The World of Ash is Colored by God's Eyes ~Only I can see the status, and I'll rise from the weakest to the strongest~ Volume 1 Chapter 2 part 2

Chapter 2 ▼ The Trial of the Gods Part 2

Beyond the open door lay a pitch-black space, like stepping into a shadowy abyss.

A chill ran down my spine, as if I were leaping into a bottomless, dark cave.

“Nothing’s visible… Midori, Ash, are you there?”

“I’m here, right behind you.”

“Me too.”

“Good. It’s a bit risky, but I’ll use fire mag—!?”

Just as Tanaka-san was about to cast fire magic to illuminate our surroundings…

A blinding flash erupted, nearly searing our eyes, flooding the entire space with light.

“What’s this? What’s happening…?”

It was a golden glow.

The radiance pierced the dark expanse, and at the same moment, that voice rang out.

“ROOOOARRRR—!!!!”

The sound shook the air, reverberating through the chamber.

It was the roar of the mighty—a primal warning straight to our instincts.

And it wasn’t just one source. Countless voices joined in.

I instinctively covered my ears and scanned the area, trying to grasp the situation.

“M-Monsters!?”

The sound came from monsters.

“What the hell…?”

“No way…”

Those monsters stood beyond golden bars.

We were in a narrow, corridor-like space with no ceiling above.

If I had to compare it, it was like walking the lone path Moses carved through the parted sea.

On either side, golden bars stretched upward, gleaming endlessly into the unseen heights.

Behind them were monsters I’d never encountered before, pounding against the bars, frantic to break free.

Their numbers were impossible to count—creatures far beyond my ability to handle, perhaps manageable only by an S-rank raider at best.

“How many are there…?”

Our field of vision was filled with an uncountable horde of monsters.

They roared in fury, reaching through the bars with hands dripping with resentment.

They looked like prisoners.

Unleashing all their rage at those who’d confined them here for so long.

They wanted to tear us apart.

I collapsed to the ground. Their overwhelming presence crushed me.

The sheer power radiating from these monsters felt like even a single one could threaten an entire nation.

“…Could these be… Emperor-class!? And there’s even Red-class and Dragon-class… Pinnacle monsters I’ve only ever read about… What’s going on here? What is this situation…?”

Tanaka-san stood frozen, speechless.

“Eek!?”

Even the strong-willed Miss Midori let out a yelp as the monsters slammed against the golden bars behind us.

“If all of these were released… Japan would be finished…”

Tanaka-san, an A-rank, seemed to believe these monsters held the power to destroy a nation.

This country had five S-rank awakened—the strongest of the strong—and he likely judged that even they would struggle against this.

“What about Lieutenant Colonel Alfred and the others…?”

Alfred was S-rank too, but even with that level of power, facing these monsters alone would be impossible no matter how hard he fought.

It puzzled me why they’d send a valuable asset like him here, but S-ranks held different weight in Japan versus the U.S.

They were the world’s strongest military power, after all.

Their pool of precious S-rank fighters might outnumber Japan’s by several times.

That didn’t change the fact that they were rare talents, though.

“Tanaka-san… what are these?”

“I don’t know. All I can tell is they’re really pissed at us.”

I could almost hear my own heartbeat.

This wasn’t like facing the Hobgoblin. I was terrified in a different way.

This wasn’t about giving up or whether I could win.

If I had to fight these things, I’d die without question.

Yet, despite the ferocity of their attacks, the golden bars showed no signs of damage.

What were they made of?

As I stared at the bars, pondering this—

“Look over there.”

Miss Midori, regaining her composure, pointed somewhere.

On the ground lay a glowing golden collar.

Attached to it was a golden chain, stretching up into the unseen black sky.

The collar wasn’t locked—it could be slipped onto a neck.

“Are we supposed to put that on? But why’s there only one…?”

The moment Tanaka-san touched the collar—

That monotone, mechanical voice echoed through the space.

“Please select one sacrifice to wear the collar. Time until the divine barrier is lifted: 1000 seconds, 999…”

At that instant, a golden cube appeared at the far end of the corridor.

On its side, like a mirage, flickered an image of the outside world.

“Is that the outside!?”

As Tanaka-san shouted, it was indeed a cube.

The dungeon’s exit—the way out of here.

The golden cube reflected the outside scenery, likely Shibuya.

“Th-The exit’s here, Tanaka-san! We can leave!!”

Thinking we could escape, I ran toward the door in excitement.

But at that moment—

Boom!

Something appeared.

A golden barrier, identical to the one caging the monsters, materialized in front of us, blocking the only path to the portal.

“Why…?”

That voice spoke again.

A cold, monotone tone, like a system prompt, informed us.

“Please select one sacrifice to wear the collar.”

I replayed the words in my mind, then understood.

I realized what this trial demanded.

What it was forcing us to do.

The blood drained from my body.

We turned to the monsters again.

As if they understood, they salivated eagerly, watching us in silence.

I could feel their desperate urge to slaughter us on the spot.

“No way…”

“You’re kidding…”

“So… one of us has to stay behind…?”

We all got it.

The voice was demanding we sacrifice one of us.

It was the kind of scenario a death game mastermind would relish.

Forcing us to turn on each other, to compete and decide the weakest link.

“How could this…”

I slumped to the ground.

For a while, we sat there, dazed and broken.

“…Damn it! Damn it!!”

Only Tanaka-san kept going, futilely casting magic to burn the golden bars or slashing at them with his sword.

But the bars didn’t budge.

Of course they didn’t—this wasn’t something brute force could handle.

It was the same power sealing those monsters, a divine force beyond human comprehension.

“What the hell is this!! What kind of trial is this!!”

Tanaka-san roared, consumed by rage.

His usual calm was gone, replaced by furious strikes against the bars.

“To let the others live, one of us has to stay behind and die!! What a sick joke!!”

Exhausted, perhaps, Tanaka-san drove his sword into the ground and fell to his knees.

“What a joke…”

“…Tanaka-san.”

“This is too much. What kind of trial is this? We just agreed to survive together, to eat sushi together…”

Realizing the situation, Miss Midori knelt too, tears streaming down her face.

I felt the same as they did.

If I’d known it’d come to this, I wished we hadn’t huddled together earlier, chatting happily about our lives.

Tanaka-san and Miss Midori were good people.

They’d treated me—an unranked waste—like an equal.

Honestly, it made me happy.

It had been over a decade since I learned my mana was only 5, and this was the first time anyone had acknowledged me.

So I genuinely liked them.

They saw me for who I was, not my mana, and I truly cared for them both.

They’d make a wonderful couple—I could picture their happy future.

Because they were both so kind.

Yet this trial seemed to see right through that, demanding a sacrifice.

It forced us to strangle our kindness and kill someone.

So we couldn’t choose. We couldn’t do it.

Even so—

“834, 833…”

The countdown didn’t stop.

If we kept stalling, those enraged monsters would be unleashed, killing us all.

But we just sat there, paralyzed.

If someone like Satou—a real jerk—were here, maybe it’d push us to act.

But there was no one like that.

Tanaka-san and Miss Midori were both good-hearted people.

That’s why we couldn’t move.

Even so, time marched on mercilessly.

In silence, only the seconds slipped away.

“603, 602, 601, 600…”

Ten minutes remained—six hundred seconds.

No one could stand. The silence was deafening.

Then someone stepped forward.

“I’ll stay. Ash, Midori, you two live. That’s an order from me, your raid leader.”

It was Tanaka-san.

“Issei! No! You can’t! You can’t do this!!”

Miss Midori sobbed at his words.

Because they meant his death.

“Midori, you have to be happy. I don’t know if there’s a better guy out there than me… haha.”

Tanaka-san gave a hollow smile, intent on sending Miss Midori and me away.

She resisted fiercely, but he wouldn’t relent.

His legs trembled. He was human, after all—how could he not be afraid?

“…I understand… Issei, wait a moment…”

“Wait for what…?”

Miss Midori clenched her fists and turned to me.

Tears welled in her eyes, but her gaze was resolute.

Seeing that look, I understood instantly.

I knew what it meant. It was the determination to save the one she loved.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I’m so sorry. I… I choose Issei. I’m really sorry. You can hate me—please don’t forgive me.”

Her words confirmed it.

To save her beloved Tanaka-san, she’d chosen to sacrifice me.

It wasn’t a wrong choice.

If Nagi were here and I had the power, I’d choose to save her without hesitation.

That’s what love is.

When you love someone, they hold a special place in your heart.

So is it wrong to kill someone else to save the person you love most in the world?

I deeply empathized with her desire to protect her beloved.

But hearing this, Tanaka-san grabbed her firmly.

“Midori, no. I said I’d stay. I appreciate your feelings, but… this is my responsibility.”

“But Issei! I—I—I don’t want you to stay!!”

Miss Midori wept against Tanaka-san’s chest.

Tanaka-san closed his eyes and gently embraced her.

Surely, he was cherishing their final moments together.

Two people in love, torn apart by the trial of the gods.

But…

“Yeah, this is the right thing, isn’t it, Nagi?”

I couldn’t let this happen.

Click.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“I’ll stay. I’ll be the hero.”

“Ash!? What—what are you doing!?”

“Ash!? The collar!”

While Tanaka-san and Miss Midori were locked in their embrace, I snatched the collar from his hand and slipped it onto my neck.

At that moment, the golden bars in the center rumbled and vanished.

Now they could reach the cube to escape.

“Out of the three of us, I’m the least valuable. I can’t break up a couple in love like you two.”

“Take it off—quickly, Ash!”

“I can’t. There’s a keyhole, but it looks like it’s stuck for good now. Besides… it’s fine. We haven’t known each other long, but I really like you both. I… you treated me, someone worthless, as an equal—as a person, a comrade. It made me happy. I mean it. And… look.”

I gazed at Tanaka-san and Miss Midori, who couldn’t stop crying.

“Having someone willing to cry for me makes this life worth giving up.”

“Ash, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… It’s my fault… because I said those things…”

Miss Midori apologized to me.

She must’ve thought her words had driven me to this.

“No need to apologize. Honestly, I’d already planned to die. I mentioned it during introductions, right? I have a little sister named Nagi. She has AMS, but my family’s poor, so she can only get treatment at a raider-exclusive hospital. I won’t be able to keep raiding… so I hope she can continue treatment as a raider’s surviving kin.”

I told them about the decision I’d made that day.

To save Nagi, all I—a nobody—had left to offer was my life.

“Ash… you…”

“So, I have one request, Tanaka-san. My sister, hospitalized with AMS—can you look after her? Survivors get compensation and continued treatment, but even if a cure’s found, she might not get it right away. With your status… as vice-leader of Japan’s top guild, you could arrange it, right? Nagi Tenchi—she’s the most important person in the world to me.”

I forced a smile at Tanaka-san.

To hide my trembling legs, I dug my nails into my thigh.

I’d always had the resolve to die. If failing this dungeon stripped me of my raider status, I’d rather die and ensure my family’s survival as kin.

Even with that resolve, I was terrified.

“…Ash.”

“Even if I survive now, I can’t save my family, so…”

Tears welled in my eyes, but I pushed myself to smile at Tanaka-san and Miss Midori.

“So, I’m counting on you from here on. Please, promise me you’ll take care of Nagi!”

It was my heartfelt plea.

“…Alright—!!”

Tanaka-san answered, then slammed his forehead into the ground, drawing blood.

It was as if he were bowing to me—or wrestling with his own inner turmoil.

He struck his head repeatedly, then looked up.

“I’ll honor your request… Ash, I swear on my life and Avalon’s name to take responsibility for your sister. You can rest easy knowing that.”

Hearing his response, I gave a soft laugh.

“Great. Honestly… I’m lucky to have someone like you backing me up, Tanaka-san. Hurry now—there’s less than three minutes left.”

The strained smile I forced—clumsy and obvious—Tanaka-san accepted.

They walked slowly toward the exit.

Their steps were heavy. Their hearts might still have been conflicted, but they moved forward, one foot at a time.

I watched their backs and murmured under my breath.

“This is fine.”

I kept telling myself that.

They deserved to live more than me—more than this unranked, worthless waste.

So many relied on them, needed them. They were worth more than me, who merely existed without value.

Tap, tap.

With hesitant steps, Tanaka-san and Miss Midori approached the door to the outside.

Wearing the collar, I stared at their retreating figures.

Beside me, countless monsters bared their fangs, drooling, every eye fixed on me.

Their gazes mixed joy and rage, eerie and unsettling.

Their expressions screamed, Let me eat you now, and terror gripped me to my core.

After Tanaka-san and the others passed the corridor’s midpoint, I was alone.

In that moment, fear crashed over me like a wave.

“Will I die…? Fangs hurt, don’t they…? Will they rip me to shreds…?”

How would these monsters kill me?

Would that massive hand tear my body apart? Would those huge fangs bite through me?

Maybe that dragon would burn me alive with its fire.

Not knowing what death awaited, I couldn’t help but imagine it despite myself.

And then…

“I don’t want to die… Huh?”

The words slipped out.

This wasn’t something I could overcome by refusing to give up—it was certain death.

I’d fought the Hobgoblin, held on through the Trial of Wisdom until the end without surrendering.

But this was different. Not giving up felt harder.

I didn’t want this.

The thought bubbled up from deep within.

“So scary…”

I started trembling.

“Don’t go…”

Watching Tanaka-san and the others’ backs, I let the words escape unintentionally.

My muttering was drowned out by the monsters’ clamor—they didn’t hear me.

But once the words came, they wouldn’t stop.

“I don’t want to die…”

I shook with fear.

Tears streamed down my face.

Even so, I clamped my hands over my mouth and curled into myself, hiding it from Tanaka-san and the others.

If they saw me like this, they might turn back.

So I endured, though the tears wouldn’t cease.

So scary, so scary—death loomed so close it was driving me mad.

“Ugh… ugh… I don’t want to die.”

Sobbing, I regretted my choice.

If time could rewind.

If I could choose again.

I…

At that moment—

The monotone voice rang directly in my mind, as if waiting for those words.

It echoed through the space, as though it knew I’d think this.

“The final trial—”

“What?”

As the voice spoke, golden bars—prison-like—sprang up between me and Tanaka-san’s group.

Identical to the ones that had vanished earlier, they now separated us.

I couldn’t pass through, but I could see the other side through the gaps.

Another change occurred.

“What!?”

Golden collars appeared around Tanaka-san and Miss Midori’s necks.

Chains of gold extended from the sky, binding them inescapably.

“What’s happening…?”

As I reeled in confusion, the cube they’d been heading toward—the exit—

An identical one appeared behind me.

And one more thing.

“Two keys…”

Two keys materialized before me.

The instant I saw them, I knew they were for unlocking the collars.

With these, I could escape and return to the outside.

I understood—this was the trial.

It was testing me again.

After feeling the reality of death, genuinely not wanting to lose my life, and being in a situation where I could save myself alone—

Would I make the same choice, or…?

Then I noticed.

The monotone voice hadn’t named this trial yet.

As if answering my question—

“The final trial—the Trial of Heart begins.”

The last trial had started.

“What kind of trial is this…?”

I gripped the keys.

With these, I could save myself.

There were two—enough to save two people.

Me and one other could escape.

Or I could use one key and leave alone. No one would know what happened here, and I’d live.

I could kill Tanaka-san and Miss Midori and survive alone.

“I… I!”

The situation had flipped, and dark impulses surged within me.

I held the keys, staring at the chain around my neck.

Less than a minute remained on the countdown.

“Haa… haa… I… I…”

My trembling hand moved a key toward the keyhole.

I laughed. It must’ve been an ugly, twisted face.

But was this wrong? Was it wrong to value my own life?

My face twitched—maybe the thought of surviving overwhelmed me with joy.

I’d take a long bath when I got back, splurge on my favorite beef bowl, eat tons of snacks, and drink loads of soda.

There was so much I wanted to do—so much I hadn’t done yet.

I had a future ahead.

So, so!!

“I want to live! I’ll live!”

The moment I shouted and slid the key into the keyhole—

I remembered.

✽

“I’m going to survive! I’ll live! I’m not a weakling like you!!”

✽

The vile face of the guy I hated most, saying the same words.

I recalled Satou’s expression when he shoved me aside in the Trial of Wisdom.

I never wanted to become like him—never wanted to be the same as that loathsome jerk.

And…

✽

“Nagi, your Onii-chan will save you. I promise I will.”

✽

I wanted to be a brother Nagi could be proud of.

I remembered the promise I’d made to her in the hospital.

It was like waking from a dream—my body went limp.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and—

Threw both keys toward Tanaka-san and Miss Midori.

“Ash…”

The keys passed through the bars, landing at their feet.