Location: Trial Spire — Arena of Whispers
Kairo wasn't supposed to be here.
One minute he was trying to fake a migraine and sneak out of the courtyard. The next, he was standing in the middle of a floating coliseum made entirely of obsidian and light, staring at a flaming glyph carved into the air.
Above him, six gods watched. The Pantheon Council had pulled him from orientation into a divine proving ground reserved for outliers, anomalies, and future disasters.
Which, apparently, he now qualified as.
"So," Kairo said, hands in pockets, "is this where you smite me for breathing wrong?"
A booming voice replied—not from any speaker, but straight into his skull.
> "This is the Trial of the Unseen."
"Those touched by sealed power must prove their worth. Or be erased."
The flaming glyph pulsed, and the obsidian arena began to shift. Platforms rose and fell. Walls spun into mazes. From the shadows emerged constructs of lost gods—twisted beings that once ruled, now bound in divine loops of violence.
Kairo's heart pounded. "Cool cool cool… so y'all are just throwing me into a horror theme park with boss music."
He cracked his neck. His fingers twitched. Something in his blood stirred—like a war drum buried deep in his veins.
> [ZERITH'S WRATH: PASSIVE STAGE I — "Instinctual Rebirth"]
+100% reflexes for 60 seconds upon receiving a fatal blow. Cooldown: 12 hours.
"…Excuse me?" Kairo blinked. "What do you mean fatal?!"
Too late.
The first construct lunged—a molten blade for an arm, its face a shattered mask. Kairo dodged on instinct, barely missing death. Again. Again. And again. But he was sloppy, untrained, and very out of his league.
Slash—
He was hit.
The world slowed.
Time blurred.
A single beat echoed in his chest—WRATH.
And then—he moved.
Kairo ducked, grabbed the construct's molten blade, twisted, and with a scream that wasn't entirely human, shattered the thing's core.
It exploded in radiant dust.
The crowd—mortals and gods alike—stood in stunned silence.
Kairo stumbled back, panting, hands shaking. "What… was that…?"
> [Zerith's Bond: 2% Awakened.]
[One more trial remains.]
Above, the glyph twisted again—this time opening a gate. Behind it was something darker. Hungrier.
And for the first time since this started…
Kairo smiled.
"Oh. So now it's my turn."
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