Chapter 134: Berserk
The glow of the core faded in his palm, and Dune exhaled slowly.
Green Neba Core: 9.9%
He stared at the floating numbers in the air, the last fragment of light dissolving into his skin. Just a little more, and he'd break the 10% mark, the threshold for the Trial.
He leaned back against the stone wall of the dorm balcony, the evening air brushing through his hair, cool and quiet.
The moon above Bloodrose was round and pale, suspended over the academy grounds like an indifferent eye.
Five days. Five days before the Trial. Whatever that meant.
He didn't know what to expect. No one did. The professors were tight-lipped. The nobles whispered nonsense. And the other students were either pretending to be ready... or already breaking.
But he wasn't like them. He had walked through things far worse.
It couldn't be worse than the Trial of Gods, right? The Blessing Ceremony...
Dune's fingers tensed unconsciously at the memory. His breath caught, just for a second. That place... the divine battlefield of agony and rebirth. The flames of judgment that devoured his body, again and again, until pain became his only companion.
He had died there. Thousands of times. Screaming until his voice bled out. Failing until failure became second nature. And yet...