Thirty-six hours passed like the ticking of a slow war drum.
Blackhunt stood in formation before the radiant gate at dawn—no banners, no cheers, no fanfare. Only steel in their eyes and resolve in their breath.
Toni adjusted the shoulder guard on his armor. "I double-checked the maps. No data on Floor 6 yet. We're walking in blind."
Kaido grinned. "My favorite kind of party."
Asha stared into the light of the portal. "It feels… different. Like it's watching us."
"It is," Ankit said.
They all turned to him.
He wasn't smiling. He hadn't smiled since the end of Floor 5.
"From here on," he said, "the Tower won't test just our strength. It'll test who we are."
Then he stepped through.
And the light swallowed him.
The sensation of ascending was unlike previous floors.
It wasn't vertical this time.
It felt inward.
Like they weren't climbing higher, but deeper into themselves.
Ankit opened his eyes to find himself standing on a platform floating in nothingness. The others were appearing one by one, scattered slightly apart, but all intact.
The sky above was a spiraling vortex of gray. The ground below was invisible, as if they were suspended in void.
Then, the Tower spoke.
[Floor 6 – Trial of Identity]
Theme: Reflection. Collapse. Rebirth.
Structure: Fractured Realm
Objective: Restore Your Broken Echo. Face Your True Self. Survive.
Reward: Unique Soul Trait – Core Evolution Catalyst
Danger: Psychological Disintegration
Time Limit: None. But the longer you stay… the less of yourself returns.
Toni whispered, "We're not fighting monsters this time."
Riya gritted her teeth. "We're fighting ourselves."
The platform shattered beneath them—and the world fractured.
Ankit's Realm
He woke in a field of ashes.
Charred trees. Smoking soil. A red sky torn by silent lightning.
He looked around—but found no one. No teammates. No enemies.
Just… himself.
A boy stood ahead.
Black hair. Same face. But younger—twelve years old, barefoot, eyes hollow.
The boy looked up.
"You left me behind."
Ankit frowned. "I became you."
"No. You buried me."
A storm churned above.
"You buried the part that was afraid. That cried. That begged for someone to save us when the beasts came. You keep pretending we're strong."
"I had to survive."
"Not like this."
The boy snapped his fingers—and shadows exploded around them.
Versions of Ankit appeared. One drenched in blood. One weeping. One chained to the remains of the village. One laughing manically with a blade in each hand.
They all attacked.
Toni's Realm
He stood in a white room with no ceiling. Numbers floated in the air. Calculations. Simulations. Scenarios of teammates dying over and over again because of one miscalculation.
A voice echoed.
"Your flaw is you think you're the smartest."
Toni turned. An older version of himself sat in a chair, eye bags heavy, hands stained with blue ink.
"You play chess with people's lives. And one day, someone won't be a pawn. They'll break your board."
"I know."
"Do you?"
The room twisted. All the deaths Toni had prevented played backward. He saw the ones he failed to save.
"You still think you're the better choice?" the older version asked.
Toni closed his eyes. "I don't need to be the best. I just need to keep them alive."
The elder version vanished.
And in his place stood a bow—sleek, violet, thrumming.
Vijaya responded.
Kaido's Realm
A pit. Deep and dark.
Kaido sat at the bottom, bloodied, alone.
Above, a hundred voices laughed.
"You're the clown. The fool. The failed prince."
A shadow climbed down beside him.
His brother.
"You never were meant to lead, Kaido. You hide behind jokes because you're scared of being seen."
Kaido stared at him.
"Maybe," he said, voice quiet. "But I'm still climbing."
He pulled himself up, hand over hand, pain screaming in his arms.
"But I'll laugh at the top."
Raunak's Realm
A burning village. His. Parents gone. Smoke rising.
A tower of sigils exploding above his home.
And in the center—himself, crying.
"You could've stopped it," the memory whispered.
Raunak faced his past.
"No. I couldn't."
He clenched his fists.
"But I'll make sure no one else burns again."
His palms lit with a new rune—one etched not with revenge, but resolve.
Across the scattered fractal realms, each member of Blackhunt faced their deepest fault, flaw, or memory.
Riya saw her brother.
Asha relived her worst illusion.
Sana saw every person she failed to heal.
Vikram stood over a grave.
Raghav faced his fear of cowardice.
Azerin found the remnants of who he was before the Tower took his name.
And Ankit?
He stood in the center of the storm, blood dripping from his hands, having defeated his past selves.
The boy stood again.
Softer now.
"You didn't have to kill us."
Ankit sheathed his Talwar.
"I didn't. I accepted you."
The boy's eyes filled with tears—and then, turned into light.
The ash faded.
And the sky cleared.
A voice rang out.
[Echo Stabilized – Core Self Restored]
Trait Gained: Soul Tempering – +20% Resistance to Mental Disruption
Progression: 18%
Awaiting Guild Convergence…
Ankit exhaled.
One by one, the rest of Blackhunt blinked back into the same space. Some were on their knees. Others trembling. A few were crying.
But they were all alive.
Changed.
Whole.
Kaido broke the silence. "Okay. I never want to do that again."
Toni just laughed.
Ankit looked around at his team—his family.
Then at the horizon of Floor 6, now slowly constructing itself into a jagged city floating on suspended islands, with strange storm beasts circling above.
"This was just the gate," he said.
Riya nodded. "So we walk forward again."
Sana wiped her eyes. "Together."
And as the floating floor began to reveal its real trials, Blackhunt stepped forward once again—
More whole than ever.