Chapter 33: Trial (4)

Chapter Thirty Three

The duo, Orion and Sir Dwaine, arrived at the next trial after taking a break on the 49th floor. This meant they had reached the 50th trial, and yet the moment it began, they realized they should have been far more mentally prepared for what awaited them.

The moment they appeared, they stepped forward, causing reality to twist around them. The world distorted violently before eventually settling into a completely different scene. They seemed to have been transported into some kind of desolate world.

A world that, without even the slightest doubt, had seen better days. The ground beneath their feet was cracked and broken, while ruined structures stretched across the distant horizon, most of them reduced to nothing more than shattered remains.

The air was thick with the scent of blood, death, and despair. There was also something else... the unmistakable sensation of war. It lingered everywhere, in the air, within the earth, and throughout the atmosphere. Even the silence between the sounds of distant movement seemed to carry the remnants of countless battles.

The duo didn’t get much time to examine their surroundings, however, because the trial began.

All around them, several phantom figures appeared. Then more appeared, followed by even more, until countless figures filled the desolate battlefield. On one side stood warriors wearing dark armor, each equipped with powerful weapons of war.

On the other side stood those wearing grey armor, each carrying their own overwhelming weapons. Behind each of the ten powerful generals stood countless soldiers, stretching endlessly toward the horizon.

Each of the two armies preparing to clash stared at the opposing side with hate-filled gazes. The malicious intent radiating from them could not be hidden. It was thick, heavy, and almost tangible, as though the hatred between the two armies had existed for countless years.

It seemed as though they were only one wrong word away from tearing into each other and slaughtering one another without mercy. Their gazes suggested exactly that, and the moment Orion and Sir Dwaine analyzed the situation, dread immediately filled their minds.

The reason was simple.

They knew what this trial was about.

Just like the previous trials, this was another trial designed to break them, to make them give up and experience agony, pain, and terror far beyond anything they had endured before. The moment they saw the two armies, they understood the nature of the trial.

It was as if the knowledge had always been a part of their memories from the very beginning. The grey-armored army represented Orion, while the white-armored army represented Sir Dwaine.

The two armies would face each other and rip one another apart. Every wound, every injury, and every bit of pain inflicted upon their respective armies would be transferred to them.

A thousandfold.

Orion and Sir Dwaine’s faces immediately turned pale. Consider a thousandfold multiplication. At that point, even a minor wound on the cheek would become an agony comparable to being diced apart.

Perhaps if they were meant to experience the damage suffered by ten or so warriors, it would still have been somewhat understandable. But this...

Orion’s eyes moved across the battlefield, scanning the warriors behind each army. His heart nearly seized from the shock and dread that followed.

There were at least a couple of million of them.

No.

Millions seemed far too little to describe the seemingly endless armies stretching behind both sides. The horizon was practically covered with warriors, and their numbers seemed to extend beyond what the eye could perceive.

This... was too much.

Sir Dwaine’s face was pale like a sheet of paper. Yes, he was a veteran, and the things he and the young man beside him had faced to get here had already been absolute menaces.

They had survived trials that would have shattered the will of ordinary people, enduring pain that should have been impossible for anyone to bear. Yet right now, at this very moment, those previous trials suddenly seemed rather simple.

Before the duo could even fully process the dread swallowing them, they realized it wasn’t because their wills were weak. No. It was because this trial...

Was a trial of pure pain.

The white-armored army was the first to grow impatient. One of the soldiers suddenly drew his bow, pulled the string back, and released it.

The arrow shot forward with incredible speed, and then, suddenly, it accelerated even further. It streaked across the battlefield and struck one of the grey soldiers directly in the eye.

The soldier immediately cried out in deep, agonizing pain.

But that was only a minor injury for the grey soldier.

For Orion...

It was a thousand times worse.

His head shattered apart as agonizing pain tore through every inch of his existence. Then his body reformed, only to shatter apart once more as another wave of torment assaulted him.

His body reformed again, and then shattered apart again.

It happened once more.

And again.

Two more times.

Orion collapsed onto his knees, his entire being shuddering beneath the deep and overwhelming despair consuming him.

"W... what..."

His thoughts were incredibly slow.

"T... the..."

His soul almost seemed to grow dormant beneath the sheer intensity of the pain.

"W... what the... h... hell..."

That kind of pain was something he had never experienced before, and this was only because one of the grey soldiers had been struck in the eye.

Just one.

One soldier. One injury. One thousandfold multiplication.

Orion’s body continued trembling as the pain ravaged him from within. This trial was too much.

That thought appeared in his mind, but calling what had just happened a prelude would have been giving it too much credit.

Because the moment the grey soldier’s eye was pierced, the grey soldiers released a loud, rumbling war cry.

"ROOOOOAAAR!"

Millions of warriors suddenly charged forward, rushing toward the opposing army with the intent of engaging in war and slaughtering the white army. The sound of their charge shook the ground.

The earth trembled beneath their feet, while the atmosphere itself seemed to ripple beneath the sheer force of their movement. The white army didn’t wait to be met either. They released their own battle cry.

"CHAAAAARGE!"

Then they rushed forward as well.

The sky trembled as the two sides launched themselves madly toward one another, their only goal being to tear the opposing army apart.

Orion and Sir Dwaine’s faces paled at the same time. No... their faces were already as white as paper, but now they somehow became even whiter.

The reason was none other than the fact that they knew exactly what was about to happen.

They were about to be dumped into a world of pain.

No.

Even that description was too small.

They were about to be thrown into a universe of pain.

The two armies finally clashed.

Almost immediately, the two men exploded into pieces. Their bodies were blown apart so violently that only their lower feet remained.

A moment later, their bodies reformed, only to explode again the very next second. Then they reformed once more before exploding again.

Again and again, the cycle continued.

The clashes filled the air. Every pain suffered by any of the soldiers was delivered to the two men a thousandfold. A sword pierced a soldier’s chest, and Orion experienced a thousand times the agony. A spear tore through another soldier’s stomach, causing Sir Dwaine to experience the same pain multiplied a thousand times.

A warrior’s arm was severed. Another soldier’s leg was crushed. Another had his head smashed apart. One was burned alive, while another was pierced directly through the heart.

Every single injury, every single wound, and every single death was transferred to the two men.

A thousandfold.

The pain assaulting them every microsecond was more than even a veteran warrior could begin to imagine. Their bodies exploded apart over and over again, endlessly reforming only to be destroyed once more.

Yet their consciousness didn’t die. It remained painfully present, forcing them to experience everything: every fragment, every sensation, and every second of overwhelming pain ravaging their very beings.

Under normal circumstances, the duo’s minds would have shattered beneath such an overwhelming sensation of pain. But just as the force of this trial world prevented the two from dying, it also prevented their souls and minds from collapsing.

Instead, they were forced to suffer every inch of the agony.

Every single piece of it.

There was no escape.

The agony was simply too much, too overwhelming, and too overbearing. It had surpassed what even the most hardened warrior should have been capable of enduring. The sensation of pain was beyond reason.

At this point, death would have been more than welcome.

But they couldn’t die.

Although... that wasn’t entirely true.

To die, they only needed to shout the words...

"I give up."

If they did, they would fail the trial and be wiped out instantly. It was that simple. One sentence. Three words. An escape from all this pain.

It was the easiest possible choice if all they wanted was to escape the overwhelming agony ravaging them from every direction, both within and without.

But the duo didn’t say it.

They didn’t give up.

Instead, even as pain descended upon them in thousands of waves every microsecond, ravaging their bodies, minds, and souls, they took a step forward.

Their bodies exploded. They reformed, only to explode again and reform once more. The cycle occurred with barely a second between each occurrence, yet they still took another step forward.

They continued moving.

The pain didn’t stop, and it couldn’t stop. The sound of battle continued echoing throughout the battlefield as warriors suffered injuries and continued dying.

Every corresponding pain was multiplied a thousandfold and transferred instantly to the duo. With each step they took, the pain ravaging them became increasingly overwhelming.

Then, suddenly, after Orion had taken ten or so steps, a massive casualty occurred among the grey army.

Around a thousand soldiers died.

And Orion suffered infinitely in return.

His body exploded, reformed, and exploded again. It reformed once more, only to be destroyed yet again. The cycle continued over and over, faster and faster, until his body had exploded and reformed more than a million times.

Yet all of this happened in less than a second.

Orion collapsed onto his knees.

His eyes shook as the light within them seemed to fade. His mind had been pushed into an unstable, shivering state, barely capable of forming coherent thoughts.

One thought continued echoing inside his mind.

Again and again, repeating endlessly like a melody of despair that refused to end.

This is impossible.

This is impossible.

This trial is impossible.