The chamber was silent, yet oppressive. Noctus sat in the center, his body trembling, his chest rising and falling like a drowning man fighting for air. For weeks he had been training, stabilizing his Aura, learning how to force it to move in rhythm with the suffocating flow of natural Aura that saturated the sealed space. But that was just preparation.
Now, the real trial began.
He had only one goal—push his Time Core to the Mid Fractured Realm before leaving this chamber. Seven months. That was all the time he had. But unlike his Fire Core, the Time Core was different. Denser. Heavier. Greedy.
Fire had been manageable. Its flames were temperamental but also familiar, quick to flare up, quick to die down. The Time element, however, was nothing like fire. It was a suffocating ocean—thick, unyielding, crushing him under its weight every moment it grew stronger.
Noctus summoned the Time Barrier, activating the artifact he had purchased from the System. The hourglass pulsed, scattering streams of pale sand-like light until a dome wrapped around him. Inside, the flow of time slowed to half the speed of the outside world.
He would gain double the training time, but that also meant double the pain.
Noctus exhaled and pressed his hands against the cold ground. He guided his Aura, forcing his body to absorb the surrounding natural energy, converting it into strands of Time element. Immediately, the pressure spiked.
It felt as if invisible chains coiled around his bones, sinking into his marrow.
The difference between divine and cursed paths revealed itself at once.
A divine element were malleable. Gentle in its nature. It adjusted itself to its wielder, nourishing them while reshaping its flow to match the body. Training with a divine element was painful, yes, but it was like sharpening steel—a gradual refinement. Each breakthrough elevated the wielder, uplifting them, expanding their existence into something greater.
Cursed elements were not like that.
Time did not yield. Time did not adapt. Time did not care. It forced him to adapt.
Where Fire had once flowed like a raging stream he could learn to swim in, Time was an unbreakable current that drowned him without mercy. It was like plunging into a forge where he was not the blacksmith, but the iron—beaten, broken, melted, reforged again and again until he was capable of holding its weight.
The process began.
His chest convulsed. A scream ripped from his throat as searing agony tore through his insides. It wasn't the sting of a wound, nor the sharpness of a cut. This was deeper—an agony that reached into his very soul. His mind blanked. He almost passed out instantly, but the pain itself dragged him back into awareness like a cruel hand refusing to let him escape.
He clawed at the ground, nails breaking against the stone.
"Ahhhhhh!"
His voice echoed inside the barrier, but nothing answered him. The chamber swallowed his suffering as if it were routine.
The first hour was unbearable. His Time Core was devouring the surrounding Aura like a starving beast, and he was powerless to stop it. The process could not be interrupted; if he cut it off midway, the core would shatter, and the backlash would destroy him from within. There was no choice but to endure.
By the third hour, tears streamed down his face. He screamed until his throat turned raw. He wanted to stop. He wanted it all to end. But the black hole inside his chest consumed and consumed, breaking him down each moment.
After six hours, his body finally collapsed. His consciousness flickered out, and merciful darkness took him.
When he woke the next morning, the memory of that pain still lingered like phantom fire in his nerves.
Noctus lay in silence for a long time, staring at the cold ceiling of the chamber. His body trembled at the thought of beginning again. His hands clenched and unclenched. Fear wrapped around his chest like a vice.
He didn't want to go back into that barrier.
What was the point?
He whispered into the empty room, "Why… why am I doing this?"
His thoughts spiraled. If I stop now, what happens? I'll be banished. Exiled. But so what? I'll still be a noble, even as a disgrace. I'll be given a villa at the outskirts of the empire. A comfortable life. That's still leagues better than my past life. Why should I keep enduring this? Why should I suffer like this?
His hands shook violently. I'm not a hero. I'm not some unbreakable warrior with a heart of steel. I can't… I can't keep doing this.
Slowly, he staggered to his feet. He turned toward the edge of the barrier, ready to step out, ready to abandon this path.
That's when a System Prompt appeared in front of him.
[ I am sorry, but this is the only way. ]
Noctus froze. His lips trembled. "Wha… wha—"
Before he could finish, his Time Core stirred. The cursed element inside him surged violently, devouring the natural Aura around him without his consent. His body arched as pain erupted once more.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He collapsed to the ground, convulsing, his voice breaking into ragged cries. He begged, he cursed, he clawed at his own chest, but the devouring didn't stop.
This time, something inside him snapped.
The agony twisted into rage. His vision turned crimson. His black eyes seemed to darken further, veins bulging around them as blood leaked from his mouth and eyes.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared, voice raw and primal. "I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
He screamed the words over and over, the vow tearing his throat apart until blood mixed with his cries. "I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE! WHAT YOU ARE! WHERE YOU ARE! I WILL FIND YOU AND RIP YOU TO PIECES!!!"
Six hours later, his body finally gave in. He didn't faint this time. He lay there, awake, broken, trembling, his mind frayed. His voice rasped weakly, "Why… why… why me? Why me? Why me?"
The words repeated endlessly, a broken mantra, until his fists slammed into the stone floor again and again. His knuckles split open, blood staining the ground, but he didn't stop until his strength failed and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
A cold notification hovered above him.
[ This is your fate. ]
—
The cycle repeated.
For the next two months, inside the warped flow of the Time Barrier, Noctus was devoured by endless suffering. Day after day, he was reforged in agony. At first he screamed and cursed. Then he wept. Then he begged. Then… he grew silent.
By the end of the first month, his eyes were hollow, lifeless. His movements were mechanical. He stopped questioning why—stopped hoping for release. The only thing that remained was the endless devouring, the endless tempering of his body and soul.
But the system wasn't cruel without reason.
As his tolerance to pain grew, the absorption rate of his Time Core increased. Where others would take seven months to reach the next step, Noctus reached it in just two.
The day came. His body, on the verge of collapse, endured the final cycle. Then, at last—
A cool wave rushed through his veins. The suffocating chains loosened. His Time Core had broken through.
[ Congratulations. Sub-Quest Complete. ]Reward Unlocked: Eyes of Chronos.
Noctus gasped. His vision blurred, then sharpened. A strange, cool sensation washed over his eyes. When he looked at his reflection in the blade of his sword, his irises were no longer black.
They were a deep, rain-soaked green. Like a forest after a storm.
Yet he didn't smile. He didn't even flinch. He just stared.
"...Is it over?" he whispered. His voice was cracked, hollow.
Then, suddenly, he laughed.
"Heheheh… Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound was manic, unhinged, echoing against the stone walls like the laughter of a madman.
The truth was simple.
Noctus Ignisar had survived the cursed path.
But he was no longer the same person.
At that moment, another prompt appeared.
[ Is that all it took to break you, Noctus Ignisar? ]