Crimson lightning rippled across the walls, splitting through the molten veins of the trial chamber as the shard's pulse intensified. The ground itself trembled beneath Shojiro's feet.
Kaiser turned sharply, his eyes burning brighter than before. His tone, once calm and deliberate, was now urgent — every word forced through clenched teeth as if the universe itself were trying to cut him off.
Kaiser: "Listen to me, child — I don't have much time to explain!"
The shard flared, a crimson storm swirling around it, and Shojiro instinctively stepped back.
Kaiser: "When you touch this crystal, you'll be transported to a pocket dimension. A trial realm of my own making — a tower that exists beyond the laws of space and time."
The shard's hum deepened, echoing his words like a heartbeat.
Kaiser: "In that place, you will fight. Not men, not beasts — projections of my essence. Each one molded from my Strength, my Rage, and my Will. You must climb — one level at a time. There is no rest. No retreat."
The light from the shard was beginning to distort the air, pulling at the edges of reality.
Shojiro swallowed hard, the pressure making it difficult to even move.
Kaiser (quickly): "You can only harm these projections using Vythra. Anything less will be useless."
He jabbed a finger toward Shojiro's chest — right over the glowing mark of his Life Point. He gestured toward Shojiro's hands, the faint crimson pulse flickering beneath his skin.
Kaiser: "Focus your Vythra there — coat your arms in it. Pour every drop into your strikes. Don't hold back. There are no limits inside that realm. None. The more you release, the more it answers."The flow of Vythra is unlimited!"
Shojiro's eyes widened — "Unlimited?" — but Kaiser cut him off with a sharp wave.
The words echoed, sharp and clear — a command that left no room for hesitation.
Kaiser: "Attack at close range. Feel the rhythm of the pulse — your heartbeat is the weapon. Each motion must carry intention. Strike like you mean to erase existence itself."
The crimson shard flared, releasing a flash of energy that nearly knocked Shojiro off balance.
Shojiro: "H-how long will it last?"
Kaiser's eyes darkened.
Kaiser: "Time does not move there. You won't age. You won't die. Yggdrasil will sustain you — heal your wounds, keep your soul intact."
He leaned closer, his voice dropping lower, faster.
Kaiser: "Don't get reckless. The pain will be real. Every wound, every tear, every fracture — you'll feel all of it. Every scream of your own bones. You'll remember it all."
Shojiro's breath caught in his throat — the weight of those words sinking deep.
The ground cracked beneath them — the shard now a vortex of energy, streams of crimson reaching for Shojiro like living veins.
Kaiser: "There's one more thing."
He stepped closer, his voice deepening, every syllable vibrating through the chamber.
Kaiser: "At the top of the tower, you'll face a creature unlike the rest — the final projection. It will have an orb within its chest. Remember this part, mortal — it will not die until that orb is destroyed."
The shard throbbed violently behind them, its resonance matching Kaiser's rising urgency.
Kaiser: "Break the orb, and the tower collapses. In that collapse, you'll receive a random power from my domain — a fragment of Strength made yours."chosen by your will and your heart."
The shard pulsed violently, its light devouring the edges of the chamber. Kaiser's form began to flicker — his presence thinning slightly — as if the very dimension around them was beginning to reject his lingering presence.
Kaiser (raising his voice): "Remember this, Shojiro! Every strike, every roar, every breath you take — make it your weapon! The stronger your Vythra burns, the closer you come to becoming my vessel!"
The vortex reached its peak — crimson arcs swirling into a hurricane of molten light. Kaiser's voice roared through the chaos one last time:
Kaiser: "Now go— prove you're worthy of my shard!"
The light of the shard spiked. The ground trembled. The final surge of energy coiled around Shojiro's feet.
Kaiser's voice cut through the chaos, one last time — raw and commanding.
Kaiser: "Now—touch it!"
Shojiro hesitated for only a heartbeat — then thrust his hand forward.
The moment his fingers brushed the crystal's surface, the world exploded.
The crystal's energy lashed out, striking him square in the chest. His body lifted off the ground, weightless and burning, as reality shattered around him.
The last thing he saw before being consumed by the light was Kaiser — watching, proud and unflinching — his eyes like two dying stars.
Then the world inverted.
Sound vanished.
And Shojiro was gone.
He felt his body torn apart—not by pain, but by force, by motion.
Every atom, every thread of soul spun into a spiral of crimson energy, until he no longer knew where he ended and the light began.
Then came containment.
A shell formed around him — a cocoon of liquid Vythra, thick and pulsating with life. It wrapped him completely, glowing brighter with every heartbeat. The hum of Yggdrasil's pulse echoed faintly within, like the sound of veins in a god's body.
Shojiro tried to scream, but the sound was swallowed by the fluid light.
The cocoon began to descend.
Down.
Deeper.
Past anything resembling space or time.
Then — silence.
A single vibration broke through it.
Low. Steady. Growing louder.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Each beat aligned with his pulse, shaking the cocoon around him.
Crimson cracks began to crawl across its surface, veins of light cutting through shadow.
And then, a voice spoke — deep, resonant, older than the stars themselves.
Kaiser (echoing through all creation):
"The Tower of Flesh and Bone — rise.
Let my shard be the test of crystal and blood."
The realm obeyed.
The cocoon exploded in a burst of red light, hurling Shojiro into the void.
From the darkness around him, matter began to form.
Not gracefully — violently.
Fragments of crimson stone erupted outward, each one pulsing like a beating heart. Veins of glowing marrow stitched them together, forming the skeletal foundations of something immense.
Spires of bone pierced upward, twisting and linking into grotesque arches.
Tendrils of muscle wrapped around them, binding the structure into shape.
The ground itself bled into existence, solidifying beneath Shojiro's feet — slick, warm, alive.
The air trembled as more layers rose:
walls of hardened crystal fused with molten iron, stairways of bone spiraling endlessly upward, reaching toward a blood-red sky that had no sun.
A monstrous architecture — sacred yet grotesque — took form in mere seconds.
The Tower of Flesh and Bone.
A place where gods would weep and mortals would die.
Shojiro staggered backward, clutching his chest as his lungs filled with the hot, heavy air. The crimson light made his skin glow faintly, his veins pulsing like molten rivers.
The world pulsed with him — a synchronized rhythm between mortal and divine.
From above, Kaiser's voice boomed again, his tone layered with both pride and cruelty.
Kaiser (distant, omnipresent):
"Here stands your proving ground, Shojiro Momo.
Each floor a reflection of my might — each foe, a shard of what I once was.
Climb. Bleed. Endure.
Only then will my strength acknowledge you."
The floor beneath him pulsed once, and a massive circular sigil ignited — crimson glyphs spiraling outward in intricate, living patterns.
Shojiro could barely breathe.
He wasn't standing in a world.
He was standing inside Kaiser's body.
The ground rumbled. The walls breathed. The ceiling split open like a wound.
And in the distance, from the first gate of the Tower, something moved.
A shape — distorted, shifting — clawing its way into existence.
The first trial had begun.