Only a few of the living creatures possessed wings, and only birds were the only species every representative of which had wings. It was their distinguishing feature.
For a long time, wings became not only a symbol of freedom but also of power and greatness, because it was the only way to be free. Wandering the world without restraint.
Zayne's wings were not part of his body, and in fact, they were not real, only temporary. Even so, he couldn't use his wings to fly, only to attack and move straight to victory.
Every skill required a certain amount of skill and experience, and right now, it was as if Zayne was at the peak of his abilities since his scarlet wings were huge and great.
One wing was many times larger than himself, casting a shadow over most of the lake.
Zayne was capable but was far from being the strongest person in Dark Mist Forest. Among the monsters watching him go through the Chaos Trial, there were many who could fight Edvin on equal footing, so compared to them, Zayne was nothing.
However, his wings surprised everyone with their density and majesty.
"Damn... Looks like his hidden power can completely change the course of a fight against any opponent..." Marcus muttered with a serious expression, "Now I understand why Erel Uri wants to recruit him."
"Erel Uri...?" Fosca muttered, "Isn't that one of the Crusaders?"
Marcus nodded, "Yeah, he's always had good intuition. No wonder he made that decision, however, it's not likely to happen."
"What...?" Sara was puzzled, "Isn't Zayne doing well? That woman was very strong, but he was able to win, practically... there's only one last attack left, but that's a trivial formality."
"Well... You seem to have completely forgotten that this is only the first stage... There are two more stages ahead, and something tells me that the last one will be the most difficult. Chaos Trial is like any other challenge, it only gets as hard as it can be towards the end." Marcus said with a dark face, "So... I'm not sure he can handle this challenge. Even the first stage against a badly injured opponent was quite difficult for him."
Sara and Fosca fell silent, directing their gazes towards Zayne. His scarlet wings made them forget what the situation really was.
'Commander is right... This is just the beginning... Damn, even if it's likely that he won't be able to pass the Chaos Trial, he has already shown excellent results.' Sara pondered after getting a complicated look, 'He's probably more talented than most of the Fate Knights candidates... I doubt even Fosca can match him, though she has a special position.'
Valira smiled happily, looking at Zayne's wings. She was glad he was taking her seriously, though she could barely stand on her feet. It was the most a warrior like her could hope for.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." Valira said sincerely.
"No problems, this fight will be one of those fights I learned something from. As strange as it is, Chaos gave a chance to each of us, at the same time." Zayne said calmly with a cold stare.
Valira nodded, "Yeah... Actually, I should be dead by now, and I couldn't use the chance given to me to fix that. However, at least I'll get a decent death!"
Whoooooooooosh.
Valira tore forward as streams of water from the lake headed toward her trident. Streams of blood immediately spurted from the corners of her mouth.
Her body could hardly withstand such pressure, and normally she wouldn't have resorted to such methods. However, none of that mattered now.
Zayne remained in place, watching Valira's every move carefully. He realized how important this situation was to her, but it had value to him as well.
His gaze was fixed on her steps, trembling yet confident. Zayne used every moment to learn as much as possible from this fight.
'The last attack... Hmm... If I think back on all my fights, the most impressive one was against Selania, but the most valuable one was against him...' Zayne pondered as Enar's silhouette appeared in his mind, 'Fine, then that's what I'll do.'
Step. Step. Step.
Zayne stepped forward, gradually speeding up until he began to run. They were quickly closing the distance, and when there were only a few meters between Zayne and Valira, his wings came into motion.
With a single swing, it triggered powerful wind currents, raising high waves in the lake, and crashing against the shores.
Then, Zayne's silhouette disappeared, ending up on the icy part of the lake. It seemed as if everything had happened in an instant.
Zayne and Valira stopped, standing with their backs to each other. The trident fell out of Valira's hand as she touched the wide cut left by Zayne's sword.
Valira looked at her bloody palm, staring at her reflection. Her gaze was tired and gradually empty, but there was a bitter smile on her face.
She turned around, glancing at Zayne's back before her eyes fell blank.
"Agh... That was a good fight, and a hell of a fight..." Zayne took a deep breath, returning his sword to the ring.
Nothing happened for a while until the lake suddenly trembled.
'What...?! Is this really not the end yet?! I don't believe it!" Zayne internally exclaimed, trying to keep his balance. It seemed to him that a massive earthquake had started, and he wasn't sure if it was because of Chaos's influence.
The ice-covered part of the lake quickly collapsed, as did all the stone platforms that had risen especially for his battle.
Valira sank to the bottom, along with debris and massive chunks of ice. Zayne looked around trying to find something to hold on to and his eyes went to the only thing that had survived.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm It was a small stone disk, which despite the violent shaking, held steady on the surface of the water.
Zayne could swim, but he didn't want to be left in a vulnerable position during the Chaos Trial. Such a mistake could cost him his life if this still wasn't the end.
'I don't know what's going on here, maybe the second stage is starting right now, but I need to get to safety first!' Zayne internally exclaimed, quickly swimming towards the stone disk.
Soon, his feet stood on the only solid surface.
After a while, the shaking stopped, and the entire lake was covered in a powerful red flame, quickly approaching Zayne.
However, the flames stopped a few meters away from him, not wanting to hurt him.
Zayne looked up and saw that the stone pillar was now burning brightly completely, showing that he had finally passed the first stage.
'Well, as I thought, defeating Valira will be enough to pass on. However, if the other two stages are as difficult, I might fail.'' Zayne pondered, with a great frown.
Zayne pulled out the emblem. The sword emblem shone brightly, showing that Zayne could do it, so there were only two stages left, the shield and the split heart.
"He did a great job, didn't he?" Toruf uttered, turning to Edvin.
Edvin nodded, "Sure. After all, he is one of us. That last attack was impressive, however... none of that matters compared to his power. You noticed that too, didn't you?"
Toruf sighed, "Yeah... Against me, he use something else. Until he's gone through the Awakened Process we shouldn't draw any conclusions, but he definitely has a very rare type. Back then it was instincts and savagery, but this was skill and cold calculation."
"Hey! I don't understand anything! Explain it to me!" Kota exclaimed, with puffed-up cheeks.
Edvin cast a stern look at her, making her wince, "What exactly don't you understand? You're a monster, you should know what happens during the Awakened Process."
Kota pressed herself to the ground, "No... I mean yes! It's just, I want to know more about Zayne's abilities!"
Edvin stared at her intently until he answered, "We don't know ourselves yet, but I think it's something to do with his personality. Two opposing forces, so he must have the same thing going on inside him. I would call it his uncertainty, but not like other young men. Apparently, he just can't decide what's right and what's wrong. Anyway, that's just my theory."
Kota nodded silently.
Zayne waited for the next stage to begin, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain.
"Argh!!!" Zayne spat out a mouthful of blood as his eyes stopped shining brightly. The effect of his power had worn off, so all the damage made itself felt again.
'Damn... With these wounds, I can continue fighting, but if I take as much damage in the second stage, it'll be the end for me!'Zayne frowned.
Whoooooooooooooosh.
All the flames quickly headed toward one point, turning into a massive dense sphere of red fire. It soared right in front of Zayne, then cracks went down the sphere, and a bright light blinded everyone for a moment.
"Hmm? What is that...?" Zayne muttered in confusion, looking at a large flower with an open bud in the center of which lay a red fruit of unusual shape.
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