Three days later, Kael stood on the edge of a forgotten chasm, staring into a cavern carved from blackened ribcages of long-dead titans. The air stank of fire and rust. Ash fell from above like snow made from sorrow.
Captain Veil paced before them, each footstep ringing like a warning bell.
"The Trial of Ash and Bone exists to break the unworthy," he growled. "Those who survive carry fragments of the old world inside them. You want to level up? Prove your body isn't the only thing that bleeds."
They descended.
The cavern felt alive—its walls pulsed like lungs. Glyphs burned with forgotten code, whispering languages only ghosts remembered.
Then came the Phantasms—warrior echoes of fallen Ash Guild members. Twisted. Hollow. Still bound to Nexus law, yet lost to its mercy.
Kael fought beside new recruits, each swing of his reforged Shardblade carving through spectral memories that refused to die. Each kill left a mark—not just on the blade, but on his mind.
[Mindload Threshold: 82% — Warning: Cognitive Distortion Imminent]
Echo's voice sounded distant now. "You're overclocking. Kael—if you reach 100%, you'll start becoming one of them."
He kept fighting.
At the final gate, a Bone Wraith emerged. Twenty feet tall. Eyes like crucibles. Its claws dripped corrupted resonance, raw and unstable.
Kael charged.
The Wraith's scream tore through every fiber of him. The Shardblade shattered again. Still, Kael didn't yield. He absorbed the damage. Let it burn clean.
And struck.
The creature fell with a sound like a cathedral collapsing.
So did Kael.