To leave the [Tower of Fate] alive, the awakeners only had to survive for sixty seconds.
That was all the clear condition of the [Third Stage] demanded.
It sounded simple on the surface, but after Zarion fell to Sam's hand, nothing about it felt simple anymore.
The moment Zarion's body dropped, the timer began.
All the other awakeners who still stood in the chamber immediately realized that they weren't celebrating a victory.
They were staring at death with cautious eyes, and they knew it.
The Third Stage had ended, but the real threat had only just begun.
Because now, they knew the truth.
The Primordial was not some distant, unknowable existence hiding behind a mask of legend.
He was a human.
They had seen his face.
The moment even a single one of them managed to return to the real world, it would spread.
Sam's identity would be exposed, and every realm would turn on him.
Of course, Sam understood this perfectly well.
But he no longer cared.
