’Painful... painful... painful... I won’t give up... I won’t give up... not before them... I will not lose again.’These were Ellen’s thoughts.
Ellen Asterval... the princess of this empire.
A person born at the highest station in this world—money, resources, authority... everything had been granted to her since childhood.
All of it was supposed to place her at the very top.
When Ellen first came to the Axis to take the admission test, she believed without a doubt that she would claim first place.
She knew she was strong... very strong. That wasn’t arrogance—it was simply a fact.
But in the end, it became clear that being very strong alone was not enough.
Even after failing to secure first place in the admission test, she didn’t despair.
Instead, she trained more... harsher... harder.
She believed she could close the gap and rise to the top.
But no matter what she did, the summit never seemed closer—and if anything changed, it only grew farther away.
If Elliot Sivrax had taken first place—whether in the admission test or the previous evaluations—she would have accepted it.
She had to admit it... he was more talented than her, and on top of that, he lacked neither resources nor methods to grow stronger.
But he wasn’t the only one who surpassed her.
There was another... someone who stood above them all.
Caius Astroweild.
A name that brought confusion to Ellen.
He was clearly weaker than Elliot... yet he still won, and that was what truly mattered.
Ellen couldn’t understand how someone like him appeared out of nowhere.
She tried to investigate his background, only to find that all information about him was sealed by Astra Nova.
And it didn’t take a genius to know who had done it... after all, there was only one person with absolute authority over that family.
So, her curiosity remained unsatisfied... and it wouldn’t be anytime soon.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was not losing... not again.
So, she decided that as long as there were people who hadn’t given up yet, neither would she.
She endured the scorching heat, then drowning in freezing water.
And now her body was being cut apart by countless saws, over and over again.
Each time her body was torn apart, it was rebuilt rapidly, preparing her for another round.
This wasn’t just painful... it was so unnatural that her mind began to fracture.
’Come on, why are you still here... are you saying you can endure this?’Ellen thought, praying that they would withdraw quickly.
Because she could no longer hold on.
Her mind was already breaking—this pain was unbearable.
She had lost count of how many times her body had been torn apart...
All she could hear was the sound of saws filling the void.
She didn’t know the state of the others, as she avoided looking at them... after all, who would want to see such horrific scenes?
After who knew how many times they had been cut apart by those saws.
The scenery around them changed, and the sounds of the saws disappeared.
But it wasn’t as if peace had come to the world.
Instead of the black void, Ellen found herself standing on a plain, where thousands of tiny things were moving.
Then she heard a sound that made her heart sink... the sound of thousands of small feet moving continuously.
That was when she realized what those things were.
They were insects.
And before she could even process it, those things began climbing up her legs.
And worse than that...
They were eating her... eating her while she was still alive.
If being cut by saws was painful, there was no word to describe what Ellen was feeling now.
The tiny insects crawled along her skin, tearing it apart and burrowing beneath her flesh.
She felt them moving inside her, devouring everything—her internal organs, her blood, her veins... until they reached the inside of her skull.
She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out were insects.
It’s over... a single thought invaded her mind.
"Give up."
...
Today was the day the protagonist of this story discovered a new sensation.
The feeling of being eaten by thousands of tiny mouths while still alive...
Four people stood there in a sea of flesh-eating insects, each of them being slowly devoured from both the inside and the outside at the same time.
The only thing that had kept Elliot going until this moment was his will.
He looked at Garon Blackfall standing before him, his massive body covered in insects everywhere, riddled with holes from which those things crawled out.
The moment Elliot looked at him, he understood.
Garon had reached his absolute limit...
Garon—that stubborn man who would rather die than lose—did something today that he had never done in his entire life.
He gave up of his own will, and Garon disappeared from before Elliot.
Now, only three remained.
It was true that Elliot possessed a powerful will that allowed him to overcome every stage and reach this point.
But that was all it was... just willpower.
And willpower alone was not enough.
It was true that Elliot was the hero of this world—but even heroes do not always win in their own stories.
"Give up."
With that, Elliot was eliminated.
Only two remained.
Caius,
And one other person... the one who endured the longest in the original story.
Kyle Astro.
Kyle and Caius stood facing one another.
Two people alike in many ways.
Both had very little, and both came from nothing.
And most importantly,
Both possessed the drive to keep going.
’More... more... I can endure more.’Kyle thought, pushing himself to the limit as he was eaten alive, unimaginable pain flooding his consciousness.
He wanted to give up—but he didn’t...
Kyle was just a commoner, raised in Castelta, orphaned from a young age... but not alone.
Kyle had a younger sister...
But she suffered from a severe illness that slowly consumed her life in a painful way.
So from the time Kyle was very young, he worked every kind of job that could earn him money to treat his sister and feed her.
Whether it was the black market, smuggling goods, or any kind of illegal work... he didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was that his sister would live one more day... that she could feel comfort for one more day.
But in the end, no matter how much money he managed to gather, he couldn’t obtain a permanent cure for her.
Until one day, he found an opportunity... an opportunity in the form of a massive competition sponsored by the imperial family itself.
A competition for awakened commoners under the age of seventeen.
The prize was an enormous sum of money, along with a scholarship to study at the Axis.
Kyle, who was born talented... no, perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a miracle.
Even with all his terrible circumstances, he achieved astonishing growth—growth most noble children could only dream of.
So he entered the competition... and won.
With that money, he was able to transfer his sister to a proper hospital to take care of her health, while he came to the Axis.
Because there was an additional condition for the scholarship not to be revoked—he had to maintain a position within the top ten throughout his entire time at the Axis.
So, Kyle treated every test here as a matter of life and death.
To him, this wasn’t merely a test of mental strength... it was something that held the thread of his sister’s life.
So he would not give up, no matter what.
Not before the person standing in front of him fell...
’But why is he like this... how can he be like this?’As these thoughts filled Kyle’s mind, his surroundings changed, and the insects vanished from the plain.
The fourth stage ended.
For a few moments, he felt relief... indescribable relief.
But it didn’t last long.
In the next instant, the world ignited, and flames rose everywhere.
Kyle opened his mouth to scream... but he couldn’t—this pain was beyond what his mind could comprehend.
The flames seemed to burn both his body and his soul.
He wanted to give up immediately, but when he saw the person in front of him, he forced that thought out of his head.
’I need to endure just a little longer.’
Every second passed slowly as Kyle burned in the flames.
But with each passing second, the pain multiplied several times over.
In the end, Kyle’s vision darkened, and he vanished from the place.
It was true that Kyle didn’t give up...
But his mind did.
...
Outside, everyone stood staring at the massive screen in shock... even the professor was clearly stunned.
Because there, within those flames, stood a single person burning endlessly.
He stared indifferently into the space where Kyle had been, the flames reflected in his eyes.
As if he felt no pain at all.
Talia opened her mouth wide, stunned by what she was seeing.
She, who had exited the test first and watched everyone from here, had seen how Caius hadn’t reacted to any stage.
"Do... does he feel pain?"She asked—but no one answered, as everyone was focused on the screen.
It wasn’t that Caius didn’t feel pain or anything like that.
No.
He felt everything throughout all five stages.
But to him, pain was... just pain...
No more, no less.
If he screamed now, nothing would change—the pain wouldn’t disappear, and his goal wouldn’t be achieved.
To him, if he didn’t have the resolve to endure even this much, how could he reach the peak?
How could he annihilate the Void system and kill all seven pillars?
How could he face the thing that dwelled in the abyss?
So, he simply endured it...
Until the very end.