The moment he took out the Black Bleeding Rose from the box, everyone felt the dense Xana in it.
At first, I thought it was just a dark-colored flower but the longer I looked at it, the more wrong it felt. The petals shimmered like crystal obsidian, pulsing faintly with red lines that looked… alive. Like blood vessels. It was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I'd ever seen.
Its Xana was thick and wrong in all the right ways. Every instinct in my body screamed to step back but my feet didn't move.
"Anyone who wishes to join must touch this flower for twenty seconds and not collapse."
He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. It's as if he wasn't holding a literal death sentence disguised as a rose.
"This rose contains dense Xana far more than what an untrained body can withstand. Only a Concept Fluxer can hold it without dissolving from the inside. My maids must be strong enough to endure pressure and pain. This is the first test."
He scanned us like he was waiting to see who'd crack first.
No one moved so I did.
I don't even know why. I didn't went to be first but whatever it was, I felt my hand rise before my brain could stop it.
"I'll try, Young Master."
My voice came out steadier than I felt. My palms were cold.
He turned his head slightly. I could tell he was assessing if I'd die or not. He rose from his seat. That's when I realized how tall he really was.
According to the MoDS character profile, he was 195 centimeters, taller than the male leads, but seeing that in person was a different story. He wasn't just tall. His shadow practically swallowed mine. I was a whole 162 centimeters of confidence issues and overthinking. I probably looked like a kid about to challenge a mountain.
He pulled out his smartphone, the faint click of the screen breaking the silence.
"I'll set the timer to twenty seconds. If you collapse even after the timer ends, you fail."
There was no edge of sympathy in his tone and weirdly… that made me respect him more.
I nodded, exhaled once, and stepped forward. He held it out.
The moment the stem brushed against my skin, the dizziness slammed into me.
It was like someone had shoved the entire ocean into my veins. The pressure was instant and violent. My vision warped. I staggered a few steps back, clutching the rose harder just to stay upright.
"Breathe," I told myself. "You've handled worse."
But that was a lie. I have never handled anything like this.
My bones felt like they were melting. My nerves screamed. The Xana inside that flower was trying to enter me and tear apart every weak piece it could find. I could feel it probing through my bloodstream, searing along my arm and crawling into my chest.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted iron.
I activated Roborare fast, coating my body in a thin layer of reactive Xana, trying to fortify my tissues before the rose's density overwhelmed them. The pain dialed down a little but only a little.
Every second stretched into eternity.
Ten seconds in, I was shaking. Sweat dripped down my temples. My was hand trembling violently. By fifteen seconds I couldn't even feel my arm anymore. It was just numb heat and ringing ears. I clenched my jaw and pushed harder, forcing my Xana to sync with the rose's rhythm. I wasn't going to collapse. I refused to. I'd spent too long being the one who quit early and backed down when things got hard.
The timer beeped.
He took the flower back. The moment it left my hand, the weight disappeared and so did my strength. My knees hit the ground hard. My lungs screamed for air. Every breath felt like swallowing fire. Blood trickled from my lips and nose, dripping down to the floor. My whole body trembled from the residual surge of Xana. I couldn't even look up. I just stared at the floor, trying not to throw up from the aftershock.
When I looked up, Phasnovterich was kneeling beside me.
He didn't look smug or impressed. He reached into his pants pockets and pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief. Without a word, he offered it to me.
"You passed the first trial."
I blinked, the words taking a moment to register.
"I… passed?"
I croaked out, taking the handkerchief with trembling fingers. My voice was wrecked.
"You endured twenty seconds and remained conscious. That's all that mattered. You're eligible to try the second test."
I wiped the blood from my lips, muttered a quiet, "Thank you," and tried to stand. My legs refused.
Honestly, I was glad he didn't offer to help me up because if he had, I probably would have collapsed again. I just sat there, catching my breath,.
I didn't want to feel that way again. That flower was hell incarnate.
After I caught my breath — or what was left of it — the others started stepping forward.
One by one, girls between seventeen and twenty-five, all dressed in their pristine uniforms, approached the Black Bleeding Rose like they were about to touch death itself. I could see the same hesitation I'd felt mirrored in their eyes.
Some clenched their fists before reaching out. Some whispered small prayers. One girl even kissed her pendant before touching the stem and within seconds, she winced so hard her face twisted.
Phasnovterich stood there. He didn't need to shout or threaten anyone. Just his presence made us all move faster. When the second maid's knees buckled at the fifteen-second mark, he stepped forward and took the rose from her fingers before she could fall.
"Enough," he said softly, and she dropped, trembling but alive.
That became the pattern. Every time someone reached their limit, he knew. It didn't matter if it was twelve seconds or eighteen. His eyes would narrow just slightly and he would intervene before the collapse. He wasn't here to kill anyone. He was here to measure them.
The air was thick with the scent of Xana and blood. Some lasted five seconds. Others made it to seventeen or eighteen before their hands shook too violently to hold on. A few of the stronger ones stood their ground until their noses began to bleed, their faces pale as ash. I could see the same dizziness I'd felt, that spinning vertigo that makes you want to puke up your organs but none of them screamed.
And Phasnovterich didn't give them handkerchiefs.
He just said, "You can stand. Good. Go take a seat."
Meanwhile, here I was, clutching his handkerchief like it was a relic from the gods. Yeah, it was soaked with my blood now, and yeah, it looked like something you would throw away after a horror movie but it was his. And no, I wasn't giving it back. I'd wash it, of course. Maybe even embroider his initials on it
Eventually, the line thinned out and after what felt like hours, only thirty-nine of us were left standing. Thirty-nine out of more than a hundred managed to withstand it. No one spoke, but we all knew it. We survived something no one else in their right mind would even attempt.
"Only thirty-nine remain. That's good enough for the next round."
He snapped his fingers lightly, and just like that, the remaining staff who had been summoned began to leave. When the doors closed, it was just us and him. Thirty-nine maids were still recovering.
He adjusted his coat slightly, hands in his pockets, and said almost casually;
"The second test will be easy."
We all glanced at each other. Easy? Yeah, right. After the first one, anything that came out of his mouth with the word easy in it was probably going to involve trauma and near-death experiences. But no one dared to speak.
"You have to leave my Void Dome in thirty seconds."
For a moment, nobody moved. We all just… blinked. Leave the Void Dome? Was that a riddle? A trick? And before anyone could even open their mouth to ask, it happened.
The marble floor beneath my feet dissolved into nothingness, replaced by an endless void that shimmered faintly like liquid ink. I couldn't even tell if I was standing anymore. It felt like floating, falling and sinking all at once. I gasped. Someone screamed. The sound vanished instantly, devoured by the black.
For a moment, I thought I was dead.
But then I heard his voice echoing through the void.
"The timer has begun."
And suddenly, I realized this wasn't just about escaping. This was about surviving in his void.
Thirty seconds.
Deep down, under the panic, under the dizziness and the fear, I smiled because this was what I'd signed up for.