The light this time was neither gray nor cold.
It was warm—
a true, gentle warmth,
like that distant morning when birds crossed the sky over the fields,
and the name Arian still meant something.
He opened his eyes—
and found himself standing in a wide field of green wheat.
The stalks swayed with the wind like an emerald sea,
and from far away came soft laughter—
the laughter of children he somehow knew,
though he could not recall from where.
He took a step forward.
The ground beneath him was real.
The breeze carried the scent of rain after a long absence,
and above, a single white cloud drifted across the sky—
a witness to the dream.
Then he heard it—
a voice that should never have been heard again.
> "You're late, Arian! Come on!"
He lifted his gaze.
She was there—at the end of the dirt path.
Her golden hair tied with green ribbons,
her smile simple… and unbearably kind.
Rose.
The name pierced through him like a blade of light.
He stepped back.
He had only seen her once, long ago, in the village.
Back then, everything was different—
life was simple,
and "Arian" was just a boy dreaming of a small farm,
digging into the soil with his bare hands,
laughing whenever the rain fell.
But how…
how could she be here?
He whispered hoarsely,
"...Rose?"
She smiled from afar—the same smile, the same face, the same everything.
The wind stirred her hair,
and the laughter of children returned—
but this time, something was wrong.
The sound looped, identical each time,
like a world replaying the same moment forever.
He reached out to her—
but the instant he took a step,
everything changed.
The earth cracked beneath his feet.
The green melted away, turning to gray ash,
and the sky shattered like colored glass breaking in slow motion.
The laughter turned into screams,
and Rose's gentle voice split into dozens—
all calling his name:
> "Arian… Arian… Arian…"
Instinctively, he raised the Endblade,
and gray light flared from his chest—
but even the light hesitated,
as if it feared to wound this memory.
Then the mechanical voice returned, closer than ever—
> [Test Three: The Spring Illusion]
Escape what you desire… before it consumes you.
He froze.
The wind stilled.
Everything stopped moving—
even Rose, standing there with those same eyes,
now filled with an expanding darkness.
Shadows spread from her feet, coiling around the field.
The flowers turned to ash,
the sky split into veins of black.
He tried to back away—
but the ground swallowed him to the knees.
The world collapsed into a storm of gray and shadow.
Rose's voice faded,
until it was nothing more than a whisper inside his mind:
> "You could've stayed here forever, Arian…
Why did you choose to leave?"
He tightened his grip on the Endblade.
The gray aura burst from him—
ripping the illusion apart like lightning tearing a dream in two.
The green vanished in a single flash.
The shadows receded.
The world broke.
Then came silence.
He opened his eyes again—
and found himself kneeling in an empty gray hall.
Glowing rings circled the walls,
and the system spoke in its calm, merciless tone:
> [Test Three: Completed.]
The illusion of desire has been overcome.
Prepare for Test Four.
He drew a deep breath.
Tears—unnoticed—had streaked his face.
He wiped them away and whispered,
"…There's no room for weakness anymore."
Then he stood,
the Endblade resting on his shoulder,
ready to step into the fourth stage—
the one where he would no longer face what he loved…
but what he feared.