Author Note: Like always, dears. This is the occasional poke I usually give. To support the novels, you can subscribe to p a t r e o n.com/Mortrexo! There are over 100 illustrations and a few other things over there, not to mention the few advanced chapters. OwO.
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After the words of the eight guardians, a few people quickly jumped forward to challenge the Golden Guardians. Among them was the person who stepped up first.
"Hmph. I don't know what kind of creature these Golden Guardians are. Lord Guardian, what is your record?"
The one he pointed at was one of the two central figures of the eight. That person answered flatly. "Fifty-one hours. If you match or surpass my record, I will relegate my position."
The rest of the guardians also spoke of their records.
"Forty-eight hours."
"Forty-nine hours."
"Fifty-three hours."
"Forty-five hours."
"Forty-six hours."
"Fifty-five hours."
"Sixty hours."
Yasenia looked at the last one who spoke. "Sixty hours? So they are the strongest."
"Not necessarily," Kali spoke. "Since the objective is to stall, they might be good at escaping instead of fighting."
Yasenia frowned. "That… you are right. Then, won't this trial only select those who are good at escaping instead of those who are good at fighting?"
They were speaking out loud without any shame, so the guardians and everyone else heard their words. The guardian who lasted 60 hours spoke. "You must damage the Golden Giant even a little during the time fighting if you want to count the time."
Yasenia turned to look and spoke flatly. "That changes from those who escape to those who are good at hit-and-run. Someone stronger might get disqualified because they only have frontal attacks and are good offensively, but they get outmatched by the Golden Guardians."
Those who were about to fight paused, looking at the guardians. Yasenia was actually quite on point.
That Guardian spoke calmly. "That might be the case. However, the Golden Guardian is not as easy to dodge."
"That's just an excuse. Isn't there a threshold for damage? For example, if someone depletes 20% of their durability but lasts only 20 hours, that durability acts as some kind of time multiplier."
"There is." The Guardian answered positively.
Yasenia frowned. "Then, why didn't you speak about it? Aren't a trial's rules supposed to be said clearly?"
"Are they? Have any of the previous trials been explained to the participants here?"
This time, it was Yasenia who became silent. From the very beginning, they were all thrown into a white room and expected to figure things out on their own. Not even in the Wisdom trial had there been a hint. If it weren't because of Tatyana's long expertise and experience in dealing with similar things, passing that first trial would've taken a much longer time.
Yasenia crossed her arms under her heavy breasts and hummed. "Whatever. Are you eight going to start, or will I have a chance to step forward already?"
She didn't jump straight into battle, not because she was not greedy, but because she wanted to check the level of the participants and Golden Guardians. Would these things be stronger than what she faced or weaker?
She was curious to see first. Recklessness would not do her any good.
The man who first stepped forward snorted. "I don't need you to tell me."
Then, he took out a giant club from his spatial ring and his body surged with energy. "Club, huh."
Yasenia was not dismissive of his weapon of choice. A club looks primitive, but if you had the brute strength to properly swing it around, no sword or spear would beat it. A hit from a solid club could send almost any other melee weapon flying or even bend and break them if hit strong enough.
The man rushed forward and faced the ten-meter-tall Golden Guardian. These guardians were all in a large arena, and when the man stepped inside, the Golden Giant unsheathed the golden sword and turned to look with a calm yet powerful stance.
"Ha!"
The man's body burst with strength, his strength and speed tremendous as he approached. Moreover, his Intent Domain unfurled, showing a rocky scenery. Yasenia muttered. "Earth and Nature attributes. He has good control."
Evelyn propped her chin with her hand. "Not good enough."
Having experienced the Golden Guardian's terror firsthand, Evelyn was sure that this man would not last long.
A golden light flowed, and the ten-meter-tall Golden Guardian moved with agility and swiftness disproportional to its size. With a loud clang, the man's club was blasted sideways, and an instant later, the Golden Giant's large shin struck the man's side.
BANG!
The man bent sideways grotesquely, a sound of bones breaking accompanying the explosive kick. His body was flung sideways, smashing against the arena's distant wall.
Evelyn flinched. "Ouch. Even Yasenia was injured by those kicks. Is that man alive?"
Andrea sighed. "He probably can't stand anymore. Even I would suffer greatly from a direct hit like that."
Cecile blinked. "Is he dead?"
Yasenia laughed and hugged Cecile, raining kisses on her face. "You are so cute, Sweetheart."
Seeing the Golden Giant look toward the edge of the arena and then return to its initial position, it was clear that the man inside the wall was not in good condition.
One of the guardians waved their hand, powerful healing energies and vines extending into the wall. The man was truly in a bad situation. Thankfully, the guardian's healing abilities were top-notch.
Kali spoke with a hint of praise. "That Guardian's healing is not bad at all."
Curious, Evelyn asked. "Better than you?"
Kali tilted her head, unsure. "Valeria, can you judge us objectively?"
"You are much better now. If you want to compare, that woman's healing is on par with you before you started to train within Yasenia's Star Breaker Realm Bead."
Evelyn was impressed. "That's not a bad evaluation at all. No wonder they could last for fifty-three hours. Also, woman? You can tell?"
Valeria answered lightly. "Her energy has traces of powerful Yin Energy. It is difficult for a man to release such energy unless they have a special constitution."
The other seven who charged in first were defeated shortly after as well, completely taken by surprise by the powerful Golden Guardians. Andrea shook her head. "Well, it went as expected. Those things are no joke."
Evelyn laughed. "Anything that can go toe to toe with Yasenia is no joke."
Kali teased. "You will have to go against it later, so I wouldn't laugh if I were you."
Evelyn's smile faltered, her forehead deeply creasing. "Ugh…"
Yasenia approached and hugged her from behind, burying her head between her two large mountains. "I believe in you, Dear."
Evelyn sank in pure, unadulterated softness and answered with a comfortable, nasal tone. "I will do my best~."
The level of comfort given by Yasenia's unmatched softness was truly motivating!
After the first eight were defeated, people stopped being reckless. They had not expected the first eight to be defeated within 10 minutes of the start of the battle. Only our girls and maids were completely unfazed.
Angel tugged at Yasenia's skirt. "Who do you think can last long enough to substitute a Guardian?"
Yasenia pondered and glanced around. She could feel some people with quite powerful auras. Only, the eight Guardians had not been in their posts for thousands of years without reason. They were true geniuses of their era who bested their predecessors and kept their positions for a long time.
"It's… difficult to say. I believe no one here can surpass their records."
"I've been listening in silence, but you are really arrogant."
Yasenia blinked and looked sideways at a tall, slender woman. The woman was looking over coldly and disdainfully. Yasenia answered with a smirk. "So what if I am? Bite me if you don't like it."
The woman smiled mockingly. "I won't do anything to you here. Also, you were speaking so arrogantly before about destroying those things. I really want to see you do it. If you don't, well, with your looks, you can probably become something else outside."
Yasenia was not bothered by her words. Why would she? Of course, that didn't mean her lovers and maids would swallow an insult to Yasenia. If they were Yasenia's reverse scale, Yasenia was their shared reverse scale.
Cecile spat coldly. "Ugly and jealous."
Kali glanced up and down. "Someone with your strength dares to speak? Bold. Tell us your family, and we might visit it outside."
Angel's tone was so icy it didn't sound like herself. "If you open your ugly mouth one more time, I'll destroy your entire family once I am out."
The others didn't say more since the three of them had spoken on their behalf.
Feeling their killing intent, the woman flinched and snorted, looking away. "Whatever."
She was outnumbered here, so running her mouth more than she did was not wise. Some maids glanced over, their hands twitching as they almost reached for their concealed weapons.
Yasenia spoke softly. "Forget it. Let's see the next fights a little more before participating."
Tatyana stepped forward. "I am going. I was bored anyway."
Yasenia's golden eyes instantly lit up as she looked at Tatyana. "Really!?"
Tatyana laughed. "Yes. It has been a while since I stretched my muscles. That thing is barely good enough for me."
Some people were looking at her mockingly, but those expressions froze the next second. As Tatyana took a step forward, her demeanor flipped. She went from a languid and decadent, elegant beauty to a firm and royal imperial empress.
Her loose, sexy black dress melted away, changing into her royal red dress with black decorations and ghostly green inlaid gems. The long, red, pleated skirt trailed on the ground, while the revealing upper segment showed off her perfect figure. In her hand, a long sword with a draconic handle and a thick spine manifested, completely made out of Death Energy.
Her chin was slightly raised, her red eyes showing a chilling calm and imperial might. Each of her steps caused every single person's heart to shudder together with it, as if the world itself flowed only when she moved.
As she approached, the Golden Guardian visibly tensed up, taking out the sword and taking a guarded stance. The attitude it displayed toward other participants, compared with the one it showed Tatyana, was so different that it was impossible to miss. Clearly, the Golden Guardian felt afraid and tense.
"Since you have some sort of anti-Intent Domain, I will also refrain from using it. Playing with different rules from the others is not fun, is it?"
Her elegant lips arched faintly, but her posture was straight and her eyes cold and calculating.
Instead of rushing forward, she floated up to around the Golden Giant's chest level. "Come."
BOOM!
The Golden Guardian surged with all its strength, not daring to hold back even a trace of it. The pressure from the Golden Guardian exploded, crushing the entire space and causing all participants to sweat and step back.
However, Tatyana's figure didn't even falter, her blood-red eyes calmly observing it. Instead of Tatyana challenging the Golden Giant, the current situation gave the complete opposite vibe.
Yasenia's tail was wagging so furiously that no one could stand behind her. "Ahhh!! Mommy is so cool~!!! I love her to deaaathh!!"
The girls couldn't help but agree. Each time Tatyana made her move, the world bowed to her presence, making her the sole center of everything.