---
The path ahead no longer looked like a trial.
It looked like a grave.
Kael stood at the threshold of the deeper labyrinth, beyond the beast nests and shattered golem halls. The stone was different here—older, smoother, blacker. The light was cold now, no longer warm golden runes but faint blue pulses embedded into the wall, beating like a dying heart.
A faint mist curled around the ground. There was no sound—no birds, no dripping water, not even echoes.
Only breathing. And it wasn't his.
> [Trial of Unity – Deep Layer Accessed]
Path Modifier: Survival Phase Activated
Objective: Locate the Core of Concord.
Threat Level: Extreme.
Note: Path shifts every 37 minutes. Mapping impossible.
Kael let out a slow breath, gripping his cracked spear.
His bandaged arm throbbed.
His left knee dragged slightly from a venom graze.
He'd harvested ten beast cores, broken three golems, and now—he had nothing left in reserve.
But this was the path he had chosen.
---
The Labyrinth Twists
Thirty meters in, the hall split in three.
He chose left.
Ten minutes later, the tunnel changed—the walls rotated with a mechanical grind, the runes dimming behind him. The left passage no longer existed. Behind him was now a wall of obsidian.
"Perfect," Kael muttered. "A thinking maze."
And so he pressed forward, again.
Time became a blur. The walls twisted every few dozen turns. Stone bridges formed then vanished. Stairwells dropped suddenly. At one point, he stepped onto a rune circle and was dropped into a pit of silence, where no sound could be made for five full minutes.
He passed rooms with shattered bones, rusted armor, faded weapon handles, and one with a sun-scorched mural showing two forms—one a bow, the other a spear—locked in a spiral around a single burning core.
> "To unify, one must first shatter."
Kael barely had time to wonder what that meant before the beasts returned.
---
The Horned Mauler
It came with thunder.
A hulking brute, nearly four meters tall, black-hide and tusked like a demon boar. Its eyes burned crimson. Its shoulders scraped the ceiling.
> [Beast Identified: Abyssal Mauler – Tier High-C]
Traits: Bone Armor, Charge, Berserker Rage
Weakness: Behind the skull base (unarmored)
Kael ducked under its first charge, barely.
The air blast alone knocked him off his feet.
The second charge shattered three pillars and collapsed part of the hallway.
He didn't have space to dodge forever.
He waited.
Waited.
Then as it turned mid-charge, Kael threw his spear—not at the head, but at the wall above it.
The stone cracked—and dropped debris onto the beast's back.
Staggered.
Kael ran forward, leapt onto its back, grabbed the cracked bone plate—
And slammed his dagger into the soft point just behind the skull.
Once.
Twice.
It screamed.
Then collapsed.
Kael rolled off just before it crushed him.
> [Rare Beast Crystal Acquired]
[Trait Absorbed: Minor Impact Resistance +3%]
[Stamina: 41%]
---
The Mirror Beasts
He moved onward.
The walls shifted again.
A new chamber—a wide arena of black glass, reflective and wet, like he was standing in a pool of stars.
From the far end came movement.
But it wasn't a beast.
It was him.
His own reflection—identical armor, broken spear, bandaged hand.
And then another.
Then four.
Then ten.
> [Trial Echoes Activated – "Mirror of Doubt"]
Objective: Defeat all reflections before they become real.
Note: Reflections strengthen over time.
Kael's pulse jumped.
He charged the first.
The clone matched his movement, perfectly.
Their spears clashed.
But the reflection had no weight behind its form—it fractured on the first hit.
The second clone was faster.
The third cut him shallow across the leg.
The fourth mimicked his wounded gait.
They were evolving.
By the time he reached the fifth, his breath was ragged. His arm was numb. His heart thundered.
The final reflection bled like him.
Fought like him.
And for a terrifying moment—it almost became him.
But Kael dropped his weapon and rushed it with bare hands, tackling the figure and slamming its head into the obsidian.
Again.
And again.
It shattered like glass.
> [Trial Echoes Destroyed – 10/10]
[Mental Resilience +1]
Kael staggered back, chest heaving, vision swimming.
The walls shifted again.
---
The Room of Falling Silence
The next corridor was quiet.
Too quiet.
He knew something was wrong the moment he stepped in and sound died completely.
Then the floor gave way.
He fell.
Hard.
Bruised. Limbs screaming.
He rose in pitch black.
> [No System Feedback]
[Magic Blocked]
[Trial Modifier: Complete Sensory Isolation]
Objective: Survive until the door opens.
He couldn't see.
He couldn't hear.
Couldn't speak.
Kael breathed slowly, crouching, fists clenched.
Then it came.
The beasts.
Not seen, not heard—felt.
Something slashed across his side.
He rolled blind, struck with a broken bone from his pouch. Hit something. It hissed.
Another cut.
Another scream.
His mind frayed.
His breath quickened.
But he fought in silence, every instinct honed from the last trials.
He didn't think.
He reacted.
On the sixth blow, something warm spilled on his shoulder—but it wasn't his blood.
He waited.
Waited.
The stone beneath him shifted.
The door opened.
Sound rushed in like a tidal wave.
Kael collapsed forward, shaking.
> [Trial Segment Cleared – Sensory Void]
[Concord Gate: 87% Proximity]
---
Collapse
By the time Kael reached the last spiral staircase, he was dragging one leg. His clothes were in tatters. His hands were bleeding. His pulse was faint.
But he could see it now.
A great door of golden fire—no handle, no lock, just radiating warmth.
He stepped forward—
And blacked out.
His body couldn't go any further.
But as his consciousness slipped, the door pulsed once—
And opened anyway.
> [Final Concord Gate Unlocked – Entry Permitted]
[Warning: Vital Signs Critical. Emergency Recovery Triggered.]
[Vijay Dhanush / Vasavi Shakti – Awareness: Stirring]
---