[Awakened! Prepare for your Second Trial…]
[Four brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]
Sylvie dreamed of a terrain completely covered in ice.
Wherever she looked, she could only find ice. A volcano that stretched for kilometers was completely covered by a thick layer of ice. The forests surrounding the ancient kingdom did not escape the same fate.
Enormous trees, completely frozen—ice figures that sketched animals, utterly stopped in time.
Then she focused on the city.
It did not exist.
A layer of ice so high covered it that no detail could be discerned.
Suddenly, the sun retreated, soon disappearing behind the horizon. The sky darkened and then lit up again as a moon swiftly crossed it. An instant later, it was day again, and then night once more.
The sky constantly shifted between light and darkness—time was flowing backward at great speed. Then Sylvie noticed how the speed of the day-night cycle increased even further until it almost stopped, but then continued at a normal pace.
At that moment, the layers of ice began to thin, and a great explosion shook the entire terrain. At its center, a figure made entirely of ice could be seen, and suddenly, all the ice from the surroundings began to shrink and converge toward that figure.
From one second to the next, everything that had been covered no longer was.
The volcano still rose for kilometers, its rock completely black. The forests regained their intense green color, and a beautiful river with crystalline water cut through its center. The life of the creatures returned, and with them, that of the humans as well.
Finally, Sylvie managed to see the city. It stretched for kilometers along the volcano and the forest, acting as a separator between both zones.
It was completely circular. At the outermost edges, toward the forest and the volcano, rose a wall. Built entirely from the same type of stone that formed the volcano. It was ridiculously high, and its color seemed to absorb light itself. Inside it stood houses and buildings, almost in ruins.
Kilometers further inward rose another wall of the same size, yet it was built from a different material. Its stone was lighter, less affected by the volcano's climatic conditions. Along this wall stood structures of much better quality and functionality than those in the outer zone.
Finally, one more wall rose—even higher than the previous ones. This one was completely white, built from a material resembling marble. Within it stood an enormous palace, made from the finest materials possible, and in front of it, a castle of equal size.
Finally, at the very edge of the Kingdom of Mordrath, there was a zone that was neither forest nor volcano. It was a completely gray mountainous area. Small hills and deep crevices formed the terrain.
Slowly, her gaze moved toward the second wall. Within it were countless structures, yet the most striking was the enormous red colosseum that imposed fear at the very sight. Her gaze stretched and stretched until she finally saw a cage full of iron bars.
That was the place where Sylvie found herself.
From one moment to the next, her vision returned, and she was sitting inside the cage from the dream. When all her senses returned, a smell of dampness and confinement filled her lungs. Then the cold of the floor made itself felt on the soles of her feet, and finally, the chill of the environment made her shiver slightly.
When she tried to summon her armor, she simply could not. She tried to use her essence, and the result was the same.
'That's strange.'
She tried again, but there was no result. Then she searched her body for anything that might be preventing her from doing so, but found nothing. No collars, no bracelets, no rings. Nothing.
Then she tried to open her runes, and that she could do.
Name: Sylvie
True Name: Heart of Ouroboros
Rank: Awakened
'My connection to the Spell is present, but I still can't summon anything? And it's not like I'm lacking essence to do so… what the hell is happening?'
Sylvie tried to enter her Soul Sea, but a noise of chains dragging across the floor caught her attention.
At that moment, she began to analyze more deeply where she was.
Around her, multiple cages identical to hers could be found. They were made of thick iron bars that were extremely strong. The floors were simple black rock that absorbed and retained the cold. A simple lamp illuminated the room she was in.
Its fire created shadows that danced constantly with the gusts of wind entering through the room's only exit.
Then she decided to focus more on the cages. Some were empty, but others had bodies that appeared to be either dead or sleeping—Sylvie believed the former more likely—and in others, there were people inside.
Squinting slightly to see better, she noticed they weren't just people. They were all women.
'What.'
The strangest thing of all was not only the fact that they were all women—perhaps they separated slaves by gender—but the fact that most had severe wounds all over their bodies. Yet the most striking were those on their faces.
Some had so many wounds and scars that their faces were almost deformed; others simply lacked ears or even an eye.
The scene sent a deep shiver down Sylvie's spine.
'What is happening here?'
She involuntarily began to touch her face and body, searching for similar wounds or scars, but found none. Sylvie didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Even so, before she could continue thinking about it, the noise of the chains approached her cage directly. She looked up.
Before her stood a person who seemed more monster than human—due to his height. In fact, he was the tallest person Sylvie had ever seen in her life.
This person wore completely black armor over his body, with a belt from which hung an axe the size of Sylvie herself. In one of his hands, he held an enormous chain, and in the other, the key to the cage.
However, before opening the cage, he let the chain fall to the ground, and in his hand appeared a device resembling a remote control.
The moment the Memory materialized, an enormous pressure fell upon her body, and she ended up falling to her knees under such force.
'What the hell!' she thought, clenching her teeth and trying to force herself to stay standing.
Seeing this, the enormous person let out a small laugh and picked up the chain from the floor. As he opened the door, he said in a deep, dry voice:
"I see you have quite a bit of energy. I'll make sure to put you in fights more frequently."
Sylvie took a breath to calm herself and let herself be carried by the pressure to the ground.
'I will personally make sure to kill you the first chance I get.'
The giant grabbed the chain and tied her feet and arms with it. Then he took a cloth from somewhere and placed it over her head. Sylvie could now see nothing. With a single movement, he hoisted her onto his shoulder and left the cage.
Sylvie yelped, surprised by the motion.
Moments later, she felt him drop her onto the floor—not very carefully. Her head nearly hit the ground from the aggressive movement.
Sylvie clenched her teeth again.
Then he untied her legs and arms, finally removing the cloth from her head.
The sight that greeted her left her mouth agape.
In front of her lay the arena of the colosseum. It was ridiculously enormous, and currently, she was the only one in it. Surrounding the arena was a massive wall that covered the seating where hundreds and hundreds of people sat watching the spectacle.
Sylvie stood analyzing the people in the seats. Most were mundane, with the occasional Awakened mixed in. The distribution was fairly even between men and women. What did catch her attention was that there were more children present than adults.
Each family or group had twice as many children compared to adults.
'Strange… what parents would bring their children to a damned colosseum to watch people and creatures kill each other?'
Instead of questioning the citizens' unethical actions, she decided to focus on the door in front of her, which was opening.
The door began to open slightly, the chains that opened it making noises as it rose.
When it reached halfway open, Sylvie's expression changed. Her face hardened. Her golden eyes focused, and her eyebrows lowered slightly. Then her posture took on a guarded position, and involuntarily, she tried to summon armor and a weapon.
This time, it worked.
A suit of immaculate white plate armor, crossed by fine golden lines that glowed with a soft light, adhered to her body. Then a completely silver longsword appeared in her hand.
Both were Transcendent-rank Memories. Perks of being adopted by one of the largest clans.
'If they want entertainment, I'll give it to them.'
The door finished opening, and immediately, three disgusting creatures ran into the arena.
One of them seemed similar to a dog, yet its size was around five meters wide and three times as long. Its head had dozens of eyes, and its mouth had two rows of teeth.
Sylvie immediately realized it was a Fallen Monster. The other two shared the same rank.
'This will be easy.'
She had already fought multiple Fallen Monsters during the Siege as a Sleeper… not to mention the countless creatures she had faced as an Awakened.
She gripped her sword tighter and tried to focus on the details of the other two creatures.
But she couldn't.
The dog-like one was much faster than the others and was already trying to bite her head off.
Sylvie, using the movement of mana around her, dodged the first attack by taking a step back. Then, with the same method, she tilted her body just enough to let the strike of the second creature—which had just arrived—pass by. It launched an elongated limb covered in spines that cut through the air where her neck had been an instant before.
She didn't retreat more than necessary. Instead, she stayed within range of all three, observing. The second creature had a thin, tall body with elongated limbs full of spines. Additionally, its head appeared to be crushed.
The third creature hadn't attacked yet, but its position was clear: it was slowly circling her, trying to close off any escape route using its enormous body. This one looked more like a ball of flesh without limbs. Its face was barely perceptible, with two completely red eyes in contrast to its black body.
Even so, these creatures weren't especially intelligent, but they weren't complete idiots either. That was evident in how they tried to coordinate without getting in each other's way too much… at least, for now.
The "dog" lunged again, this time more violently, opening its deformed jaw while several of its eyes focused on different points of Sylvie's body. It wasn't just trying to bite—it was trying to anticipate. Sylvie noticed it in how the attack's intention wasn't linear but adaptive—something she had learned to distinguish during her training.
Even so, her expression didn't change.
Instead of stepping back, she stepped forward.
The decision was unexpected enough to break the rhythm of the attack. She turned her torso slightly, letting the jaw graze her shoulder, and in that same motion, deflected its trajectory with a dry strike from the pommel of her sword against the base of the creature's skull.
The monster's momentum didn't stop, and due to its own weight, the strike sent it directly into the second creature, which was just then launching another attack. The collision was violent. Teeth clashed against hardened flesh, spines embedded themselves in the dog's thick skin, and an unpleasant sound filled the arena.
Sylvie was already moving before they finished reacting.
She slid to the side, positioning herself at an angle where the three creatures were imperfectly aligned. It wasn't a coincidence. The third finally attacked, descending from the side with a heavy body mass, trying to crush her. Sylvie didn't dodge backward but forward, slipping into the space between the first two creatures just as they tried to separate.
The third's attack hit the dog directly, slamming it into the ground with enough force to make the arena vibrate. The second got caught in the middle, taking part of the impact.
Sylvie didn't intervene. She simply observed for another second and thought of a plan.
From there, the fight ceased to be a direct confrontation.
Sylvie began to move with precision, not to attack, but to position herself. Every step, every dodge, every small feint was designed to provoke a chain reaction. She would get close enough to attract one's attention, then shift at the last second, forcing it to correct its attack… toward another of the creatures.
The dog, increasingly irritated, began attacking more erratically, using its size without measuring consequences. The second creature responded with the same violence, its limbs striking everything around, while the third, slower but heavier, ended up being the constant impact point of the other two's errors.
Wear and tear began to show quickly.
Sylvie had barely exchanged direct blows and hadn't even used essence, yet the creatures were already accumulating injuries from each other. Deep cuts, poorly aimed bites, broken bones.
When the dog attempted another frontal attack, Sylvie repeated the same strategy as at the start, but this time with a minimal variation. Instead of completely deflecting the strike, she altered its trajectory just enough for the jaw to close on the second creature's arm.
The subsequent scream was immediate.
The second reacted with fury, driving its spines into the attacker's side, while the third, taking advantage of the chaos, approached her directly.
Sylvie took a step back.
That was when she decided to end it.
She moved quickly, dodging the third's enormous body using a bit of essence in her legs and taking advantage of a clear opening. The second creature, weakened by the bite, failed to react in time.
She brought her sword down in a clean cut at neck height.
The rank difference between the sword and the creature, combined with the wear the latter had already suffered, meant a single cut was enough to open its neck. It fell without resistance.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Spinewretch.]
The other two barely registered the death before attacking again.
The dog—wounded and disoriented—tried to focus on Sylvie again, but its own body no longer responded with the same precision. Sylvie faced it head-on this time, no tricks. She dodged a final bite attempt and, in the same motion, drove her sword into one of the points where previous injuries had weakened its body.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Manymaw Ravager.]
The third remained alone.
It tried to attack, but it was too late. Its speed wasn't enough, and its body was too battered from the previous impacts. Sylvie needed only a short exchange to kill it.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Gravebulge.]
When the creature's lifeless body hit the ground, Sylvie wiped her sword's blade on her forearm and ended up leaving it ready. Her breathing was steady, and her expression as firm as at the start.
Even though she had already killed these creatures, the danger still remained.
The arena was in complete silence at the end of the fight. Then everyone began to applaud and shout for her. However, Sylvie paid no attention to this, as the door through which she had entered was opening.
Now was the time to decide.
Continue playing this slave game and keep fighting in the arena, or try to escape. She didn't know exactly what consequences the second option might have, but it was the one that interested her most.
Now it was three Fallen Monsters, but what assured her that later it wouldn't be more or of higher ranks and classes? Absolutely nothing.
For that reason, she decided to dodge and not show her fighting style, in addition to using almost no essence. Just in case the opportunity to escape presented itself.
However, this option was completely crushed when a set of runes lit up around the entire arena, and her armor and sword were immediately unsummoned. Then the same pressure she had felt in the cage fell upon her, and she ended up on her knees on the ground.
Hearing again the noise of chains moving across the floor, she already knew what awaited her.
She clenched her teeth again and closed her eyes.
Moments later, she was once again carried on the giant's shoulder with a cloth covering her face.
Throwing her inside the cage, Sylvie let out a sound of pain. The giant removed the chains and the cloth, then closed the door, leaving her alone.
Sitting up properly, she sighed and began to recap everything that had happened.
'So I've taken the place of a slave in the colosseum… the proportions of this body are quite similar to my real one, except these arms are a bit shorter, which only changes my reach.'
'Then, it seems that in this kingdom, they use the colosseum as entertainment.'
That was something they hadn't known. The Queen had told them what she could find out about the place where the Nightmare seed was located, and that information wasn't much. They hadn't known there was a colosseum because the structure was completely destroyed in the Dream Realm.
The only things they more or less knew were that this kingdom was somehow related to Beast God and that the Queen had to kill a Cursed Beast with powers over ice.
Finally, they knew that this kingdom was called the Kingdom of Mordrath.
Their theory was that this Mordrath was Blessed by Beast God with powers over ice.
Though the fact that his class was only Beast already seemed strange to Sylvie. She obviously knew of the existence of Divine Aspects thanks to Arthur.
So, would it be strange to think that Beast God's Blessed couldn't have one too? Then why was he simply a Beast?
With that she had already deduced that Mordrath surely wasn't the Cursed Beast and didn't have powers over ice either.
'Ah, if only mother had remembered the creature's name when she killed it.'
Obviously, they had asked their mother, the Queen, about the Cursed Beast's name when they were talking about this, and she said she didn't remember.
At the time, she realized that Seishan didn't believe that she didn't remember, and therefore, neither did she. But they couldn't do anything about this distrust. If their mother didn't tell them, there was some strange reason for it.
Even so, Sylvie needed to gain more information about what was happening and how to overcome the Nightmare, so she decided to speak to the woman in the cage next to hers.
The giant, when he brought her back from the arena, had taken her to a different room, apparently. Because this woman hadn't been there before, and in fact, none of the other women present had been there before.
Approaching the edge of the cage, she spoke in a low voice:
"Hey, could you give me more information about what's happening here?"
The woman jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. And when she did, the light of the lamp illuminated her face.
A horrible sensation took hold of Sylvie's body when she saw the poor woman's face. She had scars all over her cheeks and forehead, but that didn't compare to the fact that one of her eyes was missing and most of her left ear was also gone.
Sylvie swallowed and forced herself to calm down.
'I can help,' she thought.
And in fact, although she couldn't use her Aspect inside the cage, she could use her Attribute:
[Vivum]
Description: [You are attuned to Vivum, the branch of aether that governs existence. Through it, you can influence life and continuity, performing powerful restorative and healing aether arts.]
She couldn't sense Aether like Arthur, but she could sense Mana. Furthermore, these two elements are in constant contact, so she could feel the movement of Mana particles generated by Aether particles.
And since the Attribute is connected to the Mana stored in her core, whatever is cutting off her connection to her essence and Memories does not affect it.
"I can help you. I'm a healer," she said even more softly so as not to scare her.
The woman turned her injured face toward her, and Sylvie noticed how she tried to raise an eyebrow at her proposal, yet halfway through the motion, she stopped, and her expression shifted to one of pain.
One of her wounds was still open, and moving hurt.
"I promise I can help you. I'm a healer," she repeated. "Those wounds won't bother you anymore."
The woman still didn't believe her, but faced with the possibility of truly healing or continuing in pain, she decided to trust her word.
She approached her enough, and Sylvie activated her Attribute to heal her.
Through her senses, she could notice how the Aether particles began to follow her guidance and eventually approached the woman's wounds. First, they went to the most severe wounds on her face, restoring the skin and leaving it completely flawless. Then they went to where an eye should be, and it began to form out of absolute nothingness.
New tissue began to appear in the hollow, and seconds later, a completely healthy blue eye could be seen. Finally, the particles approached her left ear and restored it to flawless condition.
The process lasted seconds, yet the Mana expenditure from Sylvie's core was more than she would have liked.
'It's worth it.'
It was definitely worth it upon seeing the expression of complete shock on the beautiful face of the woman next to her.
She had blue eyes and a completely delicate face. Her shoulder-length black hair had also taken on a healthier quality. However, it was the smile that drew itself on the woman's face that led Sylvie to tell herself it was worth it.
The woman began to cry softly as Sylvie watched her. She would have liked to let her vent, but she also needed information and didn't know how much time they had before being taken to the arena again.
"Are you feeling better now?"
The woman nodded.
"What is your name?" she asked.
The woman finished wiping her tears and replied, "Lena." A pause. "Thank you for healing me," she said in a soft voice.
Sylvie smiled at her. "I'm glad you're feeling better, and you don't have to thank me. However, I would like to ask you a few questions." Tilting her head, she asked, "Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, it's the least I can do," Lena replied.
Sylvie took a few seconds to think about what to ask and finally said, "We're entertainment in the colosseum, right?" She immediately added, "Why?"
The smile on Lena's face disappeared, and she looked back at the ground, eventually asking, "What man would want to be with someone with scars on their face?"
'What… a lot of them? Some scars are cool.'
Pushing aside the shock on her face, she asked, "What do you mean?"
"You really don't know?" Lena asked. Sylvie shook her head, and Lena let out a sigh, continuing, "In the Kingdom of Mordrath, a person's value is centered on their beauty. If you have scars, no one will want to be with you. Because then your children might turn out weaker because of it."
'What!? That doesn't make sense!'
"But that doesn't make sense…" Sylvie said, not directly to Lena but into the air.
The blue-eyed woman simply shrugged. "Well, Mordrath is a Blessed by Beast God—the goddess of beauty and carnal desire." A pause. "That's just how things work here."
'What a bullshit!'
Even so, she forced herself to calm down again, because this happened thousands and thousands of years ago. Perhaps that was just how people thought back then. Though she doubted it—a gut feeling told her it was nonsense that only happened here.
"Tell me… are there men who are forced to fight in the colosseum as well?" Sylvie asked, trying to suppress her angry tone.
Lena shook her head. "There have been and there are some, but for other reasons…"
"Which ones?"
She remained silent, thinking, until she replied, "Well, men are supposed to be the providers in the households, so they all go out to hunt constantly if they don't work for the King." A pause. "There are some who simply can't do it for various reasons, and those are discarded by society. So they're sent to the colosseum to serve as entertainment like us."
'So this kingdom is a sexist society?'
"I see."
Then Sylvie wanted to ask her the reason why she would be locked up, since when she entered the Nightmare, she didn't have any scars or anything. It didn't make sense that they had sent the body she was using to the colosseum.
However, when she opened her mouth, the noise of chains sliding across the floor was heard again.
Sylvie turned around, and her expression hardened again. But just as she was positioning herself not to fall to her knees, the giant completely ignored her and began to open the cage door next to hers.
Lena's cage.
'Nonononono.'
She knew she couldn't do anything, and she knew they were inside a Nightmare—that Lena wasn't real. The real Lena had already died thousands and thousands of years ago. Even so, an uncomfortable feeling settled in her body.
Sylvie moved to speak, to wish the light-eyed woman luck, but when she opened her mouth, the giant turned to look at her, and his expression read clearly:
Speak, and we'll send you to the arena.
So she closed her mouth. She chose to stay silent. The possibility of never seeing Lena again was very high. Yet still, she didn't utter a single word.
The giant didn't react and placed chains on her feet and arms, then a cloth over her delicate face. Hoisting her onto his shoulder, he ended up taking her away.
Sylvie let herself fall to the ground and struck it with her closed fist. Then she closed her eyes and forced herself to meditate to recover the Mana she had spent.
About twenty minutes must have passed meditating until the noise of chains was heard again.
Sylvie opened her eyes and focused on the person the giant was carrying on his shoulder. Silently hoping it was Lena. That she had survived.
The giant opened the cage door with his characteristic calm and threw the body to the ground. It let out a sound of pain upon impact, and immediately, the giant began to remove the chains and finally the cloth from its head.
Due to the poor lighting, she couldn't identify who it was, so she waited for the giant to leave. Once he did, Sylvie asked in a low voice:
"Lena, is that you?"
The figure of the person remained lying on the floor with no intention of moving. After several long seconds, they replied:
"Who is Lena?"