Gabriel hated Trial Fourteen.
Not because it was the hardest—but because it was the most honest.
There were no riddles here. No environment to hide behind or use as an advantage.
Trial Fourteen reduced combat to it's purest form: One man. One arena. One monster.
Win, or die.
Gabriel leaned forward on the sofa as the creature fully emerged from the gate, his elbows resting on his knees, fingers loosely interlocked. He had seen this thing many times before. The trials never changed.
The ant-like monster dragged itself into the light, its chitinous limbs digging into the sandy floor. Black plates overlapped across its body like armour, each segment ridged and angular. Its movement was deliberate, patient. Confident.
Han Jae-Sung stood his ground.
That alone put him above most.
The maul in his hands was enormous—far too heavy for an untrained man—but Jae-Sung had the build for it. Thick forearms. Broad shoulders. His stance was solid, feet planted wide in the sand, knees slightly bent.
Good posture, Gabriel noted. At least he knows how to stand.
The creature's many eyes blinked in slow succession, each one locking onto Jae-Sung. A thin clicking sound echoed from its mandibles as it lowered its body closer to the ground.
Then it moved.
It didn't charge. It lunged.
The distance between them vanished in an instant.
Jae-Sung reacted quickly, lunging forward, low, and swinging the maul in a wide horizontal arc. The head of the weapon collided with the creature's side with a heavy, meaty crack. Chitin fractured. Sand exploded outward.
The creature skidded sideways but didn't fall.
Too shallow, Gabriel thought. You needed the head. Or the legs.
The monster retaliated immediately. One claw shot forward, impossibly fast, slicing through the air where Jae-Sung's head had been a moment earlier. He stumbled back, barely avoiding it, boots digging furrows into the sand.
The second strike caught him.
A glancing blow across his ribs sent him sprawling. Jae-Sung hit the ground hard, the maul slipping from his grasp. He rolled instinctively as the creature slammed down where he had landed.
Gabriel exhaled slowly.
There it is.
That moment. The one where most people died.
Panic set in fast for those who hadn't trained it out of themselves. Fear froze the muscles. Hesitation stole seconds.
Seconds were lethal.
Jae-Sung didn't freeze.
He scrambled to his feet, abandoning the maul entirely as the creature advanced. Instead of retreating, he circled, forcing the monster to turn with him. Sand kicked up beneath their movements, the arena floor already scarred with tracks and gouges.
Good, Gabriel thought. Make it move.
The creature lunged again.
Jae-Sung ducked beneath the strike and surged forward, slamming his shoulder into one of its legs. The impact didn't topple the beast, but it staggered—just enough.
Jae-Sung seized the moment.
He dove for the maul.
The monster's claw came down just as his fingers closed around the handle, tearing through his shoulder instead. Blood sprayed across the sand. Jae-Sung screamed, but he didn't let go.
He rolled, dragging the maul with him, and swung upward with everything he had left.
The blow connected beneath the creature's head.
There was a wet, sickening crunch.
The monster convulsed, its limbs thrashing violently as its body collapsed inward. The clicking stopped. The eyes dulled. Its massive form crashed into the sand, motionless.
Silence followed.
Jae-Sung stood over the corpse, chest heaving, blood soaking his sleeve. He swayed once, then steadied himself, gripping the maul like a lifeline.
The gate behind him opened.
Trial complete.
Gabriel leaned back against the sofa, tension draining from his shoulders.
He made it.
That was an insane plan.
Gabriel rushed to switch from Han Jae-Sung.
The view fractured, splitting into smaller windows—other arenas, other fights, other deaths.
One man was skewered by a claw.
Another backed away, tripped over. Claw in the face.
One contestant, also using a maul, managed to nearly kill the creature, but bled out.
Gabriel watched them all.
By the end of the trial, only two windows remained.
Twelve entered.
Two survived.
Trial 14 was where the most sudden drop in contestants happened, mostly due to the weapons not being as useful anymore, bar the large hammers. The swords, axes etc… were all too weak to cut through the monsters.
The dead vanished, their profiles and feeds disappearing unceremoniously.
Gabriel stared at the empty screen for a long moment after the last window closed.
This is why, he thought.
Not for entertainment. Not for spectacle.
Preparation.
He had watched countless people die over the past four years. Some deaths were fast. Others were drawn out, cruel, humiliating. The Trials did not care how promising someone had once seemed.
Strength was important.
Skill was important.
But preparation… that was everything in Gabriel's eyes.
The screen dissolved, folding in on itself until the air in front of him was empty once more. The flat felt colder without its glow.
Gabriel checked the time out of habit.
18:05:25
Another trial finished. Another countdown already ticking somewhere in the world.
He stood.
His training room lay beyond the narrow hallway, sealed behind a reinforced door. Gabriel keyed in the code and stepped inside.
The space was larger than his living room, the walls reinforced with impact-resistant panels. Racks of weapons lined one side—swords of varying lengths, weighted practice blades, blunted spears.
This room wasn't for fitness.
It was preparation.
Gabriel crossed to the weapon rack and paused, eyes scanning the options before settling on a longsword. He lifted it, testing the balance, feeling the familiar weight settle into his grip.
Trial Fourteen was honest.
So was this.
He took his stance, feet planted, shoulders squared.
Gabriel raised the sword.
He wouldn't be unprepared.