This world gave everyone power on a silver platter. Skills, abilities, even supernatural gifts. But only the exceptional few could forge those advantages into something truly extraordinary.

Halo had trained on Mirror Steppe for over two weeks. Before heading back to the castle, Fade had one more trial: his fourth training in a cave.

He was placed in an isolated cave sealed from light, sound, and the presence of any living thing. Time became distorted. Inside, he had to maintain his awareness without succumbing to hallucinations or despair.

After standing in a river for days, the cave should have been a relief. His body was wrecked by soreness, numbness, and barely functional. The first day of sitting in cold darkness? Almost pleasant. By day three, four, five? Maddening.

The cave barely fit two people with enough room for one position and no movement. The heat was unbearable. His body screamed with pain that wouldn't fade. Hunger gnawed at him, slowly devouring him from within.

"A strong mentality is all that you'd need in this world." Fade's last words before abandoning him in the cave.

Though it seemed impossible to avoid hallucinating or passing out in such a situation, he managed to harness his thoughts to preserve his sanity.

He developed better control over his mental state, using it to create a serene mental environment that replaced the reality of his cramped cave.

He'd mastered the lesson. Learned everything Fade wanted him to learn. Then, the moment he stepped out of the cave, he collapsed.

When he finally woke, Fade was right before him.

"I don't have forever, you know?"

He said.

Halo didn't understand the collapse. He'd thought he was managing well in the cave. But apparently, he'd hit his limit without even realizing it.

Fade proposed his next training immediately, but he reluctantly procrastinated. He needed to see his comrades, especially Liam.

Liam was finally conscious, and the red-haired girl had long ago recovered and departed. Halo had actually wanted to duel her after completing his training, but considering he was entering his third week with two training sessions remaining, he couldn't fault her for leaving.

He'd expected a tantrum from Liam and Seraph. He'd been gone for weeks, after all, and had barely told them anything useful before leaving. But instead, they were supportive of his training. They believed it would help when a greater threat emerged in the future.

Even his cold nature couldn't hide the relief he felt at their words. If it were him, he'd have been silently furious. His competitive spirit wouldn't have accepted it so easily.

But when night finally came, he found himself alone once more. Training.

He sat atop one of the castle towers. The wind whipped around him, fierce. He cupped his hands around a candle, protecting the flame from dying.

The lesson mastered every emotion, anger, fear, impatience, irritation... Every emotion could be controlled through one simple exercise. Protecting a dying flame required patience and tolerance, certainly. But it also demanded absolute calmness, surgical precision, and quiet courage.

Every time the flame died, fury rose in him. Worse were the times it went out immediately after lighting. His blood boiled. And when the wind became erratic, deliberately cruel, his heart hammered in his chest, aggressive with annoyance.

At first, he didn't understand. Then something shifted.

He wasn't just blocking the wind anymore, he was working with it and around it. And the candle… he'd stopped fighting it. He was also tending to the candle in his own way, treating it with calmness and gentleness.

After nearly four hours of working on this, Fade finally climbed up the tower and lazily took his seat.

"You're really something… it only triggered nine times? On my first try, it went off at least fifteen."

Halo sneered.

"Tch. Don't distract me, old man."

Fade turned to him and gave him a long, bizarre look, as though he couldn't fish out his own words.

"This training helped me survive in this world. The gods sometimes use Wishes to lessen the damage Sin Fragments inflict, allowing us to cling to a shred of sanity. But even with that mercy… most still lose their minds."

He gave his words a beat.

"This helps me understand my Flaw, wrath, and control my sins to some extent."

He turned to him and gave him a subtle look.

He understood the training was supposed to help him master his emotions, but something bizarre had been stirring deep within him.

Though his training had nearly made him forget about it, he still felt it lurking from time to time. Why wasn't the training helping him understand it already? Did he need to do it multiple times?

"How many times can I do these exercises?"

Fade scanned through his mind for a moment.

"If you keep doing all of them nonstop, it'll mess you up. You could age faster or even die. But doing them one at a time? Go wild, boy. I've been doing them since birth."

Halo shrugged his shoulders. He'd just have to practice as much as he could.

Something else bothered him, though.

"Is this the true form of the castle? We thought it only showed itself to its legends…"

Fade stared at him, confused.

"You kids figured that out?"

"Not really, Seraph did."

Fade sighed.

"I figured… beside killing, I doubt you can do anything else."

Halo frowned.

He hadn't told Fade about his previous life as an assassin, which made his current words have him bemused.

"You're seeing the castle's true nature, but it manifests only for its rightful master. Unless Kysa returns, this is how it will remain."

Halo sighed.

"So before anyone can become the master, they have to kill Kysa, huh?"

"Not quite. Only the legends have the right to challenge her, and there used to be eleven of them. Now only six remain. Kysa herself killed two."

"What does it take to become a legend, then?"

"I don't really know. Every legend served the God of Destruction, and the system gave them to us because of that. So… maybe you just need to serve the God of Destruction too."

His expression darkened.

If only he'd lived more destructively, causing more chaos. Then maybe he'd serve destruction instead of Death. Destruction's servants were strong and fortunate. He got neither.

But this soon made him realize something. He could ask Fade about his god, Death.

"What do you know about the God of Death?"

Fade gave him a lazy look and smiled.

"Your Only Sin is Death, isn't it?"

"Why are you smiling?"

Fade's smile widened.

"The God of Death is shrouded in mystery. The streets will give you rumors, nothing more. The truth… it'll find you when it wants to."

Halo's expression darkened. What was he saying? Were all the people who worshipped Death killed by it or something?

He was the Shadow of Death… mustn't he be favored?!

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