Chapter 35 – The Trial Tower
The entire arena remained silent.
The shattered fragments of the Potential Crystal floated gently through the air before dissolving into countless particles of light.
No one had moved.
No one dared to speak.
Azrael scratched the back of his head.
"...I don’t think that was supposed to happen."
Marcus immediately burst into laughter.
"I’ve known you for less than a month, and you’ve already broken two legendary artifacts."
Ryan nodded seriously.
"That’s becoming a habit."
Even Seraphina giggled.
"I think the Academy is going to send us a repair bill."
The tense atmosphere finally relaxed.
Even several professors couldn’t help smiling.
Headmaster Orion raised his hand.
"The Potential Assessment is concluded."
A professor beside him whispered,
"But... the crystal..."
Orion sighed.
"I know."
"We’ll have to ask the Dwarven Forge to make another one."
The elderly dwarf professor immediately shouted,
"Do you know how long that takes?"
"Five hundred years!"
Marcus blinked.
"...That’s expensive."
A few students looked at Azrael with admiration.
Others with curiosity.
But many...
Looked at him with jealousy.
Valeria’s crimson eyes narrowed.
"So his potential can’t be measured..."
She clenched her fists.
"Potential isn’t strength."
Lucian stood quietly beside her.
"You’re right."
"But don’t underestimate him."
"I wasn’t planning to."
The System chimed once again.
Entrance Examination
Stage One Complete.
Participants Remaining:
12,684
Proceeding to Stage Two.
The ground beneath the arena began shaking.
Deep beneath the marble platform...
Something enormous awakened.
Ancient gears echoed.
Runes illuminated across the floor.
A massive structure slowly rose from beneath the Academy.
It pierced through the clouds.
Floor after floor appeared until its summit disappeared beyond the sky.
Marcus slowly tilted his head upward.
"...How tall is that thing?"
Ryan stopped trying to count after several seconds.
"I don’t think it ends."
The Headmaster smiled.
"It doesn’t."
Everyone looked at him.
"The Trial Tower exists in compressed space."
"What you see..."
"...is only its entrance."
The System immediately identified it.
Trial Tower
Purpose:
Evaluate Talent.
Current Accessible Floors:
100
Actual Floors:
Unknown
"The second examination," Orion announced, "is simple."
"Climb."
A murmur spread across the arena.
"The higher you climb..."
"...the better your final evaluation."
"Each floor contains different trials."
"Combat."
"Strategy."
"Willpower."
"Control."
"Understanding."
"There are no shortcuts."
He looked around the stadium.
"If you cannot continue..."
"...the Tower will remove you."
Marcus grinned.
"This sounds much more fun."
Sophia looked at him.
"For you."
"It sounds painful for everyone else."
The massive entrance slowly opened.
An ancient stone gate engraved with countless races stood before the students.
Above it floated four words.
Only the Worthy Ascend.
The gates opened.
A bright light swallowed the first group.
Instantly...
Thousands of participants rushed inside.
The competition had officially begun.
Floor One
Azrael felt the world shift around him.
The next moment...
He stood inside a vast grassland beneath a clear blue sky.
There was no one else.
Only silence.
A mechanical voice echoed.
Floor One.
Defeat your opponent.
A ripple appeared before him.
Light condensed.
A figure slowly emerged.
Azrael blinked.
"...Me?"
Standing twenty meters away...
Was another Azrael.
Same appearance.
Same aura.
Same Eclipse Halo.
Same two Eclipse Wings.
Even Astraeus floated beside the clone.
The copy smiled.
"I’m you."
"But stronger."
Without another word...
The clone vanished.
Azrael instinctively raised Astraeus.
CLANG!
Their swords collided.
The impact sent both of them sliding backward.
Azrael’s eyes widened.
"He copied my strength..."
"Not exactly," Astraeus spoke.
"He copied your current state."
"Victory depends on skill."
The clone attacked again.
Its movements were flawless.
Every swing efficient.
Every step precise.
Azrael found himself forced backward.
"So this..."
"...is how I fight?"
The clone answered calmly.
"No."
"It’s how you should fight."
Outside the Tower...
Every participant’s battle appeared on enormous floating screens.
Marcus watched Azrael’s match.
"...That’s unfair."
Ryan nodded.
"He has to fight himself."
Lucian folded his arms.
"The Tower always reveals your greatest obstacle."
Valeria’s screen showed something different.
She wasn’t fighting herself.
She was surrounded by ten powerful monsters.
Elena faced an illusion of the Moonblade Saint.
Sophia fought within complete darkness.
Marcus battled a giant version of himself carrying an even larger hammer.
Ryan laughed.
"I’d hate to be him."
Back inside...
Azrael was losing.
The clone kicked him backward before immediately appearing above him.
Its sword descended.
Azrael barely blocked.
The ground shattered beneath his feet.
The clone spoke.
"You rely too much on instinct."
"You waste movement."
"You hesitate."
Each criticism came with another attack.
Azrael clenched his teeth.
Every weakness he possessed...
The clone exploited perfectly.
He smiled.
"So that’s it."
"What?"
"I’ve been looking at this the wrong way."
The clone attacked again.
This time...
Azrael didn’t counter.
He watched.
Every movement.
Every shift in balance.
Every adjustment of the wings.
Suddenly...
Everything clicked.
He remembered Astaroth’s lessons.
"Strength begins with understanding."
Instead of meeting force with force...
He stepped aside.
The clone’s blade missed.
For the first time...
Azrael landed a clean strike.
The clone staggered.
It smiled.
"Good."
"You’ve learned."
The battle continued.
Not as enemies.
But almost like a master teaching a student.
Outside...
Headmaster Orion smiled knowingly.
"The Tower has accepted him."
A professor frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"The clone no longer seeks to defeat him."
"It seeks to refine him."
Meanwhile...
Seraphina stepped onto her own first floor.
Unlike Azrael...
There was no opponent.
Instead...
She stood before a dying forest.
Every tree had withered.
The rivers were black.
The sky was gray.
The mechanical voice echoed.
Floor One.
Restore Life.
Time Limit:
One Hour.
Seraphina looked around sadly.
"So..."
"This is my trial."
She knelt beside the cracked earth.
Closing her eyes, she gently placed both hands upon the ground.
Her Bloom Halo appeared.
Golden petals began drifting through the air.
The Genesis Wings unfolded behind her.
Warm golden light spread across the lifeless land.
A tiny green sprout emerged from the soil.
Then another.
And another.
Within moments...
The first signs of life had returned.
Far above the Tower, one of the floating screens displayed the siblings side by side.
One fought to master destruction through understanding.
The other nurtured life through compassion.
Two completely different paths.
Yet both led toward the same destination—
The endless evolution that awaited beyond the heavens.