"All right, we’re good to go now," Isaac said.
Then he paused. A thought crossed his mind. "But before that, let’s exit the soulbind pendant. There’s something I need to ask Professor Catherine."
Emily nodded.
The two of them teleported out of the pendant and reappeared in the governor’s office.
Professor Catherine was seated behind the governor’s desk, flipping through a stack of documents.
On the sofa to the side, Celia sat cross-legged, tapping away at a handheld device and playing the game with full focus.
Both of them noticed Isaac and Emily immediately.
"Hello," Emily greeted softly, lifting her hand in a small wave.
She forced a weak smile, but the faint streaks of dried tears on her face told the truth she couldn’t hide.
Neither Professor Catherine nor Celia pointed it out.
"Will you be entering the trial?" Professor Catherine asked, her eyes moving from Isaac to Emily.
"Yes, Aunty." Emily nodded quietly.
Isaac stepped forward. "Professor Catherine, I wanted to ask about something. If I enter the soulbind pendant and Emily takes it into her trial, I’ll be able to follow her inside. But what about everyone else who’s inside her pendant?"
Professor Catherine folded her hands on the desk. "You don’t need to worry about that. The system will likely ask Emily how many summons she wishes to bring with her. The difficulty of her trial will be adjusted according to the number she selects."
Isaac nodded. "I see. Thanks for clearing that up."
He turned to Emily. "I’ll head into the pendant now. You should start your trial soon."
As he walked toward Celia, whose neck carried the pendant, he noticed the katana resting against the arm of the sofa beside her.
Celia picked it up and held it toward him.
"Take this," she said.
"That’s yours."
"I know." She pressed the hilt forward insistently. "I’m just lending it to you."
The two locked eyes for a moment. Neither spoke. Then Isaac sighed, shoulders dropping slightly, and nodded.
"...Thank you," he said, taking the sword.
With a final glance at Emily, he stepped into the pendant and vanished.
Celia removed the necklace and placed it in Emily’s hand.
She gave her a smile. "Don’t worry too much. Your trial will definitely go smoothly."
Her cheerfulness was infectious, and Emily couldn’t help but smile faintly as she nodded. "Thank you."
Holding the pendant tightly, Emily closed her eyes and willed the trial to begin.
A bright white door appeared in the middle of the office, its frame humming with quiet energy.
Without hesitation, Emily stepped through.
Her vision went black.
When sight returned, she was floating in a vast, empty expanse of darkness.
It felt like the middle of space, endless and silent.
A screen of glowing words appeared in front of her.
[Shattered God Domain detected on Emily Warren.]
[Multiple lifeforms confirmed within the Shattered God Domain.]
[Ejecting the Shattered God Domain from the Death Trial to maintain equilibrium of test difficulty.]
[Error! Ejection failed.]
[Searching for an appropriate response. Response found.]
[The lifeforms within the Shattered God Domain will be temporarily considered as Emily Warren’s summons for the duration of the Death Trial.]
[Temporary new rules added to the Death Trial.]
[Emily Warren, please confirm the temporary summons you would like to have access to within the Death Trial.]
[Only chosen temporary summons can be taken out of the Shattered God Domain during the Death Trial.]
[Number of temporary summons you bring will affect the difficulty of the Death Trial.]
Emily stared at the flood of notifications.
The words kept appearing one after another until finally the screen stopped shifting.
She blinked, overwhelmed.
"Temporary summons?" she whispered.
The meaning was clear enough.
The trial had detected the existence of Isaac and others within her soulbind pendant and was treating them as potential summons.
She would need to choose who to bring with her.
Her first instinct was obvious.
Her lips parted, ready to say Isaac’s name.
But the sound caught in her throat before it escaped.
Floating in the cold silence, fear slipped back into her chest.
What if Isaac got hurt?
What if he was killed inside her trial?
Monsters modeled after her parents would be waiting for her.
Facing them, even weakened by the system’s rules, was not something she could take lightly.
Emily couldn’t imagine them getting injured, let alone defeated.
Her teeth dug into her lower lip as she trembled.
She didn’t want to see Isaac bleed for her.
She opened her mouth again, this time to say she would enter alone.
That would be safer.
She would carry the weight herself, and he wouldn’t have to—
But she froze.
Isaac’s voice from earlier echoed in her mind.
"Isaac trusts me."
His words had been simple, but they rang louder than any fear inside her.
How would Isaac feel if she rejected him now? If she left him behind because of her fear?
She thought about herself in his place.
If she learned that Isaac was suffering and had chosen to endure it alone, hiding it from her because he didn’t trust her enough to share the pain, her heart would shatter.
She wanted to be with him. She wanted to share everything, the good and the bad, the joy and the suffering.
"I should trust Isaac too," she whispered.
He had promised her. He had looked her in the eyes and told her they would face her trial together.
Going alone now would be turning her back on that promise. It would be ignoring the wish he had expressed to stand beside her.
Her eyes burned, but not from tears this time.
"Yes," she said, her voice firm despite the trembling in her chest. "I’ll start the trial with Isaac."
The screen flickered, awaiting her confirmation.
Emily reached out, pressed her hand against the glowing words, and made her choice.
[Isaac Hargraves chosen as temporary summon]
[Beginning Death Trial]
[30 seconds until bosses join the battle]
The world around Emily began to shift.
Her breath caught as the black void faded, replaced by scenes that felt far too familiar.
It was the Netherworld.
Burning buildings stretched across the horizon, broken wreckage scattered in every direction. Rivers of blood pooled along the streets, and the smell of death was thick enough to choke her.
Her legs trembled.
"Not here... not again..." she whispered.
All she was carnage.
Carnage created by her in the past.
The only relief was the absence of the corpses.
But that relief didn’t last long.
"Grrr... Grrr..."
The groans echoed from every side. Emily raised her head, and her eyes widened.
Hundreds of corpses were moving toward her.
Their broken bodies dragged across the ground, bones exposed, faces twisted in torment.
She recognized them all.
These were the very inhabitants of the Netherworld she had once slain.
Her stomach turned. She staggered back.
And behind the sea of corpses two figures stood still.
Unlike the horde, they weren’t grotesque or twisted. They stood tall.
Her mother. Her father.
[20 seconds until bosses enter the battle]
Emily’s vision blurred. The corpses rushed closer, a tide of death ready to crash over her.
Her arms shook. She couldn’t raise her weapon. She couldn’t strike them again.
Her body froze.
And then, the pendant at her chest flared with light.
Isaac appeared beside her, stepping out of the glow. He moved without hesitation, standing in front of her, his back facing the horde.
"Emily," he said firmly, looking her in the eyes.
She blinked, startled. "I... I can’t—"
"They aren’t the people you knew. They’re just monsters," Isaac said calmly.
Her lips trembled. "B-but—"
"It’s alright."
He reached out and took her hands into his own.
His grip was warm, and steady. His smile was small but confident.
"Just look at me. You don’t need to think about anything else."
The corpses dragged themselves closer, the ground quaking with their weight. Isaac’s hands squeezed hers gently, grounding her.
"I’ll handle this. You stay here."
[10 seconds until bosses enter the battle]
Emily’s eyes darted past his shoulder to the incoming tide. Fear clawed at her chest.
But Isaac’s hand moved, tilting her chin until she was looking back at him.
"Did you understand what I said?"
She swallowed. "...Yes."
"Good girl." His hand rose, patting her head once with a lightness that contrasted the chaos around them.
A transparent barrier suddenly wrapped itself around her, conforming to her exact shape. Bastion Gate, it was Celia’s shared skill.
Emily gasped softly as the shield shimmered. "Isaac—"
"Stay here," he said simply.
And then the monsters reached them.
Isaac’s hand released hers as he slammed his palm to the ground. Flames erupted.
Towering pillars of infernal fire summoned from hell burst from the ground.
He had used Pillars of Damnation skill.
The flames swallowed the horde. Corpses howled and screeched as they burned, bodies collapsing into ash under the searing heat.
Emily flinched at the screams, but Isaac didn’t look away from her until the fire had cleared the first wave.
[Time limit reached. Bosses will now enter the battlefield.]
The figures at the far end began to stir. Her parents—no, the monsters wearing their faces.
Isaac exhaled once. Then his body blurred.
Shadow Step. The inherent skill of the Stormshadow Katana.
In a blink, he reappeared directly before the [Empress of Netherworld]. His hand rested on the katana’s sheath, body lowering into an iai stance.
"Voice of Seraphim."
The words echoed, heavy and commanding. The two bosses froze. Their movements stalled as the skill’s power pressed down.
But only for a moment.
The [Incarnation of the Sword God] moved even through the stun.
His blade flashed.
In less than a second, his sword was already cutting through the air toward Isaac’s neck.