"Have you heard? There's a new slayer candidate from FUG currently climbing the tower."
"They say in every test that he takes, he is the only survivor."
"I don't buy such baseless rumors."
"It's not just the rumors. There's plenty of news on the Box. Even Emily is all talktive about him. His name is Jue Viole Grace. Word is, he recently cleared the 20th floor to become an E-ranked regular."
Gossip was plenty common in restaurant's and other such places of social gatherings. Most of the discussions were obnoxious and loud, but they were the ones that discussed the hot topics in the tower.
Such a discussion was taking place right beside Shibisu who was calmly sipping from a mug of coffee.
"That's something, I guess." Shibisu quipped, throwing a glance at Hatz who sat before him. "It's interesting right?"
"The Slayer Candidate has nothing to do with me. Word of him being real is questionable at best." Hatz shook his head, not bothering to take the rumors to heart.
Shibisu chuckled. "Even if he were real, that wouldn't concern you regardless."
Hatz eyed with a piercing glare, one that Shibisu didn't seem to mind.
"Any news of the Devil's right arm?" He asked suddenly.
"You want the rumors? Or the fact?"
"Tell me."
"Well, people on the box say he's been sighted on the 23rd floor, with his previous sighting being on the 24th. Based on that, it's logical to assume he's going down. Maybe to meet someone? There was also supposedly a picture of him taken at the Hand of Arlen on the 28th floor. Which rumor is true still remains to be seen." Shibisu took another sip and looked through the window to the clouds above.
"And the fact?"
"Nobody knows where he is." Shibisu continued. "There's no definite information on him. If there were at least some pictures or something, we could confirm his location but there's not."
Hatz heaved a heavy sigh, reminiscing about past memories.
"Khun is also searching for him. Everyone was pretty pissed when he defeated you." Shibisu spoke with an absent-minded gaze, as if thinking deeply about something.
"That will not happen again." Hatz nodded with a firm smile. "It happens once, I buy it. It happens twice, I doubt it."
"Doubt won't solve your problem here. I discussed a bit with Winston. Your sword. It needs to be replaced."
"What?" Hatz's words took on an icy undertone.
"The shinsu density your sword is made to operate at isn't the same anymore. The further we get up the tower, the worse it will impact your fighting power. The blade will only grow duller from here on out." Shibisu couldn't help but shake his head looking at his friend who was all too steadfast in his belief of honor and weapons.
Hatz stayed quite for a moment before he slowly nodded.
"Speaking of which, how's Winston? We haven't heard from him for a long time." Hatz commented.
"Winston? He's still on the 29th floor. He's planning on moving to the 30th floor soon but he said he will hold off on extensive climbing until the workshop battle."
"That's not too far is it?"
"Nah, just 5 months off."
"Then we'll be able to meet up again I suppose." Hatz broke out with a rare smile. Seeing the small tug at his lips, Shibisu also felt his smile growing.
"Right. I suppose we will."
~~~
~~~
Hand of Arlen was a strange structure that resembled a hand pointing upwards. It lied on the edges of the main resting area of the regulars on the 28th floor.
It was mostly quiet at night here. And not a lot of people visited even in the day. The tower has enough strange sights to see, so nobody would waste their time to see a large stone hand.
However, this time, as the darkness of the sky, illuminated only by the glint of the artificial moon, overtook the environment, a battle was ensuing in beneath the mega structure.
Boom!
Crash!
Explosions and crashes rang out in the air as dust and debris was thrown around as if a child was destroying pieces of Lego bricks.
A young man, not too large in height with blue hair on his small head jumped around with lightning in his hands.
Alongside him was a larger man with a mean look and a fiery red glow of shinsu around his arms.
They were Ran and Novick, members of Khun's team - who were at this time, battling against a particular man with long flowing hair tied into a ponytail. The hair draped over his eyes, covering them and concealing his complete face.
It was none other than Jue Viole Grace, the slayer nominee of FUG. Beside him was a fair skinned bunny girl, behind whomst was a bloodied man laying down on the ground.
"I can't use spear of light, but I can use something similar. I want you to create an opportunity." Ran called out to Novick who only nodded in response.
Without another word, both of them rushed at the opponent, their respective shinsu types blazing at the fist.
In a split second, Novick reached the slayer nominee and punched out with his fist.
"Hayeol Style- Crimson Bell Shock Seal!"
A wave of shinsu exploded out from his body, coalescing into a dome that pushed everything around him. The shinsu moved with a strange fluidity that made no more pleasantries than to rush straight at the opponent and throwing him into the air!
Shaaa!
Viole who had his arms crossed to defend couldn't help but widen his eyes. At that moment, he felt his hair stand on edge as a blazing blue fell onto his head from above.
"Mascheny style-" a chilling voice whispered. "Lanza de Relampago!"
A giant lightning spear flashed, and not even an instant later, the shinsu in the air surged into an effervescence, boiling and writhing by the temperature achieved in less than a millisecond!
Lighthouses, 3 in number that revolved around Viole from the beginning came to the front at his command the moment he sensed himself getting flung into the air. And as the whisper landed on his ears, they adopted a triangular formation!!
The lightning spear that dashed at half the speed of light slowed to a crawl upon passing through the thin veil of shinsu and disappeared!
Reverse Flow Control, enhanced through lighthouses!
Ran's eyes widened mid air as he saw the spectacle.
Whoooooooo~
5 baangs appeared instantly and as Viole landed, each of them was fired!
Boom!
Shaaaa!
Crash!
As the dust cleared, Ran and Novick lay atop the rubble - defeated.
Viole stood up, a slight limp is his steps - whether due to injury or rage couldn't be told.
"Why did you kill him?" He asked, nay, whispered. His bone chilling voice reached their ears and a chill travelled up both of their spines and as if their blood had been frozen solid they felt a strange stiffness in their body.
"He had a place to return to. People that waited for him..." Viole continued in the same tone. Novick and Ran got over their initial surprise and stared at the stone ceiling expressionlessly.
"Why?! Why did you kill him?! Now he can't return!" Viole yelled into the air, partly to convey his rage, partly to rationalize his blooming desire to kill the two people before him.
Such primal force of emotions surged inside him that he did not care anymore.
Novick took a moment to speak, "I'm sorry to say, but even though we fought him, we didn't kill him." He said.
Viole stopped in his tracks.
"It was him. The one under that rubble. Dig him up and ask him about it." Novick pointed to the rubble at the opposite side of the structure.
"That's the others Devil's Right Arm."
Viole's eyes grazed the rubble before he was interrupted by the bunny girl that was with him.
"Wait! They're clearly lying. I saw them kill him! They're doing this to buy more time!" The bunny girl, named XiaXia said with a small tug at her lips.
"So... before they have the chance to attack, you should kil-"
Just then, before she could finish her sentence, a booming voice sounded in the structure. A voice all too familiar.
"Ran! Novick!"
There was a noise of skidding of shoes and a blue haired young man immediately slid into view.
Khun huffed and ran inside.
"What is going on here?!" He yelled.
But before he could go further, XiaXia pulled out a button and yelled into the air for everyone to stop.
After that, she continued in length, proclaiming the young man with the ling hair as the newest slayer nominee and the next slayer to be; their "God."
Jue Viole Grace, the Slayer Nominee listened without so much as a word. After which, she continued to explain their 'evil' plan to ruse to fame by killing none other than Khun Ageuro Agnis.
Khun looked at this is shock.
It was a set up from the start?! Apple... no, not only her. Michael ans Gyetang might as well be involved! They wereall working WITH FUG!
Although his thoughts were in turmoil, none of it showed on his face.
"So what now? Mr. Slayer Nominee?" Khun smiled at the young man.
The Slayer in question stopped to contemplate his words. But then, strangely enough, he turned on a voice changer from the lighthouse and explained in length why he wouldn't kill Khun.
FUG people really like to monologue huh? With that passing thought, Khun continued to do the unexpected and call him out on his bullshit.
And that was the opportunity!
Ran flicked his finger, zapping the button right out of XiaXia's hand, just in time for Novick to grab it!
But right as he did so, Viole turned up and froze him right in place.
Cassano Beniamino got up from the rubble and picked up Horyang, joining in with the FUG group.
And then, XiaXia went ahead and blew up the entire structure.
Booooom!
But as the structure went down, there was a sudden shout.
A shout that was all too familiar to the outcast of the Khun family.
"Mr. Khun!"
~~~
~~~
"Hehehehahahahahahahahaha!" A low chuckle slowly transformed into a boisterous laughter.
A dimly lit room was covered in blood as a man laid still with various holes in his feet, legs and arms. The crimson of life pooled at the floor and slithered down the walls as the still warm body of the near dead man rapidly lost heat, soon to be gone into the oblivion of death.
His companion, the talking chicken had already lost his life by the hands of the betrayers.
And the one at the center of it all, a yellow haired young woman with freckles on her face laughted at them.
Two other people stood around the room, namely Apple and Michael.
"You... hehe... You know nothing." Her maniacal laughter came to an end as he began to huff, drawing large breaths of air and calming her drumming heartbeat.
"I... I haven't done anything wrong." Her eyes held a strange expression as they trembled within their sockets in a deranged frenzy.
She turned to Apple, the blonde haired woman and said, "Give me your phone."
Apple didn't ask why. She only handed it over.
Rachel opened the mobile without haste and reached a particular app, namely 'Emily.'
Opening a new chat, she typed.
Emily: Hello, I'm Emily! I love to talk about all kinds of things!
Rachel: Winston Heath.
Emily: I know about him! He's widely known as the strongest E ranked regular and is waiting for the workshop battle on the 29th floor!
Rachel: Do you want to know a secret about him?
Emily: Sure! I promise I don't snitch!
Rachel: He's an irregular.
There was silence in the room for some time.
"So you're committed now?" Apple smiled at the side.
Rachel returned her words with a glare.
"There's no going back from here. Khun had to die. And Winston... that man will no doubt become a hindrance to my goal."
Michel, with his ever present smile chuckled.
"Why does it matter? He'll never even know where we are."
The other two nodded in agreement and they headed outside, to leave for someplace else.
~~~
A/N: Damn. I'm saying this now, future updates will be slower. As you might know, I gave the NEET exam, but that turned out to be a disaster this year. So, I have only 6 months remaining for the re exam now.
So yeah, do not expect there to be a chapter everyday. There might be a chapter every three days or so.
Also, I feel like my writing just takes a dip when I write too much of one thing. So, I'll try and work that out too.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Leave a review if you liked the fanfic till now. As always, throw some stones.
Cheers~~