"Now, once the trials begin, what you do with one another doesn't concern us. Whether you kill or cooperate—we don't care. The teams were enforced merely to heighten your odds of survival."
A vicious wave of killing intent erupted from most groups as their fragile team cohesion instantly dissolved. The reaper shook his head, unable to fathom their stupidity.
If they, as reapers, had deemed the trials so dangerous they required at least ten Defiers per team, there was a reason.
But this was expected. The strong were often blinded by arrogance.
"Good luck."
The reaper waved its hand, summoning portals before each group.
Without hesitation, they all marched through, and the race for the throne commenced.
***
Ten figures stood on a gigantic flying eagle soaring through a harsh desert, consumed by relentless sandstorms.
Their auras were terrifying, yet impeccably refined, as they wore ancient white tunics that covered their entire forms, revealing only their eyes.
At the helm, a crouching figure with glowing silver eyes stood: Caine.
"How close is it, boss?" asked one of the figures standing behind him.
Caine sighed, rising to his feet as he gazed back at the men and women he'd fought beside for the past eleven years.
"It's right below us. The desert itself was the gate."
The first trial, known as the Trial of Thriam, was a peculiar one.
Upon entering the portal, Caine and his group were thrown into a world where every living creature relentlessly hunted them.
Their objective was simple: find the portal to the second trial.
And, of course, survive the constant onslaught from the world's inhabitants.
For years, they traversed cities, continents, and ruins, seeking clues to lead them to the gate.
Initially, they made significant progress, but it gradually slowed until, in the last year, they uncovered only one clue.
It was only now, after eleven years, that Caine finally understood.
"When we first arrived, I was both shocked and intrigued. A world made entirely of sand is strange, isn't it?"
His head turned from the shocked, frozen team member to the vast stretches of sand below.
"The flow of energy was broken, twisted—opposing the natural world nodes. And the creatures...they seemed connected. As if fragments of one entity had been shattered then scattered over the land and incarnated within them."
"That's because they were. This isn't a world; it's a beast—so vast and complex it mirrors a real world."
At this, none of his team could hold back any longer. One of them spoke out.
"What? So... what do you mean by 'the gate is below us'? Are we supposed to kill that...entity?"
Caine looked back, his expression confused.
"Kill it? It's already dead. Didn't I say the gate was beneath us?"
"But you said—"
"The entity became the gate."
Without hesitation, Caine stepped off the flying eagle, a faint smile crossing his lips as his robes fluttered violently in the wind, his speed accelerating rapidly.
Just as his body seemed ready to splatter against the sands below, a radiant silver glow burst from his form, full of authority and life. Above his head, nine overlapping spell circles appeared.
[Open.]
The desert parted.
***
Caine landed softly on a vast, metallic surface.
The sandy skies warped, transforming into an infinite stretch of pitch-black darkness.
BANG!
His nine teammates landed harshly behind him moments later.
"You could've given us a heads up instead of playing mysterious, old man," said one of the women, dusting off her robes.
"I wasn't sure yet."
"What do you mean, you weren't sure? You jumped without knowing?! What kind of psycho—"
Already accustomed to this, Caine tuned out Sabrina's nagging as his subordinates shook their heads, slight smiles on their faces.
Over the years, they had come to understand their captain well.
Eccentric? Definitely. Apathetic most of the time, needlessly arrogant, cunning beyond belief, incredibly analytical, and strangely...caring. Though it often came in the form of tough love, love was still love.
Many of them had expected him to kill them when the trials began, but Caine had done the opposite. Instead, he fostered their bond.
After ten years, some could even call them a family.
"You and your antics."
Caine began walking, examining his surroundings. As soon as he did, Sabrina's nagging stopped, and the others focused.
Aside from the metallic floor and black sky, there was nothing—just an endless stretch of infinity.
As Caine's footsteps echoed, he suddenly stopped, frowning.
'After a searching quest, a maze. As expected.'
He crouched, running his hand over the metal floor, his gaze sharpening as a wave of silver mist engulfed the ground, revealing an intricate web of runes etched deeply into it.
His fingers traced the runes as a flood of thoughts raced through his mind.
'A maze, yes—but a deadly one.'
These runes weren't just symbols. Together, they formed an endlessly complex tapestry.
At once, they were a spell, a set of rules, conditions, and a formation. This level of craftsmanship was rare. Though it fell short of his expertise, to be this close to his level was nothing to scoff at.