Chapter 28: Second Trial

The furball raised one tiny finger while everyone remained silent after what had just happened.

"Ah, yes. Your next trial will be the Circle of Pistis."

A notification immediately appeared before everyone.

[Second Trial: The Circle of Pistis.]

[Thirteen lives have reached this place.]

[Only eleven possess the right of inheritance.]

[Remove the two without claim before the final bell.]

[Time Remaining: 20:00.]

The platform beneath them changed almost immediately.

Lines of pale golden light spread across the stone before forming a massive circular array, while eleven smaller altars slowly rose around its edge.

Karl’s eyes moved from the altars toward the thirteen people still standing on the platform.

Eleven altars for thirteen people.

The meaning seemed simple enough, yet the trial had deliberately avoided telling them which two lacked the right of inheritance.

Several others clearly reached the same conclusion and immediately began putting distance between themselves.

Atherion stared at the array for several seconds before clicking his tongue.

"So that’s how it is."

He glanced toward the furball, then slowly looked across everyone gathered around the circle.

"Not a big problem."

His hand rested casually beside the sword at his waist.

"And don’t worry, I have no intention of being unjust about this."

Nobody looked particularly reassured about it.

Atherion’s gaze moved between the remaining members of the unrelated teams before settling upon a young man clutching his left shoulder.

The boy stiffened when Atherion suddenly appeared beside him.

"What happened to you?"

The young swordsman hesitated before answering carefully.

"I was injured while crossing the first trial, Young Master. My healing potions were destroyed during the fight."

Atherion looked toward the blood soaking through his sleeve.

"Oh."

He nodded slowly.

"Such bad luck."

The boy forced a smile when Atherion’s expression remained friendly.

"You’re a swordsman, aren’t you?"

"Yes, Young Master."

His hope increased slightly.

"I only need a healing potion, once the injury closes I won’t slow anyone down."

Atherion smiled."Swordsmen are useful."

Relief appeared across the boy’s face but then Atherion suddenly grabbed him by the hair.

The young man’s expression changed completely as Atherion turned and began dragging him toward the edge of the platform.

"Young Master?! Wait!"

The others hurriedly moved aside.

The boy grabbed Atherion’s wrist with both hands and desperately tried pulling himself free, but the difference between them was far too large.

"Please! I can fight! I won’t slow anyone down!"

Atherion continued walking until they reached the lava.

Then he threw him over the edge.

The boy’s scream echoed across the platform before ending beneath the red surface and several bubbles rose from the lava before everything became still again.

Atherion turned around as though nothing unusual had happened.

His gaze travelled across the remaining people and stopped upon a young woman holding a staff close to her chest.

"What class?"

The girl’s entire body stiffened as her lips moved several times before any sound came out.

"I... I’m a support-type professional."

Atherion’s sword left its sheath and the girl never finished speaking.

A thin line appeared across her neck before her head fell from her shoulders, and her body collapsed beside the staff she had been clutching.

Atherion flicked the blood from his blade.

"No need for a useless support."

Leon stared at him with open disgust, but this time he did not move.

Karl’s attention remained on the system panel and something felt wrong.

The furball had watched both deaths with the same cheerful smile it wore when introducing the trial.

Atherion noticed as well and he looked toward it.

"Enjoyable?"

The creature’s smile widened.

"Indeed but you might not have the same opinion in a moment."

The timer suddenly stopped.

Everyone looked upward as the previous notification disappeared and another took its place.

[Current Members Remaining: 11.]

[Those With Right of Inheritance Remaining: 9.]

Silence spread across the platform as atherion stared at the second line.

His expression froze as Karl’s eyes narrowed as the actual meaning of the trial became clear.

Atherion had killed two people and neither had been one of the two without a claim.

The eleven remaining people now included all nine surviving claimants and both individuals who never possessed inheritance rights in the first place.

Leon slowly looked toward Karl.

"So he just..."

"Killed the wrong two."

Karl kept his voice low and Atherion’s face twisted.

He turned toward the furball. "Fuck you."

The creature continued floating above the array with its hands behind its back.

"Such poor manners, Pioneer."

"You knew."

Atherion’s fingers tightened around his sword.

"You stood there smiling while I killed two qualified people."

The furball tilted its head.

"Of course I knew."

Several people immediately looked toward it, Atherion’s expression became even uglier.

"Then why didn’t you say anything?"

The furball looked genuinely confused by the question.

"Why would I?"

"The trial told you exactly what to do."

Its eyes moved toward the eleven altars surrounding the array.

"Remove the two without claim."

The smile returned to its face.

"Nobody told you to remove the weakest."

Atherion’s jaw tightened and Karl almost smiled.

The first trial had tested whether they could cross the Sea of Eisodos.

This one had already begun testing them before anyone understood how.

Atherion had assumed strength, usefulness and inheritance rights were connected, then eliminated two people based entirely upon that assumption.

Now nine legitimate claimants remained alongside the two people they actually needed to find.

Worse, the timer had started moving again.

[Time Remaining: 17:42.]

Atherion looked toward the remaining professionals and nobody met his eyes.

The two members from the group he had already reduced to almost nothing stood together near the edge, while the surviving unrelated team had drawn closer to one another.

Even Atherion’s own teammates had become noticeably more alert.

Any one of them could be among the two without inheritance rights.

Leon leaned slightly toward Karl.

"So how do we figure out who they are?"

Karl glanced toward the eleven altars.

"I don’t know yet."

Mira ignored him while studying the golden lines running beneath their feet.

"The trial has to give us some way to identify them."

"Probably."

Karl’s eyes moved toward the furball.

"But I doubt it’ll explain anything unless we find it ourselves."

The creature noticed him looking and happily waved.

Karl looked away but Atherion had apparently reached the limit of his patience.

He slowly raised his sword.

"You think this is funny?"

The furball smiled.

"Very."

Atherion disappeared from where he stood.

His sword flashed across the platform as he jumped directly toward the floating creature, and for the first time since they had entered the Forgotten Cave, the furball’s cheerful expression vanished.