Chapter 20 — The Supreme Trial
When at last the timer struck zero, a blinding white light surged across the forest. It swallowed every student, tearing them from the carnage and chaos of the battlefield, and in an instant, they were gone, teleported out, their fates sealed for judgment to come. Every student felt their world spin as though it had lost all color for a fleeting instant, as if existence itself had been drained of vibrancy. Then, in the very next heartbeat, color came crashing back into their senses, returning with overwhelming force, almost too much for their fatigued minds to process.
In that moment of disorienting transition, they reappeared within the same grand hall they had been in before.
The moment their senses fully adjusted, numerous students collapsed to the ground. Their bodies finally gave in to the exhaustion that had been clawing at them for hours. Some fell completely flat on their backs, arms splayed helplessly as though the weight of their own shoulders was too heavy to carry. Others dropped onto both knees, panting like dying animals desperate for breath. A few slumped onto one knee, barely able to steady themselves with trembling arms. Every single student except Kael gasped and wheezed, their breathing harsh, ragged, and utterly out of rhythm.
Each one of them bore marks of battle. Every body was scarred, cut, and broken in unique ways, evidence of the struggles they had endured. Some bore shallow wounds, mere scratches across their skin, still bleeding but not fatal. Others had far more gruesome injuries: arms missing, legs severed, torsos punctured, blood still gushing from open stumps. But even in their agony, many gritted their teeth and desperately pressed their remaining hands against the wounds, struggling to halt the flow of blood. Their determination was admirable, yet pitiful; their pride and fear of weakness forced them to keep resisting the collapse of their broken bodies.
Among this sea of battered, blood-soaked students, however, one figure stood apart. Kael. He stood with serene composure, unshaken by the chaos that had ravaged everyone else. His chest rose and fell at an even, calm rhythm. Breathing perfect, unlabored, untouched by fatigue.
At the rear edges of the hall, students who had completed their trials earlier observed. Their injuries healed, their stamina partially restored. They looked on with a mixture of pity, envy, and quiet judgment.
The silence shattered as a massive door groaned open. A figure entered, his steps deliberate, calm, and controlled. Every gaze in the hall instinctively followed him. He spoke no words, offered no greeting, no explanation. Simply approaching the cluster of battered students, he snapped his fingers once. A sharp crack echoed through the hall.
A radiant, soothing green glow rippled outward, enveloping every student. Arms and legs regrew in seconds. Muscles knitted back together, ligaments realigned, veins and arteries restored. Torn skin stitched itself whole. Within the span of a breath, injuries that would have been crippling or fatal were gone. Even Kael, practically unharmed, felt the energy brush across his skin, no repairs needed but encompassed in the healing wave.
The healer, having finished, offered no acknowledgment and exited as silently as he entered. Groans of relief and effort echoed through the hall as students forced themselves upright, reminded that they now stood before the Academy's instructors.
Supreme Trial Announcement
As everyone slowly rose to their feet, weary and drained from the grueling ordeal, their gazes instinctively shifted toward the same raised platform at the far end of the grand hall, the very place where an old man had stood to address them before they were hurled into the forest. And there he was once again. The old man stood tall and still, his back straight, his aged face unreadable. His eyes, apathetic as ever, scanned across the multitude of candidates without the slightest flicker of emotion.