Garuda stood calmly, his attention fixed entirely on the Lotus lying on its deathbed. His sharp eyes remained vigilant, but they were not watching Rahul.
They were watching the Lotus.
Meanwhile, the trident lay on the ground nearby.
Garuda slowly approached the trident, intending to pick it up.
The moment he was about to lift it—
The trident suddenly shot forward.
Its speed was terrifying. Even Garuda, a mythical being with unimaginable reflexes, failed to react.
Pierce!
The trident shot straight through Garuda's head, tearing through flesh before emerging from the other side.
For a moment, the entire battlefield froze.
The trident had stored energy for eons. Rahul had released only a tiny fraction of that power at that instant, yet the force was overwhelming.
Space trembled.
The surface rumbled violently.
For a brief second, the power tore open a crack in space. From the cavern, a stone carved with ancient runes slipped in falling into the darkness as the space sealed again.
Rahul had already refined the trident long ago.
He had simply waited for the perfect moment.
Garuda never imagined that such a divine weapon had already been refined and controlled by Rahul.
Thud.
Garuda's massive body crashed onto the ground.
He spoke slowly closing his eyes,
"I was always vigilant against you… but who would have thought that a single mistake would cost me everything…"
He closed his eyes.
"Human… you are going to become a great man."
Rahul looked slightly surprised.
"You will not complain?"
Garuda laughed softly, his eyes still closed.
"Why should I? This is war."
He paused before continuing,
"Do you think I didn't know you had hidden intentions regarding my experience points? You are clever… but what about the girl?"
Rahul replied calmly,
"Indeed."
"You three are not bad… but this is not your era anymore."
"why did you fall in your power."
Garuda contemplates and said,
" You would know when time is right, you are not strong enough yet."
With those words, Garuda fell silent forever.
The Lotus watched Garuda's demise and let out a long sigh.
Rahul walked forward and drove the trident down, delivering the final blow that ended the Lotus's life.
Afterward, he looked around the battlefield.
Two glowing orbs floated above the bodies of Lira and Nira.
He collected them.
Just then, Princess Rose arrived at the battlefield.
Rahul looked at her with confusion.
"Why did you come?"
Rose replied,
"You hadn't returned, and I saw sages escaping from this place. So I came to check on you."
Rahul smiled and was about to respond when suddenly a notification appeared in his mind.
"You have successfully cleared your trial."
Memories suddenly flooded into his mind.
Fragments of his true origin.
And the realization that everything had been a test.
Yet one question remained unanswered.
Why had it felt so real?
Before leaving, Rahul turned toward Princess Rose and joked lightly.
"Hey, when were you planning to say that you love me so much that you came to a battlefield for me?"
Then he tossed one of the two orbs toward her. even he didn't understand why did he do that.
The moment the orb left his hand
His vision changed.
Everything turned dark.
Then a voice echoed through the void.
"Evaluating your performance."
After some time, the voice spoke again.
"Congratulations, Player. You completed your trial in ten days."
"You have scored: Exceptional."
Scenes from Rahul's journey began playing in the darkness.
The bees.
The Iron Claw Bear.
The three gods.
His plans, conversations, and even the moment he defended his father during the trial.
Each scene gradually transformed into streams of golden light.
The golden energy traveled through the darkness before entering Rahul's body.
Inside his soul sea, something extraordinary began to form.
A luminous ring appeared.
It spun slowly in a clockwise direction.
At first the rotation was gentle, but soon it accelerated, refining the incoming energy into its purest form.
This was the Refiner Ring.
Its function was simple -
To refine energy and send it toward the chakras.
Soon Rahul sensed another change.
At the base of his spine, a red vortex began forming.
The Root Chakra.
Next appeared an orange wheel of energy at the lower abdomen.
The Sacral Chakra.
Then a yellow chakra formed at the upper abdomen.
A green chakra appeared at the center of the chest.
A blue chakra formed at the throat.
An indigo chakra manifested between the eyebrows.
Finally, a violet chakra bloomed at the crown of the head.
Seven chakras in total.
Yet something else had formed as well-
Something he had not sensed clearly.
For now, these seven chakras were illusory and not yet connected.
They did not exist in the physical body like organs.
They existed within the soul.
The path forward was clear.
He would need to solidify the chakras and connect them together in balance to rise in power.
His evolution was complete.
Now…
It was time to obtain his abilities.