“Congratulations on passing Stage 18 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 19.”

Mira was then dragged to a small room that had nothing in it. Mira was a bit confused by this but didn’t pay it any mind.

“Welcome to Stage 19. This stage doesn’t have a name but is still just as important as the other stages. In this stage, all you have to do is answer a question truthfully on your first try. If it’s not true or if you don’t believe deep within your heart then you will fail. The question is, why do you want to get stronger? The people who can’t understand their own hearts are not eligible to get stronger. Begin!”

Mira was dumbfounded by this stage. She had never expected that all she had to do is answer a question to pass it, but the more she thought about it this wasn’t so strange. She’s already fought thousands of enemies over the past 2 years in the trial. She should have already proven her battle prowess and skills enough and now it’s time to understand the heart.

“Why do I want to get stronger, huh?” Mira thought about this question. The reason that she would tell most people was that she wanted revenge, but she needed to get stronger for this. She didn’t want to get stronger because of this. Another answer that she might give is that she wanted to just have her sweet release of death, but this isn’t 100% true either. Well, it’s definitely true. She doesn’t have anything to live for and she lacks the resolve to keep living.

It took Mira a while to think about this question as passing relied on an answer that she believed from the bottom of her heart. Finally, she understood the reason she wanted to get stronger.

“I think I know why I want to get stronger. I don’t think that I necessarily want to die after my revenge, but I want to get stronger to bring an end to the pain and suffering of life. I don’t know what that entails, but that’s why.” Mira said this out loud as to answer the question. She then waited for the voice to judge if this is what she believed or not. Soon the mechanical voice rang out.

“Congratulations on passing Stage 19 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 20.”

***

“Congratulations on passing Stage 18 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 19.”

Maria was teleported to a similar room to Mira and waited for the mechanical voice to ring out with information on the stage.

“Welcome to Stage 19. This stage doesn’t have a name but is still just as important as the other stages. In this stage, all you have to do is answer a question truthfully on your first try. If it’s not true or if you don’t believe deep within your heart then you will fail. The question is, why do you want to get stronger? The people who can’t understand their own hearts are not eligible to get stronger. Begin!”

Maria almost couldn’t believe her ears. She thought that her limbs might be ripped off and reattached over and over again for 30 days to get used to the pain or something ridiculous like that. Maria already knew the reason she wanted to get stronger.

“All I have to do is answer this question to pass?! That’s easy! The reason I want to get stronger is to continue being friends with Mira! I don’t know why she started helping me in the beginning, but I can tell that she cares about me and only wants what’s best for me even if it is for selfish reasons. She’s the most sincere person I have met and has turned me from a naive little girl to a person that knows the true nature of the world and knows how to survive in it. I know she will never betray me and the only reason she might kill me is if I piss her off too much. If there is one person in this world for me to stick with, then it has to be Mira and I can only do that if I am strong enough to fight by her side. I don’t know what the future may hold, but right now I have no grand ambitions or virtuous reasons for strength. This is the reason I want strength!” Maria answered with a genuinely naive answer. Not many people in this world would answer this question like this. Sure, people want to get stronger to stand next to someone important to them, but there is usually something else to it. Maria is not like this, she only wants to be friends with Mira and the only way to do that is to get stronger with Mira.

“Congratulations on passing Stage 19 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 20.”

***

“Congratulations on passing Stage 19 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 20.”

Mira heard this and was teleported to the bottom of a massive spiraling staircase. It was hundreds of meters wide and she couldn’t even begin to see the top as the staircase went into the sky.

“Welcome to Stage 20. This is the Ascendence Stage. In this stage, just walk to the top of the staircase to complete the trial. If you are about to die or can’t make it any further, then just call out that you give up on the stage and you will be sent out of the trial. There is no time limit for this stage and your injuries will be healed if you pass. Begin!”

Mira looked at the staircase and knew that things weren’t so simple.

“I have a bad feeling about this stage. Part of me thinks that this stage is probably nigh impossible. I guess I will just have to climb the staircase and see what this is really about.” Mira thought to herself and stepped onto the first step.

As soon as she stepped onto the staircase, she felt an invisible pressure around her. With her strength right now, this pressure was essentially nothing and couldn’t even impede her movements by a little. Mira stepped onto the next step. The pressure that was around her increased again but was still negligible. This happened again as Mira climbed up the staircase again. Mira then continued climbing the staircase as the pressure built up after every step.

Mira hit step 1000 and the pressure increased sharply after she reached this step. This whole time, she was just walking up the stairs at a leisurely pace and the pressure only decreased her speed slightly. But after step 1000 she felt the pressure increase by a massive degree. Her original pace now required 50% more effort to achieve, so Mira just slowed down to a pace that allowed her to continue walking without a lot of effort. This was a stage that wasn’t to be rushed.

After she reached step 2000, the pressure around her increased again and Mira felt it difficult to move. It was also when she reached this step that she felt a presence coming at her from the sky. It was a large bird-like beast and was only Rank 1. Mira took out her scythe and slashed the Bird when it got close to her, easily killing it. Even this simple movement consumed energy from her as the pressure around her was getting more intense than before.

“Fuck.” Mira said as she slowly trekked up the stairs.

Mira slowly worked her way up the stairs as she killed more and more of these flying magical beasts. They weren’t particularly powerful but were a huge waste of energy. She had to stop and take the occasional break on the steps to eat and recover some of her stamina. Mira was getting extremely bored and also a little dizzy as she continued to walk in circles up the spiraled staircase. This time, it took her a while to reach step 3000.

After she reached step 3000, she felt her bones start cracking. This was definitely not a good sign. Mira took a break at this step to try and heal her injuries, but it took a while as getting used to the pressure around her seemed impossible to do. After Mira felt she could continue, she stepped onto the next step and felt her bones cracking again. This time though, Mira didn’t stop and continued to the next step. She felt her bones start fracturing even more, but Mira didn’t stop. She continued up the steps until she felt like she reached a good spot to heal her injuries.

After healing her injuries, she started climbing up several steps at a time and stopping whenever she felt it might be bad to continue in her state.

After climbing for a while, she felt another presence in the air and saw a Low-Stage Rank 2 bird magical beast dive-bombing her. Mira sighed and took out her scythe. Mira then swung her scythe with all of her strength and also releasing Ice Needles towards the bird as it was pierced and cut in half. Just this attack cost Mira all of her stamina though and she had to sit down and rest. Now she had one more thing to worry about.

Mira now had to stop and rest every few steps so she was prepared for any magical beasts to come charging at her. She continued her journey up the staircase.

Mira didn’t fight as many beasts during this section, but it was enough that she had to constantly be aware of everything around her along with how to pace herself as each step got harder and harder. The more she climbed, the more it felt like her bones might just shatter. But Mira continued up the stairs and finally made it to step 4000. When Mira reached this step, the staircase no longer spiraled but went in a straight line. Mira was now able to see the end. There were only 10 steps between her and the end, but these 10 steps would probably be incredibly difficult. Mira looked around and didn’t see any magical beasts that might attack her. Mira took this time to heal any injuries that she had, so she took a rejuvenation pill to help her with this. After a while, Mira felt that she was in as good of a shape as she could get under this pressure. She took out her scythe to use as a can and took her first step.

The pressure was similar to the step before, so she took another step after getting her stamina back. The next step caused the pressure to increase exponentially and Mira almost fell to her knees but remained standing. Mira’s breathing turned ragged, but she regained her composure and took another step. This time she did fall to her knees. She took this time to try to heal her injuries but didn’t stand up again. Mira was able to figure something out about the stairs and wanted to do something to reach the end. Mira started to take a stance like she was going to dash up the stairs as quickly as possible. She might be almost dead when she reached the top, but reaching the top of the stairs would be impossible if she didn’t do this. The pressure increased too much with each step and if she stopped on each step then she might not have enough energy to even make it to the next step.

Mira got in position to dash up the final 7 steps. Soon Mira used all of her strength and shot up the stairs as fast as she could. She used every bit of willpower that she had as she tried to sprint up the stairs. Mira felt her bones cracking and breaking the farther she went up the stairs but was able to push through. She reached the last step and fell. The pressure was too immense and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand again, so Mira used the last bit of strength she had to drag her limp body up the stairs. When her head reached the top, she used her teeth to help pull her up. It took her a while of using her teeth, hands, and feet to push her up the last step, but after overworking her body to the max she finally made it to the top of the stairs. Mira felt the pressure on her instantly vanish and she fainted. While she was unconscious, her injuries then began healing at a rapid speed. All of her bones were broken and she was bleeding out of every orifice and even the pores in her skin were dripping blood. She looked like she was flattened.

After her injuries were fully healed the mechanical voice rang out.

“Congratulations on passing Stage 20 of the Trial. Please proceed to the exit.”

Mira was still unconscious, but her body was teleported to another place that seemed to be the exit.

***

“Congratulations on passing Stage 19 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 20.”

Maria was teleported in front of a huge spiral staircase!

“Woah!! That’s huge!” Maria exclaimed.

“Welcome to Stage 20. This is the Ascendence Stage. In this stage, just walk to the top of the staircase to complete the trial. If you are about to die or can’t make it any further, then just call out that you give up on the stage and you will be sent out of the trial. There is no time limit for this stage and your injuries will be healed if you pass. Begin!”

Maria looked at the staircase and felt that this thing was much harder than it seemed. She took a deep breath to prepare herself.

“Let’s do this and meet up with Mira!! I’m going to pass this stage!! Let’s GOO!” Maria yelled as she took her first step. She felt pressure around her, but was nothing to her strength and continued up at a leisurely pace when she felt that pressure. There was no need to rush this stage. Maria’s journey up the stairs began.

The way Maria climbed the stairs was exactly the same as the way Mira went up the stairs. There was actually no difference between the two. Whenever the pressure increased after every 1000 steps, then she would slow her pace down so she didn’t expend too much stamina. The magical beasts came at the same time as they did for Mira and even the time she took to climb the stairs was almost exactly the same as the time it took Mira.

Maria finally approached the final 10 steps and did exactly what Mira did. She made her way to the 3rd step and felt that if she were to make it to the 4th step and stopped, it would be incredibly difficult to reach the 5th step. Maria decided that she would dash up the stairs from where she was currently. Maria prepared herself and then dashed up the remaining stairs. She even fell on the last step and had to drag her limp body with every last bit of strength she had in her limbs before she made it to the top and fainted. Maria’s body then began to heal while she was unconscious. When her body was fully healed the mechanical voice rang out while she was still unconscious and teleported her to another place.

“Congratulations on passing Stage 20 of the Trial. Please proceed to the exit.”

***