A gigantic behemoth stirred in the air and the clouds twisted around it.
Winston turned off his spirit vision and threw a glance behind him, suddenly feeling hundreds or even thousands of eyes locking onto him. There, in the sky floated the administrator in his personal space. Winston threw the administrator a smile.
Just then, he felt the administrator turn his eyes towards something in the far distance.
So he's noticed already huh... can't Fool a guardian yet I suppose.
"It seems the administrator is also watching." Winston whispered, not to himself but to the observer. He could see the numbers rapidly rising, now, it had reached a staggering number of 70 million concurrent viewers!
Good... Winston turned back to the airships. The presence of the floor guardian meant he would be limited in his ability to use spirit vision. But that would be alright still.
Winston's smile only widened as the airships drew in closer and closer and closer still.
His eyes stayed locked with the two people at the forefront.
A Jahad Princess and a Corps Commander... Looking at the Princess from the Khun family, Winston felt a bit regretful. He had actually thought of pursuing the next princess of Jahad he sees, if the said person caught his interest that is.
The Tower was expansive as is and there was an abundance of pretty girls, but he had to chose someone that could actually keep up with him. His teachings could only propel them so far. The perfect remedy for that was a princess of Jahad. Anaak was out of the equation, since Winston saw her more as a Little Sister. That, and he was somewhat sure of a blooming romance between Amon and her.
As for Endorsi... Well, she was Endorsi. Enough said. She did not catch his interest in such a way.
Winston sighed and popped his neck.
There's really no cure for loneliness...
Holding his cane, he walked to the very precipice of the cliff and spread open his arms.
The observer behind him transmitted the scenery. Him, spreading his arms wide open as if welcoming the airships and relishing in their presence. As if the entire ordeal was nothing more than a pass time for him. That was the impression he gave off.
Winston smiled at Kallavan whose glare turned stronger seeing his confident visage.
Without having to wait too long, the airships finally reached him.
~~~
There was unrest in the lodging as everyone waited with bated breaths.
The two princesses of Jahad, Shibisu, Hatz, Amon, Laure, Verdi the anima and finally, Vespa the Scout; they all sat in the hall silently staring at the Television that was displaying Winston welcoming the airships.
They were plenty spooked when they heard of Winston's true identity as an irregular being revealed. But then, they found out about the live stream... where he would be fighting a High Ranker. No, not a normal ranker. Not an Advanced Ranker, but a High Ranker. The very pinnacle of strength in the Tower.
Endorsi clenched a needle in her hands as she stared at the screen in a fit of rage.
"What the hell is that guy thinking?! Is he mad?! Challenging a High ranker like that!" Her outburst wasn't met with any comment from the others.
They all felt the same way in some way or form. Ranker. A being that had climbed to the top of the tower. Such a being was no longer mere flesh and blood, but something more.
Advanced rankers were overwhelmingly more powerful in that regard. A single advanced ranker could slaughter hundreds of rankers without batting an eye.
A High Ranker? A High Ranker laid at too high of a mountain for mere regulars like them to even look up to it. High Rankers were the true Gods of the tower. A fight between two High Rankers could devastate a large portion of an entire Floor, it was the reason why administrators didn't like High Rankers causing trouble on their floor.
And here, their teammate had went ahead and challenged a High ranker to a battle. And not just any High Ranker, but one that was in the Jahad's Forces.
It was pure madness no matter how one looked at it.
Shibisu held a rare look of seriousness on his face. More than that, he seemed almost dejected. Perhaps he didn't think Winston was going to survive this, or perhaps he thought of something else. But he was on edge like everyone else.
At that moment, the only remaining member of the team, Zarhan Zulasekail walked into the room holding a sandwich in his hand.
"What's happening? Why is the air so tense in here?" He raised an eyebrow as he took a bite out of the sandwich.
"Winston's fighting a high ranker. Didn't you hear?" Hatz was the one that replied.
"Oh right, that." He said nonchalantly and sat down onto a nearby chair.
"What's with that reaction? He's going to die!"
"Aren't you even a little bit worried?!"
Endorsi yelled with Anaak following in her footsteps. Both of them seemed pissed at him for being so unbothered by the entire situation.
"What's there to worry about?" Zarhan inquired taking another bite. "Winston's not the one to take on stupid decisions like this. He's smart enough to not be an idiot. If he has taken the chance, it means he has a plan." His explanation calmed down the two tanks and the room once again descended into a pregnant silence.
Now, hearing Zarhan's words, there was a collective doubt in their minds.
Could Winston actually defeat a High Ranker?
~~~
"That guy's pretty bold! Openly taunting them like that! Hahahaha!"Tommy guffawed as he watched the stream. With a simple click of his pocket, he donated a total 300 million points to the stream!
Seeing the gigantic donation of points, the chat vent ballistic!
[MyNameis-: WHAT THE?!
Who_is_Me_Son: 300 MILLION POINTS?!!
NoSignificanxe: He's rich!! Maybe I too should start such a stream.
Appoflife: That's more than I have ever made in my life. And I'm here sitting on the 86th floor.
Rumino: MARRY ME!!
OneMorePebble: FIGHT!!!!!]
"That should get him motivated to at least put up a show." He said.
Aisand raised an eyebrow at him.
"You don't think he can win?"
"You do?" Tommy returned Aisand's question with his own.
"I don't think anything. There's no information to go off of."
Tommy chuckled and said, "You were plenty sure when Urek Mazino kidnapped you though."
"That was that. Phantaminum is truly the strongest irregular to have entered the Tower. This Winston Heath however is largely an enigma. Before being declared as an irregular and pulling this stunt, he had a reputation to have the strength of a D rank as an E rank regular. Nothing more than that." Aisand explained.
Tommy shook his head.
"I think he might surprise us all..."
"We will see."
~~~
With the eyes of more than 70 million people on him, Winston could not help but show a crooked smile. The elation he felt at such a large scale performance and the feedback that would be gained through it... it was enough to send a shiver down his spine.
But more than that, the thing that chilled his body was the increasingly fearsome gaze of the hulking man that has drawn near to a meager distance of 400 meters. Kallavan.
Meeting his eyes, Winston could not help but have a strange premonition in his heart.
That's... dangerous. He mused with a smile.
I wasn't expecting such a big shot to come here. Kallavan... Can I beat him? Winston thought. The abilities of Sequence 5 were good, but would it be enough to deal with him?
Turning him into a marionette will ultimately fail. With the strength gap between us, the approximate time will probably be a minute. Within that time, if my power is interrupted, the time will reset.
Maschenny Jahad is the same. And there's no guarantee if they will truly fight me one on one. Although there's so many viewers, that's no shield from their fanaticism towards power and authority. Some challenging the might of high rankers... that's bound to get them mad.
"Winston Heath!" Interrupting his inner speech, a booming voice called his name.
Winston spanned back to reality.
There they were, Kallavan and Maschenny flying in the air right before the ship.
Khun Maschenny Jahad, one of the Princesses with the Thriteen month series floated with a large yellow spear in her hand. The spear was largely unimpressive, being a large yellow pole made out of an unknown metal and a pointed tip that seemed to be made out of gold. The craftsmanship of the spear was impeccable; one could tell at a glance.
And above all, Winston sensed a large aggregation of shinsu around it, ducking in everything like a whirlpool.
The Yellow May, one of the 13 Month Series.
She's already pulled that out? Is it just to showcase or does she plan on going all out from the start? Winston narrowed his eyes. Logically, there was no reason for her to bring it out from the start. As such, it was, in all possibility, a showcase of the power of Jahad.
That's right. Just as Winston was using the opportunity to prove a point, so was the Jahad's forces. Using the event as an example; showcasing the power of Jahad so that none will think of challenging their power.
"Winston Heath." Kallavan spoke,drawing Winston's attention. He extended his hand and pointed his finger at him, his eyes riveted to Winston's own.
"You have committed a grave crime by challenging the power of Jahad." His voice boomed into the air, stirring the shinsu along merely by his words.
Winston felt his back soaking wet with sweat. He felt it. Pure strength that emanated from this being in front of him.
He smiled.
"And so, I will accept your challenge, as will Khun Maschenny Jahad. Choose. You would you like to die at the hands of?"
Silence reigned in the atmosphere, for but a moment.
The chat started going too fast for even Winston to read through, let alone anyone else.
And what broke the silence was a low chuckle.
"I wasn't expecting such a large reception. Say, am I to assume only one of you will fight with me?" He asked pressing down on his top hat.
"Of course." Maschenny was the one that replied. Her voice was sweet, but yet it seemed cold and unfeeling as if she was above anything she could observe with her eyes. "We are not so petty as to bully a poor man like yourself. Choose away, whose hands would you want your death to be spelled out from?"
"And what of the fleet behind you?"
"Here to bear witness. How a heretic irregular like you shall be executed for stepping out of line."
Winston's laugh that followed couldn't have rang louder.
Then, he kept a hand to his chest and bowed his body a bit.
"Then, M'lady. Do forgive me, for I have to leave you be for now." Winston commented. His eyes, hidden by the hat were drawn towards Kallavan.
"And I'm going to have to ask the Corps Commander here to a humble battle."
Winston was indeed knowledgeable about being a good streamer, for the live view counter had already exceeded 100 million!
The best way to gain attention was to be bold. Being bold and doing something surpassing the expectation of thr viewer. That was the essence of an engaging stream.
And Winston was going to flip their expectations over their heads!
~~~
A/N: This one took a long time since I read ALL of the Hell Train Arc and am about to get into S3. It's been a long time since I read it and I left off at about ep 60 of s3.
Anyway, I wanted to get Kallavan's character and abilities right for the upcoming fight, but then I realized he's just a simple Jahad Fanatic. There not much to say about his personality, just that he's expectionally strong, has a high sense of duty and holds Jahad above all.
Even I don't know how Winston will pull this off man. Kallavan is hella broken. But hey, there's a clue in this chapter about the true intent behind the match. If anyone can find and comment it, I'll release a bonus chapter.
Throw some stones and cheers~