As soon as Alden stepped through the portal with swirling blue mana, everything vanished.
He couldn’t feel his body anymore.
What the—?
He tried to speak, but no voice ca out.
What’s happening?
It felt as if his whole body was being stabbed by so small needles...
... not just his body but his soul as well.
The pain wasn’t imnse but like an itch refusing to go away, which annoyed him even more.
He couldn’t even move his body as if it didn’t exist but the pain was real.
Ti beca a blur, seconds or centuries, he couldn’t tell.
Throughout it all, he didn’t do anything.
Not because he didn’t want to but because he couldn’t and that frustrated him more.
Just as his mind started breaking and his thoughts vanishing, a blinding light shot out, washing away all the darkness around him.
The sensation of his body returned as he found himself standing within a massive arena. His steps wobbled as if not used to his own weight.
But he recovered soon.
Did the system heal back?
No, more importantly what the hell was that?
He didn’t have the answer. So, he looked around himself.
There were seats for the audience but no spectators.
The ground and the arena walls were cracked with outgrown grass coming out of them.
It felt like sothing straight out of so creepy horror movie.
Still, what pulled Alden’s attention was a single figure standing within the centre of the arena, holding a pitch black sword.
His long white hair flowed out like water, reaching his shoulder.
His golden eyes burned as if they weren’t made out of re flesh but out of orbs of sun.
His face, so pale it almost looked ethereal, had a single scar running down from his eye to his jaw.
His expression was calm as if nothing in this world could touch him anymore.
How—?
Alden’s eyes widened. He recognised the figure.
It was him when his bloodline was activated and yet...
...yet he looked different.
A system panel appeared before him with a ding sound.
[ERROR!!]
[ERROR!!]
[??? HAS INTERFERED WITH THE TRIAL]
[FURTHER INTERFERENCE HAS BEEN RESISTED]
[A NEW TRIAL IS BEING INITIATED]
[REPLACENT FOUND]
[CREATING A POSSIBILITY]
.
.
.
.
[FINAL TRIAL OF SHADOWED SELF INITIATED]
[DEFEAT THE FAILED POSSIBILITY OF YOURSELF]
Alden’s eyes widened.
What the hell is happening?
How did soone interfere?
He didn’t have any answer but whatever was happening... soone far stronger than he hoped to defeat had noticed him.
And worst of all,
All he could do was hope that they weren’t an enemy.
Then his gaze fell upon the failed possibility or at least that’s what the system called his possibility.
Is that an illusion?
No that can’t be... none of my skills are reacting.
That ant the system sohow created his failed possibility...
... or maybe it always existed in so tiline and the system pulled it from there?
He had read enough novels to know that multiple tilines could exist and he himself had witnessed one such incident while he was in Flux Dungeon.
Caera had clearly told him that the dungeon created and distorted multiple possibilities.
Still, he couldn’t understand anything.
"Why do you think so much?"
A solemn voice echoed, too regal to be normal like an emperor speaking to a peasant.
The fuck?
Since when could that guy talk?
It was a possibility for him, who had spoken just now.
"You not only lack strength but also the will to know the realities beyond the bounds of this world...
... and yet you try to comprehend it as if you, with that ager strength, could even understand the glimpse of what lay beyond."
Alden blinked.
What is this cringe way of speaking?
No, seriously... this can’t be .
He tilted his head, staring at the version of himself that looked like he had stepped straight out of so tragic drama.
The possibility spoke again.
"So, tell ... why do you think so much even after knowing you can’t control what is ant to happen?"
He paused, his tone not disdainful but like soone who was just curious.
"Tell , why do you even struggle to survive?"
Alden’s mind went still.
The question was simple... too simple but at the sa ti it was too heavy for him.
What was he surviving for?
What was his goal?
What was he growing strong for?
He had never really bothered to ask.
Couldn’t he just give up? Close his eyes and let it end? Would anyone even care?
Kyun would be sad... maybe. But did she need him?
From what he’d seen, Amyra seed to love her. She could take care of her. She would.
So then... why?
Why the hell was he struggling?
Then, without malice or mockery, the voice ca again.
"Again, you are thinking too much."
The tone wasn’t cruel. It was quiet and asured like a tired teacher guiding a confused student.
"Survival isn’t about reason. It’s about will. You don’t need a purpose. You need a refusal."
Refusal to what?
But before Alden could ask...
... before he could even think, the ground under him trembled.
The air turned still as the Failed Possibility stepped forward.
"You’re not ready."
His voice had no anger.
"So I’ll tell you the only way left... to not follow my path."
"But before that—"
He lifted his sword slowly as light and shadow swirled around it.
And then, he vanished.
Alden’s instincts scread.
He barely twisted his body.
The sword followed.
And then he saw death just inches away.
But sothing inside him snapped.
No... it ignited.
A small spark.
For a split second, Alden’s eyes burned gold. The ti slowed down.
A white fla erupted around him.
His body vanished, propelled by raw force as he slamd into the arena wall. But the sound of his crash was drowned by a roar behind him.
BOOM!!!!
He turned.
The ground where he had been a few seconds ago was gone.
Split into two halves.
A massive rift stretched outward from the impact point, devouring both ground and the fake sky.
The very space around it was shattered.
The failed possibility turned.
"Now that we have taken care of the spectator, shall we start for real?"
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