Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power Chapter 414: Trial of the Blessed

As soon as Meris stepped into the odd chamber, the massive entrance slammed closed with a thunderous roar behind her. The force was immense, unleashing a blast that struck her squarely.

Meris showed no response. Instead, she focused on the sensations reaching her skin and senses from the environment nearby.

Beneath her soles, it felt as if she stood on slick ice, but mere moments afterward—or perhaps even sooner—it turned fluffy like fresh snow, only to shift again with the splashy noise of liquid beneath her steps.

Meris creased her brow.

Her feet weren't the only part affected. The entire area around her behaved similarly, preventing her body from adjusting to a single state before another took over.

In a perilous manner, a wave of exhaustion started to creep in. It resembled her mind racing desperately to comprehend the surroundings, yet constantly coming up short.

The Daughter of Frost started to ponder, scanning the shadows for any useful clue.

Yet she found no need to search further.

The Will rang out.

With that sound came the vanishing of the shadows obscuring Meris's vision. Her silvery, reflective eyes expanded in shock as they took in the awe-inspiring yet terrifying view of the enormous space.

[The Daughter of Frost has entered the simulated labyrinth, Trial of The Blessed, forged by Ariane Froid Sed Elamin, The Maid of Frost, Third Ancestor of Elamin.]

[The Blessed has arrived. The Requirement has been fulfilled.]

[The Trial will commence shortly.]

"W-wait, what? Blessed?" Meris blurted out, nearly stumbling over.

Events unfolded at such a rapid pace that Meris couldn't respond adequately.

She glanced around, observing the environment cycle through ice, snow, water, and even mist and haze in unpredictable patterns and sequences.

These rapid changes were so bizarre that her senses, straining to match the pace, lagged far behind, completely overwhelmed.

Meris muttered a curse quietly, struggling to maintain her balance as the ice morphed into mist.

She slipped and nearly tumbled, saved just in time by a staircase of ice that materialized at her back.

"This..."

Her voice caught as the room's elements shrieked, thundered, and then collided in unison at the center, merging as one.

A fierce whirlwind of ice, snow, water, mist, and haze sprang up right in the heart of the vast chamber, climbing upward until it reached the roof.

Meris sensed an intense, primal chill seeping into her core. This ancient cold froze her very marrow, icing her exhalations and inner workings.

She reacted without delay, flicking her finger precisely, unleashing her own frost in an explosive surge like flames, driving away the invading chill.

Meris drew in a sharp breath, her chest easing, a breeze of calm soothing her spirit.

But the respite was brief.

The elemental fury subsided, solidifying into the form of a figure.

The Daughter of Frost fixed her gaze on the peculiar entity.

It resembled a human, though Meris understood it was far from ordinary. Or perhaps it was better to say it bore no true resemblance to humanity.

The figure before her possessed azure skin that shimmered like liquid on a pane, with flowing locks that danced in the air like swirling mist and steam caught in a gale.

She towered high, reaching eight feet in height, her eyes stretched long like those of an elf. Those eyes were actual mirrors, capturing Meris's astonished expression with perfect clarity.

Even so, Meris detected layers of feeling and wisdom lurking within those unsettling depths.

And truly,

"I greet the Daughter of Frost," the woman declared, inclining her head in profound reverence, "The Blessed by Frost and the Heiress of The Box of Lightnings."

"What rubbish are you talking about?" Meris replied, stepping back unsteadily. "Who are you?"

The azure-skinned woman raised her head once more, locking eyes with Meris in fierce focus.

"I am Ariane Froid Sed Elamin, Third Ancestor of Elamin’s bloodline." She announced, clenching her fist to summon a lash into her grasp,

"I am also the founder of the City of Cats and the Guardian of the Seed of Frost for the Daughter of Frost."

"Wait—!"

"And today," Ariane cut off Meris's interruption, assuming a combat pose of her own, "I stand as your Trial for the Seed."

Meris collapsed from the abrupt switch from water to snow. She swore in fury, attempting to rise swiftly. She toppled once more as the snow dissolved into haze.

"ARGHHHH! FUCK!" Meris roared in blazing rage.

Ariane regarded the sorry scene with an icy grin,

"Let us discover if you deserve your Birthright, O Daughter of Primordial."

Suddenly,

[The Trial has begun.]

The Will murmured into Meris's ears.

[Unite with Frost, or perish beneath the Onslaught of The Third Ancestor.]

At that moment, Meris grasped a sobering reality.

She had been fretting over her future without emotions. Yet she overlooked a crucial detail.

Before reaching that stage, Meris had to first claim the Seed of Frost, which now appeared capable of ending her life.

'I might not survive to face that concern I dreaded so much.' She reflected, noting the bitter humor in her predicament.

The Daughter of Frost swallowed hard, channeling every bit of strength she possessed then, and intercepted the devastating strike of Ariane's lash descending upon her like a striking serpent with an upraised palm.

Her left palm fractured, bones shattering outward.

"ARGHHH!"

Ariane's gaze remained unyielding and stern.

She embodied Frost in that very moment.

"Prove it to me, Blessed!" She demanded, lifting the lash anew,

"PROVE THE MIGHT OF A PRIME!"

...

At the same time, within the Graveyard of Monsters, Inara perched atop her fortress, which resembled a divided tongue.

The stronghold took the form of a snarling serpent, crafted by hand from Maggot, Hound, and Bird.

Inara had beamed with pride over their work, lavishing them with affection that brought tears of delight to those beasts in a secluded spot.

It was strangely endearing yet eerie.

Inara's emerald serpent, dubbed Serpent, wound around her neck.

Serpent had grown large, her hide alternating between verdant and pale hues based on the sunlight's gleam.

The creature matched her mother's prowess at master level. She had gained the ability to converse as well.

But right then, she chose silence, eyeing Inara's strained expression.

The Heiress of the Mother of Monsters gazed upward at the shield far overhead. Scarcely any of it remained intact. In two days, or three at the latest, it would shatter into nothing.

'Thankfully, the barriers are prepared just in time.' Inara mused, eyeing the colossal enclosures of beast hide encircling the entire Graveyard of Monsters, her citadel at the core.

'Yet these barriers won't endure indefinitely.' She pondered further, her scowl deepening, 'From the presences I detect beyond the faltering shield, they might not hold even a single day.'

They numbered in the hordes. And their power was formidable.

Still, what troubled Inara deepest wasn't merely that. It was their anonymity.

Nothing proved more terrifying than battling an enigmatic enemy.

'I hold no knowledge of them,' Inara considered, 'and I can't combat entities whose nature and motives escape me.'

Inara had questioned Maggot and every possible source, but all responses were vague. Each mentioned hazy, broken recollections from those eras.

That forced Inara toward a single path.

A path she felt unprepared for, though the world offered no reprieve for unreadiness.

She exhaled heavily, then uttered a curse.

"Is all set?" Inara inquired of Serpent.

"Yes, mother." Serpent replied with a hiss.

Inara turned her attention to the base of her fortress, its deepest layer.

She removed her patch, releasing Oeil to peer more deeply.

There, Inara's eerie eyes settled on a marker radiating a subtle aura of might and sacrilege.

The Tomb of Echidna, The Mother of Monsters.

Inara breathed out, steeling her resolve in her mind,

—End of Chapter 414—