NOVEL WEB Chapter 15: The Brutal Trial
The whisper sent a cold, suffocating dread down Roi's spine.
Before he could react—
The floor vanished beneath him.
His stomach dropped.
The apartment blinked out of existence, like a switch had been flipped. One moment, he was in his room, heart pounding, gripping his desk for dear life—
The next, he was falling.
Falling.
Falling.
The air around him whipped violently, pulling at his clothes, his limbs flailing in the void. There was no sky. No ground. Just an endless abyss swallowing him whole.
Then—
A glitch.
Reality snapped.
And suddenly—he wasn't falling anymore.
His body hit something solid.
Hard.
Pain jolted through his bones as he gasped for air, his vision swimming.
Where—?
The world around him came into focus.
He was no longer in his apartment.
No longer anywhere he recognized.
A massive, dimly lit hall stretched before him.
The walls were high, smooth, and metallic, pulsing faintly with dim blue light. Strange symbols etched into the walls glowed in sequences, as if the place itself was alive.
A long, narrow path led forward, disappearing into the darkness.
And behind him?
Nothing.
A wall.
Seamless. Solid. No doors. No way back.
Roi's breath hitched.
Then—
A voice echoed from the darkness ahead.
"Welcome, Player."
A system prompt flashed before his eyes.
"NEW TRIAL: INITIATED."
"OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE."
His hands curled into fists.
No way out.
No time to think.
The game had already begun.
Roi stood at the edge of the metallic corridor, his breath uneven. The walls pulsed faintly, casting eerie shadows along the floor.
Something about this place felt wrong.
It wasn't like the last trials. This wasn't some game arena or a glitching cyberspace battlefield.
This place was ancient.
Like it had been here long before he arrived. Waiting.
His fingers twitched. Black Ruin wasn't in his hands—but he knew it was stored in his tablet. That meant he still had a weapon.
If he needed it.
Who am I kidding? Of course, I'll need it.
He took a slow step forward.
The sound echoed.
The metal beneath his feet was cold, unnaturally smooth. There were no doors. No windows. Just an endless hallway stretching into the dark.
Then—
A sound.
Faint. Distant.
A slow, dragging noise.
Like something was waiting ahead.
Roi swallowed hard but kept moving. The only way out was forward.
As he walked, the symbols along the walls shifted.
Glowing letters rearranged themselves, forming words.
Words meant for him.
"THE FORGOTTEN WALK THESE HALLS."
"THEY SEE YOU NOW."
Roi's pulse quickened.
Then—he reached the end of the hallway.
A massive circular door loomed before him, smooth and metallic, with no handles, no seams—just a single glowing inscription.
"ENTER AND BLEED."
His stomach twisted.
Before he could think—
The door split open on its own.
Darkness yawned before him, cold air rushing out like a breath.
Then, the system prompt appeared.
"TRIAL INITIATED: THE FORGOTTEN'S FEAST."
"RULES: YOU HAVE 20 MINUTES."
"SURVIVE."
Roi's blood ran cold.
Before he could react—the lights flickered violently.
And from the darkness beyond the door—
Something moved.
Roi barely had time to process the message before the cold air turned violent.
The metallic walls trembled, their smooth surfaces warping as if something inside them was alive. A sharp, ear-piercing sound followed—like metal scraping against bone.
And then, he saw them.
Shadows crawled out of the darkness, limbs disjointed, heads twisted at impossible angles. Their skin was stretched too tight, like something had forcefully pulled it over their bones. Their eyes—hollow pits. Their mouths—stitched shut.
Yet they moved.
Fast.
"20 MINUTES REMAINING."
Roi staggered back. His body screamed at him to run, but his mind locked up. What the hell were these things?
The Forgotten.
He could feel it—this wasn't just a trial. This was a graveyard of the discarded, the ones who never made it out.
And now, they wanted him.
The first creature lunged.
Roi barely dodged as it swiped for his face. Its fingernails—long, jagged, rusted metal— sliced through the air, missing him by inches.
Focus, damn it!
He activated Phantom Dash, his body blurring as he sped to the side—
Only to slam into something solid.
Another Forgotten.
It grabbed his arm.
A flash of agony ripped through him as its fingers sank into his skin. The pain was real. Too real.
They weren't just cyber entities.
They could tear him apart.
BANG!
A massive shockwave tore through the room, sending bodies flying.
Roi hit the ground hard, gasping.
And standing at the doorway—completely unfazed—was Kyler.
Watching.
Like this was just another game.
"You're struggling, Roi."
Roi coughed, his vision swimming. No shit.
Another system message popped up.
"BLACK RUIN AVAILABLE."
"ACCESS THROUGH DEVICE."
Roi didn't hesitate.
He reached into his pocket, tapping his tablet. The screen glowed, the familiar dark mist swirling out.
And then, in his hands—
A massive, blackened sword.
The blade was as tall as him, its jagged edges pulsing with a strange, ominous energy. It felt alive.
For the first time since the trial started—Roi had a fighting chance.
He tightened his grip.
"Come on, then."
And the Forgotten screeched.
And charged.
The Forgotten screeched, their bodies twitching violently as they rushed toward him.
But this time—
Roi wasn't running.
His grip tightened around Black Ruin, the weight of the massive sword feeling perfect in his hands.
A sharp breath. Focus.
The first Forgotten lunged—its jagged, rusted fingers reaching for his throat.
Too slow.
Roi moved.
Phantom Dash—Activate.
His body blurred, the world stretching for a split second as he vanished from their reach.
He reappeared behind them.
And swung.
SLASH!
Black Ruin tore through the first creature, slicing it in half.
A guttural, glitching scream echoed as its body crumbled into data, dissolving into the air like smoke.
The others hesitated.
For the first time—they saw him as a threat.
Roi smirked.
Now you're scared?
The hesitation didn't last long.
Four more came at him at once, their twisted bodies moving with inhuman speed.
Roi didn't wait.
He charged forward.
His foot planted against the metal floor—and then he was gone.
Phantom Dash.
He reappeared in the middle of them.
And he unleashed hell.
Black Ruin spun through the air, cutting down one, two, three Forgotten in a single movement. Their bodies ripped apart, their glitching forms vanishing into the void.
The last one tried to retreat.
Roi grabbed its skull.
"Not so fast."
Then—he crushed it.
The creature screamed as its head shattered, its body following suit, disintegrating into nothing.
Silence.
The pulsing walls dimmed.
Roi stood there, breath steady, controlled. The sword still hummed in his hands. His muscles burned, but he felt alive.
He had won.
Then—
A slow, mocking clap.
Roi turned.
Kyler sat lazily on a floating panel, grinning.
"Well, damn." He tilted his head, amusement glinting in his eyes. "Guess you're not completely useless."
Roi exhaled, rolling his shoulders.
"Took you this long to figure that out?"
Kyler laughed. "Fair enough."
Then—
"10 MINUTES REMAINING."
Roi's smirk faded.
This trial wasn't over yet.
The air shifted.
Roi barely had time to catch his breath before the entire trial space warped. The dim glow of the metallic walls faded, and in its place, the environment twisted into something familiar.
His apartment.
No—not just his apartment. His childhood home.
The tiny, cramped living room. The dusty old couch with ripped fabric. The flickering overhead bulb that always buzzed at night.
His chest tightened.
He knew this place.
He hated this place.
Then, from the hallway, two figures stepped forward.
Roi's stomach dropped.
"No."
His parents.
But not as he remembered them.
His father's body was too tall, too rigid, his neck moving in jerky, unnatural motions, as if something inside him was broken. His eyes were hollow, glowing with eerie red light, and his hands—wrapped in iron chains, dripping with an unnatural black energy.
His mother stood beside him, her head tilted at an unnatural angle, her fingers twitching violently. Shadows coiled around her arms, warping, twisting—like living smoke.
Their faces were blank. Emotionless. Uncaring.
But he knew.
Knew what this trial was.
Knew why they were here.
"You have got to be kidding me," Roi muttered, his voice shaking.
Kyler's laugh echoed behind him.
"Oh, this is perfect."
Roi turned sharply.
Kyler was leaning casually against one of the cracked walls, watching with a grin, his eyes glinting with cruel amusement.
"You hesitated to kill a faceless man, Roi," he mused. "Someone you barely knew. Someone who wasn't even supposed to exist."
He gestured toward the two figures standing before them.
"But what about them?" His smirk widened. "What if it's your own parents trying to kill you?"
Roi's breath came out shaky, uneven.
"This isn't real," he whispered. It couldn't be.
Kyler snorted. "You're in the wrong place to be telling yourself that."
Roi's fingers twitched at his side, but he didn't reach for Black Ruin.
This is a trick. A mind game. It has to be.
Then—
His father moved.
Not fast. Deliberate. Measured.
He raised a hand, chains rattling, and suddenly—
The air cracked.
A massive iron weight came flying toward Roi at inhuman speed.
His instincts screamed.
He Phantom Dashed out of the way just as the weight crashed into the floor, splintering it apart.
His chest heaved.
His mother was next.
She raised her arms, the black smoke twisting, pulsing—then suddenly—
Roi's vision darkened.
A cold, suffocating force wrapped around his throat, his body freezing in place.
His mother wasn't touching him—but she didn't need to.
She was controlling the shadows.
And they were strangling him.
He gasped, clawing at nothing, the air turning thin, suffocating.
They're strong.
Too strong.
His mother stepped closer.
His father raised the chains again.
Kyler's voice was soft, almost teasing.
"Let's see if you hesitate this time."
Roi's heart pounded.
Because he knew.
He knew he was going to have to kill them.
Even if they weren't real.
Even if it was a trick.
Even if it shattered something inside him forever.