The black-haired woman simply waved her fingers as three magic circles appeared in front of her. Three individuals appeared as they looked around. One of them is a black-haired young man wearing a hanfu or a black robe while wielding a silver sword, full of runic patterns it glowed. Another one is a red-haired muscular man wearing nothing but pants, as he smashed his fist together. The last one is a violet-haired woman, wielding a chakram in both hands. Lawrence and Luke just continued running but they felt the presence of three high-stage 3 stars warriors behind them.
"My child…kill them for my amusement" the black-haired woman smiled gently as the three individuals bowed with their knees on the ground. They looked at the woman with reverence and blind respect.
"Of course…" they responded before glaring at Lawrence and Luke.
"I'll take that fox! Come here!" the muscular man laughed boisterously as he charges forward. The black-haired man simply gazed at his fellow believer as he didn't see the need to interfere. Meanwhile, the lady throws the chakram on Lawrence's back. The black-haired lady was already gone.
"GAHAHAHAH!" Luke heard someone laughing as he turned around with his dagger aimed at the man. A white wolf's head manifested in front of the dagger as it roared before crashing its fangs on the man. The man was surprised but his smirk didn't disappear. With a wave of his fist, the man has pushed away from the deadly fang of Fenrir. He compressed the air in front of him before pushing himself away. He essentially created an air wall and pushed his body away with the use of his strength and mastery over his body art. A small dagger flew towards the man at a blinding speed but a chakram deflected the dagger as it floated around Lawrence. All of them are staring at each other, waiting for someone to make the move.
"Struggle all you want! It wouldn't matter!" the man boasted while smirking. As if, they were nothing. His confidence is almost blinding. If it was a normal person, they would feel as if they are being ridiculed but Luke and Lawrence simply stared at the muscular man. Even the black-haired man at the back doesn't know what they are thinking.
"My name is Xenos! You better remember it before I take your head off!" the man charged again as the violet-haired woman followed him. Xenos stretched his finger to create a claw made of wind as it ravished the surroundings. Lawrence weaved and dodged as the sharpness of the wind coming from the claw made his hair stand up. While Luke opened his eyes before multiplying into three with the use of mirage and ring of illusion. The mirage went to Lawrence while the illusion and he appeared suddenly behind the violet-haired woman with their daggers aimed at her back. He wanted to immediately take out one of them as he activated heart strike. What happened next surprised him as the woman dodged both of the daggers with inhuman flexibility as she bends her back to face Luke. Lifting her feet, a glint of blade appeared on her shoes before slamming it towards Luke. He dodged it with ease but a chakram flies towards his face as he parried it to the side. He suddenly felt something tugging his arm as he noticed a near-invisible thread digging through his skin. He gazed at the woman to find out that all of his limbs are tied to the thread as even a small movement would cut his skin and slice his bones.
Meanwhile, Lawrence flickered his wrist as Xenos crashed to the ground before getting pulled by a strong gravitational pull while Lawrence jumped in the air with his fist barreling down to the shirtless man. A thunderous boom followed but Xenos exploded in a strong gust of wind before Lawrence turned his head to find Xenos smirking as he felt something digging his stomach as Xenos's fist connected to his body. Pushing him a few meters back, blood escaped from his mouth while his knees trembled from the force. He gazed at Xenos only to find the world spinning as a splitting headache appeared.
"GAHAHHAHA! How did you like it? My punches would destabilize a human's nervous system in seconds. You probably can't see me properly! Your senses are fucked am I right?" the man smiled wickedly as he lets down his guard. As if waiting for Lawrence to recover. Lawrence glared at Xenos as his head still hurts and he is nauseous. One punch was enough to weaken him to this degree. It shows their difference in the mastery of their arts and skills.
"Kill him already. We don't have a lot of time on our hands" the black-haired man responded as Xenos shrugged.
"Don't be impatient. You cultivation addict. It's been a long time since I did some exercise." Xenos sneered before charging once again in a straight line. Anticipating this, Lawrence activated lighten once again before dodging sideways as Xenos missed him. A dagger flew at Xenos's back but it was blown away by the air circling around him. Turning his head around, he stretches his right arm to the side before jumping forward. Air compresses on his feet as he practically blasts himself to Lawrence who got slammed by the arm. A small forcefield stopped the arm from slamming on Lawrence's neck as Xenos was surprised. It was one of his finishers that would break a man's neck upon impact. A stinging pain suddenly emerged as Xenos looked down to find Lawrence's right arm which was shaped like a blade puncturing his sides before he looked at Lawrence's eyes. His iris was pitched black while he looked at Xenos trembling in pain coldly
"Do you think I'm a plaything?" Lawrence replied solemnly before slamming the dagger on Xenos's side that was wounded before twisting it.
"AGHHGHHHHH" he screamed and screamed but the pain traveled all throughout his body as Xenos felt his body being burned from the insides. He felt like a thousand daggers stabbed him in different places. Still, he manages to grab Lawrence's wrist before breaking it as it created an audible sound of a bone cracking. Lawrence winced but he activated removal as the gravitational pull of his fist barreled towards Xenon's wound.
Meanwhile, the violet-haired woman was about to throw the chakram at Luke but the sudden removal of gravity surprised her as she saw herself floating a couple of inches from the ground. Taking this chance, Luke maneuvered his arms to remove the thread carefully before slashing the thread holding his legs. Using the fan of knives, 5 knives manifested as they flew towards the woman. With the lack of foothold, she was only able to parry 3 knives while the other two dug into her skin.
Seeing this happening, the black-haired man sighed before vanishing. He suddenly appeared beside Lawrence as he delivered a strong kick right to his face. Still, it was blocked by an invisible force and didn't derail Lawrence's fist as it exploded right on Xenon's sides as his body folded before flying a hundred meters away just from the impact. A flash of worry appeared on the black-haired man's face as he immediately dashed toward Xenon.
On the ground, Xenon is gritting his teeth as almost half of his torso was ripped and splattered all over the ground. His bloodshot eyes glared at Lawrence while he breathes roughly. Blood practically flowed to the ground as he can sense his consciousness vanishing.
"Xenon! Don't move!" the black-haired man warned as Xenon weakly nodded. Every second was torture and he can feel his determination burning to avoid passing out. He cursed himself for being arrogant as he even breathing felt like he was breathing in glass shards. If he survives this, he will make sure that the red-haired would immediately die a painful death.
"Luke!" Lawrence shouted as Luke immediately stopped his plans on killing the woman as both of them dashed towards the mountain full speed. Lawrence activated light sky steps while using lighten to avoid the difficult terrain as he runs while stepping on a white disk made of light. With his beginner level lighten and adept level light sky steps, it was extremely risky as he is always on the verge of falling. Meanwhile, using the shadow generated by Lawrence as the light disk creates a small shadow on the ground. Luke used shadow jump with perfect timing and execution. With their discovery of abundant aura and mana supply in the plane as they aren't even fatigued by all the fighting and walking on countless days and the discovery of the ability of the mirage to transfer information in real-time to the real body. Lawrence was able to discreetly tell Luke what they do after pushing their enemies away and to use their arts and spells together to arrive at the mountain as fast as they can.
"Turn left!"
"Turn right!"
"Turn 30 degrees to the left!"
"Turn 100 degrees to the left!" using Luke's eye to discern the illusions and take the fastest way to the mountain. The black-haired man and the lady want to chase them but they were stopped by a black-haired woman. She looked at Xenon with disappointment before shaking her head. With the wave of her fingers, all of his injuries vanished as he immediately stands up before bowing with both of his knees on the ground.
"Forgive me, our Demiurge. I-i failed. You make take my worthless head off" Xenos grimly responded but the woman merely ignored him. Her eyes trained on the back of both Lawrence and Luke who is getting smaller and smaller the farther they got.
"May all of you use this as a learning experience. I'm disappointed in all of you. You are my proteges, the leaders of my plan for the future. Arrogance isn't the same as confidence, Xenon. It's fine to show confidence but it's never right to underestimate an enemy, especially an unknown one. Feng….no matter how easy the task is, make sure to take it seriously as If failure isn't an option. Mia…be more mindful about your allies. You didn't even gaze at Xenon despite him shouting in pain"
"You actually saw it?" the violet-haired woman named Mia looked at her demiurge in surprise while Xenon blanched from embarrassment and Feng didn't have the gall to look at her. Embarrassment and shame washed over them as they gripped their hands to create a fist. Flaming with determination to take revenge welled in their hearts.
Finally, after days of walking. Fighting mysterious individuals and Luke's revelation. They finally reached the mountain. Even staring at the top isn't possible as it would quite literally break their neck. Stomping their feet on the black gooey substance that coated the mountain, a sudden earthquake happens as they lose their foothold before falling headfirst into the weird liquid as it swallowed them entirely.
Opening their eyes, they saw themself inside of a throne room with winged humanoid bones attached to the pillars and humanoid bones that shines majestically. Even gazing at them hurts the eyes. Looking forward, a man wearing a red suit with black wings and a crown made of horns is sitting calmly on the throne. His red eyes stared at the both of them before beckoning them to come closer. Following suit, they walked forward with their eyes trained on the man in front of them.
"Didn't even flinch huh? I thought you would make at least a weird face after falling to the mountain of sins" the man can only give a half-smile.
"Mountain of sins?" Luke asked, wondering about the mountain filled with black goo. When he fell to the goo, it was like thick mud that would thicken anytime.
"Oh, it's the physical manifestation of sins. It is the accumulation of the sins made by every single undying corpse you see in my yard." the man shrugged as if it was nothing.
"Well, anyway. This trial was supposed for a single individual only" the man squinted his eyes at Luke. There was no visible change in Luke's expression as the only regret he had if he dies is that he cannot take revenge.
"Tsk, fine. I'll forget about it and i will instead provide access to my treasury." the man sneered.
"You change the trial right?" Lawrence replied as Luke stared at him incredulously. The reason why Lawrence wanted to ask is he is genuinely confused and wanted to make sure that his guess isn't right. Which is that the knowledge he gained in reading the novel is getting unreliable and might become useless faster than he liked.
"Hmm? I did change it. Such a shame that both of you succeeded. There was a hint of despair in your hearts but it wasn't enough for me to get satisfied." he sadistically smirked before throwing a black gem.
"Still, I can't take what I promise that I made when I created this trial. That no matter who succeeded, they will gain something from me. Congratulations to both of you and a piece of warning. Only take one thing from my treasury." with a flick of his fingers both of them vanished as a black-haired woman appeared.
"Trist…why the long face?" the woman smiled warmly
"Lux..keep your thoughts to yourself. It's almost leaking." Trist scoffed as the woman simply smiled.
"Dear…have you no plans? Is this plane of yours, simply a vessel for you to live and relax forever?"
"I don't bother with your business. So do the same to me" Trist sighed
"Ira would be quite angry at you if you simply stayed here once the plan is completed"
"He's always angry. As long as he doesn't step on this plane then he can do whatever he wants."
"No ambitions and no greater sense of fulfillment. Your strength is wasted on you. Such a disappointment" Lux vanished as Trist didn't move or reacted upon her leaving. His gaze remained on the floor as he sighed once again. He would have to wait for years before a challenger enters his trial. For now, he closed his eyes. Awaiting for the unlucky one to enter his trial.