Joseph stared through the window even after Reinhard had left.

Rain continued falling as the Night Terrors still drifted through the streets below. His green eyes tracked their movements without really seeing them, his thoughts turned inward.

'No point in delaying it now. Let's begin.'

He closed his eyes, leading to everything to fade away, and was replaced by darkness. Then light bloomed as his Beast Symbol appeared before him, floating in front of him.

A knight figure looking down at a lance, with a great sword on the left and another sword on the right, plus two arms wrapping around the man from behind. The lance was shaded in grey while the other weapons remained black.

It was Lancelot's Beast Spirit Symbol.

But what drew his attention was the glow surrounding his Beast Symbol. Grey light glowed softly, and within it floated two swirling lights plus a grey orb shining brighter than the rest.

It was the trial entrance. Once he touched it, he would be transported.

Joseph's gaze shifted briefly to his Beast Sigils. Nibel Eater's symbol displayed its distinctive white fur and black orbs, while Stellar Bone's mark showed bone armor and the shadow within.

Joseph looked back at the grey orb. He walked toward it, each step feeling both too fast and too slow. His hand extended, fingers reaching for the pulsing light.

He touched the orb.

Light burst outward, consuming everything. His consciousness dissolved, reformed, and reassembled.

Joseph blinked before grasping he was standing in a different place entirely. He saw shimmering pink-blue grass spread beneath his feet, mixed with flowers in colors that shouldn't exist naturally.

Before him stretched a beautiful lake, the surface of which was shining with internal light, reflecting nothing and everything simultaneously. Behind him, a forest rose, trees reaching toward a sky that held no sun but somehow provided illumination.

He continued looking around before blinking as he saw a woman sitting near the lake's edge. Her legs dangled in the water, creating small ripples that spread outward in perfect circles. He knew this woman, as he met her at the end of his trial for Lancelot.

Joseph walked toward the lake, his boots making soft sounds against grass that felt too real. "Miss Avalon."

Avalon turned her head, her pale-gold hair swaying, and a smile spread across her face.

She was extraordinarily beautiful, not in the normal sense but one that belonged to legends and dreams. Her dress shimmered in soft shades of white and pale gold, flowing around her like mist given form. The fabric was layered and curled in delicate folds, shaped like petals. Every edge was traced with fine golden lines that caught light and threw it back, transformed.

The gown opened at the front, revealing her legs wrapped in elegant, vine-like patterns that curled upward, ending in shoes shaped like blooming leaves of gold. Her hair fell in soft waves down her back, tinted with the same pale gold that glimmered through her gown.

"Welcome, little knight," Avalon said softly as her expression softened. "Are you ready to take on your trial?"

Joseph clenched his fist before he nodded his head and stared at her in determination. "I am ready."

Avalon's smile widened as she asked. "Are you sure? This trial will require you to have the will to persevere and surpass what you originally feel is impossible."

Joseph nodded without hesitation. "It doesn't matter. I need more strength to help my friends, and this is the best way to gain it."

Avalon stared at him for a couple of seconds. Her golden eyes studied him with attention before she sighed lightly, the sound carrying fondness mixed with resignation.

"You young heroes are always running toward your destiny without looking back." She tilted her head, pale gold hair shifting. "But I guess that isn't a bad trait."

Avalon laid her head on her left hand, elbow resting on her knee. "Well, since you are determined, then who am I to stop you? The trial is very simple. You need to reach the bottom of this lake." She gestured toward the shining water. "You can use anything you want, but you must reach the bottom before your will crumbles."

Joseph blinked. "That's it? Is there something special about the lake?"

Avalon lightly chuckled. "Well... It's nothing much other than it being 50,000 meters deep."

Joseph blinked again before His expression shifted to confusion, then understanding, then disbelief. "Won't I die?! I'm pretty sure only Second Class Beast Masters could survive that much crushing force."

He wasn't exaggerating, and he knew very clearly from the History and Ecology classes. At just 5,000 meters underwater, the pressure would break metal and shatter buildings into rubble. At 10,000 meters, the crushing force would implode an entire village while collapsing most of a town. But 50,000 meters?

It wouldn't leave anything behind, it was a crushing force that a Third Class Beast Master couldn't withstand.

The crushing force was terrifying enough that even Second Class Beast Masters would experience nosebleeds and difficulty breathing at 50,000 meters. And their spiritual armor that allowed them to withstand attacks capable of wiping out cities, or barely survive blasts that could erase islands.

And his trial was to reach that depth.

"Don't worry, your body won't be destroyed," Avalon said calmly. "What is being tested is your will." She pointed at Joseph. "So then-"

Joseph felt himself lifted off the ground by an invisible force, grabbing him, pulling him upward and forward simultaneously.

"Good luck! I know you can do it~" Avalon's voice called out cheerfully.

Joseph was hurled into the lake.

Water rushed over his face, flooding his nose and mouth for an instant before he adapted. The shock of submersion passed quickly since this wasn't his first time underwater, and panic served no purpose.

Instead of struggling, Joseph pushed away doubts and fear about the 50,000-meter depth. He fixed himself and began swimming down, arms pulling through water with steady strokes.

And as he did this, he saw just how beautiful the lake was.

Fish swam past in varying colors, some blue, some pink, and some in colors he had no names for. Plants grew from depths that should have been too dark, swaying with currents he couldn't feel. Light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, illuminating without blinding.

Joseph smiled before his focus narrowed to a single purpose of him swimming down, and he began descending.

While moving down, he felt a force sweeping over his body, and pressure increasing incrementally. But it didn't strain him much yet as he kept swimming, arms pulling, legs kicking, body cutting through water.

Pink light shimmered ahead, appearing in numbers that displayed his current depth. 1,000 meters before the number shifted as he swam deeper into 2,000 meters, and then 3,000 meters.

Gradually, it became darker with the beautiful colors fading. The light that had illuminated everything grew distant, struggling to penetrate as darkness began to take over.

Joseph's arms felt heavier, each stroke requiring more effort after he passed 5,000 meters. His chest began aching, not from lack of air exactly, but from pressure compressing his lungs. But the pain echoed through his mind as he continued descending.

Once he hit 10,000 meters, he felt pain appear behind his eyes, and his head hurt every second as if something was trying to squeeze it. Darkness began creeping at the edges of his vision, but he gritted his teeth as he continued moving his arms.

He kept swimming with his arms pulling, legs kicking as he continued forcing himself down towards the depth.

Then it reached 20,000 meters.

The pain intensified exponentially. Joseph felt like his head would split apart as the pain was worse than any headache he had ever experienced.

Darkness pressed against his consciousness, trying to pull him under. If that wasn't bad enough, it felt impossible to even create thoughts, anytime words formed in his mind, it was dispersed as a sharp pain rushed through.

But he kept swimming because stopping meant failure.

Failure meant creating a terrifying trauma and fear.

Trauma and fear that would make him stay in Third Class until he overcame it.

And staying Third Class meant being unable to protect his friends.

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