Three skeletal dragons attacked Daniel simultaneously from three directions. Their massive wings covered the cracked sky. Their shadows fell across the bone plain, and the ground beneath them sank under the weight of their presence.
It was obvious that the skeletal dragons considered him the greatest threat among all the participants. After all, he was the only one who had managed to kill a skeleton in just a few seconds.
The other participants were still struggling, unable to even kill a single skeletal dragon, and it seemed unlikely that they ever could. Killing these guardians required more than just power—it required mastery over laws themselves.
Daniel did not move at the sight of the three skeletal dragons. He did not look afraid. If anything, it was as if he was mocking them.
The first skeleton descended with a claw the size of a tower.
Daniel stepped forward and raised his blade.
"Eternal Severance."
This strike was faster this time, more precise. The blade didn’t just cut the flame inside the bone; it split the "energy cycle" that connected the skeleton to the trial itself. A dark rift ran through its chest.
The fire in its eye sockets flickered, then went out. Its massive body collapsed and turned into ash.
This... should not have been possible. The trial did not allow true death.
The skeletons were supposed to be guardians. They were supposed to regenerate. They were supposed to rise again. But this one did not return.
In fact, Daniel had now mastered the process of killing them. That made it effortless. By using the Law of Eternity, he could violate the permanence of any law, the immortality that bound them.
The second skeleton opened its jaws, unleashing a torrent of primal flame toward Daniel, a fire that even bent the space around it.
Rhaenyra pulled back. Vermyros gritted his teeth.
Had that flame hit directly, even they might have been erased. But Daniel held his sword vertically before him.
"Abyssal Oath: End Without End."
The flame collided with his blade. But instead of exploding, the sound was muted, as if the fire had entered a bottomless void.
The Law of Death brought the flame to an end. The Law of Eternity anchored that ending. The flame vanished.
Daniel stepped forward. This time, he decided to use another skill, if only for variation.
Now that he thought about it, this trial was the perfect place to test his new abilities.
"Dominion of the Silent Grave."
The ground beneath him darkened. Darkness surged upward and spread.
Everything within several hundred meters of him entered the "Domain" of death. The pulse of energy from the skeletons slowed. Their movements became heavier. The fire within their bones destabilized.
This was no longer just a skill. It was a law being enforced. Daniel leapt. His blade moved in a crosswise strike.
First the neck, then the spine, and finally the wings, every strike precise, without wasted motion.
The second skeleton collapsed, turning into a pile of ash with nothing left.
The remaining participants, witnessing this, widened their eyes in disbelief. They had not even managed to kill one, and this boy had just taken down three?
What was happening here? Who exactly was he? Why had they never seen him before?
The third skeleton did not retreat. It roared and charged madly.
But within the Domain of Death, every movement it made was slower than it should have been to reach Daniel.
The blade descended. The last guardian on that side of the field was destroyed.
On the other side of the plain, Morgrath was slammed to the ground by a heavy blow, his body turning into light.
"Seven remain." Three participants had been erased so far, and only two more needed to be removed for this phase of the trial to conclude.
Vermyros was battling another skeleton, but even he realized something was wrong.
The skeletons Daniel killed... did not return. He had destroyed one with full force.
But the others came back, while the ones Daniel struck... vanished completely.
Rhaenyra noticed it before anyone else. Her gaze flicked between the ash and Daniel.
"What... are you doing?"
Daniel did not answer. In truth, he did not even know how to explain it. This was not a process that could be articulated, it was action, not words.
Four more skeletons turned toward him simultaneously. It was as if the trial itself had reacted.
The target had shifted. All of them surged toward him at once.
The ground buckled.
The remaining participants fell back, even Vermyros instinctively took a few steps.
This was no longer a situation they could intervene in. Four skeletal dragons, unleashing all their power at once. Flames shot from their jaws that seemed capable of burning even the world itself.
But the Domain of Death was still active. Daniel raised his sword. This time he used no skill. He simply unleashed the law.
Death and Eternity.
For a moment, space fractured. His blade moved, drawing a horizontal line across the sky.
Then silence engulfed the entire field.
The four massive flames trembled. Their eye sockets went dark. Their colossal bodies cracked. One by one, they fell.
There was no return. There was no resurrection. They turned entirely to ash and were erased.
The entire battlefield sank into silence. No skeletons remained.
Yet a problem persisted. Seven participants still remained, but according to the Goddess, half were supposed to be removed.
What should they do now? Did this mean the trial’s laws were flawed? The situation was so strange that they had no idea how to respond.
"Phase One of the trial has ended."
A strange silence followed. For several seconds, nothing happened.
It was as if the trial itself was processing something.
Skeletal dragons were not supposed to die. They were meant to return endlessly. This test was not about killing, it was about survival.
But Daniel had bypassed the rules. More precisely, he had broken them.
The ground suddenly split open. Five pillars of light descended from the sky.
Vermyros.
Rhaenyra.
Vaerion.
Elyndra.
And Daniel.
The other two received no pillars. Their bodies turned to light and were erased from the trial.
"Five participants will move on to Phase Two."
Vermyros stared at Daniel.
This time, his gaze held more than hatred. A deeper fear lingered. Could he even take revenge now?
He thought that no matter the difference in their power, he could make up for it using his trump cards.
Besides, he was sure that the only reason he had lost in the restaurant was because that bastard had attacked him secretly, otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to even have a chance against him.
But now? He wasn’t so sure anymore. He had managed to kill a skeletal dragon with his own hands, using all his power.
And that skeletal dragon came back to life, but Daniel killed them with ease, and every time he killed them, they didn’t return.
Was this a nightmare?
Rhaenyra exhaled calmly. She understood. It was as if she had once again become indebted to this individual.
This trial had been designed to test dragons. But something had entered it that the trial’s design had not accounted for.
The pillars of light around Daniel glowed. The ground beneath them vanished.
And they were officially sent to Phase Two.