Chapter 8: Dance of Shadows and Silver Flames
The forest erupted into chaos as Lucien and Liana clashed.
Lucien's blade—Iksha-Astra, now a sleek longsword—met Liana's bare palm, cloaked in shimmering spatial distortion. The impact sent shockwaves through the trees, bending branches and scattering leaves like shrapnel.
System Interface — Combat Triggered
Trait Synchronization: Active
Iksha-Astra (Mode: Sword) – Sync: 18%
Liana's violet eyes gleamed with starlight, her tone calm but lethal. "Your sword bends rules... How curious."
Lucien didn't answer.
He rotated mid-air, spinning with a backhand slash. His movement wasn't just skillful—it was precision honed by obsession.
Liana didn't flinch. Her fingers flicked mid-air—
And space fractured.
A ribbon of void opened before her, devouring Lucien's attack entirely. The dimensional fold snapped shut with a soft pop.
Skill Detected: Void Shatter (Spatial Art – Royal Tier)
Lucien's brows lifted. "You bend space."
Liana's silver hair swayed as she walked through a shimmer in the air—disappearing from in front of him and reappearing behind him in less than a blink.
He twisted, blade swinging—
—only to slice through an afterimage.
Dimensional Slip: Activated
Lucien clicked his tongue. "Now this is getting fun."
Fate Fragment Glimpse Detected…Target: Liana Von Dragora. Threat Level: Apex.
They clashed again.
His blade blurred into Phantom Blade Arts, vanishing and reappearing like shadows dancing across ripples.
Liana responded with Celestial Dragon Palm overlaid with Spatial Ripples, every strike stretching and collapsing reality around her fists.
One blow struck close—Lucien barely avoided it, but the impact behind him left a vacuum crater.
"You're testing me," she said, catching his blade with two fingers between distortions of space. "Why?"
Lucien's red eyes gleamed. "Because I don't trust the person I'm destined to fight beside."
A moment of silence passed—broken only by warping air and flickering shadows.
Then, without warning—
Lucien vanished.
Shadow Arts: Phantom Shift – Success.
Mental Strain: 2%
He emerged from a patch of shade deeper in the forest, breath steady, eyes focused.
"She's faster than light... but not faster than thought."
Kill Count: 12
Remaining Survivors: 512
The trial was far from over.
Lucien wasn't here to survive.
He was here to dominate.
---
Hours earlier…
The moment the simulation began, Lucien had moved into the mist like a shadow taking form. Other candidates stumbled about, confused by the sudden darkness, the oppressive silence, the eeriness of the forest that bent reality itself.
Lucien set traps.
Dozens of them.
Fine thread made from spirit steel across branches, mana mines forged with compressed illusion cores, timed noise lures—each trap a silent whisper promising pain. He didn't wait to spring them either.
Two candidates found one of his illusion bombs.
They began hallucinating.
Screaming.
Lucien simply waited until they tired themselves out—and slit their throats with clean precision.
"Idiots," he muttered, stepping over the corpses.
Kill Count: 3
Later, he led a trio of noble heirs into a 'safe zone' that was anything but.
He'd crafted a small circle of wards, disguised as a barrier spell. As soon as they stepped inside, a cascade of spellfire erupted around them—looped sound magic and blind spots.
Lucien watched the flames from atop a tree.
"Now that's what I call… situational awareness failure."
Kill Count: 6
He even left fake footprints leading into a ravine.
Three more fell for it.
Kill Count: 9
---
At one point, Lucien overheard a group of five candidates forming an alliance.
They were well-armed. Confident. One even had a bow artifact that summoned spectral beasts.
Lucien nodded to himself. "Perfect."
He stalked them for ten minutes, learning their speech patterns, attack habits, leadership order.
Then he used a mimic spell to make it seem like one of them attacked another.
They turned on each other within seconds.
Lucien waited until there were only two left.
Then stepped in.
Less of a fight. More of a clean-up.
Kill Count: 12
---
Back in the present—
Lucien crouched by a pond now, splashing water on his face. The forest reflected no stars in the sky above—only dense fog. He knew the environment would change again soon.
The interface glitched slightly.
Environment Shift Incoming: 00:12:54
He leaned against a tree, glancing toward the east. A flicker of light caught his eye—someone was fighting up ahead.
He saw a muscular orc brawler—one of the Nine Heirs—pummeling a fire-user into the ground.
Lucien tilted his head.
"That looks like fun."
But he didn't join.
Instead, he began planting spatial mines.
Not to trap the orc.
To delay whoever might try to help the fire-user.
He carved a rune into bark.
Stepped back.
And whispered to himself, "Let chaos breed chaos."
---
Back where he'd left Liana…
She stood still, eyes scanning the area.
Then she smiled.
"Coward," she whispered. But there was amusement in her voice.
She turned and walked into the mist.
---
Time passed.
The mist grew thicker.
Reality wavered.
New Rule Activated: Time Perception Distortion
Some candidates started hallucinating time loops. A boy from the Seraphim House screamed that he'd been here for 'weeks.'
Lucien put him out of his misery.
Kill Count: 13
He chuckled. "Well… this is fun."
Then the interface flickered again:
Warning: Top-Ranked Threat Detected Nearby
User: Ignis Vaelthorn
Alignment: Hostile
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"Well, well… the sword emperor lives."
He stood, shadows wrapping around him like a cloak.
He would face Liana again.
He would clash with Ignis soon.
But not yet.
Because this battlefield wasn't just about strength.
It was about dominance.
And he still had time to set the stage.
---
Lucien stood at the edge of a cliff that didn't exist minutes ago.
The world had changed again—terrain now mountainous, winds violent.
He smiled against the cold.
He carved a single word into the rock beside him:
"King."
Then turned.
And walked into the storm.
Kill Count: 13
Survivors: 421
And counting.