’This is the last one. Hurry up.’ Almond waited.
The 3-day period was about to be finished in two hours, so this could be his last Obelisk.
The hall’s pulse was slower here, more dangerous — the green crystalline walls humd with a faint vibration like sothing vast was breathing just behind them.
Soon, one after another, four more participants stumbled through the entrance — a towering man clad in volcanic armor, a woman with living lightning dancing in her hair, a pale scholar carrying a book that floated by itself, and a quiet swordsman with a faint golden aura.
Five.
The runes overhead blazed to life, filling the hall with a deep amber glow.
[ Participants have gathered. Challenge begins. ]
The floor split apart.
[ Obelisk of Withering Suns — Initiating Trials. ]
The ground beneath them dissolved, throwing them into a vast, dead desert where three black suns burned high above, radiating blistering heat.
[ First Challenge: Heatborn Hunt ]
[ Rules ]
- Slay as many monsters as possible within 10 minutes. The highest kill count ranks first.
- Your attacks or any kind of powers will not affect the other participants, so feel free to go all out and compete on who kills the most.
The desert split.
Dozens — no, hundreds — of creatures clawed out from beneath the dunes, each one a writhing mass of molten glass and charred bones, their glowing cores burning like lanterns.
The tir appeared in the air.
[ 10:00 ]
And began to tick down.
The volcanic warrior charged first, his fists turning red-hot as he t the creature in brute force before grabbing it. It turned into a fiery molten lava bomb that he threw, obliterating several monsters at once.
The lightning-haired woman darted sideways, hurling spears of stormlight that cracked against dozes of monsters.
Almond didn’t move.
He let the heat swallow him, his silhouette vanishing into a mirage.
Then—
’Starfall Rend. Maximum range.’
Almond used not only his power, but the atmospheric powers by using his Grim-Fated Blade, converting the chaotic power of this dinsion into his own force.
Above them, a rift split open as a way for Almond to channel out his craft. In the next mont, it spewed out hundreds of large, crescent-shaped slashes sparkling with attributes of Voiderran and Astral Auralith, enhanced by his Grim Trees. Their projectiles double as they slice across the battlefield like falling scythes of dusk.
Each impact of the slash broke down into several smaller slashes, spreading in all directions.
"W-what the fuck?"
The others were dumbfounded.
"Did we get paired with one of the top five or what?"
The scale and destructiveness of this attack left no hope for the others to catch up.
[ Heatborn Hunt — Rank 1: Almond Regalon. ]
The desert folded away, dragging them back into the Obelisk’s core.
[ Second Challenge: Trial of Endurance. ]
This ti, they stood on five separate pillars of black stone, suspended over a sea of burning stars.
[ Rule: Do not move until the trial ends. Each second burns your strength, vitality, mories, and conciousness, except for the fact that you sohow have to endure until you die, but you will not actually die after that. The one to last longest until their deaths will win. The ti dilation is set to 1 year per 1 second. ]
[ May your will burn the brightest. ]
The words struck like knives.
The others stiffened as the trial activated.
Almond felt it imdiately — the pressure crushed down on him like a collapsing universe. His bones creaked. His flesh began to peel under invisible heat. His soul started to fracture as if ti itself was scraping pieces off him.
The first second passed.
One year.
His skin burned away and regrew. His muscles were ground down and restored, over and over again.
The volcanic warrior howled, sweat turning to steam as his body was flayed and rebuilt every mont. The lightning-haired woman gritted her teeth, sparks exploding from her body as if to drive back the pain.
The pale scholar’s book scread — a terrible, psychic shriek — before it burst into flas. He fell to his knees, vomiting blood as his mories leaked from his eyes like molten light.
Two seconds passed.
Two years.
Almond stayed still. His breathing was steady, but his mind was burning.
mories slipped away — his first sword strike, his earliest battles, the sll of the forest from his childhood.
He clenched his fist until it bled, anchoring himself with pain.
I am Almond Regalon.
I am not done yet.
I AM NOT DONE.
Three seconds.
Three years.
The golden swordsman’s pillar cracked, his aura flickering out before his body slumped into dust.
He died.
[ Golden Swordsman — Eliminated. ]
Four seconds.
The volcanic warrior’s scream turned hoarse. His magma aura dimd. He slamd his fist into his chest as if to keep his heart beating — but eventually, he collapsed, flas dying with him.
[ Volcanic Warrior — Eliminated. ]
Five seconds.
The scholar finally stopped moving, his body turning to glass before shattering.
Only three left — Almond and the lightning-haired woman.
Six seconds.
Her hair turned from lightning-blue to ashen gray as she burned her life force to endure.
Almond’s body was being remade in loops now — stripped to nothing but bone, then rebuilt from blood and shadow. His mories were hanging by threads, nas and faces fading into white noise.
Seven seconds.
Eight.
The lightning-haired woman’s scream tore through the air before her body crumbled into sparks.
Only Almond remained.
Nine seconds.
Nine years.
Ten seconds.
Ten years.
He stood motionless, a black silhouette under the crushing weight of ti, until the final pulse struck.
The pillars vanished, dropping him into the sea of burning stars — but the stars extinguished instead, leaving him floating in a weightless void.
Then the voice of Grimverse spoke again.
[ Trial of Endurance — Rank 1: Almond Regalon. ]
Finally, the last trial ca.
[ Rule: Shatter the final seal and reach the Ascendant Fla before it devours you. The one to reach the Ascendant Fla first wins. ]
A single point of blinding white fire appeared far above them — the Ascendant Fla.
Between them and it, nine seals of space locked the way, each one radiating pressure heavy enough to crush a mountain.
The tir began.
Almond raised both hands, and his twin swords ford — dark gold, glowing faintly with runic threads.
’Solstice Shift.’
His shadow split into twelve in parallel dinsional layers around him with Voiderran, each one grabbing a sword and tearing into a different angle of space.
The first seal shattered with a deafening crack.
The volcanic warrior, reborn by Grimverse’s rcy, charged through brute force, magma fists smashing at the seals, but he lagged behind. The lightning-haired woman streaked upward in a storm of light, breaking seals with speed rather than power.
Each seal shattered caused them to face higher difficulty in moving and controlling their powers, testing their focus and determination to break the seals amidst painful and annoying distractions that tore away at their existences.
By the ti Almond reached the ninth, his blood was running silver, his vision turning blurry.
He put all of himself into the last strike.
Space split open.
The Ascendant Fla descended into his hand like a ta star.
[ Trial of Transcendence — Rank 1: Almond Regalon. ]
The void collapsed into nothing.
When the world returned, Almond was standing outside the Obelisk, his swords humming quietly. The three suns above had dimd as though bowing to him.
[ Obelisk of Withering Suns — Conquered. ]
***
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