The Trial of Fire.
The moment the words were heard, it felt like all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out. The behemoth of a man's words had only barely echoed when the other participants in the training field became as pale as a sheet.
The only ones that weren't so surprised were the likely suspects—the ones that didn't know what was happening or what was going on…
Priya, Mitch, and Snooz.
Zarek also didn't know what this was, but his stone face wasn't reacting to anything to begin with. The smirk that crawled onto Belladoll's face was enough for him to understand that this was exactly what she wanted, and that was enough for him.
"Ha."
In the silence, the sudden laugh was exactly the last thing anyone would expect.
"Silence." Sona was taken aback and her head whipped toward Zarek. She quickly whispered something in a low voice, pulling on his sleeve hard. But it was as though Zarek hadn't heard her. Even the breaking of the bones in his right hand wasn't affecting his breathing or his words, let alone Sona's berating.
"I heard from several on the way here that I was a heretic and that the enclave was a place of kindness, a leader in the forward progress of humanity and the country, a place where evil was banished. I didn't expect to see such irony the moment I walked in."
Belladoll's smile froze a bit.
Zarek twisted his hand away, crushing it further, but pulling it out nonetheless. Belladoll tried to grab at him but failed as he fell from the railing, landing on the dirt grounds below.
He clenched his fractured hand, but it was already beginning to swell. There was nothing he could do about it. It was useless now.
Almost useless.
Ripping a piece of cloth from his robes, he began to quickly tighten the wrapping around it, locking his broken hand into a fist that forced his wrist into a straight and forward position.
[Limit Break] began to circulate all on its own, wisps of pulsing might radiating from Zarek.
Belladoll was taken aback for a moment and moved to rush after him, but she was grabbed by Sona.
"Head Priestess, please! The heretic seems to be using an unknown method. It's not safe for you!"
Belladoll was about to slap Sona to death, but then she realized she couldn't. She couldn't even harm Sona for fear of what changes that might trigger in the quest they were on.
If she messed with the pillar of a world too early, even her own seemingly solid position as Head Priestess could be compromised.
Plus, wasn't this exactly what she wanted? She needed Zarek to do exactly this because outright abusing her power could cause problems for them as well. This was why she had waited until someone else suggested that Priya and the others were poor candidates.
But even then, she couldn't outright kill them, and could only send them to the Trial of Fire—a place that just so happened to be conveniently headed by the Crux.
It was just that… she felt uneasy. More uneasy than she ever had in this lifetime.
Flashes of memories from other lives came to her one after another, but none of them truly felt like her. It was like she was seeing them through another person's eyes, only some of the most visceral emotions coming through as things she couldn't ignore no matter how hard she tried.
Apprehension.
Hesitation.
Fear.
"Sir Ejold! Please apprehend this man! I will protect the Head Priestess!"
"Understood!"
The behemoth of a man took a strong step forward. Priya looked like she was going to make a move, but when she saw that Zarek wasn't even looking at her, she felt another tremble in her heart.
Zarek didn't need to communicate for her to understand. It was already too late for him—he had taken action just now that could only end one way.
If she stepped out too, there would be no going back.
Sir Ejold unsheathed a sword, the momentum of a C Class rolling through him as his chest seemed to bulge. He unleashed a roar, waves of Godsfall radiating from him.
But Zarek guessed that since he was one of the protected of this world, this use of Godsfall was somehow okay compared to his own.
Zarek clenched both his fists tightly as the man stomped a foot, accelerating to his top speed in an instant. It was like he had the momentum of a cannon behind him, the air bending and warping.
He appeared before Zarek in a flash, but he didn't notice his final plant foot had stepped right onto a blob of black. As for Zarek, he had already stepped to the side, his timing so perfect it seemed he could have done it with his eyes closed.
"Fucking amateur. You have a lot of nerve."
Using a blitz Skill guaranteed a start and end position. A predictable one.
The fury bubbling up in Zarek's chest exploded all at once, his broken right hand whizzing through the air like a projectile of its own—right into the knight's gut.
Sir Ejold tried to pivot, only to find his foot stuck to the ground by a sticky substance. He barely got the chance to rip himself out of it when the blow keeled him over.
The Lurker's Godsfall on Zarek's right hand attached itself to the knight's gut, landing a blow and then pulling back and down. The knight's entire body lurched forward, his foot and Zarek's arm working in unison to bring his chin right to Zarek's second blow.
In one seamless motion, Zarek ripped the greatsword out of the knight's hand the moment his brain rattled in his skull.
"STOP!" Sona's voice came out in a near shriek, and yet it didn't matter in the slightest.
The blade flipped in Zarek's palm, rising high into the skies and impaling the back of the knight's head, neck, and between his shoulder blades in a single stroke.
BANG!
The ground erupted with force as the blade entered it.
Sir Ejold could only cough up a mouthful of blood once before his body went limp, slowly sliding down the length of the blade.
Zarek ripped the sword up, blood splattering around his body as a dense fury blazed within him.
This amount of carnage wasn't nearly enough to satiate the rage inside of him right now.
"Kill him!"