Akhil hovered at the edge of the clearing, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at the deceptively peaceful landscape.

In the opening below, pristine white flowers glowed gently, swaying as if under the warmth of a summer sun that shouldn't exist in this freezing altitude.

They were sparsely spread across the field, and to a normal observer, nothing looked out of place. It appeared to be a simple, empty meadow—a momentary sanctuary amidst the jagged rocks and lethal fog.

But Akhil knew better than to trust the silence. He remembered the forum posts and the death counts from the game. Why else would he have loathed this trial so much if it were truly empty?

'There's a reason why the fog doesn't come close to this area,' he thought grimly. 'Because something else owns this territory. And it starts with the flowers.'

In the game, players simply died without knowing why. But now, with his enhanced physiology, he could see what others could not. Activating his heat vision, he watched as a colorless, odorless gas drifted through the air.

It was incredibly dense, yet it mixed perfectly with the oxygen. Even from his height, he could see the thin tendrils of the toxin curling around his body like invisible snakes.

His gaze scanned the perimeter until it fell on a diseased rabbit that had wandered into the field. The creature was dead, but what was most unnerving was the single white flower growing directly out of its eye socket.

Despite the viscera and blood pooled around the carcass, the daisy remained impossibly white, without a single stain on its petals.

'Purity Valley Daisies...' Akhil let out a soft sigh, bracing his mental defenses. 'Very troublesome beasts.'

As he flew further into the strange area, the nausea hit him like a physical blow. His vision began to blur, turning the edges of the world into a milky haze. He felt his coordination slip, a heavy lethality settling into his limbs.

Then, the system chimed, the sound echoing unnaturally loud in his foggy mind.

{Ding!}

{Hidden Sub-scenario trial has been unlocked}

{Title: The Wandering Princess}

{Description: The Wandering Princess}

A kingdom of marble and gold fell to ash in a single night. The sole survivor, a Princess of unmatched grace, was cast into the world with a singular mission: to find a consort capable of raising her realm from the ruins. But she sought no warrior or king. She sought Purity.

To her, Purity is the shedding of the shackles of human artifice. It is the death of doubt. She teaches that 'Evil' is a phantom created by the collective; true darkness exists only when one acts against their own nature. To be pure is to stand beyond the reach of societal morals—to exist without the burden of 'right' or 'wrong.'

Her Daisies bear her enchantment. They invite the traveler to find the essence of goodness by confronting their greatest moral fear. Only by conquering the ghost of your conscience can you reach the state of a god.}

Akhil's flight faltered. He dropped toward the field, his boots touching the soft, verdant grass. The white petals of the daisies brushed against his shins, looking as innocent as a child's dream.

This was the trap. The gas wasn't just a toxin; it was a psychological acid. It forced the mind to face its deepest ethical conflicts, and as it did, it slowly paralyzed the body.

The longer one struggled with their conscience—the longer they debated their "sins"—the faster the poison shut down their nervous system. To survive, one had to achieve "Purity": the total, unconflicted acceptance of one's own actions, regardless of how "evil" they appeared to the world.

In the game, this trial had been a source of legendary frustration. It had forced players to confront the cold, hard reality of their choices in the apocalypse. Akhil hated it because it stripped away his justifications. It mocked his survival instinct as a form of moral cowardice.

It wasn't particularly a difficult trial, and in fact it could be considered a good one.

Last time, he had been part of a group. The shared presence of others had acted as an anchor, a collective lie that helped them push through the hallucinations. Also, it was a game... So he had no moral conflicts to what he had done, but even then it was hard.

He dismissed all of it as, 'It's just a game'

But could he say the same now? He had killed actual humans... And done so much more. Facing his inner doubts now, with everything he had faced so far... Akhil could tell that this was going to be a rather bitter experience.

But there was no going back. Now, he was standing in the center of the valley entirely alone...

The world around him began to warp. The white flowers grew to the size of trees, and the sky turned into a dark, swirling mirror.

'I just have to believe in my own morals and walk to the end of the space' Akhil convinced himself as he closed his eyes.

From the petals, voices began to whisper—voices of the people he had stepped over, the people he had used as shields, and the "necessary" sacrifices he had made since the world ended.

"You called them beast, but you knew they were humans"

"You enjoyed tearing our bodies to get rewards from the system... And then you have the audacity to ask that the orcs be treated well... How laughable"

"I did it because if I didn't you would have killed me first" Akhil replied back coldly, taking a steady step forward.

"Is it worth it, Akhil?" a voice whispered—a voice that sounded dangerously like his own. "To win the game by losing your humanity? Is that 'good'?"

His vision darkened as the nausea intensified. His heart rate slowed dangerously, a sign that the poison was beginning to take hold of his vital organs.

'I have to find peace,' he told himself, though his hands were shaking. 'I have to believe in my own path... or I'll die right here in the flowers.'

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not losing my humanity... We have to survive to build a better place"

The voices grew louder, overlapping in a dissonant chorus that seemed to vibrate within Akhil's very bones. The white daisies beneath his feet began to glow with a sickly, ethereal light, their pollen rising like a shroud of golden dust.

"You speak of a better place," a voice hissed, sounding like one of the men he had killed in the administrative block. "But you build it on a foundation of our bones. How many 'better places' have been promised by men with blood on their hands?"

"You enjoyed it," another voice whispered—this one sharp and feminine. "That cold thrill when the system notification pings a reward over a corpse. Don't lie to the flowers, Akhil. You didn't just survive. You thrived on the carnage." This particular voice was very much familiar.

It was the tree girl... The titan of beasts. "I'm sorry I had to!"

Akhil's knees buckled. The gas was working into his nervous system, making his muscles feel like lead. The nausea was an iron claw in his stomach, yet he forced his head up, staring into the shifting mist.

"I did what was necessary," Akhil rasped, his voice cracking. "In a world where the system turns neighbors into monsters, the only 'evil' is dying before the job is done."

"Is it worth it?" his own mirror-voice asked again, drifting from the center of a particularly large, pristine daisy. "You say you'll build a world of peace, but you are a creature of war. What place does a weapon have in a garden?"

"I am the one who ensures there is a garden!" Akhil roared, slamming his fist into the ground. The impact cracked the earth, but the flowers remained unbruised. "Survival isn't a sin! If the world wants to judge me, let it wait until I've saved what's left of it!"

He forced himself to stand, his heart hammering against his ribs as he fought the paralyzing effect of the gas.

To the Princess of this valley, he was presenting his truth: that his 'Purity' was his unwavering, selfish, and absolute will to exist. He wasn't acting against his nature; he was embracing the predator he had become.

"Is this the path you have chosen? Is this the path you wish to take? Do you even have the power to lead! You've never led anyone before, and now you suddenly feel like a born leader... Why? Cause you were promised some rewards from the system? You're simply selfish! Why do you delude yourself with lies.... Tell yourself the truth."

"Yes, I am selfish. I have to be," Akhil spat, his voice trembling but firm. "Not for the rewards, and not for the system. I'm selfish for the people who haven't even been born yet! In a world that is rotting, someone has to be the monster that keeps the other monsters away. If that makes me 'impure' in your eyes, then so be it!"

Akhil's eyes narrowes with defiance as he gave his answer. For a moment, all the voices seemed to quiet down. And Akhil felt a sudden feeling of peace.

'Finally' Akhil thought letting out a sigh of relief.

But another voice came, this wasn't from the voices around... It came from inside. The voice was dark and void of emotions so much so that Akhil felt a chill run down his spine just from the sound of it.

"You want more blood don't you?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.