171 Conversion 2 (1/2)

An unknown amount of time passed with Broly converting his energies into his soul. The process carried unbearable pain with it. After being reborn he was confronted with pain that not only targeted his body but his very soul.

With life pain had followed it. After struggling for years, he wouldn't flinch if his hand was cut open. Even if his body was impaled by metal rods, he would still be able to stand proudly.

His pain tolerance wasn't something most beings in the universe could compare to. It was ironic as he had one of the toughest bodies in existence. But even with that kind of tough body, he had suffered tremendously.

The main perpetrator was himself as he crushed every bone in his body at least a few times whilst training. This method of training didn't only raise his pain tolerance, but his willpower as pushed himself further and further in the next session. His body even adapted to the pain slightly and wasn't at the least bit satisfied after the training room didn't had any effect on him anymore.

Now he had to preserve through excruciating pain in order to complete the conversion and it became more unbearable as time went on. Solutus had stopped at the beginning after he realized that something went wrong.

Even if his plan succeeded to absorb another sword of a suppressed Broly and got another shot at the conversion, he would have failed miserably.

Broly didn't think during the conversion as the pain didn't allow for different thoughts to arise. He could only endure and count the seconds as the process continued on.

He couldn't be sure if it were mere minutes, hours, days or even years have passed since he had started. For him it felt like an eternity, but he knew that was only his perception of time.

He gritted his teeth as he felt like the skin was being slowly peeled off his body while being cooked alive. If he failed to stay conscious and discontinued to circulate according to the absorption techniques, he would fail the conversion. His energy cores would be in pieces and his soul would be incomplete.

He wouldn't be able to strengthen his soul or his energies afterwards. If that happened his only hope would be advancing with his ki, but he knew that would slow him down on his path to supremacy significantly.

With only his ki he would still be a lot stronger than most but to gain the ability to contend against gods would again take a lot of time.

Of course, even a half-converted soul would grant him a significant boost in strength but Broly didn't want strength for the price of cutting off potential in the future. Not to advance in the departments of magic, lifeforce or his soul would be a price too high for him to pay.

However, he needed to see this conversion through. He not only needed to find a way to get off this island with the others but with the guards' explanation he knew that this was the path to the absolute peak. This would be the first step to not only reach the level of gods but to even surpass Zeno himself.

No matter what, he had to preserve.

****

Time was ticking away while the other Exousians waited for his return. Broly didn't know how much time has passed but he realized that the pain had lessened for some time. He inspected his body and noticed that the cores had vanished completely, only the residual energy in the body was left.

The lifeforce and the magic power that had once reached every corner of his body was now being sucked into his soul. His body needed to be void of these energies and only then would the process be complete.

In comparison to dissolving his cores, to absorb this remaining energy was child's play. It didn't take him long to finally complete the process.

After the energies were absorbed, the pain vanished. After a moment of silence, his soul seemed to have a reaction.

The previous still soul was suddenly leaking tremendous amount of power that filled the void that the energies had left behind.

While that happened, Broly was blinded by a bright light. He covered his eyes until the light vanished again.

He didn't realize it immediately, but he was sitting on the throne in the hall. The guards were now kneeling in front of him. They didn't raise their head but had lowered them, not daring to look straight at Broly.