CRASH

Somewhere far, far away from the place Verity and his friends had fought against the sky-threading spear, he was thrown to the ground with a somewhat excessive amount of force.

He sat up with difficulty, coughing and groaning as he did. 'Oh! I can move again!' He thought.

When he raised his head, the man who had just taken him had changed his clothes. Instead of the blue robe and the strange mask, Muriel was back in the attire Verity had first seen him in. A flower shirt, shorts, and a thin straw hat above his head.

'...When did he change…?' Verity wondered, though the answer was not all that important.

There were more pressing matters.

"What do you want?" Verity asked, seemingly less alarmed than he should have been.

Muriel grinned, and he leaned forward to meet Verity's eyes. "Hmmm, that's a great question, isn't it?" He stroked the few hairs that grew on his chin. "...What if I said that I wanted your life?"

Verity sighed. "You would have killed me already if that's what it was. It's not like anyone could have stopped you back there." He stared back into Muriel's eyes. "So, what do you want?"

Muriel's grin grew even wider and—

BOOM

He punched Verity's chest with enough force to create a shockwave.

Verity reeled from the impact, a waterfall of blood seeping from his mouth as he tried to regain his senses.

Without a care in the world, Muriel then pulled his two short spears from who-knew-where and he took his stance. "For now, try to survive."

Verity groaned, and he armed himself with his spear. At the sight, Muriel's lips curled into a sneer and he exploded forward.

Of course, between Muriel and Verity, there could never be anything that could be considered a battle. Their levels were simply too different. If Muriel's fight against Felicia was that of a master against a novice, then fighting Verity was like fighting a child.

There was nothing Verity could do. Whether it was a swing, a thrust, skillful footwork, or even if he made use of his skills, Verity could not even touch a strand of hair on Muriel's body.

The old man observed Verity with knowing eyes. "Yes… Yes…frustrating, is it not?"

His foot sunk into Verity's stomach, and he fell to his knees. "All this effort, and for what? Your friends over there are leagues beyond you, especially that boy with the blue eyes…" He clutched Verity's hair and lifted his head, inching closer. "So then, why do you still swing your spear? What do you seek at the end of all this effort?"

Verity did not reply. Rather, he scoffed. "Did you…huff huff… really bring me all the way here to make fun of me….?"

Muriel chuckled. He was looking at Verity, into his eyes, but somehow, Verity felt that he wasn't necessarily looking at him.

Muriel smacked his lips. "Truly fascinating…."

After their brief exchange and the sharp words of the old man, Verity watched as Muriel stood up and turned his back to him.

"Allow me to show you what I've come for."

Muriel exhaled slowly. He almost seemed…. Tired. With his two short spears in hand, he spread his arms wide, as if preparing to embrace another, and his lips parted. "Spear Domain – There are No Ends to the Skies."

He scoffed, as if finding the name funny.

As for Verity, his jaw dropped. Everywhere around him, the scenery had turned to boundless skies with no end in sight. There was not a single cloud, or any blemish to the azure blue heavens surrounding his body. Whether it was below or above, his entire field of vision was filled with mesmerizing skies.

Stolen story; please report.

"Woah…"

That's all Verity could mutter when faced with this scenery. It literally felt as though he had passed through the gates to Heaven.

Muriel appeared behind him. "What do you think? This is my ultimate skill, my Spear Domain."

Verity mumbled. "It's… so vast. So beautiful."

Verity had never seen anything like it before. Thanks to his master, he was familiar with the skill-tree of the Spearman class.

It could be replaced with another weapon, but for spearmen, it usually went like this.

Spear Affinity.

Spear-body enhancement

Spear Aura

Spear-Body Unity

Spear domain

Yet, despite knowing all of this, Verity had never actually met anyone beside his master who truly knew what it meant to reach the realm of Spear Domain, much less seen one.

As he saw the wonder in Verity's eyes, a pained expression appeared on Muriel's face. "Vast…huh. Is that how it feels to you?" He stroked his chin and he laughed bitterly. "I find it suffocating, so, so very suffocating."

With a wave of his hand, the skies darkened, but not because of some clouds, and not because the sun was setting, no. It simply darkened, as if corrupted by an unknown, unstoppable, all-powerful force.

In no more than a few moments, impenetrable darkness had filled the place.

That's not right.

There was one place where light still seemed to exist, and it was the only reason Verity could still see.

It came from where Muriel was facing.

There stood a wall, extending higher than perhaps the sky itself, and wider than the eyes could see. It was a rugged, uneven wall made of pure white stone.

"Look closer." Muriel said.

Verity's eyes narrowed. "...There's no way." He recognized it instantly, because he'd been doing the same without rest for the past ten months.

It wasn't that the wall was rugged.

Each and every imperfection was a spear mark. A swing, a thrust, an impact. This wall, which was surely perfect at first, had now been made rugged by hundreds, thousands, even millions of blows over the course of Muriel's life.

Muriel sighed. "For decades… centuries… I have longed to see what hid on the other side." He looked at his old, wrinkly hands. "But my time is running out, and the wall still shows no sign of breaking."

He turned to look at Verity, and the corner of his lip curled upward. "So you see, young man, in this place that is meant to be infinitely vast… I am trapped, like a bird in a cage, a bird who will never know the skies."

Verity… had a hard time understanding what was happening.

But it wasn't that he couldn't understand Muriel's turmoil, rather that he found it foolish.

"This is… the only wall in this place, right?" He asked.

"Correct."

"And this place is probably… infinite, no?"

"That's right. I made it that way."

Verity couldn't understand. "Then…. Why don't you just walk the other way? Walk until you can't see the wall anymore! Why do you have to go through it!?"

Muriel smiled. "I could ask you the same question." He leaned forward. "Do you think I can't see it? You're a young man who's very aware of his poor talent…" He disappeared within the darkened skies, and reappeared to Verity's left. "Every hour of every day, you swing your spear like a madman, hands bloodied, muscles screaming."

He pressed his finger against Verity's forehead. "It's impressive, in a way, to have such a strong mental world at your level… And in it, you swing your spear as though the word will end tomorrow."

Verity said nothing.

"So let me ask you the same question." He glanced at Verity's spear. "Why do you not walk away? It is normal for those like you from the Otherworlds to need to fight, but what you are doing is abnormal. Why try so hard? I heard a bit from that brat, Evangelina, and I must say... Even masters of my level do not put in as much effort as you. It's frightening"

Again, Verity said nothing. He said nothing because he had no answer.

Truly, why the hell was he trying so hard? Usually, the protagonists to these stories had some great reason, a great goal, impossible aspirations that warranted the extreme effort.

But not Verity. No one was exactly waiting for him at home, and no one expected anything from him. He wasn't the chosen one meant to save the everyone , and even if he were to drop dead tomorrow, there would likely be no change to the fate of the world.

He contemplated Muriel's words for a moment, he really did, but he couldn't come up with something that made sense to him.

Just... why?

Muriel scoffed. "Ha… You'll find your answer, I'm sure." He caressed the wall. "I've found mine, it's just a shame I won't be able to finish this."

Verity clicked his tongue. His expression had darkened, and his fists were clenched. "Just… tell me why you brought me here and let me go already…"

Muriel laughed. "It's simple. You're the only one who can complete this task for me. You're the only one who can break this wall." Verity felt his chest tighten. The atmosphere was changing. "It's not something that can be brought down with talent, nor will. Slowly, painstakingly, one strike at a time, it must be worn down until it crumbles entirely."

The skies parted.

Verity looked down, where Muriel's spear had pierced his heart.

The old man gave him a soft smile. "I call this techniqu– No, this End, my End, and now your End, I call it – Beyond the Skies."

[You have gained a new skill -Beyond the Skies-]

Verity's vision went dark.

--

When he awoke, a black armband was placed on his chest, and a note was neatly folded beside it.

Only a few words were written on it.

Your friends have been taken care of, do not worry.

Thank you.

Verity looked down where Muriel's spear was supposed to have pierced him, but there was not even a wound.

He frowned. 'What the… was it some sort of illusion… and did I hear that right, he gave me a skill?'

As he thought of it, the skill appeared before Verity.

Skill: [Beyond the Skies]

Rank : N/A

Level : N/A

Rarity : N/A

Type : N/A

Description : They placed their very existence upon you to pass this down. The contents of this skill will reveal themselves once you complete their task.

Shatter the Wall.

Verity still wasn't sure how he felt after his short discussion with Muriel, nor what he had actually passed on to him, but something was certain, there had been a change.

Now, in his mental world, instead of swinging his spear in an empty, all-white world with no boundaries, there was a wall in perfect condition before him, just waiting to be struck.

Verity scoffed. 'You couldn't at least pass down your progress with it…old man?'

With that, he grabbed his armband, located one of the many exits he had identified with Ifedolapo prior, and he completed the trial as the only challenger to possess a black armband.

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