The Pride trial tested assertion itself.

From the moment it began, the realm demanded escalation. Every victory invited a stronger response. Every perfect solution was immediately rendered insufficient. Pride, in its raw form, did not reward efficiency or cleverness. Instead, it demanded Kaiden continually prove that he stood above what opposed him.

There was no finish line. Only the expectation that he would keep asserting dominance forever.

And just like that, the trial blurred.

Time lost its shape as Kaiden moved, spellwork flowing with cold precision, the environment answering each decision with escalating force. Waves broke against him and consumed him, no matter the resistance he put up. Calculations stacked. Pressure mounted. Somewhere along the way, effort stopped mattering.

And then, without fanfare, he stopped.

He was trying to dominate this trial because his pride demanded that he do so. But empty pride only got him so far. What was a man who had nothing to fight for? Just an empty husk.

The answer had slipped past him because he had been trying to prove something to the trial rather than deciding what was worth proving at all.

The thought came uninvited.

Kaiden pictured them behind him.

His girls, out of commission. They needed him to stop the enemies.

If he failed, they were overrun.

Something inside him tightened. The urge to dominate did not vanish, but it folded inward, compressed into something heavier and far more dangerous. This was not about standing above everything. This was about standing in front of what mattered and refusing to move.

Kaiden inhaled slowly.

Pride answered.

He reached inward, past the surface assertion, past the hunger for acknowledgment, and grasped the core of it. The part that said this space was his responsibility. The part that refused to compromise. Arcane pressure surged up his arm, not flaring wildly this time, but locking into place with brutal clarity.

He stepped forward and drove his hand into the ground.

Sigils detonated outward in a perfect circle, carving themselves into the ground with violent precision. The ring expanded rapidly, enclosing him and the space where his mind placed the girls, every inch reinforced with layered arcane structures that interlocked like armored plates. Lines burned brighter than anything the trial had produced so far, dense enough to warp the air above them, the ground humming under the strain of containment.

The constructs hit the boundary.

And stopped.

Those that crossed the circle were erased instantly, cores collapsing before their limbs could complete the motion. There was no regeneration, no adaptation, no second attempt. The arcane logic simply rejected their existence inside the space Kaiden had claimed.

Others halted at the edge.

Some dropped their weapons. Some lowered themselves. Kneeling forms remained outside the circle, hostility draining away until the trial no longer bothered sustaining them. They faded quietly, like calculations discarded as irrelevant.

This was stronger than anything he had cast before because it was anchored to something real. A boundary drawn with purpose rather than ego. A declaration enforced through action rather than excess.

The realm adjusted.

Pressure stabilized. The skyline locked into place. The endless escalation ended, replaced by stillness that acknowledged the outcome without protest.

Text formed in his mind, sharp and unadorned.

[An acceptable answer.]

As soon as the words materialized, Kaiden's legs finally gave out.

He dropped to one knee, then the other, palms slapping uselessly against the ground as his lungs seized. Air tore in and out of his chest in ragged pulls, every breath scraping like he'd run headfirst into a wall. The circle still burned faintly around him, but its light was fading now, sinking back into the world as the trial released its grip.

He collapsed fully onto his back, staring up at nothing, chest heaving.

"Haha…" he wheezed. "I can't believe that worked."

His throat burned as he swallowed with a tired grin tugging weakly at his lips.

"My corny answer was accepted. Really?" A breathy laugh escaped him. "That was basically the power of friendship. Just… with my beautiful angels smelling of roses replacing sweaty dudes from the mangas."

Silence lingered for half a heartbeat.

Then a familiar entity slid back into place inside his mind, smooth and invasive, like a presence that had merely been waiting patiently outside the door.

[The Successor displays an irregular level of protectiveness toward bonded partners. Continued utilization of protective motivation is… advisable.]

Kaiden let out another weak laugh, this one quieter.

"So you're saying I should keep telling myself I'm always fighting to protect my girlfriends in their imagined troubled states?"

[It's an option.]

Kaiden shook his head. "Even if it worked long term, which I doubt, I'd rather not imagine their broken and battered bodies ever again."

[Noted.]

He shifted, letting himself sprawl more comfortably despite the exhaustion, arms spread as if the ground itself might prop him up.

The nonchalant smile faded as his gaze drifted past the collapsing skyline, past the dissolving spires and fading sigils, toward the one shape that still remained untouched by the trial's end.

The distant titan stood unmoved.

Seven massive arms hung heavy, and in only one of its hands did color still burn. A single orb, red and furious, pulsing with barely restrained violence.

Kaiden exhaled slowly.

"…Only Wrath is left, huh?"

Then he gingerly added, "I'm not looking forward to this one."

Ever since the trial began, he had a bad feeling about Wrath.

"System, can I get some rest?"

[The Heavenly Demon didn't manage to grasp the intricacies of the test. Whether resting between challenges is taken in a negative light or not is unknown.]

Kaiden's lips thinned. He could've used a nap right now. But he shared the fears of the system. Who knew what was taken as a sign of weakness or ineptitude and what wasn't? Having a picnic right here could definitely be taken in a negative light by this weird entity. Getting a full eight hours of rest as well.

But he knew that if he started instantly, he'd just collapse again. That's why Kaiden elected to only rest until he caught his breath, gathering his bearings.

Kaiden lay there for a few more minutes, letting the last of the tremor bleed out of his limbs.

Then he rolled onto his side and pushed himself up.

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