All ten of us stood in a wide circle. The others barely hid their anxiousness at my appearance, visibly keeping their distance. Other than Morgan of Valor of course.
She comfortably stood by my side, talking to the others, to which I barely listened.
I paid more attention to Morgan herself... so she wouldn't recognize me of course.
After all, any such conflict would result in me losing the gate, or being "spawn camped" as I heard a few kids call it a while back.
Both options were bad, so it was better to stay cautious.
The next problem. Morgan's cohort is going to be an issue.
If I use anything except my armor it will give me away instantaneously.
Sure, teleporting wasn't that rare, but my style? Speed of it? It's a dead giveaway.
And so, I would need to limit myself to the armor's capabilities. And of course, [Fear].
None had truly realized what it was yet, and I could just lessen its impact on the victims.
The perfect strategy!
I turned my attention back to the conversation happening around me, only for my blood to freeze solid in a second.
Morgan's eyes drilled into the faceplate of the onix armor, and I could almost see anger hidden behind her usual calm exterior.
There was a long pause, before the woman sighed.
"You weren't listening at all, were you?"
I shamelessly shook my head in the negative, shrugging my shoulders.
Which honestly looked more like I was rolling them.
I cut off the unending surge of thoughts, focusing on the matter at hand.
Morgan was carefully explaining the situation, or rather, doing it again for my benefit.
Pretty simple stuff. Get in, find each other, understand the scenario, and complete it. In summary at least.
In the trial itself, anything could happen. One of us could die and no one would know until the trial ended.
Grouping up is also difficult, considering the spell usually changes your form.
And of course, there could be downright terrific threats around any corner.
Simple stuff.
I almost snorted out loud but barely managed to hold it in. I silently commanded the armor to form a cloth-like material around my mouth, which then tightened.
It was harder to breathe, but it was necessary, besides, it is only temporary.
I nodded once Morgan gave me a look; she probably thought I had zoned out again, judging by her expression.
She nodded back, then turned to the whole larger-than-normal cohort again.
"Now, you all should familiarize yourselves with each other. Names and more importantly, capabilities."
She paused, outstretching a hand in my direction.
"The person next to me here is the person the gate was reserved for, so all of you should be polite and thankful."
She paused once more, her gaze narrowing.
"You may address him as Joe. He cannot speak. He is a defensive as well as an offensive vanguard type of warrior, with great utility."
She turned her gaze to me.
"Would you mind showing any examples of your abilities?"
I thought it over for a moment, before shrugging.
My head cocked to the side slightly, the handle connecting to nothing becoming visible to all of them.
I slowly grasped it in my fake arm, then quickly detached it.
The simple fully black handle suddenly wasn't so simple anymore.
As I poured soul essence into the handle. Which quickly started glowing with menacing black light, grayish white markings appearing on it.
Then it changed shape, becoming thicker and longer.
Then suddenly, in a single moment, a gigantic blade formed, spanning almost two meters.
Unlike the handle, it was pitch black, with black motes emanating from it from time to time.
It was a greatsword.
I presented it to Morgan's eyes, and she quickly deduced the rank.
"Ascended."
She simply noted.
I stepped backwards, forcing the hilt to extend, grasping it with the second arm as well.
I raised and outstretched my arms straight, focusing more essence into the blade itself.
Meanwhile, my will forced itself upon [Warp].
Suddenly, without any warning, the ground around the circle of Awakened vanished into thin air, leaving only gouges in the ground.
Barely a second later, six trees fell next to us.
The greatsword vanished as quickly as it had appeared, my arm stretching out to reattach the handle to the top of my back.
Next, I used my normal [Warp] in quick succession, almost in the place.
The continuous and instantaneous movement creating blurry versions of me.
Morgan walked towards the left-most one, outstretching a hand towards me.
Only to be greeted by thin air, as the image dissipated.
I looked at her, and I'm sure even behind the dark helmet, my shock was visible.
She lowered it slowly, turning her gaze to me.
"I take it that's a bad idea?"
I nodded, surprised at her.
She could have lost an arm, or most likely. I would have lost my entire torso.
"Anything else you'd like to show?"
Morgan finally asked after a long moment of tense silence.
I thought it over for a moment.
Before slowly cocking my head to the side.
As my head tilted centimeter by centimeter, others started to feel it.
A downright oppressive and brutal presence.
Their spines tingled, fingers twitched violently, and their stomachs churned.
Ever so slowly, the pressure climbed.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and the pressure vanished as soon as it had appeared.
It was none other than Morgan, her own fingers twitching ever so slightly under the armor.
But the others, I could almost feel their palpable fear, as if it were a physical thing.
Ignoring the others for now, I turned to Morgan, tapping two fingers of my right arm against my left wrist, then pointing to the nightmare seed.
Luckily, she understood quickly, her body turning back to the awakened and approaching them.
"Ten minutes or so."
***
All of us stood in a line, Sunless and Morgan further back as if encouraging us to step forward.
I breathe in, then out, stepping forward first. We were wasting time.
The others followed my lead one by one, some visibly anxious about the upcoming trial.
I couldn't blame them, I was anxious myself. After all, I had never truly had a trial before.
Finally, we reached the gate, our forms connecting with it, then blurring, then vanishing.
[Awakened! Prepare for your second trial...]
The voice of the Spell was suddenly heard all around me, no. Inside my very mind, it's cold and absolute voice grading on my nerves.
[Ten brave ones... Welcome to the nightmare!]
And with that, my vision faded to black.
Thanks for reading and the support!