Chapter 5: The Test Meant to Kill a Saint
The Divine Compatibility Chamber lay beneath the academy.
That alone was suspicious.
Holy trials were meant to inspire awe—sunlight, hymns, warmth. This place offered none of that. The stairway spiraled downward into stone older than the Empire itself, every step engraved with suppression runes designed to weaken mana flow.
They weren't subtle about it.
"Walk forward," Inquisitor Halvar instructed, his voice echoing softly.
I complied.
The air grew heavier with every step, pressing against my skin like invisible chains. Normal students would already be sweating, struggling to breathe.
I felt… irritation.
Not physical.
Existential.
Something inside me did not appreciate being restrained.
At the center of the chamber stood a crystal pillar filled with golden light—the Divine Resonance Core. It pulsed gently, reacting to souls, searching for alignment with the Church's so-called virtues.
Faith.
Order.
Submission.
I stopped three meters away.
Halvar raised a hand. "Place your palm against the core. Do not resist."
Do not resist.
That sentence carried more weight than a command.
The paladins took positions around the chamber. Runes flared along the walls.
They were ready for backlash.
I placed my hand against the crystal.
The instant contact was made—
Pain exploded behind my eyes.
Not mana pain.
Soul pain.
The world blurred as something reached into me, trying to categorize my existence.
The light flared violently.
[WARNING]
Foreign Authority Detected
Divine System Attempting Override
My teeth clenched.
So this is how they do it.
In the novel, this test nearly killed Leonhardt because his blessing exceeded the Church's framework.
What about something that didn't belong to the framework at all?
The crystal screamed.
Cracks spread across its surface.
"What—?" someone gasped.
The pressure intensified, trying to force me into alignment—trying to name me.
And then—
Something snapped.
Not the crystal.
The restraint.
The distance between my soul and the divine construct expanded infinitely.
The connection broke.
The golden light collapsed inward, imploding into a harmless shower of sparks.
Silence.
Absolute.
Every rune in the chamber went dark.
The paladins stumbled back.
Halvar stared at the shattered core, his face pale.
"…Impossible."
I pulled my hand away slowly.
Inside my chest, the demonic core laughed.
Low.
Satisfied.
[Authority Conflict Resolved]
Divine Classification: FAILED
Status: UNDEFINED
My vision cleared as a new interface appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Aether von Ravencourt
Title: Undefined Existence | Divine Error
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Stats ]
Strength: 34 (+5)
Agility: 40 (+6)
Vitality: 48 (+7)
Charm: 42 (+2)
Luck: 999 (Locked)
[ Abilities ]
• Spatial Authority (Active – Partial)
• Demonic Sovereign Core (Synchronization 5%)
• Astral Manifestation (Stage 1: Skeletal Form)
[ Skills ]
• Authority Resistance
• Soul Pressure
• Space Distortion
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
My breath slowed.
I felt… clearer.
Lighter.
Halvar took a step toward me, his voice unsteady. "You are not blessed."
"I never claimed to be."
"You are not cursed either."
I met his eyes.
"That's because curses require permission."
The chamber doors opened abruptly.
An instructor rushed in, panic written across his face.
"Inquisitor! The Church's monitoring spire—its readings went off the scale!"
Halvar didn't respond.
He was still staring at me.
Fear had finally reached his eyes.
Not of my power.
Of what I represented.
A being the divine system couldn't process.
A contradiction.
An error.
I turned and walked past them, my footsteps echoing calmly.
Behind me, the Church scrambled to regain control.
Ahead of me, the academy buzzed with rumors already spreading like wildfire.
And somewhere above—
Fate trembled.
I smiled faintly.
The test wasn't meant to measure me.
It was meant to remove me.
Too bad.