"Your betrayal proves the very point of my soul's lingering obsession, mortal. You have failed this trial." Aelthar spoke his voice cold and calm like he already expected Rio's shocked reaction.
"Wait, wait, wait… whatever it is. Whatever you think I did wrong, I can explain. Just give a chance." Rio said in a hurry, raising his arms and rushing towards the god.
"Your very reaction tells everything I need to know, mortal. You're not who you say you are, so now, I'll just have to see the truth myself." Aelthar said and swiped his hand upwards.
Initiating a chanism which pushed Rio backwards and forced him to sit upon the throne, which was a trap earlier.
Rio struggled and tried to free himself, yet nothing seed to be working. A white light flashed over his body, and then ford a large mirror in front of him and the god Aelthar.
'System, what the hell is happening?' He asked his companion in his mind, 'This part wasn't in the novel? There shouldn't be any more trials or routes to explore in this dungeon?'
[I know that host.] System too replied back, sounding equally tense and troubled as it couldn't get it's upgrade material.
'Is this fate's doing? Is my luck really that bad that I can fail even when I knew everything?'
[It's not fate, host. At Least not entirely.] System replied and explained, [Fate has it's limits, and so does the power Aelthar can wield at this ti. So there's no way in hell they built this throne setting now.]
[My guess is this hidden trial always existed here. Which only opens when Aelthar has so doubts about the trial candidate.] System explained, [Since Leon was a perfect replica for Aelthar. And had Apollo in the backseat._ The fallen god probably never had any doubts, so this throne challenge never happened. But for you…]
'So you an I made a mistake sowhere and now this trial's gonna stretch it out for the god to see.' Rio analysed and couldn't help but curse his luck.
Just a few monts ago he was cooking up sob stories to fool the god, yet now, all he could do was just pray that this mirror in front of him is sothing stupid.
'System, can you scan this and tell what this thing does?' Seeing that whatever magic or spell it was, was taking it's sweet ti _ Rio spoke to the system, hoping to find a way to hack or crack this open.
'Ayee, system. I'm in a rush here, I can pay whatever amount you want, so can you…'
[There's no point, host.] Rio was speaking when the system interrupted him midway. It's voice, a little more dull and monotonous than usual. [This mirror,.. we can't do anything. It's over.]
'What?...' Rio was confused about what the system ant by this, when his eyes landed on the description of this item appearing on his status screen.
[The mirror of truth.]
Rio read the item description from top to bottom and couldn't help but idiotically glance at this data again and read it once more. Cause he simply couldn't believe how sothing like this could exist here? Or why in the hell was it never ntioned in the novel at all.
A magical mirror which shows a picture across the river of ti.
A scene pulled from the past, present, or future _ a scene where that person was at his weakest.
As Rio understood the mirror's capabilities, he couldn't help but curse the author who wrote this shitty novel.
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'Wtf was wrong with this author?'
How could such an op item not even get a nadrop?
Since the mirror was bound to the throne, and Leon never touched it… was it just left behind in this dungeon? Forever to rot here..
Or wait,...did soone else took it? ...but besides Leon and Aelthar there was no else inside the temple at that poin…— wait...
Damn it, is this mirror the reason why Apollo learned about the future?
Rio was lost for a while, his thoughts running wild, making scenarios and guessing plotlines and hidden details which were like plotholes in the novel.
In the original novel, Apollo knew of many opportunities and dangers in advance, that's why the protagonist was always one step ahead. Rio always thought it was because of Noah's or Cassandra's prophetic help, or Leon's halo, but what if, Apollo himself, had seen a part of the future. A part where he was at his weakest, which would obviously be the current era _ and hence been wiser from the get go.
[....That is a valid possibility, host. After all, your experint number 39 did say, any two lines in the novel can be connected by hidden words and secrets not written or explained by the author. And you have to always be careful and explore it by yourself.]
[Apollo knew about the Sanctuary and Aelthar, so chances of him knowing about this mirror being here are also high.] System analysed, [Maybe that's why he was so adamant in getting Leon to co here. He wanted the mirror for himself.]
Hearing the system nod it's head and act like a wise man coming to conclusions, when he did all the thinking,-- Rio wanted to curse the system, but let it go. Now wasn't the ti for their petty bickering.
"This mirror is a one ti use artifact I found after I killed a god who sneaked into the Sanctuary." Seeing Rio lost staring at the mirror with non-believing eyes, the god started explaining. "It could show the fated future of anyone who gazes in it for more than 5 seconds."
"Since it could only be used once, I didn't want to waste it on myself, and planned to give this to my successor. _ but before I could integrate this into my leftover legacy, I …"
"Anyway, since you passed my first few trials successfully, I'll just use this on you to see if you're worthy." Aelthar spoke and poured his magic into the mirror.
Truth be told, he was very satisfied with everything Rio had done till now, that's why he didn't want to throw him out just based on a little suspicion. But he also didn't want to wait another thousand years before soone else found this temple and ca for the trial.
Hence he changed so rules and chose to use this mirror. After all, the successor now won't be from his personal disciples, so he doesn't need to be extra generous. His legacy alone should be enough reward for them.
If the Rio from future satisfies him, he'll give him his legacy. _ But if Rio disappoints him, and his suspicion turns out to be true, then though the mirror would be lost, atleast his legacy would be saved.
Aelthar and Rio were both lost in their thoughts, looking at the mirror, hoping to be proved wrong. _ yet the scene playing out was like a slap on both their faces.
One which surprised, _ no, that's a mild word, _ shocked, _ yeah, one which shocked both of them.
In front of them was a vision of a dead world, where rivers of blood flowed everywhere and with every subtle wave, new corpses would surface the land.
In the center of this silent world, a thumping sound would echo every now and then, followed by a barrage of dark lightning bolts flashing in the sky and falling down the land like punishnt from high heavens.
Rio and Aelthar were both curious about the sound, about what it was or where it ca from, _ when the vision in the mirror zood in and they could finally see sothing.
In the middle of the sea of blood was an island ford entirely of rotten carcasses of various monsters. The likes of which Aelthar had never seen before.
And on that mountain of corpses sat a figure untouched by the chaos all around him. A tattered flag of dual swords floating behind his back.
A sword placed near his relaxed feet, releasing a wave of darkness which caused the dead monsters soul to seathe and cry in agony every few seconds.
A lit cigarette was pinched between his fingers. And the sound they heard earlier was him rely snapping his fingers to swipe off the ash.
The lightning bolts fell once more and burned everything around him to a crisp. Bringing the dead and unconscious ones back to life with shock, only to suffer once more from the waves of his sword.
….
Aelthar stared at the man in the mirror and then turned to stare at Rio, who too had the sa shocked expression on his face.
It was him.
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