Since he couldn’t cast Divination spells at the moment and could no longer see what was on the other side of the dome, Caen kept enough distance between himself and its ever-retreating edge. Between his helmet and the fragment covering his head, his vision was severely restricted.

He negotiated the tricky terrain and struck down whatever monsters darted out at him. The looming statue above spurred him on.

The dome’s shrinking speed kept increasing, and the labyrinth behind formed at an even faster pace, effectively reducing the space within which the participants could run. There were far more terrain traps and obstacles, and just as many monsters. The sky above was overrun with large, winged creatures, which was very concerning.

Caen endured the pain from his injuries as he ran. He suspected that Stormsong’s primary enchantments would activate the moment he dropped resilience, so he did not drop it.

This close to the center of the arena, the crowd around Caen grew more closely packed and disorderly. He was not attacked by any of them, though, as most—like him—were too busy struggling with the terrain and its monsters.

About a hundred yards away from the golden statue, the dome instantly vanished, revealing a large golden dais encircling the statue. A pulse of something rushed outwards and drained the entire world of color. Only the golden statue and the dais retained their hue.

The ground around Caen broke beneath his feet as the labyrinth walls stabbed upwards, growing rapidly around him. He empowered himself even more, scaled a rising wall, and hurtled towards the statue with as much speed as he could muster.

With supreme effort, he zigzagged through obstacles while cutting down hostile creatures until finally, he reached the dais where hundreds of other participants were flooding onto. Color returned to him and everyone else here.

Fifty-foot-tall, crystalline walls rushed in to fill the space around the dais, encircling it with complex passageways.

“This is a safe area,” a disembodied voice said. “Any hostile action taken within this zone will result in an immediate elimination.”

Caen’s shoulders heaved as he breathed heavily, sweating beneath his armor. Stormsong slid into its scabbard and continued humming loudly beside him. He paired resilience with Blood-healing and began hurriedly attending to his wounds. There was enough space on the dais, so it wasn’t nearly as crowded as Caen had thought it would be. Still, every participant in his vicinity stood a respectable distance away from him while giving him suspicious looks as others muttered something he couldn’t pick up.

“Congratulations, dauntless Aspirants!” the announcer cried. “All two hundred and seventy-nine of you have earned twenty points for making it this far in the trial. And your redemption tariffs will be slashed in half.”

So many participants nearby let out cries of joy and surprised delight, some even fell to their knees.

Caen, too, was relieved. Whenever a participant was eliminated in the fourth trial, a hundred points were deducted from their overall points. This was a standard penalty. When redeeming points, however, such participants were further subjected to a fifty percent tariff.

Now, with this tarrif reduction, if Caen were eliminated from here on, he’d be making it out of the trial with over two hundred points, which was more than what most successful participants earned. But it was still much less than what he needed. Those who completed the trials were not taxed at all, and Caen had every intention of making it all the way to the end.

A man in heavily damaged armor standing near the bend of the dais pointed at Caen while talking to Pahanai, the Star Killer. The woman was nodding her head as if to music and smiling manically at Caen. The runes on the left side of her face were glowing softly. On the other side of her stood Yeishi with a determined look on his face as he also watched Caen.

Caen paired resilience with Dream-guarding, and the greater portion of his mind focused on his soul. He felt confident about what parts of it to change. But he had to verify. He hoped that this would better help him withstand the negative effects of the sword.

“Now, the crucible of the second half is upon you,” the announcer continued. “Make your way through the labyrinth and towards any of the twenty exit points that will grant you victory. Your peers who succumbed to the initial portion of this trial are the Returned, and they will stand in your way to oppose you.”

Love this novel? Read it on NovelBin to ensure the author gets credit.

The walls of the labyrinth began extending onto the dais, separating the participants from each other. Many tried to move towards their allies or away from known enemies. Caen stood in place. Before a large wall of jagged crystal blocked Pahanai from view, she mouthed, “I’ll find you,” to Caen.

“Monsters will hunt you in the labyrinth. And these crystalline walls will change and reorder themselves every thirty seconds, worsening your plight. Do not let the dome consume your light. Fear the sky.Exit the labyrinth. You have received the Mother’s mercy. Now begin!”

The dome reappeared, encompassing the dais. He could feel a subtle weight on his mind and body as all the color around him began to drain away.

Caen immediately darted off the dais and out of the dome, as he made for one of three passageways yawning before him. He felt approaching presences from his sides. One was closer. A huge man with an obsidian tower shield slammed into Caen, who quickly concentrated resilience on that side of his body.

He was shoved several feet forward and quickly turned to watch his assailants, even as he unsheathed Stormsong. Four participants fanned out, the shield wielder in front of them. Behind the group, the dome was swelling slowly.

Aspirants ran past them on either side, as the monochrome passageway was wide enough.

Dilino, who was ranked in eighth place on the scoreboards, stood among the assailants. Caen connected to him.

Blond hair peeked out of the man’s golden helmet, and he looked to be only a few years older than Caen. He was decked in golden armor that matched the designs on his golden spear, which he held to the side: Lance of the Morning.

Dilino and his three counterparts all bore the emblem of the Spirit Dominions faction on their breastplates. One of said counterparts was entirely covered in crystalline armor. Her soul structure revealed that she was, in fact, a Crystal practician. The other member of their group was a Fire practician in glistening scale armor.

In his current condition, Caen was not confident enough in his ability to handle Dilino and the others without Stormsong’s primary enchantments. Also, he was out of spores.

Caen reached for his own soul structure with ethereal hands and began conforming it to the complex web of clusters he’d recently located in Stormsong’s soul. He diverted the changes away from his Body-enhancement affinity.

“You stand accused of theft,” Dilino said. His voice was quiet and broody, with just a bit of affectation to make it hoarse. “You took nine treasures from dutiful participants of our faction. For this act of insolence, I claim your life.”

Power surged through Caen. At the same time, Stormsong glowed brightly, lightning crackling all over its form as a shock wave rippled out of it in a deafening boom. Caen felt empowered by the shock wave. The power within him wanted him to move, to act, and to do it now.

Stormsong laughed demonically. “Where have you been hiding this much spine?”

“What the fuck?” shouted the Fire practician as she took a step back.

“They never last long!” Dilino bellowed, a Body-enhancement affinity cluster growing prominent in his soul. “On me!”

Caen was already alternating his flickering at the Fire and Crystal practicians as Dilino charged at him with preternatural speed.

Fast. But Stormsong was faster.

A Gleam affinity flared in the man’s soul, and the portion of his soul structure overlaying his head tilted to the side.

“It’s an illu—” Caen began, mid thrust.

Stormsong punched through Dilino’s illusory head an instant before the man’s spear tore through Caen’s mask, penetrating a quarter inch into Chasma.

Caen pivoted with the attack, letting the spear tear a furrow through the side. Dilino’s illusory head vanished in a puff of light, replaced by his real head beside it.

He retreated with preternatural speed, and Caen sharply adjusted his position with such a frighteningly clear awareness of where Stormsong was trying to move and how to best align with it.

The Fire practician hurled a large fireball at Caen.

Rather than dodge, he slapped it aside with his Chasma-covered offhand. The explosion drove him sideways, but Caen recovered quickly, crystal shards peppering the space he’d already vacated.

“Hahahahahahahaha!” the awakened sword’s hysterical laughter boomed in Caen’s mind.

He and Stormsong reached Dilino in an instant. He swung with wild decisiveness at the man just as the shield-wielder arrived to block the blow. The large man was blown back by the attack’s shock wave, and Caen was empowered by it. With the surge of energy guiding him, he darted to the left faster than he or his assailants could process and swung at Dilino.

The sword crumpled the man’s helmet, smacking him to the side just as a beam of light escaped the spear’s tip and punched into Caen’s mask.

Caen was shoved several feet back, letting out a guttural growl. He’d have fallen onto his back if not for his Body-enhancement passive augmentations and the unreasonable reflexes from Stormsong’s ability. Chasma had absorbed a great deal of the light beam, but there were holes on the fragment for sight and breathing. His skin and eyes were badly burned.

He was blind.