Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

A few minutes ago, in the Western Branch, Enzo called for Korr. Soon enough, Korr made his way to Enzo’s room.

Knock~

”Come in,” Enzo said in a light, energetic tone.

Korr opened the door and entered; he was welcomed by an even weirder scene this time.

The lights were off; instead, on the wall, the same arena he’d seen before was being projected. He blinked a few times.

”I wanted to get something better, but I guess this will work for now,” Enzo said before adding, ”Come, that old friend of yours is having another round.”

Enzo gestured for Korr to take a seat.

Korr nodded, ”Thank you,” before sitting down.

”This is not recorded; we’re watching a live event,” Enzo explained to the clueless Korr. ”I mean, what we’re seeing is happening at the same time there,” he elaborated further.

Korr’s eyes widened. ”Such a thing is possible?” he inquired.

”Of course. Don’t rush; the world is much bigger than the first floor,” Enzo assured.

Soon they saw the scene where Moon threatened the group of ascenders in armor.

”Korr, you know how much I like you, but seeing this, I have my concerns,” Enzo said, smiling wide.

Korr didn’t say a word; he watched in silence, listening to every word Moon said with a heavy face.

A few heeded the warning and walked away, then the surrounding scene came into play.

Moon dashing at Zera.

Enzo leaned forward in his seat, his eyes wide open.

As Moon approached Zera, Zera guarded with one arm and threw a punch at Moon. A punch that was both strong and fast by all means.

Yet, as expected of him, Moon only leaned to his right, allowing Zera’s right arm to pass by his face.

Moon lowered his stance before hopping...

Stepping on Zera’s hip piece of armor, inserting his right elbow behind the left arm guard of Zera’s.

Zera’s arms both went to get a hold onto Moon in that instant.

Yet, Moon’s right arm, elbow locked with the guard, slid over the visor in a perfectly smooth motion, revealing Zera’s malicious eyes in once perfect circular motion.

Elbow went for the arm guarding his face, bringing it down, hand extended for the visor sliding it open.

Once he succeeded...

Instantly, Moon slid down before Zera’s arms locked onto him, except for his left arm trailing behind.

In a perfectly practiced motion, his fingers ran inside the opening in the helmet.

Only then—

”AUGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Zera’s attempt to catch Moon suddenly halted; his wails echoed across the arena.

Enzo stood up; he started laughing. ”Oh my, I really didn’t see that one coming,” he exclaimed. ”Sorry Zera, I’ll make it up to you,” he added.

He turned around to Korr, who was watching with wide eyes. ”Did you see this?” he asked.

Korr blinked once before nodding. ”Yes.”

”Is that a common skill on the first floor?” Enzo asked.

Korr thought for a slight moment, his eyes not leaving the screen. ”It isn’t uncommon, but his execution—”

”It’s perfect!” Enzo cut him off. ”His fingers went past the visor and extracted the eyeball entirely,” he spoke in evident admiration.

”See here, Korr, this guy is talented on many levels, but you went and had bad blood with him.” Enzo’s voice was laced with disappointment as he sat back down.

Korr tried to explain. ”I—”

”It’s fine, we can discuss this later. For now, let’s focus on this live event.” Enzo didn’t want to hear his explanation right now; there might have been a reason for it, but he wasn’t interested in knowing it right now.

He was more interested in Moon’s next move. He had been standing still for a long moment with almost everyone frozen in the arena, if not for Zera’s wails and cries.

Suddenly, he found Moon looking directly into his eyes, or so it seemed.

Next to him, Korr felt the same and suddenly stood up.

Moon took a throwing stance before—

Smack~

Zera’s eye was thrown at a certain individual working for Enzo, landing perfectly on the glowing transmission crystal on their ring.

Enzo blinked a few times, running his hand through his blue hair.

”HAHAHAHA!” He found himself in a fit of laughter.

”Did I get caught?” he said once his laughter started to die out, before he began to laugh again.

The screen was dark. ”Haaa, blood is all over the transmission stone now...” Enzo sighed.

He looked at Korr. ”Well, you may leave... I’ll send you the recording if there is any, though I’m not sure if the transmission stone is intact or not,” he stated flatly, looking somewhat disappointed too.

Korr nodded and walked away, leaving Enzo by himself staring at the darkened screen.

Back in the Southern Branch, Moon stared at the figure shrouded, leaving none of their features visible.

’That bastard was also there last round,’ Moon remembered, and for some reason, he felt eyes staring at him.

He, obviously, was being stared at by many eyes in the arena. He was a fighter and there were many audience members there to watch.

Yet, this person was watching like something from his memories.

Moon, who lived once as Slave 135, sometimes got the feeling he was being watched, or spied on by others.

It was something he experienced many times: those who watch you from a distance, keep their eyes on what you’re doing, but do not make eye contact with you.

Never look you in the eye.

That person’s spark in their eyes was never seen by Moon; their inaction, lack of reaction, lack of companions, sitting by themselves, not known by others from what he had seen.

Only observing.

This made the person suspicious.

”Are you this useless bastard’s young master?” Moon asked aloud.

His words brought forth discussion among the audience.

Samuel and Ed weren’t impressed.

Ed was even more so. ”Took you long enough, you brat,” he said skeptically. ”About fucking time you realized you were being watched.”

Samuel didn’t say a word in return.

Further away at the girls’ group, Talia nodded. ”He’s an exceptional talent; his assumptions might not be right, but his awareness is exceptionally outstanding,” she praised openly.

Lexie turned her gaze to Talia. ”What are you talking about?”

Talia shook her head. ”You might not have noticed it, but this person has been recording Moon’s fights.”

Lexie scowled. ”So what? Anyone can record it.”

Talia nodded. ”Exactly. Why heavily hide their identity, and why use a live transmission crystal this time even?”

”Live transmission crystal?” Lexie exclaimed. ”Aren’t these crystals expensive? They are used for public events.”

”More or less. It’s not that expensive, but it can let anyone far away watch the events play live without any delay,” Talia elaborated before adding, ”Moon even aimed at the crystal hidden within the hood.” She explained.

”But hey, what did he exactly do to that guy?” Lexie asked, her eyes failed to see the process so smoothly. She wasn’t sure what exactly happened until the eyeball went flying.

The process itself, she couldn’t follow. Thus, she had to ask now.

They were all people who grew in safety under the protection of their clans, training to become strong or master certain skills, not to survive.

Thus, Talia began explaining things for Nola and Lexie to understand, fast enough while the match was in that weird frozen state.

Soon, Nola covered her mouth, but didn’t say a word. She wasn’t a fighter to begin with, which made it even more shocking for her.

Lexie, on the other hand, slid into her seat. ”I’m a potionist, not a fighter.” She had a face that seemed to be lamenting. ”Ugh, Dad, if only I listened to you.”

Boa squinted, ”How did you two even pass the first trial?” She inquired.