Cirsen's hand remained firmly wrapped around Mellia's throat. As her large grip constricted, the smaller woman immediately began wildly struggling.
"Cirsen! What are you doing?!" Old Man Roe demanded, jumping up. Anger boomed through his voice, cutting through the sudden shock. But it wasn't just him; everyone else, whether it was Rotell or Qucell, had their minds momentarily turn completely blank after witnessing Cirsen's sudden series of actions.
Cirsen looked over expressionlessly, her face disturbingly calm. "Didn't I already say it? I'm testing something."
She tightened her grip slightly, ignoring Mellia's muffled cries. "We've been assuming this Trial rewards loyalty, but what if we're wrong? What if loyalty isn't about protecting everyone? What if it's actually related to an individual? What if it's about choosing the correct path among chaos? Could I—no, not only me, could we all be illusions, and this is just a figment of one of our imaginations? Do you remember what they said before we began our ascent? Even the furthest participant so far has yet to suffer any serious injuries. If this trial was designed to turn us against each other, it's only natural that they also faced situations like this. So even if I attack our teammate, then so what? In this situation, how will Mellia get out unscathed?"
Her frown deepened, her bright red eyes boring into Rotell.
"Aren't you even the least bit curious? Don't you find it strange?"
Mellia choked, grabbing weakly at the armored wrist. "Cir…sen…"
"No! There are other ways to test your theory! First, put her down!" Roe growled.
Cirsen shook her head. "It has to be like this. If it's pre-planned, then what's the point?" She turned her head, narrowed her eyes, and then, as if thinking about something, she sneered.
Seeing this, Rotell stared, her voice barely a mutter. "W-what are you even talking about?"
She didn't understand the wild leap in logic. In her mind, she could only wonder if there was some kind of severe disconnect in the stream of common sense inside this brute's brain.
Cirsen finally shifted her full focus toward her. "Don't overthink it. I'm asking what you would do." Her grip tightened, and Mellia thrashed even harder.
"Cirsen!" Old Man Roe roared again, but Cirsen just ignored him. Her eyes were locked entirely on Rotell. She spoke in a slow but surprisingly clear voice. "If continuing here required a sacrifice..."
Her eyes narrowed, flashing with a dangerous crimson color. "If one of us had to die so the others could continue, what would you do in this situation? Will it be me, or will it be her?"
Rotell's mind went blank. She really didn't know! She felt something was profoundly wrong, but the mental fatigue she had accumulated up until now was seriously messing with her cognition. For her, the world seemed blurry, and she was even more confused than she had been back at the crossroads.
Everything was just happening way too fast. She wanted to make a choice, but she knew both paths were bad; both paths were dead ends.
How can one stay loyal if one has to choose a sacrifice?
What was the third option?
Was there a third option?
Where was the breakthrough?
The more her brain turned, the stranger her state became. She didn't even realize that she had entered a stage of enlightened confusion—a state where her mind was spinning at a speed many times faster than ever before.
Cirsen waited. She didn't seem to have any intention of interrupting her train of thought.
Then, after Rotell's focus seemed to snap back to the present, Cirsen repeated herself, her tone absolute. "Choose, Rotell... Tell me your choice!"
"I!"
Before she could say another word, Old Man Roe stepped forward, his posture rigid but enraged.
"This proves nothing!" he bellowed. "Killing you or Mellia may cause all of us to fail, but it also may not! You're not wrong, since we know that passing beyond this point will be nearly impossible for us, it's not wrong to look for another way. But this is undoubtedly the wrong method! Every trial until now has required cooperation, and experimenting with one of our lives based on a mere assumption is nothing but utter foolishness! Especially at this point in time!"
The old man didn't stop there. "Release her, now! I won't pursue this kind of utterly barbaric madness, but you need to remember the real reason we have come to this place, to this secret realm! Have you already forgotten, you muscle-head?! We are here as a team testing our compatibility as well as our coordination! Just look at us! Look at who she has chosen! We clearly don't fit the title of commanders, but we were chosen nonetheless. Do you know what that means? It means that she didn't pick us for our backgrounds! So what if you were a mercenary? So what if you're the kind of person who can turn banter into bloodshed at the drop of a hat? That's all in the past! Do you know what's coming? Do you know what the world will have to face? You must have seen it, the things in the west. That devastation, the pollution, and the near-apocalyptic state it ended up in! Use your brain! What's some small trial compared to that? Think about our future—your future! Think about it, little girl!"
His voice came out as a thunderous roar.
—Little girl
These words, although fleeting as clouds, seemed to trigger something deep within Cirsen, drawing away her full attention and forcing her to focus entirely on him.
Hm?
Cirsen remained silent, but at the same time, her fingers tightened further, and Mellia's feet weakly kicked as she was continuously lifted above the stone platform.
Old Man Roe's expression darkened into pure fury. "I won't ask again, will you or will you not—"
Cirsen smiled, a mocking, cold expression rising on her face. "No—"
In an instant!
—Boom!
Old Man Roe attacked.
The stone beneath his feet cracked and exploded, then bloomed with greenery as roots erupted from the earth in a tangle of torrential vines. The ancient roots burst through the platform, twisting together into a series of massive wooden spears that shot directly toward Cirsen.
In the face of this oncoming attack, Cirsen didn't release Mellia. Instead, she stepped forward to meet the strike head-on, her fist flashing with a brilliant crimson light.
BOOM!
Clad in spiritual energy so thick it formed a glove, her free fist collided with the wooden spears, shattering them one at a time and cracking the surrounding structure with the outgoing shockwave. Even for such a simple spell, Old Man Roe, as a mage, cast his magic in a way that was slightly different from a traditional cultivator. Both cultivators and mages used a mixture of will and visualization to manipulate spiritual energy into a magical form. However, unlike those on the immortal path who used the natural energy of heaven and earth to unify and strengthen their physical bodies, mages bypassed that step entirely. They chose instead to strengthen the quality of their mana, thereby improving the raw strength of their spells.
Splinters and stone shards exploded across the platform as a concussive wave swept outward, forcing Rotell to raise her arm to shield her face.
"Cirsen!" she shouted, but neither of them seemed willing to listen.
Old Man Roe slammed his palm downward!
Rumble!
The grassy hillside surrounding the checkpoint came alive, and soon, trees, roots, and thorn-covered vines tore through the earth, climbing over the stone platform from every direction. They twisted around Cirsen's arms and legs, binding her securely in place—
Cirsen flexed her massive muscles!
Snap! Snap-snap-snap!
The vines exploded apart like fragile fibers, then she shot forward like a cannonball!
Boom!
Her knee crashed heavily into Old Man Roe, sending him sliding backward across the shattered stone. Before he could even recover his balance, Cirsen appeared directly in front of him and swung her fist. Seeing this, Old Man Roe stepped aside just in time, allowing the punch to miss his skull, but the sheer force of it connected with the ground, then erupted.
BOOOOM!
Half the platform cracked, and the other half exploded.
The sheer force of the punch was enough to easily kill an army!
A deep fissure, long and winding, spread across the checkpoint and reached into the hill, as fragments of stone tumbled down the endless hillside into the clouds below.
Through all of this chaos, Cirsen still held Mellia off the ground with one hand.
Her grip hadn't even loosened, like carrying a chick.
"Cir…sen…!" Mellia kicked and clawed at her wrist, but Cirsen barely seemed to register the touch. To her, Mellia was less consequential than her own spear, which she had yet to even pick up.
That was how little she viewed this confrontation!
Meanwhile, Rotell stood frozen in place.
Her mind was spinning!
What was happening?
Who was she?
Where was she?
What was going on?
Who could tell her?
Why did this happen?
Her brain just couldn't keep up with the sudden series of developments.
Only a few minutes ago, they had been resting together. They had survived countless trials, refusing to abandon one another. So why? Why was Cirsen suddenly doing this!
"Stop!"
Another massive explosion completely drowned out her voice.
Old Man Roe raised both hands, his face pale from exhaustion. Countless roots erupted from beneath the broken platform, forming a gigantic wooden hand that closed tightly around Cirsen.
Cirsen roared, her voice echoing off the distant terrain!
Boom!
The wooden hand shattered into splinters. The preceding spiritually infused explosion caused Rotell to stagger backward as she was blasted by the rippling waves of spiritual pressure passing over her. Her eyes immediately turned toward Qucell, looking for backup, but when she looked, her face turned even more unnatural.
Why wasn't she doing anything?
This was the first thing that came to mind when she looked. Unlike Mellia, Cirsen, and Old Man Roe, Qucell seemed to be almost spectating, entirely unwilling to get involved. Realizing this, Rotell wanted to question her, but then she also realized that she herself was doing the same thing. She closed her mouth, pursing her lips in grief.
What was she to do? She was simply too weak! For a high-level battle like this, even approaching the fight was enough to make her skin burn from the ambient spiritual energy alone.
As for Qucell, she stood only a few steps away, watching. She wasn't frightened, and she definitely wasn't confused. She was just… watching, like a spectator…
Rotell's heart suddenly tightened with an icy grip.
For some reason, the sight felt sickeningly strange.
That strange sense of discord that she had originally felt began to return, only this time it was even more obvious—like it was right on the tip of her tongue, ready and waiting. She just couldn't see it, perhaps because she was tired, or perhaps because she was ignorant.
But at this point, Rotell was absolutely sure that something was wrong!
The broken ground, the unprovoked fighting, and her companion being held by the throat by another companion. Her eyes turned to Qucell, who was standing right beside her, waiting.
No, wait…
Waiting?
Waiting for… what?
Why would she, Rotell, even think that?
It was too strange!
Everything was too strange!
Rotell grabbed her head, a sharp pain piercing through her brain. Something critical flickered at the very edge of her thoughts—a memory trying to burst through the fog. Then it disappeared, like a curtain being dropped or wind dispersing into nothingness.
What was it?!
What was she missing?!
Her head drooped, her hair cascading down. For some reason, she looked even more disheveled than she had earlier in the day.
Boom!
As another explosion rang out, cold sweat began to form on her brow. Rotell could feel her body trembling, as if her instincts had been concealed and something was trying to break through—something trying to warn her. But how was that possible? How could her body be more aware of what she was facing than she herself was? Why was that?
Ah!
Her brain hurt so badly!
BOOM!
Cirsen and Old Man Roe collided again, the stone foundation of the checkpoint cracking violently beneath them.
It was also at this time that another voice rolled over…
The words were soft—so soft that Rotell hadn't even realized they were her own.
"Who… are you people?"