Inside the warmly lit living room of the bungalow, Kael settled onto the sofa, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked over at the two children sitting between Sara and Sarina.
"Hey, kids," Kael asked calmly. "Are both of you demons?"
Sarue nodded, his small hands gripping his knees. "We're demons."
Kael let out a soft sigh, resting his chin on his hand. "Do you even know why you're here on Earth?"
Sarue lowered his gaze, his voice hardening slightly. "Because our new Demon Lord said so... He told us humans are pathetic."
Kael let out a dry, amused laugh. "Well, what else could you expect from a kid repeating what he heard?"
Nearby, Renjiro was glued to his phone screen, tapping rapidly. "Alright, let's see... I'll order three plates of pasta, extra cheese, a couple of side dishes, and definitely some dessert. You can never skip dessert."
Rexon smirked, lounging lazily at the far end of the sofa. "Nice. Sounds like my night off is officially starting."
Suddenly, a cold, metallic voice echoed directly inside Kael's mind:
Master! From now on, you will experience true hell.
Kael blinked, pulling back in confusion. What?!
Before he could process the thought, the voice vanished, and a glowing crimson panel materialized in mid-air right in front of his face, displaying bold white text:
[Task: Enter the Infinity Room and eliminate 10 spawned demons.]
[TIME LEFT: 110s]
Kael's eyes went wide with shock. "What the hell is this...?"
Everyone in the room turned to look at him, their expressions filled with puzzlement.
"Kael? What's wrong?" Sara asked, tilting her head.
Kael quickly realized that no one else could see the floating red interface—not even Sara.
[TIME LEFT: 85s]
Panicking, Kael sprang off the sofa and bolted out the back door toward the garden. Standing among the flowerbeds, he closed his eyes, focusing his spatial energy to tear open a localized dimensional pocket.
A sudden, blinding flash of white light erupted in the middle of the lawn, vanishing a second later as Kael stepped inside the alternate dimension.
The Infinity Room stretched out before him in a vast, sterile white expanse.
"I'm here!" Kael called out into the empty space.
A fresh red panel flickered into view:
[TIME LEFT: 60s]
Looking down at the interface, Kael spotted a blinking spawn button. Without hesitation, he tapped it.
FWOOSH!
In an instant, ten high-ranking combat demons materialized across the open floor.
Deep within Kael's soul space, Nyxara's voice rang out in sharp alarm. "Kael! Those aren't normal grunts—those are frontline Demon Commanders!"
Kael stepped back, his heart hammering against his ribs. "Hey, Darkness! What kind of welcome is this?!"
The system panel flickered silently, ignoring his question as the text updated:
[Objective Updated: Eliminate all targets within 1 hour utilizing your full power.]
"Wait!" Kael yelled, waving his hands. "They haven't even done anything yet—!"
The panel flashed aggressively:
[Penalty Notice: Failure to comply will trigger a 5-minute Trial of Death.]
Kael's blood ran cold. "A trial of... what kind of pain is that?"
Before he could finish thinking, the ten demons charged forward in a synchronized blur. One of the commanders closed the distance instantly, driving a heavy palm straight into Kael's stomach and unleashing a point-blank fireball.
BOOM!
The kinetic force slammed into Kael like a freight train. He flew backward through the air, crashing hard against the floor and sliding across the stone. Coughing violently, Kael spat a mouthful of blood as he pushed himself up, clutching his bruised abdomen.
A sharp, reckless smirk touched his lips. "Alright... you asked for it."
His golden irises flared with bright spiritual energy. "Replica..."
A glowing, ethereal broadsword manifested in his grip, featuring a golden hilt and a pure white blade. Kael gripped the weapon tightly and sprinted back into the fray.
As the lead demon swung a jagged obsidian sword downward, Kael sidestepped with surgical precision, ducking beneath the arc. Blood still dripping from his chin, his smile widened into a feral grin. "I'm just getting warmed up."
He dashed forward, his voice ringing out across the chamber. "Redemption!"
The white blade blazed with blinding light, instantly shifting its shape to match the demon's sword while radiating a completely different, overwhelming aura. Kael struck with a devastating slash, sending the commander flying backward.
Before Kael could recover his footing, two other demons flanked him from behind. A massive fist slammed into his spine, driving him face-first into the ground with bone-cracking force.
Kael groaned, blood pooling beneath his forehead where a nasty gash had opened up.
A system notification flashed in his vision:
[Work Completion: 10%]
[Targets Remaining: 9]
[Caution: Healing magic is disabled for the duration of this trial. Avoid unnecessary damage.]
"Are you kidding me?!" Kael gritted his teeth, wiping blood from his eyes. "You let me smash my head open and then tell me I can't heal?!"
Spotted across the room, one of the demon commanders was sitting quietly with his eyes closed, meditating to channel his energy.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Kael lunged toward him, raising his sword for a lethal strike.
At the last second, the meditating demon snapped one eye open. With lightning-fast reflexes, he caught the blade with his bare hand and locked his other hand around Kael's throat, lifting him effortlessly off the ground.
Nyxara's voice echoed in his mind. "Be careful! That's an Authority Demon. They don't waste energy attacking unless provoked, but their counterattacks are absolute."
The demon glared at Kael with cold, emotionless eyes.
"Let... me go!" Kael choked out, slapping weakly against the demon's massive wrist.
The demon smirked cruelly. "Let you go so you can kill me?" With a casual flick of his wrist, he hurled Kael across the room like a ragdoll. "Go play with the others first. Then we'll talk."
Kael crashed onto the stone floor, gasping for air as he clutched his bruised throat. He tried to stand, but the remaining demons swarmed him instantly, pinning his limbs to the ground so he couldn't move.
Inside his soul, Vajr's voice boomed urgently. "Kael! Use the Four-Direction Blast!"
Closing his eyes, Kael visualized the release of concentrated thermal energy. Four tiny, intense fireballs erupted around his body, detonating outward in a synchronized shockwave that blasted the demons back and loosened their grip.
Seizing the opening, Kael snapped his wings outward—one stark white, the other pitch black. Drawing a deep breath, he burst forward with twice his previous speed, breaking clean out of the dogpile.
He skidded to a halt, raising his hand toward the ceiling. One of his eyes flashed a brilliant crimson red.
"Authority," Kael commanded.
His other eye flared, and a dense, heavy layer of white storm clouds suddenly materialized above the chamber ceiling. With a sharp downward flick of his wrist, jagged bolts of divine lightning rained down upon the remaining demons, paralyzing them in a blinding flash.
Another panel popped open:
[Targets Remaining: 1]
[TIME LEFT: 20 minutes]
The sole surviving commander—the meditation master—leaped backward, his eyes wide.
Kael didn't give him a second to breathe. Activating his spatial barrier, Kael closed the distance in a heartbeat, spinning around to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick that sent the commander skidding across the floor.
As Kael's eyes returned to their normal golden hue, he charged forward for a final finishing punch.
Sensing defeat, the commander dragged himself up, a desperate smile on his face. He channeled the last of his thermal energy, unleashing a roaring wall of fire that completely engulfed Kael in flames.
The demon smirked, turning his back. "Too weak..."
"You really think fire works on me?" Kael's voice echoed calmly from inside the blazing inferno.
He stepped out of the flames completely unharmed.
At that moment, a single angelic halo materialized above Kael's head, accompanied by a single glowing white horn protruding from the side of his brow. His expression wasn't angry or cold—it was filled with a chilling, detached pity.
"Die," Kael whispered softly.
A concentrated sphere of pure white fire erupted from his palm, swallowing the remaining demon whole.
"Same power, same heat... but with a lot more killing intent," Kael muttered, watching the flames consume his target.
The demon shrieked in agony, attempting one final desperate counter-attack through the flames, but a swift kick from Kael sent him crashing back into the burning epicenter.
When the screams finally faded into silence, Kael let out a long, exhausted breath, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Phew... guess that wraps it up."
The red system panel materialized one last time, its text flickering brightly:
[Congratulations. Task Completed.]
[Test 1: Passed.]
[Reward Issued:]
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Reward?"
A new entry appeared on the screen, written in deep, shadowy black text:
[Eclipsed Of The Erased]
Kael stared at the vague reward description, his eye twitching. "Are you serious? Can't you at least provide some healing magic for all the blood I just lost?!"
Before the system could reply, the entire white expanse of the Infinity Room shattered like glass.
Kael's vision went black, and his consciousness slipped away as he collapsed onto the soft grass of his bungalow garden.