The next second, the last traces of Aurora's mana particles vanished completely.
The suffocating silence lasted only a fraction of a moment.
Ding!
Herald Serial No. 95,111 has completed Side Mission (B-Rank): Goddess' Trial.
[+10,000 System Points]
Seeing the notification, Gabriel gave a faint smile and dismissed it.
In the air not far before him, crimson mana began to gather once more.
It swirled, condensed, then formed a multilayered magic circle—pulsing, sharpening, slowly taking the shape of a door.
A spell.
The blood-red gate trembled, its surface like liquid straining against pressure from the other side.
The moment the crowd saw it, the arena erupted.
"W–wait, what is that!?"
"Your Excellency! The system is out of control!!"
Cheers turned into panicked shouts.
Nobles scrambled to their feet, and personal guards raised their weapons without even knowing where to aim.
Even the arena's barrier trembled, as if rejecting the gate's existence—yet it failed to stop it.
Gabriel did not look back.
His gaze remained fixed on the blood-red spell, calm and silent, as though weighing a choice whose risks he already understood.
"…I see," he murmured softly. "No wonder the side mission ended."
He realized one thing clearly.
This was not part of the show, but a continuation of the Goddess' Trial.
This was an invitation—not merely the opening of the Sanctuary Gate.
For a moment he thought—not hesitation, but a brief calculation.
Then, without a single word to anyone, Gabriel stepped forward.
Pale white mist wrapped around his body as he entered the magic circle.
The next instant, the figure of Ash vanished, swallowed by the blood-red spell.
The gate shook violently, then collapsed into itself, leaving behind empty air and an arena frozen in silence.
The Goddess' Trial… had crossed its limits.
***
Alexandria City.
Inside the testing sector, a massive machine dominated the room.
It was the Four-Dimension Printer—a creation designed by Eta.
The machine was pale white, towering at three hundred centimeters tall, nearly seven hundred centimeters wide, and weighing an estimated two tons.
Its surface looked smooth, almost like living porcelain, with thin lines of blue light pulsing slowly along its frame.
Eta stood directly in front of the control monitor, her fingers moving swiftly as she adjusted design parameters.
Five steps behind her, Alpha and Gamma stood side by side, observing the machine with serious expressions.
Gamma adjusted her glasses, her eyes gleaming with calculation.
"With this machine," she said softly but clearly, "we'll be able to mass-produce artifacts and dark-matter-based items repeatedly."
She paused briefly, then continued in a tone filled with professional admiration.
"A material like that… is extraordinary. Not conventional. Stable, adaptive, and it almost rejects the laws of this world themselves."
"Normally, only Ash-sama is capable of creating something like this."
Alpha gave a firm nod.
"Correct," she said. "Ash-sama's dark matter isn't merely a material. Laws are embedded within it—structures of existence imposed directly onto reality."
"That's why his creations always stand a tier above the metals of this world."
Meanwhile, without saying a word, Eta brought up a design model on the screen.
Its shape… was a horned beetle.
The details were extremely precise—the skeletal structure, energy cavities, even the multilayered micro–mana channels.
Alpha's eyes narrowed.
"…Eta," she called, her tone immediately sharp with caution.
She saw the power indicator beginning to rise.
"Don't tell me you're about to start the machine right now."
Eta paused for a moment.
Her hand hovered above the control panel.
Silence.
Then, without turning around—without answering—Eta pressed the START button.
"—ETA!"
The machine shuddered violently.
Not an explosion, but a violent belch of thick black smoke bursting from the seams, flooding the room in an instant.
It rolled and churned through the air like a living fog, heavy with the smell of scorched mana and hot metal.
A few seconds later… it slowly thinned.
When visibility returned, Alpha, Gamma, and Eta were still standing exactly where they had been.
Only now, their faces, hair, and clothes were smeared with soot-black residue.
Gamma blinked once.
"…I will be adding laboratory cleaning expenses to the budget report," she said flatly.
Alpha let out a long sigh, rubbing her forehead.
"Eta."
Eta stared at the still-glowing monitor, her face streaked with ash, eyes shining with pure fascination.
"…The initial results," she murmured quietly, "are interesting."
Moments later, the door to the testing area opened.
Epsilon's voice echoed with perfect composure in a room that very clearly did not match her tone.
Alpha slowly lowered the hand from her forehead. A faint streak of black smudged across her temple from the motion.
Epsilon stepped in first, carrying a bowl of mayonnaise mixture with both hands, her expression extremely careful—like she was transporting a fragile, priceless artifact.
Behind her, Delta entered casually. Parts of her face—especially around her cheeks and the corners of her mouth—were smeared with mayonnaise. She didn't look guilty at all.
Clearly, before coming in… she had just been eating.
As Epsilon walked further inside, her gaze immediately landed on Alpha, Gamma, and Eta.
She stopped.
Her blue eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
The three of them stood in the middle of the room…
their faces, hair, and clothes covered in black soot.
Silence.
Epsilon understood what had happened and swallowed.
…Thank goodness.
Thank goodness I chose to focus on the mayonnaise experiment.
And more importantly—my face is safe.
She let out a small breath, almost inaudible, then straightened her posture with high professionalism—and slight relief.
"Alpha-sama," she said politely, as if the situation in front of her were completely normal, "I've come to report the results of the mayonnaise formula refinement."
On the other side, Delta stared at the three elves' faces for a few seconds.
Then—
"HAHAHAHAHA!!"
Her laughter burst through the room.
She pointed at them without hesitation.
"Why do your faces look like you got attacked by a smoke monster!?" she shouted between laughs. "Awesome! Alpha-sama looks like charcoal!"
Gamma slowly massaged her temple.
"…Delta."
Alpha closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath.
"…This is not something to laugh about."
Meanwhile, Eta turned her head slightly toward Delta, her face still covered in soot, and said flatly,
"Note: post-explosion facial condition appears to trigger a positive emotional response in Delta."
Delta laughed even harder.
"Again! Next time I wanna join!"
"No."
The answer came at the same time from Alpha, Gamma, and Epsilon. Only Eta remained silent, her eyes already back on the machine's monitor, as if the outside world were irrelevant.
"Eeeh…" Delta whined, her shoulders drooping. "But it looked fun."
Alpha shot her a sharp look—black soot still smeared across her face, yet her presence already firm and commanding again.
"The testing area is not a playground," she said shortly.
Gamma nodded in agreement. "And it's not a dining hall either."
Their gazes shifted to Delta's face, still smeared with mayonnaise.
Delta wiped her cheek, then smiled innocently. "Oh."
Meanwhile, Eta finally turned her head, looking at the machine that was still releasing thin trails of smoke.
"…The experiment is classified as a failure," she stated flatly. "However, the data has been successfully collected."
She paused briefly before adding,
"Recommendation: repeat the test. With an additional ventilation system."
Alpha let out a long breath.
"…We'll discuss that later."
Gamma, who had been holding back a comment until now, finally opened her mouth.
"By the way," she said cautiously, her gaze shifting from the machine to Alpha, then to Eta, "what is Ash-sama… doing right now?"
The question was simple—but its effect was immediate.
The testing room fell silent.
Delta tilted her head, one ear raised while the other drooped, her expression clearly showing confusion.
Epsilon froze mid-motion, still holding the mayonnaise bowl.
Even Eta paused her mental notes.
Alpha remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"…Ash-sama," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "is like Shadow-sama."
Gamma turned her head.
"We've never truly been able to understand him."
Alpha continued, her voice calm yet resolute.
"Just like the book Ash-sama gave to Beta—its contents are detailed, yet difficult to comprehend."
She paused briefly.
"And just like the book about the law, with its clauses and articles, that Shadow-sama gave me."
.. Silence filled the room once again.
Gamma gave a small smile, as if she had already anticipated the answer.
"…So, as usual," she muttered, "we can only follow the outcome."
Delta nodded quickly, though it was clear she didn't fully understand. "As long as they're strong, it's fine, right?"
Alpha's gaze remained fixed on the still-smoking machine.
"…Exactly."
In Alexandria, the experiment might have failed.
But for them, one thing remained consistent—Ash-sama and Shadow-sama always moved several steps beyond anyone's comprehension.
As first-generation subordinates, even now they still struggled to fully understand Ash and Shadow.
Though some of their intentions and behavioral patterns had been deciphered, the complete picture remained beyond reach.
The easiest example was the formation of the Shadow Garden Organization—a move whose true meaning only became clear after the results manifested.
As for other objectives… they were still hidden, waiting for the right time to reveal their true significance.
___
Author's note:
Sorry, I didn't write the Aurora part. It's not really my expertise and… just consider it saving a chapter. N-not because I was lazy, okay? Hump~
Support me. Leave your comments.
Don't make me do it alone.