Lord Of Beasts

It was nothing short of a miracle that they made it back without crashing.

The roads were mostly empty at that hour, just the occasional streetlight flickering overhead, long stretches of asphalt stretching into the quiet of the night. The chaos from earlier hadn’t reached this far yet, or perhaps it had and simply hadn’t caught up with them.

Either way, it was the only reason Ethan hadn’t wrapped Mark’s precious car around a lamppost.

Mark groaned in the passenger seat, clutching his head as if it were about to split open.

”I swear... if you scratched it...” he muttered weakly.

Ethan snorted. ”Relax. Your baby’s fine.”

”You floored it in a residential zone.”

”And we survived.”

”That’s not the point-”

”Feels like it is.”

From the back seat, Elara let out a soft, silent laugh, her shoulders shaking slightly beneath Ethan’s oversized hoodie. Even exhausted and pale, she looked amused.

Mark glanced back at her, squinting. ”Why are you encouraging him?”

She simply shrugged, still smiling faintly.

By the time they reached the Black Howl, the tension had faded into something dull and tired. The building loomed quietly, unchanged by the madness that had unfolded across the city.

Ethan parked the car, carefully, this time, and killed the engine.

Silence settled.

For a moment, none of them moved.

Then Ethan sighed, pushing the door open. ”Alright. Let’s get inside before you pass out in here.”

Mark groaned but didn’t argue.

Getting them inside was... a process.

Ethan practically had to drag Mark, who leaned his full weight onto him with zero shame, mumbling incoherently about ”respecting the engine.” At the same time, Elara clung to his other side, her steps unsteady, her strength clearly not yet recovered.

”Why are you both so heavy?” Ethan muttered under his breath.

Mark slurred, ”It’s my muscles, baby.”

Elara wasn’t as accepting of his comment, glaring at him.

Ethan then dropped Mark onto a couch, where the man immediately sprawled out like a corpse, and guided Elara downstairs gently.

”You good?” he asked quietly.

She nodded, though her eyes were heavy with exhaustion.

”Get some rest,” he said. ”We’ll deal with everything else later.”

She gave a small, grateful look before leaning back.

Ethan didn’t linger.

He turned and jumped into his own bed, eager to sleep.

’If you can even call it sleep.’

His body was tired, and his mind even more so.

Everything that had happened replayed in fragments, from Mace to the final showdown between three unbelievably powerful beings.

His jaw tightened slightly.

All the confidence he’d built up, everything he’d felt after crushing Mace, had been completely shattered.

He wasn’t even close to them.

So without hesitation, he reached out to the System Interface.

{Enter The Tower}

In an instant, everything shifted.

His consciousness was ripped away, his soul dragged into the familiar void before snapping into place within his tower body, which was in perfect condition.

{Welcome back to the Tower Of Beasts!}

{Floor Twenty-One: Acidic Swampland (C)}

Ethan wrinkled his nose immediately.

”I forgot how disgusting this place was.”

The air was thick and humid, carrying a sharp, acidic stench that burned slightly with every breath. The ground beneath his feet was uneven, patches of bubbling sludge and murky water stretching in all directions.

Twisted vegetation clawed upward, its surfaces slick with corrosive residue.

Everything here wanted to kill you.

Or melt you.

Or both.

Ethan rolled his shoulders, exhaling slowly, before suddenly making his move...

-

The next seven hours were brutal, relentless, and unforgiving.

Ethan didn’t stop, rest, or hesitate, hunting through swamps, acid pools, and the burning air like there was no tomorrow. He tore through beasts with claw and fang, adapting constantly, refining his movements, pushing himself further each time.

Acid splashed against his skin, burning through flesh.

He ignored it.

Beasts lunged from beneath the swamp.

He killed them.

Others spat corrosive bile.

He pushed through it.

There was no elegance or restraint, just raw, desperate growth.

By the end of it, he was barely standing.

His body was covered in burns, his breathing ragged, his MP nearly depleted. But despite being on edge, his eyes were sharp and still focused.

”It’s not enough,” he muttered.

But it would have to do, as continuing any longer would just be putting himself in danger, especially without any beast meat to consume for recovery.

{Exit The Tower}

-

Ethan’s eyes snapped open, and reality hit him all at once: the ceiling, the bed, the dull ache in his body, and...

Two figures stood over him.

He blinked.

”What is it?”

Mark stood there, looking like death.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his complexion sickly, clearly hungover. Beside him, Elara looked just as rough: dark circles under her eyes, her skin unnaturally pale, her posture still weak.

Ethan groaned, dragging a hand down his face.

”You both look like shit.”

Mark scoffed. ”Look who’s talking.”

Ethan sat up slowly, his body protesting.

He was expecting a lecture, anger, and a bunch of questions after what had happened last night.

How could he not?

He dragged them somewhere in the middle of the night without much context and ended up killing someone in front of them. Then Elara was dragged into a giant battle that went very much out of hand.

And on the topic of deaths, Elara was technically responsible for many more, the number in the low hundreds, even with all the black suit intervention.

But instead, Mark spoke first.

”There was a knock on the door earlier,” he said, his tone more serious than usual.

Ethan was confused. ”And?”

Mark gestured to the table.

”And I found this. Addressed to you.”

Ethan followed his gaze.

There was a clean and large briefcase that definitely felt out of place in this rundown basement. He frowned slightly, getting up and walking over, lifting it to find it was surprisingly heavy.

The tag read:

”For the Mystery Opponent, Ethan Crowe. And his partner, the surprise main event, Elara Veyne.”

”Well, that’s not ominous at all,” Ethan murmured.

And let’s just say, what he found within was not what he was expecting...