A vast open hall was supported by a suspended expanse of polished marble floating within an endless, slow-moving green cosmos.
Its smooth floor stretched forward in a long aisle without walls, ceilings, or visible boundaries, faintly reflecting the drifting bright-green currents that flow like rivers of light through the void around it.
Presently in this open hall, a young man with light-brown skin and silver hair stood composed, staring at a raised platform before him.
His sleek, black-and-silver fitted armor layered over a purple slime suit. Instead of brute defense, the armor appeared lightweight and angular to the eyes, as if built for speed and precision. Slanted at his side was his left hand, firmly holding a golden handle, with a long silver whip flowing out from it.
In front of him was a raised platform. A large altar was cut from a single piece of polished, green-black marble. After the green cosmos hovering around it dissipated off, it remained the only thing untouched by cosmos. Not forgetting purpose, Melvin ventured closer.
The altar looked almost like what he had seen in the last formation, but everything about it felt strange at the same time.
Instead of rectangular, the raised platform stood on its vertex with its base facing the void above. In the place of seven small linear openings, there was an emblem staring back at him from the stem-middle of the altar.
A sleek, metallic circular emblem set against a dark green-black gradient background. At the center is a stylized, curved symbol that resembles a flowing abstract letter—something between a lowercase "n" and a smooth, elongated ribbon.
The main symbol was raised and polished, reflecting light with a cool silver sheen. Surrounding it are multiple concentric circular grooves, also metallic, giving the emblem depth and a layered, almost futuristic feel. In between the whole design, somewhere at its middle was a small linear opening.
And on top of the altar was a pale orb carrying a head statue of one of the knights, with short, triangle-like, stiff wings protruding from its sides.
Melvin discerned the entire situation, and confusions of all sorts struggled for an abode in his mind.
'Another piece… pieces?' he thought. 'What is happening? Why all these differences?'
He thought that after seeing the formations at the beginning of this trial mission, he had understood what he was meant to do.
First, it was the strange absence of other monster servants, which could have led him into discovering seven needed keys. Now, not only was the altar before him assuming a different shape, but there was a foreign emblem with only an opening.
The situation had now turned harder to comprehend and even more mysterious. It aroused two questions in his mind.
Does that mean everything about the seven statues and main altar never ended in one place? Perhaps a stepping stone to finding a mysterious truth?
However, he didn't fail to acknowledge how beautiful and awesome the open, grandiose hall was with all its structures. It looked like a palace of a god. Cascades of dim light from the green cosmos were falling from above.
Throwing his head behind, with his stare focused on the void above, Melvin reminisced about everything that had happened so far in the opening bastion.
'See this, Slug King?' he thought. 'Isn't it funny?'
A dry chuckle left him.
'Actually, it's not. Ruthless? You think you're ruthless? What would you know about that?'
He tilted his head slightly, lowering it now to stare at the marble floor below, and paused for a while as if listening to an answer that would never come.
'Where I'm from… my first world… people didn't just survive cruelty. They refined it. They perfected it. Not only that, but they had a millennium to turn betrayal into instinct and suffering into spectacle.'
Aftertick disappeared from his hand, and both his hands curled loosely at his side.
'And I was just at the receiving end. I was the lesson, fool!'
He let out a slow breath through his nose.
'So tell me… after living through that… after enduring that, did you really think a bloated thing hiding in a basement could teach me anything about viciousness?'
The smile that had been etched at the end of his lips now faltered, and he echoed the next words.
"… You never had a chance. I mean, look at me now."
His brows drew together slightly as he raised his face back to the altar before him. Then, he suddenly blinked and softly hit his head two times.
"What was I even thinking about? Right, let's see if the key I received is fit for the small opening."
With the thought, scattered shards of light appeared out of nothingness, converged to form the key Melvin had received, and fell on his palm. Then, he ventured closer to the altar and stretched his hand to insert the lock into the small opening fit for a key.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Worry soon flooded Melvin's being. He thought, maybe, the key was never even meant for the altar. Or, it was never even an opening for a key in the first place but a design.
He was about to pull the key out of the opening when, at the last second, suddenly, the voice of the system resounded in the open hall.
[You have besought the god of past, present, and future.]
[The god is dead, and cannot…]
[You are a tool from the past, the beginning of time.]
[The present resides in your soul.]
[The future…]
[The god stirs from his everlasting slumber.]
[He sends a blessing from beyond the grave.]
'Huh?' Melvin's mouth opened in shock. 'The altar was a grave?'
But the system didn't pay him attention. It continued its utterances.
[Child of Chronomancy, receive your blessing!]
At that instant, Melvin watched as the triangular altar began to glow, from dimly… to so bright. On its stage, a candle suddenly appeared on its forefront with flickering green energy. Then, the energy flowed from the candle, through the altar, until it enveloped the pale orb, completely illuminating it.
Everything that was happening looked like it was not in reality. Was it even reality?
The illuminated orb surged once, then violently discharged. A concentrated beam of energy shot from its core into the hollow eyes of the head statue, igniting them in a ghastly glow. In the next instant, twin rays erupted outward and, without warning, struck Melvin squarely in the chest.
He felt a freezing surge tear through his consciousness, sharp and invasive, like countless needles piercing straight into his soul. His thoughts scattered.
For a breathless moment, Melvin could neither move nor scream. He felt hollowed out and filled at the same time. Then, a brief but long moment after, everything stopped, and Melvin regained his composure and was about to open his eyes when suddenly, his body disintegrated into stars of light.
In that moment, the calming voice of the system returned.
[The god harkened to your call.]
[Congratulations, Melvin! Your trial is over.]
[Brace yourself for appraisal.]