Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

While everyone was trying to hit Moon, Colten was having a mental breakdown, unable to come to terms with many things.

Starting with the way Dave was killed...

Moon was just like a battle demon who rose from hell, but now... he was no different from an untouchable ghost...

Why did he choose this method to kill Dave? Why didn’t he toy with him in such a manner?

So many questions he was asking himself without an answer, nor a way to find one...

’Does he do whatever he likes?’ Colten was doubting that Moon was as chaotic as he seemed to be. Something must make sense...

Even without attacking, if Dave had used up his echo the way he did in the first attack, he wouldn’t have lasted a few minutes before falling to his knees, even without Moon landing a single hit on him.

He started a frenzy of attacks that landed on almost everyone but Moon himself, while listening to Moon’s excited giggles driving him further into madness.

He rushed at Moon, but Moon laughed, sliding forward past him. He leaned back and spun around with him back to back.

But they were also slowly adapting to what Moon was doing, in one way or another, each according to his own experience.

Abshi was more focused on clearing Colten’s way, but they were only surviving. The numbers weren’t thinning rapidly since most hits were more like wild shots than precise strikes.

But the one who was most frustrated, yet didn’t allow it to show, was Dorbish... He didn’t expect it to be this bad, but he also wasn’t going to play this game indefinitely.

He realized a certain weakness in what Moon was doing, and if that weakness was exploited, there would be no going back...

Simply put, break this accursed rhythm somehow.

And he kept following Moon without attacking, keeping himself less obvious... ’His movements are too big, he’s used to fighting monsters,’ Dorbish thought as he tracked Moon’s pattern.

Moon was having a relatively easy time evading for this very reason. They were weak, smaller than greater goblins and wolves, and also, they didn’t have weapons protruding, aimed at his neck or torso.

Moon himself was starting to get arrogant. He thought it was impossible to do this, or take more steps, but in reality... he had taken tens of steps against all odds without any issue.

Dorbish wasn’t aware of this, but his pursuit didn’t halt, staying two or three steps away from Moon while following his chaotic stride...

Dorbish got confused regularly by sudden unpredictable routes, but he was strong... his body could be considered the strongest of everyone in the branch right now, and he used that very aspect to redirect himself when needed, or shield himself when he was about to crash into someone without receiving much damage.

With time, his patience was rewarded. The chance he was waiting for presented itself to him.

Moon had two individuals lose balance and crash into one another, and they were the only thing between him and Moon...

Dorbish squeezed every ounce of strength he had in his body. He lunged forward, carrying one of the two crashing individuals over his shoulder, before rotating slightly and throwing him toward Moon, who suddenly found himself cornered without a gap to slip through.

Moon racked his brain for a way out, and he found one... it was a gamble... the first gamble since this skirmish started.

He found that left and right were blocked, down was a dead end, the body would fall on him directly, so the only way was...

Smack

A punch landed squarely on his face, rotating him away from his path.

That was against his expectations, blocked for the second time.

Dorbish threw the other one....

Ding!

Fate Alert

30% -> 30%

That one finally landed on its mark.

”That kid is also not bad,” Ed stated flatly. No matter how much he thought some kids were good, they were bound to be on the opposite side of the scale, and sooner or later they might turn into enemies.

Samuel nodded with his same stoic face. ”He got arrogant,” before adding a comment highlighting Moon’s recent actions.

Ed nodded in agreement.

Lexie and Nola were sitting in their seats. Nola held her hands together, worried about Moon. On the other hand, Lexie was gritting her teeth. ”That damn weasel-like dirty thing,” she cursed Dorbish.

She was wholeheartedly rooting for Moon, not to win, but to beat Dorbish hard enough that she would let go of her grudge.

On the ring, Moon took the weight of the falling bystander, forced down into the ground along with him... and he realized at this point that his rhythm was now broken.

But broken rhythm was a problem for a different time. The main issue was Dorbish, who was also closing in on his face, knee first.

Moon supported his body with one hand, leaning to the left, and punched the falling knee with his fist, a hook punch redirecting it away from his face.

But many more started punching, kicking, or just throwing themselves at him to bring him down. They hadn’t forgotten the reward or the condition... whoever hits last.

And now was the time...

Ding!

Fate Alert

30% -> 30%

Moon found himself getting hit from every direction. If not for his resilient body that survived harsher beatings and conditions, he might have collapsed in that moment, but at least he managed to protect his head...

Though the same couldn’t be said about his ribs, which were brutally attacked by Colten and, surprisingly, Roran.

’Rat-like bastard knows how to punch,’ Moon thought amidst the beating, still defending his head with everything.

Fate alert assaulted Moon’s mind with countless notifications without mercy.

And he was dead sure...

It was impossible to restart the dance at this point. Thus, only one last thing was left for him to do...

Moon waited for another punch from Roran to find its way to him. He was rather fast, faster than everyone else, and blocking him was now tricky since Moon was cornered.

The moment the punch landed, Moon gave up blocking and caught the hand before it was pulled back.

”Shit,” Roran said last before Moon yanked his arm forward, causing a creaking sound in his shoulder. Before he could even scream, Moon jumped, landing a downward punch at his face.

That’s when he managed to acquire his temporary shield. Moon locked his left arm on Roran’s neck and started running with him at his side.

But before long, Roran passed out. Uon had no choice but to extract him, leaving Moon defenseless again, but at least during this short time he managed to land a few decent hits, eliminating a good number of contestants.

”Damn monster, do you even feel pain?” Everyone paused once Moon suddenly got light and ran to the center of the arena now that Roran was gone, but the one who spoke was Colten.

”That’s not how you should address your boss,” Moon said, panting word by word. ”This isn’t much anyway,” before he added.

He was injured. His eyebrow was bleeding, his lips and nose as well, even after he tried to protect his head so fiercely. His ribs were a bluish mess... still, he wasn’t mad in the slightest. This felt much better. He felt like he was existing.

Though what made him mad was his long hair. They nearly managed to get a hold of it a few times... He had already gathered it in a small bun, but that wasn’t very reassuring.

He was certain that if even the weakest of them managed to get hold of his hair, it would be game over for him.