The massive white shop space suddenly began collapsing like a row of dominos falling in sequence. The holographic displays flickered and vanished. The white walls dissolved into particles of light that scattered into nothingness. Reality itself seed to fold inward and compress.
When Vogue’s eyes opened again after the disorienting transition, he found himself back in an extrely familiar location that made his heart skip a beat.
He was sitting inside the large stadium where the trial had begun, specifically inside one of the tal cages where he and several other students had been locked up before being transported to the trial dinsion. The sa rusty bars, the sa concrete floor, the sa oppressive atmosphere of fear and anticipation.
But sothing was different now. The cage wasn’t full anymore.
A few other students had already awakened at this point and were sitting or standing in various states of confusion and relief. Vogue counted quickly and realized there were only about seven students in this particular cage, when there had been at least twenty before the trial began.
These survivors had apparently died relatively early in their respective trials but had managed to pass at least one hidden quest requirent before dying. That accomplishnt had been enough to satisfy the Omnibus System and allow them to return alive rather than transforming into radiants.
Of course, Vogue didn’t recognize any of these particular students as familiar faces. That made sense when he thought about it logically. Each cage had been transported to a different trial dinsion, aning these students had experienced completely different challenges and environnts than what Vogue had faced in New York.
They were strangers who happened to share a cage assignnt, nothing more.
The very mont Vogue fully awakened and his eyes opened completely, a soldier wearing full combat gear suddenly flashed forward with incredible speed. The man appeared in front of Vogue’s cage in less than a blink, moving with the enhanced abilities of soone who had already beco a Stellar Knight years ago.
The soldier’s spear was raised in a threatening position, the sharp tal tip pointed directly at Vogue’s throat through the bars. His eyes were hard and suspicious as he stared intensely at Vogue’s face, searching for any sign of radiant transformation.
"What is your na?" the soldier demanded in a harsh, authoritative voice that expected imdiate compliance.
Vogue frowned slightly at the aggressive approach but understood the necessity. The soldiers needed to quickly identify who had successfully maintained their humanity and who had been corrupted. He answered clearly and without hesitation.
"My na is Vogue Morningster."
The soldier studied Vogue’s eyes carefully for several more seconds, looking for the telltale golden glow that would indicate radiant infection. When he saw only normal human eyes staring back at him with clear awareness and intelligence, the soldier finally nodded his head in satisfaction.
He lowered his spear and stepped back from the cage, moving to his previous guard position about ten ters away. His posture remained alert and ready to strike at a mont’s notice if needed.
At that exact mont, a student sitting close to Vogue’s position inside the cage suddenly began roaring like a wild animal. The sound was inhuman and filled with mindless aggression rather than any recognizable emotion.
The student threw himself violently against the tal bars of the cage, colliding with them so hard that the entire structure shook and rattled. Spit and foam rolled down from his lips as his eyes rapidly changed color, shifting from normal brown to glowing golden yellow.
His arms began elongating grotesquely, the bones stretching and the muscles bulging as they transford into sothing resembling the limbs of a chimpanzee or gorilla. His fingernails darkened and extended into sharp claws. His jaw structure changed, becoming more pronounced and animal-like.
"He beca a radiant," Vogue muttered quietly, his eyes narrowing as he watched the transformation complete. "This student actually failed the trial and lost his humanity."
The transformation had probably been delayed by the return process, only manifesting once the student fully materialized back in the real world. It was a rcy in so ways—at least he hadn’t transford while still in the trial dinsion where he would have been completely alone.
The sa soldier who had questioned Vogue moved like a ghost, his body blurring with enhanced speed as he appeared directly in front of the transforming student’s position. Without any hesitation or rcy, without even a mont’s pause to consider alternatives, the soldier thrust his spear forward.
The weapon pierced straight through the cage bars and stabbed directly into the student’s chest with perfect accuracy, punching through the ribcage and destroying the corrupted heart in a single efficient strike.
Life imdiately left the transford youth’s golden eyes as his body collapsed and died, slumping against the cage bars before sliding down to lie motionless on the concrete floor. Blood pooled slowly beneath him.
Vogue’s eyes sharpened and he sighed deeply, feeling a complex mixture of emotions. Without his system and the advantages it provided—his regeneration, his cloning ability, his ti manipulation, his dragon physique—he would have also ended up in exactly this situation. Dead or transford, just another statistic in the Osympic Trial’s brutal mortality rate.
He had been extraordinarily lucky or perhaps blessed by fate in ways he still didn’t fully understand.
Up in the spectator seats surrounding the stadium, those who were familiar with Vogue’s previous reputation as the school’s weakest student spotted him among the survivors. Their reactions were imdiate and loud.
"Wait, is that really Vogue? The sa Vogue who could barely run a lap around the track without collapsing?" one student exclaid with genuine disbelief in his voice.
"Vogue actually managed to survive the Osympic Trial? This is incredibly surprising!" another person added, shaking their head in amazent.
A third student chid in with a dismissive tone. "Well, the fact that he got ejected before the trial officially ended ans he probably died pretty early in the process. But he didn’t transform into a radiant, which at least ans he accomplished so kind of hidden quest objective before dying. That’s better than nothing, I suppose."
"What a lucky bastard," soone muttered with clear envy coloring their words. "He probably just hid sowhere safe the entire ti and got credit for so random quest completion. anwhile, those of us who actually fought and survived the whole trial had to work ten tis harder."
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