Tower of God [IC]

OOC

2f; Regular Testing District 5

The scene is set on a large field, stretching as far as the eye could see if one’s vision was not obscured by tall dry grass and the occasional rock formation under a bright blue sky made by Shinsoo. Overlooking the vast field from a distance above was a tower-like building floating in the sky. All across this field, countless regulars from throughout the tower found themselves suddenly scattered about it, each teleported there in a bright ray of light. For a moment, the regulars all looked around as if to inspect their new surroundings, rarely seeing anyone in sight where they immediately stood- but before they could move to explore further, a man’s loud voice filled the area as if over a speaker floating above it.

“Welcome, chosen regulars, to the 2nd Floor of the Inner Tower- Evankhell’s Floor!” the voice said in an excited, upbeat tone like that of an announcer. “Here, you will all be tested to see if you are worthy of climbing the Tower, and those that succeed will be allowed to ascend! I trust that you have all received your pockets and are prepared for what will happen next, so let’s make haste and begin your first test! Allow me to explain: scattered about this field are 500 regulars and 60 ‘Control Points’ marked by a ring of Shinsoo four meters in diameter. If exactly 3 regulars, no more, no less, are standing within a control point once exactly thirty minutes have passed, they will be considered to have passed this test and will be eligible to continue. Simple enough, right? You may begin!”

A moment of silence passed amongst many of the regulars, the words of the test administrator still sinking in, before a bloodcurdling scream reverberated through the air and the situation became clear. Their journeys up the tower had begun and just about every one of them was prepared to risk everything to go up.

Stride

The sounds of footsteps, war cries, and howls of pain quickly grew more frequent throughout the entire field as a short, orange furred, anthropomorphic marsupial laid down calmly, humming with his arms crossed behind his head in rest amidst the chaos. Then, he suddenly smiled to reveal a toothy grin before pulling out his arms and pushing off the ground with them to instantly leap to his feet. Taking in a deep breath as he stretched his muscles, Stride Klabastern glanced around before exhaling excitedly. “This should be fun…” he said eagerly, cracking his knuckles as he disappeared into the tall grass.

He had been among the chosen, Mude finally had the chance to bring his family honor as he would climb the tower, though at first he had his doubts but all that was erased as he entered the second floor's first test. A large field with a bright shinsoo sky above and shinsoo wind blowing a great breeze through the area, it was a serene view and a beautiful place. Above there seemed to be a floating fortress of some sort, though it was surprising to him that it was floating, it wasn't much to look at and so for the time being he ignored it. Mude had looked about, seeing a few other people around him, some younger and some older, though many belonged to the latter group. He sized up the group, not wanting to make much conversation but being just a shy, but before he could begin to truly admire how it looked he heard the announcer's voice, it boomed as it came from everywhere, giving them vital information and instructions. Now Mude wasn't the brightest star in the universe so it took him a bit of time to grasp what the announcer was trying to instruct them to do, or even hinted at a solution to the number problem, even after hearing the scream from someone in the field. 'Can't we just solve this problem using math?' Mude began to walk, his sword strapped to his waist and mumbling to himself as he slowly passed through the grass of the field. "If there are 500 regulars, and 60 control points......hmm......carry the one......."

As he was deep in thought he managed to ignore the dead bodies and fighting around him, his foot splashed in the blood of a fallen regular who seemed to have been cleaved cleanly in two. "Thats........eight regulars to a control......point......oh, so we have to beat 5 people to control the point." Mude looked up in a bit of amazement, but looking up was the only thing that saved him, a slight glimmer of light caught his attention in his peripheral vision to his left, to anyone it could have been just light from somewhere reflecting, but Mude was a trained swordsman, so the light was a distinct indicator of a blade.....one that was aimed at him. His reflexes had him moving just as he seen the glimmer, ducking underneath the strike meant to behead him, he instinctively withdrew his blade from it's sheath with his right hand and sliced from left to right, disemboweling the attacker. "I'm sorry and I'll pray for your safe passing....but as an attacker and defender, we must be prepared for death...." He turned from the body and continued to walk, sheathing the blade and continuing his searching for at least one of the shinsoo markers.

Before the first 10 minutes finished, he located one, it was being guarded by a large reptilian creature that largely resembled a rhino. For it's weapon of choice it held a large wooden club, and Mude could see the devastating effects it would have on a body as the area was fresh with victims. 'This wasn't even done with caution, it was relentless murder.......fine!' He moved into view of the rhino, both meeting eyes but with different facial expressions. The Rhino smirked viciously and was giving off strong murderous intent, saliva dripped from it's mouth as it hungered for more victims. "So more cattle have come to the slaughterhouse huh?! Muhuhuhuhu! GREAT!! I WAS GETTING TIRED OF EVERYONE AVOIDING ME! MMMMUUHUHUHUHU!" However, despite the rhino's crackling voice and disgusting laughter, Mude's expression was solemn and he kept at his pace. Stepping over body after wreaked body of hopeless regulars, dozens of them sprawled across the ground. "You swing your weapon to cause harm, to cause death and chaos.....you do not deserve to climb this tower." The rhino looked dumbfounded, not knowing what Mude was saying simply because he was too dumb to grasp the manner in which Mude was speaking. Despite such, the rhino grew infuriated and spoke with a roaring tone, "PIECE OF SHIT! EITHER LEAVE OR DIE!" Mude shook his head, his left thumb slightly pushed up the hilt of the blade, a clear signal for the rhino who then swung his club side ways attempting a bone crushing swing that would've broken arms and ribs. But Mude ducked low, "You cared not for them, so I won't hesitate..." Mude rose and continued forward, gathering shinsoo around his legs, strengthening them. "DIE!" The rhino roared once more as he used the momentum from the swing to bring the club above his head and down towards Mude.

"Huh?" The rhino's attack missed, Mude's strengthening allowed him a greater speed. "Wh......what....the...he....ll!?" The last words muttered before the rhino hit the ground, split in half. "I didn't spare you, nor shall I pray for your wicked soul." Mude then sighed as he sheathed his sword, he then kicked the mess of the remains of the rhino away from the marker. He looked up, hoping that someone would at least have the decency to show up without wanting to fight. 'I guess I want hope for a miracle.' So atop the marker he calmly waited for the time to be up.

Finnik stood their deciding on a plan of action, all around him the air was filled with the sounds of men killing one another it was atrocious that the poor people had to slaughter each other in order to obtain their dreams. He began to walk forward and try to find a team taking as few opponents out as possible on his way there as possible. The smelt of carnage and Finnik could taste the metallic odor on this tongue it disgusted him. He hated to kill, if he could avoid it but if he ever hoped to be able to reach the top of the tower was going to have get past that.

Finnik kept walking hoping that he would come across some people that would be worthy a partner to be on his team. He said "visible mode" and his pocket appeared he looked at it to see how much time had pasted and it had only been five minutes. Finnik sighed this was going to be a long test he though to him self. Just then he heard a noise to his left in some extremely tall grass. He approached slowly as to not raise alarm and cause an unnecessary conflict. It looked to be three regular who had already formed a team that were beating on a weaker regular in unison. Their moves were sluggish and all to focused on pure power over function their was no way these three were going to be strong enough to climb the tower they were hopeless. Finnik stepped out of hiding and said "You three are hopeless those strikes would be of no use against some one who knew what they were doing. Why do not you three come at me and let me show you how it really done."

The three looked at each other then rushed Finnik trying ot use their superior number to their advantage. One was equipped with a long spear, another twin needles and a third seemed to be unarmed. The spearman having the longest reach was the first to attack he stabbed at Finnik with a single powerful but easily dodged movement, the one weilding the twin needles was moving to attack from the left so Finnik side stepped to the right. The unarmed regular was attempting to flank from the right and tried to kick Finnik in the stomach. Finnik reacted by turning slightly and grabbing the mans leg. He turned again and slammed the man;s body against the spear weilder. The man reacted to the strike by swinging the spear toward when Finnik was standing. He ducked under it and struck at the legs of the man with the twin needles with a sweeping kick. He went down hard and smacked his head on a rock, leaving two to deal with.

Yang took a tired look around the vast plains that surrounded him. Strangely enough, despite there being 499 other existences that were placed onto the same Arena as him, he could see none, though the tall grass may have hidden some of his shorter foes. At the same time though, he couldn’t see any signs of the Control Points that had been mentioned. Rubbing at his eye, Yang began to let his head sway a bit, contemplating which instinct he should obey. The one that told him to find a place to nap for a while, or the one that told him to haul ass to a Control Point, then nap for a while. Eventually though the former won out and with a gentle slash, a flurry of grass flew into the air. Making a comfortable pile, Yang flopped onto the makeshift bed and caught a final glance of his Pocket before sleep claimed him. 27:01 minutes left….

~

“What the fuck is this guy?!?” one regular, a tall angelic looking humanoid, yelled in surprise and frustration. This wasn’t going at all as he had planned; certainly Lady Luck hadn’t decided to shine on him this day as he had previously assumed. Parrying a jab, the strength behind it forced him back, leaving marks against the ground. “Fuck!” he swore, leaping away as another jab caused the ground where he had just stood to blossom in a cloud of dirt. No way. I’m out. he thought as he turned tail to run away from his foe. What mother fucker fights when he’s asleep?!? He raged at the question as he turned away to catch a glance at what was supposed to be his quarry. Thankfully it seemed that the other regular had stopped pursuing him at the least.

~

Yawning, Yang shook his head and rubbed at his eyes, tired despite the short nap he had taken. Looking around, he scratched at his head slightly confused. This isn’t where I went to sleep, he thought as he took in the battle scarred land around him, along with his messed up makeshift bed. Shrugging to show his lack of care, he stifled yet another yawn before muttering, “Pocket, visible mode.” As the device shimmered into view the clock, still counting down the seconds, showed 10:31. Scratching his head, Yang spun around lazily and stretched out a single hand. Coming to a stop, Yang shrugged and hopped off in the way he had pointed, leaping through the air only to glide back down to the ground.

Viora

As bloodcurdling screams began to pierce the air with more frequency, Viora closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temple, letting out a quiet sigh. Of course the first test of the tower would be an all out blood bath, it would have been naive of her to have assumed otherwise. Nonetheless, she had hoped the test might have been a bit more civil, and less...primitive. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was a 'survival of the fittest' scenario, designed to easily weed out those that supposedly didn't deserve to be climbing the tower. While the cold hard truth of the matter was regrettable, there was little Viora could do about it. She simply had to make sure she could prove her worthiness, even if it cost others their hopes, dreams, and even their lives.
"Arms inventory: Visible mode." As the floating device beside her suddenly appeared, Viora smirked as she wrapped her fingers around the thin handles of her two needles. Pulling them out of their slots, the inventory immediately disappeared again. Letting her arms fall to her sides, Viora stood erectly, listening to the sounds of battle around her, before taking off in a random direction. She was bound to run into something eventually.

"Ho~oh?" And run into it she did, as no sooner than two minutes later did an opponent appear. "Looky here, what have I found?" The creature easily towered over her, roughly seven feet in height, with pitch black skin riddled in red markings, four bright green eyes without any discernible iris or pupil, and dark purple horns sprouting from a bed of white dreadlocks. As he looked her over, his mouth stretched into a demonic grin, showing off a set of pointed yellow teeth. "Easy prey!" He snarled, lifting a thick staff with a hand sharpened end, and bringing it down towards her. Viora's eyes narrowed, unimpressed, as she lifted one of her needles and easily blocked what should have been a powerful blow. "Eh?" He blinked in surprise, staring down at the meek looking girl. She shouldn't have been able to withstand that attack, much less stop it.
"Can I ask you a question?" She asked, her arm holding firm despite the fact that his own was trembling with strain as he tried to overpower her. He only blinked dumbly in response to her question. "Why do you want to climb the tower?"
"Why...?" Who was this puny little thing?! "To gain power of course! Power and glory and riches await me at the top, and I intend to reap it all!"
"That's why you'll never make it to the top." Before he even had a chance to bellow in outrage, Viora knocked his weapon aside with one strong sweep of an arm. "A reason like that...it's far too shallow. There's no substance behind it, no drive..." As he tried to regain his balance, she stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and driving the needle deeply into the flesh of his abdomen, causing him to roar in pain. "You see, that's what makes the difference between those that can climb, and those that can't. It's the strength of your resolve that determines whether or not you'll make it to the top, not the strength of your muscles." Just as tears began to stream down his face, Viora yanked the needle out quickly, letting him fall to the ground. "I hope, for your sake, that you don't make it past this floor. Because if you do, others won't be as kind as me, and grant you the right to keep living."

Turning, she walked away, ignoring his pained cries of outrage and disappointment. The wound she had dealt wouldn't kill him, but he had no hope of being able to complete the test on his own. With twenty minutes left on the clock, however, he had a bigger problem to deal with, as there was nothing stopping others from taking him out as easy prey. She wouldn't waste her time dwelling on his problems, however. She had her own issues to handle. As she navigated the field, her fights all ended just as quickly as the first, following roughly the same pattern. There were some opponents that were smart enough to simply back down against her, and others that were far less fortunate than her first opponent. Eventually, though, she reached a clearing, and found what must have been a control point, judging by the ring of shinsoo that she easily passed through. As she walked towards the center, she was able to make out a boy sitting atop the marker.
"Hmm...?" Coming to a stop, she placed a hand on her hip, and maintained a non threatening pose, though her needles remained tightly gripped in her fists. She would wait to see what his move would be; if he wanted to fight for the spot, so be it, but from a tactical point of view, they should team up.

Avia

Avia remained where she was, even as the test began, not completely willing to dive into this guaranteed mess. She was sprawled out on the ground, with her arms stretched out at her sides, staring up at the 'sky'. Curling her fingers, she drew her knees up, so that her feet were planted firmly against the ground. With a deep breath, she sat up, and pushed herself into a standing position. As she transitioned into battle mode, her heart began to pound against her chest as adrenalin coursed through her veins. Drawing her pistol, she glanced around shiftily, scanning her surroundings. The only thing to be heard was the rustle of grass in the gentle breeze. The area was almost peaceful...
"UAAAAAAAAAAK!!" Avia's head snapped to the side as a scream of agony tore through the air. Her eyes widened with horror at the raw intensity of the sound, but she forced herself to snap out of it as the screams were quickly cut off. Breathing heavily, she tightened her grip on the hilt of her gun, wondering if it would really be enough to get her through this sick test. It had to be. She absolutely couldn't fail this.
Step...Step...Step...
Drawing in a sharp breath, fear flooded Avia's senses as the sound of grass crunching underfoot reached her ears. Immediately, her instincts took over, and she turned, breaking into a run, willing her legs to carry her as far away from this threat as possible.

She ran without stopping, for several minutes straight, before she finally got herself into a bad situation. Breaking through a wall of particularly tall grass, she found herself faced with two others, who seemed to have been in the midst of an intense battle that she had just interrupted.
"The hell...?" A thin, blue skinned, aquatic like boy muttered in surprise. Across from him, a lanky woman covered with feathers stood, nursing what looked to be a broken wing. The irony of the situation hit Avia, and in her shock, her thoughts accidentally slipped past her mouth.
"Bird versus fish." She muttered, almost smirking.
"What?!" The boy growled, looking positively enraged. "Who're you calling a fish?!" Clearly, Avia had struck a nerve. She started to bring her gun up, but he was quickly rushing towards her with a short blade aimed at her heart, and she had lost her chance. He was far too close now. Gritting her teeth, she watched him approach, timing his steps. Just as he was about to plunge the blade into her chest, she sidestepped, and ducked around him. While crouching, her fingers slipped into her boot, drawing one of her knives, and she threw it up just in time to block his next attack. Growling, he lifted the sword again, relentlessly attacking her with a surprising amount of strength and speed for his size.
Unluckily for him, Avia was faster. Every one of his attacks was met with a counter attack, a dodge, or a block. As she effortlessly twirled around him, they almost seemed to be locked in a dance, loaded with animosity and hate. Just as Avia was getting into the swing of things, having decided on an escape route as soon as an opportunity presented itself, she suddenly felt a pair or arms wrap around her, restraining her oppressively.
"Get her!" The bird woman screeched. Avia glanced up in surprise, the stared at the fish boy with horror as an evil grin stretched across his face. As he rushed towards her, gripping his blade tightly, Avia struggled fruitlessly against the surprisingly strong grip of this woman.
"Let...go of me!" She cried, growing more frantic. "AGH!" With a grunt, Avia lifted a leg, and slammed it backwards in a focused burst of power. She felt a sickening crack, and the arms around her loosened. Breaking free, she turned to watch the fish boy's blade sink into the bird woman's stomach.

"Kuuk!" She grunted, clutching the blade, her eyes wide to with surprise to mirror the fish boy's. he seemed to falter, before regaining a cold hardness in his eyes, and he yanked the blade back out. "Akh!" With pained cry, she sunk to her knees and fell to the ground, hands pressed to her abdomen. Wiping her blood off of the blade, he turned to Avia, hatred burning in his eyes. As she stared at the felled woman, she mirrored the smoldering look.
"Monster." She murmured. Simply scoffing in response, he rushed her yet again, with a new burst of speed that he didn't have before. Nonetheless, in one smooth movement, Avia countered his attack just as quickly, their blades screeching against each other. Using this to her advantage, she rammed her elbow into the soft area just above his sternum, and as he grew distracted, she delivered a focused spinning kick to his head. As he stumbled to the side, she didn't give him even a moment's rest, swiftly running towards him in a crouch, and slamming her foot into his knee. Again, she cringed as the broke her second bone of the day.
"KUUUAAAHK!" He screamed as he fell to the ground, clutching his knee. Avia stood over him for a moment, breathing heavily, her hair dampened with sweat. As his pained cries turned into pathetic whimpers, she turned to walk away. Seeing the bird woman lying dead on the ground in a pool of her own blood, though, filled Avia's heart with regret. Even though this woman had tried to kill her, Avia couldn't bring herself to hate the feathered creature, not when she had suffered such a fate. Stepping gingerly into the pool of blood, Avia knelt down beside her, and closed the woman's eyes, so that she no longer looked as if she were in agonizing pain and misery.
"Why...?" She heard, the weak sound coming from the fish boy. "How could you have beaten me? You're so small...so weak..." Staring down at the ground between them, Avia didn't immediately respond.
"I think...everyone has infinite potential, that's just...locked away, waiting to be used. The thing is, you have to deserve it. You have to have a good enough reason to use it, in order to unlock it." Standing, she brushed off her pants, and pulled her cap down over her eyes. "You see, you'll never know how much fight is in you, until you have something to fight for." As she walked away, letting the truth of her words sink in, his pitiful sobs began to reach her ears. Ducking her head down, she broke into a run again, determined not to have to experience something so horrendous again anytime soon. She managed to avoid any other large conflicts, always able to dodge around opponents and escape. Finally, she seemed to hit something that slowed her down immensely. The shock brought her to a complete stop, and she looked up to see a completely abandoned control point.
"Well now..." Walking forward, she came to a stop before the marker. ""Visible mode." She said, and glanced at the pocket that suddenly materialized beside her. Ten minutes left on the clock. Taking a seat, Avia hoped those that found her would be willing to cooperate, rather than try and fight her for her spot. Wrapping her arms around her bent knees, she curled into a small ball, willing the images from before to disappear.

Novera’s different coloured eyes opened and looked up at the skies, still half-closed from both disinterest and idleness. The blue of these skies was as fake as the belief that the second floor was as easy as the first one. It had been made from Shinsoo and reflection- or so he had been told. Around him the ground was littered with a more real, greener substance known as grass. It grew taller in the distance and filled most of the arena and grew taller but drier in the distance. Here and there it was interrupted by a mass of rocks or a lone regular that towered above others. His hair was a mess now, that much the last test had left him with. It had not been hard- quite the contrary but it had been messy, his adversaries had sent all of the ancient dust and dirt flying into the air. When had the administrator last planned for that floor to be cleaned? If ever. He moved his hands through his locks to straighten them out and then got onto his feet, patting his slacks to wipe the large amounts of dust from them. He blinked at the bright unrealistic skies above him and gave a small smirk at the invisible stars that rested thousands of miles above him and the tower’s top. The field stretched out before him and there was a floating castle left of him, hovering in the air some hundreds of metres above him. It was all part of the tower, an immense structure that had existed since the beginning and connected all of the humans, beasts and various other creatures wherever they stood. He was one of them now, a ‘regular’ as the rankers and administrators would call him. His single purpose; making it to the top of the tower without fail and gathering friends and followers alike whilst doing so.

Then a loud voice filled the area around him and addressed all of the regulars he shared the extensively broad field with. Out of five-hundred regulars, barely hundred-eighty would pass which meant that three-hundred-twenty would fail and not join them during the next test. It also meant that there was another test being held elsewhere, or there would have been more regulars present at this one. He summoned his pocket by chiming the simple words, ”Pocket: visible mode” and then watched it materialize and give him the current time: 00:28:54. He took a set of steps forwards and stashed his hands away into his slacks’ pockets, sighing deeply to prepare him for the troublesome tasks that were ahead of him.

He’d have to find a team and avoid getting slaughtered by one of the other regulars and take care not waste too much of his energy. The information was far too less to work with and amassing clues amidst all these regulars and large masses of field and grass and boulder wouldn’t be easy at all. He was forced to concentrate on making a team before gathering the needed information- if any regulars would be left that is. From the blood-curling screams that had started to fill the void around them he could deduce at least one thing; some regulars had taken to their scythes rather than their minds.

He took another look around him to assure that there were no regulars in sight and then made for another area, from where screams and talks were erupting alike. He passed a green clump of moss with brown-red diamonds that served as eyes and a small orange-skinned child that erected a large yellow tent and smiled at him with pointy teeth. The child urged him to come closer- but one look at his yellowing nails and he had to decline formally, throwing in a brief smile and some polite excuses as well. Barely having escaped from the clutches of the monstrous child, he found himself walking through tall brown grass. It had changed colour in such a quick manner that he had barely noticed or perhaps it were the newly attained adversaries that stole his attention? There was a black-skinned alligator-like creature with three arms and a red spear in each. Left from him- as if he hadn’t been an odd enough side, there stood an armoured man with two heads and a lance clutched between his claw-like arms that stuck from out of sides instead of an arm’s usual place. Both shared nothing but a teeth-showing grin and the fact that both of them leapt towards him as soon as he left the grass’ protection.

“Garsh! That makes for number four-“ the alligator proclaimed and slashed with one of his many spears at the young regular. His companion, the odd knight joined in the attack by throwing one of the lances and both were now heading for him. He had not even been given the chance to raise his own weapons against them or ask for their companionship in this troublesome test. Novera swung his body to the left and let the lance fly into the heaps of dry grass into the distance left of him. His cane followed and slammed into the ground where he stood to aid him in balance.

The spears he avoided in a like-wise matter and then leapt back a few inches to avoid the second lance, that had been hurried towards him as well. He would have gladly let them live if both of them had ceased their attacks there- but many more followed and he wasn’t known for his patience. His cane gave way for the longest needle it held and he cleaved their weapons clean in two and left them bolting for their lives. Unworthy as they were, he’d let them keep those as a sign of kindness.

---

The loud-mouthed administrator’s warm voice woke Sebastian from the comfortable slumber he had sunk into after the first floor. It had required him to persuade a more than dangerous dragon-lady into giving him one of her golden eggs. Other than that, he also had to deal with the sleeping powder that flew up into the air every occasional breath she took through her large nostrils and served to limit his time. Despite having granted access to not one but all of her golden eggs, he still fell into a slumber before even passing, luckily the administrator didn’t notice and thought it was his way of celebrating the victory. Some of the sleeping powder’s remains had fallen into his hair and rained over his face as he stood, forcing him into a fit of entertaining sneezes. He bent forwards and shook his white locks to rid himself of its remains and avoid further sleeping and sneezing fits. Then he summoned his pocket and blinked against its bright light. “00:27:38” He muttered, taking out his shorter spear from the spot on his belt’s backside. The team-hunting could be put off as it was more important to take out some of the regulars first. In front of him there stood a lonely ball of blue fur and lengthy spikes. It unfolded as he approached and turned into a caterpillar-like beast with a humanoid head that had four noses, four eyes and no mouth. He let head lean to the right and showed it an all-teeth grin.

It spoke with a voice that rang inside of his head and could not be heard outside of it. “Rather than do battle with a wondrous creature such as me, why not join me? Together we could tackle this and the next tests.” Caterpillar-man paused for a moment, as if to give him time to think through his response. But Sebastian did not need to consider his answer and swung his short spear at the beasts’ head with a broad grin. “I don’t make cowards into teammates, I make them into dust-“ his words went interrupted by the wild creature’s roar and both of them soared into battle. He fought with great confidence and willpower at his side- it wasn’t his first battle and not his last either. From left of the creature there was another adversary approaching; a tall man without hair and a short sceptre in hand. It would have been much cleverer to team up with them, but that just wasn’t the way he was built for the day. The last floor’s test had left him wanting for more and the slumber hadn’t done much to better his state of mind.

He went toe to toe with the regular and was interrupted once or twice by the hairless man who proved to be trouble. The caterpillar-like creature was defeated quick enough by using his short spear to keep him at bay and the long one to trap him into a close-ranged battle. He blocked its attacks and thrust into one of his many legs to send him running. The bald man let out a battle-cry and leapt for him as the other regular took refuge in the tall grass. Sebastian leant back and protected himself from the man’s hits with his long spear- the short one had been tossed aside. He took one hit, by his left shoulder but the cut was shallow and no Shinsoo had gone into the strike, rendering it pretty useless. The hairless regular leapt towards him for the second time and pushed his sceptre into the young regular’s defences.

Sebastian had thrown his enemy backwards by turning his own force against him and using his third weapon- the needle. It broke after that but he took his fallen adversary’s sceptre to replace it and stuck it on his back, into the belt. He let himself fall into grassy green and put his hands behind his head. Above him, there was a tower-like building hovering in the blue sky, that reminded him of the seas he had heard rumours about.

Khazhak glanced around at his surroundings for a bit, noting that the sky was noticeably brighter here than the dark trade routes in the middle tower he spent most of his life escorting caravans through. It wasn’t bad, of course, but it did unsettle him slightly. In any case, the announcer came on and he listened to the explanation of the next calmly. So this is the kind of thing he went through, he thought to himself as the announcer finished and he tightened his grip on his weapon, thinking back to his friend, the original Khazhak, who had been a regular who had dropped out after passing floor 20. He smiled coldly before beginning to spin his weapon around in one hand and stepping forward. The least I can do is bring fame to his name and then vengeance upon those that took his life… so I refuse to fail here. Before I get into fights, though, I need to find a team and one of those control points.

Khazhak began to walk around, keeping an eye out for others and making an effort not to get caught up in any pointless fights, for a couple minutes before stopping as he noticed a tall looking man covered in thick muscles with velvet hair and carrying a broadsword emerge from a patch of tall grass, looking down at him with a smirk, raising his blade. “Hey… you look a little tough,” the man said, laughing and coming forward to slash his blade forward in a wide sweep, “if you can hit me once then I might let you join my team!” Khazhak easily dodged the swing by stepping backwards, glancing at the tall, muscular man with a cold stare.

When the man came forward to cut him again, Khazhak rolled out of the way, flipping his weapon around in his hand before bringing it up to smash the mace head into the man’s chin. “I hit you,” he said calmly as the man yelped in pain and fell to his knees in pain, struggling to avoid passing out, “but I think I’ll pass on joining your team.” With that said, Khazhak turned around and began to walk away, continuing his search.

After a few more minutes, he finally noticed a strange sight, that of a young woman about his age and height easily defeating a pair of regulars, a fishman and a harpy and then deliver a slight speech afterwards. He grunted to alert her of his presence as he stepped into view behind her. “In that case, I wonder what it is you fight for,” he said as he stepped into view. “Not that you have to answer since I assume it’s a good one,” he smirked slightly to show that he was being serious, “like mine. How about we team up and go get ourselves an access point while we still have time?” He then paused, giving her a stern glare to show that he was no amateur like the two she had just beaten. “Or do I have to show you what I can do, first? If so, there’s a chance you might regret it.”

Stride

Surrounding a certain control point easily visible in the middle of a large patch of low grass, around a dozen regulars seemed to collect and conflict among themselves to decide who had the right to stay there. For a bit, it seemed as if nothing could stop their struggle until a huge shadow suddenly cast itself over two men fighting with needles near the outer edge of the brawl. Stopping themselves, the regulars turned and looked upwards to see an enormous ape-like regular covered in white hair with long yet powerful arms towering over them at easily over 6.5 meters in height and looking down at them with a cruel grin.

“Why hello, tiny people,” the yeti-like regular said as if talking to a bunch of dolls and the two regulars with needles rushed him at once, only for him to respond by slapping them away with his large arms. “Surely some of you must possess at least a little bit of strength despite your small frames?” the yeti asked mockingly as the regulars below began to back away or else outright flee in fear, and he stepped forward as if to pick them off from behind. “Come on now! Let’s have a little fun!”

“Hmm, nice view up here…” a voice suddenly rang out in the yeti’s ear and he turned his head in surprise to see a short, orange furred regular with a toothy grin standing on his shoulder with his hand over his eyebrows as if looking around at what laid in the distance.

“…Who the hell are yo-” the yeti began, trying to turn around to throw him off furiously, only for Stride to suddenly jump up and extend his leg to smash the sole of his shoe into the side of the yeti’s face. With immense power that defied the humanoid marsupial’s size, the yeti was lifted off the ground a bit by the force of the kick and began to spin around slightly in the air when Stride rotated his foot while it was still connected to his face. After a brief moment, the massive yeti struck the ground side-first and was still, followed shortly after by Stride who landed on the ground safely in a crouching position.

“Oh hey, there’s a control point!” Stride soon said as he straightened himself and looked forward to see the circle of Shinsoo other regulars had had just been brawling over a few moments before. He began to step towards it as more of the remaining regulars around it began to either step back even further in caution or retreat from the area altogether- except for three that stood directly in his path. One was a tall, bald athletic man carrying two maces which consisted basically of long iron hilts attached to perfectly spherical iron balls on one end, another was a shorter man that looked to be in his mid-twenties with greasy black hair carrying a long, curved knife, and the last was a small girl with yellow skin and long green hair whom the man with the knife was holding in place with his knife at her throat.

“I suggest you stay still if you don’t want this little girl’s blood on your hands,” the black-haired man said with a cackle, tightening his grip on her threateningly- only to suddenly be knocked backwards as Stride closed the distance between them, threw a quick jab at his face, and wrestle the girl out of his grip and then leap backwards with her all in a blurry movement.

“Are you o-” he began to ask, only to stop as the girl looked up at him with an evil grin and he felt her plunge a hidden dagger into his torso. Quickly, he pushed her away and leapt backwards, clutching the wound to inspect the damage. Just as began to determine that the injury wasn’t all that bad thanks to his quick reaction, however, his eyes suddenly began to gloss over and the landscape and figures around him began to spin and shift around chaotically as he felt a strong weariness begin to overtake him. “Huh?” was all he could mutter before the bald man with the maces came forward and smashed him in the side of the head with one while he was hallucinating.

“My dagger is coated with a powerful tranquilizing toxin,” the girl said mockingly as Stride was knocked backwards by her teammate, "sorry but you'll have to fail here." For several long moments, Stride struggled to straighten himself and fight back but was helplessly overwhelmed and repeatedly struck by the bald man’s maces as a result of his dulled movements.

After several long moments and a thorough beat down, Stride fell to the ground, panting heavily as the bald man with the maces looked down at him coldly. “Finish him,” the girl said evilly with the black haired man with the knife standing beside her as they watched the scene nodding in agreement. The bald man nodded back before raising a mace in preparation to smash through the fallen marsupial’s skull. A beat passed before the regular realized that his mace had been stopped halfway down- Stride’s palm extending upwards from his fallen and crouching position to block it before it struck. The bald man glanced at him in surprise even as Stride suddenly forced himself to his feet and kicked him backwards.

“Finally,” Stride said, panting heavily as he straightened himself and felt the large bruises all across his body, though with an oddly relieved tone as his vision and eyes had returned to normal and his body no longer felt completely worn out from the poison, “my head’s starting to clear up!”

From a few meters away, the yellow-skinned girl’s cruel look turned to one of pure disbelief. “Im… impossible…” she stuttered, “that tranquilizer is strong enough to keep a bear out for hours! You’re bluffing!” She motioned for the other two on her team to attack Stride again, only for him to grab the bald man with the maces by the arms and then twirl around to send him flying at the approaching black haired with the knife before he even got close.

“Guess I’m way tougher than a bear!” Stride responded with an oddly intimidating optimistic grin after the two men struck each other head on at full force and he then began to step towards her.

The girl seemed to begin to panic as he came closer before noticing her two teammates in between them struggling to stand back up after having slammed into one another. A slight smirk returned to her face as she pulled two syringes out of her bag and moved to stab them into her teammates’ veins. Stride stopped to study the scene with a quizzical look as the two men slowly returned to their feet, their muscles expanding and their eyes glowing bloodshot as they stared at him with violent glares.

“Now kill each other, bastards!” the girl screamed as she took off in the opposite direction and the two men, now unarmed, rushed Stride together. When they came near, Stride sidestepped to avoid a fast punch from the black-haired man before countering with a kick to his side. Immediately after, however, the bald man came to attack from another angle and he crossed his arms across his chest to block but still found himself knocked backwards from the force.

“Whoa, what’s this?” Stride thought aloud, surprised at their sudden increase in strength and speed, as he rolled out of the way when the black-haired man moved to punch downwards at him, creating a small hole in the soil around his fist when he missed. He almost bit his lip as pain flooded into his body from the damage he had already taken, but quickly shook it off and rolled again to avoid a kick from the bald man before flipping over and pushing off the ground with his hands to slam the soles of his shoes into his chin. The man snapped backwards as Stride twisted to his feet and took on a fighting stance as the other came to attack as well without a second's delay. He could tell that both men were breathing hard as if on the brim of exhaustion from the stress of whatever had been done to them yet their movements did not slow- they were like raging beasts that would fight at full force until their bodies gave way and collapsed completely. Even if he thought he could handle one, he wasn't how much longer he could last against both of them at once.

The sounds of battle filled the land and air all around Yang, but he didn’t bother sparing any time to look at the regulars around him. Neither did they to him, too preoccupied with their own fights to bother acknowledging the strange Regular that seemed to walk through the air. An eye was glued onto the Pocket that drifted through the air behind him, ever vigilant as it took in the seconds that were counting down. Around him Yang could sense and occasionally see Control Points, hotly contested by any number of Regulars. “Hassle…” he muttered lazily as he continued on his search for an uncontested Point. He only had a few more minutes though, then it wouldn’t serve to be picky and he’d have to deal with it. Fulfilling promises to myself sure is a hassle, Yang thought before he paused, something having caught his eye.

~

It was a bit far away, but in the distance in the middle of a large open field, it seemed there was a trio of Regulars duking it out. Even as Yang was drifting back down to ground level he caught a few glances of Regulars scattering from the three. Oh yay… Yang mentally cheered for himself as he finally found a Control Point that wasn’t surrounded by at least half a dozen others. “Reel… reel… reel…” he muttered to himself as an Arms Inventory appeared with a swift wave of his arm. With a soft thud, his jump hurled him dozens of meter into the air, crushing the dirt underneath his feet. Normally it’d be nigh impossible for Yang to hurl his Reel out such a distance, but with the added height and some luck, it should be possible. Spinning around to gather momentum, at the apex of his jump, Yang let the Reel fly loose as he fell back towards the ground gently. With such a distance it’d take some time for the Reel to travel, so Yang decided to set out on foot for the moment. He’d know if he caught anything soon enough either way.

~

It taken a while for the Reel to actually land something, yet surprisingly he had managed to tag something. What that something was, Yang had no idea, but then again he didn’t really care what it was. A light tug to make sure the Reel was actually secured and Yang snapped his fingers as the Reel began to pull in the line, Yang hanging onto the inventory as he was pulled across the land. Thank god for his light weight, and whatever was on the other end. Apparently it was either heavy or strong enough to let Yang reel his way to it. The scene may have been comical, a Regular hanging onto their Inventory as it pulled them across the field, but Yang yawned with an air of laziness.

~

“Huh….” Yang ruffled at his hair as he sat up after crashing into what seemed to be another Regular. Seemed to be. At the moment the “Regular” looked to be little more than a feral beast. One that did not take kindly to being sat upon apparently because as soon as it had recovered it made a wild, if powerful, slash at Yang. “Hup.” Yang hopped away with a light jump before stowing away his Inventory and simply let the swing pass by as he looked around. There were two other Regulars around and as far as he could tell he seemed to have stumbled into the middle of their fight. How troubles- But Yang never got to finish that thought as the feral Regular was on him, trying to smash him into the ground. Wrapping his hands around the Regular’s arm, Yang spun it while sidestepping past the large man, sending him flying into the dust. “How troublesome…”

*whistling* Despite the loud cries and the gurgling of pain from near-death regulars, Mude was able to calmly listen to the orchestra of the tower and the symphony produced by its wind and whistle along with the movements of the clouds above, though his expression seemed blank it was nonetheless full of thoughts about the Tower and the people that have tried and succeeded and those who have tried and failed, but his prime concern was whether or not the top would actually hold the things he wanted.....but what was it that he wanted? A movement in the tall grass caught his attention, turning his head to clearly see who it was that had entered the area he barely managed to move himself out of the way as someone came crashing down atop him. "That's not a very nice way to introduce yourself....." Dust filled the immediate area of impact, and from what Mude could tell it was probably either a large person or someone with high physical abilities. "Nevertheless, you came attacking me......." Mude put his left hand on the hilt of the sword that hung from his waist. ".....so don't regret it." Mude stood tall and slowly began to unsheathe his sword, and with the wind picking up and blowing bit of the dust away it was easier for him to make out the outlines of a person within the remaining, thin, cloud of dust. "Acting cool can get you killed, stupid peon." A voice came from behind him and he stopped, the surprise obviously taking hold of him as he immediately felt a hard brute attack on his back that launched him forward. 'The hell? I didn't even notice the bastard!?' Mude landed in a saftey roll and turned to meet the attacker, but the action momentarily made him forget about the opponent behind him, then a blade swung through the air, and possibly the only thing that saved him was the disruption in the dust that showed an incoming attack. "Did I miss?" The voice of the person in the dust sounded feminine and almost feline, Mude quickly responded to the attack, dodging the blade attack while swinging around and simultaneously withdrawing his own to a straight slash in the direction of the attack. 'Two against one? Not very comfortable with these odds....'

The feline woman was a bit taller than Mude and had the hind legs of a cat while the rest of her body resembled a normal human's in terms of structure, but her looks were purely feline from her small black nose, her whiskers, as well as her ears and mouth all of these were feline in nature while the other one was a male, but he actually resembled a demon monster. He had coarse black scales for skin and green spines for hair that dotted his body every other inch or two, his eyes were a strong yellow and were basically slit like a lizard, but he was taller than Mude or the girl and his face seemed to be leaning, or rather, forming more on his left side kind of like a flounder. "Interesting....that people are actually teaming up now is a big improvement, but for a cat lady and an......erm.....um....lizard..fish...human....rapt or-thingy to work so well together, it actually tickles my heart. hehehe" Mude chuckled but the other two simply looked at each other and shrugged, obviously not understanding the insult. Mude facepalmed himself, a bit annoyed that he had his joke brushed off so easily. "Anyway......so let's do combat or team up?" The feline hissed while the other lizard-fish-human-raptor thing guy stepped forward, his stature imposing and cast a shadow on Mude. "We don't need weak little regulars like you in our group, only the strong climb the tower and you......you are not strong at all. Me and Uriel will not climb with you, but we will take this control point from you." The girl, whose name was apparently Uriel nodded and smirked, she had a short sword on her back as a weapon, but it seemed that the guy was a hand-to-hand fighter. "So there you have it.....let's fight?" The giant shrugged and leaned forward with a large toothy grin, then stepped backwards as Uriel came on fast. "Graaaaawrl!" She snarled as she withdrew her blade, then placing it over her head she brought it down on Mude, but he parried swiping his blade upwards at an angle then ducking under and spinning his body he threw a hooked kick at her chest from his awkward stance. But Uriel spun her body to the right as she swept her blade along the ground then brought it upwards. Mude narrowly dodged it, jumping backwards and safely out of reach, but the dodge wasn't complete as it managed to nick him giving him a thin red line down his white shirt. 'Damn this cat is good........and with the guy behind her, it's not going to be easy.'

His eyes widened in the realization of his thoughts, he had managed to make such a foolish mistake as to not pay attention to the fact that the guy was no longer behind her. "NOW! Razak!" Time seemed to creep itself along slowly as he turned his head, a figure blocked out the light from the sun, Mude barely managed to touch the ground when he launched himself to the side barely escaping the attack but Razak, the lizard-fish-human-raptor thing guy, kicked at him as he attempted to flee, connecting right to Mude's chest and launching him away. 'Damnit! Their combination is too good and I can't keep up by myself....shit.' Mude rolled across the ground, bruising himself and nearly cutting himself with his own sword until he finally came to a stop. He picked himself up a bit, at least getting his face out of the dirt. Mude sighed a bit then stood up and stared at the two, Razak had a smile on his face and the Uriel just scowled at him as she fickled with her weapon. "Had enough?" Razak's voice seemed to be louder than before, or maybe it was just the fact that Mude was now outmatched and he no real hope of winning without sustaining heavy injury, there were other control points and there was no need for him to just needlessly end his climb here. Mude nodded his head and sheathed his sword. "I concede, you can have the control point......" The duo laughed and hi-fived each other, while Mude began to walk away but stopped and looked back at them. "......But understand......when the time comes, I will cut both of you down." With those final words Mude walked away back into the grass.