NOVEL NEXT Chapter 238: Bridge
Lyrisa sheathed her scimitars slowly, the tip of one blade brushing the ground. Her gaze flicked to Vathrian. Then to the other houses who had watched without interfering. Then back to Damien, still seated, utterly still, death energy pulsing gently around him.
She exhaled slowly and stepped back, returning to her cushion.
If Nyxara could hold back, so could she. There might still be use for the others before this inheritance was through. No one passed JerAxle's trials alone.
And Damien…
He remained silent, his presence growing denser by the minute. The longer she watched, the more certain she became, he wasn't just refining death energy. He was becoming it.
Damien continued to sit quietly within the protective beam of light, utterly motionless, a statue immersed in silent contemplation. The entire hall was silent now, the air heavy with tension and unease. It was unusual for comprehension trials to extend this long. Hours had long ago become days, and now three full days had passed, each second marked by growing uncertainty.
Vathrian paced restlessly at the edge of the gathering, his impatience increasingly visible. He finally turned his narrowed gaze upon Lyrisa, irritation boiling over into open hostility.
"What is he doing in there?" Vathrian demanded sharply, his voice echoing through the still chamber. "No one else took this long. Who exactly is he, and what sort of secret is he hiding?"
Lyrisa didn't even look his way. Her gaze remained fixed calmly forward, posture relaxed yet alert. Vathrian approached a step closer, his voice dipping lower, carrying threat and urgency.
"You owe us answers," he hissed. "At the very least, tell us his background. What is his elemental mastery?"
In response, Lyrisa turned toward him slowly, her expression devoid of emotion, her eyes coldly defiant. With deliberate slowness, she drew one scimitar from its sheath, the sound sharp and decisive in the tense silence. She lifted the blade, pointing it directly at his throat. Her message needed no words: take one more step, and you'll lose your head.
Vathrian's expression darkened dangerously, his body coiling with suppressed fury. Yet he dared not move. After their previous confrontation, he understood very clearly that Lyrisa was neither bluffing nor hesitant. He retreated a step, jaw clenched tightly.
The chamber remained wrapped in oppressive silence for several long moments. Even Nyxara, the coolly detached observer, allowed her eyes to flicker briefly toward Lyrisa with veiled interest.
"At least tell us where he's from," A pretty drow from a neutral faction said, her tone calm yet carrying a subtle note of authority. "His origin and elemental affinity are relevant to us all."
Lyrisa, maintaining her silence thus far, finally answered with a casual shrug, her tone indifferent.
"I don't know where he's from," she said quietly, her voice carrying faint echoes of the exhaustion and tension she had held back. "But his elemental mastery is..."
Before Lyrisa could finish, Damien's beam of protective light abruptly vanished, shattering the silence. An overwhelming, terrifying wave of death energy exploded outward from him, a devastating tidal surge that slammed mercilessly into every other drow in the room.
The violent power was so intense, so utterly pure, that all ninety-four remaining drows aside from Lyrisa and Nyxara staggered back, paling visibly as they scrambled desperately to resist Damien's overwhelming aura. Even the strongest among them clenched their jaws and summoned every ounce of their strength to hold firm against the relentless force washing over them.
"Death," Damien spoke, his voice resonating deeply, each word carrying the weight of absolute certainty. His heavy gaze fell upon Vathrian, eyes glinting coldly, dangerously. "My elemental mastery... is death."
Vathrian took only a brief moment to regain his composure, his eyes narrowing with disdainful skepticism. "Death?" he sneered contemptuously. "Death has no place here, within the heart of darkness. You'll perish long before the fifth trial arrives. Hmph."
Damien's expression remained unchanging, indifferent to Vathrian's petty scorn. His silence spoke volumes more than any retort.
With Damien's emergence, the second trial finally concluded. Despite its tense moments, it had ultimately provided rewards more than obstacles; all remaining drows had strengthened their elemental mastery, none falling to the challenge. Yet, as the ominous voice announced their progress, a renewed wariness settled over the gathering, alertness and caution intensifying sharply.
"Be careful," Lyrisa murmured quietly to Damien, moving close enough that her voice was for him alone. "The third trial should be far more difficult."
Damien nodded calmly, gaze steady and resolute. They stepped together toward the next portal, and the scenery once again transformed before their eyes.
Before them stretched a massive bridge, narrow and impossibly long, suspended above an endless chasm shrouded in shadowy mist. The bridge itself appeared ancient, carved of smooth obsidian stone, inscribed with intricate runes glowing faintly in dim blue hues.
The ominous voice resonated once again, clear and authoritative. "The third trial—Sky Bridge of Wills. Cross the bridge to reach the fourth trial."
All ninety-seven participants lined up silently along the bridge's entrance, eyeing the structure with suspicion and wary hesitation. None moved forward, each waiting cautiously, determined to first observe the fate of whoever dared take the first step.
Damien did not hesitate. He stepped confidently forward onto the bridge. Instantly, a powerful force struck his mind, flooding his senses with vivid imagery, sharp and painful. Memories surged uncontrollably, raw emotions amplifying intensely.
He saw clearly, vividly, the moment he'd awakened into E-rank. He felt the sharp shock, the bitter dismay. He felt again the crushing, overwhelming disappointment, rage, and disgust in his grandfather's eyes.
Those emotions surged through him again, magnified to painful clarity. His legs nearly buckled beneath him, breath momentarily seizing in his lungs. But Damien grit his teeth fiercely, solidifying his intent and took another resolute step forward, feet steadying with determination.
Every gaze was locked upon him, the assembled drow watching with intense curiosity and wariness. From the edge of the bridge, Vathrian spoke sharply, voice edged with impatience.
"What did you feel? What happened?" Vathrian demanded.