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A faint tremor spread through the chamber as soon as Jayden’s silver flame became red.

The silver light across the walls rushed toward him at once, and the red flame hovering before his chest began moving in a slow circle. It did not touch the metal armor directly, but the heat still went through anyway, sinking into his chest area through the gaps.

Jayden clenched his jaws as he tried to force his breathing to stay steady, but blood still leaked from the corner of his mouth and dropped onto the ground. His fingers clenched around his sword hilt so tightly that his knuckles showed.

[Who do you serve?]

Jayden’s brows pulled together. This time he answered fast than before, thinking that if he was firmer maybe the trial would accept his answer.

"The Smith household."

The red flame burned brighter, suggesting that the answer was not enough.

Helen’s brows knitted together in concern. She could feel that Jayden was not being truthful enough.

Did he possibly think he could fool a trial created by an entity even stronger than most players in this generation?

"Seems the human has found himself in some deep shit," the giant Velhari chuckled, enjoying the scene.

The shorter Velhari did not say a word.

Meanwhile, Varok watched Jayden with open interest now, his golden eyes more serious than before. For the Velhari, human weakness was very important. It was something that could be reported back to the settlement and exploited when the right time came.

Zich was still kneeling where he was. He saw Jayden’s expression very clearly, and a faint trace of amusement settled onto his face.

Was he enjoying this scene? Definitely!

Right then, a new line of blood red text appeared above Jayden.

[Partial Truth Detected]

[Loyalty Conflict: Family Pride / Personal Jealousy / Fear of Disgrace]

Jayden’s face twisted after reading it.

The trial had not only exposed a lie. It had gone further, dragging the lie into daylight for everyone to see. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Could this day get any worse?

Three blood red sword marks formed above him next.

A horrified look crossed Jayden’s face.

The new blood red sword marks hung in the air in a triangle, each one glowing with a radiant light. None of them moved yet, but the pressure they gave off was already heavy enough to make Jayden’s heart speed up.

[One mark for one lie.]

[One for each hidden motive.]

[To pass, the dishonest would need to speak the real answer or survive the punishment.]

Jayden swallowed, saliva passing through his throat noisily. He did not fully look away from the floating marks; his mouth was pressed into a thin line.

For a moment, it looked like he might finally speak clearly, but pride would not let him.

"No," he said at last, with more force than before. "The Smith household is enough."

The first sword mark dropped.

FWOOOSH;

Blood flashed across the air as the mark pierced his shoulder from above.

CRACK!!!

Jayden’s body jerked violently. His armor cracked inward around the impact point while blood splattered onto the floor.

Helen moved without thinking, flames already rising in her hands as she stepped toward him.

However, the chamber blocked her right away.

Silver runes rose up from the floor between them, and an invisible wall slammed into her, forcing her several steps back.

"Don’t interfere," Varok warned in a deep tone. "This is battle."

Helen tried to work her jaw, but no words came out. There was a trace of concern in her eyes. After all, even if Jayden had been behaving weirdly as of late, he was still her friend.

By now, Jayden’s breathing had grown laborious.

He looked toward Helen. For a second, the cold look on his face almost shattered. The red flame above him burned brighter again.

Zich did not have any plans of interfering even though he knew a way to stop the trial.

To stop the trial, all Jayden needed was to be honest. It was as simple as that, but Jayden’s stubbornness was only making the process uglier.

"As much as I enjoy watching this, we don’t have all day. Why not comply with the rule and be honest?" Zich spoke in a tired voice.

Jayden glared at him. The look was full of anger. Zich could only shrug and mind his own business.

The second sword mark fell. This one struck lower, tearing through the side of Jayden’s armor and forcing him to bend from the crushing pain. Blood gushed out from the fresh wound while the red flame above him flickered harder, almost unstable now.

Jayden clenched his teeth so hard that one could see the muscle jumping near his jaw.

’Dammit,’ he cursed in his heart, and although this was not related to Zich in any way, for some reason all his anger was focused on the white haired youth.

Ever since this bastard came along, his pride had repeatedly taken hit after hit.

For several seconds, he said nothing, and the chamber kept waiting. The third sword mark remained in the air, glowing with a darker red than the first two.

After much contemplation, Jayden finally spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine! I serve my pride!"

At those words, the red flame weakened a little. It was not enough to clear him yet, but enough to show the chamber had accepted part of it.

The last sword mark remained above Jayden.

The flame under it flickered slowly, as if waiting for the final cut. Jayden’s face had gone pale from the blood loss, but his eyes were still fixed forward, refusing to give the chamber anything more than it had already forced from him.

A new line of silver text appeared above the room.

[Final Question]

[Who do you hate most in this chamber?]

...

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