> [System Directive: Trial Initiation – Ascension Arena: Final Hundred]
[Survivors: 7,412]
[Slots Available: 100]
[Rule Set: Combat, Sacrifice, and Judgment]
[Note: Each kill increases soul weight. The higher your weight, the more likely you are to ascend. Excess weight may lead to corruption.]
The moment Lian's fingers twitched, the battlefield warped again—a giant obsidian arena formed from the bones of past worlds. Its walls were inscribed with the names of the fallen, echoing as if their deaths still cried out.
Hundreds dropped from the sky, landing hard on brutal, cracked stone. No time to prepare. No time to mourn.
Screams. Steel. Fire.
The Trial had begun.
---
Jayce landed on his feet, barely dodging a cleaving blow from a berserker with one eye and a melting aura.
"You want ascension?" Jayce laughed, dodging again, sliding under the brute's legs and throwing an explosive coin. "You better learn how to dance, big guy."
Boom.
He moved like madness incarnate, glitch particles trailing his steps. The crowd around him began calling him "The Joker of Chaos"—even as bodies dropped in his wake.
---
Ria's new form was no longer entirely human. Veins of radiant crimson light pulsed through her limbs, and a massive third eye glowed on her forehead, weeping tears of blood.
She didn't fight.
She judged.
One by one, opponents froze as she touched their souls.
"Have you ever saved someone you didn't love?" she whispered to one. He lied. She burned him down to ash.
"Would you give up your power for a stranger?" Another said no. He screamed as he shattered.
Her soul weight grew… and with it, the fracture lines across her own mind.
---
Kuro had nothing left—no weapon, no rank.
So he used what he had left: willpower.
He fought with his bare hands. Disarmed a spear. Cracked a skull. Took five stabs and still stood.
"Even if I'm just Gray-tier now… I still stand," he muttered.
Others rallied around him.
He didn't know it—but behind the system, a hidden stat was counting Inspiration Influence Points. Kuro was creating something more powerful than talent. Faith.
---
And in the center of it all, floating above the battlefield with the monstrous black core inside his chest, Lian watched.
> [World Anchor]
[Judgment Override Authority]
[Optional Trigger: Intervene in Moment of Unjust Death]
[Warning: Each Intervention drains your humanity.]
He saw a child—one of the youngest survivors—stabbed in the back by a desperate adult.
He blinked.
The attacker was erased in a flash of anti-light.
Lian dropped slightly. His breath caught. Something inside him… fractured.
"I can't keep doing that," he whispered.
Zeroth's voice chuckled. "But you will."
---
Hours passed.
Only 300 remained.
Then 200.
Then 120.
And then—standing amid smoke and blood—only 101.
One had to be cut.
A system window opened:
> [Final Choice: One more must fall.]
[Would you like to vote, or make the choice yourself, Lian?]
[WARNING: Choosing alone will permanently shape the next world's laws.]
---
Lian stepped forward. Jayce, Ria, Kuro, and 97 others watched him.
Among the last survivor was a girl from World One—one of the earliest players—who had survived by hiding, never fighting, but saving lives in the shadows.
"I was never strong," she said, meeting Lian's gaze. "But I kept the children alive. That has to count."
Tears ran down Lian's cheeks. He had to choose.
He looked up at the sky. "Let me bear the weight."
> [Judgment Accepted.]
[You now carry the fate of one unchosen soul.]
[Soul Anchor Capacity: -1% Humanity]
[Ascension Complete. Preparing Next World…]
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