Stark leaned back against one of the walls of the massive auditorium, arms crossed, his gaze flicking between the countdown timer on the holographic screen and his two companions, Lana and Sora.
The remaining twenty minutes before the third trial felt like an eternity, especially with the tension hanging heavy in the air.
“Seems like they’re giving us time to think it over,” Lana commented, her arms folded over her chest.
Sora, always the quieter one of the group, just nodded.
“Doesn’t matter,” Stark muttered, “We’re not backing down.”
And it seemed that none of the students felt like it either: they had survived two deadly trials, and of course it wasn’t a [Domination Trial] level, but it was still difficult!
“…”
Nothing much happened for the first fifteen minutes, and everyone just waited.
But suddenly, the atmosphere in the room shifted out of nowhere as Daniel, the one everyone was scared of, suddenly moved, arriving right behind Stark, looking down at the boy.
“Holy shit!”
“…What did he do to Daniel.”
“I would piss myself to be honest…”
But of course, he wasn’t dumb: Stark could feel it, a presence, like a surge of pressure pushing against the back of his neck.
His crimson eyes flickered with a sharp, instinctual awareness.
Without even looking, he knew who it was.
The room seemed to grow colder, and the chatter of the other students abruptly died down as they all looked at the event unfolding before their eyes.
Lana stiffened beside Stark, her eyes widening as she stared over his shoulder.
“Stark, watch out!” she warned, her voice trembling with urgency.
Even Sora’s usual calm demeanor faltered a bit as she dropped into a defensive stance, her hand positioned as if to use [Vine Smash].
Stark, however, remained completely calm.
He slowly turned around, as if the intimidating presence behind him was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
His eyebrows raised slightly, and his gaze locked onto the man towering over him.
It was Daniel Pridel.
“Problem?” Stark asked casually, his voice filled with confidence, and his pupils glowing with a burning crimson aura, stronger than anything Daniel was putting out.
Stark could feel Daniel’s violent energy trying to dominate the space, but it felt insignificant to him.
“…!” Daniel didn’t speak much anymore, but his eyes did widen a bit once seeing that Stark also got just as powerful as he did even though he fought relentlessly in rifts this entire year.
Could he really lose to Stark, the one that had humiliated him?
No, no he couldn’t, he would surely destroy that boy.
And yet, when he looked into Stark’s eyes, all he could see was chaos, determination and power, as if he had fought and seen opponents a thousands times stronger than he was.
The last time they had fought, Stark had been far weaker, yet now, despite Daniel’s own terrifying growth, Stark stood before him as though he was an equal… no… as though he was stronger.
“You will suffer,” that is all Daniel muttered, his voice low and filled with venom.
His grip on the hilt of his small blade tightened, yet despite his threatening words, there was hesitation in his eyes
Stark’s gaze remained steady, unfazed.
In Daniel’s eyes, he could see a mix of rage, pride, and… doubt.
It was almost amusing.
After all the battles Daniel had fought, after all the power he had gained, he was still unsure if he could truly defeat Stark.
With a frustrated grunt, Daniel stepped back, abandoning whatever plan he had to provoke Stark into a fight.
He turned his gaze away, glancing over Stark’s shoulder, and for a moment, his eyes softened into something darker: something personal.
Stark followed Daniel’s gaze and noticed Lana standing beside him.
Her expression was calm, but the way she looked at Daniel carried no fear, just indifference.
To Daniel, though, that look must have been a slap in the face.
Stark knew the stories about Daniel’s obsession with Lana back in their school days, and it seemed that obsession hadn’t faded.
He could see how he was looking at him and Lana, and took add a cut to the wound, Stark reached for Lana’s waist and got her closer to him.
The girl’s face turned bright red, but she didn’t retaliate.
Daniel clenched his fists, his jaw tightening, but he said nothing.
With a sharp turn, he marched away, moving to the front of the auditorium, his shoulders tense with barely-contained rage.
“He’s still a psycho,” Stark muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
*
Lana exhaled in relief. “That guy’s worse than I remembered,” she admitted, her voice low, “He’s been in those rifts for a year straight, fighting who-knows-what, and yet… you didn’t even flinch.”
“Why would I?” Stark replied with a grin, “He’s strong, sure, but nothing we haven’t faced before.”
Even Sora seemed to relax, though she kept one eye on Daniel.
“We’ll deal with him later,” Stark added, “Simple as that.”
The tension seemed to ease as the minutes continued to tick down.
And finally, the timer on the holographic screen hit zero.
Theodore’s voice filled the room again, commanding attention as he stepped forward with a pleased smile.
“I guess no one wants to leave,” he said with a chuckle, “Very well then. Let us begin.”
With a snap of his fingers, a brilliant light enveloped the entire auditorium, and the room vanished from around them.
The next moment, Stark, Lana, Sora, and the rest of the students found themselves standing in the open air, a vast landscape stretching out before them.
The ground was completely red, and they could see fire all around them, the trees and even rocks burnt.
It almost looked like they were in hell.
Directly ahead was a massive hole in the ground, the entrance to the Devil’s Abyss.
It radiated an ominous energy, a swirling, dark aura that seemed to pulse like a living thing.
Surrounding the hole was a towering aura wall, etched with intricate symbols and runes, and at the center of the wall was a glowing key symbol: this is where you need to place the [Devil Abyss’s Key] if you had it.
“Holy…” Stark whispered, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of the rift.
The size of the portal was monstrous, large enough to swallow an entire city block.
Would they need to jump from here to the bottom of the hole to reach the rift? Because it sure did look like it…
Theodore’s voice echoed through the air, as one of the instructors stepped forward, holding a small, ancient-looking key, the same one Stark had in his inventory.
“As promised, you will now witness the opening of the Devil’s Abyss,” Theodore announced.
The instructor raised the key, and with a single, fluid motion, he inserted it into the glowing symbol on the wall.
There was a loud, echoing click, followed by a deep rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet.
The aura wall shimmered, and the key symbol pulsed with light before dissolving completely.
The barrier around the rift collapsed, and the swirling vortex within the hole grew even more intense.
The portal was now fully open.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[The Devil’s Abyss Rift has been opened!]
“Go on,” Theodore said with a wicked smile, “jump inside.”
Without hesitation, students began leaping into the rift, their bodies disappearing into the dark void below.
Stark exchanged a quick glance with Lana and Sora.
“Here we go,” he said, his voice steady as he stepped forward.
With a deep breath, Stark jumped into the abyss too, the darkness swallowing him whole.
The sensation of falling lasted only a moment before his feet hit solid ground.
[Welcome to the Devil’s Abyss]
[Level: 250-400]
[Difficulty: Determination]
This is the before last difficulty, right before “Death”.
The final trial could now begin, though for Stark, he planned to reach the very end of that rift and kill the apostles.
