Su Cheng woke up groggy, the flashing white light seemingly still lingering before her eyes, and her head aching slightly.
She sat on a broad, cold, pitch-black stone platform, watching the runes flicker and then fade into darkness.
"...What's going on?" She rubbed her temples. "What just happened?"
"There was a slight problem." Kai looked up at the completely grayed-out archway. "The Door of Trials can no longer be activated. It looks like someone destroyed it."
Su Cheng nodded and tried to stand up, but still feeling exhausted, she subconsciously reached out her hand.
The black-haired man glanced at her, his massive figure walking quietly past, not responding to her gesture.
Su Cheng silently picked herself up. "Then we're heading back?"
This was a ruin from thousands of years ago, so it was normal for it to be unusable. Although a bit disappointed, she wasn't too upset. Just coming to take a look wasn't a loss.
Kai said nothing.
He tilted his head slightly to look upward. Inside the cavern obscured by pervasive black mist, a subtle vibration seemed to have quietly occurred.
Su Cheng also sensed that something was wrong.
She seemed to hear a low hum, like a heart buried deep underground beginning to beat. The platform beneath her feet trembled slightly, and then the frequency began to increase.
A loud noise echoed from all directions. The slowly churning black mist surged like a rising tide, then was torn apart, blown away, and shattered by some invisible force.
In the dimness, she could vaguely see the dome above. Countless jagged, pitch-black rocks and inverted dark crystals hung down, resembling the maw of some giant beast.
"...Is this normal?"
Su Cheng looked at Mr. Commander next to her and reached out to tug at the man's bracer.
He immediately raised his hand, as if he didn't like her touching him, or perhaps it was just an unintentional movement.
"No," he said in a low voice. "Someone is here."
Su Cheng frowned at him and silently cast a few buffing spells on herself. "Do you know who it is?"
Before she finished speaking, the archway behind them also trembled. Countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the smooth, flawless obsidian.
Crack—
After a crisp snapping sound, the cracks exploded from the top of the arch, spreading rapidly downward and piercing through the entire platform.
The curtain of mist inside the door also began to flicker, as if it would collapse at any moment.
In an instant, the entire cavern began to fall apart.
Broken stalagmites and crystal clusters rained down, debris flying everywhere. The rock pillars supporting the cavern collapsed one after another, and the entire ground began to heave and surge.
Fissures soon split open across the ground.
Su Cheng was already levitating, sparing herself from a tragic death by falling. She was now casting even more protective spells on herself.
Amidst the earth-shattering chaos, a dazzling beam of golden light shone down from above.
The light extended through the air, rapidly growing thicker. The dome of the cavern was completely pierced, and dust and rubble fell like snow.
The falling golden radiance was like a torrent.
A pure, unadulterated gold burned in the darkness, shattering the thick mist.
It exuded a sacred and majestic absolute will; just glancing at it gave a bizarre sensation of being burned and purified.
The stream of golden light swept through the cavern. The black mist evaporated completely, crystals burst into powder, and rocks vaporized and dissipated. Everything in sight was disintegrating.
Su Cheng awkwardly dodged the sweeping golden light. Although she wasn't sure what the consequences would be if it touched her, she didn't really want to find out.
She stumbled upward in flight until she saw the hazy sky of the canyon and the dense formation of holy knights suspended in the air.
Su Cheng: "..."
Those magnificent, dazzling platinum armors, empowered by holy arts, emitted a sacred and blinding luster.
The fully armed knights, at a glance, numbered at least several thousand. Without exception, they all had flying mounts. At the very front were several fierce wyverns with massive bodies and wingspans exceeding thirty meters. Behind them were various magical beasts, hanging in the sky like a heavy, dark cloud.
The leading holy knight raised his gunblade, pointing it at her from afar. "Heretic!"
Su Cheng turned her head and looked around.
Kai still hadn't appeared.
She figured that since the commander said they were resting, he had probably used some method to hide himself.
Su Cheng: "I am not a heretic."
After saying this, she suddenly remembered that she bore the mark of the Phantom God. Although she didn't yet know how to use that power, if the people of the Church discovered it, the title would be confirmed.
She suppressed her slight guilt. "I just wandered into this place by mistake. I don't even really know what's going on here."
The holy knight in the air sneered. "If you are not a pagan trying to resurrect a false god, then prove your identity!"
Su Cheng: "Do you want an Imperial citizen ID? Or how else do you want me to prove it?"
The man looked down at her from above and suddenly raised his hand, casting a healing spell.
Su Cheng felt the golden light wash over her, bringing a warm, cozy heat.
This was indeed just a standard healing holy art, harmless to humans, but for many dark-descendant races, this power of light would burn them.
"You are indeed human," the holy knight leader said in a low voice. "Where is your accomplice? Where did he go?"
Su Cheng blinked blankly. "What accomplice?"
"Stop pretending! If you weren't guided by a dragon or a dragonborn, with your level of strength, it would be absolutely impossible for you to reach this place alive!"
The holy knight gave a contemptuous sneer. "Furthermore, you still have the aura of a dragon on you."
Su Cheng: "Is it possible that this place is full of dead dragon bones, and if you just stood here a little longer, you'd be covered in the aura of dragons too?"
The holy knight seemed enraged by her words and fiercely swung the long spear in his hand. "Are you going to talk or not?"
Su Cheng: "I really don't know anything. I didn't see anyone running away or hiding anywhere, I can swear to it."
Before she could finish, two giant wyverns suddenly swooped down. Their terrifying shrieks drew closer from afar, their broad wings casting dreadful shadows.
Su Cheng found it hard to describe the feeling.
If speaking of powerful beings, she had faced gods directly more than once, and their pressure was naturally not something these dragons could match.
However, even the God of Purity, who had the worst attitude toward her...
...mostly just showed threats and dissatisfaction, without actually attacking her.
"Die, heretic!"
The holy knight on the dragon's back drew his longsword. Golden-red flames flickered on the blade, and battle aura condensed into overlapping sword shadows in the air.
At the same time, the wyvern also opened its sharp claws. The giant talons slashed down like scythes, looking capable of easily tearing a person to pieces.
Time felt viscous and slow at this moment.
Su Cheng heard her own heartbeat, almost tearing through her chest due to tension and fear.
She tried to summon the power of the gods but failed. Perhaps she hadn't met the conditions for synchronization, or maybe she was just too unfocused.
She had no time to figure it all out.
Her brain seemed to fall into a brief blankness, unable to think of any tactics.
Perhaps it was also because she knew that with her level of magic and battle aura, she couldn't possibly deal any substantial damage to the wyvern.
This didn't even feel like a battle anymore.
She felt like a weed bracing for a flash flood, or a grain of sand about to be swallowed by a tsunami.
The wyvern let out a piercing shriek. Crimson dragon breath brewed within its belly, a faint glow visible through the tight gaps of its scales.
This mouthful of fire-attribute dragon flame was enough to reduce any warrior below the fifth tier to ashes.
It was an avalanche rushing toward a single weed, a tsunami crashing down on a grain of sand.
She heard the sound of the wyvern's wings tearing through the air, along with the rolling roar deep in its throat. The crushed stones on the ground seemed to tremble and dance.
As the terrifying wind pressure closed in from above, she staggered back a few steps, barely able to stand firm.
In that instant, Su Cheng felt as if she had already seen her own end.
She, too, would die just like this.
In this cruel world, like countless lives withering away like weeds, dying a casual and meaningless death.
But thinking about it this way, it didn't seem to be a problem anymore.
Why did she ever think she was special?
Why did she ever think she deserved a different ending?
Su Cheng drew the greatsword from her back.
Even if there was no hope, even if she was still terrified.
There would always be those destined to fail, charging toward invincible enemies.
As if trying to compose a perfect final chapter for their own lives in their last remaining moments, as best as they could.
Let it be so.
Her thoughts flashed by quickly. Countless ideas spun through her mind, but in reality, only a fraction of a second had passed.
She gripped the hilt tightly. Surging battle aura poured in swiftly and smoothly. Pitch-black flames ignited on the dark, long blade, carving a half-moon arc in the air.
Su Cheng never wanted to be a hero.
She only wanted to survive, but in a world like this, perhaps even that wasn't a simple wish.
The life she wanted was probably one of leisurely studying magic, enjoying good food from time to time, and raising a few cute magical beasts on the side.
However, even without being entangled in trouble or plagued by inexplicable curses, the number of mages who died from failed advancements or out-of-control forbidden spells was innumerable.
So who could guarantee that everything would go smoothly?
If she was destined to face death, then she would do so with a calm enough posture, ending it like a warrior.
The roaring wyverns were already close at hand. Her hair flew in the fierce wind, the world before her eyes filled with dark red scales, and waves of heat rushed at her face.
And then.
Time seemed to freeze once again.
Su Cheng felt a peculiar, familiar power surging from the cracked and collapsed ruins beneath her feet, pouring into her legs.
She saw countless wisps of black mist, which had been evaporated and crushed by golden light, spreading out from the cracks in the ground. Like millions of writhing tentacles, they swarmed from all directions.
They were like streams returning to the sea, converging on the greatsword at the center of the storm.
The mist vanished into the black fire rising from the blade. The flames burned brighter and brighter, turning into a massive cluster in an instant, like a black sun burning in the wasteland.
The wyvern's sharp claws crashed into the fireball and were instantly scorched to ashes. Along with them, its strong legs lost more than half of their flesh and blood.
A miserable howl echoed across the ruins.
Amidst the paladins' exclamations, the wyvern crashed to the side with a tragic cry. The agony of its severed limbs made it impossible to fly anymore, leaving it to thrash about among the rubble.
The wound burned by the black flame was even spreading. The battle aura continuously invaded the remaining flesh, gnawing at the exposed bone and blood like living worms.
Su Cheng had no time to admire this scene.
More mist surged into her limbs and spine, intertwining with her veins and bones. The agonizing pain of tearing and fusing pierced through her entire body in an instant.
She seemed to hear layers of whispering voices. Those voices belonged to men and women, some hoarse, some gentle, overlapping and blending together, then rising continuously into the void.
They repeated certain words, sounding like oaths and curses alike. A strong resentment and hatred pierced into her mind like a sharp knife.
The air around the blade began to distort.
The other dragon knight was shocked. He pulled hard on the reins, causing his wyvern to deflect slightly, and drew his warhammer to smash it toward her.
Su Cheng swung her second sword strike.
Her posture wasn't even quite standard; it might have just been an unqualified imitation.
A long, narrow black lightning bolt slashed across the air.
That black flame, which seemed capable of devouring everything, had constantly leaping arcs of light at its edges. It was like a sharp blade forged of anger and chaos, severing the entire world.
The dragon and knight before her, the light, the sound, the dust, and even space itself were split in two.
In excruciating pain, Su Cheng took a few steps back, closed her eyes, and blankly sank into darkness.
...
Kai raised his head, watching the Trial Gate begin to tremble. He then looked at the black mist rising from the platform until it all poured into the body of the young girl beside him.
She began to tremble violently. The blood vessels on her skin bulged, and layers of black scales even erupted. The bones in her hands and feet elongated, transforming into sharp claws.
The girl slowly tilted to the side, leaning against his arm.
Kai silently extended his arms and pulled her into his embrace. He then watched as she frowned and woke up, pitch-black vertical slits appearing in her amber, gold-flecked eyes.
Su Cheng blinked. Hmm? Are you well-rested?
Kai gently stroked her head. I do not need rest. No matter what you heard me say in the trial, it was not real.
Su Cheng looked at him for two seconds, then suddenly reached out and grabbed his bracer.
He remained completely still, letting her do as she pleased.
She felt the hard leather a couple of times, tugged at it randomly, and then went to unfasten the strap with the metal buckle.
Kai still did not move, even intending to help her. If you want to take it off, you have to undo this side first.
No need, Su Cheng looked up with a smile. I was just confirming a few things... Hmm, thinking about it now, I was pretty silly before. I actually did not realize it was fake.
That was not your fault, he shook his head. Whatever it was you experienced, parts of your memory and cognition would differ from reality. The only thing that would not change is the personality traits you possess. Well, it looks like you have completed it perfectly?
Su Cheng looked down at her hands.
She had never felt so much power contained within her body, not just battle aura, but a thorough, deeply transformative enhancement.
It was as if she had been remade in some sense.
Thinking back on her previous experience, she could not help but find it a bit amusing, so she simply recounted it to the commander.
...Actually, if I had been in a normal state, I definitely would have brought up the high-ranking clerics I know first. These paladins would have at least given me some face and would not have just started killing right off the bat.
Su Cheng could not help but mock herself. It felt like I suddenly became stupid earlier, unable to think of so many things. But hearing you say that makes it make sense...
She paused mid-sentence. Wait, what if I had betrayed you? Would I have failed the trial then? Even though I can not even imagine how I could have betrayed you, since I did not even know where you went...
"Well, then it should be judged as a failure," Kai thought for a moment. "I think compromising to save one's life doesn't mean a lack of courage—but the Trial Gate might not think so. Actually, the dilemmas it makes you face, the things it thinks you would fear, aren't just limited to that one battle. The coldness shown by the people you care about, facing danger alone, the choice between others and yourself, and the fear of death."
He paused, "Of course, because it also has to connect with reality, that probably limits its performance a bit."
Su Cheng couldn't help but laugh, "So it couldn't create a dilemma like 'I suddenly lost all my gold coins', right?"
Kai also subconsciously curled his lips, "So is that what you're afraid of? Actually, I have some savings too, and I don't use much money—"
Su Cheng froze for a moment, suddenly feeling this conversation was familiar. "Wait, didn't I say I would give you money before? And you drink all day, who says you don't spend money! Keep it for yourself! The materials for the sword you made for me must be very expensive, what kind of material is it?"
"...That actually didn't cost much," he smiled slightly. "Most of them were ready-made materials, just needed some processing."
Su Cheng was about to speak when she suddenly heard the sound of battle aura clashing in the distance.
—That distance was really far.
Maybe a few kilometers away.
She once again realized that her senses had also become much sharper. Just as she was about to stand up, she was suddenly picked up by the man beside her.
"Also," Kai looked down at her, "I will never reject you. If one day I don't respond to your outstretched hand, that person is definitely not me."
