Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

In front of so many problems, countless questions, Moon felt small, insignificantly so...

Yet of all of these possible questions he could have asked, only that one was spoken.

Moon tightly shut his eyes. ”So, did you bring me here to say that it was hopeless for me to keep living?”

What was the difference?

Was Slave 135 any different from Moon, or did they follow the same set of rules and were both inevitably dragged toward the same fate?

Samuel locked back onto Moon’s eyes. ”No.” He shook his head lightly. ”If your path is blocked, so is mine, and I refuse to believe I’ve wasted all this time over nothing.”

His voice was firmer, defiant, and strong.

He raised his hand upward and clenched it.

THUD~

The seemingly simple hand gesture produced a shockwave; the seals on it shone brighter and rapidly influenced brightness onto the next seal, one by one over Samuel’s body.

The brightness of the seals rose higher before returning to normal again.

”I brought you here to see if you are worthy of what I’ve given, and if you’re not worthy, I’ll either make you worthy.”

Samuel paused before his voice went low. ”If you fail, I’ll just kill you.”

Further away from the arena, at the top of the audience seats, Ed sat alone. He seemed to have some cups full of drinks and some platters of snacks.

He chewed leisurely, taking a sip of his drink to bring it down. ”Guess the kid will get beat pretty badly today.”

He looked to his side; a certain orange cat was sitting there... watching the show with him.

”If I’d known you’d be here too, I would have fried some chicken...”

Mishu ignored him, just like any other cat would.

”You’re around the kid more than usual. The other branches don’t have anyone to beat or tease?” Ed asked.

But, yet again, Mishu just ignored him. He barely moved his ears around.

”Well, suit yourself. He sure is a fun guy to mess with,” he said before grabbing a handful of snacks and stuffing them into his mouth.

He swallowed them. ”Want me to tell you a secret?”

As he said it, transparent Echo covered the spot where he was sitting; it expanded slowly to cover Mishu as well.

”That flamboyant, silver fox... well, golden fox considering his style... anyway... That bastard tried to sneak spyware into Moon’s duel quest rewards,” Ed spoke in a hushed tone.

Mishu turned his head slightly.

”You’re interested now?” Ed smiled.

”Let me tell you more then.” He stuffed his mouth with another handful, took a sip of his drink... not seeming to be in a hurry at all.

”I’m not sure if he was trying to spy on the brat or Samuel, but either way.”

Ed moved his finger in circles. ”It’s impossible to spy on Samuel anyway; that idiot has yet to figure it out though, so...”

Another sip. ”That brings us to the main event. He gave the kid an invitation letter; it was actually spyware,” Ed clarified.

His eyes moved to Mishu, sparkling with interest. ”Do you know what I did?”

Mishu, unlike his expectations, seemed to be gradually losing interest. His eyes fell and slowly found their way back to the arena.

”Oh, well... no need to rush me.” Ed patted his large belly.

”I didn’t tell Samuel. I also broke the arcane circle without damaging the letter... It’s pretty impressive.”

”But I also made a deal with him.”

With these words, Mishu’s gaze returned to Ed again. ”That flamboyant bastard.”

Ed smacked his knee. ”Paaah, did he really think he could negotiate with me?” His tone was proud. ”I could easily rip off his parents in their graves; that golden asshole has gone senile after living for so long.”

Ed picked something that looked like a roll of pastry from one of the platters; he took a bite. ”And of course, he will be getting ripped off as well,” he clarified.

”For the harmonious nature of the Normalization Facility, and the integrity of the staff members, Samuel must not know lest he misunderstand.” Ed chewed. ”Or so he said.”

”So, we agreed on having something in return, as a price for my silence.” Ed swung his shoulders. ”It’s becoming pretty obvious that the two of us, myself and Samuel, are becoming more distant and not how we used to be; he’s expecting a fallout, or a silent, reluctant fallout very soon.”

”He probably wanted to use this to his advantage, but that was only at first.”

Mishu’s eyes were fully focused on Ed right now, as if urging him...

Ed, thankfully, didn’t disappoint him. ”The item we agreed on is one of the keepsakes he had from that time, that old friend of his.”

The slits of Mishu’s eyes widened; blackness spread in his eyes as he stood from his leisurely seated position.

Watching this, Ed was caught in a fit of laughter, loud and hard. ”Don’t worry, I wanted it for the kid anyway...” he assured, wiping the small tears at the corners of his eyes.

”I just thought it’s useless in his hands anyway... Giving it to someone else who needs it would be better.” He raised a hand dismissively. ”Any hand is better than his, well... obviously not any... but let’s say any worthy hand is better than his.”

He looked back at the cat that didn’t settle back down. ”Don’t look at me like this. I, the Great Sky Splitting King, cannot have fallen so low as to take toys from kids... I’m a great blacksmith after all.” His eyebrows fell low, disliking the way the cat was eyeing him.

Yet, his last words seemed to bring the cat down, seated again.

But Ed wasn’t done. ”Wanna hear another secret?” he whispered.

The cat, though, seemed to have lost interest.

”Don’t be like that, sigh... It’s hard to find anyone to speak to who wouldn’t run away instantly...” Ed complained.

”Samuel doesn’t talk much, maybe doesn’t talk at all... he’s become edgy. Well... he’s awfully talkative today though; it’s good he can still speak anyway. And that yellow brat is a clueless idiot... well, not entirely, but he’s given up many things and is now hiding here and complaining about being overworked... what a waste of ascension.”

He shook his head, face full of disappointment. ”There are so many things I can’t speak with the brat about, and well... he will leave the facility pretty soon as well.”

His voice was somewhat sadder. ”For so many years, I’ve spoken to you the most... you sneaky asshole who doesn’t even look my way when I call you.”

Mishu gave him a side-eye, not committed to looking at him fully.

”Don’t be like that.” Ed smiled. ”I promise it’s a good one... a very good one.”

The orange cat’s face moved in his direction once again, those bright eyes fixed on his for another round of secret revelations.

Satisfied, Ed leaned closer to the cat; he covered his mouth. ”Actually...” His smile turned into a toothy, wide grin. ”Samuel already knows.”

Hahaha~

Haha~

He laughed so hard. ”Golden fox thought he was smart, but his brain has long since rotted.”

Facing the gaze of the orange cat, Ed pointed up at the Echo he used to make sure no one heard him. ”As for this?” Another couple of chuckles forced their way out again.

”This is just for suspense.”