Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

'Then let's check Taimut's divinations.' The words of the statement hovered around Elias, waiting for him to either confirm or reject the statement.

"It is true," he said, looking forward to the answer that even the Ashborn Family wasn't able to find. Was his eldest brother still alive? Or did he pass away a long time ago?

The floating words went completely still, once he gave an answer. All that was left was for the words to change color into red for lie, or green for truth.

Seconds turned into minutes, and the wait became longer. The answer didn't come, and the words remained still, akin to being frozen in time.

"Is it performing divination?" Elias pondered, as the words were taking a really long time to change colors, unlike with the previous statement.

The time kept passing away, and in the blink of an eye, ten more minutes had passed, but nothing changed. The only change was that the timer left to finish the test had only five minutes left.

If there was no complete winner in this test before the time was up, then both of them were going to be erased.

The girl was the most panicked under this situation, as she still needed to win three times to complete this test, while Elias only needed to win one time.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" She screeched, her patience growing thin.

Four more minutes passed, and there was only one minute left on the clock. By now, the girl was drenched in cold sweat, almost accepting her death. Even if the result came in her favor, the test wouldn't end in time.

Elias, on the other hand, brought a small crystal gem out. He held the gem in his hand in preparation, and watched the timer in the clock nearing the end.

Ten seconds... Nine Seconds... Eight Seconds...

The girl fell to her knees and started laughing. She was dying here, but even Elias, who had performed better than her, was going to die with her. To not feel the fear over her own death, she laughed at Elias's misfortune.

It was only when five seconds were left, something changed in the floating words. They started shaking, and their trembling only grew fiercer.

The words didn't turn green, but they didn't turn red either. They, however, started cracking and turned into specks of light, disappearing into the void.

Once the words disappeared, one arm of the statue facing Elias started breaking apart.

"Did I win? Hah, what's the point when we are dying anyway?" The girl didn't even have the time to celebrate, watching only three seconds left in the timer.

"Hmm?" Her expressions only twisted when she saw an arm of the statue facing her side start to break apart.

"What?" She stood up in disbelief with the clock coming to a stop with only one second left.

............

The test has been completed. The Challenger has lost.

............

More words appeared before the two of them, marking the end of the test. Elias still had two arms left out of the three, while the girl had lost all three.

The words flew towards the girl, and changed into shackles that trapped her and prevented any movement. She watched her body slowly disintegrate, as she was being erased."

"No! NO! This isn't fair! He should die with him! He cheated! He must have!" she screamed, her voice breaking apart with desperation. Her body continued to fade, particles of light flaking off like ash in a breeze.

"I... I don't want to die..." Her final words were a whispered plea, lost in the endless void that didn't care for her please.

Elias watched the girl embrace death, struggling until her last moment. But after having seen so many deaths in the past, there was not even the slightest ripple of pity in the ocean of his emotions.

He lowered the crystal gem, but he didn't send it back. He still didn't trust the realm created by Taimut and the previous dean.

The thing that disappointed him even more was the fact that he hadn't received the results of the last statement. It was neither confirmed, nor denied. It was considered a failure for both sides, as two arms broke apart.

"To think that even the Beast of Divination couldn't divine the fate of that person. Just who is he?" Astralious had been trapped before Aliath was even born.

He had never actually seen that person, and occasionally only heard rumours about that man when someone rarely walked past the place where he was trapped in the Forest of Fables.

Even if the rumours were impressive, but they weren't out of this world for someone like him who had seen much worse in his life. But he didn't expect the beast of divination to fail in finding more about his fate either.

"Then again, maybe it's because the Beast of Divination isn't really alive. It's only his eyes that have been set up by that man. Maybe that's why..."

He justified the failure with a logic of his own, refusing to believe that the beast of divination could fail in finding more about the life and death of a person if the beast was alive and well.

"Congratulations to the King. You have completed the test without using the object of the Tomb. You have been rewarded with additional points."

The words before Elias changed, congratulating him. But before he could ask more about the points, and their uses, he was ejected from the realm of Taimur.

He returned back to the main hall, only to find out that he had never really left this place. He was still standing in the same spot where he had stood before.

Out of the six people that were present here, four of them were missing, including the girl that was in the Domain of Taimut with him.

In one of the tests, both sides had died. Other than him, only one more person had succeeded, and now that person was looking at him.