'Changing the rules comes first.'
The concept behind the Trial of Defense was as simple as a Gate Challenge could get, especially when compared to something like the puzzle maze that New Team Aurora faced at the start of their career.
In the simplest words, it could be described as the exact opposite of the challenge that Leo had already cleared in the first Encroachment Gate.
Instead of allowing as many basic challengers as possible to fight against one strong foe, the target of the second Encroachment Gate was singling out the planet's strongest contenders through its first Trial.
Leading up to the situation where these few strongest would be forced to defend against the threat of many.
The contrast between the easy preliminary challenges of the first Gate and the Trial of Ascension, bottlenecked by terrifying Dragons, made all the difference, but that was the point.
Considering the actual threat they would be facing later on, Leo understood the point behind these Trials.
