Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Reading the lines over and over, Moon felt his brain hurt.

He wanted to ask about it, but he didn’t have any energy. The moment he won and got his loot was a moment he was satisfied with, but he was hit with a grave sense of emptiness that assaulted him without a warning.

This peaceful time he couldn’t enjoy... He thought he only desired to be left in peace, but he realized how wrong he was.

This peace brought with it the very emptiness he was struggling with.

Moon gave up finding out whatever he had awakened, and he also forgot to ask Ed about the Assault Facility items or anything regarding Lucen. He was too tired, his brain having worked overtime for the past couple of days, so he simply ate and slept.

Before long, it was finally time for the first round of the Skirmish Ring. He woke up early in the morning; breakfast was moved an hour later than usual to give contestants time to gather, get beaten properly, and manage to leave on their own. At the moment the sky brightened, the arena was open, whoever came early, whoever came later... such things didn’t matter. It all depended on whoever was left standing, even if they arrived at the last moment.

Though it was early, Moon was too excited to collect more spare weapons; weapons were lifelines to him in every possible way, and having one or two extra was never a bad thing.

In his room, he glanced at the quest timer:

0 days 0 hours 24 minutes 32 seconds

”It’s time,” he smiled widely, the emptiness started receding.

He took off all his clothes except for his pants, rolling them up right below the knee and tightening the strap around his waist. He also gathered his hair together into a bun using his own hair to hold it all together.

Each round was four hours long, but that only made him more excited. It was a new abnormality he had started experiencing lately, but being excited was always better than being unwilling to leave his room or speak with anyone. Or so he thought, disregarding the fact that this very excitement could be destructive.

He justified his excitement to himself with a simple thought: he could never get excited thinking of beating down Uon or Mishu, for example. Even though many grudges had accumulated over the last few days, it was still impossible for him to actually beat them.

He left behind his weapons, helmet, and everything else, even the pendant.

0 days 0 hours 18 minutes 57 seconds

Moon stood in the middle of the arena where he had killed Dave, but the dueling ring had been removed. Now it was an open space with soft sand covering the ground. The entire place was still empty, so Moon sat down at the center of the sand and waited. Time went by, and the darkness was suddenly lifted... it was time.

But even then, no one came.

”What’s going on?” Moon scratched his head. Not a single fresh ascender appeared, not even Uon or Ed. As the seconds ticked by, Moon started to lose patience. ”What’s the meaning of this?” he shouted at the sky, but only the echoes of his own voice lingered.

After some more time passed, he shook his head. ”Did I scare everyone away?” he thought. It was a thought too good to be true. He couldn’t have scared an entire facility away, right? ”RIGHT?!” he screamed at the sky again.

He had no way of tracking how much time had passed. The rich kids had devices on their wrists or fingers to indicate the time, and he had clocks in his room and Hall 1, but here, there was nothing.

”Oh, little Moon... you’re earlier than I thought.” Moon turned his head to the familiar voice.

”What’s going on? Where is everyone?” Moon asked immediately.

”Not sure. I need to do a few things, though,” Uon stated. An arcane circle materialised around his hand, and he waved it; a thin, solid, flat line appeared around the sand, reducing the field significantly but keeping it much larger than the previous duel ring.

”What’s that for?” Moon inquired.

Uon explained, ”Chef Ed was afraid no one would come, so he made boundaries for the ring.” Uon pointed at the line. ”If someone inside is pushed outside, that’s an instant disqualification.”

”Oh... wait... so I can’t leave?” Moon asked, surprised.

Uon nodded. ”Stay here for the rest of the time and you win,” Uon said with a smile.

Moon’s face crumpled at the thought; he felt like a long time had already passed. He scratched his head, hoping he wouldn’t be staying there for very long. ”Big brother Uon, tell me... is it almost time for breakfast?”

Uon looked at him skeptically. ”What are you talking about?”

”What?” Puzzled, Moon whatted him back.

”Only ten minutes have passed. There’s still much more time before this is over,” Uon said with the softest possible smile.

”WHAT?”

”Don’t shout.”

”I... am I getting locked in here for that long?”

”Why locked? Soon others will come,” Uon assured him. ”I also have to stay to extract the wounded and disqualified.” Uon patted Moon on the shoulder. ”Don’t worry too much; I’m staying here too.”

Moon felt slightly better. He held many grudges against Uon, but the man had been taking care of him for a long time. He gave up and sat back down on the sand.

Time passed, eating away at Moon’s patience, until suddenly... a group of people started walking in. Moon recognized them at a glance: it was Colten and his knights. From the other side, the duo he had poached previously walked in as well, Basil and Barrett. All of them arrived without their armor or weapons, wearing simple clothes befitting a brawl.

Moon waited for them to arrive; he hadn’t seen their faces since the day of the duel. Once they were at the boundary line, he asked, ”What did you come here for?”

Colten was conflicted for a moment, so Basil answered first. ”Assistant Uon said fighting Boss would be a great experience for us.”

”Oh... is that so?” Moon raised a brow, looking at Uon sitting in the distance. He thought about it for a moment before his lips parted. ”The betting everyone did during the duel... don’t they want to do another?” he asked everyone standing.

Colten nodded this time. ”They are willing, but everyone is afraid of becoming the sacrificial lamb in the ring.”

Moon scratched his chin. ”How about this?” He raised a finger. ”The one who manages to land the last hit on me, either pushing me out of the ring or knocking me out, takes both Colten’s helmet and sword.” He grinned widely at the group.

Colten’s face twitched; his belongings were being used as betting items to lure in paupers. But Moon ignored him— getting people to the event was the most pressing issue, and he had no intention of bothering with Colten’s feelings.

Barrett answered, ”That could work. Even the rich desire good gear for their underlings.”

Moon waved his arm toward the top of the pit-like arena. ”Alright, your first orders are as follows: start bets with everyone and gather them here.” Moon paused as an overwhelming feeling of liberation began to well in his chest. ”You may also join them in the fight... the more the merrier!”