Faust wasn’t unarmed. His axe found purchase in the skull of the first Teleste that got near him. Strangely cold blood splattered onto his face. But the generated puppet didn’t stop. Its fist rammed his sternum.

Faust heard cracking, popping sounds. He doubled over and backed up.

They’re strong!

Not only did their blows break his bones, but his attacks did nothing. He sidestepped a punch, caught the wrist and struck a liver shit vicious enough to kill a person. But the puppet’s elbow twisted till it threw Faust over its shoulder.

He hit the ground and rolled to his feet. But Drege shoulder-checked him so hard, he bounced off the ground and slammed into the terrace walls. The stone and his shoulder cracked loudly.

They came down on him with a fury. Each blow so hard he felt death creeping up on him slowly. Blood trickled down his skull. His ears were ringing so loud he could hear anything.

Yet he still reached out and caught a hand. He twisted and broke it. Someone grabbed his head. He bit the hand. He Kicked. Fought. Laughed.

He fought to the end.

Till he lost feeling in his arms and his vision turned all black.

Then he opened his eyes on the empty balcony again.

"What the hell," he muttered slowly.

His injuries were gone. He felt his skin in confusion. The smell of stone and sterile air replaced blood.

The Teleste Puppets reappeared, walking towards him eerily.

Faust raised his axe with an unsure but excited expression. This seemed to be a looping fight. He would go through the trial over and over till he found the answer.

The fear of pain and death would have instilled fear into the bones of anyone else. But Faust was excited to improve his axe skill. He also wanted to study their fighting style and try to learn it.

This was going to be fun.

Death after death. Blow after Blow. He went through the fight repeatedly, not even bothering to think much about the trial’s passing condition.

If he landed a heavy blow with his axe and it got stuck in a body then he would be weaponless for the rest of the fight. So he started aiming for amputating limbs and decapitations.

He tried different footwork and strike combos. He named the moves to remember to use them in his fights outside this Memory.

Deceptive strike—a heavy strike then sweeping into a low strike that took both legs of the enemy.

Triple strike—a chain of three strikes with precise footwork between enemies.

Jawbreaker—a parry which turned into him slamming his axe into jaws.

Genuinely, he had a lot of fun. But he couldn’t stay here forever. He had to get to the interview with the Hierophyt people.

So while he learnt the hand to hand combat of the Teleste, he looked for a way to complete the trial.

What was the system trying to tell him with this memory?

He watched two girls get brutally beaten and even killed over a feud.

Was it a lesson about escaping?

He tried to get to the stone doors seamlessly built into the walls of the building, but he couldn’t open them. The panel on the terrace walls didn’t respond to his touch. And he got a quick death, when Drege slammed him into the wall.

Next he tried beating all of them, but that was impossible. These puppets were like the Puppet Knight. Damaging them enough didn’t stop them from regenerating. He went through multiple loops beating everyone of them, even the powerful Drege.

But it changed nothing.

And besides, Faust was sure the system wasn’t trying to teach that lesson. There was no way Vi couldn’t have beaten the nine fighters by herself, especially with Marik lingering in the back.

If things got even a bit dicey, the Farseer would have intervened.

Faust paused as a sudden realisation struck him. Then Drege fist also struck him. Stars flashed in his eyes. He hit the ground with a grunt and didn’t bother fighting back.

As they beat him to death, he watched the Marik puppet in the back. It just stood there, watching all this unfold. It hadn’t done much all this time, but Faust had thought it was how it had been programmed.

But now he suspected it was something else. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The next loop started and Faust stared at the slowly approaching puppets. Then he walked towards them too.

They stared into his soul as he got close, but did nothing. They never struck first, Faust always struck first out of habit.

"I mean it’s the best way to win a fight," Faust admitted to the uncaring puppets.

They watched him walk past the and followed, lingering behind him like the threat of violence. Faust’s muscles twitched for action. Anxiety bubbled in his belly, heart pounding so hard in hisnears.

But he walked all the way to Marik without being hit in the back. His instincts were still screaming, but a smile tugged at his lips.

He was right.

The lesson the system was trying to teach him was—

"Don’t fight back," he said to Marik.

The shorter man looked at him blankly, then smiled. The sudden expression was chilling and Faust almost threw a right hook.

"Let it happen," Marik said in an eerie, monotone voice. "You have no choice. No power. No right to resist. So just let it happen. The harder you fight the worse I’ll hurt you."

Faust swallowed, face scrunched up in disgust and uncertainty. "Who are you? Why are you telling me this?"

But the trial was done.

The puppets disappeared and a screen opened in front of him.

[Memory Trial completed! You have received 200 experience points and 1000 Origin Credits!]

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 8!]

[You have gained 5 points in all attributes, and 5 free points to distribute.]

[You have received an Item—Nems’ Flute]

With that the world turned black.