[Welco to the "Colosseum of Ascension"]
[You have unlocked 3 rewards from clearing the second God-Rank assessnt.]
Leon imdiately frowned slightly after reading the notification.
’Only three?’
The first God-Rank assessnt had also given him three rewards.
But the difference in difficulty between the first and second assessnt was absolutely insane.
The [Forsaken City] was far more dangerous than the first assessnt in almost every possible way, especially with the final pressure from the [Forsaken King] and the dark fog slowly consuming the city.
So Leon honestly expected much more.
Ding!
[All rewards will be different from one player to another depending on their achievents in the assessnt, except for the third.]
"...Interesting."
Leon finally lifted his head and looked around at his surroundings properly.
And the mont he did, his expression changed.
He was currently standing on a gigantic ancient platform floating in the middle of an endless dark void.
Stars surrounded the entire place.
’No... that’s not it’, Leon thought.
At first glance, they looked like ordinary stars shining in the darkness, but after focusing more carefully, Leon realized each one radiated an overwhelming aura. Every single one.
Ding!
[The "Colosseum of Ascension" holds the spot of every god or entities close to them in power there is, each "star" represents one.]
Leon instinctively took a small step back after reading the notification.
"...What the hell?"
His eyes slowly moved across the endless void once more.
There were too many stars. Far too many.
Leon actually attempted to count them at first, but after reaching around fifty, he completely lost track and gave up.
A chill slowly ran through his spine.
Because if every single one of these stars represented a god, or sothing close to that level... Then just how many monsters existed out there?
And more importantly... Would he eventually have to fight all of them?
Leon wasn’t scared anymore after everything he had experienced, but even he couldn’t help feeling slightly overwheld by the sheer scale of what he was seeing.
’Can I even survive all that?’ Leon thought silently.
Who knew. Still, after taking a deep breath, Leon forced himself to calm down and focused back on the actual colosseum itself.
Massive pillars surrounded the ancient structure, each one glowing faintly with divine-looking light.
Above him was a gigantic roof held up by those pillars.
And in the exact center of the colosseum was sothing Leon imdiately recognized.
"...The Ascension Altar." His eyes widened slightly.
He had only seen this altar once before. In that strange dream where he t the [Heavenly One].
At that ti, the mysterious entity had shown him the altar while telling him he wasn’t worthy of it yet.
And now... The sa altar stood directly in front of him.
Except this ti, it wasn’t a dream. Or at least Leon believed it wasn’t.
Slowly, Leon approached the altar while observing it carefully.
Compared to the divine version he had seen before, this one seed much calr.
It didn’t radiate so incomprehensible holy pressure. It simply stood there silently.
Still, the mont Leon extended his hand and touched it...
Ding!
[A faint divine essence swells inside of you, though it isn’t enough.]
[You aren’t worthy yet.]
"Again?" Leon muttered with narrowed eyes.
So even after clearing two God-Rank assessnts, killing all those bosses, and surviving everything that happened in the [Forsaken City]... It still wasn’t enough.
’I guess that ans I need to clear more assessnts.’
Honestly, Leon didn’t know how many existed.
But if he had to guess, perhaps only soone who completed every single God-Rank assessnt would finally beco "worthy."
And once they did, maybe they would truly ascend. Maybe their own star would appear in this endless void beside the gods and others.
"What the fuck do you an, not worthy?!"
"I guess we really need to do more assessnts..."
"I refuse to go through sothing like that ever again."
Suddenly, several familiar voices echoed from the opposite side of the altar.
Leon blinked, ’...?’
He imdiately turned his head. And there they were: Violet, Godrick, Alicar and Oasis.
All four of them stood on the other side of the altar, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.
Leon frowned slightly, ’I swear there was nobody there before.’
Which ant they only appeared after he touched the altar. Otherwise there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed them imdiately.
The group, anwhile, still hadn’t realized Leon was standing there.
"Do you think Leon will be alright after receiving the punishnt?" Alicar asked quietly while adjusting his grip around his bow. "I an, maybe he found a way to live, or the punishnt will be light...?"
"Let’s not lie to ourselves," Godrick sighed while crossing his massive arms. "That teor definitely killed him. His life is probably over now."
"Shut up," Violet imdiately replied coldly. "If not for Leon, none of us would even be standing here."
"Agreed," Oasis frowned. "Don’t talk badly about him."
The four continued speaking among themselves while Leon simply stared at them silently for a mont.
Honestly, seeing them argue about whether he was alive or dead was a little funny.
Eventually though, Violet slowly turned her head toward Leon’s direction.
And the instant she saw him... Her entire expression froze.
"Oh god," she muttered while rubbing her eyes. "I think I’m finally losing my mind. I’m starting to hallucinate Leon now."
The others imdiately turned toward where she was looking. Then all four of them froze as well.
"...Wait."
"...What?"
Leon grinned.
"Since when am I dead?" he asked casually. "Did you guys seriously think I’d sacrifice myself without knowing exactly what would happen?"
The mont they heard his voice and realized Leon was actually standing there alive and perfectly fine, every single one of them completely lost composure.
Godrick’s mouth fell open. Alicar looked like his brain had stopped functioning.
Oasis nearly dropped her wrench. Even Violet’s usually calm expression completely broke.
Then almost instantly, all four rushed toward Leon.
They circled around him, staring at him from every angle while even touching his shoulders and arms to make sure he was actually real.
"...What the hell are you doing?" Leon asked while looking at them strangely.
"How the hell did you survive that, human?" Godrick asked with a bewildered expression, still unable to process what he was seeing.
"Small trick of mine," Leon shrugged with a smile, "I don’t die easily."
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