Chương 35: Endure

"What do I have to do?" Gray asked." Tobari has dominated your core, taking your soul hostage. You must make the entity submit and force it into a partnership," Gozen replied. Gray let out a hollow laugh.

"I'm starting to think I need to get used to being violated. First, the Primordial trying to posses my body, and now my own weapon holds me for ransom." Gozen brushed him off with a flick of his wrist.

"You'll adjust. Just wait until someone attempts to rip the core straight from your chest."

"Ex… extract it?" Gray stammered.

"It's a remarkably common practice," Gozen murmured, inspecting his fingernails.

"Ava mentioned it before. It is entirely possible to implant a stolen core into a new vessel, granting the recipient the victim's class and all of their accumulated power. The success rate is abysmal, naturally. But a little risk never stopped desperate people from trying." A metallic scent suddenly filled the room as a pool of fresh blood expanded on the floorboards beside Gozen. Ava sprang upward from the crimson puddle, sending residual drops splattering across the wood.

"My floor!" Gozen roared, instantly materializing a vacuum cleaner to clean the mess.

"Why do you insist on terrorizing the boy?" Ava snapped, folding her arms across her chest and ignoring the frantic cleaning at her feet.

"He has to know eventually," Gozen argued over the hum of the machine.

"Ignorance is a guaranteed death sentence for him, especially now that he bears the legacy of Shroud." Ava scoffed, rolling her eyes at the theatrics, and vanished in a blink, teleporting straight back to the kitchen. The reality of Gozen's warning settled into Gray. It didn't matter if he was walking the streets of Earth or surviving on this harsh, foreign planet; human greed was a universal constant.

If you possessed something unique—something truly powerful—there would always be predators lurking in the shadows, willing to gut you for it. Being gifted this formidable class fueled his drive to become stronger, but that fierce determination was tied to the curse he'd been dealt. Gray had to be ready to face whatever nightmare this world hurled his way, and towering above them all was the looming threat of the Primordial himself.

"Tell me how to complete my Soul Bond," Gray demanded, the hesitation gone from his voice as his expression hardened. Gozen clicked the vacuum off. He raised a brow, tilting his head at the boy's sudden shift in demeanor, and cleared his throat into his fist.

"The task is simple. Less difficult, than it is hard. Your only goal is to endure."

"Endure?" Gray echoed.

"Your blade has hijacked your core, and it will test your will to see if you are truly worthy of wielding it." Gray tightened his fists.

"What exactly will I be fighting?"

"Your own urge to flee," Gozen replied smoothly.

"Your will to stay inside the trial." Gray lifted a skeptical eyebrow.

"And what happens if I fail?"

"Nothing," Gozen said.

"But know this: the soul blade has clamped down on your control over your core until you beat the trial. In other words—no abilities, no magic, and no cultivation." Furrowing his brows, Gray extended his palm, instinctively reaching for the familiar spark inside his chest to conjure a cloud of smoke. He felt emptiness. Nothing happened.

"You can attempt the test as many times as you wish," Gozen continued, his tone grim.

"But therein lies the true danger. You do not want to fail too often. To lose that mental battle over and over… will eventually break you."

"Break me?" Gray whispered, a chill creeping up his spine.

"As in…" Gozen pointed a finger at his temple and twirled it in a slow, spiraling motion. Gray squinted at him.

"So, I'm going to go insane?" Gozen nodded slowly.

"Your trial will be an absolute test of will. When I had to tame Kumo, the ordeal lasted for over a year. But I wasn't fighting monsters. I was forced to sit in a haze, with absolutely nothing for company besides the ghosts of my past." Gray's gaze dropped to the Soul Blade still resting in Gozen's grip.

"You know what? You can go ahead and destroy my blade now." Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Actions have consequences, kid. Own up to your responsiblities. Besides, spending a year in solitary confinement was a breeze. You aren't that soft, are you?"

"But didn't it make you… you know, lose your mind?" Gray asked. Gozen snorted, throwing his arms wide in a grand, theatrical gesture.

"Do I look insane to you? I'm perfectly normal!" He threw his head back and roared with a booming, unhinged laughter.

"Right," Gray muttered under his breath.

"Perfectly normal…" He rubbed his face, trying to process the scale of the danger.

"But a full year? How am I supposed to spend that long in a trial while I'm still participating in this death game?"

"Time flows differently inside your core," Gozen explained, finally reigning in his laughter.

"Months in there equate to mere seconds out here." He clapped his hands together, the sharp crack echoing through the room.

"Enough stalling! To initiate the trial, project your consciousness inward, exactly as Ava taught you." Gray sank back onto the hardwood floor and crossed his legs. Drawing a slow, centering breath, he shut his eyes and commanded his focus inward. Core. Instantly, the ambient hum of the house was snuffed out. His vision plunged into total, suffocating darkness. But instead of the familiar, misty gray expanse of his inner domain, a ceiling of logs slowly materialized above him.

Soft cotton brushed against his fingertips, and a plush pillow cradled his neck. He was lying on a mattress. Frowning in confusion, Gray kicked the blanket aside and sat up. He was inside a rustic cabin. Sturdy, stacked timber formed the walls, framing a stone fireplace that sat cold and empty next to a simple writing desk. Sunlight slanted through a single glass pane, illuminating the dancing dust motes suspended in the air. After swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he stood.

The floorboards groaned under his weight, and outside, a chorus of chirping birds and the rhythmic, buzzing drone of cicadas bled through the walls. He stepped toward the window and peered through the glass. A sea of tall, wild grass swayed gently in the breeze, rolling out toward a dense and imposing treeline. It was peaceful. Unsettlingly peaceful. Gray approached the solid oak door. Before reaching for the brass knob, he tapped his ring, willing his spatial storage to summon his daggers. Nothing happened.

He tried again, furrowing his brow as he vividly imagined the familiar weight of the hilts in his palms. His hands remained empty. A spike of panic lodged into his chest. With his heart racing, he pivoted to his backup plan.

"Status," he commanded. The familiar blue interface refused to appear. Stripped of his magic, his weapons, and his system, the only thing left standing before him was the heavy wooden door. For the first time since arriving in this foreign world, Gray felt entirely naked. It had barely been a week since he first accessed the System, yet its sudden absence sent a wave of anxiety into his head. He had come to rely on its glowing blue text and power for his very survival.

Having it stripped away felt like a phantom limb. Steeling his nerves, Gray eased the heavy oak door open, anxious to face whatever awaited him in this unarmed state. He stepped out into a vibrant, emerald expanse. A meticulously maintained garden stretched out before the cabin, framed by towering, leafy trees and vast fields blanketed in wildflowers. Creatures resembling birds—though their wings and bodies glinted with polished metal—dipped and dived across the mirrored surface of shallow ponds. It was a paradise.

Day One The shift in the weather was violent and instantaneous. The pristine blue sky vanished, swallowed in the blink of an eye by a sea of dark-gray storm clouds. A light, icy drizzle dotted his skin, and within seconds, it escalated into a torrential downpour. Gray hastily retreated into the cabin, leaning his entire body weight against the rising gale to force the door shut. Unsure of his next move, he turned his attention to the wooden desk. It was completely ordinary.

No cryptic clues were carved into the surface, and the small drawers yielded nothing but dust. I suppose that's the point, he thought, drumming his fingers restlessly against the wood. The blade intends to test my willpower by boring me to death. He sank into the stiff chair, staring blankly at the log wall for a grueling, agonizing ten seconds before his ADHD hijacked his patience. Deciding he'd rather brave a supernatural thunderstorm than wait it out in an empty cabin, Gray sprang to his feet.

But the very instant his fingers curled around the brass doorknob, a splintering crack exploded directly above him. The fucking roof of the cabin ripped completely off. Gray tilted his head up, mouth falling agape at the open-roof cabin. Rain poured in without mercy, instantly drenching him to the bone. But the missing roof was just the start. The structural logs surrounding him groaned, shrieking under the atmospheric pressure. One by one, they peeled away, violently sucked into the swirling vortex above.

The mattress was the next to vanish, followed closely by the desk, spiraling upward into the heavens alongside uprooted trees and chunks of the cabin's foundation. Desperate not to be swept into the tornado, Gray dropped to his knees. He threw his arms around the heavy wood of the door, clutching the opposing knobs in a vice grip. Beneath him, the remaining floorboards splintered and ascended into the chaos, leaving nothing but the freestanding doorframe, the closed door, and a helpless Gray anchored to the earth.

The surrounding forest was being systematically erased. Massive oaks were violently ripped from the ground, their deeply embedded roots snapping like dry twigs. A flock of those metallic birds desperately flapped their wings in a futile attempt to escape, but they didn't stand a chance against the hurricane's sheer velocity. Then, it was Gray's turn. The doorframe finally tore loose from the dirt, taking Gray along for the ride.

Suddenly airborne, he spun helplessly inside the raging gale, the world reduced to a dizzying blur as flying debris pelted his battered body. Through the storm, a gigantic tree trunk hurtled directly into his flight path. Gray scrambled in midair, frantically kicking his legs in a hopeless attempt to dodge the massive projectile, but physics was not on his side. Bonk. His world went completely black.