Dark and black….this was all that he could see inside the hollow stone.

Despite his action and the decision to move, he could not.

Nailed to the ground by an unknown force, he could only stare at all directions, but all that he was met with was the same dark void.

“…” for minutes he had stared at the void, and to the minutes that came, it was nothing but silent and depressing.

The minutes turned to hours and by then, his patience was wearing thin…

To his wavering patience, he thought that maybe this test was something that would challenge his worth in patience, so he stood his ground and simply waited even more.

But the warning said by his brother made him ever so cautious of this hollow void.

[…Listen to me, you will get inside and you will face your fears and your monsters…]

[.…it doesn’t matter if your prepared or not, you will face this…even on your own.]

To the call of this memory, Soril became worried. His hand tightened in the anxiety of what the void brought in his presence all to a point that he closed his eyes in this dark void…

But to his worry, he suddenly felt a burning sensation.

Hot…

Bright like that of a crimson sun…

And most of all terrifying…

He felt the glare of someone staring at him with the intent to kill…

For before him was the sight of a man in armor… a dragon armor of sort.

“Wha-

But before he could finish, the man bursted with the power of a crimson flame and to his surprise, he was burned to a crisp on his spot.

“GASP!!”

To his shock, he found himself awake in the void yet again…and at this time, his body was not burned.

“…” To the memory of his flesh burning and his life fading ever so quickly, he knew that he had died on the spot. Or so he thought he did…

But yet, he found himself yet again in the same spot…in front of the same man.

“…” shocked to his very core, his throat was caught feeling dry and his face was ever so creeping with a force smile.

With sweat dripping from his face non-stop, he felt like one single action could yet again kill him.

So he stayed his ground and never moved once.

‘Who is this man? Is he a demon just lie in the book? Why is he here?’ he asked himself in fear of who was in front of him, forgetting the fact that this entire situation was made because of his location. The test…the test of the Stone of Hollow Time.

The Stone of Hollow Time.

A man-made artifact originated from the house of shadows. This artifact is one that is capable of granting the person an experience to face their future selves in a distasteful manner. From within this hollow artifact is the present body meeting the future strength that he will hold. And although this artifact alters and disrespects the nature of time, the challenge that comes with this artifact is the nature of what the future self holds towards the present self.

For what this test does is for the future self to test the present self in a battle of will…

And to Soril’s lack of knowledge for this artifact, he was oblivious to the nature in front of him.

To it, he sees a dragon-like human who was standing atop the flames of hell. With his flames being as crimson as that of blood, his armor as sturdy and brutal as that of a dragon’s soul and bone and his eyes, where they were as amber as that of the sun’s light, his presence was merely identical of that of a divine beast.

One look eye to eye and immediately, he fell to his knees.

There was no saving his self, for the person to stand before him was a monster that he could not claim to be able to defeat.

Weak willed against this monster, he knelled just like that of a coward. And the man in armor simply raised his sword yet again, only to obliterate him into ashes.

“Gasp!!” and yet again, he awakes in the same spot.

In the lost sense of his mind, he yells to the man in front of him.

“Who are you!?”

And to this question, the man lowered his sword and he made his way closer to Soril. Once he came at arm’s reach,he slowly raised his hand he then grabs the throat ever so swiftly that the force and speed of his reach made it possible for him to rip off Soril’s head while leaving his body stuck to the floor.

“Gasp!!”

And he awoke again…

“…” in that moment, his fear only grew to a point that just by a simple stare, he had uncontrollably felt his blood dripping from his nose.

This man was far stronger than any of whom he could imagine…someone like that of a demon…and yet, no matter how powerful the man was in front of him…he never looked away.

He faced each and every death he encountered in this void while looking at the man straight in the eye.

Fearful but also intriguing, the man was simply so powerful that he was envious of his strength…he was curious as to why and as to how this man attained such power…

But yet to this question, he was yet again met with death the moment he let out a breath of his own air…

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

Death.

*Gasp!*

His death continued for hours on end…

And his breath continued to breath each time he awoke from his death…

205 times…

This was the amount of his death experience inside this void of a place…

And to it, on his next attempt, he found himself awake in the room of the Dojo.

“…”

“…”

Staring in silence at the ceiling with no thoughts to come to mind, he just went and made his way to the kitchen where in that place, he found his brother and master dining together.

“…Good morning master.” he said, bowing to greet his master.

“Good morning Soril, come and join us.” said his master as he ate the hot breakfast cooked by Cecil.

“Thank you master…” as Soril sat with his master and brother, he simply stayed quiet as he ate ever so peacefully in the silence of the room.

But to this silence came the tension for an answer…

“So…how was experiencing death? Was it grand?” asked Cecil as he took a large bite at a fish’s head.

“…It felt…bland.” said Soril as he started on chewing down the rice.

“I see.” in that answer, Cecil continued to eat his breakfast.

“…I was actually more scared of the man himself rather than the death that I experienced.”

“Hmm, I see…hearing your experience, I can only see this as nothing but a good start. You’ve gained a gpod understanding of death simply by the experience of it…now that it has come to that point, your only challenge left for that void is the fear emitted by the man you are facing inside.” by his master’s words, Soril was left simply in a still motion.

“…” he was left silent after his master’s comment.

“You are starting to conquer death slowly and surely…what you need to do now is to conquer your fear…only then will you be able to acquire the Ethereal Will of the Dark.” added Cecil.

“You know what this means…”

“Yes…”

“I expect you to come back to the Dojo at night…by then, you will continue on the path of conquering both death and fear.” said his master.

By then, Soril understood his task, and to it, he continued to eat his breakfast in his weary state.

He was left eating to a point of his fill, not knowing that his master and brother were quite amazed to see his will not break on the first night of this test.

“…”

“…”

If it was any other talented student or hunter, they would have been broken on the first 50 deaths they encountered in the Stone of Hollow time, but to it, Soril was much more strong in the matters of the mind than what Master Yagami could have expected.

When Soril left for his school, Yagami was left smiling ever so proudly at his student.

“…He’s just like you.” he said.

“…I don’t see it.” said Cecil.

“Hmm, if he keeps this up, maybe in a week of two, he might just achieve that Skill.” said Master Yagami.

“and only after then should we tell him the trith about that stone?” Asked Cecil.

“Hmm, We’ll decide when the time comes…for now, do not let him realize that his death is being caused by his future self.” said the Master.

“You know there are other ways to achieve the Ethereal Will of the dark, why did we follow through with this training?” asked Cecil.

“Hmm…it’s a gut feeling, that’s all.”

“…You’re hiding something aren’t you?” said Cecil.

“.…”

“Fine, don’t tell me…but if my brother breaks from this test, I might resent you for that.” said Cecil, with his tone reaching to a threatening level.

“…Don’t worry, he’s my precious disciple. I have the full confidence to see that he will come out of this test victorious…” said Yagami ever so confidently.

“…” with these exchanges said, Cecil left the Dojo…

And Master Yagami was left in the school with nothing but a soft smile on his face.

***

As he finally went down the stairs slowly but surely, to his nuetral reaction, the peace that came with the mountain that he was walking down on was not enough to calm his inner mind.

For halfway through the stairs, he came to stop upon a bench where he then sat down like a weary old man. There, he simply sits with an unthinking mind and he looks to the clear blue sky with a rather heavy sigh…

“…*sigh*…so I have to do it again.” in that moment, the thought of his death overwhelemed him so much so, that he was able to throw up everything that he had for breakfast at the side of the stairs.

*BLEGHH!!!~~*

In the nature of his weary and sick self, he could see how affected he was by the experience and fear within that trial that he was ultimately shaking non-stop from his legs to his arms.

“…F-fuck….Fuck!!”

There, in his moment of anger, he slammed his fist straight down at the bench and broke it as if it was as brittle as that of glass.

*ThuD!!*

In the smoke that came from his smashing rage, he was able to slowly calm himself down…

He controlled his breathing…

And he controlled his expression…

Slowly but surely, he was regaining his natural self.

And so after a couple more minutes that went by in his sensible anguish, he was finally able ot put himself back together again.

And with it, he continued his way down the stairs.

****

At the academy, murmurs were heard in the C-class room as they were quite excited to hear of a certain rumor.

A fight was brewing between the classes of B and A.

A fight between the wild hot-headed student of class-B, Conner O’neil and the ever so happy and friendly class-A student, Jason Emory.

The rumors started out that while after classes had ended in the academy, it was quite natural for students to hangout in the academy to go see the other places in store for them. In that time, while Jason was making his way home, he noticed that a few tough-looking students were cornering another student in the back of the academy. in that, in his nature, he was tempted to settle everything and he defeated each and every bully there that cornered the student.

During that time, to his actions, he was then warned by these tough looking delinquents about their boss of Class-B. the nefarious wild card, Conner O’neil. Saying that if he doesn’t back off of their business, then they call to him.

To that, During his walk back home, he encountered Conner who was trying to sexually assault a student from a different class. Inflicted by his nature to save the weak, he was able to beat down Conner in a surprise attack.

And although he saved the girl, he wasn’t able to prepare himself from what came after that event.

With his back turned, Conner suddenly raises back up from his sudden defeat and he was able to return the surprised attack back to Jason. To this, Jason was hit hard at his ribs and he was thrown off straight to the garbage dump.

In that moment, Conner then proposed an Idea while Jason was barely unconcious in the dump.

[Come to the training centre at lunch time…I’ll end you there.]

This was his warning.

As a way to humiliate the hero-looking Jason, Conner wanted to beat him down in front of the entire school.

After saying what he needed to say, Conner left him there in the dump to rot.

The rumor only spread because Conner wanted everyone to know…

And because of it, a lot of the students were excited to see what would happen at lunch time. Including Jessica who was just as giddy and excited as the rest.

“…”

Well, looking at how everything was going, I was quite relieved to see that the flow of the story hasn’t diverted at any way at all.

Based off of what the rumor was likely about, I already knew that Jason would win in the end. So with that said, I wasn’t as excited as the rest were.

But I still would see it despite how the story went about it. Its comparable to how a novel-fan wanted to see his favorite book get adapted to either a film or a comic, he wants it to be good no matter the price.

But although I enjoyed reading the first volume of this story, I was more likely hoping that the story wouldn’t go astray.

Now, while I was sitting in my seat, waiting for class to start, I suddenly felt the gaze of someone who was boiling with a rather furious killing intent.

“…” to my curiosity, I leaned in to where this feeling was coming from, and when I looked, I noticed Sgt. O’riley was out by the door, waving to me with a smile on his face.

He gestured that I come close to him and as I did, he then handed me a note.

“…”

He didn’t say anything but after he handed me the note, he was able to gesture a ord of silence.

With his finger reaching his mouth, he wanted this to be kept from everyone else…

I understood that, so I complied to his request.

*Nod* as I nodded my head, he then nodded back and started to walk away from the class…leaving me quite nervous to what this was about.

As I opened the note he gave me, I read:

[Come to the Training Centre at Lunch Time.]

“…” in that message, I couldn’t help but sweat nervously behind what this was about.

*Crump*

Crumpling up the piece of note that he gave me, I turned back to my class and sat back down.

And as I did, Jessica approached me and she asked.

“What’s going on? You look kind of nervous.” she said.

“…Its nothing.” as I said that, the teacher finally came to start the second day of our class.