Somewhere in the old world of the modern realm that had fallen into ruins due to the fall around five centuries ago.
Blanketed by the calm moonlight, Rudric Ironwell, a nineteen-year-old young man, walked through the rabble-filled old street while leaning on his dark cane.
'Is this the right place?'
Surrounding him were the ruined buildings that were considered modern architecture until the world was wrecked by the dreadborns — horrific beings that shouldn't exist outside of imagination.
They had come out of the black terror gates, which had appeared all over the globe on the day of the fall.
Even though he was in such a precarious place, his expression was calm, though his eyes appeared unnaturally dazed as if he was drugged.
The sound of his cane hitting the cracked ground echoed throughout the empty area.
'What if this is also a trap?'
At the moment, Rudy was looking for the locked trial gate of blood.
A century after the fall, humans found a key, and by using it at the location of the locked trial gate, opened a path and the trials associated with it.
Upon stepping in those trial gates, they entered the simulated trials, which on completion made them an irregular with supernatural power, provided a path by which they could continue growing stronger, and the assistance of an entity the realm knew nothing of — Final Will.
Since the fall, seven out of ten paths of the dead gods had already been opened, but three remain waiting for their eventual hegemon.
After walking for a few moments, he stopped at a crossroad and looked behind.
Nothing except the ruins and rubble fell into his vision. Sighing in relief, he mumbled, "Seems like they really weren't able to find me..."
Turning his head to the front, he took out a small glass vial.
'Please work...'
Due to the experiment done to him, Rudy was left crippled and couldn't enter any of the known trials, so this unknown path was his last hope.
He lifted the vial before his black eyes, and seeing the strange, red liquid within, his expression twisted into something ugly.
The liquid moved towards him.
His drugged eyes turned normal, his hand flew towards his neck, and he touched the red veins that were bulging all across his body.
"No, no! Shit, ugh!" He cried and threw the vial onto the ground.
The vial broke instantly, and the red liquid within spread like a blooming flower.
"AHHHH!" Rudy screamed and fell to his knees.
Red veins thrashed throughout his body like tiny snakes, and Rudy's expression turned horrific, his eyes turned bloodshot... memories of that day, of the metallic room, white chambers, and the injection began to flash before his eyes.
'Not... again... fuck!'
Gritting his teeth, he muttered through the pain ravaging him, "Just you wait...! I'll come for... all of your heads!!"
Just as he finished speaking, a strange hum echoed through the area, and serene white runes flickered before his eyes.
Following them was a calm, melodious voice that sounded similar to a young woman.
[Warrior Rudric, You have been deemed worthy!]
Hearing that, his lips stretched into a smile that appeared too broken for what he had just achieved, and before his very eyes, the space tore open, and a bloody red glow seeped out of it.
"How Ironic..."
Trembling, the cane fell out of his hand, and he crawled towards the trial gate with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
'Wait for me...'
As he reached the trial gate, his figure, which had been barely visible, became clear, and surprisingly, didn't appear to belong to someone who could be found in such a rundown area.
[Warrior Rudric, do you wish to enter the trial of blood?]
[Yes | No]
The glimmer of hope blazed into full-fledged flame, and with a dark smile, he whispered, "Yes."
[Warrior Rudric, You are being sent to the trial of blood!]
"Ha... ha!" A broken laugh escaped his lips, his hands gripping the crumbled asphalt in defiance of the pain coursing through him.
The runes flickered once again.
[We wish you a glorio—
'Finally!'
However, before he could finish reading them, a familiar sound reached his ears. "You are finally acting like the rat you are, 105."
Rudy's face instantly went pale. 'No, it can't be…'
His neck turned stiffly to the back, and his gaze fell on the sleek black hover jet flying high in the moonlit sky.
Because of the distance, he could barely make out the figure standing on it, but the voice alone was enough for him to know who it was.
'How is she here?! Was this actually a trap?' Horrified, his lips parted, and he called out, "Meli—"
However, his words were cut off by a sudden devastating gust, and following it, a gigantic sword that looked like silver water zipped through the air with speed too fast for the naked eye to see.
The next moment, the ground exploded as the sword fell onto Rudy, crushing him in an instant.
A deafening boom and a quake spread throughout the ruined city, and a few of the buildings that were barely standing fell.
The figure standing atop the hover jet stared at where Rudy had been.
Within the crater, his body had exploded into fragments, his blood had sprayed all across the street, and the only thing remaining of him was a piece of his dark cane.
The figure continued to stare at it, and after a few minutes, the hum from before once again echoed throughout the area, and the red tear in the space began to close.
Once the gate was gone, the figure turned around and mumbled, "You've always been an idiot."
"Let's return."
"Roger," came another monotonous voice, and the energy thrusters of the hover jet came to life.
The hover jet moved slightly, and the next moment it was gone.
Even though the figure completely decimated Rudy's body, his lingering soul was pulled into the trial.
Once his soul entered it, Final Will created him anew.
[Warrior Rudric, we welcome you to the Soulstar Lake!]
Within a serene, mirror-like white lake knelt Rudy, covered in dense fog that only allowed his head to be visible.
"Huff...huff..." his breath was ragged, and sweat rolled down across his body as he was still feeling the sensation of his body exploding into bits.
'What just happened...?'
Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fists and finally looked down.
From beneath, he stared back at himself and saw that he no longer had the red, vile, bulging veins that had made his life a living hell.
'I am alive... Those veins are gone as well...'
"Ha...haha...haha!" He burst into joyous laughter, tears streamed down his face, and he mumbled, "Finally... I can finally become irregular!"
He placed his hands over his face, his fingers covered his eyes, and from the gaps within, his fury seeped out as he growled, "And I can finally make that bastard pay!!"
Grinning from ear to ear, he stood up, and as he did so, he noticed, "I can move my leg."
He threw a kick with his left leg and mumbled with a beautiful smile, "This is amazing..." his face suddenly turned grim, and he mumbled, "Only if I hadn't been injected with that stupid shit, I would have been able to enter any of the trials... but this is fine as well..."
"No, this is the best. I would be the first person to take the trial of the blood god, after all."
Looking up, his gaze fell on the numerous stars that filled the dark sky of the soulstar lake.
'It's more beautiful than what the files described...'
These stars were of the irregulars; each had a varied colour that represented the dead god whose path they were walking on.
After taking in the brilliant sky, he finally focused on the runes before him.
[Warrior Rudric, you hold divine blood.]
[Your trial has been decided.]
[May you pass your trial and ascend to the throne of blood!]
[We wish you great fortune.]
'What?' Rudy blinked a few times and mumbled with a dumbfounded expression, "I hold what...?"
Those were the last words he said before brightness consumed him.