The ground didn't just shake. It screamed.
A deafening roar tore through the Night Shed Forest. It was so loud it rattled Sam's teeth. Behind them, the giant trees weren't just falling—they were turning to dust. The World-Serpent taking a single step created a literal hurricane.
A massive wave of dust, wood, and wind shot towards them. It wasn't even an attack. The Apocalyptic monster didn't know they existed. They were just bugs in its way.
Sam ran. His boots slammed into the dirt, his lungs burning. Beside him, Lumi sprinted with everything she had, her platinum hair whipping in the violent wind.
'If we had mana,' Sam thought, gritting his teeth as a stray branch cut his cheek.
'We could reinforce our bodies. We could run faster. We could fly.'
But they didn't. They were trapped in world devoid of any mana. His legs felt like lead. His vision blurred.
They were going to die.
Sam pulled up his blue screen, not daring to slow down.
"System!" Sam mentally screamed.
"How do we survive this?! Give me an emergency bunker! Anything!"
[Ding!]
[Query Acknowledged.]
[Analysis: Host is in the path of a Catastrophic Displacement Wave. Survival probability is nearly zero. Options: survive the remaining 48 hours of the Trial, or defeat 'Jörmungandr (Fragment)'.]
"Defeat it?!" Sam yelled out loud, the wind swallowing his voice.
"It's the size of a continent!"
[If Host fails to survive, Host's soul will be extinguished. Consequently, Host's physical body in the real world will disintegrate.]
The system's cold answer hit Sam hard. Disintegrate. If he died here, his sister wouldn't even find a body. He would just be erased.
"Damn it! A weapon? A teleport scroll? Anything!"
[The System Shop has items to mitigate this threat. However, Host lacks the required System Points (SP).]
"A loan!" Sam begged, throwing away all his pride.
"I'll pay it back with interest! Just give me something!"
[Negative. Transactions cannot be processed without the required SP.]
Sam's foot caught on a root. He stumbled, barely catching himself before he ate dirt.
He let out a ragged sigh. His legs were giving out. The roaring Tsunami of dust was gaining on them, completely blocking out the sky.
'I guess this is it,' Sam thought. He felt numb.
'I was hit by a car going eighty miles an hour. I was supposed to die on that street anyway. This was all just borrowed time.'
He slowed down, panting hard. He looked at Lumi.
She was still running, but she looked exhausted. Her face was pale and dirty, her eyes wide with pure terror.
Guilt hit Sam like a truck.
'She wasn't a part of this,' he realized.
'I summoned her. She was probably a queen in her own world, and I dragged her into this mud to die. This is my fault.'
He stopped running. He turned to face the massive wall of destruction.
'I'm an idiot,' he thought bitterly.
'I couldn't even keep Kira. I really am just useless.'
Just as he got ready to close his eyes, a sharp chime cut through the noise.
[Ding!]
[Hidden Condition Met!]
[System has rewarded Host with a MASSIVE discount for surviving the 'Night Shed Forest' longer than any human in history!]
Sam blinked.
[Discounted Item: Celestial Potion]
[Original Price: 5,000,000 SP]
[Discounted Price: 100 SP]
[Description: Temporarily increases power to the user's absolute highest Talent level. Duration: 5 seconds.]
[Warning: Due to severe world restrictions, the power output will be forcibly suppressed by 99.9%.]
Sam stared at the text. The potion was useless for him. He was just a weak mortal. But he knew someone who wasn't.
"Buy it!" Sam roared in his mind.
A small glass vial filled with glowing, starlit liquid appeared in his hand.
"Lumi!" Sam screamed over the wind.
She stopped and turned around, looking confused and terrified. The wall of dust was right behind her, closing in fast.
Sam ran up and shoved the vial into her chest.
"Drink it!" Sam ordered, locking eyes with her.
Lumi didn't hesitate. She didn't complain about his dirty hands. She ripped the cork off with her teeth and drank the glowing liquid in one gulp.
The world stopped.
Literally. The deafening earthquake went dead silent. The massive wave of dust and trees froze in mid-air. It was like the world itself was bowing to her.
Lumi lowered the empty vial. The air around her started to vibrate. Her ruined dress and Sam's jacket simply dissolved into light.
With the sound of ringing bells, white and silver armor wrapped around her body. A glowing tear in space opened above her, and a massive greatsword dropped right into her hand.
She changed completely.
Her platinum hair flowed down her back like liquid silver. Two golden halos floated behind her head, glowing like mini suns. Her dirty face was now flawless and pale, her amber eyes glowing with a cold, terrifying authority.
Massive white wings spread from her back. The feathers looked like blades made of pure moonlight.
She didn't look like a warrior. She looked like a god sent to judge the world.
Sam stumbled back, shielding his eyes from her blinding light.
If this was only 0.1% of her maximum talent's power because of the world's restrictions...
'What exactly did I summon?!' Sam thought, his brain short-circuiting.
Lumi slowly turned to the frozen wave of dust. She didn't yell. She didn't even take a stance.
She just casually swung her greatsword in a horizontal line.
*Swoosh~...*
A thin golden line shot from the blade. The second it touched the frozen dust wave, the tsunami vanished. No explosion. No sound. Millions of tons of debris were just erased from existence.
Lumi didn't stop. The five seconds were ticking.
Her wings flapped, and she shot into the sky. She moved so fast Sam could only track her because of her glowing light. She broke right through the thick canopy and up into the clouds.
High up, right in front of the World-Serpent's massive head, Lumi raised her sword.
[Celestial Art of Divinity: Sever]
She swung it down.
The golden light expanded until it was as big as the monster itself. It cleaved the sky in half.
It sliced right through the center of the World-Serpent.
Everything went completely silent.
The monster stopped moving. From the center of the golden cut, its thick scales turned to gray ash. It fell apart, blowing away in the wind like dust.
High above, Lumi's five seconds ran out.
The halos shattered. The wings turned into light. The sword vanished.
She changed right back into the girl in the ruined dress. She fell from the sky, completely unconscious.
Sam rushed forward, ignoring his burning legs. He dove into the bushes and caught her just as she crashed through the lower branches.
They hit the dirt together. She was out cold, breathing softly against his chest.
Sam looked up, panting.
Looking through the massive hole in the trees, he saw the sky. Half was bright sunlight, the other half was starry night. The sky itself was cracking like glass. Gravity felt weird. The broken trees started floating into the air.
Sam realized what was happening. Lumi had killed the executioner and broken the trial. The DreamScape was falling apart.
He couldn't stay here.
[Ding!]
[Hidden Objective Cleared: Survive the Execution.]
[The Night Shed Forest is currently collapsing.]
[Do you want to exit the world Now?]
[Yes / No]