Twenty-eight Apostles of the Moon God and twenty-eight companions made a total of fifty-six people.

However, in reality, there weren't fifty-six individuals. Instead, fifty-four people plus one cat had fallen into slumber, and these fifty-four were scattered all over the world. Even if their friends and family realized they were in an unusually deep sleep and took them to hospitals, it wouldn't attract widespread attention. Nor would anyone make the connection. Spread out over the entire world, the twenty-eight pairs were like a handful of sugar sprinkled into the ocean or a foul odor released into the sky, quickly submerged and consumed.

Moreover, these twenty-eight pairs were temporarily caught up in The Dark Side of the Moon. They had no way to communicate with the outside. This trial came too suddenly and involved too few people. In theory, the outside world couldn't possibly know about it, nor could it interfere with the trial process.

Except for the Prophets of the Federation.

Although Prophetic System Spells were rare, on a national scale, almost every major country had similar Ability Users; the only difference was the strength of their abilities.

In the past, nobody knew who the strongest Prophet was. But now, there was no doubt—at least, the Federal Watchers believed so.

On December 29th, the fifth day since the trial began, ten Sleepers lay in the Life Monitoring Room on the forty-fifth floor of the Federal New York Watchers Tower. They were an equal mix of males and females with different skin tones.

"Life signs are normal."

"Compared to before the trial, their Microcosm growth ranged from 5% to 10%."

"Brain waves were stable, without fluctuation. There were no signs of conscious activity."

Inside the monitoring room, senior Watchers were reviewing the reports on these ten individuals. Victor whistled. "Wow, just by sleeping, you can get a 5% boost in your Microcosm! If I'd known that, I would've been their partner. That beauty over there… I think I could…"

Everyone felt the same. As Watchers, they were well aware of how difficult it was to Cultivate the Microcosm. This was especially true after advancing to E-rank. Even if they could practice the most advanced Meditation Methods, their Microcosm expansion slowed significantly, often not even achieving a 2% increase in a week.

These ten people had slept for five days, and their Microcosms had increased by 5% to 10%. This rate completely overshadowed several months of their own Cultivation.

"You? A support healer? Going in there would be sending you to your death," Angel Zack, his face covered in scars, glanced at Victor and said. "Taking part in the trial is to eliminate the great crisis threatening all of humanity, not for Cultivation! Sending in those with the best combat abilities as partners is the most prudent choice!"

Victor snorted. "Then why didn't you and Pallbearer Roy go? Ah, right. The Dark Side of the Moon is too dangerous. If something happened to you two, it would be troublesome. Besides, Roy was once thrashed by people from the Mysterious Country, and Captain, you were ground into the Tokyo pavement. Going in wouldn't guarantee success. It's better to preserve our strength…"

CRACK!

Victor moved his mouth but couldn't speak—his jaw was dislocated. However, he didn't seem to mind and cast a Spell to realign it.

The others couldn't help but look at Victor with a degree of admiration. Among the Watchers, only Victor was this fearless, still daring to mention the incident a month ago when the Captain was ground into the pavement...

Noticing the Captain's face was as black as coal, which made his serial-killer-like countenance even fiercer, the Watchers hurriedly changed the subject:

"Everyone's fine. It seems they're progressing smoothly," one Watcher commented.

"They've even managed to Cultivate their Microcosms in the process," another added.

A third remarked hopefully, ""Looks like this one's in the bag. We've finally gotten a step ahead for once!""

""And we'll have some leverage for negotiations with the Fairy Palace World Tree," a fourth chimed in."

At that moment, Prophet Fina, who stood before the glass window 'observing' the occupants of the Life Monitoring Room, suddenly swayed. Two Watchers beside her quickly helped her sit down.

"They've failed."

Fina's words stunned all the Watchers. Victor, who had just fixed his jaw, immediately protested, "How is that possible? There are ten of them! The others are all in pairs. How could they possibly withstand an attack from a group of ten?"

Angel Zack also found it unbelievable. "Does 'failure' mean they just haven't fully succeeded yet? That they haven't established a decisive advantage?"

Fina shook her head. She touched the golden Crown of the Blind and said, "I cannot see the finer details of the trial. I only know their task involves collecting something… and they haven't managed to acquire a single piece. However, one competitor has seized the vast majority."

The Watchers exchanged uneasy glances. This sounded like an absolute disadvantage!

Someone couldn't help asking, "Didn't they group up? Or was there infighting?"

Fina shook her head. "No, they grouped up as soon as they entered. They conducted their operation with Watcher Mirand, 'Moon Slayer,' as their captain."

Now everyone was left without anything to say.

The Federation had known about the impending Divine Trial more than twenty days in advance. They knew it would select twenty-eight Moonlight system Awakeners and their partners. Moreover, the trial posed a danger great enough to overturn the world. Thankfully, Prophet Fina had foreseen all of this. This allowed the Federation to gather all Moonlight system Awakeners within its territory, attempting to secure an absolute advantage.

Because they possessed such a significant advantage, the Federation hadn't even considered publicizing this information. Beyond the chance to completely eradicate the source of the disaster during the trial, there was also the opportunity to compete for the trial's ultimate prize—Divine Enthronement!

Although this deity wouldn't be a single, omniscient, and omnipotent god, it was likely similar to the Three Gods—a functional deity, equivalent to a Transcendent powerful enough to surpass the world. Now that such an opportunity to seize this power had presented itself, the Federal Watchers naturally wouldn't let it slip by!

Five days had passed, and the trial was nearing its end. That was why Prophet Fina had come specifically today, using the ten Trial Participants as conduits to glimpse the situation within the trial.

With their advantages in foresight and organization, they had believed this trial would become the most significant stepping stone for the Federal Watchers. They had never imagined something could go wrong!

Angel Zack frowned slightly. "Fina, that competitor who holds such an overwhelming advantage… can you describe her?"

"Certainly. Five of our Trial Participants had a very strong impression of this competitor," Fina said. "A Caucasian beauty with sky-blue hair."

Sky-blue hair?

That must be a disguise.

Angel Zack sighed and scratched his bald head. This is going to be troublesome.

"By the way," Fina suddenly added, "when I saw that blue-haired beauty, I also saw another scene."

"What scene?" Angel Zack's spirits lifted.

"A scene of you at Sensoji Temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district."

Everyone was slightly taken aback, then—

PFFT.

Victor, the only one who dared to laugh out loud, had his jaw dislocated again. The others struggled to suppress their laughter, trying their best not to look at the Captain, lest he see their faces, which were almost cramping from the effort.

Angel Zack's lips twitched. The only time he'd ever been to Sensoji Temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district, he was chased and severely beaten by a mysterious, powerful figure shrouded in black smoke. He'd had no chance to fight back; any attempt at retaliation only resulted in an even worse beating.

He had been beaten for several hours that night, pursued from the wilderness all the way into Tokyo. The mysterious figure only disappeared after daybreak. Zack was left in a human-shaped crater in the grounds of Sensoji Temple, marking another pillar of shame in his life.

Thrashed by the Handsome Monkey King.

Thrashed by some passing mysterious powerhouse.

Zack thought for a moment. "Are you saying that blue-haired beauty is related to that Mysterious Man A?"

Fina nodded. "There must be a deep connection between them. That's why my Blindsight allowed me to see Mysterious Man A when I focused on the blue-haired beauty."

"Could they be from the same organization?" Victor, his jaw now fixed, speculated.

Zack frowned slightly. That's a real possibility. According to Fina, the blue-haired beauty holds an absolute advantage. This means she can either subdue all other competitors or, at the very least, handle them with ease.

And her connection to Mysterious Man A, who had thrashed him for no reason, made Zack consider a troubling possibility: Could they belong to another Supernatural Organization?

It was very likely. In a world that already had the Fairy Palace and the World Tree, the emergence of other Supernatural Organizations wasn't out of the question.

However, considering he'd been thrashed for no apparent reason, Angel Zack subconsciously suspected that the Supernatural Organization to which the blue-haired beauty and Mysterious Man A belonged might not be entirely above board.

"Fina, can you see any more details?"

Fina shook her head. "This is my limit… unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless you fight Mysterious Man A again, Captain…"

Angel Zack was exasperated. "That has nothing to do with your Prophetic abilities!"

"I don't know the connection either, but my Blindsight truly did become stronger after you were thrashed. I could see further and more clearly…" Fina said softly. "Even now, I occasionally see strange fragments… a blond Watcher with blurred features…"

Victor immediately said, "It's me, I'm the blond Watcher you see! Fina, you're seeing me because you miss me!"

Someone immediately retorted, "But Victor, you're brunette!"

"I'll dye my hair today! Fina saw the future me!"

Fina smiled and lightly touched her blindfold. "I don't know how to describe it. It's like… after seeing a vibrant rainbow, the simple shades of black, white, and gray become incredibly vivid. It's as if I personally witnessed the twisting and turning of Destiny. That experience stimulated my eyes and enhanced them, making these simple, direct threads of Destiny appear exceptionally clear to me…"

"But back then, aside from your fight with Mysterious Man A, Captain, nothing else particularly unusual happened. Perhaps… perhaps your battle was the sole singularity within the cracks of Destiny…"

Angel Zack decided to ignore Fina. He turned to the other Watchers. "It now seems our Watchers in the trial won't be able to achieve their objective. What do you think we should do?"

Someone suggested, "We should, of course, cooperate with other nations to gather information on the other Trial Participants."

Victor smirked, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips. "The victor becomes a deity. If we can't obtain that power, should we just hand it over to someone else? Of course, any nation that secures a new deity won't easily relinquish such an asset. But we at least need to identify who this person is. Then, we can begin negotiations with other countries…"

"If we can't hoard the ace, then we turn it into a shared resource for everyone!"

The others couldn't help but nod in agreement. Then Victor added, "This way, Captain, you'll at least avoid being thrashed by someone of unknown origin next time… or at the very least, we'll know their origin."

SNAP.