Frieda's Trial reconstructed the years she spent as an assassin-in-training within the ORPHANAGE. Speed had always been her weapon. Faster than the guards. Faster than the other test subjects. Faster than the bullets meant to kill her. But speed alone wasn't enough here.
The Titan-class Enforcer loomed before her, a steel colossus, its reinforced frame thrumming with hydraulic power. It had already dismantled three of its own defective kind with ruthless efficiency. Now, it turned its glowing red optics toward her.
Pain radiated through her body. Every fiber of her being burned from the previous trials, from dodging, countering, adapting. This was designed to break her.
"Survive." The System's voice whispered into her mind.
The Titan moved. The ground quaked beneath its charge, the air trembling from its sheer mass. Frieda didn't hesitate. She shot forward, a blur of motion, but the Titan was ready. It anticipated her trajectory, swinging its massive arm in a precise arc—she twisted at the last second, but the sheer force of the strike collapsed the air around her.
Too close.
Another strike. No time to dodge.
Frieda raised her arms in desperation. The impact should have shattered her bones, driven her into the ground like a nail.
Instead, the energy surged into her body, raw and searing.
For a single heartbeat, she felt everything—the kinetic force, the weight of the blow, the violent tremor running through her bloodstream. Her body absorbed it, storing it like a coiled spring ready to snap.
The Titan reeled back, preparing another devastating strike.
Frieda didn't wait.
She launched herself forward, propelled by the very energy meant to crush her. The Titan adjusted, tracking her midair.
But she wasn't the same fighter anymore.
She twisted at the peak of her jump, redirecting the stored energy into a single devastating strike. Her fist collided with the Titan's head.
The world erupted in a shockwave. Metal crumpled. The impact shattered the ground, sending cracks webbing across the battlefield. The Titan buckled under the force, its armor splitting like a broken shell.
It collapsed.
Silence. Dust settled. Frieda stood over the fallen machine, her fists still trembling with residual power.
"Trial complete."
But the battlefield did not still.
A low hum vibrated through the air.
Frieda's head snapped up just as a second Titan-class Enforcer descended, landing with a seismic boom. This one was different—sleeker, its movements sharper. Designed not for brute force, but for precision.
"Final phase initiated."
The new Titan did not charge recklessly. It moved—faster than she expected. A blur of optimized mechanics and calculated destruction. Before she could react, the first strike landed.
Not a single hit, but a flurry—a sequence of perfectly placed blows targeting her joints, her center of gravity. Each impact was small, controlled, stealing away her energy in precise increments.
Her advantage was gone.
Frieda stumbled, breath ragged. She needed strong, singular impacts to fuel her power. These attacks were whittling her down, not feeding her.
The Titan didn't relent. It lunged, shifting seamlessly, its reinforced leg snapping toward her midsection.
That one had force.
Her body absorbed the impact, just enough to convert it. But before she could react, the Titan had already repositioned. A brutal punch hammered into her back, sending her sprawling.
Too fast. Too precise.
She coughed, dust swirling around her.
She was losing.
She needed to change the flow of battle. She needed to stop fighting defensively.
Her fingers dug into the dirt. She forced herself up as the Titan closed in for the final strike.
This time, she didn't dodge.
She met the attack head-on.
Her fist shot forward, colliding with the Titan's strike mid-swing.
BOOM.
The shockwave cracked the earth beneath them. The Titan's arm jolted back, its trajectory thrown off-balance.
And Frieda felt it—the energy she had generated.
Not from the Titan. From herself.
She had been fighting like prey. Like a girl waiting to be hit. But she wasn't a test subject anymore.
She was a fighter.
And a fighter didn't wait to be strong.
She made herself strong.
The Titan adjusted, preparing its next move.
She moved first.
The energy inside her coiled, twisting, propelling her forward. Every step fed into the next, momentum building like a crashing wave.
The Titan struck.
She slipped past its blow, absorbing just enough to accelerate. Her foot planted. Her body turned.
And she unleashed everything.
Her fist tore through reinforced steel, kinetic energy rupturing the Titan's core. The machine convulsed, servos screeching as its internal frame collapsed inward. It fell to its knees, sparks sputtering from its broken form.
Frieda stood over it, breath steady, arms still humming with power.
The System whispered.
"Trial complete."
But Frieda wasn't listening.
She flexed her fingers. Her whole body still pulsed with energy.
She had spent her life taking power from others.
Now?
Now she knew how to make her own.
The battlefield was quiet. The air, once thick with the echoes of battle, had grown unnaturally still. Blood dripped from Jarad's fingertips, the final remnants of the Apex Beast dissolving into the void. His breath came in measured exhales, his body still tense despite the fight being over.
Then, the system's voice cut through the silence, cold and indifferent:
[Designation: Apex Beast: Shadow Spawn – Eliminated.] [Calculating Rewards…]
Jarad rolled his shoulders, his muscles aching from the prolonged battle. He barely had time to process the victory before the next set of notifications echoed in his mind:
[You have slain an Apex Beast.]
[You have claimed its essence.]
[Relics have been granted.]
Before him, the very air seemed to shimmer and warp, space twisting as three objects materialized from the remnants of the void. Suspended in midair, they pulsed with latent power.
The first was a jet-black sphere, its surface swirling with an abyssal current. Shadows twisted around it, distorting the space nearby. Even without touching it, he could feel the weight of something ancient pressing against his mind.
The second was a shard of obsidian bone, veins of crimson light running through its surface like molten magma. It radiated a primal, violent energy, something barely restrained within its jagged form.
The third was… unexpected. A simple silver ring, unadorned, almost mundane in appearance. But beneath the unassuming exterior, Jarad felt something. Something restrained. Coiled power, waiting to be unleashed.
His gaze lingered on the objects, calculating. Then, without hesitation, he reached for the sphere first.
[Relic Acquired: Core of the Abyss (Awakened Class) Armour Type]
The moment his fingers brushed against its surface, the relic pulsed, and then—dissolved. Darkness surged toward him, sinking into his palm. But it didn't vanish. Not completely.
A shift.
A space that hadn't been there before.
It wasn't physical, yet it was real. A vast, endless void, tethered to him. And within it, the relic pulsed like a beating heart.
His fingers curled. It belonged to him now.
The obsidian bone came next.
[Relic Acquired: Shadowfang Shard.(Ardent Class) Weapon Type]
"Congratulations on being the first Human to acquire an Ardent Class Weapon" The System voiced out.
The shard crumbled at his touch, breaking apart into motes of shadow that spiraled into the same abyssal space. He didn't need to see it to know it was still there. The knowledge was simply… part of him now. Accessible. Ready.
Finally, the silver ring.
[Relic Acquired: Eclipse Band.(Class ???) ????]
The instant he closed his fingers around it, a sharp pulse raced through his body. A ripple through the void-space inside him, accommodating the new addition. It settled into place, silent but present. A quiet storm waiting to be called upon.
Jarad exhaled slowly. His hands flexed at his sides, testing the connection. A thought was all it took. The Core of the Abyss stirred in response, eager to be unleashed.
A grin ghosted across his lips.
This would be useful.
Then, the air behind him twisted. A rupture in space. The void pulsed—before violently expelling four figures.
Leon hit the ground first, landing in a low crouch, his body bloodied but his grin wild, exhilarated. Frieda rolled onto her feet next, her chest rising and falling in deep, controlled breaths, her eyes still alight with something unreadable. Maya emerged after, silent, composed—her mind already dissecting the aftermath.
And then—Evie.
She stumbled, her breath ragged, sweat slicking her forehead. Jarad moved without thinking, stepping toward her, but she caught herself before he could reach her, shaking her head.
"I'm fine," she muttered, her voice tight.
His eyes flickered over them. Leon, looking like he had waged war and survived by sheer willpower. Frieda, distant yet victorious, her hands flexing unconsciously, as if still feeling the impact of her strikes. Maya, unreadable, her mind sharp as ever.
And Evie…
There was something different in her gaze. A weight. An understanding gained through pain.
But then—
Frieda's brows furrowed. "Where's Toni?"
Silence.
Leon's expression darkened. "She was with us. I know she was with us."
Evie's face paled. Her gaze darted between them before locking onto Jarad. "The system wouldn't have left her behind, would it?"
Jarad's jaw tightened. No. That wasn't how this worked. If they had been returned, then something had stopped Toni from following.
The void sealed itself shut, darkness folding into nothingness.
No new figures emerged.
No sign of her, something could have happened to her.
Worse—
Something had taken her.
The air thickened, not with the lingering presence of an Apex Beast, nor the oppressive void—
But with the cold realization settling into Jarad's bones.
Toni was gone.
A tense silence hung between them, the unspoken dread gnawing at the edges of their thoughts. Then, Maya's voice cut through, calm yet deliberate, a calculated edge to her tone.
"Calm down. Toni isn't gone." Her eyes flickered between them, gauging their reactions. "If the trial released us after completing our respective challenges, then it must have released her too. That means there are only two possibilities—either she hasn't finished yet, or she got here before any of us and..." Maya paused, considering the implications.
"If she arrived first, that means something else happened. Maybe she left before we got here. Maybe—" her voice dipped slightly, colder now, "someone got to her first."
Jarad's jaw clenched. That last possibility—
That was the one he couldn't ignore.