The golden fire bullets tore into the puppets.
Their bodies were pierced and shattered, fragments of armor scattering across the burning ground.
But still, they pushed forward, step by step, refusing to stop.
"They don’t care about damage," Isaac muttered under his breath.
Their movements were driven by something stronger than instinct.
Their only goal was to protect the dolls— the children inside, no matter what.
Isaac frowned, watching their battered forms still advancing despite being half-destroyed.
He tightened his grip on the spear, ready to strike again.
But then, everything froze.
A soft glow appeared near the edge of the mansion’s boundary.
Celia stepped out, her arms wrapped tightly around a doll.
The trial’s voice echoed in their ears.
[Third trial finished.]
[Reward: Mana Potion (Effect: +100 to Mana).]
[You have completed the Nightmare Hell Difficulty Evolutionary Trial.]
[You will be shortly teleported to the Test Administrator for your rewards. Please wait patiently.]
Isaac exhaled, his shoulders loosening.
He stored the potion in his spatial ring and canceled Phantom Parade.
The thousands of spirits faded from the sky, leaving behind only the dim light of burning forest and rubble.
He turned, only to see Celia running toward him.
She leapt forward without hesitation and hugged him tightly.
"That was awesome! That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!"
Isaac blinked in surprise, then let out a small laugh and hugged her back.
Even with his calm demeanor, his blood was still rushing with adrenaline.
The sheer intensity of the fight had left his heart pounding.
Before he could say anything else, movement caught his eye.
He looked past the forest line and saw several figures emerging.
"Huh?"
Celia turned her head, still clinging to him, and followed his gaze.
Trial participants were rushing out of the trees.
But before they could come closer, their bodies began glowing.
One after another, they dissolved into motes of light, pulled out of the trial by force.
"They came here while you were fighting the puppets," Celia explained.
She gave him a smile, though he couldn’t see it.
"It looks like they used their own teammates as to distract the Seven Guardian Monsters in the second objective stage. While monsters were busy with their team members, they rushed around them to try the third trial before you."
Isaac frowned slightly. "And they didn’t join in?"
Celia laughed brightly. "Join in? Are you joking? They saw what you were doing and froze. They couldn’t find the courage to even step into the fight."
Her words carried a trace of amusement, but Isaac could feel the truth in them.
The sight of the golden flames, the spirits, and his clash against the puppets was not something ordinary participants could bear.
He glanced back at the ruined mansion, the broken monolith, and the fragments of destroyed puppets scattered across the ground.
The storm was gone.
What remained was silence.
For all the overwhelming power he had shown, Isaac knew it could have gone differently if he had hesitated even once.
The margin between victory and defeat had been thinner than it looked.
Movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention.
Edmund raised his hand in a casual wave.
"I hope we can meet later," Edmund called out before his body began to glow.
In the next moment, he turned into a streak of light and shot skyward, disappearing into nothingness.
The others followed in turn. One by one, the participants dissolved into light, vanishing as the trial concluded.
Finally, only Isaac and Celia remained.
Celia noticed Isaac was unusually silent.
"What happened? Why are you so quiet?"
Isaac kept his gaze fixed on the puppets.
They stood frozen where they had fallen, some collapsed on their knees, others half-shattered, motionless now that their purpose was gone.
"It feels... weird," he admitted. His voice was quieter than before. "They were protecting the dolls—children. And I was trying to kidnap them. To finish the trial, I had to destroy the puppets."
Celia folded her arms, thinking for a moment before answering.
"Maybe the System wanted to show us something through this trial." She shrugged lightly. "Either way, it’s not like we actually killed anything. This was a trial created by the System. These things weren’t alive in the way we are."
"Yeah," Isaac said, though it didn’t sound like agreement.
He didn’t explain further, but the feeling inside him wasn’t so simple.
Something about the way the puppets had fought—relentless, desperate, not for themselves but for the dolls—stuck in his mind.
Before he could think more on it, new text appeared before his eyes.
[You will now be summoned to the Test Administrator.]
Celia blinked at the same time, clearly receiving her own notification.
Isaac opened his mouth to speak, but then he froze.
From the corner of his vision, something flickered above the broken puppets.
He turned his head slowly, eyes narrowing.
Faint shapes rose into the air, like wisps of smoke that refused to fade. No, like souls.
The outlines were vague, but there was no mistaking the intent.
These were the remnants of the puppets, something that only appeared now that they were defeated.
One of the figures — the soul of the puppet he destroyed first — drifted closer.
Its presence was gentle rather than threatening.
It hovered before Isaac, then bowed its head slowly.
A single word brushed across his mind.
"Thank you."
Isaac stiffened.
His lips parted as if to ask what they meant, but before a sound left his mouth, the light enveloped him.
The world shifted.
The battlefield vanished.
He was standing in darkness again.
The void stretched in every direction, endless and still.
Beneath his feet was a single glass tile, glowing faintly against the black.
The sight was familiar.
And before him stood the same angel he had met before entering the trial.
"You’ve returned," the angel said. She gazed at him with an unreadable expression before she added, "Congratulations, on completing the trial. You have shown a performance worthy of praise of the Gods."