Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

In the eatery, Samuel left his piece and turned around, leaving. Leaving behind Moon with mouth wide open, full of food but not a single word.

Moon chewed on his food slowly, before swallowing. ”What was that?”

Ed, on the other hand, had a very relaxed smile. ”I guess you hit the jackpot, kid.”

”What you talking about?” Moon asked before adding, ”Didn’t he make the seal before?” He then thought for a moment. ”Wait, will we have to undo the old seal and make a new one tonight?” He thought. ”But what does it have to do with me healing or not?” Something didn’t add up for him.

”Don’t overthink things,” Ed assured. ”We had a discussion and decided to teach you a few things that we do best during your stay here.”

”Few things that I must be injured to learn?” Skeptical, he asked back.

Ed nodded. ”In a way, your days are about to get busy.”

Moon wasn’t sure. He didn’t see either of them fight before, but he felt the strength they radiated from time to time.

”Hey,” Ed called. ”I thought, while we stay here, maybe we could get to know each other better,” he said without a second thought.

Moon wasn’t sure about that. ”Do we?”

Ed nodded. ”I think, willingly or unwillingly, we got to know many things about you... till you have the heart to tell us what you can’t, I will tell you what I can and am willing to.”

Ed spoke with unusual calmness, as if eager to tell something very cool. Moon didn’t say another word and locked his eyes on Ed, waiting for him to start.

Ed didn’t disappoint. ”A long time ago, the three of us... forget about that bastard for now,” he corrected himself. ”The two of us met on the second floor after the trial. It was like we were fated to know one another.”

”I, who was the child of a blacksmith, and Samuel, who was the son of a watchmaker.”

”We were the only ones without any family or backing, and we also refused working for anyone or having someone to call master... so we joined hands...” He rubbed his nose bridge. ”The three of us.”

”I, who was familiar with knives and awakened a strong gift, and the other bastard, who also awakened a powerful offensive gift.”

”Only Samuel was not talented. Not with arcane, not with weapons.”

”Though, that didn’t stop him.” Ed locked his eyes with Moon’s. ”That bastard was the cruelest person to his own body I’ve ever seen,” Ed stated.

”What do you mean cruelest?” Moon wasn’t sure what he meant, nor did he feel that he was hinting at him. He was simply doing what he deemed necessary at the time of crisis... He didn’t have the same point of view the two had on him. ”And how does he have that many arcane circles and seals when he wasn’t even talented?” He added another question.

Ed smiled. ”Do you know what Samuel’s title was back in the day?” he asked Moon.

Moon shook his head, looking in anticipation.

”Heaven Sealing King,” Ed stated with an unwavering smile. ”He studied a lot, and even though he didn’t have the fine control talent for arcane arts, he was a nerd to the core.”

”He placed seals within his body, countless beneath his skin. Do you know what they are for?” Ed asked.

Moon shook his head.

”Samuel gathered the shockwaves and sealed them within his body for two reasons. The first was to strengthen his body. He didn’t have talents or gifts, so he thought he should at least have a strong body, or so he thought...”

”The second reason was to use these active shockwaves for attack and defence...” Ed paused for a moment. ”Maybe we were too talented that we had our path paved ahead of us, but he was different.”

Ed suddenly let out a chuckle. ”Back when we were wanted by the major powers of the Tower, he had the highest bounty on his head, even when the three of us belonged to the same group.”

Moon’s eyes sparkled, but he was having a hard time connecting the cool Samuel, the one Ed was speaking of, with the one he was seeing right now in the facility.

He also didn’t know what a shockwave was, but it sounded like something strong.

Ed, on the other hand, wasn’t done yet. ”I think he had already surpassed us a long time ago, but what the world outside doesn’t know is that... Samuel never stopped, unlike me.” He said with a hint of sadness and somewhat of a burden in his eyes.

”He didn’t?” Moon asked, mind still failing to connect the two pictures.

”The small room, you saw it,” Ed gave a hint.

”Wait a minute, how is that Heaven Sealing?” Moon asked, now skeptical again.

Ed chuckled lightly. ”Oh, I guess not many had seen that, but what he does most is sealing.”

”Sealing what?” Moon didn’t get it.

”Sealing people, Echo, or anything else.” Ed stated flatly. ”He had almost every seal formula built and ready... ahead of time,” Ed explained. ”He actually sealed away some big guy’s Echo like five hundred years ago or so... that guy still can’t get back his Echo, last I heard.”

”Can’t he just break the seal?” Moon was confused.

”It wasn’t sealed inside his body.”

”What do yo-”

”It was sealed away for him to never recover his Echo.” Ed dropped the words nonchalantly.

Moon sat still, unable to come to terms with what he heard. Sealed outside his body... how did he get it out of his body, where did he seal it, did he hide it somewhere, what does that mean?

In the tower, there was an absolute rule that when Echo is used, it always finds its way back to the user, but he was being told that someone could just prevent that.

Moon didn’t eat or move for a few minutes... he wasn’t familiar with the ways of the tower beyond the first floor, but this was too much to take.

”Your food, kid, it’s getting cold,” Ed reminded, snapping Moon out of his confusion. ”Anyway, no one knows for sure how strong Samuel has gotten now, not even himself... he has restrained himself too much that I’m afraid the tower would turn upside down if he snapped to his old self.”

Moon probably failed to hear the last part. ”Hey, can I really learn that?” Moon asked before stuffing his mouth with another spoonful.

”Well, Uon will teach you basic arcane.” Ed paused. ”Right, I’ll also teach you.”

Slam~

”Teaching me what?” Moon slammed the table.

Ed, with disinterested face, answered, ”What else? Cutting, of course.”

”SO COOOOL!” Moon looked very excited. Ed’s abilities were straightforward, just simply cutting, unlike Samuel’s that were too discreet for his mind to understand.

”Kid, we don’t have much time to teach you... It’s up to you, how much you can learn is up to you, and as long as you can learn, we won’t hold back anything.” Ed said with a heavier than usual face.

”Ah, right, forgot to mention.” Moon snapped back all of a sudden. ”I awakened my Ascension Gift a few days ago,” he said excitedly.

”You did?” Ed said, looking pleased. ”Was it during your duel?” he asked.

Nodding, Moon answered, ”Yeah, I ignored it back then... I didn’t have time to look at the status window.”

Ed raised his eyebrows. ”So what is it?”