The chamber hadn't calmed since Haruki's awakening.
The whispers of the Hunters spiraled like wildfire, feeding off fear and awe. "Z-Rank." The word had been buried for generations, yet now it echoed like a curse across the hall.
Haruki stood unsteadily at the center of the circle, the blackened gauntlets still pulsing faintly with abyssal veins. His every breath drew wary eyes, as though at any second he might erupt into something monstrous.
Elder Kazuo, the council's head, rose from his seat. His robe shimmered with woven sigils of gold, but his expression was grim, carved from stone. He raised his staff, and the murmurs silenced immediately.
"This chamber has witnessed corruption seep into our sacred runes," he began, voice deep and commanding. "The boy Haruki Aoi has awakened the seed of Z-Rank—a force erased from history for its ruinous hunger. We cannot ignore what we have seen."
Kana bristled, stepping forward. "You saw it too! He resisted! That alone proves he's different"
"Enough!" Kazuo's staff struck the ground with a booming crack. The light wavered. "Words cannot cleanse corruption, child. Only deeds."
The elders exchanged solemn nods before Kazuo's gaze returned to Haruki.
"You will undergo the Trial of Chains," Kazuo declared. "An ordeal designed to test whether one is a master of their power… or a slave to it. Fail, and you will be sealed permanently. For the sake of Driath, we cannot risk a Z-Rank running wild again."
Gasps rippled through the onlookers. The Trial of Chains was a death sentence for most who attempted it.
Haruki clenched his fists, the chains rattling against his gauntlets. He remembered the voice in the abyss, its mocking laughter, its promise of freedom. The thought of it made his chest burn, but the fire in his heart blazed stronger.
"If that's what it takes," he said hoarsely, "I'll do it. I'll prove this power doesn't own me."
Kana reached for him, desperation etched across her face. "Haruki don't. They're using this as an excuse to"
He cut her off with a faint smile, tired but resolute. "Kana, if I back down now, they'll never trust me. And… I need to know too. Whether I can really stand against it."
For a moment, her eyes softened, but fear lingered beneath.
Kazuo raised his staff once more. "So be it. At dawn, the Trial will begin. Until then, the boy will be confined. No contact with outsiders."
Guards stepped forward, their armor gleaming with enchantments meant to suppress power. They moved cautiously, like hunters circling a beast.
Haruki didn't resist as the chains binding him shifted, reforming into glowing manacles around his wrists and ankles. He only looked toward Kana one last time.
"I'll make it back," he promised quietly.
Her lips trembled, but she nodded. "Then I'll wait."
The doors of the ceremonial chamber groaned open, and Haruki was led away into the dark halls of confinement.
The Trial of Chains awaited.
The cell was little more than a square of cold stone buried beneath the ceremonial hall. No windows, no light save for the dim blue glow of suppression runes etched into the walls. The air was damp, heavy with the stench of old metal and fear.
Haruki sat on the floor, his back against the wall, wrists still bound by the glowing manacles. Every movement made them pulse faintly, siphoning strength from his body.
He could feel it the deliberate suppression of the abyssal marks crawling across his skin. The elders wanted him weak, docile, easier to erase if he lost the trial.
"Figures," he muttered, resting his head against the wall. His voice echoed flatly in the silence. "They're more afraid of me than of the Bantings out there."
The silence didn't answer. But the other voice did.
[They should be afraid. They know what I am. What you could be.]
Haruki closed his eyes, forcing himself to shut out the silky whisper. "Shut it. I'm not yours."
The voice only chuckled, fading back into the recesses of his mind.
He didn't know how much time passed before the sound of soft footsteps broke the monotony. He sat up sharply, chains rattling.
"Haruki?" The whisper came from the shadows beyond the bars.
He blinked, relief softening his expression. "Kana?"
A figure slipped into the dim light Kana, hood drawn low over her hair, her hands trembling slightly as she held a small lantern. Her face was tight with worry, but when she saw him upright, her shoulders sagged with relief.
"You shouldn't be here," Haruki said quietly, though a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"I don't care." She crouched near the bars, peering at him. "I had to see you before… before tomorrow."
He looked down at his bound wrists, then back at her. "Guess the council isn't exactly giving me the warmest welcome, huh?"
Kana's brows knit together. "This isn't right. They're forcing you into the Trial not because you're dangerous, but because they're terrified of what you represent. Z-Rank… the last time someone awakened it, the whole world nearly collapsed. They think history's repeating itself."
Haruki shrugged, though the weight in his chest made the gesture hollow. "Maybe they're right. I saw it, Kana. The abyss. It wanted me. It still does."
Her hand pressed against the bars. "But you fought it. That's what they don't understand you're not like the others. You're… you're still you."
He met her gaze, and for a moment the tension in his chest eased. The way she looked at him like he was still Haruki, not some cursed monster it gave him strength.
"I don't know if I'll survive the Trial," he admitted softly. "But if I do… I want it to mean something. Not just proving them wrong. I want to fight for this world. For you."
Kana's cheeks flushed, but her voice was firm. "Then don't you dare lose."
Haruki laughed weakly. "I'll try."
She reached through the bars, fingers brushing against his chained hand. The faintest warmth passed between them before the lantern flickered.
Footsteps echoed down the hall. Kana stiffened. "I have to go."
"Be careful," Haruki whispered.
With a last, lingering glance, she pulled back into the shadows, vanishing just as the guards rounded the corner.
Haruki leaned against the wall again, heart steady despite the chains. For the first time since the abyss, he felt anchored.
Dawn couldn't come soon enough.
---
The sound of iron bolts grinding open woke Haruki from a restless doze. His head jerked up as light spilled into the cell, harsh against the gloom. The suppression runes dimmed, their work complete.
"On your feet," a guard barked.
Two armored Hunters stepped in, each bearing weapons etched with binding seals. Their movements were stiff, careful, as though any sudden twitch from Haruki might justify cutting him down.
Haruki pushed himself upright, chains clinking with every motion. His body still ached from the abyssal fight, but the fire in his chest fueled by Kana's words kept his legs steady.
"Dawn has come," the lead guard said. "It's time."
They led him up the stone stairways, through narrow corridors that twisted toward the surface. Each step echoed, hollow and heavy, as though the entire citadel were holding its breath.
When the doors finally opened, sunlight pierced Haruki's eyes. He squinted, blinking at the sight before him.
The Trial of Chains was no simple ceremony. It was an arena vast and circular, carved into the mountainside. Rows of stone seats stretched upward, already filled with Hunters, apprentices, and civilians. The air buzzed with tense anticipation, whispers rippling like a storm across the crowd.
In the center of the arena lay the trial ground: a flat stone circle etched with runes that glowed a faint, foreboding red. The chains that gave the trial its name hung above, suspended from towering black spires, each link thick as a man's arm. They swayed gently as though alive, waiting.
Haruki's breath caught. For a moment, he could almost hear the chains whisper, their metallic groans overlapping with the faint hiss of the abyss still lingering in his veins.
Kana was there, seated at the edge of the council's platform, her hood gone, her expression tight with worry. When their eyes met, she gave the smallest nod.
"Bring the accused forward," Elder Kazuo's voice thundered across the arena.
The guards shoved Haruki onto the trial ground. As his feet touched the runes, they flared brighter, responding instantly to the corruption coursing through him. The chains overhead rattled violently, their sound rolling like thunder.
Murmurs swept through the audience. Some recoiled in fear. Others leaned forward with morbid fascination.
Kazuo raised his staff high. "Let all present bear witness. Haruki Aoi, bound by corruption yet resisting its will, shall face the Trial of Chains. If he proves mastery, he will live as a Hunter. If he fails, he will be erased, body and soul, so his abyss does not consume us all."
The crowd erupted in a mix of cheers and protests.
Haruki flexed his hands, the gauntlets glowing faintly with black veins. His heart pounded, but his voice was steady when he spoke:
"Then let's see if your trial can decide what I already know."
The runes pulsed brighter, the chains overhead lowering, circling him like serpents of iron. The trial had begun.
The chains dropped.
They struck the ground with a deafening clang, shards of stone scattering as the massive links slithered like serpents across the trial ground. Before Haruki could react, they coiled around his arms and legs, dragging him to his knees.
The manacles at his wrists flared in response, binding themselves to the larger chains as though eager to tighten their grip.
The crowd roared some with awe, others with fear.
Haruki gritted his teeth, straining against the bindings. Every movement made the chains glow, siphoning the energy from his veins. His gauntlets sparked, the black fire within them reacting violently, but the chains absorbed it, feeding on it like predators.
Elder Kazuo's voice boomed from above. "The Trial of Chains begins. Survive, if you can."
The ground trembled. From the glowing runes at the arena's edge, shapes began to form constructs of iron and stone, faceless giants with burning sockets where eyes should have been. They moved with grinding precision, weapons of jagged steel sprouting from their arms.
Haruki's pulse quickened. "Figures they wouldn't make this easy."
The first construct lunged, swinging a massive blade downward. Haruki twisted, the chains straining painfully against his limbs as he rolled aside. The blade slammed into the ground, leaving a crater where he had been a heartbeat ago.
Pain shot through his wrists. The chains were draining him faster now, punishing every attempt at freedom.
Then came the voice.
[You can't fight like this. They want you bound, broken. But I can free you. Just let me in.]
Haruki snarled, shoving the whisper back. "Not happening."
Another construct advanced, swinging a hammer that could shatter bone with a single hit. Haruki planted his foot, yanking against the chains with all his strength. His gauntlet lit up, the abyssal fire crackling violently before he slammed his fist into the hammer's head.
The impact shook the arena. Sparks exploded, the construct staggering backward but the backlash ripped through Haruki's arm, the chains drinking in the energy like leeches.
Blood dripped from his knuckles inside the gauntlet. His chest heaved, his vision swimming.
The abyss laughed.
[Pathetic. Look at you bleeding, chained, humiliated before the very people you want to protect. If you unleash me, these toys will crumble like sand.]
Haruki clenched his jaw, refusing to answer.
Another pair of constructs closed in. Their weapons gleamed with lethal intent, their steps rattling the chains beneath his feet. He twisted, dodging the first strike, then ducked under the second. His body screamed with every movement, but his mind burned hotter.
"I'm not… losing here," he growled. "Not to them. Not to you."
Kana's voice cut through the chaos from the stands, small but sharp. "Haruki! You don't need that power you're strong enough on your own!"
His heart surged at her words. He planted his foot hard, yanking one chain with both gauntleted fists. The metal strained, groaned then snapped, shards of glowing links scattering like sparks.
The crowd gasped in unison.
Haruki's arm burned with abyssal fire, but his grin was defiant. "Guess I'll fight my way out the hard way."
The remaining chains writhed, tightening their grip, as if enraged by his defiance.
And the constructs came again.
The arena quaked as the first chain lay shattered at Haruki's side, fragments glowing faintly before dissolving into sparks. The crowd erupted half in awe, half in terror.
"No one… no one has ever broken a trial chain," someone whispered from the stands.
Elder Kazuo's staff slammed against the council platform, silencing the noise. His face twisted with a mixture of fury and unease. "Impossible. The trial is designed to hold even an S-Rank. What are you, boy?"
Haruki's answer was a smirk, sweat dripping down his chin. "Someone who refuses to bow."
The constructs closed in again. Their bodies shifted, red-hot cracks running across their iron shells as though the trial itself were adapting to his rebellion. One sprouted new limbs tipped with jagged blades. Another split open its torso, revealing a glowing furnace that radiated unbearable heat.
The second chain yanked Haruki off balance, dragging him to one knee. Sparks flew as his gauntlets scraped against the stone. The constructs struck together, their blows timed to crush him from both sides.
Kana gasped from the stands. "Haruki!"
He gritted his teeth, shoving both arms forward. The abyssal veins pulsed, black fire flaring from his gauntlets as he caught the first strike head-on. The ground beneath him cracked under the impact, dust pluming outward.
The second blow came down. Haruki twisted, pulling the chain taut, then used the rebound to slam his fist upward. His gauntlet connected with the construct's chest, abyssal fire roaring through its frame. The construct screamed in metallic agony before crumbling into molten fragments.
The chains writhed angrily, constricting tighter around his chest. The suppression runes burned against his skin, searing like hot knives.
[Why struggle? Break them all. Shatter the cage and embrace me. We could end this farce in seconds.]
Haruki snarled aloud, his voice raw. "I said shut up!"
With a roar, he yanked against the chain on his right arm. His muscles screamed, veins bulging, but the link cracked then snapped apart in an explosion of sparks.
The audience gasped again. Two chains broken.
The remaining bindings shivered violently, glowing brighter, as if the trial itself had turned desperate.
Elder Kazuo's eyes narrowed. "This is not strength. This is corruption. He is feeding on the abyss!"
Another elder, frail and white-haired, leaned forward with trembling hands. "No… look closer. The abyss is there, yes but he is fighting it, not yielding. The chains feed on corruption. And yet, he resists while breaking them."
Kana's eyes glistened, her fists clenching against the railing. "I told you. He's still Haruki."
In the arena, Haruki staggered, chest heaving. Every heartbeat pounded like a drum, each pulse a battle between his own will and the abyss clawing inside him. His vision blurred half the world wreathed in flames and shadow, the other half shining with the golden light of the trial.
The remaining constructs advanced, slower now, almost hesitant.
Haruki spat blood onto the stone, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What's wrong? Afraid I'll break you too?"
He surged forward, dragging the last chains taut as he hurled himself into their midst. His fists became blurs of fire and steel, every strike ringing like thunder. The constructs fell one by one, shattering under the force of his will.
As the final one collapsed, Haruki dropped to one knee. His body trembled, but the last two chains still bound him. They pulsed faintly, fighting to keep him tethered.
Above, the elders watched in silence. The boy had endured beyond reason. He had broken what was not meant to be broken.
And still, the abyss laughed within him.
[Two chains remain. Break them, and no trial will ever hold you again.]
Haruki clenched his fists, glaring at the bindings.
"Then let's finish this."