The entire platform was destroyed, and large waves of water started to splash all over the place.
Sho was standing on the crashing water, thinking, 'I can stand on this water, I'm not sinking. Also..I have 30 seconds to use this Breathless skill. I have to defeat Kamui fast, I don't know if Breathless has a cooldown after it runs out, but I don't wanna find out right now.'
More water was rising around Sho as he stood on the water, and Kamui was floating in the middle of a tall wave of water, with stones circling him, and portals being created all over the place with glowing blue swords coming out of them.
Kamui waved his sword around, and the waves of water around him turned into giant lions with horns made out of pure water with glowing blue eyes.
Kamui pointed the sword at Sho, and water lions charged ahead.
Sho leaped off the water, pointing his glaive blade ahead, and he started to twist as red and black flames spiraled all over the place.
Sho destroyed the water lions in an instant, and the glowing blue swords that were shooting out of the portals to get to him were shattered as well but Sho's glaive.
Sho looked straight at Kamui, and their swords collided in the air, and as soon as that happened, a loud thud shot out, and water and fire blasted all over the place. Kamui noticed that parts of his own body were on fire with red and black flames, making Kamui grit his teeth.
Kamui headbutted Sho, and Sho flew back and hit the water, as more water lions emerged with glowing blue eyes.
They pressed towards Sho, and Sho jumped above them, and he landed on one of their heads. He looked up, and Kamui came charging in with his sword.
Sho blocked Kamui's sword attacks, and they both went flying backwards.
Sho and Kamui were sliding on the water together at breakneck speeds only due to Kamui's momentum and the force from their weapons connecting.
As Sho and Kamui slid together, they both were attacking each other with their blades.
Sho dodged three sword attacks by leaning left and right and leaning back, then he went ahead and tried to jab Kamui in the chest.
*20 seconds remaining*
Kamui jumped and sliced at Sho's chest, and Sho blocked it with his blade by twisting backwards, then Sho spun back around and punched Kamui in the face hard again. Flames covered Kamui's face, and Kamui went flying.
Kamui slid on the water, but in the process, more giant water lions emerged from the water, running towards Sho.
Sho was running on the water, thinking, 'The last time I hit Kamui in the face, fire had connected to him, but the effects of my skill didn't last long, since his water put it out, but it took a few seconds for the fire to actually come off. Well, fuck it. It's only natural for water to put out fire, and in this case, this water we're fighting on is a special case like everything else in this damn tower. When using my Breathless ability, the more I hold my breath, it forces me to fight harder, despite having low energy. It makes me try to surpass my own limits, causing me to go all out. I feel a little bit of the heat from my ability, that's probably why. It's like my body is trying its hardest to survive. So when I stop using Breathless, when it runs out, will I just collapse? Who knows, I might just collapse while using Breathless skill, my energy is hanging on by a limb. Fuck. I should've bought those adrenaline things at the merchant shop while I was getting the herbal pills. How much were those adrenaline thingy's again?'
Sho looked up, and saw a water lion trying to eat him.
Sho jumped up, and went inside the water lion's body. Sho started to dash and twist all through the water lion's body. Red and black swirling flames shot out of the water lion, and eventually, Sho jumped out the back of the water lion, destroying it completely.
The other water lion chomped at Sho, but Sho punched the water lion hard, making it crash super fast downard, splashing water and flames everywhere.
Kamui was striding to Sho, leaping in the air as he had no more fire on his face, which left serious burn marks and bruises on him.
Kamui cut Sho across the back, but the fire kept most of the damage away.
Sho turned around, and Kamui gasped.
Sho swung his glaive at Kamui, but Kamui dodged it, and kicked Sho in the top of his head, making him crash downward.
Sho hit the water, standing up again, but a Kamui came in out of nowhere, and kicked Sho in the face twice, spun around and then punched Sho in the face again, sending Sho flying.
Sho had blood splatter out of his ears and nose, and he slid on the water again. Sho got back up, looking at Kamui.
*10 seconds remaining.*
Kamui had four giant portals forming behind him, and four giant water lions with horns and glowing blue eyes emerged behind him.
Kamui yelled, "Go!"
Kamui pointed at Sho, and glowing blue swords started to shoot from the portal.
Sho stood there watching them, and he lifted up his glaive.
Dozens upon dozens of swords trampled on Sho, creating a mountain of swords on him. More glowing swords joined in, joining the mountain of swords on Sho.
At that moment, it was quiet, and blood was leaking from under the mountain of swords.
Kamui was walking towards the mountain of glowing blue swords, saying, "I am glad to have finally found someone worthy. Worthy of having what it takes to humble themselves, in which it saved your life back then, but not now, because I did promise to kill you. Noticing your flaws and admitting you need help, is truly a blessed feat. Farewell."
Suddenly, red and black flames began to flow out of the entire mountain of blue swords, and the area was shaking.
Kamui gasped silently, saying, "What is this?"
The shaking continued, and more red and black flames came out of the mountain of swords.
Suddenly, the entire mountain of glowing blue swords exploded in a blue light with red and black flames spiraling around, and Sho was standing there covered in blood with swords sticking into his body and flame armor, and his fists were clenched and teeth gritting.
Sho got a notification on his watch system, and it said, "You have earned the title : Tower Man."
Kamui panicked, and Sho punched one time through more swords, shattering them all, and Kamui tried to attack, trying to stab Sho, but Sho punched Kamui's sword as hard as he could, and it shattered, leaving Kamui speechless.
Sho then punched his fist through Kamui's chest, going all the way through.
*0 seconds remain.*
Sho's breathless ability had went away, and the flames disappeared off of him, and his eyes went back to normal.
Sho still had his fist inside of Kamui's chest, and flames were burning Kamui, and Kamui just stood there.
Sho was breathing super heavily, wheezing and coughing and even almost dropping on one knee.
Sho thought, 'My prediction was right..I knew I'd collapse once the ability was gone. And what the hell is Tower Man? I got a title saying that's..my title?'
Sho looked up at Kamui, watching him burn.
Kamui said, "You have bested me. Only if there were others like you..who can channel their determination to survive and make it sync up with their humbleness…"
Kamui was defeated, and he was dead.
Sho pulled his fist out of Kamui, letting Kamui fall down near him.
Sho stood there, and he looked up into the sky, panting.
Blood and sweat dripped down his face and neck, and his knees shook a little.
'Humbleness, huh? Even though I confessed to this random bastard that I needed to be saved….do I still think I need to be saved? And honestly..honestly..I've never opened up to anyone about anything. Until now. Fuck him for making me do that. Now he has me thinking. What was with him though? Having an entire philosophy on humbleness? Weird as hell..'
Minutes later, Sho was back on land, sitting on the ground.
"Tower Man. That's my title. Titles are meant to characterize Fighters, it'll show up to someone else's eye if they wanted to check my stats. It says I surpassed my limits, giving me the title: Tower Man. Man, I felt like I was gonna die. How dare they. Now then, I got 5,000 points for beating Kamui, which leaves me with 7,000 Fighter points, Since I saved 2,000 of them since the last raid on that village. I should spend more points on my weapon power, I want to be able to use my 'Breathless' ability longer, and I still don't even know if it has a cooldown or not. Why the hell didn't they just tell me to begin with? Anyway..I'll spend a little bit on my weapon, and then buy those adrenaline things from the merchant store."
Sho went to upgrade the stats on his weapon, and he spent 3,000 points on his weapon power stat.
Attack: 9,000/100,000
Defense: 4,000/100,000
Power: 7,650/100,000
Power Level : 3,100 (Class C)
*You have spent 3,000 Fighter points on weapon power. Breathless ability extended to 50 seconds long, with 10 minute cooldown.*
Sho stood up, stretching, saying, "Yes! Fuck yeah! That's what I'm talking about. 50 seconds and a 10 minute cooldown is all I need."
Sho reached in his pocket, and he pulled out his phone, but in the reflection of his phone, he saw himself.
Sho started to inspect his appearance, and he said, "Mm. Mm."
'I saw a haircut place near the merchant shop in city Z. I haven't really cut my hair since I started school on earth, but I would just trim my hair myself. I noticed that my hair will probably get in the way of me fighting, even though it's not long, it could be annoying. Let's go.'
[City 7]
Sho was walking on the sidewalk in the city 7, watching cars and horses filled with Fighters and Passive Fighters pass by him. Sho had his hands in his pockets, and Fighters noticed him, saying:
"Sho is back here again."
"I heard he was looking for two people.."
"Yeah, he was a victim in the mysterious disappearance cases."
"Did you look at the feed? He defeated a class C raid target, a target which claimed the lives of a shit ton of Fighters."
"Yeah I saw. Something's up with him. Just a few days ago, he was a class Z nobody, now he's a class C Fighter.."
"He used to be so weak, people despised him."
"He's still kinda weak, he's a class C Fighter that gets bloody and beaten every fight he's in."
"Where do you think he's going?"
Sho looked at all the buildings and establishments he walked past, looking at the titles.
Sho said, "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Yeah! Yeah, here!"
Sho stopped in front of a building that had scissors on the front of it.
Sho walked straight into the shop, and saw seven Passive Fighters styling and cutting Fighters hair.
And there were Fighters sitting on chairs near the wall, waiting to get their hair cut or styled.
Sho walked in, and he went to see if there was an open seat.
Sho saw one open seat, and before he could walk to it, a Passive Fighter lady near the chair yelled, "Next! Stacen!"
Sho looked to the left, and he saw Stacen, and she accidentally bumped into him, but Stacen was the one who stumbled a little, Sho just stood there.
Stacen looked at Sho, saying, "Sho.."
Sho responded, "Stacen..?"
"Apologizes for bumping into you, thy Sho."
"Where've you been?"
"Hoh? Nowhere in particular. Well..thy Raiden has been captured by an unseen force. I, Stacen, have been searching the perimeters for her. Everyone has been affected by this plague, a plague I shall thwart the second I find thy friend."
"I heard about your situation."
"I heard about yours also, rumors spread, very very quickly. I hope you find them."
"Tch. I heard you and Kaiju were being scouted by the Division."
"I have been approached by thy man called Carter, leader of thy Division. I ran into him after I had completed a raid of my own accord. He spotted me while I was scouting for magic rubies, for perks. We had a conversation, he had an offer, but I refused."
"Why did you refuse?"
"I do things my way, I shall not take orders from anyone. Sometimes, people do not agree with my paths, and I do not care. I will find Raiden my own way."
"Sure. Right..you've seen Kaiju?"
"Thy man called Carter informed me that Kaiju had accepted the offer. Thy other Division leader, Macch, ran into him in a Fighter tournament."
"Oh. We could maybe help each other."
"Hm?"
"That bastard Kell..he had come up to me asking if I spotted his sister May, I had to call him. I accepted it, mostly because Bebop and Gideon's situation is most likely related to all the other disappearances, and I'd feel fucking bad if Bebop was to die after what she went through with her mother. Now I'm asking you..if you see Bebop or Gideon or May, tell me."
Stacen stared at Sho, "And if you see thy friend Raiden, contact me via calling on the cell phone."
Stacen pulled out her phone, and handed it to Sho, saying, "Take my number down."
Sho grabbed her phone, and started putting his number in.
Stacen asked, "Does this make us friends?"
Sho answered, "Not in a million years. This is strictly business."
Stacen chuckled, "I respect thy wishes. But I am surprised you are working with acquaintances to help your subordinates who have vanished in plain sight."
"I-I'm not helping them!"
"I know when one is in denial."
"I'm not in denial!"
"Haha, good luck."
Sho gave Stacen her phone back, and Stacen walked to a chair to get her king braided hair trimmed at the bottom.
Minutes later, Sho was sitting in a chair, with a Passive female Fighter standing behind him, and they were standing in front of a mirror.
The woman asked Sho, "So what are we doing today, Tower Man?"
Sho replied, "The hell did you just call me? Who is Tower Man..? Oh..that's me. My bad. I want an undercut, with my hair wavy and spiky at the top. Yeah, do that now."
"Right away! Oh! And by the way, I love what you're doing and your progress, keep it up!"
"…."
An undercut haircut is a haircut in which the two sides of the hair are shaved, but leaving the majority of hair at the top, by styled out.
The Passive Fighter started working on Sho's hair, rubbing her hands through his hair, and cutting it.
She said, "I love your hair!"
Sho replied with a flustered face, "Tch. It's nothing. Fool.."
Sho was getting his hair worked on for a good hour, and Fighters watched him.
…
At the end of the session, Sho's hair was dried, and he stood up, looking into the mirror.
The Passive Fighter asked, "So?! What do you think?!"
Sho inspected his new appearance in the mirror, actually liking it. He had an undercut hairstyle, with his hair wavy/spiky at the top, with the sides shaved low, but left slightly dark.
Sho touched his own head, saying, "I fucking like it."
Sho looked at the Passive Fighter, "I like it. How do I pay?"
"Oh, haircuts are free!"
"Then..wouldn't you guys not get paid?"
"It doesn't matter, we Passive Fighters still get paid due to the hours we put in!"
"Good, cause I wasn't gonna spend shit anyway."
"Haha!"
"Keep doing what you do, you're good at it. And I don't just compliment anybody."
The girl blushed, replying, "T-Thank you!"
She then thought, 'He's definitely my type.'
Sho started walking away with his hands in his pockets, and all the Fighters and Passive Fighters looking at him.
They said:
"He looks amazing!"
"He's so damn cute!"
"He's probably just doing that to impress a girl or something. I heard him and May have something going on."
"He looks better than he did before."
"I need his number."
"He's not even all that."
"Stop being jealous."
"YOU CHEATED ON ME ONE TIME I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!"
"I TOLD YOU I WAS BEING MIND CONTROLLED!"
Sho walked out of the shop, and started walking down the sidewalk, thinking, 'I feel like a new damn person. It's been a while since I actually felt real confidence. People are staring at me..hard.'
Sho looked at a group of four people, asking, "The hell are you all looking at?"
They replied:
"Nice haircut!"
"Yeah! We love it! Looks dope as hell!"
Sho gasped in silence, turning around, "Fools, don't compliment me."
Sho kept walking down the sidewalk, while people looked at him and talked about him, and Sho was thinking, 'I defeated Kamui today, I became somewhat humble, I unlocked an extended time on my Breathless ability, and I got a haircut. Eventful indeed. What to do now? Maybe just sight see a little more, see what else this damn tower has to offer. Fuck. People keep staring..people keep staring..people keep staring..people keep staring..the hell are they looking at?'
[City 4]
Riding in a jeep in a large junkyard were Kaiju, Kell, Emma, Grey, and Court.
Kaiju exclaimed, "Yes! Haha! We are heading into battle! I hope! I jumped on the bandwagon at the last minute just for that reason only!"
Court asked, "You're a battle hungry stooge aren't ya'? Elf boy?"
"You're damn right! Haha! I was undefeated in my home world."
"What about here? Are you undefeated here?"
"Yes!"
"Hoh? Wanna test that? I like a challenge, to be honest, elf brat."
"Bring it! Let's see if you're fun!"
Emma clapped slightly with an angry face, "Awesome! A fight!"
Grey added with the same emotionless face and tone, "Fights are a great way to settle disputes."
Kell was looking out the window, not saying anything. He kept thinking about May.
Kell then asked, "So why are we the only ones who had to talk to Diablo and Kit? Why send all of us too?"
Court answered while lighting a cigarette, "Obviously for insurance. Who knows? They might put up a fight. And we'll be ready, they can't take all of us down. And we all know that Carter didn't assign Rudy and Darthen to track them but they and Diablo and Kit had bad blood and still do, over magic rubies. Crazy..they said Diablo and Kit were spotted running through the streets with a straight face, not saying anything, and their eyes were pitch black."
Kaiju asked, "Maybe they're possessed! Oh this might be a fun duel."
Emma implied, "Running with pitch black eyes? Super scary."
Grey agreed, "Indeed."
Kell says, "Tracked Diablo and Kit all the way to this junkyard. Seems sus as hell."
"Indeed."
"Stop saying indeed, fool."
"Indee…just kidding."
"Bastard…"
Court stopped the jeep, and parked right in front of the warehouse at the junkyard.
They all got out of the jeep, and started walking to the warehouse, and Grey commented, "This seems like a trap. Set up like some movies."
Emma replied, "I like a good thriller movie."
"I like horror movies."
Kaiju stepped in, "Action movies are the best! Watching them have fun in their fights while I am constantly bored of mine!"
Kell and Court walked together, and Court said to Kell, "Oi."
"Hm? What do you want?"
"I tell my siblings this all the damn time, but get rid of the long face when taking care of business. It could get in the way of your performance."
"I don't need advice. I know how to handle things."
"I thought the same thing when I was your age. You don't want to fuck up a job over your attacking thoughts. We'll find your little sister."
"...…"
They all approached the warehouse, and they opened the doors without hesitating.
As soon as they walked in, they were met with a horrific stench, making them stagger back, but Kell, Kaiju, and Carter stood there.
Emma coughed, "Ew! This stench is making me mad!"
Grey responded, "Disgusting."
Kaiju walked further into the warehouse, spotting something.
Kaiju said, "Oi."
Kell and Carter followed Kaiju, and they walked to a pile of bodies drenched in blood.
Kell says, "That's.."
Court finished, "Diablo and Kit. Yeah that's them."
Emma and Grey walked to the bodies, and stared at them.
Grey said, "Diablo."
Emma added, "Kit."
Court kneeled down to the bodies, and he took photos of Diablo and Kit's bodies.
Kell asked, "What do you think you're doing?"
Court answered, "Gonna show this to the Division people, just to show them that we found them like this. Or just in case, if they needed to observe these photos and they might find something; they might be able to catch something we can't catch from this moment."
"Hmph. Alright. What do we do now?"
Court finished taking pictures, and he replied, "Call Carter, and let them know. We'd better leave too. We don't wanna stick around here for too long. Our objective was compromised, we can't do anything with these bodies."
Kell pulled out his phone, and called Carter. Emma and Grey locked arms, looking around, and Kaiju and Carter walked out last.
Kell was on the phone with Carter, and Kell said, "…we walked in and found them dead, stacked in a pile. Court had pictures, pictures your guild can probably do something with."
Carter responded, "Good thing he took photos. We'll definitely need them. Good job to you guys, head back to the main building."
Kell hung up, and Court started driving away with everyone.
…
Back inside of the warehouse, sitting on one of the ledges, was a monkey. A monkey named Rukong. Rukong was at least 6 feet, and he stood like a human. He was wearing samurai-like armor, and he was holding a long staff.
Rukong sighed, "Let me say this again before I was rudely interrupted. It hurts me, Diablo..Kit. To not be able to turn you into my worshippers, due to your strong hearts of determination. I have many worshippers with me now, my goal is still intact, and cannot be stopped. Though you cannot hear me, my voice still speaks to those who are deceased, they will feel my energy. When your passing souls hear my voice, they will become pawns of wisps that will collect more worshippers for me. That is how strong I am. I am not sorry for slaughtering you two, you two will be replaced. My final plan is coming soon…"
Rukong vanished in thin air.
Rukong - Class S Fighter, power level: 1,500,000.