"Are you crazy!?"
Vice Principal Warren's roar shook the walls of his office. His voice, rough and thunderous, carried more disbelief than anger.
A fight to the death?
A life-and-death battle with the Assessment World itself?
Warren's eyes burned red. To him, this wasn't courage, it was stupidity.
That so-called "fourth test" was nothing more than a cruel joke left behind by Grimstone's founder, a bad-tempered man who loved to torment students, it was a challenge no one could complete. Never meant to be a trial or assessment it was just a climb into a mountain of despair.
Warren had seen it before. Over his long teaching career, he'd watched arrogant graduates, brimming with confidence, ignore every warning and attempt it.
They all ended the same way , crushed beneath the power of the assessment world.
It had endless alien races with perfectly balanced planes, every ruler a tyrant with terrifying might and every layer a horrible nightmare.
And though the university dressed it up with flowery words ,"A Gift from the Founder of Grimstone University" , every tutor knew the truth. It wasn't a gift, it was a devil's bargain.
Those who cleared it would indeed seize the entire world, inheriting all its resources and laws.
But no one had ever accomplished that, Instead, they lost everything: their divine domains shattered, their papers left unfinished, their pride broken beyond repair and every one of them had been forced to start anew, limping into their second year carrying nothing but shame.
"Why?" Warren's voice cracked as he finally asked. "Why would you do this to yourself?"
Cillian didn't answer at first. Silence stretched between them. The Vice Principal's fists clenched, ready to shake sense into him if he had to. But then, at last, Cillian raised his head.
"Because…"
He locked eyes with the Vice Principal.
"…Because it's there."
Warren froze.
'What?'
Cillian's words flowed.
"It is a challenge, a conquest. If this assessment is a mountain no one has ever climbed, then I believe one day, someone will, even if it costs them their life, because the mountain is there."
"The most fascinating thing about a mountain is that it remains unconquered. And because it is unconquered, exploration must never stop."
"The Endless Abyss is a world I designed. I understand it better than anyone, its potential is greater than anyone imagines. I can conquer this level, even if its difficulty reaches beyond reason, and if I cannot…"
His eyes hardened, cold with resolve.
"…then let it all dissipate here."
The office went still. Warren had no words.
⸻x———
Later, back in his dormitory, Cillian sat on the edge of his bed. His deadline pressed close, one week to perfect his divine world, there was one week before graduation, one week before the final chance to open a path to the assessment world.
He drew in a slow breath.
"Don't underestimate the enemy," he muttered.
The fourth test was no game, the earlier assessments had been nothing more than prods against the edges of the Endless Abyss. The lower sixty-six planes could never be destroyed outright, so he had never taken those trials too seriously, but this… this was different.
This was no mere legion, battle group, nor invading army, this was straight up war. A brutal clash between worlds where only one could survive.
His mind sank into the Abyss.
Sixty-six layers of planes unfolded before him, brimming with endless life. When his gaze passed, countless abyssal creatures trembled, bowing with reverence.
Terrifying to most, but to Cillian, they were warriors worthy of respect.
He thought quickly, pushing time itself faster in the Abyss so that decades of growth could pass in a heartbeat. His brain sparked with ideas, some boldly dangerous.
"I've got it."
His eyes lit with resolve.
"I'll split the primordial demons transform them. I'll burn new laws into their blood, such that from birth, they will wield strength fit for war."
"Their growth may stall, but they will be born warriors, and with the power of the Abyss, I can breed them in numbers without disrupting natural evolution."
His vision expanded, and planes became incubation pools. Seas of dark power ready to birth armies.
"Yes… I'll forge hatching grounds, but they won't be pits or gorges, entire planes will be remade as breeding pools for demon soldiers."
Without hesitation, he began.
Countless primordial demons answered his call, gathering on chosen planes. His will reshaped the land into vast incubation fields, demons were cast into the pools. Rituals ignited and boiled with injected law.
And one by one, the experiments began.
Failure came first. Many demons shattered under the violent rules burning through their veins as their bloodlines screamed and tore apart.
Cillian did not stop.
Because he knew, sooner or later, one would endure. One would adapt and survive the fire.
And that survivor would be the prototype.
The first soldier of his abyssal army.