novelraw Chapter 83: End of the Trial
Chapter 83: End of the Trial
In Westheid’s arms, Reiya was slowly and irreversibly turning into fragments.
Dragon Thunder was the physical manifestation of a True Soul’s essence. Pushing it to its absolute limit naturally resulted in total collapse.
TAP, TAP, TAP—
The sound of footsteps grew closer. The Wolf-eared Knight Maiden, Mi, with her long, dark purple hair, approached from behind. She gazed at the scene, a thoughtful look in her golden eyes.
"Congratulations. This is truly a remarkable Great Enterprise."
Mivana offered her congratulations calmly. Although she personally had no taste for slaughter and battle, she had to admit this fight was worthy of being sung, its value high even in the special environment of the Secret Realm Trial.
"The credit goes to Reiya. I just did a little work."
With total victory secured, Westheid turned surprisingly modest, replying courteously:
"And your help, of course. We couldn’t have achieved this without you."
Mivana stared quietly at Westheid’s profile. After a long moment of thought, she asked:
"You seem... completely rational. How are you unaffected by the curse?"
"What makes you think I’m not affected?"
Westheid turned his head, his voice trembling as he spoke through gritted teeth:
"My current state is anything but calm. Manic, exhilarated, impulsive... It feels like my brain is high! I’m not normally this crazy!"
Mivana’s brow furrowed. "Being aware that you’re going mad is a form of clarity in itself. I find it difficult enough just to suppress it."
"Suppress?"
Westheid tilted his head.
"You don’t need to suppress it. Instinct shouldn’t be repressed; it should be tamed."
"Tame instinct?"
Mivana’s gaze was fixed on Westheid, her focus absolute as she waited for him to elaborate.
"You defeat this extreme desire for slaughter with other emotions!"
Westheid said, his shoulders trembling.
When he first drank Mivana’s Cursed Source Blood, Westheid had indeed been nearly consumed by the astonishing bloodlust, almost turning into a madman bent on nothing but slaughter.
But that had undoubtedly crossed a line for Westheid.
’It was true he was obsessed with seeking power, but that power had to be his to command, not the other way around!’
’Better to have no power at all than to become its slave!’
’Fucking hell, don’t you underestimate me!’
Any of Westheid’s qualities could be called into question, but his determination to grow stronger was unbreakably resilient.
’Thing-in-itself! Absolute Identity! Free Will! Absolute Spirit... Come forth!’
’Crush the curse of the Source Blood! Humiliate it! Overpower it!’
Luckily, Westheid was a philosophy student. A bit of reflection really did allow him to regain his sanity, even in a state of extreme fury.
Mivana asked hurriedly, "Other emotions? What kind of emotions?"
"Let’s discuss this in detail later... For now, it’s more important to wait for the spoils of our victory."
Seeing Mivana’s eagerness, Westheid decided to keep her in suspense.
Without looking back, he continued to tend to Reiya’s fading form.
The Wolf-eared Knight Maiden glanced at the Silver-haired Dragon Lady vanishing in Westheid’s arms. Realizing this wasn’t the right time to talk, she nodded.
"Yes. I will pay a visit to Duke Qinghui after the Trial is over."
Mivana stepped aside, giving Westheid space and privacy.
The Wolf-eared Maiden’s gaze shifted between Westheid and Reiya. She nodded slightly, a thoughtful look in her gold eyes.
’An emotion strong enough to defeat instinct, huh...’
Although a few Giant Dragons from the Scorch Clan remained, with Scorching Wings dead, the outcome of the Secret Realm Trial was no longer in question. The mere sight of their Clan leader’s corpse had scared them witless; they didn’t have the guts to come down and try to finish the survivors off.
Besides, even if they did come down, Mivana could have killed them all anyway.
As for the other Legendary True Dragons?
The Kepal Plain was Scorching Wings’ territory. No other Legendary Dragon would come here unless absolutely necessary. Even if news of Scorching Wings’ death made it back, Dragon’s Will Peak was unlikely to care about the fall of a kinsman on the border. For the Dragon Race, contacting [Star Abyss Wings] was more important than anything.
In other words, what followed was purely a bonus round.
As the only remaining Trial Takers, Westheid and Mivana didn’t have to do a thing. They just had to wait for the Resistance Army to finish evacuating most of the humans from the Kepal Plain and escape with them across the border.
This stretch of time, which was extremely boring for Westheid, was naturally fast-forwarded by the [Radiant Holy Tree] in the projections shown to the outside world. And when the Celestial God determined there were no more variables left in the Trial, this "history" that He had edited began to collapse.
From the horizon, a wall of pure white light began to converge inward. All matter that touched the wall was instantly annihilated. This small world, created by the [Radiant Holy Tree], could no longer sustain itself once the Divine Power receded.
"To create and destroy with a single thought... what incredible power."
Westheid sighed, reaching out to touch the wall of light.
Just as when he was transported to the Secret Realm, he felt only a slight sensation of floating and dizziness. Then, he was back in the plaza before the Holy Hall of the Holy Tree Palace.
The difference was, his status had been restored.
His clothes, his consumables, and the status of his body—everything was restored to how it had been when he first entered the Trial.
Of course, this also meant he lost the incredible boons from the blood sacrifice.
This made Westheid, who had grown accustomed to that tyrannical power, quite uncomfortable. A vast sense of emptiness and powerlessness washed over him, making Duke Qinghui click his tongue in irritation.
"Feeble... I’m just too feeble!"
However, Westheid quickly recovered from this psychological whiplash. The Trial was just for a bit of fun, after all; such an opportunistic shortcut couldn’t be replicated in the real world.
’No matter how powerful you are in the Secret Realm Trial, it’s not real!’
’I have to keep my feet on the ground.’
"West!"
As Westheid lifted his head to survey his surroundings, the first thing he saw was Reiya’s exquisitely beautiful face. The Silver-haired Dragon Lady threw herself at him and planted a light kiss on his cheek.
The kiss was brief. She pulled away and smiled at Westheid.
"Just as you promised, we won."
"You deserve credit, too. In fact, we only managed it because of how hard you fought."
Westheid wasn’t being modest. It was true he was a Xiao Dai, but Reiya had been the main damage dealer this round. Slaying Scorching Wings in the end was truly an incredible feat.
Reiya nodded, tightly gripping Duke Qinghui’s hand as she stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
Westheid breathed a sigh of relief when he was sure she wasn’t going to make any further advances.
Whether Reiya was satisfied with just that, or simply felt it was inappropriate to be so familiar in public, at least he wouldn’t have to bear the full weight of her affection again.
’A whole lifetime... The thought was so heavy it was making Westheid break out in a sweat.’
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... Brother!"
Yolanda descended from a pillar of light, gasping for breath. Her eyes were wide, and she was clearly still reeling from the terror of being crushed by [Dragon Break].
After catching her breath and realizing the Celestial God had resurrected her, Yolanda understood that the Trial was over. She turned to Westheid in a hurry and asked:
"How did the Trial go?"
Westheid replied, "Little sister, you got carried to victory."
An expression of unconcealable ecstasy spread across Yolanda’s fairy-like face.
"So... your plan succeeded?!"
"Well, of course it did!"
Pillars of light descended continuously upon the plaza as all the eliminated Trial Takers were resurrected by the [Radiant Holy Tree]. Since only two Trial Takers had survived to the end, the first thing most of them did upon reviving was ask those nearby what had happened.
The Trial Takers may not have known, but the spectators had watched a feature-length film edited by the Celestial God that had lasted for days and nights. They relayed the final results to the revived participants.
This left everyone dumbfounded.
"S-Slaying Scorching Wings?!"
"No way... You’re not joking, are you?"
"That was a Legendary Demon Dragon! It slaughtered all of us in an instant!"
"That Dragon-blooded Hybrid? He really did something like that...? It’s absurd."
"..."
No matter how unbelievable it was, the results of the Secret Realm Trial couldn’t be faked. And with everyone saying the same thing, it had to be the truth.
No matter how shocked they were, or how much they refused to believe it, they had to accept the facts.
"Hahaha!! Slaying a Legendary Demon Dragon! That Giant Dragon that was as strong as a Monster?!"
Unlike most of the Imperial Trial Takers, the Yonglan Knights were able to judge the event more straightforwardly.
Rafati was bent over with laughter, covering his face as he spoke:
"That was fucking awesome! Where’s the recording? Is there a recording? I can’t wait to savor it. I need to make a few hundred copies of this Trial’s recording right away and send them back home for my brothers and sisters to enjoy. This is the kind of highlight you might not even see in the Riding God’s own Trial!"
’Good, good, good. Enjoy it all you want!’
Westheid wasn’t offended by Rafati’s words; on the contrary, he was pleased.
If the Trial recordings were widely distributed, any admiration from the viewers would provide [Merit] for his and the others’ advancement.
Ultimately, [Merit] was a form of metaphysical acknowledgment. The more numerous and more important the beings who recognized your strength, the higher the value of the [Merit].
And the acknowledgment of the Yonglan Knights was, naturally, of a very high quality.
But compared to that of mortals, the truly highest-grade [Merit] undoubtedly came from the favor of a Celestial God.
CHIME, CHIME, CHIME—
A crisp chiming, like wind chimes, swept through the air as the dazzling golden Holy Tree Illusion grew even more brilliant.
The once-raucous plaza fell instantly silent. With the exception of the Yonglan Knights and other foreign friends, the Imperial Trial Takers all knelt on one knee before the Holy Tree Illusion.
Sprouting golden branches grew at a visible rate, extending over the plaza and constantly shedding beautiful, glittering golden sand.
Like motes condensed from the purest gold and the most scorching sunlight, they all scattered like snowflakes.
The [Radiant Holy Tree] was about to bestow His rewards.
Seeing this, Westheid also knelt on one knee, his expression solemn and dignified.
He had gone to great lengths to participate in the Secret Realm Trial. His initial goal had been simply to obtain enough [Merit] to support his Tier advancement.