{Prove your worth}

With those words, the golden room shone.

Varian's nerves tensed up as channeled his powers and assumed an offensive posture.

'If this is the qualification to fight for the throne of devas, then that meant there was likely more than one who could defeat this monster in every generation.

Were the devas so strong or are we humans too weak?'

"You've made this far, congratulations." A voice sounded in Varian's mind and a white light lit up the room.

It was blindingly bright.

But Varian didn't close his eyes. He couldn't afford to.

"Wha—"

In front of him was a person that looked human. It was a man, a middle-aged handsome man with dark hair and green eyes.

He seemed perfectly normal at first glance. But there was something off about him.

It was hard to express, but this 'monster' didn't feel human to Varian despite looking like one.

"Since you come so far, you're a precious asset to our empire." The man gave a warm smile and continued. "Each and every death of you is a great loss."

'He's a pre-recorded program.' Varian muttered inwardly and raised a brow. "You want me to give up here?"

"Oh no. The temptation to pursue great things would never stop, but if we act impulsively, we'd lose everything we have." The man's brows furrowed as if he remembered something unpleasant.

Varian didn't respond. The creature in front of him wasn't sentient. Sure, it did respond to his queries and even replied. But it couldn't even distinguish a human from a deva.

"That's precisely our history. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The man's voice turned low, but it was very solemn.

'Wait…what happened in your history?' Varian took a step forward and looked the man in the eye.

According to the system, the devas sealed it, and to do that, they also had to seal off the aura. But it backfired and led them to extinction.

But Varian had a feeling that he wasn't referring to that incident.

'And I don't even know if the sealing happened when this deva was recorded into this trial.'

"Are you talking about the sealing?" Varian asked promptly. If possible, he wanted more information about the system. He didn't want to wield a weapon he didn't understand.

"System? What System?" The man waved his hand in irritation. "Ok, I get it. You, youngsters, have forgotten our ancient history anyway."

'Ancient?'

"Since you didn't leave, let's start." With those words, the man flicked his wrist and a long sword with a thin blade appeared in his hand.

In response, Varian also held a sword in hand. But in contrast to his opponent, his sword's blade was huge at the base and narrowed to a shining sharpness at the tip.

"Life or death." The man said and the next moment, his figure blurred.

"Huh?"

Varian could see it clearly.

The man kicked the ground and his speed skyrocketed.

'Enhancer awakener. He upped his speed.'

Whoosh!

But he was too fast. Varian just raised his sword, but the man was already in front of him.

'No, how can he have this speed?' Varian hurriedly raised his sword and met his opponent's sword strike.

Shuaa!

Varian used his physical strength in his swing while also adding lightning, and space powers around the sword. At the same time, he attacked his opponent's mind and struck the sword with an invisible telekinetic force.

A green light flashed and the man suddenly sped up.

'How?'

Varian was baffled. It didn't feel like his speed increased, but rather…his time quickened.

'Fuck!'

The air burned as fires engulfed the man's sword. Rather than interfering with the blade, the flames perfectly integrated and enhanced its powers even further.

It was Varian's first time seeing a weapon so thoroughly mixing with mana.

While still in surprise, Varian calmly struck his opponent's sword with his own.

Clang!

It was a simple sound of metals colliding. But the result was a huge shockwave that emerged from their point of contact.

Flap! Flap!

Varian's hair ruffled in the wind as his clothes shook violently.

Both of them were pushed back by ten steps.

At first, it seemed like they were equals, but a crack sounded in the room.

Ka! Ka! Kacha!

Varian's sword broke into pieces and fell at his feet.

The skin on his fingertips started to crack and from there, it spread all the way to his forearm.

Paa!

His skin cracked and like water bursting out of the broken walls of a dam, blood gushed out.

Slash! Splash! Spla—

The blood formed two small puddles, but before the third could be formed, Varian's arm morphed into a brown branch and in the blink of an eye, his skin returned to normal.

The injury itself wasn't severe, to begin with, so, his plantae healing easily took care of it.

"Er…weren't you a body awakener? How do you—" The man frowned and asked with a confused face.

But only a sword swing answered him.

The man only frowned lightly and lifted his sword with ease. Initially, his speed was slow, and it seemed like he wouldn't be able to make it in time.

But then, Varian's space sense caught a green light and suddenly, the man sped up.

'Time path!'

Boom!

Kaa! Kacha! Kacha!

Varian was once again blasted away, but this time, he wasn't injured.

Of course, his sword still broke into pieces. There was something different this time. He was more comfortable with this clash.

'I'm adjusting quickly, eh.'

With five paths in 4/6 of level 6 and one path in 3/6, he should be stronger. Since he broke through, Varian took a short time to adjust.

'And why the fuck should I fight back with a sword? It's better to exploit the advantages the situation gives me.'

"My first Time path opponent," Varian smiled, but it turned into a sneer. "Too bad, you aren't helping me awaken in that one path."

"...Awaken? What do you mean?" The man asked in genuine confusion.

Varian answered with an attack.

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