Chapter 4

She remembers the day when her teacher brought her out of the Floating Castle. She remembers being so excited at the prospect of finally being able to leave the boundaries of a small city when she realizes exactly where she was being taken.

Horror? No…she’s already felt too much to feel that emotion anymore. It was more like…acceptance of suffering and pain.

Standing in front of a cage easily a hundred times her size, she saw the divine eel swimming around its tight cage as it eyed her hungrily. Its gaping jaw dripping green saliva at the sight of her, a weak child, a meal. 

“You must learn to kill” Were the first words her instructor told her. “Killing is regarded as a natural process of climbing the tower, a necessity.”

From his back pocket, he fished out a small silver key. “Hesitating to kill will only result in your death. You, as the future of the main family, must never hesitate to swing your blade at our enemies no matter who they are; I expect your edge to sever the head of this fish, F.U.G, competitors, and even your brothers and sisters.”

The tall man approached the cage as he opened a small door. An opening barely large enough for her to squeeze through.

“Now kill” 

…

Blessings of her father was simply too efficient. The sword moved and sliced as if it were a part of her own arms. It seemed as if it stretched far and wide ignoring the boundaries of a physical blade.

The Divine Eel, a predator in the outer tower, lost its malice and aggression as red and blue lines began forming on all parts of its body. It’s predatory glare lost to be replaced by a desperation for survival.

It didn’t last.

It took less than a minute to make work of the divine eel to turn it into nothing more than chunks of bloody meat on the cage floor. Her blade returned to its normal silver as the glow from the shinsu faded. She couldn’t understand how easy it was to take a life, no matter how small. As the life in the fish’s eye fades, her smile never did…it didn’t shake or falter, it remained steadfast.

Was it because of her fault in killing nearly all of mankind? Something to do with Phantaminum’s gift? Or was she simply that heartless from the beginning? A small part of her was horrified at how easy she had taken it but the first thought she had a relief.

Relief that she wouldn’t hesitate when her blade reached the top of Olympus. Relief that her blade would be able to draw blood without remorse.

“Good. We’ll move onto the prisoners” The words of my instructor sounded proud, as if taking a life had pleased him.

She only kept grinning in response. It wasn’t like she could do anything else other than smile the cursed smile. 

 

Back to Present

My bare feet on the cold marble floor, I stood in a stance ready to slice apart my opponent. Staring her down, her eyes met mine…also unyielding.

In truth, I didn’t even know her name nor did I really care; most likely she was a member of one of the branch families…weak and inexperienced but somehow chosen for candidacy. 

When I challenged Rank 94, she surrendered immediately in which I proceeded to challenge rank 89. She, on the other hand, decided to accept my challenge which brings us here.

On the edge of the ring were audience or rather the other contestants watching our match to scout our abilities and strength. Since I was still in the 90s, near the very last, in the rankings, I needed to be careful about what injuries I sustained. Medical care apparently was also dependent on your current rank.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face!” 

Like I did to most people, I ignored her as well. Listening to the words of idiots only hurt one’s pride after all. Besides, it wasn’t as if she could anyway.  I needed to be quick and decisive so that not only would the other contestants not be made aware of my capabilities, but the weak ones would surrender right away and let me move up faster…saving my strength.

“Begin!” The elderly woman barked.

Immediately my opponent charged me as she attempted to bring down her blade from my left. Seeing the slow move way before the blade even got close to me,  quickly side stepped before tripping her by hooking her ankle with my own. Just as she was falling down, I decided to make the humiliation worse as I slashed her back twice. As her back bled in the shape of a large X, I put one foot on top of her and my blade on the side of her throat.

Looking at the judge (the elderly woman) I looked for confirmation of my victory…or did I need to kill her?

“Do as you wish” Her voice was cold. Not an ounce of sympathy or wavering of heart for the young girl who was literally bleeding to death. I was about to let her up when I realized our current rank.

If I let her live then she would have to continue the competition as rank 91…on top of her injury. Due to our ranks, she would not be getting any sort of medicinal care or even first aid. Most likely she would succumb to blood loss or, if by some miracle she survives, she would fall to infections and die painfully.

I should kill her. Get rid of a competitor, no matter how unlikely it is.

Feeling just a tad-bit of sympathy for someone who shared my blood, I decided to give her my mercy. I raised my blade from her throat to her back where I stabbed it straight through her heart. Putting a little more strength behind it, the sword went through a bit of the stone underneath her as well. I would have decapitated her but I didn’t want to dishonor her further. 

Looking around the arena at the other contestants, I could see the changes in their eyes as they realized that my abilities were far far beyond my current rank. I would be going after them soon…very soon.

“Winner, Arie Pandora!”

*ding* My pocket turned visible as my rank changed to 89. Without even a single moment of rest, I commanded my pocket to send a challenge to rank 84. I was done living in that shit-hole of a room. 

… …

The second day came to an end and I found myself in front of room 76. In reality, I didn’t even fight number 84 yet but due to the dead contestants, our ranks were pulled up. Now with almost a fifth of the contestants gone, there would be less deaths and challenges in general in the following months. Everyone would be scouting…watching…waiting for their chance to strike.

Opening the door with my pocket, I found a small white room. The floor was slightly muddy, the walls had some rips in them but it was still a thousand times better than yesterday. On the table, yes there was a table, was a small steaming bowl of stew. Without even thinking I devoured the bowl and emptied it of its contents in my hunger.

Laying down on the horrible mattress (in which I could feel all of the steel springs underneath poking through) I prayed tomorrow would be better. To continuously win and win until I could hold my own.

The grin still wouldn’t go away…I wished it would.

… …

The following days were filled with surrenders from my opponent’s side until I somehow found myself at Rank 32. Actually there was one match when I was at rank 51 but I completely decimated the young woman. Perhaps that was why the following days were just surrenders.

It was quite the relaxation to do nothing since nobody below my level challenged me and I could only send a challenge after someone surrendered or lost to my hands. So most days I rolled around trying to sneak more food into my room or watching the opponents fight each other.

Other than myself, there was another girl who had climbed the ladder way too fast. Arie Harriet was not really a well known member among us but she truly broke all expectations since the beginning. As a member of a branch family, she showed some different characteristics from most of us. The first eye-catching part would be her dark skin which contrasted from the familiar white hair. In addition, she wore very skimpy clothing…if it could be called clothing at all. Wearing thin layers which barely covered half of her breasts and another short cloth which hung onto her waist by a threat…well, as a rather conservative family this wasn’t really smiled upon. Her blade was a typical Arie Longsword with guards but instead of the silver colored steel, her blade was nearly pitch black. She was around a dozen rankings above me when she, like myself, aggressively challenged those above her and climbed her way up. Fighting even two times a day (lucky…I had to wait) she managed to climb all the way to rank 19.

She was currently in the area challenging rank 17, seemingly having slowed down her pace as she realized the dangers of the competitors above her.

“Begin!” 

I could already tell that this was a different type of battle as neither side made their moves first. Slowly…they shifted their weights, changed footing, and tilted their blades to see how the other would react.

Ten seconds passed in complete silence until Harriet couldn’t wait anymore. She swung her blade horizontally cutting through the shinsu. That started it as a following a parry from the other sides, the blades began to blur and multiply from the speed.

*clang!* *clang!*

Metal on metal. Blade on blade. Arie Swordsmanship clashed against each other as each one tried to gain the upper hand.  Swords and flashes of light bled one way before appearing in a completely new direction.

The law of the tower stating the impossibility of following an Arie blade showing its worth. Only one of Arie blood may read it and only one undeniably superior be able to deflect it.

“Arie Harriet style: Sixfold Central Slash!” The dark skinned swordsman yelled as she crouched down and pulled her blade back in for a seemingly decisive attack. Numerous cuts appeared on her arms and legs as her defense fell but her eyes stayed determined.

As she lunged forward with her blade held near her chest with both hands, pointing outwards, an outline of 6 blades formed around her as they rushed to her opponent.

Seeing as she had lost her chance to evade, she evoked the standard Arie defense stance. Her skin glistened slightly giving away the tell-tale signs of shinsu body reinforcement.

As the blades hit, they began to dig in slowly…painfully at an excruciating speed. Perhaps the screaming woman knew that she was lost, she released her defensive stance as she too stabbed her blade forward, digging it into Harriet’s stomach.

As the shinsu blades stabbed through her, she fell unconscious and likely to die within minutes. While Harriet was declared the winner, she didn’t look exactly better as she fell onto her knees desperately trying to get back to her room where she would be able to request medical assistance.

She raised her hands towards us, the audience members, for help. To help her get to her room. She mumbled a few incoherent words before also falling to the floor, the sword of her opponent still lodged through her stomach. None of us helped, none of us dared. Saving her would just mean another competitor to be aware of, another one which could kill you, betray you, and even take your spot.

So we watched as we let her die. When her pocket visualized and fell to the ground, giving the confirmation of her death, the workers arrived as they wrapped her body and took her away.

I should have felt some sort of pity or sadness but all I could feel was the sense of reality. This was the Tower after all and if this was what it took for me to become a god…then I wasn’t going to complain.

Young talent wasted…but the Arie family had plenty to spare.