Whoosh!

As soon as they stepped through the shimmering portal, they found themselves in a massive, open-air arena. They were immediately able to see several other players scattered across the area.

[Ding!]

[The Divine Kingdom of Fire trial is now starting.]

[Goal: Defeat the Sword Demon Asura of Hell in a 1v1 duel.]

[Combat between players is strictly disabled in this zone.]

"Caelus, it is him," Sylvia came closer and whispered directly into Caelus’s ear.

"I know, I saw him." Caelus looked across the arena at Sebastian, who was currently staring daggers at him from a safe distance.

Caelus merely offered him a chilling, mocking smile.

There were quite a lot of people gathered around the central ring. And standing prominently among the crowd were, surprisingly, Marco and Lena Ashborn.

"Do you think we can actually win this, Big Brother?" Lena asked nervously.

"We have to win this. These strange spatial turbulences have recently started opening up everywhere, talking about obtaining divinity. This might be your one-way ticket to skyrocketing to Bronze II," Marco replied, his arms crossed.

"Hm. Yes. I will do as you say." Lena smiled happily.

"Lena..." Sylvia’s crimson eyes turned terrifyingly cold the moment she spotted her.

"Not now," Caelus said, gently holding Sylvia back by her shoulder.

"We will have our chance," Caelus added with a small, calculating smile.

As soon as he finished his words, a loud system notification rang out as the center of the area violently flickered.

[The Sword Trial will now commence.]

[The winner of this Trial will unlock the Origin Domain update: Factions.]

And right in the dead center of the arena, a massive, translucent dome appeared. Sitting cross-legged inside the dome was a terrifying, multi-armed Asura radiating abyssal heat.

"Factions? I highly like the sound of that," Caelus muttered.

The other players clearly shared the exact same thought.

"Factions, huh? Doesn’t sound too shabby," Marco said arrogantly as he proudly marched toward the dome.

"You got this, Brother!" Lena cheered loudly from behind.

She knew her brother was volunteering to test the waters for her, and she was immensely grateful for that. She now had the full, corrupt support of the royal family and the Black Lightning Guild; things absolutely could not be better for her.

Now, the only remaining thorn in her path to greatness was Caelus.

The instant Marco confidently stepped into the dome, the massive Asura slowly stood up and smoothly unsheathed a violently flaming sword.

Marco immediately got into a combat stance as a notification rang inside the dome.

[Adjusting the base combat score of the Asura to flawlessly match the challenger.]

[The battle will now commence.]

Boom!

The instant the words dropped, Marco’s figure blurred, charging straight toward the Asura with his greatsword raised. But the Asura was just as fast. It tapped its heavy foot on the ground, and immediately, a trail of roaring hellfire crept out from the stone tiles as it moved with terrifying grace.

The heavy golden bangles on its arms and legs dangled and chimed ominously as it swung its fiery blade.

Clank!

Marco barely managed to deflect the heavy blow and attempted to deliver a swift counter-attack. But the Asura, as if perfectly predicting his exact muscle movements, effortlessly parried the strike back.

Marco was completely caught off guard by the flawless technique. A split second later, the flaming sword stopped just an inch from his neck.

Boom!

Marco’s figure violently dematerialized and was roughly ejected out of the dome, landing hard on his back.

"I failed?" Marco was utterly stunned. So were all the other bystanders watching.

A Silver-ranked veteran actually lost to this Asura in a single exchange?

This was unbelievable.

"Everyone, I strongly believe this is not a crude test of raw combat strength, but rather a pure test of your actual combat experience and technique," an older player shouted out.

"There is only one way to beat it, and that is by out-skilling it in pure combat."

Everyone appeared deeply bewildered when they heard this analysis.

Lena especially looked panicked. She was still incredibly new to real-life combat, relying entirely on her overpowered talents and items.

"What should I do, Brother?"

"Just try," Marco instructed, rubbing his bruised ego. "Maybe you will luck out."

"For now, let’s just observe the others and see what we can learn from its attack patterns," Marco added. "But we cannot wait too long either. We need to seize the right opportunity, or someone else might just eliminate the Asura first."

Lena readily nodded.

Soon, one by one, other confident contestants began entering the dome. But just as quickly, every single one of them was being violently ejected back out.

All of them were utterly defeated within seconds.

"This is just like that damn World Boss quest. No one could beat the boss, and then Player 555 came out of nowhere and completely beat it up."

"Damn, why even mention him right now? I highly doubt he is even at the Bronze rank yet."

"You look down on me far too much, friend." Just then, Caelus walked calmly forward with a small smile. Everyone could clearly see the floating tag above his head.

It unmistakably read: Player 555.

"Damn, who is this bootleg Player 555? Where did you come from, little boy?" None of them actually believed that he was the real Player 555 because his tag now proudly displayed the Region Cluster ID rather than his infamous newbie Server ID.

"Is it really you, Player 555? The Black Lightning Guild has been actively trying to contact you for a while now. Would you like to officially join our guild?" Marco, seeing this, immediately took the opportunity to strike up a recruitment conversation with Caelus, clearly hoping to poach a talent.

"Hm? No thanks." Caelus looked at him and sneered openly. "In fact, you could not even beat the Asura monster in a fair fight. What possible qualifications do you have to invite me to your guild?"

Everyone’s expressions instantly turned sour when they heard this blatant disrespect, followed quickly by rising anger.

"Do not be so arrogant, Player 555, whether you are a fake or not. This is a strict matter of combat experience and, most importantly, sword skills. You are clearly just a newbie. What can you possibly do?"

The others harbored the exact same thought. What could a complete newbie like him do against a master swordsman NPC?

Sebastian, standing on the sidelines, was internally gloating. Serves you right, you arrogant bastard. Now let me see you make an absolute joke of yourself in the arena.

However, Caelus just looked at the crowd with a tired sigh.

Then, without another word, Caelus began walking purposefully toward the dome. Sylvia, who was standing by his side, was also slightly confused. Where did Caelus’s confidence come from? Even seasoned Silvers could not defeat this thing. How would he?

Deep within his inventory, Caelus locked onto the Spirit Emblem, the exact item that contained the Sword God’s fragment and the Mythical skill, Myriad Moves of Heavenly Sword.

[Ding!]

[Extraction successful...]

[You have obtained the Sword God’s combat experience and the Skill: Myriad Moves of Heavenly Sword.]

[You have obtained the Trait: Sword Energy (Mythical, 2-Star)]

[Sword Energy: Converted directly from aura or mana, it coats your weapon. Deals +3 lethal damage that guarantees a bleed effect.]

As soon as the final notification rang, Caelus confidently stepped past the barrier and into the dome, facing the towering Asura.

Everyone stared at the scene eagerly, expecting a quick defeat. Lena looked at the back of Player 555 with a highly serious look on her face.

Then, the cold notification rang.

[Battle commence.]

Boom!

The Origin Light Longsword materialized in Caelus’s hand as he instantly closed the distance toward the Asura using Projection Frame.

Myriad Moves of the Heavenly Sword - First Move.

Boom!

Caelus struck fiercely forward, and so did the Asura. The following instant, their blazing swords fiercely clashed against each other, the impact sending violent shockwaves through the dome before the two abruptly separated.

"He actually survived the first attack?!" Everyone’s expression immediately shifted from mockery to fierce shock.

The Hell Asura roared, a terrifying torrent of abyssal hellfire erupting from its massive twin blades. It swung forward with the exact same earth-shattering, fiery strength that had just massacred the entire zone’s players.

But Caelus did not flinch. Second Move. Third Move.

His Origin Light Longsword became a blinding, golden blur, cutting straight through the incoming flames. Clang! Clang! The newly extracted Mythical Sword Energy flared brilliantly, completely bypassing the Asura’s molten armor. Deep, jagged gashes tore open its chest, the lethal bleed effect making its demonic blood violently boil into steam.

Infuriated, the Hell Asura stomped the ground, completely engulfing the arena in a suffocating sea of black fire. It lunged, swinging both fiery blades in a desperate, apocalyptic cross-slash meant to incinerate Caelus into ash.

Caelus danced right through the roaring inferno. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth Move! Each perfect parry and flawless strike violently stacked his momentum. The sheer, overwhelming force of his blade scattered the hellfire. The Asura was forcefully pushed onto the back foot, its fiery defenses rapidly crumbling under the overwhelming, god-like pressure.

Caelus’s eyes turned dead cold. The accumulated energy in his blade had reached its absolute peak.

Myriad Moves of the Heavenly Sword - Seventh Move.

[Ding! Combat Score has increased by 10!]

A terrifying, radiant shockwave of pure Sword energy erupted from his sword, cleanly splitting the sea of fire in half. There was no clash. There was no resistance.

Just a blinding, absolute flash. The previously unstoppable Hell Asura was instantly and completely vaporized, leaving behind nothing but drifting embers and a stunned, dead-silent crowd.

[Ding!]

[Player 555 has successfully completed the Sword Trial.]

[Assessing the combat...]

[Injuries: 0 | Damage Dealt to the Asura: 100%]

[Evaluation: SSS]

[You have obtained: The Divine Fire Emblem]

[You have obtained +5 Levels]

[You have obtained +30 Reputation Points.]

[You have obtained: Trait Generator (Mythical, 2-Star)]

[Ding!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Level: 7 (0/1,600)]

[Combat Score: 82.34 -> 97.34]

The pure power of the Domain descended and drilled directly into Caelus’s body. It washed over every single inch of his existence, rapidly rejuvenating dead cells, fundamentally strengthening his body, and infusing power into his very cells to permanently elevate his combat score.