Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

On the ring, Moon couldn’t believe he was being treated like a trophy, like a winning prize. Not his items, but he himself was nothing more than wounded prey for them to fight over.

He gritted his teeth, not out of pain, but at the circumstances and his own stupidity that allowed that to happen.

He didn’t mind getting swarmed, but being defended by others, and even watching them infight over who would win, this was something he couldn’t accept.

He started hopping on the still functional right foot, approaching them, but he wasn’t rushing. He was slowly creeping forward, one hop at a time.

Before long, they started noticing him. Zera and Dara, who blocked everyone while the rushing crowd behind them were now getting beaten badly.

”You bastard ruined everything.” Anger ignited in Zera’s eyes.

”You wanted to play us, you slick-tongued bastard.” Dara’s anger wasn’t any less than his.

While they were looking at each other, they noticed something, or rather, someone approaching from behind.

Zera froze for a second, and Dara was the same. ”What... is he doing?” Zera asked.

Moon smiled with a waving hand. ”Did I interrupt something?” He kept creeping closer at them, and the fight halted in the process.

Gazes darted back and forth. The scavengers were questioning what they were seeing, or what they were supposed to do at this moment. Should they keep pushing forward, or maybe...

Let him come.

For at this very moment, they couldn’t voice their thoughts, nor did they believe he was as badly hurt as they thought he would be.

Some even started taking a step back slowly... just to be safe.

But Zera couldn’t believe his eyes for a couple reasons.

First, it was a golden opportunity for him to thin out numbers. He had fought for long hours without an end, and this was enough of a chance to turn everything in his favor. Some would even fake their injuries for a possibility of survival.

Second, now that he had come closer, Zera could see his eyes swollen and barely open at all, bleeding eyebrows and forehead. His ribs were purple and blue even on light olive skin, making them look even worse. And that limping foot... he was indeed injured, and badly as well. Even his arms, aside from his bleeding knuckles, were scratched along the length of them.

All in all, Moon only had his nose, mouth, and right leg without any visible injuries, save for his bent-forward back, making his approach even more...

Moon’s current appearance gave them not the slightest feeling of assurance, but uncertainty.

For someone to not have an intact inch on his body without blood or bruises, yet still smile so heinously with eyes that could barely be seen properly, it could only be described modestly as something rather...

Unsettling.

While everyone was trying to figure out what he was up to, Dara stepped forward first. He was much taller than Moon. He leaned forward toward his face and pointed a finger at Moon’s face.

”What do you think you are doing?”

He started laughing to himself, bringing his face even closer to Moon’s, only to hear slight giggles.

Skeptical, he poked Moon’s chest with his finger. ”Have you finally lost your mi- ugggh”

Dara’s head jerked backward. Blood erupted from his mouth and nose along the way.

”Don’t look down on me, bitch,” Moon said before Dara’s body—

~Thud~

Fell heavily on the ground.

”Huh?”

”Dara?”

”What just happened?”

Skeptical, a few who were standing further in the back failed to see, but Zera, who was right next to him, saw it clearly.

Moon, when Dara got his face too close, straightened his back with another hop, smashing the crown of his own head into Dara’s face squarely.

Zera was still trying to process what just happened, unsure if it was a fluke or if Moon truly was still capable of fighting, but what he was sure of was that... Dara was not.

He was getting extracted from the ring, obscuring Zera’s vision that was fixated on Moon for a split second as Dara began to float, but that split second was enough to change everything and delay his judgment.

Moon hopped with all of his strength on that single functional foot of his, and along the way, his dysfunctional foot, while useless for walking, was still functional for kicking. He couldn’t move the foot properly, but his hip and knee were still perfectly fine.

He had spent all that time trying to visualize this method in his mind, imagining himself perfectly executing this nonsense without being hindered, while still capable of perfectly balancing his own body in such an unnatural way.

The invasive feeling came from time to time, correcting or rather denying his approach as useless, and sometimes he felt like what he was imagining was not merely a calculation he was doing, but his own body physically trying the approach within his head.

He couldn’t understand most of it, though he was half sure this was related in one way or another to [Hypothetical Prospective], but it didn’t matter. For now, he was going for some extra violence before the round was over.

His heart was slightly at ease knowing that his Ascension Gift was not useless, but he was also unwilling to try using it again. Not in the ring at least.

In a way, he was preaching the rule of using the body only. It felt like cheating, though he wasn’t exactly sure how not to cheat with it either. He was now essentially trying to calculate every little thing whenever a battle started.

The situation was too problematic to him, but for now he wouldn’t think about it, and maybe ask Ed later. Ed mentioned that gifts are rare, and most times also useless, so he might as well know more about his situation. Cheating to win in combat was leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

On the other hand, Zera, who was still on the opposite side of Moon, the moment his eyes could detect Moon again, found a leg flying at him unnaturally so.

He raised an arm to block.

~Crack~

The forearm cracked under the force.

Moon landed again on his healthy foot, and with the same spinning momentum, he aimed his fist behind the broken arm, throwing a hook.

Zera, who was still disoriented by the sudden snap of his forearm, failed to even realize another attack was coming.

Moon’s fist landed critically on his jaw, snapping it along with his consciousness.

Everyone else watched the scene and started taking a step back, unable to come to terms with what was happening.

”Didn’t he say he was crippled?”

”Zera, that bastard.”

”What are we going to do now?”

”Do what?” Moon said before bouncing their way, throwing punches or kicks with his injured leg.

His approach aligned with that time in the first trial when he used the arm that happened to get cut off as a weapon.

And now, he was doing the same, using the same cruelty to himself as his path to victory.

The numbers were starting to thin, slowly but surely...

The first round was nearing its end.