The floating woman wearing a white cloak finished speaking, and a barrier rose to seal the area around the crowd, preventing any more Celestials from joining. With a smile, she looked down at the gathered Celestials.
"Congratulations to everyone present for arriving in time and securing your place to participate in the test! Even if you fail, you will not leave this place empty handed."
At that very moment, the place behind the woman—shrouded in wandering mist that no one could see through—finally became visible to everyone. What had seemed like an empty void earlier was now revealed to be encircled by towering walls that loomed within the haze. A massive door stood as its only entrance, tightly wrapped in chains and ancient patterns that glimmered under the dim light. The dark chains and patterns around the gate moved back as the woman floating above the large platform waved her hand. The gate then slowly began to open.
The moment the towering gate opened, a wave of icy air burst out from the darkness within, so intense that even the woman and others floating above the platform shivered.
Yet beneath that icy, oppressive chill, the place held an eerie, haunting beauty—like a realm suspended between divinity and ruin, where the very space itself was frozen into countless sharp, jagged structures of ice.
The tall, golden-haired Celestial in front of Amon gestured toward the woman floating atop the platform with an excited look as he whispered to the people of his group.
"That’s the esteemed Ruler Mirabel!"
Hearing him, Amon’s eyes narrowed.
He looked Mirabel up and down.
And found nothing special. Her natural Celestial aura was quite weak, and these people were called the so-called Rulers?
A scoff escaped his lips.
"Esteemed? What a joke."
The more he looked at Mirabel and those around her, the deeper his scoff became.
Suddenly, Leon draped an arm over his shoulder and muttered near his ear.
"Hey, no way these Celestials can defeat your father. Didn’t our elders say Kyle was always unbeatable at the same rank and could even fight those stronger than him before he left the universe? That’s how he stopped that Azazeal guy. How could he lose to these people who look this weak?"
Caria nodded in agreement. Amon’s lips curled upward, but there wasn’t even a hint of amusement or joy in his narrowed eyes.
"Well, if these people can defeat him, then we can only say that all the stories we have heard about his power so far were not true."
His voice carried a trace of ridicule.
For years, he had been forced to listen to endless tales about that man’s strength.
Yet now, looking at these Rulers who had supposedly brought him down according to the rumors, all he felt was disappointment.
Leon let out a dry laugh at his words.
"What about the story of him being the luckiest?"
Amon glared at him and said nothing.
However, the tall, golden-haired Celestial and his group, who were standing in front of them, were now sweating buckets. The golden-haired man glanced at the woman standing next to him, silently confirming that she had heard the same thing as well.
His mind settled on a single unsettling thought—they had made a big mistake!
Slowly, unease spread through the group. Without another word, they began to move and eventually vanished from the scene. It seemed they had just heard something far more terrifying than they had expected.
It seemed... they had just spoken to Kyle—the Ice Celestial’s relatives. No, not just any relatives, but his son!! If this was really true, it was big news!! News they couldn’t afford to get involved in. After all, they knew well how Yizhe, Mirabel, and their followers had been harming all those related to Kyle! The leader of the famous Golden Guardians clan, Ares, was a good example of this!
Damn it!
Leon noticed the golden-haired Celestial and his group suddenly slipping away into the crowd, but he didn’t think much of it.
In the distance, floating atop the platform, Mirabel pointed toward the now-open tall gate behind her and addressed everyone.
"This is the place where your test will be conducted. We will observe all of you from outside. The Celestials who pass will enter the Rulers’ Clan. Those who fail need not be disheartened. Haha, you can try again next year. As for danger... I believe everyone who came here already knows that a place filled with treasures is never too easy to explore. With opportunity comes danger, and one must overcome it before moving forward."
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Mirabel clapped her hands with a sigh.
"I know some of you might be wondering where Ruler Yizhe is. This year, we spread the news that both Yizhe and I would be here to oversee the test. But... something came up, and he had to leave to handle it. Still, Yizhe will certainly join us while you are undergoing the test, so do your best!"
Her voice rose sharply.
"If you are all ready, fly and enter the gate! This moment marks the start of the test!"
With that, she and the powerful Celestials around her left the platform, rising upward toward a newly constructed large structure floating in the distant dark sky. It was a vast space filled with glowing mirrors, each one reflecting a different figure standing below.
The images within the mirrors moved as the Celestials they reflected moved. Within the structure, many other powerful Rulers were already present. They greeted Mirabel and those with her briefly before everyone settled into the thrones lined at the center of the mirrors, watching the chaos that erupted below after Mirabel’s departure.
***
Simultaneously, in front of the gate, amid the growing chaos as countless Celestials surged forward into the entrance, Leon and Caria were separated from Amon. Leon let out a sharp curse as he was pushed back, hurriedly reaching to grab Caria by the arm as he looked around for Amon in the crowd.
"Damn it... this test has no rules?! What about the basic rules every test has—no killing, no stealing from each other?"
"It’s like... they don’t even care what happens inside!"
Caria dragged him forward.
"I just saw Amon up ahead, hurry up, let’s catch up! We three need to stay together!"
As the two neared the gate, they noticed everyone around them visibly trembling, as if they had been suddenly dropped into a frost mountain, even though they were all Celestials, powerful enough not to feel any type of cold. As Caria and Leon united with Amon, Leon suddenly muttered dazedly.
"Is it just me, or do we really not feel any cold? Hey... it’s not like we three are the strongest here... so why?"