Then his expression became solemn. "The trial of Hyperion, we should have already..."

But before he finish his sentenced, a large pair of glowing beastly crimson eyes opened within the darkness.... announcing a presence magnitudes greater than all the magma warriors combined!

A massive crimson dragon stepped out from behind the pillars, a mass of rippling muscle underneath glinting red scales with two pitch black obsidian horns jutting out of its cranium.

Adam’s voice stopped there, as he was unable to continue saying a single word. After a while his shaking finally hand moved downwards as he grabbed at the great sword’s hilt, pulling it out of the ground.

Within his line of sight, the dragons slit eyes glowed crimson and its metallic red scales flashed menacingly in the dim light of the trial grounds. A powerful crimson flame burned around it’s humongous body, churning into a massive inferno!

This was the mark of an ancient an sacred beast! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"You are not its match." Lena cautioned.

Adam turned a deaf ear to her and forced himself onto his feet. Every part of his entire body, every single cell his, was trembling, spasming, and contorting in excruciating agony. But with a low growl, Adam stood up once again, and shakingly grasped the great sword horizontally in front of him whiles looking like he could collapse any second from now.

"You are not its match." Lena repeated.

This creature is on the level of Echidna’s brood. It is much stronger than the manticore that almost destroyed you and even stronger than the Nemean lion you tamed.

Even if you were in peak condition, you would only die if you attempted to face it, let alone the you in your current state." Lena said gloomily voice: "Suggested course of action: Abandon Athena and evade the beast for as long as you can!"

Adam silently ground his teeth defiantly.

Then slowly he raised his head again.

His dark eyes locked onto the dragon standing amidst the inferno.

"But if I start abandoning comrades for the sake of my own survival. If I start betraying myself and my values..." Adam said quietly, "then what exactly am I surviving for?"

Lena calmly reminded him.

"My lord. . . you are currently facing certain death."

Adam’s lips curled into a faint smile.

"Perhaps."

"Lena... thank you for everything you’ve done thus far. You may possess no true consciousness whatsoever, but I am still glad to have had you by my side!"

Adam spoke very softly in a low voice before finally turning his attention away from his ai companion. Meanwhile Athena spoke weakly.

"Let go of me... I do not wish to have your death on my conscience, so hurry up and let me go!" Adam’s miserable situation fiercely prodded at Athena’s heatstrings. She just couldn’t understand why he would risk his life to protect her... no, now he was even facing certain death! All sentient beings were selfish by nature, and cherishing one’s life above all else was an innate instinct.

So she really didn’t understand why this mysterious young mortal would go so far to protect her.

"No... never!" said Adam firmly, without any room for compromise.

"If you don’t let me go... I’ll detonate my divinity and kill myself!"

Athena’s words caused Adam’s pupils to fearfully constrict. He tilted his head to look at her. Seeing that she was serious, he suddenly became rageful and roared at the top of his voice: "Shut the hell up!"

The furious yell knocked Athena virtually senseless. She was afterall, one of the most powerful goddesses of this era! When had anyone ever dared to speak to her so crudely?

But Adam wasnt done, his entire body trembled. With his gaze still locked onto a Athena, he griped, "Now hear me goddess of wisdom! At this very moment, you are not a revered deity with the power to annihilate cities. You are not ruler over the realms, nor are you a goddess who looks down on everyone. You’re just a weak woman who can’t even protect herself!"

"Now I understand. You Olympians are selfish and cowardly base creatures without any humanity or conscience! Your own father devoured your mother when she was pregnant with you to secure his throne. Your queen Hera threw her own son down a mountain because he looked unsightly to her.

Apollo flayed a Satyr alive simply because he dared challenge him and Artemis butchered innocent children to satisfy her pride.

You would each abandon each other in the face of death without a second thought. That is all well and good . . .

But do not think for one second that I am like any of you! Mortals may be weak, fragile, and inferior. . ."

Then Adam tool a deep breath.

"But at least we know how to protect the people we care about!"

Then, for what was supposedly the last time, he picked up Athena. In order to protect her as best he could. He tucked her very deeply into his chest whiles he took the initiative to face the flame dragon. Adam dragged the great sword as he moved forward, and the sword’s body plowed a deep indentation through the ground.

A final decisive glint appeared in his eyes just as the dragons locked onto him.

Inside the dragon’s mouth, a miniature sun of condensed crimson flame formed instantly.

The surrounding stone began vaporizing from the heat alone.

Within Adam’s arms, Athena’s eyes widened in terror.

She understood immediately, that if that attack was fired, not just them, even the entirety of their surroundings would disappear as well.

Adam saw it too.

And so he came to a choice. He gently placed Lena’s ring on the finger of a confused Athena and whispered. "Lena this shall be my last command to you: whatever you do make certain that she survives the incoming attack."

Lena was silent for a while before replying. "Affirmative, my lord!" Even her cold emotionless voice seemed to carry a tinge of sadness.

"Athena." Adam finally said. Today, I’ll bet my life and my pride to show you... what true humanity is!"

The next instant the dragon fired and the world disappeared beneath crimson light.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A catastrophic torrent of condensed flame erupted from the beast’s jaws like divine punishment itself, swallowing the entire arena in a sea of annihilation.

Stone pillars disintegrated instantly. The ground melted into rivers of magma and hockwaves exploded outward with enough force to depress the entirety of the trial grounds into a crater.

Lena madly concentrated all her energy into a protective blue shield of light that curled around Athena’s body while she yelled out:

"ADAM!!"

Fortunately Adam had already moved.

Every muscle in his ruined body tore apart simultaneously as he launched forward with a savage roar, dragging the massive great sword behind him.

But in due time the inferno descended upon him. Lena’s voice warned besides his ear.

"You cannot outrun this attack!"

Adam grit his teeth violently.

"Damn it all!"

Then he swung.

[WHOOOOOM!!]

The great sword collided against the incoming sea of crimson fire.

For a single impossible instant the inferno split apart.

A massive canyon formed within the flames themselves as Adam’s slash carved through the attack with sheer brute force.

But only for a moment.

The dragonfire immediately swallowed him whole.

"AAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!!"

Adam’s scream echoed through the collapsing arena as the crimson flames consumed everything in sight. Flesh burned. Skin blackened. His body ruptured beneath the overwhelming force pouring into him.

It should have been the end for him, and perhaps it would’ve.

But at this very moment the last mortal cell within Adam’s body wilted away and its place. . a brand new, pulsating god cell glowed subtly.

A powerful resonace suddenly formed with between every god cell in Adam’s body and his frail bloodied form suddenly combusted and burnt away within a dazzling crimson light.

For a brief instant he remained dissasembled.

Only an enormous mass of floating crimson particles suspended within the inferno.

Each glowing particle pulsed rhythmically like a tiny glowing star.

The fire that had burned Adam at first began spiraling violently toward Adam’s disassembled body, drawn inward like a vortex.

[BOOM!]

Then the particles all imploded inward at once.

Adam’s skeleton formed first:

Not the dull ivory of mortal bone but a dense glowing Astral silver.

Then strands of muscle fibers wove over the skeleten: each filament glowed a thermal red like molten steel.

Organs formed next.

A heart far denser than any mortal organ thumped within his chest like a miniature sun, each beat sending shockwaves of energy rippling outward.

Instead of blood, a new brilliant golden liquid filled Adam’s veins:

Ichor. The golden blood of the gods.

Then came the skin.

It was smooth, pale, and nblemished.

Not a single wound remained.

The strangest part of his new body?

His eyes. Deeping with those dark pupils, the wounds Perses had carved open were still there, or rather, they had been turned into something else, something strange.