Aster was acting strangely after last night's talk with Lunar; it was like this wasn't the Aster he knew, like it was a cheap copy. Aster seemed unhinged and didn't walk properly; it didn't even feel like he was in his own skin. Ignoring that, Lunar and Scarlett went on their horse to keep going up the mountain. Lunar was the only one who knew that they weren't going up to look for the king; they were going to corner it on the peak, or at least that is the plan.
"Hey, Dada, I'm cold." Said Scarlett while shivering. Lunar looked at his daughter and replied:
"Darling, I can give you my hell flame if you want." Crouching Lunar summoned the flame from hell and made it 1/100 of its heat and put it in his daughter's hand to let it warm her.
After going to the place where Lunar had killed the abomination of fire from hell, they were seemingly scared after looking at the aftermath of the fight between the two abominations. They chose to set camp, and then in the next morning they would reach the peak before they set camp. A bit far away they saw a tower made of pure lightning; the decorations were almost as beautiful and fascinating as the buildings and castles in Lunar's world were. They planned to go to the temple, Lunar went to talk to Aster, but Aster seemed to be staring at the tower and smiled at the sight of Lunar and beamed:
"Hello, my friend, how may I help you today?"
Lunar replied, returning the smile;
"Well, we are going to the temple, aren't we?"
Aster, the smile disappearing from his handsome face, his dutifully blue eyes getting a little darker:
"We are Lunar, but I'll go scout alone first."
Before Lunar could oppose him, Aster took off
With his horse and left Lunar standing alone
as the members of the cohort were setting up camp.
When Aster came back, he didn't seem to be Aster, as weird as that may sound. Ignoring the weird feeling to run and not look back, he approached Aster and told the man:
"Well, what's in there?"
Aster replied like he was trying to hide something:
"We should just go to the peak; nothing but statues anyway."
So the cohort set camp and got ready for their march the next night, but in the middle of the night, when the moon was crimson and the air was cold, Lunar heard a bloodcurdling scream. He recognized it as one of the cohort female members that was in charge of food.
He got up in a haze, and standing up, he smelled the scent of blood and could feel an emotion of pure bloodlust. He left the tent in a hurry to find the members of the cohort pointing their swords at Aster. Lunar wanted to move or speak, but he couldn't muster but a murmur.
"Run, just please run."
As the members were getting killed by the being inside Aster's body, Lunar connected the dots: that's the king. After that, he was put in a daze but ran to the tent, and as the members were fighting, he made a cold, selfish decision: to leave the cohort behind and take Scarlett to the tower made of lightning, now looking to be made of a void, they ran in and saw the dead body of Aster lying on the floor, lifeless.
Ignoring the body he bolted to the stairs, hearing footsteps behind him, stumbling over his steps, he climbed to the top floor, and there was a black marble door that was as heavy as Lunar. He pushed the door with the last of all of his strength and might, behind the door he saw a sword made of a black onyx surface, and it was stuck in a rock. Lunar's intuitive nature made him connect the dots and run, knowing that whatever was in the tower, the king didn't want them to see it. As footsteps got louder and louder, Lunar was able to take the sword out, and at that same moment, the tower started to shake and crumble. As soon as the king saw Lunar and the sword, he spat:
"Don't you dare, you filthy human; I'll kill you. Put the sword down."
Lunar pointed the sword at the King, as Scarlett was shaking behind him, he thought of his daughter, his mother, and the cold reality that his mother was probably dead. He pushed through and went for one strike, putting the void and hell flame in it, smashing them together to make the strike as fearsome and strong as it can be, and put all his soul energy into his arm and struck down as he heard a soothing whisper:
[You have cleared the first trial.]