Divine System: Land of the Abominations-Chapter 365: Water.

The wave reached him.

Nero felt it coming long before it touched him. It could not be seen or heard. But he felt it come through something deeper, something instinctive that coiled tight within his chest. It was the same quiet dread that had followed him since the bells first rang, now sharpened into a single, unbearable point. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He did not move.

Around him, the world had already begun to break.

A man somewhere in front of him screamed, his voice high, ragged, cut short so abruptly it felt as though the sound itself had been severed. Another voice rose in prayer, desperate and incoherent, only to vanish in the same instant.

The crowd immediately became volatile, spreading out in all directions, with people even trampling over others.

Nero heaved a deep breath.

When it touched him, he braced without realizing it, his grip tightening around the shaft of his spear as every muscle in his body prepared for impact.

But there was none.

Nothing at all.

He did not feel the singe of divine fire on his flesh.

Instead, the invincible wave passed through him like a hollow breath.

For a fraction of a second, there was a strange, empty stillness, as though something had reached into him, searching for something to grasp.

But it found nothing.

Then it moved on.

Nero’s eyes widened slightly.

That was it.

Just... nothing.

He was still standing. Very alive and untouched.

To his right, a young woman stiffened, her body locking in place as her mouth opened in a silent scream. A heartbeat later, white flame consumed her entirely, reducing flesh and bone to fine ash that scattered and vanished before it could touch the ground.

Ahead, someone collapsed to their knees, clawing at their throat as if choking on something unseen. Then his body burst into a pillar of white flames, consuming him from the inside out. His eyes melted away, then his skin before finally, even his bones were scorched down to nothing.

The wave continued.

Nero swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

"So that’s it..." he muttered under his breath.

He had been deemed worthy to move on to the next phase of the trials. Regardless of what had happened,

A moment later, relief flooded in.

It spread through him like warmth returning to his cold limbs, loosening the tight coil of tension that had been building since the moment he stepped into the cathedral.

He exhaled softly. His mind suddenly drifted.

’I wonder what those two are going through now.’ he couldn’t help but think about Arthur and Jacob.

He shook his head and forced his focus outward again, watching as the wave continued its work across the seemingly endless crowd of candidates. It moved with impossible efficiency, sweeping from the front all the way to the back in a steady, unstoppable progression that did not falter for even a moment.

Every outcome was immediate, and every judgment final.

There was no appeal. There would be no second chances.

Those deemed unworthy vanished without a trace. Those marked as heretical burned without struggle, their bodies consumed in that same unnatural white fire.

And those who passed remained untouched.

Pockets of survivors began to form in the wake of the wave, small clusters of individuals who, like Nero, had left untouched. They had already begun to move as the atmosphere in the space turned hectic.

’My guess is that those who have already formed alliances have begun looking for one another.’

It was a smart move because the faster they could organize themselves, the better they would be able to respond to whatever came next as a cohesive unit.

The crowd had reduced considerably, but not quite overwhelmingly so.

What had once been an overwhelming mass of bodies was now something a bit smaller, the empty spaces between survivors growing wider with each passing second.

Because most of the candidates gathered were commoners, it wasn’t very surprising that there were left only about seventy percent of the original numbers. If anything, he could only be impressed with such numbers.

Nero could help but grimace, ’Should I go look for those two as well?’

He thought about it then shook his head,

’If fate wills it, we will meet inside the trials. If not, then we can only rely on ourselves.’

Nero shifted his stance slightly, adjusting his grip on the spear as he continued to observe.

The wave reached the far edge of the crowd.

Then...

It stopped.

The pressure that had filled the white expanse ceased to be.

Nero straightened slightly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the surroundings again. The Red Mother stood at the center, unchanged, her frail figure unmoving beneath the crimson veil. Behind her, the ten white-robed figures remained in their positions, their presence as steady and unreadable as before.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—

A shift.

Subtle.

One of the white-robed figures stepped forward.

The movement was small, almost insignificant, but it drew attention instantly. The figure raised their hands slowly, deliberately, and as they did...

The sound returned.

Another incantation.

It threaded through the air, pressed against the senses in order to overwhelm them completely

The moment it began, the white expanse responded.

Light formed beneath Nero’s feet.

He glanced down sharply. Beneath him, a circle defined by the dark runes at its edges had formed.

He looked up again.

Every survivor stood within one.

Thousands of circles, stretching out across the expanse.

Nero felt it in his chest, a faint vibration that resonated through his body. His grip tightened instinctively, his stance lowering as he braced for what was to come.

Around him, others reacted in similar ways.

Time stuttered. For less than a heartbeat.

And then...

It broke.

The world vanished.

One moment he stood within the white expanse, and the next, he was somewhere else entirely.

The sound of bone crunching beneath his boots as he dropped into a crouch filled his ears.

A gust of wind hit him.

The stench was thick, dry and rotten.

It filled his lungs and clung to the flesh walls of his breathing organ.