Fear coursed through Sieg's veins; he was a young mortal witnessing the power of an Elite-6 Ascendant.
How is this possible…
He got to his feet slowly. Strangely, fear gave way to awe — it was proof that such power could be reached through the Ascendant mark.
The thrill of proving himself, eclipsing all else. However, Sieg suddenly flinched, but all his mentor did was turn to face him.
"Do not let me intimidate you," Mister Knight repeated, but the boy was hypersensitive to every movement his mentor made, no matter how small.
Then Sieg shook his head and tried to calm his tense muscles. How am I supposed to not be intimidated? He can basically kill me anytime!
With slow, controlled breaths, his eyes never left Mister Knight's position.
This is a trial. I'm being tested… I shouldn't be afraid. In the middle of his reverie — Mister Knight had already disappeared.
When did he?!!! A flash of cold steel. Sieg barely raised his sword in time.
CLANG!
The blow rattled his bones, sending him reeling as his boots scraped across the frost-dusted floor.
Mister Knight intentionally held back his strength, he was curious to see what his student had truly absorbed from his teachings, whether he could apply all that he had learned throughout their mentorship.
I know strength isn't everything… I need to redirect, not meet force with force… I have to control my centerline.
A movement Sieg learned through total repetition.
Then Mister Knight struck again, immediately closing the gap between them.
Sieg strenuously twisted his blade, letting Mister Knight's power slide off at an angle. The knight's strike veered past him, ultimately carving a line into the ground.
For a moment, Mister Knight stopped, giving Sieg a chance to exhale shakily, he was starting to feel the strain on his forearms. "I… did it."
"Good. Show me that you're more than capable of applying what was taught to you," Mister Knight said, but before Sieg could even celebrate, his mentor instantly went to trade slashes with him.
Another swing, then another. It was relentless, admittedly controlled so as not to completely overwhelm the boy.
Sieg retreated with passing steps, avoiding crossing his feet as taught.
His balance shook, but he held on with all his might.
Each cut from his mentor was a deathblow; each parry from Sieg felt like surviving by a thread.
AGHH—! MY ARMS!
This was the power of a Type C Physicality Ascendant, possessing the strength of Type A and the nimbleness of Type B, a hybrid of the physicality stat.
"Don't let me intimidate you." Mister Knight said again on each forceful strike of his blade, "Don't let my existence numb you, Don't let fear enslave you, never yield to me."
"I WON'T!" Sieg screamed with conviction.
Mister Knight suddenly stepped in, his shoulder forward and his blade rising for an overhead crash, testing the boy's conviction — was it true, or merely a fluke?
Sieg listened to Mister Knight's words. If this attack connected, the boy's skull would be split open.
With a focused and trained movement, he shifted his hips, raising his sword above his shoulder.
Downward strike! I need to intercept the angle!
CLANG!
The knight's blade slammed against his, forcing Sieg to absorb the brutal shock — his longsword was somehow surviving the abuse it was going through thanks to the trial buff it received to its toughness, but the boy's arms burned instantly, and still, he did not yield.
"Again!" Mister Knight shouted, swinging from the left.
Sieg adjusted his weight, performing a sloppy setting aside. His blade caught Mister Knight's, redirecting it just enough—
—but the knight pivoted around the bind, thrusting at Sieg's ribs.
Now I need to Displace—!
Sieg's longsword snapped inward, meeting the thrust near the hilt. The force slid off his guard. He nearly dropped the weapon, but the technique worked!
A grunt of approval came from the knight.
"Good." Mister Knight kept repeating the same word, but there was one thing the mentor was concerned about.
The boy is actively thinking through each movement — I can tell that much. It would take a long time before he could perform any of this through pure muscle memory.
But… this is satisfactory for now...
Sieg didn't take his time savoring that one compliment, he wanted to return the favor with a sudden attack.
He immediately rushed forward, and this time aimed for a horizontal cut. His form wasn't perfect, but he aimed for Mister Knight's rare opening birthed from his short reverie.
Sieg's movements were too predictable, sometimes too wide. He took a risk, and it cost him.
Mister Knight saw Sieg's foot slip on the frosted floor — a mistake that would be punished by the mentor.
With a quick movement, the boy fully anticipated a sword strike, that was where he was blindsided. Instead of steel, he saw Mister Knight's foot pivot swiftly, delivering a agonizing kick to his abdomen.
"AUGHH!" Sieg flew to the floor, but Mister Knight made sure not to use too much force — just enough to avoid flinging him into a wall or breaking every bone.
Woosh—
It was unlike any pain Sieg had ever felt. The boy tried to push himself onto his elbows, breathing raggedly. "I—I can still fight…" he muttered, but the moment he spoke, his chest seized, and he coughed up a thin streak of blood onto the stone.
That's my blood? His ears started to ring. He was still in shock, but adrenaline kept him on his barely standing feet.
"Are you surrendering, boy?" Mister Knight asked from across him, judging his every action, decision, especially his intentions and thoughts.
"No! Never!" Sieg yelled. I have no idea what he expects from this trial, and he never mentioned any kind of victory condition. The only thing I can conclude is that I just have to endure!
Mister Knight reset his posture and gave the boy another glance. "Tell me, have you known death?"
"Mister Knight?" Sieg couldn't believe what he had just heard, death? Did he just say death?
"Tell me, boy, what is something you should've considered in our fight?" The question made Sieg's mind spin, desperately searching for anything he had overlooked.
What does he mean?! What did I miss?!
Think! Think! Think!
But there was too much rushing through Sieg's head, too much pressure on his body and mind, too much exhaustion, too much pain, and too many insecurities of one's self.
Mister Knight paused and gazed at Sieg with a subtle warning. "Your first failure… how disappointing."
"Mister Knight, tell me! What did I miss?!" Sieg screamed. For whatever reason, he was panicking — the thought of failure nagged at him.
Sieg eye's widened as he realized his mistake and finally understood what Mister Knight had been trying to point out… but by then, it was already too late…
In a battle between Ascendants, Arts Abilities matter more than steel.
› [WARNING: DANGER!]
Sieg audibly gasped — utterly helpless…
Mister Knight's one eye glowed blue, and within a heartbeat, as his intricate longsword radiated absolute cold, he dashed forward.
"Basic [Spell-Art] — Permafrost Cleave," Mister Knight activated.
Appearing in front of Sieg, he unleashed a horizontal slash, and an intense wave of white mist hit the boy's entire body.
The white mist struck Sieg, and his skin screamed from the burning cold.
"AUGHH! AUGHH!"
Frost sank into the nerves beneath his skin and into his muscles. In an instant, it stiffened him — his fingers and limbs went numb, causing him to drop his longsword that was also becoming brittle.
IT HURTS! IT HURTS! For every breath he took — it stabbed like shards of ice at his throat and lungs, and a searing chill devoured through his bones. He tried to move, tried to still fight, but the permafrost had completely incapacitated him.
"Not once did you consider what my Exalted Art, [Permafrost Revenant], is capable of." Mister Knight let out a sigh while Sieg was letting out the rhythm of anguish.
"Take this experience to heart. You can train and grow stronger physically, but against another Ascendant, there is always something hidden. Overlooking that will lead to your downfall."
"IT'S NOT OVER!" Sieg wasn't giving up. Despite his brittle skin and bones, which were slowly breaking apart, he staggered to his feet, his body trembling but refusing to fully collapse.
The boy's eyes were filled with a single thought: to win. Not a trace of fear, nor panic, just the raw determination of a mortal to ascend the trial.
"I WILL CONQUER THE MOUNTAIN — I WILL ASCEND!" Was it delusion? Or desperation? Regardless, a faint smile flickered across Mister Knight's face.
"Truthfully, you are without talent, but admittedly, your tenacity is extraordinary."
"I respect you." Mister Knight made his final decision — the boy before him had been pushed beyond mercy, and Mister Knight's judgment was absolute.
Ark the Permafrost Revenant lifted his magnificent longsword, the cold it radiated approaching the limits of thermodynamics.
Before Sieg could react, Mister Knight moved.
The world seemed to slow for a heartbeat as the tip of the sword arced toward the boy's neck. Then, the white mist from his Permafrost Cleave swirled around them both.
The strike was precise, instantaneous… and a finality of a slum boy's last cold breath.
Sieg was beheaded. His head slowly fell before breaking upon impact with the ground, while his body froze solid, like a statue of failure. He didn't realize that he had been hit with near-absolute zero for just a fraction of a second.
Ark used his maximum Spell Power (IV/IV) to fuel [Permafrost Cleave]
"Remember this death, and never repeat it again."
Chapter End.