Arin and his companions walked through a field of blood.
The ground was slick beneath their feet, bodies scattered without order—monsters and humans alike, broken so completely that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. The air was heavy, suffocating. No one spoke.
Then, without warning, the ground beneath them gave way.
They crashed down hard, rolling through dust and rubble before finally coming to a stop. When Arin pushed himself up, his breath caught.
A city lay before them.
Vast. Silent. Dead.
Crumbling towers stretched toward a darkened sky, streets split open like old wounds. As they moved deeper, searching for a path forward, Arin felt it again—that quiet pressure in his chest, like the world itself was watching.
A wall stood at the city's edge, untouched by decay.
Carved into it were the words:
Go on, traveler. Complete the trial, and you shall receive a reward.
A reward people would die for.
Arin barely had time to wonder what it meant before the wall shattered, stone collapsing inward to reveal a vast ravine. Below it stretched a bottomless void, swallowing all light. From within it rose golems—towering figures of stone and debris, their empty eyes locking onto the intruders.
The first one charged.
Neblaheim stepped forward, blocking the blow with his sword, the impact shaking the ground beneath them. Hanase countered instantly, flames roaring as an inferno engulfed the golem and shattered it into rubble.
Arin moved without thinking.
He leapt forward, slicing clean through another golem's arm. It tried to kick him, but Arin twisted midair and severed its head before it could connect. Two more descended from above—he cut them down in one fluid motion.
A golem lunged at Neblaheim.
Arin rushed forward, but Neblaheim ducked at the last second, the massive fist tearing through empty air. Hanase followed with fireballs, and Neblaheim finished it with a single decisive strike.
Neblaheim glanced at Arin.
"Why did you come that close?"
"I was worried," Arin replied.
Neblaheim grabbed him and yanked him back just in time to block another attack.
"Worry about yourself before us, you fool."
Hanase ended the golem with a storm of ice spears.
The fighting intensified. Arin pushed himself further, cutting through golems one after another, barely noticing the pain building in his body.
Then the void shifted.
The rubble from every fallen golem began to move.
Stone fused with stone, debris crawling together until it formed a single colossal figure. A giant golem rose from the ravine, its presence crushing, absolute.
Neblaheim braced himself and blocked its strike—but the impact shattered his stance, sending him skidding backward.
Hanase summoned a sandstorm, blinding the giant.
Arin leapt high, slashing at its chest.
The blade didn't even leave a mark.
The golem's fist smashed into him, hurling him into a wall with bone-crushing force. It turned toward Neblaheim—
—and Arin threw himself between them.
The blow landed squarely on him.
"Go back," Arin gasped. "Both of you."
He forced himself up as the golem attacked again. Using Shireyukoka, he twisted away at the last second, slicing through its hand and using the momentum to climb its massive frame.
The golem kicked him away. Arin slammed into the wall, barely blocking the impact before pushing off again.
The giant staggered.
That was the opening.
Arin surged forward and cut through its neck. The massive body collapsed, stone shattering into silence.
Hanase rushed to him, hands glowing as healing magic took hold.
Neblaheim stared at him.
"Why did you jump in front of that attack?"
Arin didn't answer.
He didn't say anything.
He just lay there, staring upward—empty, unmoving—like a void of nothingness.