Chapter 169: The Trial (26)
Verena didn’t remember falling.
One moment, she was in the middle of Trial Two, sword out, her mimicry threads pulsating at the edge of control, Vivienne gasping behind her—then something tore open beneath her feet. Not the ground, no—it was the air itself, unraveling like a scroll, reality folding into itself in a silent, seamless rupture. And from it emerged a Zodiac Beast.
Not just any beast. This one bore no solid form. It moved like water yet shimmered like glass, its shape constantly shifting, impossible to pin down—a creature of mirrors and weightless silence.
ZODIAC BEAST IDENTIFIED: PISCES – THE REFLECTED ABYSS
It didn’t roar. It didn’t strike. It simply opened its yawning mouth, and Verena was devoured by it.
No scream. No struggle. Just stillness.
---
When she opened her eyes, there was no ground beneath her. No sky. No Vivienne. No trial. Nothing.
She stood in a pale expanse of fog, the kind of silence that didn’t just surround you, but emptied you. She tried to move. She could, technically, but it felt like walking through molasses.
The place wasn’t a prison.
It was a pause button.