"This trial has officially ended—" The words of Beth Finley, the Black Iron Guardian, marked the end of the trial in the Temple. With her pronouncement, the towering beam of light at the center of the temple retracted, and her glorious figure vanished in sync with the column of light.
The trial participants began to leave one by one.
More than 1300 people had taken part in this trial; of those, only around 600 had survived. Over 700 people had died; more than half the participants. Their survival was chiefly due to the presence of powerhouses like Yano — if they had failed in this trial, they would have been wiped out as a group.
Although the rewards of the trials were substantial, the danger was immense. The idea of taking part in such trials monthly filled everyone with unease. Nobody knew if they would be chosen again, and everyone felt a tingling of fear — as long as they were in this world, there was a chance, every month, that they would be selected for a trial.
