Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

While Moon was still trying to find a way to damage Dara inside his seemingly indestructible armor, Talia was looking at the scene with a heavy face.

”Boa, do you understand now?” she asked all of a sudden, snapping Boa from her entranced, focused daze.

Even though Boa didn’t avert her gaze, she exhaled slowly. ”I understand,” she said, before taking in another deep breath.

”Someone like this, it’s almost impossible to find again.” Boa was unlike how she was in the beginning or the last round. She looked more overwhelmed.

”If that’s how people of the first floor are, why isn’t everyone recruiting them early on?” she wondered.

”The first floor is littered with Ashspawns; it’s new that someone who isn’t an Ashspawn comes from there,” Talia explained, before adding, ”I can’t tell if someone who isn’t an Ashspawn ever came from there.”

Ashspawns were notorious in the Tower. Boa had also heard of them a few times, though she had never met any; their reputation, or the lack of it, made them a topic of discussion from time to time.

Paired with their grey skin, hair, and eyes, their weapon mastery and bloodlust were widely spoken of.

Talia didn’t wait for Boa to process her words or respond. ”There’s an Ashspawn on their side.”

Boa’s eyes widened, and her head snapped in Talia’s direction. ”How?”

”It’s not important; my allies have been sharing intel between branches. Many are rapidly joining his side, and he has his eyes on Moon as well,” Talia explained.

”What would happen if you fail to convince him?” Boa felt the gravity of the situation.

Talia shook her head lightly. ”I don’t know how the Tower will make all of these people face a trial. We’re expecting it might trigger a war to accommodate everyone.”

”A war?” Boa exclaimed.

Talia nodded. ”We might end up being forced to join his side, which will turn everything one-sided, or just drop this round entirely and wait for the next wave.”

”You can’t do that; you can’t do either of that... never, your reputation...”

”Boa,” Talia cut her off. ”We might die.”

Boa didn’t say another word, but she understood.

Her gaze fell again on the arena, looking at Moon in a newfound light. Next to them both, Lexie and Nola were standing, leaning forward, focused, completely unaware of their discussion.

Further away, Samuel and Ed overheard the discussion between Talia and Boa.

”That young lady isn’t clueless.” Ed nodded. ”The next trial might be one of the Tower’s historical moments.”

He looked at Samuel. ”Right, that blue bastard is quite charismatic; he’s gathering almost everyone on his side from all branches.”

Samuel nodded. ”All branches but this one.”

Ed looked down again. ”Yeah, thanks to a certain brat beating up everyone working for him twice.” He smiled widely before leaning forward.

”Come on kid, figure something out,” he whispered, looking at Moon’s bloodied face after the constant headbutts. ”I know you can win.”

It was then, and now.

Dara made a move, forcing everyone to peel their eyes open.

He performed a new move that Moon didn’t expect.

Dara suddenly jumped backwards, throwing his weight, his armor, and his body onto Moon, using him as a cushion for the fall.

THUD~

With a muffled grunt, Moon took the hit head-on without letting go of Dara’s head. He refused to let go, nor did he allow himself to open his eyes again.

There wasn’t anything worth looking at at this point; they were locked together, and he had what he needed in his hands.

Moon was now trapped under Dara’s weight and bound to his head in an inseparable lock.

Dara finally let go of Moon’s leg; he reached out to his body. The sharp tips of his gauntlets penetrated his side.

Now that his leg was finally free, Moon arched his body beneath, supporting Dara’s weight on his wounded abdomen.

Finally, the last push he needed was there.

His feet... one was wounded, but now both were touching the ground. A foothold strong enough to generate the force he was in desperate need of.

Moon yanked as hard as he could.

One time.

Two times.

”Augh!” Dara’s grunt came, different from his energetic self. He sounded like he was barely capable of letting out a sound.

His voice was too tired and dry.

His panting was getting louder and messier.

Beneath him, Moon could hear his heartbeat. Exploding, racing like a lousy drum.

Moon knew Dara was at his limits.

Even though Moon was the one hurt most, he was steadier and more stable than Dara. He still had a bit more fight in him.

Moon gritted his teeth and forced his body to bear the damage, considering his wounded abdomen and foot.

He yanked Dara’s neck a third time; this time he felt less resistance.

But that was only the beginning, as long as he loosened for the fourth...

Dara’s body started convulsing.

Moon wasn’t bothered in the slightest. If anything... it meant that he was now closer than ever.

Dara’s gauntlet loosened on Moon’s side, which led to rapid blood loss.

Moon roared once.

Everyone in the arena held their breath.

SNAP~

One loud snap rang, followed by silence. A long silence fell both on the ring and in the audience.

Life suddenly returned to everyone in the audience. Between disbelief and amazement, everyone watched as Dara’s convulsing body loosened, going limp at last.

Someone finally broke the silence.

”Did... Did he win?”

”Huff, huff.”

”Did he defeat someone in his universal armor barehanded?”

”A second floor ascender killing someone in his universal armor without any weapon or Echo.”

”First floor folks are insane.”

One after another exclaimed with wide-open eyes.

Basil suddenly jumped. ”BOSS WON! I KNEW IT!”

He started clapping like mad; soon, everyone followed suit.

Claps, cheers... Everyone stood. Betting on his win or loss, everyone stood.

An impossible feat was achieved before their eyes, something that, if they were told as a tale, they would not believe.

Even though they had yet to find out about Dara’s affiliation.

Finally, after a long, horrific battle, Moon managed to snap Dara’s neck.

”Son of a bitch,” he cursed as he let go of Dara’s neck. The Echo that was damaging Moon’s body disappeared like a lie.

Moon pushed him off. ”What do you even eat, fucking asshole?” he cursed again.

He opened his eyes at last, not feeling too well; his eyesight was impaired badly.

He checked the state of his body: the wounds on both his leg and side abdomen. Each was like a hole... Five on his foot and another five on his waist.

Before standing, he grabbed a bit of sand, some that was mud-like with his blood. He smeared his leg first with it.

He watched for a moment. ”Not too bad,” he said as the bleeding stopped.

He then looked at the one on his abdomen.

He scratched his chin. ”Mud won’t do for long, I need to burn it,” he said to himself as he smeared it for now.

He watched how it would hold out for a moment. ”That would do, I guess,” he said before forcing himself up.

Dusting his pants, Moon felt the fabric was in good condition. ”The quality is superb,” he commented, praising it.

He was afraid his clothes would burn as fast as his skin did; he was pleased to find they were perfectly fine.

Though his body overall was blistered, looking like he was burned. Especially his right arm, which suffered the most thanks to his wild punch.

Regardless, Moon was now over this entire mess.

He looked at Dara’s dead body with something else on his mind.