📖 Chapter 12: "The Godhunter's Trial" 🏛️ An Ancient Summoning Appears
The headmaster interrupts combat class with a grave announcement:
"A divine seal has opened for the first time in centuries..." "Kael Arcturus, you have been chosen to undertake the Godhunter's Trial."
The class gasps.
Zara: "Why him?"
Selene's eyes flash. "The gods still remember…"
🔮 What Is the Godhunter's Trial?
A legendary solo test meant for beings with divine blood or sins.
A world built from a person's regrets, suppressed memories, and inner demons.
Only the most ancient families know of it.
No one has returned unchanged.
Zara, Myra, and Selene protest:
"He's not ready.""You're sending him to die!""This is cruel!"
Kael simply nods.
"I'll go. I want to see what they remember."
🌌 The Trial Realm: Memory of the Divine Forge
Kael enters a glowing rift—reality bends—and he finds himself in a floating, broken realm:
Fragments of temples float in the sky.
Melodies of old prayers echo through dust.
Bloodstained altars whisper secrets.
Then… a figure appears. Tall. Fiery hair. Blacksmith's hammer in hand.
"You returned," she says, voice trembling.
🔥 New Harem Girl Appears: Aeris Vulcania
(Celestial Blacksmith, Former Divine Lover)
Fiery red-orange hair tied in braids.
Bronze skin with glowing rune tattoos.
Eyes like twin suns.
Strong, muscular, and always smudged with forge soot.
She's the one who forged Kael's old divine weapon, Starbreaker, and once… loved the god he used to be.
But now… she doesn't know if he deserves it.
"You left me to burn with the other gods… and now you walk in like nothing happened?"
Kael: "I died for all of you."
Aeris: "Then prove it."
⚔️ Trial Challenge: Forging Truth
Aeris drags him to the Forge of Memory. There, Kael must:
Walk through flames showing his worst sins as a god.
Face shadows of the gods he defied.
Reforge a weapon of truth — using a memory he cherishes.
Kael chooses:
His mother's lullaby.
He pours everything—pain, loneliness, hope—into the molten metal.
The forge erupts… and out emerges:
🔥 Dawnbreaker – a new divine blade, born from love and sorrow.
💔 Aeris's Dilemma
Aeris helps him finish, but she's crying.
"You were my sun. And when you fell… I stopped believing in warmth."
Kael touches her cheek.
"I may not be the god you remember. But I still carry the promise we made."
She kisses him—rough, fiery, hungry—then shoves him back.
"Don't think this means I forgive you… yet."
Someone Follows Him In
Just as Kael's about to exit, Zara crashes through the portal (uninvited).
"I knew something was wrong. I'm not letting you go through things alone anymore."
Aeris blinks. "You brought a mortal girl here? Kael, what have you done?"
Zara squares up: "I'm not just a girl. I'm his sword, whether he likes it or not."
Sparks. Ice. Fire. Tension sky high.
🌌 As They Leave…
A whisper echoes through the trial realm:
"You've passed the first flame... but the war has only just begun."
Kael, now holding Dawnbreaker, exits the realm with Zara and Aeris.
Waiting outside are the headmaster… and a divine assassin sent by the old gods.