Chapter 8: The Trial of Dharma (1)
"Gasp…Gasp…Gasp…"
My chest heaved as I stumbled forward. The moment I crossed the paper-thin shoji door of Grandmaster Bhargav's chamber, the tatami mats and peaceful koi pond vanished behind me.
What replaced them was a field of smoke and fire.
The stench of blood clung to the air like wet cloth. Screams echoed in the distance, sharp, frantic, human. My legs wavered, not because of fatigue, but because the sight before me was something I had only ever read about—never lived through.
It was a battlefield.
Rows of armored soldiers clashed in chaos. Steel rang against steel, arrows rained from the heavens, and explosions of mana fire tore through entire lines.
I froze.
'This… this isn't in the novel. I never wrote this.'
"The Dharma Trial begins."
Bhargav's voice thundered from the sky, deep and omnipresent. His tone wasn't kind anymore. It wasn't the gentle guidance of a teacher brewing tea. It was judgment incarnate.
"Dharma is not about what you desire. It is about what must be. Today, you shall weigh the burden of justice against mercy."
My throat went dry. I scanned the battlefield with frantic eyes.
At the center, I saw a girl. No older than ten. Her black hair was tied into uneven pigtails, her white robe smeared with dirt. She stood frozen between two armies, tears streaking down her cheeks. Around her, the soldiers of humanity hesitated, their shields wavering, their courage faltering.
My chest tightened as memory slammed into me.
That girl, she never appeared in the webnovel. Not once. But I recognized her.
She was the symbolic heart of this army. In the lore of the "Lost War," there had been a nameless child who supposedly gave soldiers courage by existing proof that innocence was worth protecting. She wasn't supposed to have a face. She wasn't supposed to exist.
But here she was.
And on the other side of the battlefield?
A tide of armored invaders. Towering men with burning red eyes, their weapons dripping with malice. I didn't know them. They weren't in my book.
"Choice one," Bhargav's voice shook the air. "Protect the child. Let her live. Watch the army crumble as morale shatters. Humanity shall perish."
The scene shifted, fast-forwarding like a broken reel of film. I saw the child clutching her chest, alive. Behind her, the army collapsed. Humanity's cities burned. The Nexus Council was overrun. My parents. My little sister. Dead.
"Choice two," Bhargav's voice cut through again, harder than steel. "Sacrifice the child. Her blood will ignite resolve. The army will rise. Thousands live. Humanity holds the line another day."
Another reel of vision flashed. The girl lay dead on the soil, an arrow through her chest. The army roared with fury, pushing back the invaders with blazing conviction. Humanity lived.
"What will you choose, Kael Arden?"
I froze. My legs trembled.
My stomach twisted violently as bile rose up my throat.
Sacrifice a child? A real, living child?
I wasn't some cold-blooded strategist. I wasn't a general, I wasn't even a soldier. I was a reader. I had only ever judged these choices from behind a screen, typing stupid comments like, "Come on MC, it's obvious you pick the greater good."
But now?
Now the screams of the child clawed at my ears. Her small frame shivered as she looked around, unable to move. She was terrified. She was real.
My hands shook as I tightened them into fists.
"No… no, this is insane. This isn't real. It's just a trial. It's an illusion—"
"Dharma is not illusion."
Bhargav's voice crashed like thunder.
"The world shall present you with choices not written in your book. Choices where every path is bloodstained. If you seek strength, you must learn to choose."
The words slammed into me. My breath caught.
He was right. In my old world, I had always thought about morality like it was simple math: kill one, save a hundred. Easy. Clean.
But standing here, staring at that child's trembling shoulders, there was nothing clean about it. There was only filth.
My mind screamed for an out, for some hidden third option. Maybe I could grab the girl and rally the soldiers without her dying. Maybe I could fight the invaders myself. Maybe—
"There is no third path."
Bhargav's voice was merciless.
"In Dharma, to delay choice is to choose cowardice. Cowardice breeds ruin. Decide."
The armies pressed closer. The ground shook as they clashed. Arrows whistled. Fireballs detonated. Soldiers screamed as steel split flesh.
The girl turned her head. Her wide eyes locked onto mine.
"P-please… help me…"
My heart shattered.
I stumbled forward, every nerve screaming at me to grab her and run. But I stopped. I forced myself to freeze.
If I saved her, everyone else would die.
If I killed her, she would die.
There was no justice here. No peace. Only Dharma—duty without comfort.
I bit down so hard I tasted blood. My vision blurred as tears mixed with sweat.
My axe trembled in my hand.
I raised it.
My lips quivered as a whisper escaped me. "I'm sorry…"
The axe fell.
The girl's eyes widened. Her scream was cut short. Blood splattered against my face. The world blurred into crimson.
The battlefield froze. Every soldier stopped. They looked at the fallen child, at her blood soaking the soil.
Then, like wildfire, fury ignited.
The army roared. Shields slammed together. Spears thrust forward. Soldiers bellowed with rage and pain, charging as one.
The invaders stumbled under the assault. Fire lit the sky. Humanity's line held.
The vision shattered into fragments of light, scattering like broken glass.
I fell to my knees, choking on sobs I didn't realize were mine. My axe slipped from my grasp, thudding against the ground.
"Choice made."
Bhargav's voice rumbled with finality.
"You have chosen Dharma not mercy, not desire. You have chosen duty."
I curled in on myself, my shoulders shaking violently. My chest ached as if I'd just torn a piece of my soul out with my own hands.
> "Do not forget this pain, Kael Arden."
Bhargav's words echoed in my skull, louder than the screams.
"Dharma is the path where joy and grief are inseparable. Only by carrying this burden may you step toward righteousness."
The battlefield melted away. The fire, the blood, the child—all dissolved into mist.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in a new place.
A quiet village. A warm breeze. Birds sang overhead. My parents stood in the distance, waving. My little sister laughed as she ran into the fields, her tiny hands reaching for me.
My heart stopped.
And Bhargav's voice returned, soft but piercing.
"The second trial begins. Desire."