Arthur walked in silence alongside several elders as they followed the middle-aged man leading them up the mountain path. The air here was thinner from the rest of the sect, as they were nearly at the top of the mountain.
At the head of the group was the Sect Master of the Spirit Pagoda sect himself, his hands folded behind his back while his measured pace conveyed neither urgency nor hesitation, Arthur came to know that his name was Liwei. He had already sensed that this place was important long before they arrived, yet the closer they drew, the somber the atmosphere became.
They soon arrived before a structure that immediately drew Arthur's attention as it revealed itself gradually through the mist.
It stood apart from the surrounding architecture like a relic from another age, a towering pagoda forged from a pitch-black material that reflected no light. Its surface appeared dull, but if one looked closer they would find out how smooth the surface was.
Each tier of the pagoda extended outward with sharply curved eaves, layered one above another until the top vanished into low clouds, giving the unsettling impression that the tower might be taller than what the eye could perceive. No decorative carvings adorned its surface, there were no banners or inscriptions indicating its origin, and yet the absence of ornamentation only deepened the sense of solemn authority it radiated.
Arthur slowed slightly, studying the structure with quiet interest. From the first glance using Analysis he understood whatever this artifact was, it was far older than the sect that guarded it.
Liwei stopped a short distance from the entrance and turned to face him. The casual composure he normally carried was gone, replaced by a seriousness that bordered on reverence.
"My master," Liwei began, his voice measured, "who was also the previous Sect Master, discovered this artifact deep within an ancient ruin. We do not know who created it, nor do we know its true limits. What we do know is that everything our sect has become was built upon the opportunities this pagoda provides."
Arthur listened without interrupting, sensing that this was not a rehearsed explanation but something closer to a warning passed down through generations.
"This pagoda," Liwei continued, gesturing toward the towering structure, "is not merely a treasure, it is a trial ground. Every disciple who enters is tested, and those tests could be anything. The pagoda shapes those scenarios itself. Some face battlefields, others confront illusions. Some must comprehend truths beyond their understanding, while others are forced to confront their own demons. There is no pattern, and there is no fairness."
One of the elders beside him shifted slightly, as though recalling something unpleasant.
"Once a trial is passed," Liwei said, "the participant may choose to continue deeper for greater rewards. But you must understand this clearly: the difficulty does not increase gradually. It escalates exponentially. Many promising disciples believed they could endure one more trial… never returned."
He stepped closer, his gaze steady on Arthur.
"Do not allow confidence to become arrogance. If you feel the trial is beyond you, withdraw. Your future holds far more value than proving yourself inside a relic that has already claimed enough lives."
Arthur nodded, acknowledging the warning without treating it lightly. He could feel that Liwei's concern was genuine, even though there was expectation on his face.
"Place your hand there," Liwei instructed, pointing toward a shallow groove carved into the outer wall. It was shaped unmistakably like a human palm.
Arthur approached under the watchful eyes of the gathered elders and the sect master. The surface of the pagoda felt cool beneath his skin, and there was a faint, almost imperceptible vibration after he touched it, as if the pagoda was alive. The moment his palm settled into the groove, space folded without warning as he felt he was being teleported to somewhere.
…
Arthur slowly opened his eyes to darkness.
It was not the darkness of night, but an endless void that swallowed everything. He had lost count of the years he was imprisoned in this god forsaken place.
Cold metal spikes pierced through his limbs and torso, anchoring him to something unseen beyond the darkness. Chains attached with those spike's ends extended into the void, and were taut and unmoving, their weight preventing even the smallest motion he wanted to make. Blood dripped somewhere below from his ever present and regenerating wounds, though he could not see the ground it fell upon.
He gritted his teeth with tears streaming from his eyes, it felt like he was going through his worst nightmare.
It was less than a year since he had been transmigrated in this new universe, after his death in the junkyard. Within a few months he had joined ECHO, thrown himself into humanity's defense, fought with everything he possessed because that was who he had always been. He remembered his first mission where he got his hand on an artifact that allowed him to travel to different universes.
Everything was going well and he even found the love of his life, that was when a terrifying enemy attacked the Milkyway galaxy.
It was the entity that was worshiped by their enemies, a demon. Before he could even fight the being he was captured by it.
And Arthur watched powerless with his own eyes, as the demon destroyed humanity piece by piece. Cities burned, fleets after fleets destroyed. He saw friends die, his comrades fall, and entire worlds reduced to ashes.
Then while probing his memories the demon found out about Thyrandel and the Obelisk that allowed him to travel to a different universe. That was when his worst nightmare started, the demon found out about his lover and tortured Selene for months before finally killing her in front of his eyes after finding out Arthur wasn't able to feel pain.
Arthur's breathing grew uneven as the demon forced him to relive what he was trying his hardest to forget.
He remembered her screams, he remembered not being able to do anything. And worst of all, he couldn't even kill himself.
Then the demon tortured Lisa, Kai and his friends and killed them and all the citizens of Avalon had the same fate, by then Arthur was numb with pain.
But the demon didn't kill him, in fact he had tried multiple times and failed to do so. So he found pleasure torturing Arthur by making him see all his friends and loved ones get killed before him without being able to do anything. Everytime the demon appeared before Arthur, he cursed him and promised the worst torture but the demon just laughed at him.
Arthru coughed up blood again, the spikes he was impaled by prevented his regeneration to close the wound. Every time his regeneration tried to do so, the spikes would spin and exacerbate his wounds, but he felt no pain even with the terrible wounds.
Just then he felt a presence approach him and the demon appeared before him. A massive shape materialized before him, the demon was impossibly large, its body more than a mile tall.
"Still alive?" the demon's voice rumbled, and it was filled with amusement. "Good, I was not finished with you."
Even though he felt no pain, yet the weight of helplessness pressed harder than any physical torture.
"Look who I have found." The demon said and opened his huge palm in front of him. The wounded figure on the palm was Steve bound in chains, and he was unconscious.
Arthur sighed with sorrow, feeling the last person he knew was also going to die.
Steve stirred from his unconsciousness and finally his eyes landed on Arthur's skewered figure, but they were not filled with sympathy or relief, but with fury and hate, intense hate.
"It's all because of you!" he exclaimed as he pointed his trembling finger at Arthur.
The words struck him harder than any blow. Arthur lowered his head at the acquisition, he did not argue, he knew it was his fault.
"Selene wouldn't have died, all those lives of Thyrandel wouldn't have perished if only you hadn't come to our planet! It's all your fault!" Arthur flinched hearing Selene's name and tears started to appear in his dried eyes again remembering her last moments and the loving gaze she looked at him with even till her last breath.
He gritted his teeth as he looked at the demon with red eyes ignoring Steve's curses, promising to himself to take revenge for everyone.
Time lost meaning after that, days, months, years he lost track of them. The demon returned again and again, always to remind him of failure, always to reopen wounds that could not heal.
And yet… something began to change. At first it was only fragments at first, memories that did not align with what he knew.
The first memory was of him fighting the demon in a desolate world, a fight he did not remember fighting. But what confused him was he was actually fighting on par with the demon, but he doesn't remember ever being able to do so.
Arthur frowned, and days after days such memories started to appear on his mind, he was extremely confused and felt he was just hallucinating about what could have been possible. He shook his head to remove those thoughts but they started to appear more frequently and he even ignored the demon who comes once in a while to taunt him.
The contradiction grew stronger, then suddenly one day it all came to him, all the memories until he entered the pagoda and this fabricated realm could no longer sustain itself.
Arthur slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes, he saw the demon laughing but his figure was slowly vanishing in front of his eyes.
Now he understood. "You are not real," He said quietly. "I have already defeated you."
A second later, the darkness fractured and the illusion shattered like glass.
He found himself floating in a boundless black space, but there were no spikes impaling him this time.
Then a voice, neither a male nor a female, spoke directly into his mind.
Arthur did not hesitate and only uttered a single word, "Yes."
And a white light blinded him.
***
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