Catherine was surprised when she saw the result of the awakening ceremony.
Isaac had failed.
For a few moments, she simply stood there, unable to understand what she had just witnessed.
However, she quickly forced herself to calm down. This wasn't reality.
If this was the trial she was supposed to go through, then there had to be a reason she was being shown this alternate past.
She pushed aside her surprise and began paying attention to everything around her. If this world was trying to show her something, then every little detail could matter.
Rather than questioning it, she decided it would be better to observe and understand first.
Soon, she noticed something unusual. Time was passing incredibly fast. The feeling was difficult to describe because she remembered every single second perfectly, yet she was certain days were slipping by much faster than they should.
It was as though someone had placed the entire world on fast forward while allowing her to experience every moment within it.
Isaac's life became difficult after he failed the awakening ceremony.
With no powers and no future as an awakener, he still had to earn enough money to survive. Before long, he found work at a construction site, carrying heavy materials from sunrise until evening.
Days passed into weeks, and weeks slowly became months. Throughout all that time, nobody came looking for him.
Neither Eleanor nor Emily appeared, and Catherine herself was nowhere to be found. Even Alice remained nothing more than another stranger living somewhere in the city.
At first, Catherine considered searching for them herself, but she soon realized she couldn't travel too far from Isaac. Every time she attempted to leave his vicinity, an invisible force stopped her from going any farther.
It became obvious that whatever this trial was, it intended for her to witness Isaac's life and nothing else.
Months continued to pass in the blink of an eye. During that time, Isaac worked tirelessly until he had finally saved enough money to purchase a basic set of awakener gear.
He had spent a long time listening to stories about people who had awakened after surviving life-threatening situations despite failing the ceremony, or about fortunate individuals who received special rewards inside dungeons that awakened them afterward.
The stories were impossible to verify, but Isaac still clung to them. Even the smallest possibility was enough for him. If there was a chance, no matter how slim, he wanted to take it.
Without hesitation, he left the city and ventured into the wilderness alone. For an ordinary human, surviving even a single day outside the city's protection was nearly impossible, yet Isaac somehow endured for months.
He nearly died more times than Catherine could count, suffered through endless hunger, narrowly escaped monsters stronger than anything he could possibly fight, and continued pushing forward despite everything.
Catherine watched every step of that struggle. She watched him collapse from exhaustion only to force himself back onto his feet again. No matter how desperate the situation became, he never stopped believing that tomorrow might finally be the day he awakened.
But tomorrow never came.
After what felt like years to Catherine, though only a few months had passed in reality, Isaac finally accepted the truth. He quietly packed away his belongings, looked at the dying campfire one last time, and lowered his head.
"I understand now. I won't awaken. I really am a failure," he whispered to himself.
Catherine felt her heart ache.
She had watched Isaac survive hardships that should have broken anyone else. Throughout those months in the wilderness, he had never once abandoned hope. That unwavering determination was exactly why seeing him surrender now was so much more painful than watching him bleed or starve.
Isaac returned to the city shortly afterward.
The streets were exactly the same as before, dirty and lifeless, but something inside him had changed forever. The brilliance that had once filled his eyes was gone, leaving behind only a hollow emptiness.
He drifted through life like a ghost.
He worked when he needed money, ate when he was hungry, and slept wherever he could afford.
He no longer seemed to have any dreams or expectations. Every day simply blended into the next.
Catherine bit her lip until she tasted blood.
She wanted to hug him, tell him everything would eventually be alright, and pull him away from this miserable life.
Instead, she could only stand there and watch him sink deeper into despair. The thought that he might eventually choose to end his own life terrified her more than anything she had witnessed so far.
Was that why "she" had approached him?
"Hey, come with us."
A cheerful voice interrupted Isaac's thoughts as someone grabbed his wrist. Isaac looked up in surprise, only to find Celia smiling at him as though they were already acquaintances.
"Me?" Isaac asked awkwardly.
"Of course, you. The afterparty is about to start, and you're coming with us," Celia replied with a grin.
Isaac hesitated as she continued pulling him forward. "I'm only part of the support staff. I wasn't invited."
"Everyone is invited. You helped us with the concert preparations, so you have to come," Celia said cheerfully.
Isaac looked completely flustered, but he didn't dare resist. As one of the city's biggest idols and an incredibly powerful awakener, Celia wasn't someone he could simply refuse. In the end, he could only follow behind her.
Catherine watched the scene unfold before smiling wryly. The devil really hadn't changed.
Isaac believed today's meeting had happened by chance, but Catherine knew that wasn't true.
Celia had noticed him long before today.
At first, she had simply been curious why someone carrying scars that looked like an awakener's would be working ordinary labor jobs.
She quietly asked around and eventually learned that Isaac was nothing more than a normal human who had failed his awakening.
Digging a little deeper, she also discovered that he had disappeared from the city for several months.
After speaking with a few guards stationed at the city gate, she learned the last place anyone had seen him was when he left the city alone.
That only made her more interested.
Whenever she had free time, Celia quietly followed Isaac from a distance.
Isaac never noticed because a normal human could never detect someone as powerful as her unless she wanted to be seen.
Little by little, she became more familiar with his daily life than Isaac himself realized.
Then Arlene was injured and was forced to retire.
Through the clone that she could still observe Celia, Catherine already knew the truth.
Vale had discovered that Arlene had secretly been working as one of the governor's spies. So, he dealt with her.
Ever since then, Vale had become increasingly paranoid and found it difficult to trust anyone around Celia.
When he reviewed the files of the staff working around her, Isaac's background immediately caught his attention.
His entire history made it nearly impossible for him to be connected to the governor, so Vale temporarily assigned him as Celia's new manager until he found someone more suitable.
Catherine could already see where this was heading.
Vale believed he was making a safe decision, but he had unknowingly placed Isaac beside the very woman who had already spent months watching him from the shadows.
Now that Isaac and Celia spent most of their days together, it was only a matter of time before something happened between them. Neither of them planned for it, but fate rarely cared about plans.
Eventually, after one celebration where both of them drank far more than they should have, one thing led to another.
The next morning, Isaac slowly opened his eyes with a pounding headache. He instinctively turned to his side, only to freeze when he saw someone sleeping beside him. A single bedsheet covered her alluring body, and a few strands of soft pink hair spilled across the pillow.
It was Celia.
Isaac stared blankly for several seconds before his memories gradually caught up with reality.
The events of the previous night flooded back into his mind, causing every bit of color to drain from his face. Horror quickly replaced the confusion in his eyes as he realized exactly what they had done.
Catherine couldn't help laughing when she saw his reaction. Over the past several weeks, Celia had slowly brought Isaac back to his old self, replacing the hollow expression he used to wear with genuine emotions.
However, the panic on his face now was even more expressive than anything Catherine remembered from before.
Isaac's mind immediately jumped to the consequences if anyone else found out.
If Vale discovered what had happened, Isaac had no doubt his neck would fly. Even if Vale somehow spared him, one of Celia's countless fans would probably kill him instead.
Catherine watched him desperately rack his brain for a solution, and the sight made her smile. Just a few months ago, Isaac had looked like a man who no longer cared whether he lived or died.
Seeing him fight so hard to survive such an absurd situation somehow felt reassuring because it meant he wanted to keep living again.
A soft yawn interrupted the silence as Celia slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times before looking at Isaac, and a relaxed smile naturally appeared on her face. Unlike Isaac, she didn't seem surprised in the slightest.
"Isaac? Why are you sitting so stiffly?" she mumbled sleepily before stretching her arms.
"M-Miss Celia..." Isaac replied, forcing an awkward smile that looked more painful than polite. He wanted to sound calm, but his trembling voice completely betrayed him.
"How many times do I have to tell you this? Stop calling me Miss Celia. Just call me Celia already." Celia pouted before pushing herself upright.
Before Isaac could answer, she leaned forward and wrapped both arms around him. Resting her head against his chest, she let out a satisfied sigh.
Isaac's entire body stiffened.
"W-What are you doing, Miss Celia? This really isn't appropriate," he asked nervously.
He instinctively tried to lean backward, but it didn't accomplish anything. Celia's grip was much stronger than it looked, making escape completely impossible.
For a brief moment, Isaac even wondered whether she had been hugging him all night simply to stop him from running away.
Celia looked up at him with an innocent expression.
"I'm hugging my boyfriend. Isn't that what girlfriends are supposed to do?" she asked as though the answer should have been obvious.
Isaac nearly stopped breathing.
It took him several minutes before he could even form a coherent sentence. Somehow, after stumbling through one explanation after another, he finally convinced Celia not to tell anyone about what had happened.
However, he couldn't stop thinking about the word she had casually used.
Boyfriend.
To Isaac, last night had been nothing more than a drunken mistake that should never have happened.
He had assumed both of them would quietly pretend it never occurred. The possibility that Celia genuinely considered them a couple had never crossed his mind.
Catherine smiled as she watched the conversation unfold, although there was also a faint ache in her heart.
The Isaac she knew had always been confident despite his hardships.
Now that very person believed there was an impossible distance separating him from Celia.
She was one of humanity's strongest awakeners and the city's beloved idol, while he was only an ordinary man with a small apartment and modest savings.
No matter how many times he thought about it, Isaac couldn't understand why someone like Celia would choose him.
From his perspective, there was simply nothing special about himself. He had failed his awakening, failed his dream, and spent years barely surviving.
Celia saw things very differently.
She never cared how much money Isaac earned or where he lived.
What she admired was his determination to chase his dream despite impossible odds, the kindness he showed to others without expecting anything in return, and the quiet sincerity that never disappeared even after life repeatedly knocked him down.
Those were the qualities that had drawn her toward him long before he ever noticed her.
After that morning, their relationship developed surprisingly quickly. Celia constantly found excuses to drag Isaac out on dates while disguising herself so nobody would recognize her.
Whenever she wanted a quiet evening together, she simply lied to Vale about attending an industry gathering before sneaking over to Isaac's apartment to cook dinner and spend time with him.
Of course, Celia couldn't resist teasing him whenever the opportunity appeared. She would deliberately corner him inside dressing rooms, steal quick kisses whenever he least expected them, or pull him into hidden corners whenever they were out together.
Isaac complained every single time, yet his protests only seemed to amuse her even more.
Watching them together made Catherine smile warmly. At least this part of the trial resembled the Isaac and Celia she knew.
They genuinely loved each other, and although Celia constantly caused trouble, Isaac never truly disliked any of it.
Eventually, however, those peaceful days came to an end. A Lord descended upon human territory.
Lord Emily.
Catherine wasn't particularly surprised by Emily's appearance.
If anything, she had spent quite some time wondering why Emily hadn't shown up sooner. The timeline inside this trial clearly differed from the one Catherine remembered, though she still couldn't understand why.
Then the Lord Trial officially began, and the Crimson Sky Wyrm appeared above the city.
The battle was brutally one-sided from the very beginning. The city's defenses collapsed with alarming speed, forcing the awakeners to abandon any hope of victory and focus entirely on evacuating civilians.
Everywhere Catherine looked, people were running while others stayed behind to buy them precious moments.
Isaac moved decisively.
He grabbed Celia's hand and pulled her toward the evacuation route without wasting a second.
Vale, who had long since discovered their secret relationship, remained behind with the other awakeners to secure their escape.
Before forcing Celia to leave, he had already sealed her powers, ensuring she couldn't turn around and throw herself back into the battlefield.
Celia cried the entire way to the teleportation portal. She begged Isaac to let her return, but he refused because he understood exactly what Vale had intended.
In the end, all he could do was drag her forward while the sounds of battle faded behind them.
Together with countless survivors, they eventually appeared in the Fortified City 89. Grief hung over the city like a heavy cloud because almost every family had lost someone during the evacuation.
Even those who survived carried expressions filled with exhaustion and despair.
For an entire day, Celia barely spoke to anyone. Then she quietly wiped away her tears and forced herself to stand back up.
She knew she wasn't the only person mourning someone important, and if she allowed herself to drown in sorrow forever, then Vale's sacrifice would lose its meaning.
So she smiled. She sang. She comforted frightened children, spoke with grieving families, and did everything she could to lift people's spirits.
Little by little, the hopeless atmosphere inside the city began to improve as people slowly found the strength to believe that perhaps they could build a new future together.
Unfortunately, that fragile hope didn't last long.
A massive crimson shadow soon appeared high above Fortified City 89. The Crimson Sky Wyrm had found them once again, leaving humanity with nowhere left to retreat.
Knowing escape was no longer possible, every awakener stepped forward and prepared for one final battle.
None of them expected to survive, but they still chose to fight because there was no one else left to stand between the Crimson Sky Wyrm and the remaining civilians.
Unfortunately, courage alone wasn't enough to overcome such an overwhelming enemy.
Celia watched the battlefield descend into chaos. One awakener after another fell, unable to even slow the Crimson Sky Wyrm's advance.
The civilians she had spent days encouraging were slaughtered just as easily, and the children she had comforted disappeared amid the destruction.
Even the Sword Empress eventually fell, followed shortly by Isaac.