The guard stepped onto the platform slowly, his boots making a dull sound against the stained floor as he climbed the steps one after the other.
His eyes moved first to the girl's body.
To what was left of it.
It was no longer something that could be called whole, her form broken and disfigured in a way that made even the air around her feel disturbed, as if the space itself rejected what had just happened.
Then his gaze shifted to Felix.
Felix stood there casually, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, wiping the blood off his hands and coat slowly, his expression calm and satisfied.
There was no sympathy in his eyes, not even a trace of discomfort, because in his understanding, this was not something to pity.
This was a trial.
A place where strength decided everything, a place where hesitation meant death and in this Trial of Steel…
Weakness was not something that could be excused.
It was something that got erased.
"Winner."
