My body froze for the briefest moment as Chiki’s presence continued climbing higher and higher until it finally settled at the peak of Exalted Rank.

I had always known his physique was monstrous.

But I had never imagined that much mana had been spent suppressing his Talent but something else shocked me even more.

That aura...

My thoughts raced.

The flow of mana... no, the flow of the soul itself. It radiated outward from his soul instead of his body. I had experienced that phenomenon only once before.

Celestial Singularity Art?!

But it didn’t feel like the same technique.

How...?

How was that even possible?

The question had barely formed in my mind when Chiki did something even stranger as for the first time, Askruak looked genuinely disturbed.

He immediately lunged toward Chiki as I intercepted him without hesitation.

"Move, you fool!" Askruak roared, the composure he had maintained until now finally cracking. "You have no idea what kind of monster that slave is becoming! If he finishes, I won’t be the only one who dies! Let me kill him before he can—!"

His words were drowned out as a brilliant golden shockwave erupted from Chiki and an even greater pressure swept across the battlefield.

Chiki had changed once again, his eyes had become frighteningly cold as one by one the souls of the villagers left their dying bodies and drifted toward him.

The empty husks they left behind wore nothing but peaceful smiles. Even I could feel my own soul stirring in response as my Soul Palace trembled.

So... That is the Soul Parade.

Within seconds, it was over as Chiki slowly lifted his gaze. For a brief moment, his eyes met mine and then he turned toward Askruak wordlessly before charging.

I instinctively tightened my grip around Kosetsu because with the two of us fighting together, suppressing Askruak would be effortless.

Chiki vanished, appearing right beside Askruak as a single punch distorted the air but before I could follow,

My body began turning transparent.

"What the hell...?"

Even my own voice grew distant as one after another, familiar status windows materialized before my eyes.

[Chiki awakened his Talent before the disaster.]

[The nine Murgin children have been saved.]

[The path that once led to his greatest regret has been changed.]

[Congratulations.]

[You have completed the Trial Objective.]

[Talent Insight Has Evolved Into Talent Eye of Usurpers]

And before my body could be completely teleported away, a new status window appeared before my eyes.

[Talent Eye of Usurpers Is Being Activated]

[Showing You The Fragment of Forgotten History]

***

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the same peaceful village of Chapkor. Only this time, my body had become like that of a specter, completely transparent.

No one could see me as Liran, Chief Karil and Chiki’s lives unfolded before my eyes like a memory replaying itself. The same days repeated again and again and the only difference was that I no longer existed within them.

Chiki continued training tirelessly, day after day but his mana never awakened.

The villagers still greeted him with warm smiles and continued placing most of their food into his hands while quietly enduring their own hunger.

And that fool...

He accepted it every single time only to secretly give most of it to the children, insisting he wasn’t hungry and then that day finally arrived.

Ahankara descended upon the village while Chiki was away training. I couldn’t witness everything as my existence seemed tethered to Chiki’s but by the time he returned...

The same horrific sight greeted him.

The villagers writhed in agony beneath the corruption, telling him about children being abducted.

Chiki searched the entire forest in desperation, looking for the abducted children only to find Askruak...

His ritual had already completed as the bodies of nine children lay beside him lifelessly, each of their heads severed from their bodies.

I couldn’t feel what Chiki felt but I didn’t need to.

He didn’t scream or cry as he simply stood there, his expression utterly hollow as if he had rejected reality itself.

Askruak slowly walked toward him.

He seized Chiki by the throat and effortlessly lifted him into the air but there was no resistance, hatred or even fear anymore.

Chiki simply stared ahead with vacant eyes.

After a brief moment, Askruak clicked his tongue in disgust before casually throwing him aside.

"What a pathetic creature. Even a child possesses more pride than you, you worthless vermin. If I weren’t concerned about tainting my own strength with your pitiful emotions, I would have granted you the most agonizing death imaginable. After all, a creature devoid of pride has no right to exist."

With those final words, Askruak turned his back and soared into the sky.

"Suffer and drown in your own heart and blame nothing but your own weakness for it is your feeble heart that brought ruin upon your people. And perhaps... one day, your emotions will grow strong enough to make you worth devouring."

Chiki lay motionless upon the ground, staring blankly at the sky. Days passed but he never moved and I kept watching. Then one day, the rain began to fall, it was as though the heavens themselves were weeping for him.

His body had become little more than a husk of what it once was. His lips were cracked, his once vibrant feathers had withered and the hope that had always shone within his eyes had long since faded.

And that was the day he finally opened his mouth.

Slowly, he raised a trembling hand toward the sky.

"Why...?"

"Why are you so cruel...?"

"Where... are you... God Ruruk?"

"Why..."

"Why did you forsake us?"

"Was our faith not enough?"

Every word left his lips in broken fragments but the anger behind them was unmistakable. It was directed toward a God who had never existed.

The tears refused to stop and soon his broken cries echoed across the entire island and then, he stood, his body looking as if it might collapse at any moment but the presence erupting from within him was even greater than the one I had witnessed before.

The ground trembled as countless souls burst forth from beneath the earth drawn toward him.

"If the gods have abandoned the faithful then I shall abandon the gods. For every tear shed by those who prayed I will spill divine blood. For every prayer met with silence, a god will answer with their life."

"I will hunt them."

"I will break them."

"Until the heavens themselves learn what it means..."

"...to fear."

As soon as he said those words, the memory faded as a new status window appeared before my eyes.

[You have successfully witnessed a Fragment of Forgotten History.]

[The Birth of the God of War — Chiki.]

As soon as I saw those words, my eyes widened as I understood why the aura surrounding Chiki had felt so familiar. He wasn’t using a technique similar to Celestial Singularity Art, he was the one who had created it.

My soul had been strong enough to wield that technique because I was a reincarnator, carrying the weight of one previous life.

But Chiki, he had created it while carrying the burden of an entire village.

The moment the realization settled within me, my body began dissolving into countless particles of light as the trial finally released me back to the real world.

A faint smile tugged at my lips.

So... That was why I had been thrown into this particular trial.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere within an endless sea of black flames, a pair of crimson eyes slowly opened.

"...Zenith?"

***

At that very same moment, somewhere within an endless white void, a pair of golden eyes opened in confusion as a single name escaped his lips before he could even understand why.

"...Zenith?"

***

[Arc Two: Birth of the God of War Completed]

[A/N: Also Join Discord Server to See Artwork of the God of War — Chiki. The link is in synopsis.]