As the black tiger entered the cavern, he sensed something wrong. Due to his beastly instincts, he managed to react in time and dodge a thin dagger that flew from the ceiling. An average man might have looked at the ceiling or at the dagger cleaved into the ground but he wasn't an average man. His first reaction after the dodge was to distance himself away. He jumped and rolled to the left side, standing up only when he was a dozen meters away.

He heard a small chuckle and then a deep voice spoke: "A worthy opponent. I will enjoy your screams"

The tiger being chuckled as he looked at a single place in the ceiling, somewhere hidden by shadows of rocks. Then, he extended his hand forward, towards that space and clutched his fist. Then, the deep voice resounded again but with a scream of agony. Finally, there was nothing more than the silence. As he unclutched the hand, some things dropped from the place he had looked at. They were parts of a puppet. The thing that attacked him was nothing more than a puppet planted there by someone.

As precaution, he used his energy to sense the entire cavern and after not detecting anything, walked to the remains of the puppet. There were many pieces that had served as its outer shell and a lot of wires. Beyond that, there was only one thing that really had even a bit of value. It was the core. As he picked the small thing, he snickered. It was a beast core from something that had been at the tenth stage. He could feel the remnants of the shadow element inside of it. He grasped it tightly and crushed it within his hands before spitting on the remnants.

Trying to pick a fight with him over the mastery of shadows? He was born from them!

He walked further inside the cavern and arrived at the end where he read the same sentence as the others. Since he was given some time to rest, he would make use of it.

...

In the grand hall, many happened and were still happening. The experts were insulting each other, threatening and cursing all over the place. The clamor was impressive for such a sacred event. Saint Patron Bôrakos was furious as he was forced to keep silencing people while the other four Saints were all laughing, especially Saint Shalonna. All this was a nice joke and nothing more in her opinion. The treasure was hers.

However, as soon as the last bridge disappeared, and as if they agreed beforehand, everyone remained silent. Even if they had been mid-curse, they shut up. Because this marked the end of the first part of the trial.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Saint Bôrakos heaved a sigh. It was finally quiet. It was however his turn to speak. He walked forward and gathered everyone's attention easily. He clapped his hand once and a particularly long table appeared right next to the platform. Then, he spoke: "I will now call all the contestants still eligible for the final reward to come up and sit at the grand table. When I call your name, please come forward"

"I call upon Miarvoss, Venerable Protector of Dragons, with two champions left"

As he finished his words, a resplendent chair popped up at the very end of the table. It wasn't your average chair as it looked more like a throne. It was made of ruby and decorated with many other jewels strewn about seemingly randomly yet producing a dazzling and ethereal feeling. At the same time, someone got up from his seat, steadily and calmly moving towards the seat. It was a male sentient dragon beast with green skin and grey eyes. It had long hair going down his back, flowing alongside the purple and gold battle robe that he wore. A tail could be seen rattling the ground as he moved.

After he sat, Saint Patron Bôrakos bowed to him once before turning back to the crowd and calling the next name:

"I call upon Cao Lei, Ghostly Phantom Lord, with two champions left!"

Another throne appeared next to the dragon's one. It was translucent and seemed not to truly be part of this world, it was as if a flowing veil. Cao Lei got up and went to sit on it while grinning at the audience. Saint Bôrakos bowed to him once as well before calling the next one:

"I call upon Isla, Devourer of Emotions, with two champions left!"

Isla got up as she smiled at her daughter and Hae-Hyuk. As she walked towards her own lavish throne, she waved at the gallery.

From there, every time a name was called, a throne would manifest and someone would get up to sit over there. All the names were those of the greatest experts and they all had the titles that came with it...

Only once everyone was seated, 20 people, did Saint Bôrakos go on: "Due to peculiar circumstances, I will also be calling upon those whose champions have yet to cross the abyss but still retain a chance to do so"

"I call upon Cao Lei, Ghostly Phantom Lord once more"

There was a lot of debate as he already had his two champions over there. How could he have a third? As they pondered, the giant screen showed an image that stunned them. A giant elemental was walking up the mountain path. It was made of magma, rocks and...corruption. That's right, it was Cao Lei who had one of his champions drop that shit. This meant that it qualified as his champion too... The expression of most of the qualified were grim.

Saint Bôrakos couldn't care less about their feelings though and continued:

"I call upon Hae-Hyuk, Martial Encyclopedia once more"

The image changed to show an armor-wearing male running around the abyss.

"I call upon Lenix, Million Arrays Tormentor once more"

The image changed to show a woman that was out of breath. She had butterfly wings that were in the midst of retracting themselves behind her back.

Saint Bôrakos spoke one last time: "I call upon Saint Shalonna, Governess of Death"

She excitedly got up with a bright smile while the screen showed her death knight marching leisurely and entering the second area. She was like a child to which you gave candy as she took some time to feel the throne of bones that appeared specially for her. She missed it.

Everyone else was frowning or glaring at her though.