The arena was silent.
Dust still hung in the air where the constructs had fallen, glowing embers drifting like fireflies before fading. Haruki knelt in the center, shoulders heaving, two broken chains smoking beside him, the remaining bindings digging cruelly into his flesh.
Around him, thousands of eyes watched, the weight of their judgment pressing down heavier than any shackle.
Elder Kazuo rose from his seat, staff pounding the stone floor. "Enough! The Trial is compromised. This boy is no Hunter he is a beast wearing human skin!"
The declaration rippled through the audience, gasps rising, a chorus of murmurs swelling into panic.
Kana shot to her feet. "You call him a beast, but he's done what no one else could! He's resisting the abyss, not surrendering to it. Can't you see?"
Another elder, draped in blue ceremonial robes, leaned forward. His aged eyes glimmered with something closer to awe than fear. "Chains that bind corruption have never broken. Yet here we stand, watching two of them shattered… not by corruption devouring him, but by his own will forcing the abyss into submission."
Kazuo's glare swept across the council. "Do not be deceived. This trial exists for one purpose: to protect our world from what lurks beyond. If he can break the chains, then he is not above corruption he is its herald. He is proof that the abyss grows stronger."
Kana's voice rose, cracking with desperation. "No, he's proof that we can be stronger. That it doesn't have to control us."
Haruki lifted his head, sweat stinging his eyes. His gaze swept the arena, meeting the terrified, skeptical, and hopeful stares of the people. For the first time since the abyss had touched him, he realized what he represented.
Not just a threat. Not just a victim.
A possibility.
The remaining two chains pulsed, alive with crimson light, as if daring him to make his choice.
[Break them. Show them what we are. If you don't, they'll never accept you. They'll lock you away. They'll kill you before you can prove them wrong.]
The abyss's voice coiled in his thoughts, honeyed and venomous.
Haruki clenched his fists, gauntlets sparking with black fire. His chest burned, every heartbeat demanding release.
But then Kana's face. Her eyes, filled not with fear, but with trust.
He lowered his fists, teeth grinding. "I don't need to break every chain to prove myself."
The crowd stirred, shocked murmurs rippling.
Kazuo's face hardened. "You… refuse?"
Haruki rose shakily to his feet, chains rattling like restless serpents. He spread his arms wide, defying the bindings that still clung to him. "I've shown you enough. I can fight, I can resist, and I can stay human. That's all this trial needs to prove."
The air itself seemed to shudder at his words. The chains tightened once, as if testing him, then stilled. The runes beneath him dimmed, their light fading like dying embers.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then the elder in blue whispered, voice carrying through the silence: "He passed."
The word fell like a stone in a still pond.
Half the arena erupted in cheers, voices crying Haruki's name. The other half shouted in fear and protest, insisting he was dangerous. The council chamber behind the elders broke into argument, their voices clashing in chaos.
Through it all, Haruki stood tall, chest heaving, staring up at the sky.
The Trial of Chains was over.
But his real trial the world's judgment had just begun.
The arena floor cleared as attendants rushed in, dragging away the shattered remnants of the constructs. The crowd still roared, half in celebration, half in fear, voices colliding into a storm of confusion.
Above it all, Elder Kazuo stood like a jagged mountain, his staff planted firmly on the council's dais. His expression was carved from stone, but his eyes burned like coals.
"This cannot stand." His voice thundered over the crowd, amplified by the runes woven into his staff. "You all witnessed it chains meant to bind corruption broke under his will. No mortal can do such a thing without being tainted!"
The cheering half of the arena faltered. Murmurs spread like wildfire.
Kana clenched her fists. "You're twisting it! He didn't break because of corruption he resisted it!"
Kazuo's glare skewered her. "Silence, child. Your sentiment blinds you. If we allow this… anomaly to live freely, we gamble with every soul in Driath. Today it is chains. Tomorrow, it could be cities."
The blue-robed elder rose slowly beside him. His voice was quieter, yet somehow heavier. "Kazuo… what you call an anomaly, I call an evolution. The chains were designed to break those who succumb. Yet Haruki stood, and the abyss bent to him. That is not corruption it is mastery."
Gasps rippled. Some nodded in agreement, others shouted in denial.
Kazuo slammed his staff again, sparks leaping from the floor. "Do not romanticize this heresy! We are guardians, not dreamers. If we falter now, we will unleash disaster upon every floating continent. I move that Haruki Aoi be detained no, executed before this power consumes him."
The word executed hit like a blade. The arena plunged into chaos.
"No!" Kana shouted, stepping in front of Haruki as if her small frame could shield him from the council's decree. "You can't! He's just a boy! He fought harder than anyone I've ever seen, and he won! If you kill him, you kill hope itself."
Haruki's jaw tightened. The fire still hummed in his veins, but exhaustion pressed down like lead. His gauntlets flickered faintly, hungry for more. He forced his hands to his sides.
He wanted to speak, to argue, to shout, but the weight of thousands of eyes held him still. Every breath felt like a gamble between defiance and silence.
A younger councilor, barely older than Kana, spoke up hesitantly. "Elder Kazuo… perhaps binding him with new seals, instead of execution, would be"
"Fool!" Kazuo roared. "You would trust shackles when he has already broken the unbreakable? Do you wish to see your children devoured in their sleep?"
His words stirred the fearful half of the crowd into frenzy. Shouts of "Kill him!" rose like a tide, clashing with cries of "Let him live!" from the others. The arena threatened to tear itself apart.
Amidst the uproar, Haruki finally raised his head. His voice cut through the chaos, raw but unyielding.
"If you fear me… then I'll fight to prove I'm worth trusting. If you want me dead… then you'd better send the whole council."
The statement dropped like thunder. The crowd froze. Even Kazuo faltered for a heartbeat, rage twisting into something more dangerous calculated intent.
"This is not over," Kazuo hissed, eyes narrowing like a predator's.
The council erupted into debate, but Haruki knew one truth as clear as the chains that had bound him:
He had won the trial.
But Kazuo would not rest until he was buried.
The chamber door slammed shut, muting the roar of the crowd outside. What remained was the echo of boots on stone, the distant hum of runes carved into the walls, and Haruki's ragged breathing.
He collapsed onto the cold bench, sweat dripping down his temple, his gauntlets sparking weakly before fading to silence. His hands trembled, not from fear, but from the sheer drain of what he had endured.
Kana knelt beside him immediately, slipping a waterskin into his hands. "Drink."
He obeyed without argument, gulping the lukewarm liquid as if it were nectar. His throat burned, but the relief was enough to keep him grounded.
Kana's brow furrowed. "You scared the abyss out of me out there. When those chains broke, I thought" Her voice caught. She looked away, fists tightening in her lap. "…I thought we'd lose you."
Haruki leaned back against the wall, eyes closing. "I thought so too. For a second… it felt like drowning. Like my body was ash and fire at the same time. But then" His eyes cracked open, searching hers. "…your voice cut through it. If you hadn't been there, Kana… I don't think I'd have stopped."
Her lips parted, surprise flashing across her face, followed quickly by something softer. She looked down, cheeks warming faintly. "Idiot. Don't say things like that."
Haruki gave a tired chuckle. "Sorry. Guess the abyss made me honest."
They sat in silence for a long moment. Outside, muffled arguments still shook the air elders clashing, councilors shouting, the crowd demanding answers. But here, in the stone chamber, the world felt smaller. Quieter. Almost safe.
Until the air shimmered.
Haruki's gauntlets twitched. A thin ripple of shadow slid across the far wall, like oil spreading over water.
Kana shot to her feet, bow already half-summoned. "What"
The shadow solidified, coiling into a humanoid silhouette. No eyes, no mouth, just a figure of shifting darkness.
Haruki forced himself upright, fists clenched. "Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head. Its voice was both whisper and echo, vibrating through the chamber.
"You broke the chains. That means you hear it, too… the call beneath the abyss."
Kana's arrow flared with light. "Speak plainly before I pin you to the wall."
The shadow ignored her, focusing entirely on Haruki. "The abyss doesn't corrupt you. It waits for you. You are not bound by it… you are chosen."
The words sank into Haruki's bones like ice. His fists tightened, the gauntlets sparking with a dangerous hunger.
"I'm not chosen," he spat. "I'm fighting it. That's all."
The figure's head tilted further, almost curious. "Fight if you must. But remember this the abyss rewards those who embrace what others fear. You will see me again, Haruki Aoi."
The shadow dissolved, vanishing into the stone as if it had never been there.
Silence returned, heavy and suffocating.
Kana lowered her bow slowly, her eyes wide. "Haruki… what was that?"
He swallowed hard, pulse hammering. "I don't know. But it means one thing…"
He looked at his trembling hands, the memory of chains and whispers burning in his veins.
"…the trial isn't over. Not for me."
The council chamber was a storm contained within stone walls. Elders and councilors argued across the dais, voices rising until they drowned out reason. Runes glowed faintly on the ceiling, amplifying each word, making the chaos reverberate like thunder.
Elder Kazuo stood at the center of it all, staff in hand, expression carved in fury. "He is not a Hunter. He is not even human anymore. The boy is a vessel for corruption, and if you refuse to see it, then you doom us all."
The blue-robed elder Elder Hayashi, his name finally spoken amidst the storm raised a hand, his voice measured but firm. "You speak of doom, Kazuo, yet you ignore what you saw with your own eyes.
The boy fought the abyss, not with surrender, but with will. He broke chains not because he was devoured, but because he refused to be. That is not corruption it is resistance."
"Resistance?" Kazuo barked a laugh. "You call breaking sacred relics resistance? Next you'll tell me the abyss sings lullabies while it devours our skies. No. What I saw was proof. The abyss grows clever. It hides behind a boy's face, waiting for fools like you to open the gates."
Murmurs rippled through the rows of councilors. Some nodded in grim agreement, others looked away in doubt.
One councilor, a younger woman with steel-gray hair, stood. "Elder Kazuo, even if your fears are true, you cannot deny the boy saved the trial. No one else has endured the chains in decades. Without him, we would still be waiting for the abyss's next host to tear through our ranks. Are we to kill the only proof that resistance is possible?"
Kazuo's staff slammed against the floor, sparks crackling outward. "Better to kill one boy than risk the fall of a continent. I call for an immediate execution."
The chamber froze. The word hung heavy in the air.
Elder Hayashi stepped forward, his hand resting lightly on the table before him. "And I call for his recognition. Haruki Aoi has passed the Trial of Chains. To deny him is to deny the laws we swore to uphold."
The room fractured instantly, voices rising into shouts, arguments breaking into two camps.
"Execution!"
"Recognition!"
"Bind him forever!"
"Use him as a weapon!"
The chaos shook the chamber.
A new voice cut through the storm deep, resonant, and commanding. The High Arbiter, robed in white and gold, rose slowly from his seat at the chamber's heart. His face was hidden beneath a hood, his hands steady on the armrests carved with ancient runes.
"Silence."
The word wasn't loud, but it struck the chamber like a hammer. All voices died, leaving only the crackle of Kazuo's staff and the faint hum of the runes.
The Arbiter's voice carried, calm but unyielding. "The council is divided. The people are divided. Yet the law is not. The Trial of Chains declares worth by endurance. The boy endured. Whether by abyss or by will, he survived where others failed. Thus, he passes."
Kazuo's face darkened, veins standing at his temple. "You cannot—"
"I can." The Arbiter's voice was final, brooking no argument. "The law has spoken. Haruki Aoi will not be executed. He will be recognized as an Initiate Hunter."
The declaration rippled through the chamber like lightning. Some gasped, some applauded, others scowled in silence.
Kazuo's knuckles whitened around his staff. His voice lowered to a hiss only those closest could hear. "Then the law is blind. And I will not let blindness destroy us."
The chamber door creaked open, and a guard stepped inside the holding room where Haruki and Kana waited. His armor clinked softly as he bowed, though his eyes never quite met Haruki's.
"The High Arbiter has spoken. Haruki Aoi… you are recognized as an Initiate Hunter of Driath."
The words rang hollow in the silence that followed. Haruki blinked, as if unsure he had heard correctly. Kana, however, let out a breath she'd been holding for what felt like hours.
"See?" she said with a shaky smile, gripping Haruki's arm. "I told you. You passed."
Haruki leaned back against the wall, exhaustion flooding his limbs. A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Passed? Half the arena wants me dead. One elder's already sharpening the blade. And they expect me to smile because I get a shiny new rank?"
Kana's smile faltered, but she didn't let go. "Let them doubt. Let them fear. What matters is that you're alive and you're recognized. That's something no one can take away."
Haruki stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. "You always make it sound simple."
"Because it is." Her voice softened. "You're not the abyss. You're you. And now everyone has to see it, whether they like it or not."
The guard shifted uncomfortably. "You are to be escorted to the Hunter barracks at dawn. The Arbiter's orders are clear. Until then… you remain here under watch."
Kana bristled. "So much for recognition. They're treating him like a prisoner."
The guard's gaze flicked nervously to Haruki's gauntlets. "Chains don't break themselves. Not without consequences." He turned sharply and left, leaving the door groaning shut behind him.
Silence settled again, heavier this time.
Haruki rubbed his wrists where the phantom weight of the chains still lingered. His body screamed for rest, yet his mind spun. The whispers of the abyss echoed faintly, tempting, taunting.
[They'll never accept you. Not truly. Only I will.]
He clenched his fists until the sparks faded. "Kana… what if Kazuo's right? What if this power is just… corruption wearing my skin?"
She stepped closer, her hand pressing over his clenched fist. "Then I'll keep watching. Every step. Every fight. If you change… I'll be the first to know." Her eyes locked on his, fierce and unwavering. "But I don't believe you will. You're too damn stubborn."
Haruki's chest tightened. A warmth spread through him, cutting through the abyss's chill. He swallowed hard and nodded. "…Thanks."
Outside the chamber, muffled voices carried guards shifting, councilors leaving, arguments still flaring. But deeper, behind the din, Haruki swore he heard something else.
A low hum. A whisper curling along the stone walls.
[Chosen.]
He froze, every nerve sparking. But when he glanced at Kana, she showed no sign of hearing it.
Maybe it was just him.
Maybe it was always just him.
The door rattled suddenly, breaking the moment. Another guard poked his head inside. "Food. And rest, if you can find it. Tomorrow, you'll step into the world as a Hunter."
Haruki watched the tray slide onto the table, untouched.
Tomorrow, he'd have a title.
But tonight, all he had was the weight of chains that no longer existed yet somehow felt heavier than ever.