Having accepted the quest, Shu Himo gathered his courage and began to walk towards the scythe.

However, dread assailed his heart the moment he stepped onto the black floor.  His legs were rooted in place as his instincts screamed to run away. His confident smile cracked quickly.

“This feeling… interesting!” Gritting his teeth, he forced his leg to make the first step forward. The moment both his feet touched the black floor, he felt as if a higher existence was trying to corrupt his whole being. But that did not stop him. He steeled his heart and kept moving forward.

After ten meters, a forced smile crept on his lips. He was struggling even just to hold his eyes open. But even then, he did not feel any fear. What he felt was excitement. Excitement toward the challenge placed in front of him. Excitement toward the strength of a weapon he already deemed his. From his previous pace, he slowly accelerated, until he started running.

Twenty meters… fifty meters… one hundred meters… two hundred meters…

The closer he was to the scythe, the stronger the dreadful feeling was. He felt as if his death was coming. As if he were about to lose himself. Every second felt like hours.

After a few minutes of struggle, he finally stood before the scythe. At that moment, the dark atmosphere of the weapon seemed to sink him under a layer of despair and hatred.

"This is nowhere near enough to stop me...!" He stepped forward, his right hand reaching toward the scythe's handle. The moment he touched it, his mind got flooded by words.

Kill them. Destroy them. Annihilate them. Erase them. Behead those who wronged us, those who do not deserve to exist. A wave of pure hatred headed to his soul, trying to take control over it.

"I..." He tightened his grip on the scythe's handle. "...refuse! I won't let you use me... I'm the one who will use you!"

At that moment, he saw the faces of his families. Both from his past life and the current one. Their eyes were bleeding as their mouth coughed blood. Their death loomed before his eyes.

"An illusion?" He paused for a moment before he narrowed his eyes. "Such cliché won't work on me, try again!"

As if angered by those words, the offense from the scythe changed. An excruciating pain invaded Shu Himo's head, and he felt as if his brain was about to split.

"This is cheating!"

His eyes were shut tight as his hand pressed his forehead. For a moment, he felt helpless in front of such pain. His legs lost their strength, and he fell to his knees. However, he gritted his teeth and stood up once again.

Even in front of such agony, he did not want to retreat. He did not want to surrender. He did not want to lose. His right hand had never let the scythe go.

He forced himself to go forward, grabbing the scythe with both his hands. Against the scythe's will who was trying to take over his body, Shu Himo let out a scream as he used all his willpower to resist the attack.

Suddenly, the agony subsided, and his pained expression quieted down. It was as if the pain had never been there in the first place. Letting out a heavy sigh, Shu Himo slowly opened his eyes. However, what he saw was neither the weapon shop nor the previous house. It was a black ocean that extended to the horizon.

Although he was standing on water, his feet didn't sink. It was as if the black water was, in truth, a solid material.

The sky was concealed by a grey mist, not a single speck of light could pass through. However, the area was not completely in the dark. A grey-like light illuminated everything.

A putrid stench pervaded his nostrils, and his sight was hindered by a dense fog. “System, where am I?” Lost in such an eerie area, Shu Himo retorted to question the system. But he did not receive any answer.

He stroked his chin, pondering for a moment. “Am I inside the scythe? The system did mention something about fighting a will… does it mean that all I did was just the first test?”

The answer did not wait to reveal itself.

All of a sudden, a voice emerged from far ahead of him, from beyond the mist. "Yoo! It seems that someone actually came to visit me, the great Dark King Dragon! And you're still a kid, not bad!" He broke into laughter as he stepped out of the mist.

His grey hair fluttered as his wrinkled face revealed itself. His seemingly imperceptible, decaying presence proved that even his will was not impervious against the ravages of time, perhaps about to dissipate. However, his laid-back attitude was as if he did not care about it.

His thin, cracked lips rose. "What is your name, little guy?" His pitch dark eyes stared at Shu Himo. They were enveloped in madness, but a pinch of hope seemed to loom from within them.

"I'm Shu Himo." His tone appeared calm, but it was hiding a tinge of disappointment.

When he had first heard that his opponent was called the "Wicked King Dragon", he had expected to find a wild young-looking man. Someone who would go around to destroy anything he did not like, whether it was a peerless expert or the strongest kingdom. He had even imagined a backstory about him... but to think reality would be so different! Shu Himo could not help but complain to himself.

Wait... Dark King Dragon? Isn't the name different? Realization hit him and he turned to look at the old man, stunned. "I thought the name of who I would find in here was Wicked King Dragon... is it perhaps someone else?"

Hearing the question, the old man sighed slightly. "That's indeed me, but..." He gazed vacantly at the covered sky. "I would rather not hear that name."

Seeing his expression, Shu Himo paled. That's an old man, how could I forget about that! Being an expert who had read countless novels, he knew that old men were existences not to defy with! How had he forgotten such a basic notion? Just the thought of having underestimated his opponent left his back covered in cold sweat.

Without noticing the internal thought of Shu Himo, the Dark King Dragon snapped out of his daze. "I'll suppress my cultivation to match yours and we'll battle against each other. You'll win if you hit me once, but your soul will be forever trapped inside the scythe if were you to lose." Looking at Shu Himo, he then added, "Heh, no worry, even just a little scratch will do. Also, you may use a replica of the scythe during this fight."

As soon as he heard the old man’s words, Shu Himo felt the weight of the scythe in his hands. It was as if it had appeared from nowhere. The only difference from the real one was the absence of passive abilities. An excited smile grew on his face. He then quickly took his stance, readying himself for the fight.

Seeing his sloppy stance, the old man chuckled and made his move. He pointed his feet toward his target, and suddenly vanished from Shu Himo's view.

In but a moment, he reappeared in front of Shu Himo. Almost as if he had teleported. The old man's punch plunged straight to his face, its might resembling a mountain plummeting from the sky.