When the world finally stopped shifting — when the platform steadied and the echo of collapsing space died away — Riven found himself staring out in shock.
This shouldn't have existed.
An impossible sky stretched overhead, if it could even be called that. A black, yawning abyss with no stars, no ceiling, no source of light — and yet somehow, everything glowed faintly. Floating islands drifted silently across the void like ancient wreckage scattered by a god. And flickering lights were inbetween.
At the far end, that statue loomed. Humanoid only in the most abstract sense.
Riven exhaled slowly.
"…This was under the lake?" he said, his voice dry. "How?"
Yue Lin was quiet for a moment before answering.
"I've heard of this," she murmured finally. "When experts reach a certain realm… they can open up a pocket world. A space detached from reality. Their own domain."
She looked around again, her expression unusually grim.
"I think this is one of them."
Riven swallowed, his gaze drifting again to the massive statue at the end of the chasm.
"…What kind of person builds this?"
She didn't answer.
After a few more seconds of silence, the two of them walked forward unsurely.
Whatever this was, they couldn't just stand still.
At the edge of their platform, a narrow stone bridge curved downward.
They hadn't noticed it before, but it looked old. As if it had been there from the start. Weathered. Cracks lined the surface. Moss clung to the joints.
The two continued walking.
Their footsteps echoed faintly in the stillness. The bridge was solid beneath them, even as the black void yawned endlessly on both sides.
Ahead, the first island awaited.
A flat circle of dull gray stone — seemingly empty.
Except for a familiar sight at its center.
Another stone marker.
Just like the one from before.
They exchanged a glance. Then approached.
Yue Lin stepped closer, frowning slightly as she reached out. Her fingers brushed away a thin layer of dust from its face, to reveal the carved letters beneath—
Then they glowed and the island changed.
With a sharp, metallic snap, gray chains shot up from the ground beneath her.
They twisted through the air unnaturally, curving mid-flight like snakes and binding her arms, her waist, her ankles — tight and fast.
Yue Lin gasped, struggling — but it was over in seconds.
She was held in place, forced in place, chained down by something that shouldn't have been able to move like that.
"Yue Lin!"
Riven rushed forward, trying to grab the chains — pull them off, but nothing worked.
He tried using the knife to cut them, but even that did nothing.
Then —
At the edge of the island, a shimmering dull gray path flickered into existence.
A bridge of light, barely solid, connecting to another island further out in the dark.
And from its far end… something moved.
Clack.
A faint scraping.
And then — a figure rose.
A skeletal knight, half-rotted armor hanging from its bony limbs, pulled itself up from the shimmering path. Its skull was horned. Empty sockets glowed faintly with a sickly blue. It carried a long, chipped halberd in both hands — its edge stained and jagged.
It started walking toward them.
While Riven still tried to break Yue Lin free, her eyes were fixated on the words on the slab of stone.
After the dust was gone, she could now read them.
She squinted. Then called out:
"Riven! Stop."
She took a breath.
"It says. Whoever touches the stone first gets chained. That's me. While someone's chained, the path to the next island appears… but so does an enemy."
She looked up, eyes narrowing as the skeleton drew closer.
"If you stall it for one minute, the chains transfer — to the knight. Then we can leave together."
"And if not?" Riven asked tightly, eyes flicking between her and the creature.
He regretted the question after.
What else?
They'd be dead.
But Yue Lin answered anyway.
"If he kills me, the path to the next island will disappear."
She struggled again.
The chains clinked faintly, but nothing else changed.
Her eyes flicked toward him, calm despite everything.
At least that's what she tried to look like.
"I'm counting on you."
And then —
The ghostly knight stepped fully off the shimmering path, it dragged a halberd dragging behind it with a slow scrape. The air thickened.
At the same time, the stone marker beside Yue Lin flickered. The glowing letters shifted —
[60]
A countdown.
Riven clenched his jaw.
This wasn't gonna be an easy fight.
He couldn't imagine his needles doing much against bone and armor.
And Divine Speed was still unavailable.
He'd have to fight this thing in a simper way.
He inhaled slowly.
Vaern's Basic Martial Arts. Falconburst Kick. Frostbind Chains.
That's what he could rely on.
He stepped forward, sliding into a loose stance, weight low and ready.
Then the knight laughed.
A hoarse, clattering sound — like air scraping through broken pipes.
Its jaw hung loose as it turned toward him.
"Kekeke… so it's just the two of you?"
Its voice was wet gravel.
"If I'm the one that got awoken… you two must be pretty weak."
Riven didn't reply.
It talks?
The knight tilted its head, bones creaking.
"Why fight?" it said. "Just go. Cross the path."
It motioned lazily to the glowing bridge behind it.
"I'll kill the girl. You get to live. I get to complete my mission. She gets to die.
Everyone wins."
Riven narrowed his eyes.
"That doesn't sound like winning for her."
The knight's empty sockets stared into him.
"No," it said after a pause. "But you're not her, are you?"
A low chuckle rattled from its ribs. "She'll die eventually anyway. Just… be clever about it. You're clearly the smarter one. You won't get such an easy chance at crossing a trial here again."
Riven tilted his head slightly.
"Give me some time to think about it."
The knight went still. Then its jaw dropped wider.
A long, slow kakakakaka laugh scraped out of it — like metal grinding bone.
Across the arena, Yue Lin's brows furrowed.
Her calm expression cracked just slightly — a twitch of her lip, a narrowing of her eyes.
The ghostly knight laughed louder.
"Ohhh, how I love humans," it hissed, delighted. "This is good. This is very good."
It leaned in slightly, joints creaking.
Time passed and the glowing numbers on the stone ticked again.
[42]
The knight straigthened, no longer cackling. "Oh you're just stalling. Kekeke… Smart boy, time to die."
Riven's smirk twitched.
Damn. It figured it out.
And then it moved.
Fast.
The halberd swept toward him like a silver crescent, air splitting at the speed of its swing —
[40]
The halberd came in fast — too fast.
Riven ducked under the first swing, his boots sliding across the stone. The blade screamed past, missing him by inches, the force of it stirring his hair.
Clang!
The halberd slammed into the ground, stone cracking beneath its weight — and then it came around again.
He twisted sideways, barely dodging the follow-up sweep. A gust of stale, dead air slammed into his ribs. The knight didn't pause.
Riven's instincts kicked in.
Falconburst Kick.
He planted his foot and launched forward — qi surged, knee tucked, then exploding out in a sharp, upward strike aimed at the knight's center.
It landed.
A solid hit — forceful, clean.
The knight staggered back half a step.
But only half.
It didn't fall.
Bones didn't break.
It didn't grunt.
It just… tilted its head.
"Cute," it rasped.
Shit. This hurts.
The halberd spun again, coming down like a guillotine.
Riven leapt back, barely clearing the arc — the weapon slammed into the ground again, sending small cracks racing across the platform.
[34]
Not even halfway.
He dropped into a tighter stance, sweat beading on his brow.
That barely made the thing move.
It was clearly at least as strong as an Inner Condensation cultivator.
Beating it wouldn't be easy.
But luckily he only needed to stall it.
I'll have to fight for Frostbind Chains.
He made up his mind, as he tried to thrust out his hand.
But the skeleton dodged.
After a few more back and forths, the fight soon devolved into a close-quarters skirmish.
Riven kept looking for an opening — trying to land a hit with his palm to apply the Frostbind Chains.
But without the added speed from Falconburst Kick… he couldn't connect. Not even once.
The skeleton, for its part, had trouble landing a clean blow too — the halberd proving awkward at such tight range.
Still, bit by bit, it forced him back.
Blow after blow —
Until there were only ten meters between him…
and Yue Lin, still bound in chains.
[23]