n

n

n

nSam smiled and spoke.

n

"I indeed am. What gave it away?

"

n

"That cocky expression of yours.

"

nThe atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

n

"Enough, Bhim.

" Dean cleared his throat and stopped the conversation. Bhim, the senior looked at Sam and licked his lips. The initial mellow and scholarly aura he had was gone.

nDean stood to the side and gestured to Sam to enter the Portal that leads to the pseudo-hell. Sam walked in slowly. As soon as he entered, he found himself standing in the vast expanse of black land. It felt extremely familiar.

nJust like how it was back in the real hell.

nHe took a deep breath and let his defenses go down a bit. An unfamiliar aura invaded his body and then it became familiar. It indeed felt like the hell's corruption. However, it is fundamentally different. Hell's aura felt more sinister, however this one felt a bit weird.

nIt felt more engaging and friendly. That is all he could describe it as. One thing he noticed is that his beast bloodlines are engaging with this aura well. It seems like a lot of that blood must have been from the preys of his beasts.

nThe rest of the students walked in. All nine of them stood in the middle of nowhere and at that moment, the portal closed behind them.

nAt that moment, red screens appeared in front of all of them. They only had two options. Get out, Go forward.

nThat is all they had, not even a sentence explaining where they are getting out to and where they are going forward to. However, it was already in the briefing given by Dean of the Zeus Academy and they all pressed Go forward.

nAt this moment, a huge figure appeared in front of them. It is purely conjured up of dark aura that surrounded them. It is a humanoid figure sitting on a throne made of Dark ebony. They could actually understand what the throne was supposed to be made of, even though it was conjured up of smoke.

nIt was that clear, except for the face of the person sitting on it.

nBronte immediately fell on his knees.

n

"Greetings to the King of Underworld and ruler of the dead. Lord Hades.

"

nHis voice quivered as he greeted the illusory figure. The rest of them however, didn't have a reaction.

n

"Welcome all of you to pseudo hell.

"

nHades completely ignored Bronte's devoted greeting as well as the rest of the students' lack of respect. He just continued with what he wanted to say.

n

"Since you chose to go forward, in five minutes, pick a spot and mediate. Your body will be in an ethereal state for a while as your soul connects with this world. When the connection is made, all of you will be able to summon your sins and fight them here.

nIt is advised to sit a few miles apart.

nEveryone will have their own hell to go through and their own fights to battle. Everyone, except you.

"

nHis eyes landed on Sam and everyone turned to look at him. Sam smiled and Hades continued.

n

"I am sure, I don't have to explain why.

"

n

"Of course.

"

n

"Good, stay if you want to. But you wouldn't be able to connect with the pseudo hell…

" Hades stopped himself from speaking and disappeared. Sam knew the rest of his sentence.

nHe can only connect with the real hell.

nSince he already made a connection before, Pseudo hell wouldn't have any effect of him. The refinement it provides falls way too short. And Sam doesn't really want to do it anyway. He is here to just help his friends out.

nSoon everyone picked a spot far away from each other. Sam hovered in the sky so that he could get as much view as he could as he observed his friends. He wanted to help their friends accumulate as much nourishment energy as possible so that their bodies would transform.

nThe Dean warned that if they take in more by force, it will be hard for their bodies to digest it. It would dissipate and during the dissipation process, they will still be unable to do anything else with their spiritual and Divine energies.

nSo, to avoid that Sam created a plan back in the hub.

nAs he waited soon the students felt a connection with the dimension. Sam also closed his eyes and focused his senses on his friends.

nHe could feel the nourishing aura moving towards all of the students except for him. However, at this moment something made Sam extremely vigilant.

nThere was a turbulent energy movement high in the sky and it is followed by spatial fluctuations. Alarm bells rang in his head and he turned to look at his friends, they all suspended in the air, their bodies completely left there for hanging.

nThis wasn't supposed to happen.

nOnce they made connection and gathered enough nourishment energy the sins should be conjured around them. However, now they are in this suspended state.

nHe could feel that their souls have lost control over their bodies. He zoomed to the nearest person, Watt and was about to touch him to check on his condition.

n*ZAP*

nA weird force repelled him away and Sam fell on the ground a few meters away. He looked at his friends in worry. Whatever is happening, it isn't a good thing. He flew forward once again and placed his hand on the invisible barrier surrounding Watt.

nHe activated energy vision trying to understand it.

nBut he stopped his actions in the middle. His eyes widened in horror as he felt a chill run down his spine. He looked into the sky and a spatial crack appeared. However, like the regular spatial cracks he has seen before, it wasn't turbulent and it also didn't have chaotic spatial energy.

nInstead, the energy he felt from it was extremely familiar to him.

n

"Hell's Corruption. How?

"

nHe is very familiar with this. He doesn't even know how long he spent in that hell all by himself. But he cannot forget it even if he wanted to. His body instinctually reacted to it and tried to absorb it. He is that familiar with that energy.

nHe saw as the hell's corruption materialized and spreading to different students. His mind is running at full speed and at this moment another fluctuation occurred. This time, it is not in the sky, rather it is right in front of Sam. In the middle of the empty space.

nThe spatial fluctuation turned into a massive portal and he saw a familiar figure walking out of it.

n

"Pearl.

"

nHe muttered with a frown as he looked at her. She looked at Sam in disbelief.

n

"No, it shouldn't be possible. How are you still normal?

" She asked out loud as several more portals opened up around Sam and large groups of people came out of them.

nSam looked at Pearl and then his friends.

n

"What the ** did you? This is not nourishment aura. This is real Hell's corruption.

"

nHe asked her directly. Pearl still looked at him shock and gritted her teeth in anger and frustration. The people are still coming out of the portals.

n

"First you speak. How did you escape this suspended state?

"

nShe asked in return.

nSam didn't answer her. He just looked at his friends in worry. Right now, as far as he could see nothing is happening to them. Their bodies also seemed normal even though the hells corruption is creeping up to them.

nThey are at least physically okay, but the souls… that is the question that kept on bugging him. He needs answers.

nAs he was thinking, a cloud appeared high above in the sky right beneath the spatial crack that emitted this hell's corruption.

nAnd within that cloud eight humanoid figures formed. They are the students that got stuck in that suspended state. Right now, all of them could see their own bodies floating in the air. They were all worried and almost panicked.

nSam's friends saw him standing on the ground looking at them. They could see the worry in his eyes from up there. They could also see the large group of people that surrounded them.

nAt this moment, another humanoid figure conjured in the middle of the cloud.

nThe humanoid figure looked tall and muscular. Standing at almost eight feet. But the body is lean and he held a sword in one hand and a shield in another. He had long hair and a beard. He looked like a person who was born to fight.

n

"Greetings my dear contestants. Under the special requests of some devotees, lord of underworld Hades, has interrupted your pseudo-hell refinement and now you are to undergo a special trial if you want to continue with your body refinement process.

nI am your examiner.

nIn this trial, you will be going against me. I will transform in to your worst fear and you should win against me, which means you should win against your worst fear to pass the trial.

"

n

n