Night came quickly.

Aziz, who had been celebrating the fact that he’d survived despite being in spitting range of the great gods, pulled on his combat attire, armed himself with a whole bunch of one-use artefacts, and checked his knife. His trusty Straight Shot, which had accompanied him for a very long time, had been checked and inspected by him personally.

He’d done some intel gathering. The Holy Temple’s treasure vault could only be accessed by one person at any one time. At the same time, everyone only had one chance; if they chose to flee the battle, that was it. They would not be able to trigger the vault a second time. More importantly, however, was that the phantom that served as a trial had grown in combat ability.

It was still a Knight, but it was one with top notch combat senses. Sheer strength would not cut it anymore. More than one Knight without ample combat experience had been cut down in the past few days, which was why some of the slots had opened up for Aziz to enter. Others, who had been lucky enough to retreat, had been wounded grievously; the enemy was a master of all weapons.

Once the first death occurred, a warning had gone out to all participants, to not try their luck unless they were truly confident in their fighting ability.

But that suited Aziz very well.

Pulling on two gloves, the colonel examined his equipment once more. A whole bunch of Palisades, which had been miniaturised with breakthroughs in research and development, hung off his belt. Tiny little Thruster artefacts had been fixed onto his fists and his feet; with a single thought, his kicks and punches would double in speed. Naturally, his boots also had blades attached to the front, while sturdy knuckledusters were affixed to his gloves.

The colonel hesitated for a moment, and instead of leaving his room, he wore a combat vest. Generally, he didn’t like to wear one during battle — anything that could overwhelm the combined defences of Thunderbolt wouldn’t be stopped by a simple vest — but in a one on one, the more hits he could take, the better.

He placed a mask on his face, followed by a transparent faceshield. He’d received news that the enemy was capable of using street fighting tricks, like tossing powder or even using toxin, so he’d gone around earlier to look for Marie. Fortunate, her inventory, which had been stuffed to the brim with lots of gifts, had faceshields amongst them — probably to express how important her face was. He buckled a sheathed sword onto his belt, and then looked around for some small weapons.

After inserting eight knives into various areas of his combat attire, Aziz checked his appearance, and left the room. At the bunks’ entrance, Marie flashed a thumbs-up at him.

Taking to the skies, Aziz headed over to the venue. Surprisingly enough, the treasure vault was actually close to the Octagon, the building where the Conference of the Four had taken place, and a handful of people were already there, waiting.

As he found a nice stretch of space to stand around in, a familiar voice spoke. “Alright. Everyone’s assembled.”

The Pinnacle, who had been standing in the shadows wrought by the moon, motioned for everyone to follow him. Leading them into the Octagon, they were soon climbing down a spiral staircase.

“Most of you here should have heard by now, but the difficulty of the guardian you’ll be facing has increased drastically,” said the Pinnacle. “I have no idea why, but if you are not confident in your combat ability, do not enter the vault. We’ve seen enough talented youngsters fall here already. There’s no need for the various pillars of the Five Lands to add to that number too.”

Small grunts of acknowledgement replied to Kolya’s warning, but like Aziz, none of them clearly intended to back out at this juncture. Everyone here were Knights, save for the three Lords who were bringing up the rear. More importantly, everyone here was clearly armed to the teeth, dressed in various outfits that were specialised for one form of combat or another.

A huge golden door, with gemstones of all kinds embedded in it, greeted them once they traversed the long winding staircase.

How tacky. Aziz examined the huge door, and then noted a small, man-sized passageway. One just needed to step through it to the very end to face their opponent. Defeat it, and a treasure that was suitable would appear on a raised platform, on a pedestal.

It was simple enough.

Adjusting his faceshield and his mask, Aziz felt adrenaline course through his nerves. At the same time, a cold chill spread through his muscles. Qi swirled around him in a controlled manner, adding on a secondary layer of defence. His muscles tightened, ready to explode out into action anytime, and once his mind was devoid of thought, the colonel strode towards the person-sized passageway.

He could feel the gaze of everyone else fall onto him as he walked past them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Pinnacle Kolya open his mouth, only to shut it a moment later. He wasn’t sure what the man’s expression was, but that was of little use to the him now.

Stepping into the passageway, Aziz ignored the little details. After a few corners here and there, he came across a warning sign, but the colonel stepped around it without waiting to read its contents. He knew what it was — a warning — but he’d already had more than enough warnings on the way here.

Reading it now would be useless. It might even serve to weaken his resolve and thereby his fighting spirit; what Aziz needed now was to forge onwards.

After all, this was the first Knight-ranked opponent he would ever face on his own. If he were to waver even before the fight…Aziz knew that even if he managed to escape his opponent, he would never become a Lord.

To him, opportunities like these were the only way he could protect everyone else. He needed as much power as possible, given that the demons were coming. Treasures given out by trials like this were the fastest way to get stronger — in a sense, it was one way of fulfilling his vows.

His mind cleared of emotions once more, Aziz walked into the open space that lay beyond the warning sign.

A small, child-sized figure was waiting for him.