Born In Ashes: The Enigma

In his life on Earth, Azrael had experienced many different types of despair.

The despair of being trapped in a place without seeing the sun for months or even years.

The despair of losing his loved ones. The despair of watching the people responsible for his suffering walk freely, laughing and mocking him while he could do nothing but cry silently.

The despair of starving for weeks, to the point where even his own body began to consume itself just to keep him alive. The despair of being treated as an experimental subject by people who tore his body apart piece by piece, while he could only scream in pain and do nothing to change his fate.

There were many moments of despair he had faced. However, the one that left the greatest wound on his soul was the despair of having his hopes shattered.

It was around one and a half years after he had been thrown into the experimental lab when, one day, he got the opportunity to escape from that hellhole.

Because the person responsible for watching over him had forgotten to properly lock his prison door after the experiments for the day were finished, Azrael managed to get out of the prison room that had been his home for almost a year and a half.

As someone who had been subjected to countless experiments, his body had long since stopped being human, and by then, he was already stronger than most adults.

As he made his way through the lab in his attempt to escape, he encountered a few people. But with his enhanced strength, he successfully killed them, and a spark of hope ignited in his nearly dead heart.

After capturing a man and forcing him to give information about the exit, he quickly ran in that direction and finally reached the lab's exit door.

Seeing the door—the only thing standing between him and the outside world, between him and the sunlight he hadn't seen in over a year, his long-dead emotions began to stir.

The excitement of finally escaping from that hellhole, the excitement of finally being free, and the excitement of perhaps—just perhaps—making all of them pay for what they had done.

As those emotions awakened, he could no longer hold back. It was as if his very body generated strength beyond its limits, and with only a few punches, he shattered the iron door.

As the door broke, he finally felt the warm light of the sun again after all those years.

A burst of exhilaration surged through him as he stepped into the light.

But… instead of warmth, instead of the joy he had imagined, what he saw felt like being plunged into a pool of ice-cold water.

There was no freedom or paradise beyond that door.

What awaited him instead were the amused smiles of people staring at a large screen, their eyes filled with satisfaction—as if they were deeply pleased by the performance of the product they had created.

Among them, he saw a familiar face—a scarred man, the one responsible for watching over him—the one who had forgotten to lock the door.

Now, that man was standing there with a smirk on his face.

'So it was just their game, huh…'

That thought struck Azrael instantly, and his body began to tremble with rage.

But before he could utter a single word, the scarred man pressed a button on the remote in his hand.

Azrael's body instantly lost all its strength and collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Hearing the mocking laughter of the crowd and feeling their ridiculing gazes pierce through him, Azrael didn't even feel anger.

In that moment, it was as if the final spark of emotion within him died.

All he felt was utter hopelessness and the cold, suffocating darkness of despair that seemed to swallow him whole.

The Eonrift Trial reminded Azrael of that very moment.

Earlier, when he had received the notification to exit the Eonrift after killing Rose, his emotions mirrored what he had felt back then.

The feeling of finally completing his trial and receiving the best rewards for his efforts.

He just had to press "Yes" to leave the Eonrift, and beyond that lay the things that could help him realize his dream—

The dream of finally being able to walk forward on his own, with a clear path that would allow him to become strong enough so that he would never have to endure anything like what he had suffered on Earth again.

However, if he had chosen to leave the Eonrift at that moment, instead of receiving the rewards and progress he had imagined, what awaited him would have been the crushing realization that he had failed the trial.

He would have once again felt the agony of having all his hopes shattered.

'It's good that I realized everything in time, otherwise…'

Azrael shuddered just thinking about what would have happened if he had left right after killing Rose.

That feeling—of having all your hopes utterly crushed—was one of the most painful things he had ever experienced.

Something that he never wanted to feel again.

After seeing through the trial's trap, Azrael finally understood why it was called a Despair-Level Trial.

Most of the opponents he had faced in this trial had been far stronger than him. But they weren't the main challenge.

The true challenge was understanding the nature of the trial and overcoming it.

As Azrael swung Fallen Star, the man's head was cleanly severed from his body, and at that exact moment, Azrael sensed something shift around him.

(You have completed your Eonrift Trial)

A notification flashed before his eyes, and the world around him began to crumble into fragments.

(You will be transported out of the Trial Ground of the Eonrift)

Another notification followed, and his body began to fade away.

This time, he wasn't given any choice about whether he wanted to leave or not—he was simply taken away.

As his body began to vanish, Azrael looked around at the disintegrating world and a faint smile curved his lips.

"It's finally over…"

His quiet words echoed as he disappeared into a flash of white light.

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[A/N: One hundred chapters and the end of the Trial at the same time—sounds like a double celebration, right? :)