The Assembly of the Gods

Their footsteps dragged. Their breathing was heavy. But their eyes were blank.

Twelve figures entered the arena. Their bodies were disfigured—some had half their faces missing, their hands melted, or their chests gaping open to reveal the shattered book inside. They did not speak. But they all stared at Kain… with one thing in common: petrified despair.

[Third Wave Begins]

[Threat: Unclassified Rank | Enemy: Failed Reflections of the Bookholders]

Ankhar spoke from afar.

"Look at them. All of them have tried. All of them have held the Book as you hold it now. But they hesitated. And hesitated… to kill."

Kain stood up slowly. His body was covered in wounds and the glyphs were nearly worn away. But his mind was clear now. Because he knew one thing—this wave was not about strength.

"If all of you… are me who failed, then I will not repeat your fate."

One of them struck first. His hand turned into a black shadow with a half-lit glyph. An unfinished technique. The attack was powerful, but its direction was wild.

Kain dodged, then copied the move with a perfected version of the glyph.

[Counter Glyph: Shadow Perfection]

The counterattack pierced straight through the figure's chest—the shattered scripture exploded into particles and vanished.

One down. Eleven left.

Three charged at once. Their techniques were all half-finished: broken spells, incomplete glyphs, unclear intentions. But their chaos was dangerous—unpredictable.

Kain unlocked a skill he rarely touched:

[Passive Skill: Void Meditation – Full Synchronization]

[Additional Effect Unlocked: Movement Perception Within 7 Meters]

With a calm head, he read the enemy's movement patterns. His hands moved as quickly as instinct. The defensive glyph activated automatically, and in a single moment, he united three attacks into a single counterattack point.

BAAM!

Three bodies destroyed. Eight left.

But Kain began to feel something strange. From every body he defeated… fragments of feelings infiltrated his mind.

Doubt. Failure. Isolation. All of it slowly seeped into his chest.

[Warning: Mental Burden by Soul Resonance]

[If left unchecked: Risk of Identity Destruction]

Kain gritted his teeth. "If I am burdened, I will become one of them."

He stepped back and formed a circle of glyphs around him:

"Self-Meditation Circle"

The cries and screams of the creatures began to subside in his mind. He did not reject them… but accepted that they were part of his possibilities—one that did not come true.

"I am not you. But I will not forget you either."

When he opened his eyes, his entire body radiated light from the Book. The energy around him compressed the air.

[New Skill Unlocked: Core of Existence Lv.1]

[Effect: Immune to illusion, mental, and identity manipulation attacks.]

He stepped forward, defeating them one by one. But not by killing them.

He erased them slowly, as if releasing a burden. And each time one disappeared, his voice whispered:

"Thank you… for holding on."

"Sorry… for giving up first."

"Continue for us…"

Until finally only one figure remained.

This being did not attack. It simply stood. And when Kain approached…

His face was Kain's, but with empty eyes, as if living without a purpose.

"This is you… if you never got up."

Kain touched his forehead with his finger.

"Sorry. I can't be you."

And the figure slowly disappeared, as if it had disappeared because it had been understood.

[Third Wave Enduring: 04:02]

[Arena Status: Stable]

[Book Reacts – Chapter II Fragment Opens]

The Ancient Book in Kain's hand slowly opened, new pages forming on their own, ink igniting from within the bones.

[Chapter II: Language of the Gods – "Glyph of True Will" Has Opened]

Ankhar walked closer. "Few make it this far. But even fewer don't lose themselves in the process."

Kain stared at him intently.

"How many more waves?"

Ankhar looked up at the sky.

"There are no more waves. The next one… is judgment."

The sky cracked. Light poured down from above.

And a voice from above echoed—

"Holder of the Book. Come. It is your time… to speak with the Gods."

The sky split open like a cloth burning from the middle. Light poured down, not white… but a deep gray. Not warm… but heavy, like it was pressing on the bones. Formless voices echoed from beyond the gap. The voices of the Gods who had been watching from afar.

Kain stood in the middle of the arena, his body tired but upright. In his hand, the Ancient Book was still open to the page of Chapter II. The ink glyphs in the air had not yet disappeared, burning slowly, like a heartbeat.

[Status: Summoned – Heavenly Court]

[Dimensional Transportation Active: 00:10]

Ankhar did not join. He only stared from afar and said,

"There, they do not judge your strength. They judge you. And sometimes, that is more deadly."

[00:00]

Suddenly, the ground disappeared. The air disappeared. There was no gravity. There was no color.

Kain appeared inside the Seventh Heavenly Dome, the courtroom of the Supreme Gods.

In front of him: seven giant floating chairs, each occupied by a figure with no fixed face. They changed. Sometimes they were human, sometimes they were animals, sometimes they were just light or mist. But their power felt like the pressure of a million mountains.

One of them spoke—a voice without gender, heavy and cold.

"Holder of the Book. You have opened the Second Chapter. You have rejected destruction. But are you worthy to go further?"

Cain answered quietly, but firmly.

"I did not come here to convince you. I came… because I persevered."

They did not react. But a second voice came.

"The Book was once ours. But it chose itself. We let it choose again… and it chose you."

"But before we acknowledge it, you must answer: What is your purpose in holding the Book?"

Cain was silent for a moment.

In his head, he recalled his childhood—alone, outcast, disregarded. He remembered being rejected by the temple, by his clan, by the gods themselves. But now, standing here, he carried no grudge… only desire.

"I wish to prove… that will can be stronger than fate."

Silence. Long time.

One of the chairs shook. The figure there raised his hand, and from his palm emerged fragments of the lives of previous holders of the Book—all of whom had ended in failure or death.

"They all said the same thing. What makes you different?"

Cain stepped forward.

"I don't talk. I walk. I bleed. And I haven't stopped."

Suddenly, one of the Gods exploded in anger. His figure grew larger, resembling a three-headed fire dragon.

"You're presumptuous! The Book belongs to the heavens, not to a piece of meat like you!"

Cain stared at him without backing down.

"Then why can't the heavens protect it?"

[Status: Provocation Begins]

[Conflict of Values ​​– Test of Self-Resolution]

The sky within the dome began to crack. But it was not a bad omen—this was a reaction from the Ancient Book. For every word Cain said was a new glyph.

Not from a spell. But from raw will.

The Book trembled. The pages of Chapter II lit up.

Then, slowly, the first letter of Chapter III appeared—still blurry, but present.

One of the other gods spoke, his voice flat, devoid of emotion.

"The Book has responded. That is enough."

"But remember, Holder. The further you go… the more you will be hated."

"And if you open the Third Chapter… you will abandon your humanity."

Light enveloped Kain's body. He was pulled back into the underworld.

But before the light faded, one last voice whispered in his ear—soft, almost sympathetic:

"You will fight us someday. And that will be a story worth writing."

[Heavenly Trial Completed]

[Ancient Book: Synchronization 24%]

[Chapter III: In Progress by Holder]

Kain fell back to the arena ground. Ankhar greeted him with a strange look—a mix of respect, fear, and doubt.

"So… what did they say?"

Kain stood up slowly.

"They said I would be hated."

Then he looked up at the sky, which was once again whole.

"Good. Because I don't need to be loved."