When he was little, he remembered when he received his first cell phone. It was given to him by his father, who handed it to him and said, "Daddy won't be able to play with you today, so play with this." At that time, Uriel had been sad because he wanted to play with his father, but he nodded obediently and entered the digital world for the first time.
Although sad at first, Uriel began to really enjoy playing with his cell phone. The games, videos, and all were great fun and served as a distraction when his father and mother were away from him.
However, there came a day in elementary School when a boy in his class took his cell phone. Uriel, of course, became enraged and kicked the boy in the face. As a result, the boy had his nose broken and Uriel's father was called to the school by the principal.
In the principal's office, Uriel cringed as he faced the cold, frosty stare of the principal and his father.
—Come on, Uriel. Apologize to this poor boy.
—But dad...!
He didn't understand.
Why were they looking at him like that, if it wasn't his fault? It was the other boy who had started it, and he just fought back.
His father just looked at him and finished coldly.
—I'm not asking, I'm telling. While you are under my wing, you must absolutely follow what I say, understand?
—...
—Do you understand?
—Yes, dad. I understand.
—Then apologize to him.
Uriel gritted his teeth and looked at the boy who had a bandage covering his nose.
—David, I'm sorry...
—What? I didn't hear what you said, say it louder.
The crooked smile on the boy's face almost made Uriel snap at him again. However, with his father's cold stare, Uriel could only patiently repeat the same humiliating words.
—David, I'm sorry.
He spat out the words he hated to have to say, hoping that at least back home his mother would be by his side. However, the scenario was completely different from what he had imagined.
—What? Uriel beat up a boy in his class?
—Yes, and even broke his nose.
—Uriel, haven't I already told you not to cause trouble? Next time, I'll ground him.
Facing his mother's scolding even at home, Uriel doubted the world.
Then time passed.
His father and mother began to fall out. The two no longer loved each other, but were afraid of leaving their son with an absent father or mother, the two did not separate. Despite this, the two still disliked each other, and fights always broke out between the two.
Consequently, Uriel grew up amidst this tense atmosphere. He lived a complicated life, always having to witness his parents' fights and following their orders because he lived on their "wings".
"Ugh..."
Uriel woke up slowly, his vision still blurred. It didn't take long for the pain to come like lightning piercing his body.
"Gu-Guwaaaaaaaargh!"
His eyes filled with tears, and his vocal cords nearly broke with his extremely loud and painful scream. Uriel immediately saw the cause of the horrible pain — the side of his stomach had been pierced by a stake probably arising from the debris of the collapsed floor.
Uriel desperately wanted to remove the stake from his stomach, but besides being a bad idea because it would cause a great deal of bloodshed that could kill him, he could not move his body.
Several of his bones were broken, and large chunks of cinder blocks were on top of his body, and he wasn't strong enough to remove them from on top of him.
"Shit! Shit! Urghhhhhhhhhh—!" Uriel cursed nonstop as his body contracted with the immense pain.
'I need to get out of here! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!'
Gritting his teeth to endure the pain, Uriel pushed through the debris with all his strength. The veins in his arm felt like they were going to burst from the amount of force he was doing, and his bones threatened to break at any movement.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
He used all his strength, though-
"Waaa... Haaa... Haaa... Shit..."
-It wasn't enough. To begin with, some of his bones were already broken and his muscles injured from the fall, there was no way he could transfer much strength to his arms in that state.
Unparalleled despair and fear came over Uriel when he realized that he would not be able to push through the debris that was on top of him.
Was he going to die here?
There were still things he hadn't finished seeing, he was only 16 and hadn't even experienced life yet.
Not a girlfriend, not the friends he never had, he — a young man who grew up on the fights and orders of his parents — just wanted to not be under someone for once. He wondered what it would feel like to be really free, without having to follow orders and rules. And his hope was that when he turned 18, he would at least not have to be under his parents' orders.
However, this age would never come for him...
'It must be great. At the very least, I wouldn't want to die underground, if only I died in the air like in a plane explosion...'
At least there would be no pain and he would die not being under something.
'Ah. Tower of God isn't even finished, and that Hunter x Hunter author is still sick...'
He wondered about the ending and the course of Tower of God's story after he died.
'Will Rachel die? How strong will Baam be when he becomes a Ranker? What is the world like outside the tower? Ah, too bad I'll never see that.'
Krrruku-
Hmmm...? Uriel felt brief tremors coming from underground. He thought the ground was going to open up again, but nothing happened and the tremor disappeared. No, something did happen.
"Haha..."
A huge piece of the boulder was falling toward him.
In a way, this boulder reminded him of his father's cold stare at the time when he had to apologize to a boy who had taken his cell phone.
At the same time, he could hear something whispering in his ear.
—What do you wish?
What do I wish? Well, if I could have another chance, I definitely wouldn't have anyone above me. I would make my own rules and live the way I want.'
Uriel answered his own thoughts and looked up silently. The boulder fell on top of his head and he saw darkness-
Flash—!
-no, actually, he saw light. An intense, bright light.
That was the last thing Uriel saw before he closed his eyes.
***
"Huh?"
"..."
"..."
"Ah! Impossible! Impossible!"
In another corner, Asuka was wide-eyed as she looked at the three equally shocked Rankers. The reason was that, after the extremely bright red glow that emerged from the circle-
"How could it be? Jaldabaoth! Jaldabaoth!"
-Nothing happened.
The otherworldly demon that should have been summoned had simply not appeared.
This was simply impossible in Asuka's view after all this spell was passed to her by her own mother — or, could her mother have lied to her?
'No! There's no way! Mother wouldn't lie to me!'
But, she did not know why the demon had not been summoned. And, at that moment, there was an even more urgent situation than that. The three Rankers who realized that nothing had happened, soon smiled broadly.
"Pft... Hahahahaha! Is it serious that I expected something from the daughter of a traitor?"
"Kukuahahaha! Really, it was your fault, Jashuod for putting us on alert."
The two Rankers laughed at Jashuod — the Ranker who discovered that Asuka was casting a spell.
However, unlike the two, Jashuod's expression had not yet relaxed. Although the demon summoning had failed, he still looked warily at Asuka — this was because of the barrier that had protected her until recently. He remembered how the barrier had protected Asuka from his attack.
His companions stopped laughing and looked at him in confusion as he began to walk toward Asuka.
"Hey, Jashuod! Are you going to take her out already?" One of his companions asked.
"..."
Jashuod did not answer and continued walking, looking at Asuka coldly.
'A person who hasn't even become a Regular yet was able to easily protect herself from a Ranker's attack.'
When he was reminded of this, he realized that this girl was no joke and decided to eliminate her before something similar could occur.
"U-Ugh..."
Meanwhile, Asuka who was awakened to her situation paled in fear as he approached. Countless possibilities ran through her head, but nothing served to save her or her parents. That spell had been her last chance — and it hadn't worked.
Mom, Dad...'
She bit her lips hard and closed her eyes in anguish.
In the end, nothing worked out.
She was going to die, and the Rankers were going to kill her parents next. She wasn't going to be able to save them, and she wasn't going to be able to avenge them.
"That's the end of you," Jashuod spat coldly a meter away from her as he raised his sword.
Asuka began to tremble to look at the tip of the sword pointed at her, her eyes were wet with tears. Her pitiful appearance earned Jashuod a look of pity.
"Any last words?"
"..."
Asuka bit her lips and looked into Jashuod's eyes. Looking into those cold eyes, hers stayed the same way.
"I want all of you to die in the worst possible way."
"I understand."
Jashuod nodded and tightened the grip on his sword, and swung it down.
Swoosh—!
Asuka did not close her eyes and looked at the falling ladder. At that very moment, a voice came into her ears like the remnant of hope.
—Do you wish to fulfill your wish?
"W-Who?"
She was not the only one who heard the voice, Jashuod who also heard it took a step back, shocked.
It was not for nothing that he was shocked, after all, he was a Ranker and could not identify where the voice was coming from. This meant that the source of the voice was either good at hiding, or was much stronger than he was.
He didn't need to look for the source of the voice, however. Jashuod froze in place, as did the two Rankers behind him.
"Child, do you wish to fulfill your wish?"
A light that could only be described as divine and impressive appeared in front of Asuka, and a mysterious existence stepped forward with a thin smile on its face. It looked like a rabbit at first glance, had two long ears as white as its skin and carried a black slit that seemed to connect its eyes and mouth. Moreover, its existence alone displayed an impressive elegance.
Carrying a long staff, with a ball filled with something like water at each end of the staff, the mysterious being that appeared out of nowhere approached Asuka.
"W-Why are you here...?"
The three Rankers muttered in shock. After all, no Ranker in this world didn't know this rabbit, and for him to be in this place, there was only one reason...
"Child, what is your answer? Do you have a wish you want to fulfill?" The rabbit asked Asuka who was the most shocked here.
"Y-Yes..."
Still stunned, Asuka stammered in her answer.
With her answer, a wide grin appeared on the rabbit's face, showing a row of sharp, scary teeth. And with that smile, he opened his arms.
"Then climb the tower!"
Climb the tower — as soon as that sentence came out, everyone present took a deep breath. Climbing the tower meant only one thing — becoming a Regular.
Asuka's eyes sparkled at this predictable opportunity, and she didn't hesitate a moment.
"Yes! Of course!"
"Kuku. So, shall we go?"
Tap—!
The rabbit slammed his staff on the ground, and an immense glow covered him and Asuka.
The glow that enveloped their figures slowly disappeared into the Rankers' vision, along with the two of them.
***
'Did I die?'
That thought arose in Uriel's mind when all he saw was total darkness. However, before he could wonder if this was the underworld, a cold sensation enveloped his hands.
"Puaaa—!"
Opening his eyes as if he had awakened from a long nightmare, Uriel realized that his two hands were touching a firm ground.
'I... am I alive?'