***
{Outside The Projection}
...These trials.
They seemed to have one thing in common.
Their 'impossibility,' each being a close call.
A final second—moment win.
Something beyond all that was.
And yet... this took that up to a million.
There was no questioning it.
Malik's body died.
Most of it had disintegrated.
By the end, he was no more than something of a head, shoulders, dangling Aether core, hands, and sword.
The fire had melted most of him away.
His soul and its Will were what held him together.
If not for its strength, he wouldn't have ever survived.
And yes, his survival itself was in question, not a blink.
This fire burned more than flesh; it was the combination of all Gates.
Identity was devoured too.
Fortunately for him, or rather, for them all, Malik's Will was more than ironclad.
His 'lessons' and his tragedies had all prepared him for this flame.
Everything was for this one moment.
A moment only possible for him.
