Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Oblivious to the ongoing discussions among the audience, Moon stood face to face with Dara.

”Bro, you have infinite Echo or something?” he asked, the same question everyone was asking.

How did that guy run around for almost 15 minutes without a pause while spamming ranged Echo attacks?

It was common sense that ranged Echo attacks consumed more Echo, yet he himself didn’t seem bothered by the madness he just performed.

”DONE RUNNING?” Dara responded with a growl.

Moon raised an eyebrow. ”Bro, you’re slow as fuck; I have to stop for this fight to end.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Dara responded with his heavy steps, darting again at Moon, yet this time...

Moon didn’t run.

Nor did he try to dash at him.

Moon stood still where he was.

He remembered something that he experienced and was told by both Uon and Samuel when he first came to the facility.

Back when he was the only ascender.

An ascender with no Echo.

He wanted to test how true their words were at that time and test something to better understand his body.

Samuel complained that he was oblivious to the state of his body; thus, he decided that this was the perfect opportunity.

Against one opponent who was strong, yet one he was confident in defeating.

It was time to test and understand that body of his... how much it was growing, and how much different it had gotten compared to his old self, as well as how much it would be currently in comparison to his future self.

In the audience, Boa was looking wide-eyed at Dara. She had no idea people like him existed, or a clan like his.

The Specter Clan was already a special situation, but she didn’t expect another clan to be closely tied to them in such a way.

Next to them, Nola wasn’t bothered by the entire clan talk; she was focused on the current change in the fight.

”What’s Sir Saviour doing?” she inquired, skeptical about the sudden change in Moon’s patterns.

Thanks to Moon’s last stride, she regained some of her composure. After all, it was her first time seeing someone die after his head was crushed.

”Oh,” Boa exclaimed. Looking at the ring, ”What the hell is he doing?” she repeated the question.

They weren’t the only ones to wonder about Moon’s sudden change or attitude. But they were the first.

Soon everyone was waiting for Moon’s next move; what was he planning this time?

He was the survivalist whom, regardless of one’s affiliation or preferences, they had no choice but to acknowledge.

His adaptive nature and battle wits placed him in very high regard.

His first duel was naked weapon mastery and combat skill.

His first skirmish round showed how he was different from everyone else who relied on Echo for combat. He knew well how to use his body and focus on battle rather than on injuries.

This round he faced alone against unfavourable conditions, yet he managed to exploit their very strengths to his advantage.

He planted seeds of fear one after another into their hearts.

Even though it was evident it was only his second time fighting against people using Echo, after Dave, the scale was entirely different.

That seed of fear resulted in the fracture of a group that was never harmonious, nor did it have the spirit of teamwork.

That alone led to Dara’s frustration.

Still, Moon was experienced; he didn’t just focus on eliminating Dara and then facing everyone alone. He taunted Dara enough, who thought of himself as the strongest of everyone in the ring.

Moon managed to rub him exactly the way he wanted.

Though most failed to see these aspects, Talia, Dorbish, and Colten were the ones to see it most clearly.

Even now, Moon’s sudden halt was for a reason.

It was to bring Dara closer to him without any ranged Echo to fly over his head.

Though that much was obvious, Moon’s objective was not.

Dara finally had Moon’s face within his fist’s range; his fist had enough Echo for his gauntlet to glow.

His fist hissed while cutting the air, aimed for Moon’s face.

Yet, Moon didn’t evade; instead—

Moon’s arm shot out, intercepting the landing punch. In a circular, fluid motion, he brought it down.

Dara paused for a moment.

Moon’s other hand shot forward—

Clang~

He punched the section between Dara’s chest and shoulder plates.

Dara didn’t react, nor did Moon’s punch do any apparent damage.

Moon’s eyes locked onto Dara’s in his helmet. ”Bro, why did you stop?” he asked. ”First time getting parried?” he inquired.

Dara looked at his own shoulder, then at Moon. ”Are you messing with me?” he asked.

Moon retracted his arm. ”Are you going to fight or not?” he asked back.

”Your punch didn’t hurt,” Dara announced.

”Neither did your last 500 punches. What do you want now?” Moon’s face was a frown all over, evidently displeased. ”If you’re not going to fight properly, fuck off; don’t waste my time.” Moon shooed him away.

His words reignited the killing intent in Dara’s eyes once again.

He responded with another punch; once again, Moon parried it along with the Echo it held.

One punch after another, Moon met them all with his own.

Ting~

Ting~

After a few more exchanges, Moon punched the helmet twice.

”BASTARD!” Dara roared; the Echo radiating from his arms enlarged, becoming at least 10 times bigger than a regular fist.

This time, Moon punched the gauntlet within the giant Echo-fist; his arm passed through it and—

Ting!

Another metallic ring sounded.

Moon pulled his arm away instantly. ”Aw, aw, aw.” He whipped his forearm around. ”That hurts!”

Moon inspected his arm; it looked like it had been scraped by a rock or something rigid.

He looked at Dara. ”Now that was a good attack,” he praised.

His eyes were locked with Dara’s now; he could see his eyes inside the helmet.

Dara’s eyes were shaking, yet his confusion didn’t wash away the malice they held since the previous round.

In the audience, Dorbish was looking on with his droopy eyes, which were squinting even further, seemingly entirely closed.

He was watching the exchange between Dara and Moon; he was suspecting something, yet now he was almost certain of it.

One way or another, the last exchange was what puzzled him the most.

’How did he do it?’ he thought to himself, unable to voice it out of his mind.

’Does that crazy hooligan have the same, or a similar Ascension Gift to mine?’ he suspected in his heart, after watching Moon’s arm punch through Dara’s offensive Echo without being significantly harmed.

At first, he thought Moon was skillfully aiming for the parts of Dara’s arm that were not, or least, coated by Echo.

Yet, that last exchange made it clear this was not the case.

Instead, Moon was tanking Echo with his own body without any Echo or protection.

Dorbish doubted his eyes again and closed them, trying to sense Moon’s Echo activating.

Not everyone had the exact same Echo sensitivity, and Dorbish wasn’t one of the most sensitive ones to Echo.

Still, after closing his eyes for a moment trying to feel the Echo in the ring, he could only feel one... not two.

Which meant—

’Damn, does he really have the same Gift?’