if he could do even more then that meant that there was a greater chance for Rudra's plan to become a reality.

Every celestial who had ever ascended, after centuries of being defeated at the hands of the perfect warrior and having their will powers crushed never thought that they would get to witness this day.

The day where the ultimate challenger finally ascended, who could match the perfect warrior's monstrosity with that of his own.