The cathedral fell silent.
Glass fragments drifted lazily through the air.
Azrael stood at the entrance.
Hands in his pockets.
As though he had walked into a classroom instead of one of the Tower’s oldest sanctuaries.
The old priest tightened his grip on his staff.
"You’ve broken a sacred law."
Azrael smiled.
"I’ve broken far worse."
Noah slowly raised Shadowfang.
The crimson mark beneath his shirt pulsed.
His eyes never left Azrael.
"You were in Ironwood Valley."
"I was."
"You wanted me alive."
"I did."
"You could’ve killed me."
Azrael’s smile widened.
"I still can."
The temperature inside the cathedral dropped.
The stained-glass windows trembled.
Noah’s instincts screamed.
Yet...
Azrael made no move.
Instead...
He slowly began walking.
Every step echoed.
One.
Two.
Three.
Until he stood only a few metres away.
The old priest struck the marble floor with his staff.
BOOM!
Golden chains erupted from the ground.
They shot toward Azrael.
The Apostle sighed.
"Again?"
He snapped his fingers.
The chains shattered into glowing dust.
The priest’s eyes widened.
"...Impossible."
Azrael looked genuinely disappointed.
"The Tower’s guardians have grown weaker."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
"He’s not even trying."
Azrael stopped before Noah.
"So..."
"Tell me."
"How much has Ragnarok shown you?"
Noah answered coldly.
"Nothing I’d share with you."
Azrael laughed.
"I expected that."
He reached into his cloak.
The priest immediately shouted.
"Don’t touch it!"
Azrael ignored him.
He pulled out...
A small crimson chess piece.
A queen.
Noah’s eyes widened.
He instinctively touched the black king piece hidden inside his coat.
Azrael noticed.
"So..."
"You’ve already met him."
Silence.
Azrael chuckled.
"I knew he’d interfere."
"You know Ragnar?"
Noah asked.
Azrael looked almost nostalgic.
"I served him."
The words echoed through the cathedral.
The priest’s expression turned to shock.
"You..."
"Were one of the Royal Knights?"
Azrael looked toward the stained-glass ceiling.
"Once."
"Long before history forgot our names."
Noah frowned.
"Then why betray him?"
For the first time...
Azrael’s smile disappeared.
"I didn’t."
Silence.
"I failed him."
The cathedral shook violently.
The floating stained glass shattered one after another.
Azrael looked upward.
"They’re listening."
"The Tower doesn’t like old truths."
He looked back at Noah.
"Tell me..."
"When the world forces you to choose..."
"Would you save one person..."
"...or ten thousand strangers?"
Noah answered without hesitation.
"I’ll find another way."
Azrael smiled sadly.
"That’s exactly what he said."
Without warning...
Azrael tossed the crimson chess piece.
Noah caught it instinctively.
The moment his fingers touched it...
Both chess pieces began glowing.
The black king.
The crimson queen.
Ancient runes circled around them.
The System flashed violently.
Hidden Relic Resonance
King’s Seal
Queen’s Seal
Resonance: 17%
Noah looked up.
"What is this?"
Azrael turned away.
"A reminder."
"Not every enemy standing before you..."
"...is truly your enemy."
The old priest raised his staff again.
"Leave."
Azrael sighed.
"I was already going."
He stopped at the cathedral doors.
Without turning around, he spoke one final sentence.
"When you reach the Fifth Floor..."
"...don’t trust the one waiting below."
Noah’s heartbeat quickened.
"Ragnar?"
Azrael didn’t answer.
His body dissolved into thousands of black feathers.
Within seconds...
He was gone.
The cathedral became quiet once more.
The old priest lowered his head.
"I prayed..."
"...you would never meet him."
Noah looked at the crimson queen piece.
"So did he lie?"
The priest remained silent for a long time.
Finally...
He answered.
"The most dangerous lies..."
"...are the ones wrapped around a forgotten truth."
Before Noah could ask another question...
The cathedral floor split open.
A spiral staircase descended into darkness.
The priest stepped aside.
"The Fourth Floor has judged you."
"You may continue."
Noah looked into the abyss below.
The Fifth Floor.
The place Ragnar had told him to return.
The place Azrael had warned him about.
Two men.
Two warnings.
Only one path forward.
Noah took a deep breath.
Then stepped into the darkness.
Darkness swallowed Noah.
He expected another staircase.
Another corridor.
Another trial.
Instead...
He fell.
Not through the air.
Through silence.
There was no wind.
No sound.
No sense of time.
Then...
His boots touched solid ground.
Noah slowly opened his eyes.
He stood inside an endless battlefield.
Broken swords were buried in the earth like forgotten gravestones.
Thousands...
No.
Millions.
Every direction he looked was covered in weapons.
The sky overhead was neither day nor night.
A crimson eclipse hung motionless above the horizon.
The world felt...
Dead.
The System appeared.
Fifth Floor
Trial Name: The Graveyard of Kings
Status: Unknown
Warning
No assistance from the System is available.
The blue screen shattered into fragments.
Noah frowned.
"...You’ve got to be kidding."
For the first time since inheriting Ragnarok...
The System disappeared completely.
A cold wind swept across the battlefield.
Every sword began vibrating.
A low humming echoed across the plain.
Noah instinctively reached for Shadowfang.
The blade responded.
Its crimson edge glowed faintly.
Not with excitement...
With fear.
"So..."
A familiar voice echoed across the battlefield.
"You came."
Noah turned.
Ragnar stood atop a hill of broken weapons.
His crimson cloak fluttered behind him.
Unlike before...
He no longer smiled.
"You warned me to return."
"I did."
"And Azrael warned me not to trust you."
Ragnar nodded.
"He would."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally...
Noah asked,
"So..."
"Which one of you is lying?"
Ragnar looked toward the crimson eclipse.
"Neither."
Those words caught Noah off guard.
"What?"
Ragnar slowly descended the hill.
"Truth..."
"...depends on where you’re standing."
He stopped beside an ancient sword buried in the ground.
Its blade was cracked beyond repair.
"Do you know what every king has in common?"
Noah remained silent.
"They’re remembered..."
"...for the wars they ended."
He placed one hand on the broken sword.
"But never..."
"...for the sacrifices they made."
Suddenly...
The battlefield trembled.
The buried weapons rattled violently.
A deep roar echoed beneath the earth.
Ragnar closed his eyes.
"It heard you."
Noah frowned.
"What heard me?"
The ground exploded.
BOOOOOOOM!!
A gigantic skeletal hand burst from beneath the battlefield.
It was larger than the academy itself.
Black chains wrapped around its wrist.
Each chain was covered in ancient runes.
The hand clenched into a fist.
The earth cracked for kilometres.
Noah instinctively stepped back.
"What..."
"...is that?"
Ragnar looked at the chained hand without fear.
"That..."
"...is why Ragnarok was created."
The skeletal hand slowly sank back beneath the earth.
The battlefield became quiet once more.
As though nothing had happened.
Ragnar turned toward Noah.
"You’ve been asking the wrong question."
"I have?"
"You keep asking..."
"’What is Ragnarok?’"
He shook his head.
"The real question is..."
"...what is buried beneath it?"
Before Noah could answer...
Footsteps echoed across the battlefield.
Not Ragnar’s.
Someone else.
Slow.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Both Noah and Ragnar looked toward the distant horizon.
A lone figure walked through the sea of broken swords.
Towering.
Armoured.
His face hidden beneath a black iron helmet.
Across his back rested a colossal greatsword wrapped in chains.
He stopped nearly fifty metres away.
Then...
He knelt before Ragnar.
"My King."
His voice was deep enough to shake the battlefield.
Ragnar nodded.
"Rise."
The knight obeyed.
He looked directly at Noah.
Golden eyes glowed through the darkness of his helmet.
"So..."
"This is the Seventh."
Ragnar folded his arms.
"It is."
The knight studied Noah for several long seconds.
Then...
He slowly drew the chained greatsword from his back.
SHHHHNK...
The blade alone was nearly as tall as Noah.
The knight planted its tip into the ground.
"The King believes you’re worthy."
He said calmly.
"I don’t."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
Ragnar sighed.
"I was hoping you’d wait."
The knight ignored him.
He pointed the greatsword toward Noah.
"My name..."
"...is Kael."
"First Commander of Ragnarok."
"If you wish to stand beside kings..."
"...prove you deserve to breathe the same air."
The battlefield erupted.
Ancient swords rose from the ground all around them.
Millions of blades pointed toward the sky.
Ragnar closed his eyes.
"This wasn’t supposed to happen yet..."
Kael took a single step forward.
The pressure alone split the earth beneath Noah’s feet.
Noah tightened his grip on Shadowfang.
His heart pounded.
This wasn’t a trial created by the Tower.
This...
Was a trial created by the legends themselves.