The God Who Discards
Kain sat against a large bone, his breathing still heavy. His shoulder was bandaged haphazardly, his spiritual energy had dropped drastically, and his mind felt blurry. But his eyes remained sharp—fixed on the masked figure now standing with his back to him.
"So, you're a guard?" Kain asked. "Why help?"
Ankhar didn't answer right away. He pulled his spear out of the ground and stabbed it into a spot in the barren soil. Suddenly, ancient symbols lit up, forming a circular arena.
[Active Trial Arena: Second Chapter Holder Selection]
[Rules: Survive for 1 full night inside the zone. No going outside. Random enemies will appear every moon cycle.]
"You must survive," Ankhar said, "not just from creatures. But from your own shadow."
Kain stood up, forcing his body to move.
"If this is a selection, why don't you just kill the weak?"
Ankhar stared at him through his mask.
"Because the Book doesn't choose strength. It chooses will."
The sky slowly darkened. The three moons hanging above moved… and merged. As it did, the ground shook. Mist descended, and footsteps began to sound from outside the magic circle.
[Start Time: Silent Night – 00:00]
The first creature appeared—but it wasn't corruption. This was worse.
A blurry copy of Kain himself.
Its eyes were dead. Its hands gripped the cracked Book. And as soon as it saw Kain, it attacked without a sound.
[Enemy: Soul Shadow – Weak Will Reflection]
[Status: Stable | Target: Erase True Identity]
Kain parried, but the shadow attacked with the exact same technique and movement. It even thought like him.
The only difference?
"He didn't hesitate."
Kain was cornered. The shadow slammed him into the ground. But at that moment, Kain turned and drew a glyph directly into his enemy's chest.
[Direct Glyph – "Will Reversal"]
A small explosion of light erupted. The shadow was blown away.
Kain stood up, blood dripping from his lips. "If you're my copy… you have my weakness too."
He lured the shadow into the previous trap: a circle of light. As the enemy entered, the glyph lit up, and Kain struck it with a shard of the God of Silence crystal.
CRACK!
The shadow shattered into mist, then disappeared.
[First Wave Survived: 01:12]
Ankhar watched from afar.
"Good. But that's just the beginning."
From the shadows outside the arena, two pairs of eyes lit up. This time, it wasn't Kain's shadow… but the silhouettes of two gods.
One held a sword of light. The other carried a golden snake shell.
[Next Enemy: Trauma Reflection – The God Who Abandoned You]
Kain took a deep breath.
"If tonight is all my nightmares… then I'll take them one by one."
The sky darkened completely.
And so the night continued.
The atmosphere in the arena began to shiver. A wind that should not exist in the Land of the Dead now blew carrying faint sounds. Like whispers. Like mockery.
[00:59]
[The Second Wave Begins]
Two figures emerged from the shadows of the mist. One was dressed in a silver robe with eyes glowing pale blue—the god Klarion, lord of the light of intellect. The other, his body covered in golden scales, and from his mouth protruded a forked tongue—the god Vaseth, manipulator of will.
They had come to Cain when he was a child. Promising him an inheritance, power, then withdrawing it… when they discovered Cain was not the "chosen child" the prophecy had awaited.
Now, the reflections of the two gods stood before him, smiling sarcastically.
"Still weak," said the false Klarion. "Still a nobody."
"You were never chosen," added the shadow Vaseth. "And you never will be."
Cain held the Ancient Book. His fingers bled, but he did not waver. "I don't need to be chosen. I just need to survive."
Klarion attacked first, unleashing a wave of sharp light that cut through the air. Kain rolled to the side, opening the defensive glyph "Three-Layered Wall."
An explosion occurred. The first wall cracked, the other two held. But Kain knew: he couldn't defeat either of them with ordinary strength.
He closed his eyes. Focused.
The Ancient Book opened.
[Chapter I Fragment – Maximum Activation]
[Temporary Skill Unlocked: Memory Node – Lv.1]
[Effect: Accesses the power of a pivotal moment in the user's life]
Kain accessed a single memory—when he was first rejected by these gods, at the sacred altar. When he stood alone before them, bleeding, and forced to walk down alone.
The feeling flared.
And from within his mind, energy coalesced into a new glyph:
"Glyph of Rejection."
Kain wrote it in the air and fired it at Klarion.
Klarion's illusory light exploded. He staggered, momentarily losing his form.
"Now it's your turn," Kain said, looking at Vaseth.
But Vaseth was not a direct fighter. She attacked with voice. Whispers. Kain's mind was infiltrated, his head felt like it was being pulled into a nightmare.
[Status: Mentally Manipulated]
But something new arose within him. Not strength… but resilience. The skill of the previous God of Silence—Meditation of Emptiness—activated automatically.
The mental fog was blown away. Kain turned, eyes glowing red from the mental pressure.
"Get out of my mind."
He leaped forward, planting a glyph in the ground:
"Absolute Silence" — an anti-spell.
Vaseth was trapped. Unable to speak. Unable to disturb the mind.
And in one motion, Kain drove the symbol of resistance into the heart of the illusion.
[Final Glyph: Shadow Eraser]
BLAM!
Vaseth and Klarion vanished along with the rest of their voices.
[Second Wave Survives: 02:18]
Kain fell to his knees. His breath was short, his body exhausted, but his eyes were still burning. At the edge of the arena, Ankhar stood still.
"Two more," he said. "If you survive to the end, the Second Chapter will open. But from now on… what comes is not a shadow. But… a failed legacy."
The sky shrank. The mist turned black. And the sound of crying began to be heard.
Kain turned his head.
"A failed legacy…?"
Out of the darkness, more silhouettes emerged. Broken bodies. Cleaved hands. Eyeless faces. They all carried the Book… which had been destroyed.
They were the previous candidates. And all of them died in this trial.
[Third Wave: Begins]