No more kneeling
Eris plunged into the abyss.
The darkness wasn't empty. It clawed at her skin, tore at her lungs, crushed her bones without touching her. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. The weight of the void was suffocating, endless, maddening.
Then—
The ground slammed into her like a war hammer.
Her ribs cracked. Air rushed back into her lungs in a violent gasp. Every inch of her body screamed.
She barely had time to register the pain before they came.
Phase 1: The Endless Onslaught
The first creature crawled out of the darkness—fast. A faceless, twitching silhouette, its body warping and distorting like a nightmare barely held together. Its elongated fingers ended in hooked talons, dripping with something black and smoking.
Eris's heartbeat roared in her ears.
It lunged.
She rolled—just barely. The claws missed her cheek by an inch, carving deep scars into the stone beneath her.
Another came from the side.
No time to think—she reacted.
Her arm burned as her magic ignited—her weapon formed in an instant.
A war scythe, sleek and curved, humming with potential. She twisted, using her momentum to carve through the creature's torso.
A clean hit.
The creature dissolved into black smoke.
Two more replaced it.
Eris gritted her teeth.
Fine.
She moved.
She spun the scythe in a deadly arc, forcing them back. But they were learning—dodging, predicting her swings.
One ducked low. Another leapt at her blind spot.
Her weapon shifted mid-swing, transforming into a whip of serrated metal. She snapped it outward—the steel coil wrapped around the airborne enemy's throat.
With a brutal yank, she sent it crashing into the second creature, impaling both on a newly formed row of jagged spikes.
More came. Faster. More relentless.
She ducked, weaving between claws. **One grazed her shoulder—**pain flared, warm and wet.
She ignored it.
Another lunged from behind. She felt it before she saw it.
Eris twisted—slammed her knee into its ribs. As it stumbled, her weapon morphed again—a short blade, already piercing upward.
The steel slid through its throat.
Black smoke swallowed her vision.
Then she felt the first real hit.
A razor-thin claw slashed across her back.
She choked on a gasp.
It burned.
She staggered forward, barely keeping her footing.
The creatures surrounded her now. They moved like a pack of starving wolves—waiting for the moment she weakened.
She couldn't let that happen.
Pain be damned.
Her weapon shifted again.
She slammed her palm into the ground.
A wave of spikes erupted outward, impaling six at once.
She didn't stop—her body a blur of motion, every strike morphing into the next.
A glaive for reach.
Twin daggers for speed.
A morningstar for raw, brutal force.
She fought until her muscles screamed. Until her breath came in ragged gasps. Until her arms felt like lead.
And yet—they kept coming.
Her mind slowed.
Her vision blurred.
Then—something latched onto her leg.
A hand. No—a corpse.
Her corpse.
Her own face stared up at her, eyes hollow, empty, wrong.
Then the battlefield shattered.
Got it. This scene will push Eris to the brink of collapse—mentally, emotionally, and physically. She will almost break, almost surrender, before clawing her way back with sheer defiance.
---
Phase 4: The Breaking Point
Pain.
It was all-consuming. A dull, suffocating weight dragging her under.
Eris lay motionless, her breath ragged, her body burning from a hundred wounds. The arena had vanished. She was nowhere and everywhere.
A void.
A grave.
"You don't belong here."
The voice slithered from the shadows. It was her own.
She turned.
And saw them.
Her family.
Celeste stood first, radiant and untouchable. Golden hair shimmering. Eyes full of pity.
"Sister… why did you try so hard? You were never meant to be special."
Then—her brothers.
Alistair, the proud knight, sneering.
"Father never expected anything from you. Why did you think you were worth more?"
Fabian, the cunning diplomat, laughing softly.
"Did you really think power would make them love you?"
Then—her parents.
Their gazes were empty. Disappointed.
"A mistake."
The word crushed her.
Eris collapsed.
Her knees hit the void.
She wanted to scream, but her throat wouldn't work.
They were right.
They had always been right.
She wasn't chosen. Not like Celeste. Not like her brothers.
She had taken power from a cursed altar—bled for it, killed for it. And what did she have to show for it?
She was still losing.
Still weak.
Still a failure.
Tears burned her vision.
Maybe…
Maybe she should have settled for mediocrity.
Maybe she should have stayed in the castle, lived a quiet life, accepted her place in Celeste's shadow.
Because now—she was going to die.
Her dreams—shattered.
Her body—breaking.
Her soul—crumbling.
It was over.
The shadows closed in.
She let them.
Then—
A whisper.
Soft. Distant.A mantra she had recited to maintain focus this past month.
"I don't need to be chosen—I'll carve my own path."
Something snapped inside her.
She remembered—
Not last year. Not last week. Last month.
The moment she made her choice.
The moment she carved her name in blood.
She had come before that altar, desperate and power hungry..
She had reached for power—not out of greed, but because she refused to be nothing.
And if she died here?
If she let the shadows consume her now?
Then all of it—**the pain, the sacrifice, the struggle—**would be meaningless.
Her hands clenched into fists.
No.
She would not die here.
She would not break.
Not before she proved them wrong.
The void shuddered.
The shadows screamed.
Eris lifted her head.
The darkness tried to pull her back.
But something else rose with her—raw, burning fury.
Her body moved.
She stood. Even as her bones cracked. Even as agony clawed at her flesh.
She tore through the illusions.
Her family vanished.
The void collapsed.
And she was back.
On the battlefield.
Bleeding. Shaking. But standing.
She lifted her weapon, and with a feral snarl—
She charged.
Her body was fire and agony, her veins filled with nothing but spite.
The creatures surged toward her, endless as the tide, but she did not stop.
She tore into them, her weapon shifting with every strike—scythe, spear, blade, chain.
One slash—one kill.
One dodge—one breath.
She could not afford hesitation. Could not afford weakness.
Not anymore.
But they were still coming.
No matter how many she killed, more rose from the darkness.
A voice whispered, soft as silk.
"There is no end."
Her limbs screamed. Her chest heaved.
Her wounds bled freely.
The creatures circled her. Waiting. Watching. Knowing.
She was reaching her limit.
She knew it.
And worse—so did they.
Then—
The battlefield shifted.
The monsters merged into something else.
No longer beasts.
No longer nightmares.
No longer shadows.
People.
A crowd. Familiar faces, twisted in judgment.
Her kingdom.
Her parents.
Her father stood tall, his gaze cold, impassive.
Her mother's lips barely moved—just enough to whisper the same words she had spoken all her life.
"A failure."
Eris froze.
The creatures did not attack.
They simply… stared.
Waiting for her to collapse again.
To break.
To surrender.
The air grew thick with silence.
Then a new voice spoke.
A voice that did not belong to her family.
Did not belong to the creatures.
Did not belong to this cursed trial.
It was hers.
"I am done kneeling."
The world cracked.
---
Phase 8: The Moment of Transcendence
A pulse of something ancient surged through her veins.
Something that did not belong to the system.
Something born from her own will.
The storm inside her howled.
Her weapon **shifted one last time—**not into steel, not into chains, but into something else.
A living force, raw and unrestrained, crackling at her fingertips.
Her magic—not what was given to her.
Not what was expected of her.
But what she had created.
Eris lifted her head.
Her father's specter stepped forward, looming.
"You will always be second to Celeste."
Eris smiled.
Not a kind smile. Not a sad one.
A smile full of teeth.
"I am not Celeste."
She moved.
The storm erupted.
A violent, surging force that ripped through the illusions, swallowing the battlefield whole.
Every specter. Every shadow. Every lie.
Gone.
She was no longer fighting to survive.
She was fighting because she refused to be erased.
And that?
That was power.
When the darkness finally broke, Eris was the only one left standing.
The battlefield vanished..
No creatures. No shadows. No voices.
Just her.
And the glowering system notifications.
[SYSTEM REWARD CALCULATION: ERIS VALE]
✔ Enemies Defeated: 1,000+ (Overwhelming Performance)
✔ Survival Duration: Endurance Level Reached (Elite)
✔ Skill Adaptation: Battlefield Low-Level Mastery Enhanced (30% to the next level)
---
[STATUS UPDATE]
[NAME] Eris Vale
[MAGIC CLASSIFICATION] Neutral Magic – Creativity
✔ [MAGIC POWER] +200 Units Increase (Battlefield Surge Bonus)
✔ [ENERGY RECOVERY] +5% (Survival Adaptation Bonus)
✔ [SYSTEM RECOGNITION] Minor Growth Detected
---
[CORE ATTRIBUTES]
✔ [PHYSICAL CAPACITY] C+ (40% Progress Toward B-) (Increased endurance, agility, and minor strength boost.)
✔ [MENTAL RESILIENCE] C (40% Progress Towards C+) (Improved resistance against fear, mind-affecting effects, and system pressure.)
✔ [SYSTEM AUTHORITY] Minimal Access Granted (Can now make hidden system inquiries.)
---
[REWARDS GRANTED]
✔ Blood Coins Earned: 4,500 (Overwhelming Combat Bonus)
✔ New Skill Unlocked: Arcane Reconstruction (Allows the user to break down and reassemble magical constructs, objects, and structures, reshaping them through creative will.)
✔ Stat Bonus: Physical Endurance +10% (Adaptive Muscle Growth)
✔ New Mental Trait: Iron Will (Lesser) (Grants resistance to mental domination, illusion manipulation, and forced submission effects.)
✔ New Title Unlocked: The Unyielding (Intermediate)
[Title Effect – The Unyielding (Intermediate)]
Grants significant resistance to fear, illusions, mind-altering effects, and will suppression.
Allows you to detect external manipulation affecting her perception.
If mentally attacked, 10% chance to trigger an instinctive backlash, harming the attacker.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: TRIAL CONCLUSION]
✔ Trial Completed – Status: Survivor
✔ Performance Rating: Exceptional
✔ All Rewards Distributed
[NOTICE: Player Eris Vale Will Be Transferred Shortly]
✔ Returning to System Hub in:
00:60... 00:59... 00:58...
✔ Reconstructing Player Status...
✔ Stabilizing Energy Levels...
✔ Syncing Data With System Hub...
[Reminder: Unclaimed System Inquiries Available]
✔ Spatial Transfer Initiating Soon...