Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

In the audience, Basil and Barrett had the same reaction. Mouths wide open, faces full of disbelief.

”I... I know boss was strong, but what... is this?” Basil exclaimed.

Barrett wiped a few drops of cold sweat beading on his forehead. ”I... I expected that plume to snap.”

”That’s not important now! Two of these guys are apparently dead, one unconscious outside the ring, and that Zera dude is one-eyed now,” Basil concluded hastily. ”It’s only been a few minutes since the battle started.”

Dorbish cut them off. ”It’s important; he perfectly transferred the force to the plume to get it off that guy’s head, but it won’t last for long.”

Barrett didn’t understand it. ”Does the way of yanking differ?”

Dorbish nodded. ”He aimed for an angle the first time; the second time it was more aligned, which in both cases didn’t damage the base of the helmet where it was secured.” He then pointed at the one with the caved-in helmet. ”But the force of the collision with that one might break it.”

”Does boss know this?” Basil asked.

”Either he’s that talented, or it was by coincidence, I can’t tell... But looking at his face, he’s more relaxed than just a few minutes ago,” Dorbish answered sternly, blinking his droopy eyes twice.

Further away, higher in the seats, Lexie and Nola were utterly speechless by how things had turned. But still, they couldn’t cheer or shout.

The scene was too gruesome for them, or so it seemed on their faces.

Talia, on the other hand, nodded. ”That’s one way to do it, though risky.”

Boa agreed. ”I expected him to take some time or at least get hit a couple of times to figure a way out. Still... I didn’t expect this.”

The corners of Talia’s mouth curved up slightly. ”So you’re acknowledging his worth?”

”We wait till the end to assess him properly?”

Talia closed her amber eyes and shook her head. ”By the time this is over, assessing him won’t be necessary.”

On the ring, Moon stood with a helmet hanging from a plume in his hands, surrounded by everyone else among the forty fighting him.

”Oh, sup?” he said. ”You guys giving up already after two deaths?”

They started exchanging glances with one another.

Looking at the scene, ”I mean, didn’t I warn you already?” he taunted.

”Wouldn’t it have been better if you fought without helmets and welcomed my fists instead?” he added, swinging the helmet around him.

He shook his head, looking disappointed. ”Too bad, too bad... ”

Zera kept looking, standing among them unmoving. His lone eye stared at Moon, holding complicated emotions within.

He closed his eye, thinking about his master’s excitement when he spoke of Moon.

A few days ago, they sent reports of all noteworthy individuals in the branch. He wrote the report himself for his master to check.

But when his master reached out to him again, he looked too excited.

His master was a very amiable person no matter how you look at him, but it was far from his true nature. To Zera, who grew up around his young master, finding him smiling in true excitement—not just a facade—over the thought of watching this ascender fight, or even having him on their side in the future, was startling.

”Zera, I’ve watched his fights twice without skipping a second. It was... breathtaking to watch, but something is missing... You can tell he was never threatened during both fights; everyone else was having a hard time fighting without Echo. I want him to feel threatened... If he dies he dies, if not... then that would be the best-case scenario.”

Zera recalled these words, his teeth gritted within his helmet.

He opened his eye, looking at Moon again. He felt jealous; his master had another follower in his mind, someone other than him or those who spent long years serving him.

But he also knew Moon was a special existence. Even compared to the Ashspawns his master mentioned, he was by far more special.

He didn’t expect the teacher to allow them to use Echo, but they also made sure no help was there to save their lives in case of severe injury.

As a result, two died, and the third’s condition was unknown.

He had also lost an eye.

”Oh well, if you have given up, would you please fuck off?” Moon said.

Zera finally spoke, ”Young master—”

”Fuck your young master, quit bitching already,” Moon lashed out. ”Your wussy young master sent you along with these clowns to die.”

Moon shrugged his shoulders. ”Any leader who sends his men to die is a bitch!”

Zera exhaled; he was tired... too tired to get angry. He was also unable to find the words to retort to Moon’s words.

”Do you know who’s my young master?” Zera asked, trying to force some reason, or maybe fear, into Moon’s heart.

”Didn’t I already say he was a bitch?” Moon stated the obvious, letting the helmet dangle back into his hand.

Zera looked up at where Samuel and Ed were seated. Their gazes were not on him; he wasn’t someone they would bother looking at.

He shut his eye tightly, causing the fresh wound in his empty socket to bleed.

”Master was right, you are not like anyone we’ve ever seen,” Zera admitted. ”Even other Ashspawns are by far easier to tame.”

Moon squinted at the mention of Ashspawns. ”So, Ashspawns are present here?” Moon had yet to comprehend the fact that the young master they were speaking of wasn’t even in the Southern Branch.

Zera found himself laughing. ”Oh my, you folk of the first floor are something else.”

Moon’s eyebrows climbed halfway up his forehead; he wasn’t sure what he was laughing at.

Amidst Zera’s laughs—

Rumble~

Someone sent an attack at Moon, a ranged one, a crushing, huge, faintly lit fist.

”EVADE!” Zera shouted at the top of his lungs, ordering everyone to get out of the attack range.

Moon himself sensed the Echo activating and spotted the attacker instantly. It was the same one who punched his ally.

It was the red-mane; Moon realized that this one was somewhat bigger than the others, even inside his armor.

’The loud bastard from last round?’ He suspected it was Dara.

Still, as soon as the attack was activated, Moon sprinted out of range. He started nimbly getting closer to red-mane, running in zigzags.

A couple of times he had to step behind one of them to shield himself from an attack.

Before long, Moon, with his helmet swinging, was already a couple of meters away from red-mane.

”DIE ALREADY, YOU FREAK!” he shouted at Moon, who was approaching steadily.

Everyone recognized his voice; it was indeed Dara, as Moon had guessed.

Zera shouted, ”REGROUP ON ME!” He called to everyone who was scattering away from Dara’s attack range.

Zera watched instead of helping; Dara had already taken down three of their own men. He wasn’t going to help him.

Dara was confident, unlike them. His main weapons were gauntlets; inside the armor, he wasn’t suffering any disadvantages.

Zera, on the other hand, and everyone else were different. They didn’t want to challenge Samuel further; thus, they fought as they were.

Thus Zera watched as Moon strode, unhinged, toward Dara.

Moon swung the helmet at Dara’s face, yet—

”Watch out!”