After leaving the pedestal, Max found the world around him darken, and then the next moment, he found himself in a new place.
Max finds himself in a vast banquet hall, filled with the most sumptuous foods and drinks he has ever seen. There are mountains of fruits and vegetables, roasted meats, fresh bread, and countless other delicacies, all presented on silver platters and glistening with oil and butter.
Max feels his mouth water at the sight of the food, and he approaches the table eagerly. As he takes his first bite, he realizes that the flavors are unlike anything he has ever tasted. Each dish seems to be perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and perfectly satisfying.
Max eats and drinks without pause, losing himself in the pleasure of each bite. For some reason, Max didn't have anything in his mind from the moment he stepped into this banquet Hall and laid his eyes on the food, his only thought after seeing the food, is to eat, so gradually he just lost himself in the food.
As the more he eats, the more he feels his stomach expand and his senses become dulled by the sheer amount of food he is consuming, but he cannot prevent himself from continuing. The taste and texture of each dish are too alluring and too tempting to resist.
As the hours pass, Max begins to feel ill. His stomach is bloated and painful, and he can barely move. He realizes that he has been eating for far too long and that his gluttony has caused him to forget everything else in the world.
Suddenly, Max woke up from this madness and found himself still standing in the same place when he has just arrived in the banquet hall. He began to doubt the things that have just happened, but when he laid his eyes on the food, his usually purple eyes, changed colors and became a little bit tainted with a crimson color.
Max was going to lose himself again in gluttony, be he immediately bit on his tongue to draw blood into his mouth and wake up from this strange state. His crimson-tainted eyes returned to their usual purple, but this was something Max doesn't know. After waking up from this confusing state, Max began to wonder about what is going on. He feels like something is missing, but he has no idea what is it.
But he understood one thing from this little experience, even though, he thought it was an illusion. He realized that his gluttony has blinded him to the world around him and that he must learn to control his impulses unless he wants to be swallowed by them in the future. He then cast one final gaze at the feast in front of his eyes, and then he left the hall.
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..
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After getting outside of the banquet hall, Max didn't experience the usual darkness, he experienced the past three times, but he found himself in a different hall.
Max finds himself in a dark and eerie hall, filled with the sounds of clashing swords and the screams of battle. As he looks around, he sees that he is surrounded by enemies, all of them armed and ready to attack.
Max's expression became weird because he should be currently in a dark hall, so how come there are a lot of fights and shouts all around him? When he turned to look behind him at where he came from, he noticed that the place he came from disappeared and the dark hall around him disappeared as well.
All around him are just people with strange shapes, horns, wings, and claws. All of them are just cursing him and pointing their weapons at him. As for the reason, Max didn't understand.
But what Max understand is that suddenly a surge of anger and frustration began to grow inside of him seeing all of these weapons directed at him, knowing that he is vastly outnumbered and outmatched. He drew a sword from who knows where and charged into battle, determined to take down as many enemies as he can before he falls.
But the more enemies he kills, the more they seem to appear. The fighting becomes a blur of blood and steel, and Max feels himself losing control, his eyes started to change color again from purple to crimson red, a shade darker than the last time, but of course, Max doesn't notice any f this. Currently, his anger boiled over the more he kills, and he begins to attack recklessly, with no thought for his own safety.
Suddenly, the entire field around him became empty after all of this killing, and a figure silently appeared in front of him, blocking his path. The figure is tall and imposing, with eyes that blaze like fire. Max was lost in his own rage to recognize the figure in front of him as himself
Max didn't think much about the disappearance of the other enemies from the field and pounced in the direction of this figure using his blood-drenched sword.
The figure seeing Max charging at it, just sneered with its hideous face and started fighting Max with the same amount of brutality that Max used before. The fight became more brutal and intense the longer it lasted, with neither side gaining the upper hand. But as the battle wears on, Max begins to see the futility of his anger.
He started to gain a little clarity, as the more injuries he accumulates in the fight, the more blood he drops, and the more he began to control his anger and regain his clarity a little by little. He realizes that his rage is not helping him win the battle, but is only clouding his judgment and making him vulnerable to attacks.
In a moment of clarity, Max sheathes his sword and steps back from the fight. The figure before him also stopped fighting, but the sneer from his face didn't disappear. He just whispered a few words to the confused Max before fading away. Max understood from the few words of the figure that he has been caught in a test of wrath, designed to show him the dangers of letting his anger control him.
Understanding this, Max just sighed. As he started advancing more in the test, his memories started to return again, and he remember who he was, and why he is here. Although he doesn't remember everything, for now, that is good.
After a moment of silence and remembering the past tests he passed through, he begins to have an idea of the remaining tests, but he still doesn't understand what he will gain from those tests.
Max just sighed again and decided to try and call the system.
"Lena!"
'Lena?'
"System?"
Seeing that nothing changed, he knew that the system functions are off the table right now, so he should just keep relying on himself to see where all of this will take him.
Shaking his head, Max just looked around him and noticed that somehow, he changed places again, but his memory is still intact. The only thing different about him is his purple eyes, which began to have a permanent shade of crimson in them.