The cloudy sky was beginning to turn scarlet, as if the world itself understood what was about to happen. Seraphina, now with her restraint ring removed, was slowly advancing on the man known only as a cold and sadistic killer, who only laughed as he tortured all his victims.
He was still trying to look in control, with his dirty mouth twisted in a demented smile, as if he found the woman before him amusing. "I'm going to enjoy cutting you... very... slowly, so I can enjoy your screams," he said, twirling a rusty knife between his fingers. "I'll see how long you can take before begging for your life."
Seraphina didn't answer. Her eyes, previously clouded by guilt and confusion, now burned with something new: clarity. It wasn't uncontrolled anger. It was a cold, calculated and deserved judgment.
Kaine, watching from afar, noticed the change and felt a chill. "She's pretty serious now, huh? Much more so than before."
The ground around her cracked softly with each step. The pressure of her released EVP made the air thick, almost suffocating. The man, who had been smiling before, now took steps back, even though his ego refused to accept the fear.
"What the hell is this pressure coming from this mediocre little girl...?" he muttered, trying to hide the trembling in his hands. Seraphina then stopped a few meters away from him and spoke calmly: "You... like making others suffer, don't you, you bastard?!"
The man only responded with a big lunatic laugh. "Hah... hahahaha! And you're going to be next, sweetie!"
Seraphina slightly raised one of her hands. From her body, strands of black and purple EVP writhed like angry snakes. When she snapped her fingers, the ground exploded beneath the man's feet, throwing him violently into the air.
He tried to react, spinning in the air to launch a wave of shrapnel with his knives, but Seraphina simply disappeared from view and appeared behind him, with a kick that threw him like a bullet against a concrete wall, crushing him completely, followed by a great cry of pain: "Aaaaaargh!!"
"No. You don't understand." She advanced again, appearing in front of him before he could even get up. "You will not die now. I will show you what it is to make your enemy beg to stay alive until the end."
She began to break his limbs one by one, with surgical precision. The man screamed, kicked, begged and cried in pain. Each time he spat blood or tried to protest, Seraphina increased the intensity slightly.
She remembered the bodies of the victims... the expression of the woman who tried to escape... and the man's laughter before capturing her and torturing them until he could no longer. Now, it was he who cried. "You enjoyed this, didn't you?" she said, pressing his knee against the ground until a dry crack echoed. "You liked seeing the despair in your victims, the terror...?!"
The man then began to scream, begging for his life, just like his victims since he began this life of murder "AAAH, P-PLEASE... STOP!!
"I'm being kind. Because unlike you, I'm not a monster who does these kinds of things just for pure pleasure!" She knelt down, pulling his dirty and bloody face close to hers. "And yet... I'm the one who's going to kill you." Seraphina then looked up at the sky before killing him, feeling the wind brush against her blood-stained skin. Silently, she thought: "Ah! So that was it..."
Elysian's question echoed in her mind: "How long will you let your emotions rule you?" And now, she had the answer.
"It's not about suppressing emotions… but about guiding them with purpose. Emotions are weaknesses only when they control us. But when we control them… they become our most powerful weapon." Slowly, she looked down at the man's broken body, still conscious. "And now… it's over."
She pressed her hand against his chest, and with a pulse of EVP, she disintegrated his heart from within, no blood, no glory, just a silent, brutal and merciless end. The Assassin died right there, with wide eyes and dry tears.
Seraphina stood there in silence for a few moments. Then, she took a deep breath, replaced the ring on her finger and whispered to herself: "Oblivion Sage... when this mission is over... I will give my answer."
And even though blood was still running down her arm, Seraphina smiled, for the first time in a long time a serene smile... but it was also visibly painful.
As Seraphina walked away from the distorted and inert corpse of the man she had just killed without further ado, the ground beneath her feet shook slightly as if the entire field felt that the 3rd phase had been completed.
She walked back toward the central point, wiping the blood from her hands with a torn cloth from her own clothing, her face cold and firm, still illuminated by Elysian's words and the answer she had finally found within herself.
On the other side, Kaine was kneeling, holding the Sky Blue Core between his fingers, still pulsing with a weak mystical energy, signaling that the test was over. He looked at Seraphina when he saw her slowly approaching, exuding an aura that made him frown.
"Did you finish that piece of trash?" he asked, with a mixture of respect and concern. "I did better, I made sure that shit suffered until the end, and that he died just like his victims." she replied, without hesitation, the coldness still present in her voice.
Kaine then nodded with a smile on his face. "I see, are you very kind in Eun-kyung? I didn't expect you to lose your head like that before."
Seraphina, with a serious look, sensing that there was something behind Kaine's words, remained silent and only replied coldly: "Me being a kind person doesn't matter, especially in situations like the one that happened now."
But before either of them could say anything else, the ground shook again, and a mechanical noise echoed through the field. One of the walls of the terrain slowly opened, like the gears of an ancient vault. And inside, the void. A black corridor revealed itself, with only a single silver light illuminating its interior.
All ten survivors, only ten out of more than forty thousand, turned towards the opening with wide eyes. And then... he appeared.
A black silhouette walked from within the darkness. Slow, steady, almost silent steps. When he finally emerged from the shadows, he revealed himself as a simple-looking man, wearing a long dark overcoat, with short, messy black hair, pale skin and silver eyes, deep as a mirrored abyss. There was no sound around him. Even the wind seemed to stop blowing.
Seraphina froze. She recognized him. "It can't be... him of all people?" She thought, feeling a chill in her stomach.
The same man Elysian described in the mission report that appeared right after the death of Dante Vasquez, the hidden agent of the Order of Erebus. That being who appeared in spectral form, watched... and simply left. Only now... he was there in his physical body.
The man stood in front of the survivors and gave a slight smile. "Congratulations. You are the ten remaining... the survivors of the Trial of Shadows."
His voice was calm, serious, but there was something wrong with it. As if he was speaking from inside the heads of those present, and not with his mouth. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Specter. I am currently the Sixth Strongest of the Order of Erebus."
The other candidates murmured in shock. Even Kaine narrowed his eyes in seriousness. But Seraphina...she remained completely silent. Her senses were screaming. Something about this man disturbed her on a level she didn't understand. It wasn't just power—it was as if he could see her, see right through her skin, and touch her soul. As if he already knew...who she was.
"In three days," Specter continued, "there will be a celebration, a banquet as an official entrance ceremony. The Order wishes to welcome you with the appropriate honors. After all, you have all been through something that very few have survived. Enjoy. Rest. Recover."
He then turned his back, ready to leave, but his voice echoed one last time, without turning his face: "Oh... and remember one little thing. The Order always watches. Even when you think you are alone."
Seraphina felt her spine shiver. That sentence was not said for nothing. It was not for everyone. It was for her.
She watched him walk away until he disappeared into the darkness of the door. And there, alone, she clenched her fist tightly. The air around her distorted for a second before she held back her EVP again.
Kaine approached Seraphina, noticing her caution and asked quietly: "Did you know that Eun-kyung guy?"
"Not personally," Seraphina replied, sweat breaking out on her face. "But he gave me the creeps."
Kaine nodded. "I don't trust this guy at all. Nor the Order, for that matter. But... if that's what I have to face, so be it."
Seraphina fell silent. She knew. That shadow... Specter... wasn't just a strong member of the Order. He was a variable. A real threat. A silent observer. And maybe, just maybe... He already knew everything.