You Call This a Trial? Part Five

The killing intent rolling off Aoko and the other two was plain to see. The lesser monsters on floors 31 through 39 trembled as they carried out their duties.

They managed to stall the trio for just a tiny bit of time, but it was enough for the person in charge of the fortieth-floor trial to get ready.

They hurriedly hung up the plaque for the fortieth floor and shut the doors.

Aoko and the others came around the corner moments later. Had they been any faster, they might have seen that the room had been thrown together at the last minute.

Every trial had been arranged on the fly by the leaders. They made things up as they went, and the demons cooperated only to repay them for taking them in long ago.

To understand why, one had to go back to how this Himeji Castle, home to the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, came to be.

In the battle at Mount Oe, humanity won a decisive victory. The weaker monsters died, while those who survived saw how things stood: this world belonged to humans.

Faking their deaths, they quietly withdrew from human sight and went into hiding.

But secrets had a way of getting out. Sooner or later, some chance encounter would expose them.

Fortunately, Osakabehime happened to pass by in Himeji Castle.

That was right! Himeji Castle was a mobile fortress, and they all climbed aboard.

Himeji Castle traveled from place to place, picking up every monster willing to live in seclusion. The lesser monsters who had been too weak to take part in the battle at Mount Oe were welcome aboard too, if they wished.

At last, they chose an auspicious spot, opened a separate realm, and settled there. After several hundred years, their community