"Are you two planning to just stand by and watch, or will you help?"
"Help? You haven't explained anything. Why should we help you?"
"Do you see that spatial vortex? Once it fully opens, everyone inside the Tower will die, including your students. Is that reason enough?"
Upon hearing this, Cart Sandra suddenly laughed.
"Isn't that a good thing? I'm just worried that as long as Owen is alive, Frostbane Academy will never have a chance to rise. Lawrence is talented, but even if he dies, Frostbane Academy has others ready to take his place! But what about Crossbridge Academy? Once Owen is dead, who could possibly succeed him as chief? If we can make sure Owen dies in there, the losses are just an acceptable price."
Hearing this, Catalina's expression darkened even more.
"Leonard, do you think the same way?"
"I... I'm still trying to understand what's going on, Catalina. What exactly is happening?"
"Does it matter? What matters is whether or not you're willing to act. Don't forget, Claire is in there too!"
"I've been prepared to lose Claire since the moment she entered the Tower, so..."
Leonard sighed deeply and said, "If Owen can die in there, that's a trade worth making."
Upon hearing this, Catalina completely lost hope in the two of them.
"You're both willing to abandon your students so easily. Why should I waste my breath on you? Fine, I don't need your help; I can handle this myself."
"That's not so certain, Catalina. It's two against one now. You want to save Owen, but we won't let you."
With that, Cart Sandra stepped in front of Catalina, speaking slowly and deliberately, "You want to close that spatial vortex, but it won't be that easy."
...
The Tower, Fourth Floor.
It was a massive arena, large enough to hold tens of thousands of people.
All the teams that had been randomly teleported within the Tower now stood in this arena.
After the battles on the first floor and the dangers and opportunities on the second and third floors, Owen roughly counted the survivors—there were less than fifty left.
It was no surprise. When the passage to the fifth floor opened, even fewer would remain.
After all, the condition to unlock this floor was to emerge as the final victor, which would then open the way to the fifth floor.
The rules were simple enough—much like the student council tournaments, participants would be randomly paired for one-on-one battles.
Victory would only be acknowledged if one side died or surrendered.
In the original story, this was where John truly began to shine on the Tower's fourth floor.
With the treasures he obtained from the first two floors, even platinum-tier opponents found it difficult to gain the upper hand against him.
However, the final victor was still Owen. Absolute power is not something that can be easily overcome, no matter how hard you try.
But something seemed strange...
Owen frowned as he looked at the glowing orb suspended above the arena.
It had been some time, yet the random selection process hadn't begun.
The orb just hovered in the air without a single sign of movement.
As Owen's thoughts raced, an unexpected event occurred—something that had never appeared in the original story!
From the other side of the arena, a portal of light suddenly opened.
Before anyone could guess what it was, ten people emerged from it, one after another.
Their faces were completely unfamiliar, even to Owen, who had never seen such descriptions in the original text.
Leading the group was a young man with fiery red hair, carrying a massive sword on his shoulder and wearing a bright smile.
He spoke, "So, you're the mages from the Fallen Dimension? You don't look that strong!"
Hearing this, Owen's expression immediately grew serious. He remained silent for a moment before stepping forward to confront the red-haired youth.
"Who are you?"
"Heh, listen up! I'm Kris, the greatest genius in the history of the Ascended Dimension!"
"Get lost!"
The red-haired boy, Kris, had barely finished speaking when a mischievous girl behind him casually waved her hand, sending Kris flying several hundred meters away, where he landed face-first in the dirt.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch... Tina, what are you doing?"
"You talk too much. Hey, you on the other side, what's your name?"
"Owen."
"Owen... never heard of you. But judging by the looks of it, you must be the strongest among them, right? I hope we get to face each other later."
The girl smirked, then turned her attention to the glowing orb, urging, "Come on, glowing orb, start picking people! Hurry up, don't waste time."
"Wait a minute. What's going on here?"
Claire was utterly confused, not understanding what was happening at all.
This group of people had appeared out of nowhere and now wanted to fight Owen. Did they know him?
She sneaked a glance at Owen and saw that he was equally perplexed, which suggested they were not acquainted.
"Hmm, how should I explain this? You can think of it as us being the chosen ten, here to compete with the geniuses of the Fallen Dimension. We're here to spar, and time is limited, so could you please hurry up?"
"What's Fallen Dimension? What is she talking about?"
Tina's words only further confused everyone—except Owen.
The so-called "Fallen Dimension" was what another dimension called their world.
Normally, contact with the Ascended Dimension shouldn't have happened at this point. The plot seemed to be deviating from the original story.
Could it be that his actions had caused a butterfly effect?
But thinking back, Owen didn't recall doing anything that would significantly alter the course of history...
If he couldn't figure it out, then there was no point in dwelling on it.
After all, this was an opportunity to test the strength of the Ascended Dimension's geniuses.
At that moment, the long-silent glowing orb suddenly spoke, its voice resonating in everyone's ears.
"Next, participants will be selected based on rank, with the top ten highest-ranked individuals chosen to defend. The side that remains standing on the platform will be declared the victor. Selection complete. Those chosen, please step forward."
Unlike the others, Owen heard the voice clearly announcing that he had been chosen. Without hesitation, he stepped forward from the crowd.
Alongside him, nine others stepped out as well—Andrew, Farms, Claire, Elaine, and five others whom Owen didn't recognize.
Apart from him and Claire, who were diamond-tier, the rest were all platinum-tier.
On the opposing side, all ten were diamond-tier. The leading girl, Tina, was even a terrifying diamond-tier level 9, on par with the level Owen had revealed so far!
"Both sides, please select your first fighter."
"That's obviously me!"
Kris shouted loudly, leaping onto the platform and swinging his massive sword in Owen's direction. "Come on, who's going to be my opponent? Step up!"
Silence.
Everyone was still trying to make sense of the situation and didn't dare act rashly.
Moreover, the opponent was a diamond-tier warrior.
Losing in front of everyone would be a huge embarrassment!
"Tch, what's the hold-up? Someone get up here already! Are you all cowards? What's your name again? Owen! You get up here!"
"No problem."
Owen, unafraid, was about to jump onto the platform when Andrew stopped him.
"Chief, you can't go up first. This is a defensive battle. If you win, you'll have to face all nine of them in succession, which will greatly drain your stamina and mana.
Everyone, though I haven't fully grasped the situation, there must be a reason for their sudden appearance.
I hope we can set aside our previous conflicts and focus on winning this defense!
There's no doubt that Chief Owen and Chief Claire are our trump cards.
They must be kept for as long as possible.
As for the rest of us, we don't necessarily need to win; our task is to wear down their mana as much as possible."
As Andrew spoke, he clenched the Raen family crest in his hand, his expression serious. "I swear on the Raen family name, I will give it my all, and I hope you all will do the same!"
Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances, nodding in agreement. Claire even patted her chest confidently, promising, "No problem. Let's put our grudges aside for now and teach these outsiders a lesson!"