---
Location: Trial Spire – Inner Gate of Reflection
There was no crowd this time. No gods watching. No fanfare.
Only Kairo—and the door.
It wasn't grand or glowing. Just a plain, cracked wooden door in the middle of nothing. Floating in silence. Daring him to open it.
> [Final Trial Initiated: Gate of Reflection]
"Face the truth behind the bond. Face yourself."
He exhaled slowly. "Alright then. Therapy mode."
He grabbed the handle.
And the world shattered.
---
FLASH.
He stood in a ruined battlefield, the sky split in half between blood-red light and endless void. Mountains crumbled like sandcastles. Oceans boiled.
And at the center of it all…
A man stood alone. Towering. Cloaked in shadows and armor that looked carved from falling stars.
Zerith. The God of Wrath. The war deity sealed for nearly destroying the divine order.
But something was wrong.
He wasn't fighting.
He was kneeling.
And he was bleeding.
Kairo's breath hitched.
"…You?"
Zerith looked up slowly. His eyes weren't filled with rage.
They were sad.
"You came," Zerith said, voice quiet like thunder held back.
> "They told you I was a monster, didn't they?"
Kairo didn't answer.
Zerith stood, shakily. The sky behind him cracked as golden spears rained down—weapons thrown by the gods. Dozens. Hundreds.
"They feared my power. But they never feared my reason. I didn't want destruction. I wanted freedom. The kind the Council forbids."
More spears pierced his side. He didn't flinch.
"They'll do the same to you, Kairo. The moment they see you're more than a pawn, they'll turn."
The ground split. Flames rose.
But Zerith stepped forward, placing a bloody hand on Kairo's chest.
"You can break their cycle. But only if you stop running from who you are."
Suddenly—
Kairo's reflection stepped out of his body.
It looked just like him—same jacket, same face—but with glowing red veins and pitch-black eyes. This was him, fully bonded to Zerith's wrath.
It smiled.
"Let's see if you've got the stomach to become a god."
---
TRIAL: Kairo vs. Kairo Begins.
But the twist?
This version of Kairo knows everything he won't admit—the fear of abandonment, the guilt over his brother, the dream he buried years ago.
And it talks while it fights.
"You pretend you don't care. That this is just bad luck. But you want this. You want to matter."
Kairo blocks. Dodges. But every hit lands like a memory.
"You're terrified that if you unlock Zerith fully, you'll become him. That you'll destroy what little life you built."
Blade clashes with blade.
"Guess what?" the reflection grins. "You're already halfway there."
With a scream of frustration, Kairo grabs the mirror version by the collar and punches through it—barehanded.
---
> [Trial Complete.]
[Zerith's Bond Awakened: 7%]
[New Ability Unlocked: Soulbrand Echo]
"You gain strength equal to the opponent's fear of you."
The world fades.
And Kairo is left gasping in the real world—kneeling where he stood—his eyes now flickering faintly crimson.
Velra, watching from afar, whispers, "He saw him…"
Serin leans forward, alarmed. "Impossible. That memory was locked away."
And Elyra just smiles.
"The God Who Bled is rising again."
---