[Welcome to the "Colosseum of Ascension"]

[You have unlocked 3 rewards from clearing the second God-Rank assessment.]

Leon immediately frowned slightly after reading the notification.

’Only three?’

The first God-Rank assessment had also given him three rewards.

But the difference in difficulty between the first and second assessment was absolutely insane.

The [Forsaken City] was far more dangerous than the first assessment in almost every possible way, especially with the final pressure from the [Forsaken King] and the dark fog slowly consuming the city.

So Leon honestly expected much more.

Ding!

[All rewards will be different from one player to another depending on their achievements in the assessment, except for the third.]

"...Interesting."

Leon finally lifted his head and looked around at his surroundings properly.

And the moment he did, his expression changed.

He was currently standing on a gigantic ancient platform floating in the middle of an endless dark void. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Stars surrounded the entire place.

’No... that’s not it’, Leon thought.

At first glance, they looked like ordinary stars shining in the darkness, but after focusing more carefully, Leon realized each one radiated an overwhelming aura. Every single one.

Ding!

[The "Colosseum of Ascension" holds the spot of every god or entities close to them in power there is, each "star" represents one.]

Leon instinctively took a small step back after reading the notification.

"...What the hell?"

His eyes slowly moved across the endless void once more.

There were too many stars. Far too many.

Leon actually attempted to count them at first, but after reaching around fifty, he completely lost track and gave up.

A chill slowly ran through his spine.

Because if every single one of these stars represented a god, or something close to that level... Then just how many monsters existed out there?

And more importantly... Would he eventually have to fight all of them?

Leon wasn’t scared anymore after everything he had experienced, but even he couldn’t help feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what he was seeing.

’Can I even survive all that?’ Leon thought silently.

Who knew. Still, after taking a deep breath, Leon forced himself to calm down and focused back on the actual colosseum itself.

Massive pillars surrounded the ancient structure, each one glowing faintly with divine-looking light.

Above him was a gigantic roof held up by those pillars.

And in the exact center of the colosseum was something Leon immediately recognized.

"...The Ascension Altar." His eyes widened slightly.

He had only seen this altar once before. In that strange dream where he met the [Heavenly One].

At that time, the mysterious entity had shown him the altar while telling him he wasn’t worthy of it yet.

And now... The same altar stood directly in front of him.

Except this time, it wasn’t a dream. Or at least Leon believed it wasn’t.

Slowly, Leon approached the altar while observing it carefully.

Compared to the divine version he had seen before, this one seemed much calmer.

It didn’t radiate some incomprehensible holy pressure. It simply stood there silently.

Still, the moment Leon extended his hand and touched it...

Ding!

[A faint divine essence swells inside of you, though it isn’t enough.]

[You aren’t worthy yet.]

"Again?" Leon muttered with narrowed eyes.

So even after clearing two God-Rank assessments, killing all those bosses, and surviving everything that happened in the [Forsaken City]... It still wasn’t enough.

’I guess that means I need to clear more assessments.’

Honestly, Leon didn’t know how many existed.

But if he had to guess, perhaps only someone who completed every single God-Rank assessment would finally become "worthy."

And once they did, maybe they would truly ascend. Maybe their own star would appear in this endless void beside the gods and others.

"What the fuck do you mean, not worthy?!"

"I guess we really need to do more assessments..."

"I refuse to go through something like that ever again."

Suddenly, several familiar voices echoed from the opposite side of the altar.

Leon blinked, ’...?’

He immediately turned his head. And there they were: Violet, Godrick, Alicar and Oasis.

All four of them stood on the other side of the altar, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.

Leon frowned slightly, ’I swear there was nobody there before.’

Which meant they only appeared after he touched the altar. Otherwise there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed them immediately.

The group, meanwhile, still hadn’t realized Leon was standing there.

"Do you think Leon will be alright after receiving the punishment?" Alicar asked quietly while adjusting his grip around his bow. "I mean, maybe he found a way to live, or the punishment will be light...?"

"Let’s not lie to ourselves," Godrick sighed while crossing his massive arms. "That meteor definitely killed him. His life is probably over now."

"Shut up," Violet immediately replied coldly. "If not for Leon, none of us would even be standing here."

"Agreed," Oasis frowned. "Don’t talk badly about him."

The four continued speaking among themselves while Leon simply stared at them silently for a moment.

Honestly, seeing them argue about whether he was alive or dead was a little funny.

Eventually though, Violet slowly turned her head toward Leon’s direction.

And the instant she saw him... Her entire expression froze.

"Oh god," she muttered while rubbing her eyes. "I think I’m finally losing my mind. I’m starting to hallucinate Leon now."

The others immediately turned toward where she was looking. Then all four of them froze as well.

"...Wait."

"...What?"

Leon grinned.

"Since when am I dead?" he asked casually. "Did you guys seriously think I’d sacrifice myself without knowing exactly what would happen?"

The moment they heard his voice and realized Leon was actually standing there alive and perfectly fine, every single one of them completely lost composure.

Godrick’s mouth fell open. Alicar looked like his brain had stopped functioning.

Oasis nearly dropped her wrench. Even Violet’s usually calm expression completely broke.

Then almost instantly, all four rushed toward Leon.

They circled around him, staring at him from every angle while even touching his shoulders and arms to make sure he was actually real.

"...What the hell are you doing?" Leon asked while looking at them strangely.

"How the hell did you survive that, human?" Godrick asked with a bewildered expression, still unable to process what he was seeing.

"Small trick of mine," Leon shrugged with a smile, "I don’t die easily."