CHAPTER 91: RANK II TRIAL 2

The ruins of Avernus groaned as if the city itself remembered what was coming.

Rhys stood at the broken stairway, Verdant Scholar across his knees, his beasts flanking him. The trial’s condition whispered in his mind like a curse:

Survive until dawn.

The horizon answered with the first sound—low, guttural howls rolling across the dead streets like thunder. Shadows swelled. The first wave emerged.

Wave One – The Gnashers

They came crawling—skinless, doglike shapes with gaping mouths that split their heads in half. Dozens of them, claws screeching across stone, saliva sizzling where it fell.

Rhys rose to his feet. "Dogs first, then."

The first leapt—Verdant Scholar flashed, carving it in two before it touched the ground. Bounce barreled forward like a silver avalanche, his claws rending three at once, his roar sending shockwaves down the ruined streets. Puddle raised a hand, and a ring of water spikes shot outward, impaling the backline.

The Gnashers died quickly. Too quickly. Their bodies dissolved into ash, and from the silence came the next sound—heavier.

Wave Two – The Bone Prowlers

Tall, skeletal beasts loped on all fours, each the size of a carriage, skulls crowned with jagged antlers. Their bones rattled as they moved, each step cracking the ground.

Bounce lunged, but when his claws struck bone, sparks flew—these were harder prey. Rhys dashed forward, Verdant Scholar glowing bright. His blade found a ribcage, green light exploding outward, shattering five prowlers in a single sweep.

Puddle bound the antlered skulls with tendrils of shadow, slowing them, then bathed Rhys in a halo of light as he vaulted over Bounce’s back, driving his sword down through another prowler’s skull.

The wave collapsed, but the fight had already shifted. The air grew hotter. The sky darker.

Wave Three – Carrion Swarms

The buzzing came before the sight. Clouds of wings, thick and black, poured from shattered windows. Insects the size of fists, their stingers dripping acid that hissed on stone.

Rhys cursed and swung his blade in a wide arc, green fire cutting swathes through the swarm, but there were too many. They stung his arms, his neck, leaving burning welts. Bounce roared, his body coated in his own blood as he snapped at the swarm.

Puddle floated higher, her glow intensifying—Gleaming Halo burst to life, her aura forming a dome of golden radiance. The insects shrieked, sizzling in the light, dropping like ash rain.

Still, acid scorched the ground. The swarm was endless—until Bounce smashed through a toppled tower, bringing half the ruin down and burying a third of them. Rhys leapt up the rubble, Verdant Scholar blurring, slicing arcs through the last black mass until silence returned.

But already, the silence was too thin.

Wave Four – Brutes of Ironhide

The ground cracked open. Hulking figures rose—giants plated in jagged armor, faces hidden behind iron masks. Each carried rusted cleavers the size of doors.

Bounce charged first but was swatted aside by a single hammer-blow, sent tumbling into a broken archway. Rhys gritted his teeth, sprinted, ducked the first cleaver, then brought Verdant Scholar upward in a rising slash—emerald arcs splintered the mask, revealing nothing beneath but void.

Puddle cast Shadow Tendrils, binding the giant’s feet. Rhys seized the chance, vaulted onto its shoulder, and drove his sword through its neck. Emerald light detonated, scattering the void-giant into shards of smoke.

Bounce returned with vengeance, slamming claws into another brute’s knee, bringing it low. Rhys finished it with a two-handed slash that cracked its helm in half.

But for every brute that fell, more crawled from the cracks. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. The ruined plaza became a battlefield of colliding titans—Bounce bled, Puddle’s light flickered, and Rhys’s arms ached, but they fought on, the emerald runes of Verdant Scholar shining brighter with every kill.

And beyond the brutes... a deeper roar shook the city.

The roar rolled through the ruins like an earthquake, shaking dust from shattered towers and rattling broken chains that still hung across the streets. The iron-masked brutes froze mid-step, heads turning toward the sound. Even they seemed reluctant to move.

The ground split wider, green fire spilling from the cracks.

Wave Five – The Abyssal Juggernaut

It dragged itself free of the earth, a colossus of stone and molten veins, its chest a furnace of shifting magma. Its face was a grotesque fusion of skull and helm, horned and ever-burning. Each step shattered the cobblestones, and with every exhale, ash and flame poured from its mouth.

Rhys tightened his grip on Verdant Scholar, his arms trembling with fatigue but his eyes sharp. "So that’s the boss of this night..."

Bounce crouched low, his silver mane bristling, lips curling back in a snarl. Puddle floated forward, her aura blazing brighter, light and shadow twisting together around her like a storm.

The Juggernaut raised a hand the size of a boulder and slammed it into the ground. Shockwaves tore through the ruins, sending Rhys skidding back, rubble spraying into the air. Bounce dug his claws in, gouging deep furrows in the stone just to hold ground.

"Go!" Rhys barked.

Bounce leapt, slamming into the Juggernaut’s chest with enough force to topple a tower—but the beast didn’t flinch. It caught him mid-air, hurling him through a collapsed wall.

Rhys charged, emerald runes flaring across Verdant Scholar. He slashed once—twice—three times, each blow carving molten streaks into the Juggernaut’s leg. Magma blood spilled, igniting the ground.

The monster roared, swinging its colossal fist down. Rhys crossed his blade, blocking. The impact hurled him backward like a ragdoll, smashing him into a half-collapsed column. His breath ripped out in a ragged cough.

"Damn..." he spat blood.

Before the Juggernaut could press, Puddle’s voice rang clear, ancient and cold:

"Abyssal Grasp."

Black tendrils erupted from the cracked earth, wrapping around the Juggernaut’s arms, slowing it. Then—

"Gleaming Halo."

Golden light flared, bathing Rhys and Bounce, knitting flesh and bone, strength flooding back into their veins.

Rhys staggered up, fire burning in his eyes. Bounce reemerged from the rubble with a thunderous roar, silver light streaming off his claws.

Together, they surged forward—Rhys darting low, Bounce leaping high. Rhys’s blade dug deep into the Juggernaut’s leg while Bounce tore at its shoulder. The beast staggered, molten blood spraying like geysers.

"Now!" Rhys shouted.

Puddle raised both hands, water and shadow swirling into a vortex above her head. She unleashed it—

"Aqua Veil—detonate!"

The healing veil burst into raw water force, a crashing torrent that slammed into the Juggernaut’s core. For the first time, it faltered.

Rhys leapt, Verdant Scholar blazing emerald fire. His blade pierced the beast’s chest, right into the molten furnace.

"Break!"

He roared, and the sword detonated in a storm of green light, emerald vines of energy bursting outward, wrapping the Juggernaut’s frame and tearing it apart from the inside.

The colossus screamed, body crumbling into molten shards, then collapsing into ash and ember. The ground shook once more, then... silence.

The night did not end. The sky still bled red. Shadows still stirred.

But the Juggernaut was gone.

Rhys landed hard, chest heaving, sweat and blood streaking his face. Bounce padded back to his side, battered but standing, and Puddle lowered herself, her aura dim but steady.

Rhys tilted his head back at the crimson sky. "Half the night’s still left," he muttered, voice hoarse.

He smiled anyway, Verdant Scholar humming softly in his grip.

"Good. Let them come."

The silence after the Juggernaut’s fall lasted only a heartbeat. Then the ruins breathed again—whispers slithering between the broken arches, claws scraping stone, a chorus of low growls swelling from every direction.

[ Wave Six – Endless Revenants ]

Figures began to crawl from the shadows. First dozens. Then hundreds. Their eyes burned with hollow embers, their bodies little more than half-charred corpses clad in shattered armor. Each carried a broken weapon, dripping molten ichor as if fresh from the forge of hell itself.

Rhys dragged Verdant Scholar’s tip across the ground, the blade leaving trails of glowing green runes in its wake. He steadied his breath, shoulders squaring despite the exhaustion clawing at his muscles.

"They really mean endless, huh..." he muttered.

Bounce snarled, his mane lit silver with fury, blood still streaking his claws. Puddle drifted higher, her aura expanding again, twin halos of light and dark intertwining around her like wings.

The revenants charged.

The street became a flood of corpses, a wave of clanging blades and clawed hands.

"Hold the line!" Rhys barked. His voice rang sharp across the ruin.

Bounce slammed into the first group, a living silver storm, ripping revenants apart in sprays of ash and molten gore. Puddle’s hands swept outward—light bullets fanned across the horde, cutting swathes through their ranks, while shadows writhed at her feet, slowing and binding those who came too close.

Rhys stepped forward, meeting the rush head-on. Verdant Scholar arced, each slash bursting with emerald energy that carved lines of vines and flame across the revenants. They fell in pieces, only for more to crawl over the wreckage of their kin.

Minutes blurred into hours. His arms screamed, his lungs burned, and still the revenants came. The ruins themselves seemed alive now—walls dripping with bloodlight, streets pulsing like veins.

Puddle’s healing light washed over him again, staving off collapse. Bounce fought like a demon unleashed, his fur matted with blood and ash, his roar shaking the revenant horde each time he leapt.

But the sky above never shifted. Midnight stretched eternal.

At last, between waves, Rhys stood atop a mound of broken bodies, Verdant Scholar planted into the heap like a banner. His chest rose and fell in ragged heaves. Sweat and blood mixed down his jaw. His aura blazed wild, defiant, refusing to fade.

He spat, lifting his blade again. "Endless or not... I’ll cut every last one of you."

And as if the world heard him, the ruins trembled again—louder this time. The revenants stilled, their heads turning toward the horizon.

The air grew heavy. The red sky deepened into black.

[ Wave Seven – The Monarch of Night ]

From beyond the broken walls, a colossal shadow rose. Wings like torn banners unfurled, blotting out what little light remained. Its eyes burned like suns devoured, and with each step, the earth itself rotted beneath its talons.

Rhys’s grip tightened on Verdant Scholar. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

"This trial..." he whispered, "doesn’t want survivors."

Bounce crouched low, growling deep, ready to spring. Puddle’s aura flared, burning brighter than ever.

Rhys smirked, bloodied lips curling. "Good. Then let’s show it what we are."

The Monarch spread its wings and screamed—shattering the night.

And the final half of the trial began.