Fandom &nbsp; [Closed] Tower of God: Alpha Perspective

The One Eyed Bandit

Rantos · May 6, 2020

Illiam Herlaa
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OverconfidentMagi
He was getting into it. What started as a mocking curiosity turned into a sentiment far more genuine as Illiam more closely emulated, or tried to emulate, the boy's movements. Confident step after faulty step, Illiam was giving his best, distracted as the world around him fogged. Its center drawn to the boy and the Shinsoo orbs forming within his hands, growing with volatile energy that could only be considered dangerous. And equally stunning. Growing and growing yet still controlled.

Soon enough, Illiam's mind starts to wander, and so do his eyes. Following along the steps of the dance, he looks at the stage to see everyone go up. Lovely displays, all around. Good shows performed by strangers and foggy face familiars alike. He took note of all the names and their scores, arbitrary numbers, and names that caused pain to read. Then, it was Minerva's turn, and Illiam was excited to see how this would turn out. Her show, more than anyone else's, shook the audience. At the very least, it certainly shook Illiaim. How inspiring, not to mention exciting. Enough to drive Illiam to take his own turn. He'd make a show out of it too, finishing the dance with one more flourish, one that set him right in front of the boy he had been imitating, face to face to Baang to body. Looking the boy in the eyes, Illiam felt a sense of regret. "Maybe I should apologize if I survive this."

Crack and snap, rend tear rip. Oh, it's all too clear, the pain, the pain burns, it burns. Nerves going necrotic as the synapse paths snap. This is, the worst pain. This was, the worst pain. Redoubling sensations that wrack the brain, numb the body, inflicting pain that goes beyond being felt on skin flesh and bone but skips right to the core, emotional. And as his heart stopped, he was reminded. And as the dark overtook vision, he remembered.

----------------

The first thing to move was his arm. As Minerva treated him, his arm reached across his body to grab hold of his shoulder, feeling at the seem where his body ended and the ignition weapon begins. His mouth is the next thing to move, opening to welcome in whatever air would be kind enough to fill Illiam's lungs. Then, once his legs could move, they did so, bending as his back arched, and his arms moved finally to push him from bridge position to standing. His eyes were to last to move, wincing as the curtains parted, and with them, so did the fog. His gaze fell on the boy who had hit him, he had been by Illiam's side. How nice.

"You hit kinda like a Ranker kid." Illiam touches his ignition weapon made arm. "My bad for dancing poorly. You should come and correct my moves sometimes, or else I'll keep doing them wrong." Illiam smiles at the boy, or rather, he tries. But what comes out is weak, feeble, forced. Turning his attention to Minerva, he speaks again.

"And you. I guess I owe you something. I'll buy ya lunch sometime." With that squared away, Illiam looked out into the crowd, and it almost hurt to see the faces so clearly now. A moment of lucidity, and it was almost blinding. The first face he saw was Areum, and her everpresent cynical scowl. Such hateful comfort was welcome. Instantly brought back to the times so many years ago where her gaze alone forced the breath from his windpipe, invisible hands snapping it in two. He hopped to enjoy that sensation again. The next two he remembered by name. As Weiss listed off his teammates. Nyra. Exnor.

His eyes scanned the crowd, and it didn't take long to find their desire. The two stood together. Convenient. As he walked off stage, he waved at Weiss, the only confirmation that he heard what the man had said. Step by step Illiam came closer to the two. His eyes darted back and forth, looking at Nyra, then Exnor, then back as if his eyes didn't want either to feel left out. Creeping steps, creeping smile, a hungry gaze that hearkened back to the gluttony bound beast of the second floor. Once he was only a few feet from either, he stopped.

"Hello, Nyra." Singling her out with both his words and gaze. "I remember you being a good pet owner. I'd like to ask for some advice on how to find pets you've lost. It doesn't have to be now. Just make sure it's by tomorrow."

The One Eyed Bandit · May 9, 2020

Po Bidau. At the mention of her new team leader's name, Areum's ears perked up a touch. This wasn't the first time she'd had to work with another Family member since she'd entered the Tower, but it was a novel prospect none the less. She couldn't say the same for her other teammate, though.

Ruffling her own hair, she shot the amazonian woman a glance from across the room. It wasn't like she'd have held her tongue if she knew that the two of them would be working together, but she felt some level of irritation regardless. Nothing was ever easy, was it? There was always a catch. She grumbled, let her expression sink one notch darker, and then pocketed her feelings of sourness as she moved to approach the other two Regulars.

"Po Bidau, huh?" For those who might've already known the Eurasian Regular, Areum's voice carried with it a surprising lack of its usual bitterness. "Eurasia Areum. I suppose we'll be working together. There's a surprising amount of Family kids here today, huh? What's up with that?" The Eurasia girl's eyes passed over the Ha and Lo Pia Bia child as she spoke. All of them, her new partner included, had scored higher than her on the test. As a matter of fact, it hadn't even been a close call. She turned her attention to Ji-Hyeon. Hell, even that nobody has managed to outperform her, even if it was only by a thin margin.

She cringed internally as she mulled over both the punching bag test, and the battle royale they'd been subjected to previously. She'd never admit it out loud, but her efficacy had been getting less and less impressive for a while now. When she'd entered the Tower, she'd been determined to scale it by the force of her own will alone, but...

Ah. She caught herself, and shook off that line of thought.

"...Anyway." She turned from the pair, and started to make for the exit. "I'm going to go and unwind, or something. See you... Two, I guess, in the next test."

simj26

Azure Sky · May 9, 2020

Exnor

"Hey, would you look at that. I didn't need to do anything to have Illiam on our team." Exnor laughed cheerfully.

"Hello, Nyra. I remember you being a good pet owner. I'd like to ask for some advice on how to find pets you've lost. It doesn't have to be now. Just make sure it's by tomorrow."

"Heh, he even remembers you well." Exnor lifted Illiam from the ground and carried him like a bag. "I will take him to our team room." He said to Nyra. If she wanted to go there as well or relax, it was her choice.

Minerva

"Eurasia Areum. I suppose we'll be working together. There's a surprising amount of Family kids here today, huh? What's up with that?"

"Oh, um, Po Bidau Minerva, pleased to meet you." Minerva replied politely. She was about to say that it was a good question, regarding the number of Ten Family members gathered in one place at the same time, but...

"...Anyway. I'm going to go and unwind, or something. See you... Two, I guess, in the next test." Elusive person, this Areum. Minerva wasn't too bothered by it. They weren't there to make friends, but Areum's subtle cold shoulder was slightly disheartening.

She turned her attention to Ji-Hyeon. This muscular woman was quite imposing, in part also because of her simingly quiet nature. Minerva didn't know how to approach her, or if she would receive the same aloof reaction like she did from Areum, so she just smiled at the horned woman and made a simple comment. "It wasn't my intention, but it seems we are an all-female green-hair team. Just realised it." Maybe it would get a conversation going.

Sasha Outta Nowhere

"Sir, sir , sir. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Hey, Hey!" A short green-haired girl (again) tried to grab the attention of Weiss.

"Yes, Sasha. Do you need to borrow some money again?"

"Yes!"

...

Weiss gave her some.

"Wait! No! That's not why I am here."

"I see. Then can I have it ba-"

"Umm sir, this is not my place to ask, but shouldn't you tell them about the Arena?"

"Oh... That is a good point Sasha. Thank you."

"You're welcome sir."

"Now, about my money..."

"Oh gee, look at the time, I need to wash the dishes."

Sasha disappeared from sight.

...

"Ahem. Before you go, there's actually one more announcement to make..."

___________________________________________________________________________________
Ken Gun Arena Challenge

The 20th Floor has a special Arena similar to a colloseum. Until tomorrow's game anyone can challenge anyone from another team. The person challenged is obliged to accept. The winner gets to take a member from the loser's team as their own. There is a time limit and a catch: the Arena has sensors. The person that manages to hurt the other the most in 3 minutes wins.

simj26 · May 9, 2020

Po Bidau Minerva, Areum Eurasia. Not a bad haul. Areum may not realise it, but her specialty lay elsewhere. Offense was clearly not her forte, and that output was pretty high, almost cutting it close to Ji-hyeon herself. Minerva, herself, was also from one of the 10 Greats. However, the numerical advantage the other team held over her own gave her some cause for worry. She wondered about the sparring ring that the administrator announced earlier. If she could break one of their limbs by accident during a sparring session, she could take one of them out of the running to level the playing ground. Her eyes darted across the other Regulars, as she stood up slowly. She had to take out one of the bigger fish. Len Lumiere looked weak, taking him out was not much use to her team. It boiled down to Ha, John, and the rabbit himself. It would be great if she could cripple the rabbit- it would certainly remove a majority of her worries. She rubbed her knuckles in anticipation. Her cards were in a mess, she didn't have a good hand. She did, however, have a trump card. Should she play it this early in the game? The rabbit and Ha already showcased their own hands, each of them coming in at at least a full house. She folded her arms and fell deep into thought, even as Areum gave her one of her usual gripings. It wasn't until Po Bidau Minerva approached her with a strange musing of her own that Ji-hyeon looked up.

"Huh." Ji-hyeon never noticed that. How humorously interesting. That said, however, it didn't detract from the fact that the Po Bidau girl was clearly trying to start a conversation with her, and the worst way to start one was to ask about the weather, this much anyone should know. Naturally, she came to a much more intriguing subject. Ji-hyeon supposed she could entertain the lady a little. She gave a short laugh, and smiled at the Po Bidau girl. "You're right. What are the chances, huh?" The previously unnerving exterior faded away, like a fleeting shadow disappearing from the light. "Or did you pick us on purpose just because of that?" she joked. "What do you think we should be called? The Lean Green Mean Machines? Like a band?" She laughed a hearty laugh once more.

She fell silent as another announcement broke out through the vicinity. The gears in her head began to turn. She brandished her trump card in her head. She had to play it now. As bad as her hand was, there was just no way she couldn't take this opportunity to climb ahead. She turned and looked towards the other participants. With a flourish, she directed her finger forwards at the girl with the cat ears, her voice low, but excited. "I challenge you," she paused, then shifted her finger away from the girl, and towards Ha boy, "Ha Naseon." She turned back to Minerva and offered another smile. She laid one hand on the girl's shoulders, then walked away towards where the arena would be. "I'll see you in a bit, Ha." She waved behind her.

She laid out the cards. Time to call and see where they fell.

The One Eyed Bandit

OverconfidentMagi · May 10, 2020

Nyra Carciphi

Nyra's golden eyes gaped wide at the sight of Illiam's body being flung across the room. Forgetting herself for the moment, her mouth fell open, revealing lines of black needle-like teeth normally well-hidden behind closed lips and layers of bandages. She couldn't make sense of what she was seeing. A person jumped into the air after Illiam, as if to deliver a follow-up strike. A large part of her heart wished for that. Attack Illiam, kill Illiam, tear his body apart. Such was the unreasonable fear that had built up in her heart towards this person she'd barely been in the same room with, let alone interacted with. The ones she trusted most in this tower feared Illiam, and that was more than enough reason for her to fear him herself. But the person didn't finish off Illiam, instead seeming concerned with his well-being. That was wrong. No, that was correct. She was the one in the wrong here. Her heart knew that, but her mind was more conflicted.

As the testing came to a close, Nyra hadn't paid any attention to the scores on the board. She knew she was at the bottom, that she wouldn't be moving forward this time. Again, she wasn't terribly upset at that. Avoiding taking tests at the same time as the person that clouded her heart with such fear and hatred was more than worth the price of having to retake this floor's tests. She wasn't worried about becoming stuck on this floor, like what happened to many regulars on this floor known for weeding out the unworthy, the unskilled, and the unlucky. Nyra had never once doubted her own climbing the tower, not when she'd abandoned the idea of teammates, not during the worst tests that pushed her mind and body beyond their limits, not when she'd lost 'friends' she valued more than herself. Her climbing the tower was inevitable, so this setback didn't matter much at all. She would be relieved to be away from Illiam and regain her disrupted composure.

"Now then Von Hare, as the winner, you can choose 3 team mates aside from Po Bidau Minerva. Your team will have one extra member from the rest."

Nyra hears Weiss' words, but their meaning was slow to sink in. "H-hye!?" In other words, this test hadn't been about weeding out people. Just like on the testing floor, at this point regulars were expected to find companions to continue their journey up the tower.

"I choose the blind guy, the baby-face, and the reckless shorty." said the rabbit-looking regular.

Of course, Nyra was not one of the prime choices this person would pick.

"Very well. Po Bidau Minerva, you may now choose two team members, apart from Illiam Herlaa."

Nyra looked around the room. She counted the number of faces. A heavy weight filled her stomach. Three teams. Illiam was being treated as third place. Anyone remaining after the second place made their picks... would be placed on the same team as Illiam. Nyra looked up at the scoreboard, at her ranking. Last place. The dregs. She would not be picked. Even so, her golden eyes turned to plead at the girl whom held the sole opportunity to save Nyra from the worst-case situation. But-

"I choose Areum Eurasia and Han Ji-Hyeon."

-her plea never reached the green-haired girl-

"Illiam Herlaa's team members will be by default Nyra Carciphi and Lo Po Bia Exnor."

-and Weiss' words sealed Nyra's fate. The very situation she'd asked for out of desperation, the same one she'd dreaded, had fallen into her lap. The combination of relief and terror she felt at that made her want to throw up.

"You will now be assigned team rooms. Feel free to interact and relax in the residential area as you wait for the next test tomorrow. Oh... There's also a sparring arena. ... Herlaa, make sure not to destroy the door to your room this time."

She clutched the bowl containing her family tightly against herself as she tried to hide from a dangerous predator.

"Hello, Nyra."

She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, so she just raised her head and dropped it back down to her chest in a hollow acknowledgement of having heard her... teammate's greeting.

"I remember you being a good pet owner. I'd like to ask for some advice on how to find pets you've lost. It doesn't have to be now. Just make sure it's by tomorrow."

Not even Exnor's casual treatment of the object of Nyra's fears could dislodge the black pit that had caught in her throat. She waited until they had moved off a ways before she risked taking an unsteady breath. Her golden eyes opened and focused. Illiam was searching for a shinheuh. If that was true, she would do everything in her power to keep him from finding what he was looking for. What a petty goal, but it would do. Nyra unfolded her legs and walked in the direction of her... teammates.

"Ahem. Before you go, there's actually one more announcement to make..." Weiss spoke up again even as groups scattered to take advantage of the promised amenities and rest. "The 20th Floor has a special Arena similar to a coliseum. Until tomorrow's game anyone can challenge anyone from another team. The person challenged is obliged to accept. The winner gets to take a member from the loser's team as their own. There is a time limit and a catch: the Arena has sensors. The person that manages to hurt the other the most in 3 minutes wins."

Nyra stopped. The image of the scoreboard with her name at the very bottom flashed in her mind. "Weiss you... those rules are really too mean." Her bandaged fingers balled into fists. The situation those simple rules set up was to pick a fight with the weakest member of a team in order to steal the strongest member. In other words, Nyra would be challenged by someone aiming to take Illiam for their team. The idea of losing Illiam as a teammate was not one Nyra disliked, except for the fact that it would mean making Illiam a likely opponent in subsequent tests. That couldn't be allowed to happen. No matter who challenged her, Nyra couldn't let herself lose.

Naseon Ha

Naseon lay on his back still on the stage where the punching machine sat. That regular's words played back in his head. He hadn't even reacted like he'd nearly died. Naseon didn't understand what had just happened. That had been his strongest attack. Sure he'd tried to protect the guy from it at the last second - Naseon's damaged hand and arm attested to that small act - but still, he should have been hurting after taking a hit like that unguarded.

Since the beginning of his climb up the tower, Ha Naseon had found joy in his own strength. He was stronger than he'd known. Now that he'd stepped a tiny bit out of his family's shadow, he could be stronger than anyone. He was strong.

Does it matter if you're weak, Hana?, A girl's voice mocked him from his memories.

"I am strong," he growled the words. Stronger than you at least.

"Ha Naseon."

A voice saying his name forced Naseon to move his eyes lazily in the direction of the speaker. It was one of the girls with green hair, surrounded by other basically-identical girls. He didn't know which one was the one he'd told himself to remember. It was one of the green-hairs, but which one was she? They all blended together to him. Was the one pointing at him the Po Bidau girl?

"What do you want girlie?" He hadn't bothered to lift himself from laying sprawled out on the stage.

"I'll see you in a bit, Ha." The girl walked off.

What was that about? He stared at her retreating inverted back. Had she just picked a fight with him? He sat up and stared at her now right-side up. Wasn't that kind of stupid? After all-

The person challenged is obliged to accept.

OverconfidentMagi · May 11, 2020

Collab post with

simj26

Han Ji-hyeonvsHa Naseon

Naseon pushed himself up from the stage. It was difficult. He'd stayed still just a little too long, so the shinsoo was beginning to press down on his body. Thankfully, he was strong. If he wasn't strong enough to force his body to move with this little amount of resistance, he wouldn't have lived this long already. With heavy, lumbering steps he made his way to the arena.

Ji-hyeon unclipped her shield from her back and held it up in front of her, gazing at it, the other hand smoothing over the stickers that adorned the inner side. Quite a few of them were beginning to fade, and some had been scarred by the ill treatment and punishment that the shield had received over the years. It was just that- a chunk of metal that she decided to work on while she was hanging around in one of the previous floors, but so far, it had been of more use than any of the Needles and swords that she had picked up. That said, however, she wouldn’t be counting on its help for the next few minutes. She gently set it on one side of the sparring arena, patting it as if it were some kind of pet she was leaving at home for the day.

She heard the footsteps approach the arena, and she turned around, the ever present smile upon her face. "My, my. Invited out for a date, and already arriving late? Girls don't like that in a guy."

Naseon's bright green eyes rose slowly from the ground up his opponent's body, finally meeting her eyes. Gold, not green. He let out a disappointed sigh. "You aren't the Po Bidau girl, are you?" He'd have been excited to fight her. Normally Naseon would be eager to fight anyone, but what had happened with that last test was bothering him, and he found himself in a rare mood. He really didn't feel like fighting a nobody. If it was one of the exciting opponents maybe, but the person standing before him was boring. Boring and weak. But rules were rules.

The person challenged is obliged to accept.

He'd just have to beat her and then forget all about her.

Naseon yawned loudly, covering his mouth with his gloved, damaged, blackened right hand. "I'm not really feeling this right now, so just hurry up and get on with it."

"Well, a little foreplay oughta warm you up a little, hm?" Ji-hyeon's expression and tone didn't change a single bit. Taunting, playful, lackadaisical as ever, she rolled her shoulders. Hatred and fury boiled within, every fiber in her body was telling her to crush Ha Naseon where he stood. That was the desire of the Ji-hyeon who first entered the Tower's challenge. Tempered, however, by experiences, the hatred became newfound joy instead. She was going to enjoy this. Lose, win, who cared?

Her strategy was infallible.

She should start off with an appetiser. Get the tastebuds really going. She got into a stance, holding her fists upwards. "Let's go."

With those words, she closed the gap with a blink, clouds of smoke beginning to form across her body, and she punched straight forwards, aiming straight at his face, twisting her fist.

Naseon stared up at the simulated sky above the arena. The girl had punched him in the face, but aside from the slight mark on his cheek you wouldn't have been able to guess as much from his reaction. Oh no, getting punched wasn't why he was on his back staring up at the false sky, he'd simply fallen backwards after his thoroughly satisfying yawn. I should take a nap after this, was what he thought then. Oh no, he wasn't tired from punching that one guy or getting punched by this girl, he simply felt like taking a nap. Such were the insignificant thoughts that filled Naseon's head during what the other party surely considered a combat that mattered in some way. Still on the ground, he turned his emerald eyes onto the girl, somehow managing to look down at her even from the ground. "Was that your best hit, or do you want to try again?"

"Oh? You're not going to fight back?" Ji-hyeon's smile curled just a little bit more. "Then I suppose you won't mind if I take you for our team, then?" She raised her fist into the air, before it shot down with a loud sound reminiscent of a gunshot, slamming downwards to his face, poised to strike him into the ground itself.

That looks like it might hurt, at least that was what Naseon thought. Fine, he'd treat this girlie just a little bit, just a tiny bit, like she was worth fighting back against. What a nice guy he was, really.

Naseon's hands each moved at the same time. The left hand, that had been spread flat against the ground, twisted into a fist as he pulled on the nearly-invisible green tendrils of shinsoo that had spread across the ground out from his palm. The right, that had been placed over his mouth as if covering another yawn, flipped around, revealing the formation of a light green baang. Two hands in motion, two techniques in action. He pulled the tendrils of shinsoo which ran from his hand across the ground and up and around the feet of the green-haired girl standing over him. Lured in by his own empty taunt, he'd gotten the girl to stand over him while retorting as he lay around doing nothing. How stupid was she, seriously? Now he pulled himself up while pulling her feet out from under her.

Her balance disrupted, he grabbed her explosive punch with his other hand, twisting his body to match the momentum of hers as the baang in his hand drew the shinsoo of her attack into itself. He spun and pressed his palm, and the green baang containing her own strength, against her own head, and pushed.

Ji-hyeon fell, almost gracefully, brought down by Naseon's counterattack. To tell the truth, she didn't see this coming. Still, it was quite the spectacle to behold. Finally, she managed to get him to--

Her head slammed into the ground before she could finish her thought, and the earth beneath it cracked, a crater appearing upon where her head now lay. For a moment, she was still, unmoving, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

"Hey now, it wasn't that hard of a hit. Don't go dying from it." Naseon brushed himself off and looked down at the green-haired girl with what might have been concern. His foot poked her side, a rudimentary check that she was indeed still living.

Her eyes snapped back, and she pushed herself off from the ground, looking no worse for wear, the same smile on her face. "Feeling up to it now?" Her teasing tone remained. "Try not to worry too much about me." She slowly returned to her initial stance. "I like it rough. Keep it coming. I'm gonna drag you over to our side, like it or not."

Naseon waved a gloved hand in front of his face, as if dispelling this person's irritating words. "Please keep me out of your weird fantasies, I already have someone." At some point in that motion, a green light had again gathered in his palm as he used that same technique again. There wasn't as much shinsoo for it to absorb without some attack being used, but this one Naseon didn't plan on using for a quick counter. He'd let it sit in his hand and charge up. This one was for ending the fight.

Without any prelude to the attack, Naseon lunged at the girl, his empty hand stretched out to simply grab her. She weaved under his grab, and directed a straight jab straight into his liver. The blow knocked Naseon a few inches off the ground, forcing him to take a step back to catch his breath. His green eyes hadn't blinked even while taking the painful hit. He lunged in close a second time, again simply reached towards the girl with an open palm. The girl's smile only widened. She sidestepped the lunge, then closed in, one arm snaking around his neck. Pressing her bicep against his neck, she braced her other arm against the back of his neck, caught hold of it, and tightened the vice, crushing his arteries.

Seriously? Naseon couldn't quite believe this girl's actions as she pressed hard into his neck. He still had his shinsoo tendrils spread around the arena, some even clinging to the girl's body, and she hadn't taken a single action to restrain his arm holding the hungry baang of his Nautilus technique. Did she seriously think that this kind of situation favored her?

Naseon pondered what he should do while the girl continued to try and crush his throat. If he pulled her head back and pushed the baang in his hand right into her face... no, that would probably kill her. Was that even allowed right now? Naseon couldn't say for sure, since he hadn't been paying attention the whole time the rules had been announced. He should probably try not to kill her then.

He tossed the bright green baang he'd been holding into the air above him, both as a little distraction and to simply free up a second hand. Stupid. He slammed a fist into each elbow holding his head in place. Ji-hyeon blinked, and quickly released her grip before the hits could connect, and flipped backwards, away. A bead of sweat slid down her face. That was dangerous. So this was the power of one of the 10 Greats. Was she biting off more than she could chew? She glanced up at the green baang in the air.

"You want to play with that Bidau girl, right?" she suddenly asked. "It's not really my place to question your tastes, but let's say you join our team, and move up together. Don't you think that's more romantic?" She dusted herself down, and rubbed her knuckles once more. "What's the play, champ? Gonna stay in that sausagefest?"

The baang fell down and landed back in Naseon's open palm. His green eyes stared at this girl with something slightly more than apathy. "I told you to keep me out of your weird fantasies," he repeated. "It doesn't matter to me who follows in my wake going up the tower, I just figured if I had to fight one of the green girlies, I'd prefer if it be the strongest one of you."

He reached out for the girl again, the same motion as before. But his tendrils already had caught hold. He'd been trying so blatantly to touch her, yet she'd thought it a good idea to grab him instead? Stupid. Pale green wisps of shinsoo ran from Naseon's outstretched hand all the way to the girl's body where he'd touched her. Seaweed. The technique that prevented his prey from escaping his grasp.

With a bored kind of grin, almost saying he was sorry for not playing with her longer, Naseon pulled taut his tendrils and his body was pulled through the air towards the girl.

"Now, you're thinking," Ji-hyeon spoke suddenly, her expression unmoving, "'The girl fell for it!', aren't you?" Her body strained against the tendrils of Shinsoo, as she crossed her arms across her chest, her smile widening into a mad rictus. A cloud of smoke erupted from her, swallowing up the tendrils, before flowing back around her body, coating her in its veil. She sidestepped the boy's oncoming trajectory, and, once again, aimed straight for his liver. The air around her fist seemed to shatter, a shockwave rippling through the space, as her fist shot forwards, the howling of the wind behind it.

Naseon was forced to admit the girl was not completely stupid after all. She had, at least, correctly guessed what he was thinking. His anchor point of her body having disappeared, Naseon's trajectory towards her hadn't changed. Once again he found himself thinking, That looks like it might hurt, as he saw another vicious attack aimed at his body. She'd used some technique to break the tendrils he'd placed on her, but the ones where he'd touched the ground were still there. With a slight tug, his body dropped closer to the ground, slipping under the no doubt devastating blow the girl had prepared for him.

The green baang flickered as it lapped up shinsoo from her attack. Just more power to throw back in her face. He didn't use it. Instead he used his momentum to catch her by the foot as he slipped past. Green tendrils from his fingers wrapped tightly around her feet and ankles. Naseon resisted the primal urge that rose up within his soul to yell, TIMBERRRRRR!, somehow.

She fell, but as she did, the tendrils wrapped around her leg once more dissipated into smoke. She caught herself, landing on her hands, and flipping away, like an acrobat. She didn't even seem slightly perturbed, as she paced slowly about the arena. "It's clear that your cards are superior than mine." Her hands brushed lazily across her belt. Her eyes darted once, furtively, towards the green baang. "But you've laid out your cards way too early. I certainly can't beat your hand, but I can still call the bet." Smoke began to clothe her once more. "You've been gathering Shinsoo in the green baang of yours. Mine? Yours?. It's powerful, that much is certain. However," she tucked her hands into her pockets, "here's the thing, Ha. You can't hit me. Not now, not ever. Especially if you depend this much on Shinsoo." She gave a small chuckle of satisfaction. "You're fun. What say you put all in now? See if I can call that bet."

"You talk too much," Naseon answered. That seemed like it might be all he would say, until he added, "This isn't even a real fight. Haven't you noticed at all?" His green eyes were cold. What his question was really saying was, that while she was busy trying to beat him, he'd been busy thinking of a way to end this without killing her. In other words, he only planned on running down the clock. This girl seriously thought she had a chance of winning? Just how stupid was she?

He reached out for her again, the same as each time before. This time though, the amount of tendrils reaching from his palm were much more numerous and very clearly visible. It was like a wave of snakes all reaching out towards the girl with the singular goal of touching her and constricting her. The baang the girl had pointed out remained floating in Naseon's other hand.

"Hm?" She noted his question. What didn't she notice? Her form flickered, and her body almost looked as if it was fading in and out of the waves of snakes, weaving in between them as if she were one herself. More to the point, he hadn't seemed to notice either that, while his power was strength, hers was speed. Was he trying to...? No, he couldn't be. Were they both playing the same game from the start? She clicked her tongue in annoyance. This was a waste of time.

"Ugh. I thought you'd be at least somewhat fun to meddle around with." She ceased her advance, and, finally, her smile turned into a scowl of derision. "Whatever, dude," she waved her hand. Time was coming to an end. By her estimation, perhaps a few more seconds. She can't win, but she certainly couldn't lose.

So stupid. Naseon covered his mouth with his hand as he let out another loud yawn. His green eyes flicked down to the baang in his hand. "Oh right, I should probably use this..." He raised his hand, at first towards the girl, but seeming to change his mind he turned his aim to the side of the arena instead. As usual, the second he released the technique, the baang exploded with all of the power it had absorbed. The explosion wasn't particularly bright or at all destructive, but it was loud, sounding very similar to the girl's gunshot-like punches. Despite that girl's impression, the baang hadn't been very strong at all, unable to absorb much shinsoo during this particular conflict. It had accomplished its goal though, the concussive noise completely covering the sound of something being hit by a heavy chunk of solid metal.

Naseon let out a deep sigh. That probably wouldn't kill her, but he'd tell that Weiss guy to do his job and check to make sure her head was still in one piece. Seriously, how stupid did you have to be to get hit by your own weapon?

She stood, stunned, her body stepping forwards, reeling from the blow. A rivulet of blood trickled slowly down her face. She blinked once, twice, as the shield slid off her head and landed on the ground with a heavy clang. She blinked once more, then furrowed her brow, almost as if the idea was starting to form in her head, then, all at once, her frustration boiled over. "FOR REAL?!" She clenched her fists, the same white smoke piling over her body. "You're gonna play with weapons, huh?!" She nudged her foot in between her shield and the ground, and lifted it into the air with a kick. Her boot shot forwards, kicking the shield straight towards Naseon. That was it. She was done playing with this kid. The smoke enveloped her, and she vanished.

Her body skidded to halt behind Naseon, her golden eyes now glazed over with some sort of emotion. Her fist was once more directed at his liver again.

Instead of moving to evade or counter, Naseon raised a finger. "Pocket, visible mode." The black sphere popped into existence atop his finger, its surface flashing a single thing:

00:00

The shinsoo surrounding Naseon's body - no, the effect reached the far corners of the arena - came to a hard stop, as if the air had suddenly frozen over. His own pocket dropped out of the air like it had turned to lead, the display fizzing out. The weight of the shinsoo was oppressive. It was something Naseon had grown accustomed to growing up. He caught the girl's shield and stepped forward away from her. She'd gotten predictable during their fight. Not that he was one to talk, he'd only used a single technique really.

He didn't bother looking back at the stupid girl that had lost herself at the last second - no, after the last second - but he did offer a sarcastic wave over his shoulder as he walked out of the arena. Now, he felt like he'd maybe worked a little bit for that nap he'd thought about.

Rantos · May 12, 2020

Illiam Herlaa
Tags:

OverconfidentMagi
'Do I enjoy this?'

A harrowing question to be sure. Not for its own inherent content, but rather the connotation of each answer. To say yes would be to give in to weakness and admit to finding enjoyment, or at least a cold acceptance, in being held like someone's common luggage. Reducing oneself to a thing that need be carried around, and thrown into the corner of the destination. Disgraceful. And yet, who was Illiam to deny the internet charms of being toted around by a man this handsome. Could Exnor's own physical charm be an indicator of status instead? Much in the same way an elegant chariot should be admired as an extension of the might of its rider. Yeah, that sounded about right.

So, Illiam stiffened up, keeping his legs, arm, upper body, straight. Embodying the essence of a long beam of wood. Though his weight would demand a fallen tree as a more fitting metaphor. Looking back at all the Regulars who's gazes met his, pointing at Exnor's back with that smile that spoke the only sentence that mattered: "Yeah, I bet you wish you were in my place."

Quiet contemplation aside, Illiam heard what Weiss had said. As he finished, Illiam turned his gaze to Nyra who probably had a similar realization. A smart girl like her has to see the target painted on her back. Illiam raised his hand, pointing to Nyra before curling an extended finger, becoming the girl to come closer. Quickly.

"I'm not leaving this team just yet Exnor. You two are the first hints I've hit in years. So, we're hiding Nyra in the room until I'm finished hearing what I need." Such a lukewarm sentiment did not come with a tone to match. It was an order, and one that wasn't complemented by Exnor carrying Illiam back to the very room he mentioned.

Azure Sky · May 12, 2020

Exnor

"I'm not leaving this team just yet Exnor. You two are the first hints I've hit in years. So, we're hiding Nyra in the room until I'm finished hearing what I need."

Arrogant and confident as ever. Exnor smirked. The guy was their leader after all. At least temporarily. "Whatever you say, boss." He responded in a smug manner.

Rantos

Ji-Hyeon vs Ha Naseon Results

A robotic voice could be heard in the arena. "Damage calculation processing. Substracting Ji-Hyeon's self harm. Process complete. Result: draw."

"Hey, hey." a not-so-robotic voice could be heard. "I was asked to be a refree for this fight and assure you guys don't kill each other, since I have free time! It was my free time, damn you, Weiss, you meanie..." Sasha returned. "Ahem, anyway, your fight ended in a draw. You can rechallenge or be rechallenged." Before she could ask them what they wanted to do, however, two people came forth.

"I wish to challenge...!"
"I wish to challenge Ha Naseon."
...

Exnor and Minerva looked at each other. Exnor wanted to fight Naseon too, but Minerva was quicker to issue a challenge. He thought he'd get there just in time after leaving Illiam in the room. He wanted to increase his team's power, and a member of Von Hare's team seemed like a good idea. He was also pondering fighting Ji-Hyeon, but Naseon just struck him as a better choice to test himself. He sighed in slight disappointment.

"I wish to challenge Ji-Hyeon." It wasn't a bad deal. He liked her moves. Enough to ask her out on sparring dates. Maybe actual dates later...

I am getting distracted. Damn Jun Lun and her matchmaking shenanigans. I kinda miss her, though...

Meanwhile, Po Bidau Minerva just wanted to put Naseon in his place for the poor treatment of her temporary team member. She was, unfortunately, a softie.

simj26

Azure Sky · May 13, 2020

Somewhere else- Floor 22, Underground Arena

The Outpray Underground Arena, secretly organized by the CEO of Purr Gatorade Energy Drinks Inc., High Ranker, current Ruler of the 20th Floor, and business woman associated with the Workshop, Yume Yu, together with her associates from the 22nd Floor, was exactly as it sounded. An underground Arena where Regulars could partecipate in 1-on-1 fights for money. Bets where also made, and good money could be generated from them. Behind the scenes rich people made the real big money, with highstake bets and transactions. Worthwhile individuals where also recruited by Yume's company, or other firms, to represent them in future endeavours (for a hefty sum, of course).

Next fight: Volk vs Sir Catotene

"I bet on the Mad Dog!"
"2000 points on the Mad Dog!"
"7000 points on the Mad Dog!"

People everywhere were betting good money on the Mad Dog of Yama partecipating in the event, Volk. The muscular man smirked with confidence as he effortlessly lifted his oversized club.

"Go Volk-nim!" His Angel cheered.

"Heh, underestimated am I?" Carotene scoffed.

"You have yet to observe the outstanding prowes of beta carotene, you deliciously obnoxious casuals!" He said, on a pretentious tone.
Heh, that hot chick is gonna be amazed after I defeat this looney pup.

"Come, opponent of mine! Thou shall feel my-"

A swing of Volk's club made Carotene fly in the nearby wall, cracking it in the process. He fainted afterwards. "I am thoroughly disappointed." Volk was blunt.

Through the ones spectating, two individuals in particular analysed Volk with interest.
"Do you think you can defeat him, Lin-sunbae?"
"Maybe." The woman gave a curt, emotionless reply.
"I think this is a bad idea."
"We need more money."
"We do, but..."
"We can get more money here."
"That is true, but..."
"You are concerned about me."
...
"That is actually quite insulting, Nimbus."
"I apologize Lin-sunbae. Please forgive me."
"I am not particularly mad..."
...
"I will prove my worth."
"She's always headstrong like this. It is, however, also one of her good points". Nimbus sighed.

QuirkyAngel

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QuirkyAngel · May 13, 2020

Ajax Cruise + Selicity Fars
Floor 22 - Outpray Underground Arena

Taking a seat next to Selicity, Ajax handed her a Purr Gatorade Energy Drink while the Cat Sidhe cheered with the rest of the crowd as the carrot knight, Carotene, was slammed into the wall. His assigned companion loved battle from what he could tell. An odd thing since whatever information he'd managed to look up regarding the species indicated them as a fairly peace-loving lot, but the people his employer took an interest in usually were. Odd in some way. Besides, he wasn't exactly in a position to call anyone strange and he acknowledged her usefulness in combat. "Find anyone worth teaming up with?"

"Volk looks strong, but I don't really like doggies."

Ajax nodded, acknowledging his teammate's assessment. The observer flapping its wing beside her should've recorded the battles for him to do a thorough analysis on potential candidates later, but team cooperation was also a crucial factor in selecting a teammate. Therefore her opinion, and whether she thought she could get along with them, mattered. It wasn't as if he could leave her anyway. Evelyn had given him specific instructions to stay by her side and assist her.

Even after working many years with the High ranker, it wasn't lost to him which of them his boss considered to be more valuable. "It's just as well. Associations with FUG would only cause us more difficulties down the line."

"FUG?"

Sometimes he forgot how clueless she was about the workings of the tower. That was likely other reason Evelyn had sent him to help her. Ajax was, in many ways, a walking store of information. "A criminal organization within the tower that is against the Zahard Empire. Mad Dogs are associated with Baylord Yama who is a High Ranker and one of FUG's Slayers."

"So he's a criminal then..." Selicity blinked her golden orbs, then grinned widely, pumping her fist in the air along with the rest of the excited crowd. "Well that doesn't have anything to do with me and his victory earned me lots of points, so GO MAD DOG, MEOW~!"

Ajax refrained from telling her that her observer was probably worth more than any amount she could probably earn gambling in the shady establishment. It wasn't worth the effort. Even if she did somehow manage to get in debt, or robbed of all her points, Evelyn would likely take care of it. They had another month before the next test started anyway. A dangerous underground fighting arena was just the place to keep Selicity from being bored and wrecking havoc on their apartment.

Hence their presence as spectators.

Selicity looked at Ajax pleadingly. "Can I join in, pleeease? They all look like they are having so much fun."

"Getting injured before our next test would be ill-advised, Miss Selicity."

Depending on how great the injury, a month might be too short. Besides, Selicity had a tendency to lose herself in battles with strong opponents. Who knew what could happen when she got into that state?

"Booo, you're no fun Ajax," the Cat Sidhe pouted, slouching in her seat as she looked down the arena with dark, sad eyes. The girl hid nothing of her emotions. Though, it was more a product of her species than anything else. Their eyes were a window to their emotions. "If Murin were here, she'd let me."

"Princess Murin has her own test to take on the 87th floor."

"M-MEOW? Really? It's only been 10 years and she already moved up 7 floors?" Selcity's ears sunk at the news that her friend had gotten further away. "How am I ever going to catch up at this rate...?"

"She's overcompensating because she believes she needs to finish as fast as her sister did in order to earn a 13-month weapon. It's nothing you need to worry about Miss Selicity. Catching up is impossible at our rank."

"...How long has she been at it?"

"According to my data, a little over 2 centuries."

Selicity's eyes widened like saucers and they were back to golden...which had been Ajax's intention."Will she make it?"

Ajax shrugged. "Possibly, though Mr. Wicker has informed me that the difficulty spikes again from floor 100 and I have too little information regarding those floors to ascertain with confidence the time it'll take her to reach the top. Though, it's ultimately the king's decision as to which of the princesses is chosen. It's a fierce competition, but I imagine that being known as the Princess that managed take on a High Ranker would help in that regard."

Selicity's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Did he..."

"I do not know what he thinks, Miss Selicity, but I can tell you that Mr. Wicker and the princess have an...odd...relationship."

"Is that why Murin helped me?"

Ajax shook his head. "I can only advise you keep an open mind as you climb and take everything you see with a grain of salt, Miss Selicity. Our guide is a good friend to have, but he also isn't to be trusted."

"Heh. That sounds strange coming from you," Selicity smirked.

"It's just advice from someone who's worked with him long enough to know. You are free to discard it."

"Thanks Ajax, I mean it. You're a good friend." Golden eyes directed themselves back to the arena. "But you don't have to worry. I don't trust that Eye Thief Boss of yours in the least. Soooo, let's place our bets for the next fight shall we? I'll bet on the Mad Dog and you can bet on his next competitor. If I win, you'll search for the location of my friends using that lighthouse of yours."

The friends she was climbing the tower to search for.

"And if I win?"

"I swear I won't bother you about being bored, or cause a ruckus, until after our next floor test."

"Accepted."

Both regulars gave the underground arena their full attention.

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The One Eyed Bandit · May 14, 2020

Whilst her teammates indulged in their respective modes of violence, Areum sunk deeper into the bubbling waters that surrounded her. Let loose, her hair cascaded out over the water's surface in front of her, painting it with a vibrant green that played with the spa's natural blue sheen. Her eyes and nose alone bobbed above the spa's steamy waterline, lazily drawing in breath after breath of the room's moisture-laden air as the rest of her body soaked in the simmering broth below.

The young woman's eyes were cast up, straining in their sockets to trace the subtle panel-work that detailed the ceiling. Lulled on by a gentle nudging from spa-pool's waves, she found herself caught in a moment of contemplation, one of a shade that wasn't too uncommon nowadays. Through the haze of calmness that her bathing brought with it, she recalled the day's events. Her encounter with the rabbit, their test of strength, and her motley band of teammates.

Bubbles rose from within the spa's depths and her attention shifted to the mirrors that lined the room's nearest wall.

She liked to think of herself as a woman, an adult, but lately she'd been feeling more and more like a girl. A brat in over her head. Her eyebrow twitched. The further up the Tower she got, the more and more common these incidents became. Encounters with monsters, tests spent achieving unremarkable results, night after night spent in solitude...

Bubbles, this time a geyser, shot up to the water's surface before erupting into a howl of frustration as Areum's body jerked up from the depths. Her head rolled harshly snapped forward, before eventually drooping down to rest atop a pair of pulled-taut knees. Her expression grew slack, and her eyes drooped half-shut.

Her hand rose from the water, drew level with her face, and she murmured some indistinct words into the air. In front of her eyes, a Pocket blinked into visibility. Ignoring the moisture still coating her fingertips, she begun to flip through the device's contents. As her eyes fixed on the screen, her thoughts drifted way from the frustrating retrospection that her boredom had thrust upon her. Without any goal in mind, she thoughtlessly jumped from webpage to webpage, until her eye was eventually caught by a list of local attractions.

Only half paying attention, she surveyed the list. It was nothing too unusual for the most part; the usual laundry list of quaint oddities that you could find on any floor. What stood out, though, was a particular establishment. She skimmed through both its description and catalogue. A spark of curiosity lit within her eyes.

Ophidian. Frankly, the store itself wasn't that much to write home about. Pawn shops that dealt in oddities were nothing special in a world as big and wide as this, but most of them weren't run by High Rankers. The idea was novel enough. Even given her state of destitution, it certainly seemed to be a site of enough interest to pay a visit. She blinked, as if to confirm the idea, and then rose completely from the tub. Even if she couldn't pay Ophidian a visit just yet, it was high time that she did something other than attempt to boil herself alive.

OverconfidentMagi · May 14, 2020

Collab post with

Azure Sky

Po Bidau MinervavsHa Naseon

"That's fucking bullshit!"

Naseon had stopped in the gate to leave the arena when a robotic voice announced that he's supposedly tied against that stupid green-haired girl. The shinsoo around him that had been perfectly still as though holding its breath suddenly kicked up a storm of dust around him. Green tendrils grasped at the edge of the doorway, cracking stone as they took out his frustration on it in place of the nonexistent person responsible for such a blatantly biased ruling.

"I wish to challenge Ha Naseon."

His green eyes were ready to tear the speaker apart. As if insulting him further, it was yet another one of the green-hairs. She looked like the person who'd just lost to him - no matter what that automated voice had ruled, he had easily come out the victor of that joke of a fight - which only pissed him off even further. The tendrils gripping the doorframe pulled taut, launching Naseon backwards back into the arena he'd failed to even fully exit. Suddenly his momentum cut out and both his feet slammed into the ground, shooting a spray of dust and dirt into the air. He didn't plan on letting there be any doubt about who'd won this fight.

The man was angry. Minerva saw his type before. Why where all the Ha such muscle brains? Sasha stood between them smiling cheerfully. "Now then, Ha Naseon vs Po Bidau Minerva. You know the rules! I hope..." With that she got out of the way.

A green hallow formed on top of Minerva's head. She stood on top of her giant golem head observer, with her levitating suspendium shields gravitating on her right and left. Her usual energy bow manifested in her left arm, only increased in size. She took out an arrow from a bigger Baang and was ready.

"Start!"

As the signal was given, She flew high in the air and launched her arrow at Naseon, which separated into dozens of smaller ones.

[Hunting Flow: Summer Rain], her classic start.

Wait, did she just say Minerva? Naseon was momentarily distracted upon hearing that this green-haired girl was actually the one he'd wanted to fight. He really couldn't tell of them apart. Hell, even the random person that showed up to start this second round of fights had green fucking hair. If he'd had anything reflective on him Naseon would have paused the fight to make sure he didn't have green hair at this point.

That distraction cost him the time he would have needed to prepare a counterattack to having a bucket of arrows dumped on his head, so he was forced to dodge backwards. The thick shinsoo that had gathered around his body slowed his movements, enough that he wouldn't be clear of the first attack. That was annoying. His body jerked to the side as he pulled himself back towards the doorway of the arena, where his shinsoo tendrils were still clinging around its frame.

If those arrows had been physical projectiles he would have simply grabbed them, but experience had taught him that carelessly grabbing onto someone else's shinsoo constructs could be a very stupid thing to do. He didn't know what properties this girl had given that shinsoo. For all he knew, if he touched one of those arrows it would blow up. This line of thinking would make it seem that Naseon considered himself at a disadvantage whenever facing a skilled shinsoo controller. The smug grin on his face would say otherwise.

"Are you sure you have the firepower to beat me from way up there?" Naseon lobbed a lighthearted taunt at the girl as he once again formed a hungry green baang in his palm.

"That is a good point." Minerva replied on a calm tone. The arrows which Naseon dodged made holes and cracks in the ground before disappearing.

[Hunting Flow: Porcupine's Retort]

Another arrow was released. This one was separated in a myriad of Shinsoo thin needles. Not strong but annoying and with high piercing power as well as tension. It would have hurt as being stabbed by normal needles.

To avoid a projectile, all a person had to do was keep moving. Even Naseon could follow such basic logic. But that wouldn't be as effective. He raised the green baang, and green shinsoo around his arm grabbed the smaller arrows as they came near, pulling them into the center of the baang that eagerly swallowed them up. This was a stupid thing to do, as he'd only grabbed a small number of the many thin arrows and many more had his his body directly, but after feeling how much shinsoo his baang had pulled in from the first volley of arrows disappearing, he was confident that he could take this attack head-on. His body was more hardy than it looked.

He glared up at Minerva from the ground, thin needles that had barely managed to pierce into his skin still sticking out of him, making him resemble the namesake of Minerva's technique. He pulled one of the shinsoo needles out of his arm and tossed it into the baang, and then a second, which he stared at and left grasped between his fingers. "Send more arrows," he said with all the small sincerity he could muster.

"Tehe. Target lock on." She said in a cute voice, as glowing light green targets formed inside her eyes. When a Shinsoo attack from Minerva touched a target, she could temporarily use...

[Hunter's Flow: Bullseye], a target symbol of green color would form on Naseon's chest. What followed where multiple arrows shot one after another. Normal Shinsoo arrows. No gimmicks. Except one. They'd folllow Naseon around until they hit. Stronger arrows caused ripples in a Regular's body upon impact. The internal damage depended on their Shinsoo resistance.

Naseon looked down at the mark that had appeared on his body. And that was why you didn't pick up strange people's shinsoo. Well, not that he hadn't expected something like this when he'd let himself be hit. Trying to figure out how to beat someone without knowing what tricks they used was too much mental exercise for him to bother with. It was easier to let them show him their attacks and he'd figure out what to do then.

He jumped away from the first arrow and avoided the second, only for the first to come within a hair of his face as he jumped away again. The arrows were cutting through the air directly towards him even after he'd dodged them. That was actually pretty fun. He'd love to train under these exact conditions, but the fight came first. He pulled himself to the side of the arena to avoid getting surrounded by the persistent projectiles. They were easier to keep track of if he could keep them grouped... Naseon's eyes lit up as he came up with a brilliant plan.

Naseon used his secret technique of running away. He figured he could keep ahead of the simple arrows so long as they just followed him blindly, so he just had to run in a big circle. It was such a stupidly simple way of dealing with these heat-seeking missiles that he honestly felt a little sad for the girl who'd probably put a lot of time and effort into training to use the technique. Well, it wasn't his problem if other people were stupid. He looked up at the girl as he ran around the edge of the arena, seeing if she had anything better up her sleeve.

"Muu. Obnoxious." Minerva puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Talented but never had to deal with resourceful opponents. Her lack of experience in dealing with people of Naseon's level was clear. But... she was a quick learner.

"But I thank you."

...just bugs.

Her father's words resonated in her mind. Her expression saddened again. She formed another arrow and launched it. This one became a ball.

[Playtime]

A playful technique that Minerva used in her younger days for...playing around. She had stopped using it because her father called it an ineffective use of Shinsoo. But, he was wrong. She could make it useful.

I wonder if he'll ever be proud of me...

The ball expanded and dispersed as multiple blasts bounced out of it. The blasts stopped in the air and formed perfect circles around the entire arena, bellow Minerva. Minerva then made her bow disappear. A big Shinsoo ball formed in her hand. She enhanced herself with Shinsoo as well as she launched the ball at one of the circles. The big ball bounced off the circle and transformed in many smaller balls with spikes, which continously bounced off the other circles continuously at high velocity, increasing the speed at each bounce. If they touched each other they would also bounce off one another. The balls where highly concentrated and exploded on impact with a living organism. If they got near Naseon they'd slightly curve and gravitate towards him because of the mark, which however, was starting to fade. But Minerva didn't care. If any of the spiked balls touched him it would refresh it.

[Minesweeper]

Naseon watched the girl with a mean-spirited grin. She wasn't listening to him at all. Stupid people were really bad listeners, that was what he'd started to think. He'd told her she couldn't beat him while staying so far away. She was strong, but the gap in power wasn't enough for her to half-ass facing him.

He'd been keeping just ahead of the still-chasing arrows, but with more obstacles being dropped in his way now, Naseon let the swirling flow of shinsoo in the arena propel him faster. Shinsoo was naturally drawn close to Naseon. It was a condition he'd lived with all his life. It had stunted his growth and made him slow to learn the techniques his siblings took to quickly. He'd never considered that curse anything but a negative, until a person had taught him how to make good use of shinsoo clinging to him.

By circling the arena repeatedly, the shinsoo had begun to move after him like ripples of a wake. The arrows had helped too, and the shinsoo was swirling quite quickly when Minerva dropped her next technique down into it. The balls that should have bounced chaotically were caught up in the shinsoo and they too began to chase Naseon. The ones he passed close to were drawn to him by the mark Minerva was still using to target him, but dodging something so slow moving in the same direction he was was child's play. He laughed as he pushed off from the wall of the arena with a push of his hand.

The torrent of arrows and spheres flew past, their own momentum pulling them along in the swirl. That wasn't quite right, Naseon thought. They were supposed to keep following. He looked down at the mark on his chest. It had mostly faded away. "Hey hey, don't quit on me now!" He needed that thing to keep working. If the conditions for the mark were the same, then... Naseon spun around and slammed his fist into one of the bounding spheres as it flew by. Unlike the arrows he'd grabbed, which he'd fully expected to blow up in his face, apparently these bouncing balls did exactly that.

Naseon blew his hair out of his face. He'd kind of been expecting that, but it was still kind of annoying. More importantly, the mark was once again glowing brightly. The wave of arrows and spheres reacted instantly, trying to turn to fly directly towards Naseon, but the swirl of shinsoo worked to keep them moving as they were. The result was Naseon taking his time walking slowly to the middle of the arena, more or less right beneath Minerva, as the swirling mass of her attacks and shinsoo was pulled around and around closer and closer into the middle right with him.

"Be seeing you," he waved up at her. Green tendrils of shinsoo trailed from his raised hand, connected to the wall of the arena where he'd touched it. The green tendrils were caught up in that wave of attacks as well, and the thin strands grew as he drained the shinsoo he'd gathered in his other hand to it. He was wrapping it around the arrows and spheres. Just before it all crashed together, Naseon jumped above the arena. He wasn't trying to reach Minerva, he wasn't quite able to jump that high, or anywhere near that height really. He landed atop the mass of strangled arrows and bombs, all neatly wrapped up in his seaweed. He'd managed to neutralize all of Minerva's projectiles at once, with an appropriately shit-eating grin on his face while doing it.

But of course Naseon would never let an opportunity to toss an opponent's attack back in their face slip by. So he refreshed Nautilus and slammed his fist down into the bag of Minerva's attacks. Like a balloon, the whole thing popped. That was an understatement. The pop was actually a rather impressive explosion from every one of the bombs Minerva had created blowing up all at once.

He can't be serious. Oh Zahard, he is...

There was no way Naseon could reach Minerva so high up by jumping, but if he was launched by that kind of explosion, he figured he could probably make it that high. He'd underestimated just how much gunpowder he'd been standing on top of, and his body flew high past where Minerva floated. Damn, he'd wanted to knock her out of the sky with that. Well, there was always the return trip. The tendrils gripping the arena pulled taut, and his body jerked back down towards the girl from above. Knocking her out of the sky was going to feel good.

Minerva watched Naseon with a blank expression as he flew past her. "Idio-... Wha!" but got surprised when the tendrils brought him back downwards towards herself again. She slightly panicked.

"Kya!"

[Reverse Flow Control]

As the flow of Shinsoo around Naseon Stopped just as he was about to punch her pretty face, Minerva put both of her hands forwards. With one touching Naseon's face.

The strange-looking observer that held Minerva aloft suddenly acted as if had lost its connection to her shinsoo, tilting and beginning to drop out of the sky beneath her.

Naseon grinned wickedly down at the green-haired girl as her Reverse Flow Control faltered. He opened up the closed fist he'd been posed to punch her in the face with, revealing a brilliantly shining green baang containing the shinsoo gathered from all of her own attacks. "Buh-bye girlie, it was fun." He released Nautilus, and an explosion equal in power to the one he'd ridden to reach Minerva filled the closing distance between the two of them.

It was a shame, Minerva lost her footing. Even her shields fell to the ground. But... she hated losing! She hardened herself with Shinsoo to the max as she braced for impact.

Naseon's fist hurt, it hurt a lot. It would leave a mark. Her head was spinning and turned to the side. She got lightheaded and blood came out of her nose. Yet her hands where still on Naseon's face. In that moment in which it was the first time she got punched, Minerva turned her head towards Naseon to reveal an intense smiling face that dwelled in the realm of madness. "I see... This is pain." She spat the blood.

[Ripple], a technique she used and regretted which invaded a person from the inside out with waves of aggressive Shinsoo, to mess them up internally. From the way she held his head, Minerva would attack the brain first.

[Ripple], she held his head tight.

[Ripple], she pushed her thumbs into his eyes.

[Ripple], she also formed a circle of Shinsoo beneath herself so she would attenuate the fall.

Naseon couldn't see. Not just because he had a girl's fingers in his eyes, there was also the minor complaint of having his own blood blinding him as well. Whatever this girl was doing to him, it hurt, a lot. Still, if this amount of pain was enough to kill him, he'd have never survived a single Ha family reunion.

He didn't need to see to find a person that was so close they were holding his face. Naseon forced his arm back to punch the girl again.

And soon they reached the ground.

Boom!

------------------------------------------
Time is over. Analysis of damage complete.

Winner: Po Bidau Minerva.
------------------------------------------

"It...hurts." She said as she could not get up from the ground on her own, on the brink of losing consciousness.

"Don't whine. You sound like a weak loser." Naseon's body cracked and popped as he forced himself off of the ground. His green eyes looked down on Minerva, still very bloodshot and very angry, but it had at least been a fun fight, so he wouldn't hold his loss against Minerva, even if he still thought her an idiot. Tendrils from his hand pulled her up off the ground by the place they'd attached when he'd punched her. "If you're unable to stand after just that much, next time we fight I'll destroy you."

Despite her state, Minerva puffed her cheeks. "Meanie."

Rantos · May 14, 2020

Collaboration post between

Azure Sky and

Rantos
Strictly speaking, it wasn't the presence of the crowd that forced his insides to turn, twisting into ruin and wreak, it was the noise above all else. Teeth clang and clatter as they grind words to bits, leaving nothing bu malformed bits of communication, nothing more than noise. Noise that others could make sense of, for if they couldn't the noise would've stopped. What an ideal that would be. Free from superfluous sentiments like talking. But to desire a world free of words would be hypocritical, for it was by words he was given a goal, and through words, Yeong-Su would carry it out.

Ah, his goal was close now. In fact, it had been close for a while. Only two more paces and he would have been touching her. A girl who looked as tired as himself. Of pale features, of calloused fingers, of scars hidden and shown, she had the makings of something who would wield a blade as heavy as her makeup. Gitting his teeth, the man who had been looking at her for a moment would open his mouth to grind his words and add to the noise.

"Fight me." Waving his hand, a pocket made itself visible, displaying an amount of 10,000. "Let's make a personal bet, winner takes the pot. That makes it exciting, right? People like big numbers I'm sure." He seems rather disinterested. Looking off and into the distance behind the girl. "Oh yeah, and I forgot to say please." And he continued to forget.

"Ok."

"W-wait a second, Lin-sunbae."
"It's good money."
"It's dangerous!"
"More dangerous than the Mad Dog?"
"From a technical standpoint, you have more to los-... Ah."
"Are you expecting me to lose, Nimbus?"
"I apologize sunbae."
"I am not particularly mad..."
...
"Do not worry." She ruffled his hair. Nimbus sighed again and started downwards, a bit shy.

"Sorry for the wait. I am ready."

A few moments later...

NEW FIGHT: Lin Gong vs Yeong-Su

"400 points on Yeong-Su."
"1000 points on Yeong-Su."
"4000 points on Yeong-Su."
"2500 points on Yeong-Su."
"2120 points on Yeong-Su."

"9000 points on Lin Gong." People turned around to look at Nimbus, but he didn't give them any attention.

"Go Lin-sunbae!"

Lin temporarily looked at Nimbus, then turned away to hide a gentle smile. She then looked at Yeong and the referee with an unusually scary expression.

"You did not see that." She said, ice-cold. The referee gulped.

Yeong-Su turned his head to the side, slapping the side tilted upwards as if he was trying to remove the memory as one would remove water from their ear. And given how many slaps it took, the memory seemed extra persistent. Taking a moment to look at the crowd, Yeong looked for his keeper. It was a dense crowd, Yeong-Su clicked his teeth.

"Let's see this start already." Yeong-Su turned his head to face Lin. His gaze was fixed on her, his focus doubly so.

"B-both Regulars... Begin!"

She enhanced her legs with Shinsoo and launched herself forward while unleashing her blade. Reverse Flow Control to slow, hinder, or stop movements and Shinsoo, followed by Shinsoo enhancement on the edge alone for maximum sharpness. Then Shinsoo concentrated on her arms and core for a very quick draw. It's name was...

[One Slash, One Kill]

[Flash Freeze]

Reverse Flow Control bringing about a sudden cold front. Internal and external. It starts with the numbing. Cold ice creeping up the skin, turning every nervous system shock into a shiver. Rigidity is left to rule in time once the Shinsoo made ice permeates. At such a close range, one doesn't have the time to worry about the slow sensations of freezing, as those caught in the winter mist are preserved instantly.

But the mist wavered. Yeong-Su's eyes widened as a familiar sensation took hold of his body. In this battle of Reverse Flow Control Yeong-Su knew how to keep himself steady. Slowed, but not stopped, both assaults continued. Bending his elbow he lifted his forearm up to his side. A suicidal instinct.

All was still. All was quiet. And all was beautiful. But what made everything exceptionally beautiful was Lin herself. Yeong-Su extended the arm he could still feel up to hold Lin's cheek. Perfectly smooth, and cold to the touch. The ice reflected clear, art without imperfection, and to think she could be like that forever. Yeong-Su's breath made visible hit Lin's face, spreading across it and dissipating with every word.

"You are perfect now, Lin. If only we had cause to remain like this. But I hate this sensation." Because it wasn't pain that he felt, it was warmth as blood dripped down from his open wound. She had cut his nerves cleanly. A cut right to the bone, yet the sensation of pain only came as he slid his arm off the cold steel. Pain enough to make him yell, his voice straining against the need to express how much it burned. And the superfluous noise of words wouldn't cut it.

Pools and puddles connected by red rivers dotted the path of Yeong-Su as he left. Trembling steps moving closer to the exit. Two combatants still standing, both left unable or unwilling to fight. It's no surprise that on his way out the only sounds to fill the area were those disappointed grunts of those who decided to look at the scoreboard.

FIGHT OVER: DRAW

The ice around Lin began to melt. It started with her head, and thus, her consciousness too was freed first. Showing her the scene of the aftermath. An area devoid of Yeong-Su's presence. In his stead, Regulars helping the ice thaw faster. All of them looking worried for the woman who, at worse, will be walking away with a minor cold.

Where was she? Yeong-Su took off, refusing to give the Regulars that came to him a word, let alone his arm to heal. The bleeding stopped, the blood froze over, a red reflective scab. Moving past the crowd of Regulars, Yeong-Su's eyes darted from person to person, from mouth to mouth looking for the one that would stand out the most.

"Where are you, Mun?"

simj26 · May 15, 2020

Exnor Lo Po Bia vs. Han Ji-hyeon
Exnor entered the arena jumping up and down in quick succession as a warm up. He was still excited, despite not being able to battle Naseon. His golden eyes analysed Ji-Hyeon from head to toe, finally locking eyes with her own golden ones, trying to get a feel of the person in front of him.

"Hello." He said, with a confident smirk.

Ji-hyeon didn't respond to his greeting at first, as she stared straight at him, studying him as much as he was her. The Lo Po Bia, from the other 3-man team. She did not plan on fighting them at all. She had expected them to, at least, keep quiet for the entire segment. If the teams were smart, the 3-man teams would play defensive, since the rules favored the defending team, whether they won or lost the challenge in the first round. If the 3-man teams collided and stole from the other, even by evening the odds with the 4-man team in terms of number, they were still potentially overpowered by the rabbit.

Her challenge to the next most 'dangerous' member of their team was not based on just whimsy. The risk was calculated. What irritated her was the fact that she didn't catch the coup de grace that he threw her way at the the last second. However, she managed to reach her minimum set goal, so she couldn't say it was all a loss.

She finally raised her eyes, meeting the Lo Po Bia's own. Gold, just like her own. She brandished her shield, then slammed its edge into the ground behind her, wedging it into the earth to make sure it was deep in. "Yo," she waved casually, the smile returning to her face, but not her eyes.

Exnor's instincts told him that Ji-Hyeon was in a sour mood. From personal experience, it was better not to chat much with a woman in such a mood. He just went to the centre of the arena, still keeping his eye on his opponent.

"Ok. I will watch you through this Observer."

"Gah!" Exnor was concentrated, so the sudden voice surprised him.

It was Sasha's voice. She was physically in the other arena, so she used the power of technology to observe this one.

"Can you even properly multitask both these fights?" Exnor was concerned.

"Don't sweat the small stuff...Uhh. Start!"

"Hold on!" Ji-hyeon exclaimed, cutting across the disembodied voice, still gazing straight ahead at her opponent. "Tell me one thing, Lo Po Bia. Of all people to challenge, why me?" She cocked her head in mock surprise. "You saw my dismal display earlier, couldn't even hit him." She thought for a second. "Unless that's why you're picking on me...?"

"Now that's just mean." Exnor chuckled. "I only know how to be blunt, so here I go: I wanted to fight the Ha Naseon guy, but your leader challenged him first. The rabbit gives me the creeps, John Wu gives me the creeps, Len Lumiere is an aquaintance and a tricky bastard, the Po Bidau girl is an unknown variable that I'd rather not take my chances with, and Grumpy Eurasia has an ideal skillset for this event. By process of elimination, there's only you left. That being said, I get the feeling you are a tough opponent. So, I am actually quite excited." As he said, he was blunt.

"Interesting." Ji-hyeon rubbed her chin in thought. He was completely different from the Ha kid. Despite them being from the same Great Family ilk, Exnor Lo Po Bia seemed...different. Something about him seemed to strike a chord with her. Her breath shuddered, as a sense of thrill rippled through her body. It's been too long. It's been so long.

She straightened up, and rolled her shoulders, then lowered her stance, her hands clenching tightly into fists, raised to her head. "Alright, then, Exnor Lo Po Bia! Show me a good time!" She charged forwards straight at Exnor, keeping her low and defensive stance. Close the distance, pressure him up front, that was the only strategy she had this time.

"Ah, the timer was still on the whole time we talked. Damn you Sasha!" As Exnor expressed his dismay for the refree internally, his opponent was closing in on him.

He'd do the same! So he simply blasted himself towards Ji-Hyeon.

[Supernova], the technique with which he generated Shinsoo blasts from his feet to use as jet propulsion (usually). He strengthened his body with Shinsoo as he charged towards Ji-Hyeon. Two Baangs above his head, on his right and left, respectively. One launched a blast towards her legs, the other towards her guard.

She planted her foot on the ground, coming to a halt, and weaved away to one side, letting the beam targeting her feet strike the earth next to her, demolishing the floor, and kicking up debris into the air. She reared back, smoke gathering around her right fist, and punched straight into the blast targeting her main body. The blast detonated, shrouding her in dust. Almost immediately, her figure broke through the cloud of dust, resuming her charge, and readied an uppercut aimed straight at Exnor as he closed in. Her expression was one of delight, and though the arm she used to punch through the blast seemed to have seen better days, she didn't look as if she was mildly inconvenienced by it.

Exnor was a man that could jump 20 meters in height with his leg strength. Yet he never knew he could fly. Flying gave him a tingling sensation. Quite painful actually, like someone gave him a good ol' upercut to the...Oh wait.

"Ouch." There he was, landing on the ground, on his back. The few moments he was left in the air felt longer than usual. He touched and rubbed his chin as he got up. He staggered a bit in doing so. After he slapped himself once, he proceeded to summon his Lux Chains from each arm, which were quite frankly just yellow glowing chains made out of Shinsoo. "Nice. I like ya."

One chain wrapped around his arm and the other to use as a whip. He flung his Shinsoo chain whip at Ji-Hyeon (with his right hand), while a Baang forming yet again on his left and generating a blast towards the woman's chest area.

Too far. Ji-hyeon steeled herself, reinforcing her body with Shinsoo, and took the full force of the blows that Exnor flung at her, her smoke billowing wildly around her. The chains cracked against her arms, just barely denting her defenses. The impact from the blast, however, sent her reeling. She stumbled backwards, her stance broken for just a moment, before she recovered. She was at a clear disadvantage at a range. How...?

Her eyes gleamed. She gave a low chuckle. "You're not too bad yourself," she replied. It was a while since she got to play like this. "I could almost fall for you." She punched her fists together and dashed forwards once more towards Exnor, attempting to close the gap between them.

Exnor smirked as he called back the chains from his right arm, shrunk them in size and wrapped them around his fist as make-shift brass knuckles, same with his left arm. With a surge of Shinsoo through his body he unleashed a fury of blows towards Ji-Hyeon as she got in close quarters. She skidded to a halt, reeling her head back to dodge the blows. Not quick enough, as one of his knuckles barely grazed her cheek, splitting the skin. Almost as if she was conditioned to do just this, she retorted without pause, unleashing her own barrage of punches, her smoke swirling around her fists, colliding against Exnor's own, each blow against blow unleashing a shockwave across the arena.

The exchange lasted for a while, shaking the arena through it all. It was only a matter of seconds until the duel would be over. In the last instances, Exnor saw an opening and struck at Ji-Hyeon's face, not realising that he left an opening himself. Ji-hyeon, consumed only by her instincts as her opponent was, delivered her final punch alongside his, also directed at his face. Both their fists hit their mark at the same time.

Ji-hyeon tasted blood, as well as the surge of adrenaline, even as she stumbled backwards, dazed. She felt a laugh rise up her throat. Her fists still clenched, she maintained what was left of her stance, and let out a full-hearted laugh, one she had never had for so long. This one was great! She spat out a bit of blood to one side. She didn't care about the rules any more. She wanted to fight someone like her for so long, and here he stood. She steadied herself. [Shinsoo Engine], she called upon her full strength. With a blast of Shinsoo, a nimbus erupted into form around her, cloaking her with its thick, white form. She shifted one foot back, readying up one more punch, a wide smile upon her bruised face.

Exnor got light-headed for a second, staggering and taking a few steps back. The shockwave from her punch making his nose bleed. He was filling dizzy. It was a nostalgic sensation.

"I am not done yet, Warrior Snail..."

"I will win!" He snapped back out of it, with a big green on his face and his pupils taking a slit shape. Shinsoo danced violently around his body as he locked eyes yet again with his opponent. It was not the turtle man. He was not on the 2nd floor. She was cool. For him to win against her would be the coolest. With that in mind he sprung forward one more time, with high density Shinsoo engulfing his right arm. Tension applied especially to the Shinsoo in his fist as he was about to unleash one more explosive punch. But it was met with amazing resistance, yes indeed. It was unexpected, the power of such a chopstick...

"Chopstick?"

"Huh?"

Exnor didn't understand. Or better yet he didn't comprehend. Neither did Ji-hyeon, on the other end of another chopstick.

"Ah sorry, your time is up." Sasha explained as she blocked Ji-Hyeon and Exnor's punch with a chopstick each.

"Ah, a chopstick...Why a chopstick?" Exnor was still confused about what happened. Ji-hyeon nodded, rather uselessly, on the other side, obviously querying about the same thing.

"Oh, I was eating ramen while watching you. Your fight started a little later than the other one. So after they finished I entered this arena in person. But you were so focused on one another that you didn't notice me." She glanced over at the hole she made in the wall. "Oopsie... I didn't think that through enough."

"Ah I see... NO I don't! I..." Exnor snapped back out of it. Why did she...oh right, they had a time limit. He had forgotten.

"Sad." He exhaled as he relaxed his body.

"Hm." Ji-hyeon withdrew her fist, the cloud dispersing from her, appearing just as disappointed as Exnor. She approached her opponent, and directed a fist towards him. "What say we pick up where we left off some other time?" She smirked and cocked her head slightly, indicating her fist.

"Gladly." Exnor bumped fists with Ji-Hyeon, smiling confidently as usual.

Fight over.

[Analysing damage]
...
[Analysis complete]

Winner: Han Ji-Hyeon.

Ji-hyeon cracked her knuckles. She won, huh? Was it truly a win though? It was like calling an appetiser the main course. Still, there was that stipulated 'prize' to the victor of the fight. Though the chessboard was turned against their team, she could still move the pieces. There were overwhelming odds, and she might have to rely on more underhanded methods. She scoffed to herself. As if that was any sort of deterrent to her. 20 floors taught her much, and one of the first lessons she learned was that the underhanded way was the only way to proceed. She turned to the one called Sasha, and shrugged, smirking. "I forfeit the ability to take someone from Exnor Lo Po Bia's team. I'll be taking my leave now. I'll see you around, Lo Po Bia." She waved cheerily to Exnor, moving away from her own arena to check on the other side. Minerva against that fool Ha kid, if she remembered right. She poked her head through the hole in the wall, and glanced about. "Oh, hey, Minerva," she greeted her comrade casually, stepping through the hole. She glanced towards the Ha boy.

"Geez, Ha. Girls won't fall for you like that," she remarked teasingly. She crouched down beside Minerva, and effortlessly lifted her up in a bridal carry. She grimaced. Punching Exnor's blast head-on put just a little too much strain on her muscles. To her teammate, she made a face. "I hope you kicked his ass, Minerva. Bit of a pain, ain't he?"

OverconfidentMagi · May 15, 2020

Ha Naseon

Naseon cocked his head at the third green-haired girl to appear before him in about as many minutes. Who was she again? He didn't remember her name. He didn't think he'd bothered learning it in the first place. Not that it mattered. She was just another nameless weakling, even the fact that she was an idiot was completely unremarkable. Most people were just as stupid. Even the Po Bidau girl had proven to be stupid and slow to learn during their fight. If he couldn't even beat someone like that easily...

"... not yet," he mumbled something under his breath, anger flashing across his face for a moment before he turned and walked back out of the arena. He didn't bother responding to that girl. He'd already forgotten about her again.

As soon as he was out of sight from those annoying people, his eyes shut and he relied on the touch of the shinsoo tendrils spreading from his left hand to keep him moving in the right direction. His eyes hurt. His head hurt. His body hurt. Losing hurt. It was frustrating.

Naseon wanted to just sleep, take a nap and not wake up until the next test, but there were still things he needed to take care of before he could do that. First was his team. He found the room assigned to his team. Aside from John, he didn't even know who the other people were, but that didn't really change that he'd cost them some of the team's strength. He didn't bother knocking or going in, he just hit the button next to the door to talk. "I lost to Minerva. If she's still conscious she'll be picking one of you to steal. Sorry." He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and left before anyone inside could open the door. He wasn't in the mood to deal with them.
nothing much important past here, just a bath scene, feel free to skipHis next stop was the bath to wash off and do a damage check. First he removed his gloves, still in perfect shape even after those fights. He held them like something precious. They were the only possession he'd kept with him all the way since the start of his climb, but more than time, it was the connection they reminded him of that made him treat the gloves so fondly. They reminded him why he couldn't lose. He set those down and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were still angry. Bloody and angry. Not a good look. He washed the blood and dust from his face and hair and forced the blood out of his mouth and nose. The water eased his headache a bit.

His clothes were in rough shape, to say nothing about the state of the rest of his body. The front of the jacket was almost unrecognizable, which was to be expected. In addition to having holes poked through it by arrows, it had taken the force of a bomb blast at pretty close range. It looked like he'd need to buy a new one. Damn, he'd liked this jacket. It had lasted pretty long all things considered. Shopping could wait until the morning. Naseon was more surprised by the amount of damage to the back of the jacket. Had he even gotten hit in the back? He didn't remember if he had. Well, the fight had been pretty chaotic with all those projectiles flying everywhere, it wouldn't be surprising if he'd taken a hit and not noticed.

"Let's see if it looks as bad as it feels," he said with a groan as he peeled off his jacket and shirt. Even before he saw, the pain from lifting his arms above his head clue him in that it wouldn't be pretty. Ignoring the minor holes in him from Minerva's arrows, the entire center of his body was overtaken by a large deep purple bruise. It looked pretty bad, but Naseon had seen worse, on others and on himself. The skin of his right arm looked like it had been burned from when he'd messed up in the strength test, but it didn't hurt much and hadn't during the fights, so he figured it was safe to just continue to ignore. He was more worried about injuries that would affect his range of motion. He arched his back as far as he could manage with the pain and poked at his chest and stomach. "One... two... four." Four broken ribs under that ugly bruise. He'd need to keep those in place if he wanted to keep fighting. He couldn't let something as minor as this slow him down any.

Naseon pushed his finger into one of the arrow holes in his skin and pushed the green shinsoo of his [Seaweed] technique into his body. The tendrils spread inside his body until they found the broken and displaced bones. Naseon gripped the sink carelessly enough to crack the side as he forced himself to ignore the pain of dragging bone back to where it should be and pressing the pieces together with shinsoo. Compared to losing a fight, this didn't hurt nearly as much.

"Good enough," he said after poking and prodding the ribs to make sure the hold was good enough so a light tap wouldn't break them all over again. He turned around and was surprised to find another bruise on his back, in the same spot as the front one. This one was smaller and wasn't in a spot that would limit his movements much, so he shrugged and dismissed it. Fighting meant injuries, losing even more so. If he wanted to get hurt less he just had to get stronger.

"I thought I was already strong enough," his soft complaint sounded weak, even to himself. He sounded like a loser. Right now he was one, so it was only fitting. If he wasn't strong enough, stronger than anyone, then he wasn't strong enough to get her back. Not yet. Had he gotten any closer at all? Naseon turned over in the warm water and tried to drown himself. From beneath the surface bubbles rose from his mouth as he said things that weren't even for his own ears to hear. His head broke the surface, having failed to drown himself in the shallow bath.

"Why did I lose?" His emerald eyes had refocused on that point. Moving on from the fact that he was still weak and pathetic, he needed to figure out exactly what he'd done wrong during the fights he'd lost. Being weak was the absolute worst, but being weak and stupid was even worse than that. He needed to learn from his pathetic failures. "Pocket, visible mode." Nothing appeared. "Oh right, I broke mine," again. He'd need to pick up another replacement. "I hope I didn't mess up her observer too bad," he thought about the cool-looking observer Minerva had used. The one he'd knocked out of the sky. That looked like it would be hard to replace. If he was going to face Minerva again, he didn't want her to be weakened any compared to now. Though it would be easier to deal with her without her flying around above him.

"How should I deal with that?"

He could deal with being attacked from range, but it was annoying if he couldn't close the distance and hit back. He had three options: attack back from range, reach where she was and attack close, or force her to come to him. Could he do any of that? He could. The problem wasn't there. It was the fight itself, specifically the time limit. Could he accomplish any of those options to beat Minerva in three minutes? He let out a deep sigh. "No." A drawn-out battle would always favor him, but fighting under such a short time constraint meant he couldn't build up the power he needed. And the winner being decided by some arbitrary damage done skewed things even more in her favor. Ranged attacks from safety were perfect for this kind of fight. "So it was a bad match-up and bad conditions then?" That excuse sounded nice, but he wasn't looking for nice excuses. "If I was strong enough, it shouldn't matter, right?"

"Aaaaaaaaagh!" He splashed back into the water. "Weakness is frustrating."

Nyra Carciphi

While Naseon was soaking while lamenting his lack of strength, Nyra was busy regretting all of her sins and bad luck that had led to her being trapped in the same room as Illiam.

In the room assigned to Illiam's team, only Illiam was visible. Exnor was in the arena fighting, but Nyra was... hiding from Illiam under the bed. She'd surrounded the bed with shinsoo bowls and the threat that they might contain shinheuh. The irony of getting away from someone she considered a monster by hiding under a bed was completely lost on Nyra. She'd slept on the floor or in hammocks for most of her life, and since climbing the tower she really only slept wrapped up with her shinheuh. There wasn't enough room under the bed for her and her shinheuh though, so she'd settled for the threat of them and the hope that would be enough to keep Illiam away.

Nyra hated teams, especially this one, but she still brought up the live feed of Exnor fighting on her lighthouse to illuminate the dark safespace she'd made for herself under the bed. She'd kind of hoped that maybe Exnor might not be completely bad. Seeing his fight, and especially how he acted at the end after he'd lost... "Disappointing," was all she could say. There was no point being on a team if they were just going to lose.

QuirkyAngel · May 16, 2020

Selicity Fars + Ajax Cruise
Floor 22 - Outpray Undergound Arena
"...No one's challenging the Mad Dog..."

"I suspected something like this might happen. After his impressive display against Sir Carotene, it's little wonder most Regulars around the E-rank level would be wary of challenging him...especially if they care about the upcoming test. Time is best utilized training instead of waiting in the hospital for broken bones to heal - assuming one survives the encounter with Lord Yama's Mad Dog, of course."

Selicity frowned. "But then what happens to our bet?"

"Considering our conditions, it would be void."

Sel's eyes darkened to black. She didn't want that. Finding her friends was the only reason she started climbing the tower again. Illiam and Seefie. Team Friendship. How long had it been since she'd thought of that name again? Of the first friends she'd made on Floor 2? Hadn't she wanted to climb the tower with them? Thinking about it now, Selicity wasn't sure what had come over her back then. The only excuse she had was she'd become impatient. Nightmares plagued her, reminding of the horrible man that stole her eye. Of the pitying eyes of her fellow Cat Sidhe as she'd lost that which is most precious to one of her kind. She'd been angry all the time back then. Violent. Moody. Her eyes turned purple at the slightest provacation. Neither Illiam and Seefie had noticed, but Sel could hardly blame them. They had their own classes to attend to...and Illiam especially looked like a rag doll every time he returned to their room after a special session with their scout instructors. Sel hadn't wanted to bother them. Her eyes were her own problem, after all.

That was when she met Murin Zahard.

Sel didn't really regret climbing the tower with the princess or retrieving her eye from the thief, Evelyn Wicker. It was an interesting, somewhat fun, experience. She'd made a new friend. However, she wondered why she thought she had to do alone? She could've told Illiam and Seefie. Maybe then they all could've gone together to the 20th floor. That was her only regret. She'd been so used to being a outsider, to being alone, that she abandoned the friends she'd made in pursuit of her own goals. And, given how grand and dangerous the tower was, there was a chance she'd never see them again.

"Look over there, Miss Selicity. That looks to be an interesting fight."

Black became gold again as Selicity's attention darted over a different arena. Interest was...one way to put it. The fight was over in an instant, one of the fighters bleeding from a rather large abrasion and the other frozen solid. The fight ended in a draw. "W-what happened there?"

"A battle of reverse flow control. Draw is being lenient towards the swordswoman. The way I see it, Lin Gong is unable to move while Yeong-Su, despite being injured, hasn't been incapacitated. In a real fight, the winner would've been the wave controller...which shouldn't come as that much of surprise considering their specialties. Reverse flow control is both complicated and slow. Unless the opponent is vastly inferior in terms of shinsoo manipulation, it's mostly useless. Do you know why?"

"Uh,"

"Because flow control is much faster and easier," Ajax lectured. "If one is skilled at manipulating flow of shinsoo in their bodies reverse flow control can easily be broken. That's why techniques like Fast Skip don't typically last very long. Someone as skilled as Princess Murin, for example, can easily shrug it off unless her opponent is vastly superior than herself in terms of shinsoo manipulation. Being able to use it effectively is a testament to the wave controller's skill." Ajax rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked down towards the fighter wearing a hoodie. "Though...Yeong-su's display was especially impressive. Our team is lacking a solid wave controller and very few in the tower are talented enough to use both flow control and reverse flow control at the same time...especially at the E-rank level."

"Eh?"

"He didn't just stop her shinsoo flow," Ajax clarified. "He literally froze it solid. Manipulated her own shinsoo flow to becoming ice around her."

"...How can you tell?"

A block of cyan appeared beside Ajax, charts and data visibly displayed, as he stated the obvious, arms folded. "While your observer has been recording information about all the battles, I've been analyzing it with my lighthouse."

Right. The thing Wicker gave her had X-ray vision.

"It's a very impressive technique."

"Is there a way to stop it?"

Ajax held up a finger. "For you, there are two options, Miss Selicity. In the first one you'll need to calm your mind and mask your shinsoo flow with your Shadow cat technique before Yeong-Su's technique can do any further damage. Then reinforce your body and enhance your metabolism to extraordinarily high levels. This will naturally heat your body up with all the energy your body produced from your enhanced metabolism and melt the ice inside. Keep in mind, this has to be done very carefully, else you'll blow up like a balloon under too much pressure. Once you've cleared away the ice, calm your mind and mask your shinsoo so Yeong-Su can't try again. All this needs to be done in a split second to avoid getting forced into a prolong shinsoo manipulation fight." Then second finger shot up. "The second is to ignite Athlene and have it suck up any of your shinsoo that's been frozen solid. However, depending on how much of your shinsoo has already been frozen, your body might not be able to replenish shinsoo quickly enough and you'll shrivel like a dried prune. Death then typically follows."

Ajax was quite similar to Wicker in the way they simply seemed to know stuff and quickly analyzed information. However, unlike Wicker, Ajax took a bit longer. And, unlike their High ranker guide, Ajax rarely made jokes. Therefore, Selicity simply nodded solemnly, her golden eyes following the cold-looking man walking off the stage in interest. "In other words, it's a dangerous technique, he's a strong wave controller, and you want him in our team."

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

A strong team was needed to climb the tower as the floors got more challenging. That much was obvious to Selicity at least...and she needed to continue climbing if she were to meet up with her friends. Team Friendship no longer existed. It had been a team haphazardly thrown together for a test. However, that didn't mean she couldn't make her own team. Her own friends. It wasn't just Selicity's appearance that changed in 10 years. She liked to think that her mind did as well. While others grumbled for Lin Gong and Yeong-Su to continue their fight, so that points could be won or lost, Selcity clapped, cheering loudly. "WOOOOO! Nice Fight! Both of you! Especially Yeong-Su! Cool ICE!"

Flipping from her seat, heedless of the height, Selicity landed softly in front of the hoodie-wearing wave controller. Straightening, she gave him a quick whiff before grinning and holding out her hands. "Hehe, you smell a bit like an Icefish. Wanna be friends?"

From the stands, Ajax resisted the urge to palm his mask. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to it - Selicity doing things on her own. Seemed she'd forgotten about their bet regarding Mad Dog as well. Perhaps it was for the best. There was no saying whether or not the "friends" she was looking was even still alive. The Inner Tower was full of dangers after all and not all Rankers followed the rules. Being depressed could affect how she performed during their next test. At worse, if they really were dead, there was a chance she'd give up climbing as well. Ajax didn't care either way since it was Selicity's choice whether to go up or not. He could respect her decision, since he'd had to make his own, but his Boss would likely be annoyed.

Of course, finding new scout would be a bit of hassle as well. For now he would just wait and watch while the scout did her job.

Rantos

(mentioned:

Azure Sky )

Azure Sky · May 16, 2020

Announcement for Von Hare: Since Po Bidau Minerva won her fight against Ha Naseon, you were chosen as the winning prize.

"Kinky."

Von Hare looked around the room. Naseon did mention that he lost beforehand but hadn't returned yet. No matter. He was more interested in John and Len.

"Before I go, I'd like to ask you guys something. Do you guys like pears?"

"That is a random question." Len said. "From time to time, I do."

"Not as much as flies love them." Replied John.

Von Hare's nose twitched. His body pulsated with dark Shinsoo, which made both John and Len jump from their beds in a defensive stance. "Excellent answers." Then he left.

"Arrogant prick, I'll make stew out of you tomorrow." John thought.

Next Day Time Skip

Before the test...

"Psst... Von Hare, Illiam, may I interest you in some wigs?" Sasha asked as she offered to give Von Hare a Sasha-hairstyle wig and Illiam a Minerva-hairstyle wig.

"Why though?"
"Why not?"
"Good point."

Testing Area

Thus Von Hare had a green hair wig on his head, imitating Sasha's hairstyle. The reason as to why was unimportant.

"Right then. Next test is Counter Paint: 20th Floor Offensive."

Each team was in a cube-shaped room with a different color: Team Naseon had a red cube, Team Minerva a green cube, and Team Illiam a blue one. The colored cubes where each team's safe place. All the cubes where attached to a bigger, towering cube with multiple cube-shaped rooms each containing beds, furniture, and even a fridge with refreshments. The game was basically paintball. Each person was given a paint gun with 20 shots and three recharges (of 20 as well) attached to a belt, with paint matching the color of their team's room. There were more recharges found randomly in the rooms. The more times they hit others and the more people they hit the better. Getting hit many times also meant a score penalty. There were two areas that would give a player more points if they were to shoot at somebody: the head and the chest. The more they hit the same person consecutively, however, the less points they got. Attacking team members also reduced points. The gun could also be separated in two smaller guns with 10 shots each, if the player desired. They could also use other means to temporarily incapacitate an opponent, but they were not allowed to kill another player, chop, pulverize, or destroy their limbs. Pushing or throwing someone outside the testing block would result in disqualification.

"Oh, by the way, I will give two statements: The team with the least points will lose. The individuals with the least points will lose." Weiss took a short pause.

"Only one of those statements is true. You may begin."

"I will start my contribution to the team by being useful" Von Hare chuckled.

"What?" Minerva was confused. Maybe the injury to her head was messing with her concentration but she did not understand what Von Hare meant by that.

A hand came out from Von Hare's shadow containing a recharge belt.

"From where did you get that?" Minerva's eyes widdened.

"Hmm, strange, there were supposed to be two."
-----------------------------------------------------
Naseon Team

"What the...?" John asked in surprise as a hand popped from his shadow and snatched his belt.

Len's supernatural senses made him quickly detach and throw the belt from his waist, so the hand that came from his shadow didn't get to catch anything. "That was close. This might be Von Hare's ability."

"Annoying. Why did he not target Naseon as well?"

"Maybe because... He was not in the room at the time he did whatever this is?"

"I don't get it."

"He probably implanted something in our shadows when we were not paying attention."

Then it hit both Len and John.

Ah, it was then...

When he released the Shinsoo flow. It was to confuse Len.
------------------------------------------------------

Back to Minerva's team

"Interesting..."

"It's from one of my former team mates. Please take one each."

"That's... Very kind of you." Minerva was not expecting the rabbit to cooperate so well, so she was circumspect.

"It isn't. I just want to maximise my winning chances."

"Then why are you not taking them for yourself?"

Von Hare smirked as he got out. "I do not need them..."

"How cheeky." Minerva smiled malevolently. Arrogant, yet she was happy to have him on her team. She followed him outside the safe space.

Brendanfp · May 17, 2020

Mun Minseo

Minseo kept her distance from Yeong-Su as the curious duo approached him. She made one of her white lighthouses visible and proceeded to log into BOX, the lighthouse information-sharing community. She began to run a search on both of the strangers, her fingers dancing across the floating translucent keyboard.

Firstly she would search the odd-looking masked man. She waited for a moment as his image was analyzed. Then the result came. Dread slowly filled Minseo as she stared into her lighthouse screen. Nothing. There was no information on the man whatsoever. The light bearer calmed her nerves. This result could be for several reasons. Perhaps he was a retired regular who hadn’t climbed the tower in decades, that would be enough time to leave a hole in the BOX information network. Or perhaps he simply wasn’t noteworthy enough of a regular to even merit having an entry kept. Of course, that had to be it, she rationalized.

Minseo moved on to the cat-eared woman as she attempted to put the masked man outta her mind. She felt a wave of relief as she was actually able to get information on this one. The woman apparently went by the name of Selcity. She was a Cat Sidhe and an E-Rank scout. Her race was supposedly very peaceful, which Minseo found reassuring. There was no information available that would suggest she was excessively violent or a part of any sketchy organizations like FUG. Minseo exhaled audibly as she made her lighthouse invisible once again and began to approach her partner.

As she came closer to Yeong-Su she was able to more clearly see the extent of his single injury. The cut looked incredibly deep, his once only masking the damage. Her heart sank. She had sent him out there to fight against his better nature and this happens.

“Good grief, look at you,” Minseo aloud as she moved past the two strangers and walked right up to Yeong-Su.

She raised her small hand up to his body and placed it on his ice-covered wound, “No… this won’t do. You need to thaw this so we can get it healed properly.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the pair of regulars, “Are either one of you skilled in healing? I could use all the help I can get.”

At the moment Minseo revealed all three of his stark white lighthouses causing them to glow as she began to gather up Shinsoo around Yeong-Su to promote a quicker healing process.

QuirkyAngel

---

Haewon Zahard

Haewon stomped her way through the audience in a bee-line towards the Mad Dog, Volk. In her hand, she held a wooden skewer that held on it three golden-colored dango. Her teeth sank into the sweet mochi as she devoured her third dango leaving only two on the stick. She was sure that someone else would have challenged Volk by now. She had been waiting patiently all day for his bounty to get as high as possible while she grinded out smaller fish, and even after all of her fights she still had a lower bounty than that dog! No one was accepting her challenges anymore so she had left to go get something sweet to munch on with the hope that when she returned to the arena someone would have challenged Volk.

It seemed like the time to wait was over, she had been itching for a good fight all day long and now she was gonna get one. She closed in on the Mad Dog as she bit off another dango. She approached him as his back was turned. It seemed like he was talking to someone.

“Hey, Volk! That bounty is looking a little heavy, mind if I lighten the load for you?!” Haewon exclaimed with a hand on her hip and mouth full of Mochi.

She revealed her pocket with a smirk and displayed her bounty, 195700 points.

Rantos · May 17, 2020

Illiam Herlaa
Tags:

Azure Sky
Before the test.

Every sentiment of comfort to cross Illiam's mind was a hollow one. Any peace that could be given from him would be null. Silky smooth words drawn upon his snake forked tongue would only turn to sand. Rough and coarse, grains of words best done away with. Make no mistake, in silence, Illiam had given ample thought to topics of conversation, jokes to fill the time, anything to get the girl speaking. Yet each attempt at a thought yelled nothing but inaction. At a point, his hands graced the doorknob to their room, and he figured ripping the door off would make for a good attempt. Memories haze recalled such an idea as funny. Ultimately, the door stayed on its hinges.

So with a sigh, Illiam admitted defeat. His crossed legs laid propped on a table as he took a seat to witness the battle between his teammate vs a bush. A member of the green-haired grove. The fight was impressive, Illiam kept a careful eye on Exnor as he fought. What foot did he lead with, how often did he overextend? The flexing contours of his body made for a wonderful examination material. "Oh yeah. That's the body of a winner." He said to no one.

The battle fizzled out, and Illiam sighed. Nyra voiced her thoughts on the matter, a single muffled word coming from low sitting safe heaven. "Disappointing indeed." Illiam voiced his opinion, though it wasn't towards the match. With a low groan, Illiam stands. Taking slow steps towards Nyra's protective fort. Shinheuh fortification was enough to keep him at bay. But if she didn't want to talk face to face, then she would do so face to feet at least.

"So, who'll be the next to disappoint, you, or me?" The rhetorical question was left to hang, Illiam didn't know if Nyra intended to answer, let alone talk to him. But if nothing else, the subject matter must seem right at home for her.

The day of the test.

They say to dress for success. And there's no better dress Illiam could think of. Though her hair was itchy, that could be chalked up to the price paid for the power he now wields. If nothing else, there's a chance he could blend in as a member of Minerva's group. Such a plan was flawed enough to bring a smile to Illiam's face.

Illiam had been inspecting the firearm given to him. He had seen such things before but never figured he'd be holding one. He whipped it around, pointing it at random objects. With every violent adjustment of his arm came also the small mechanical clicking sounds of something moving within the gun. Something which was beyond Illiam's understanding. He started using it in bashing movements, hitting an imaginary enemy. Feeling comfortable with its weight, Illiam pointed it at a few more objects.

BANG

A rocket fire soft-shell whizzed through the air hitting a vase and splattering it blue. On its small end table, it wiggled and danced, until ultimately falling and splintering into porcine pieces all over the floor. He Illiam brought the tip of the gun up to his mouth and blew on it. It seemed like the natural thing to do.

"I'm sticking with you Nyra. You're a moving target, and we're gonna take advantage of that. I have a plan, but first I gotta know. Exnor." Illiam puts the gun back down to his side, he smirks at Exnor. "How comfortable are you with chilling in the belly of a Shinheuh?"

Yeong-Su Xia
Tags:

QuirkyAngel

Brendanfp
Among the voices that demanded a refund or a rematch, those directed both at and away from Yeong-Su, no voice was as loud as his own internal monologue. The crying masses should have been grateful for the draw, they all got a show for no cost. It was Yeong-Su that suffered from the draw, even that Lin girl got out with nothing more than a taste of what it felt like to be perfect. Sickening, so sickening, enough to make Yeong-Su hurl. But none of the voices were as sickening than that of the woman that stood before him.

She was every part as impish and juvenal as she looked. Her hollow pleasantries were appreciated all the way until she mentioned ice. After that, every still lingering word from her mouth sounded of nothing but buzzing. Ignoring every word, but keeping eye contact, he waited until her mouth stopped moving. Once she had finished, Yeong-Su felt it only appropriate to respond with a clicking of his tongue against his teeth, an audible "tsk" accompanied by a glare that could only be best described as, ice cold.

A baleful gaze that returned to neutral as soon as Mun's voice could be heard. The focus of his attention shifted too. He said nothing as Mun started treating him, but the ice covering his wound shattered upon her order without even a second between.

"Mun." He finally spoke, and his voice rang calm, smooth and low. "That girl was asking to be my friend. Can you talk to her?" Yeong-Su points as the catlike woman who has pounced on him only moments prior. His gaze stays on Mun the whole time.

QuirkyAngel · May 17, 2020

Ajax Cruise
Ajax had already begun walking down the steps, hands in his pockets and lighthouse following, when the brown-haired girl with glasses spoke. Perhaps sending Selicity alone to do the socializing had been a mistake. Early rifts in team dynamic could prove to be detrimental down the line and Selicity wasn't exactly the most...cautious...of individuals. Not that he'd sent her exactly. She'd jumped down herself. Ajax had simply been silently observing the wavecontroller's reaction from the stands to get a sense of his demeanor. What Ajax could conclude was that Yeong-Su not openly friendly and made no attempts to hide that fact. Easily irritated, but also passive aggressive as he neither physically or verbally assaulted her. He simply ignored her.

Ajax supposed it was a good thing the wave controller was the level-headed sort.

He could see Selicity drop her hand, fold her arms, and tilt her her head, brows furrowing in thought. He could see her trying to work out the cold shoulder in her head. She wasn't dumb. She could tell she'd upset the target, but she seemed to have problems working out why. Ajax nodded. He would leave her to it and intervene only if necessary. It was good for her to work her brain, think about her actions, and consider the repercussions. That itself was Selicity's biggest weakness. While her physical ability was enough to pass the tests on the E-rank level, not all the challenges would be physical. There would be times when he couldn't be there to tell her what to do. Times where she had to act on her own.

"Unfortunately, neither of us are skilled in healing." Mending the flesh wasn't as easy as it sounded. Knowledge of the body and fine tune shinsoo control was required. While Ajax was confident in his ability to copy her and do both, he hadn't regenerated flesh on a body not his own before--not through a lighthouse at least--and he doubted Yeong-Su would appreciate being experimented on. He had chosen to focus on other, more offensive, skills. How nice that Yeong-Su's teammate had a diverse set at her disposal. Points for hospital visits could be saved.

Pulling one of his gloved hands from his pocket, Ajax held it out in front of him. "But by connecting the network of our lighthouses, I could help you gather shinsoo at a quicker rate and enhance your technique by sending the flow I gather to yours. Three should be enough. Lighthouse visible mode."

Three cyan cubes appeared next to the freckled girl's white ones and began to glow as well. A total of six lighthouses so longs the girl didn't attempt to break the established connection . Ajax watched the ice melt away and wound started closing at a quicker rate. It wasn't long before the flesh was entirely healed. "My name is Ajax Cruise and my companion is Selcity Fars. We're both E-rank regulars."

Introducing oneself was always the polite way to start a conversation.

Selicity Fars
Selcity, on the other hand was still thinking, head slightly drooped, arms folded, and fingers drumming against her left bicep. The ice cold glare was dead give away that she'd done something wrong. Something to make him not even look at her. Sel easily recognized the signs of anger/annoyance. She had gotten plenty of people angry at her before. The village chief. The Cat Sidhe villagers. Ajax, on occasion. However, in all those instances, Selicity usually understood what she'd done to make others upset. She'd even did it on purpose some times. However, in this situation, she was completely lost. She'd been nothing but friendly - at least in her mind.

Finally looking up, golden eyes were muddled brown with confusion as she leaned forward to critically study the boy who was looking at his teammate before asking in straightforward manner. "Are you angry? Why are you angry?"

No answer. At least, none quick enough for Sel.

Her gaze flitted to the brown haired girl with glasses - the one he'd told to speak for him. The one called 'Mun'. "Why is he angry?"

Selicity's ears twitched at the growing sound of cheers as another challenge was issued, but she ignored it in favor of absolving her curiosity.

Brendanfp

OverconfidentMagi · May 18, 2020

Nyra Carciphi

So, who'll be the next to disappoint, you, or me?

Nyra clutched her legs close, making her body hidden in the calm darkness beneath the bed as small as possible. She wouldn't leave that place of relative safety when Exnor returned, nor until the lights went out as the others drifted off to sleep. She was already out and gone when they awoke, nowhere to be found until she reappeared just before the next test was set to begin. She had her ragged hood up, her golden eyes hidden from her unwelcomed teammates.

It seemed like Illiam wanted to take the lead for this test, proudly announcing that he had a plan.

"I'm sticking with you Nyra. You're a moving target, and we're gonna take advantage of that. I have a plan, but first I gotta know. Exnor. How comfortable are you with chilling in the belly of a Shinheuh?"

There was a crack of lightning within the room and a deep gash appeared across the ceiling, floor, and far wall of the room, marking a clear line between Illiam and Exnor. A slight ripple on the surface of the bowl held tightly between Nyra's hands was the only sign of Yazi's tail disappearing back inside. She put a hand over the bowl as if to hide it, or to hide them from it. "Don't joke about touching my shinheuh again," her voice was quiet.

"Arms inventory, visible mode." A large diamond-shaped lattice inventory simply appeared behind Nyra. Each of its hollows sans one was occupied by a single glass orb about the size of Nyra's head, and more than half of those bowls currently housed shinheuh under Nyra's control. This was her team, more than the two people standing there. Her bandaged fingers brushed against one of the bowls after another. From one emerged a long-bodied fish whose body and face closely resembled a needle or spear, from another a flat-bodied skate with a long barbed tail, from another a clear-bodied jellyfish with long, trailing arms, and finally...

"Ullyr, wake up," her voice was gentle as she caressed the bowl housing the Aquatic Wildcat. The surface of the bowl rippled as a large feline shape pulled itself from its container. It flicked its tail and yawned, revealing vicious-looking teeth. Nyra smiled and pressed her head against the creature's slick fur. "Arms inventory, invisible mode." The cabinet of shinsoo bowls disappeared. "Ullyr, hide." The cat's fur rippled, and it vanished as completely as the inventory.

"Protect," she commanded, her soft voice carrying through the shinsoo with unnatural force. The shinheuh swam calmly around the small anima's body. Presumably the cat was there somewhere as well. Nyra stood with much more confidence now that she was surrounded by her family.

Fire-tongued Needlefish, an incredibly fast-swimming shinheuh with a needle-like nose. This type killed its prey by stabbing prey with its nose, pumping shinsoo inside the body, and then violently igniting the shinsoo to cook it to death from the inside. It was a terrible way to die, for shinheuh or regular. In the confined spaces of this test where bringing out her eels would be disruptive, it would be Nyra's offensive power. Sandback Skate, a flat-bodied shinheuh somewhere between a shark and a ray, it lay flat against surfaces and camouflaged itself until something passed above, when it flicked its stinger into the unfortunate creature. The venom wasn't deadly, but it caused excruciating, debilitating pain. It would be a convenient trap or shield for this test. Ghost-hair Jelly, a slow-moving jellyfish shinheuh whose long, nearly-invisible tentacles disrupted shinsoo flow and numbed a person so they didn't even realize they'd been stung until their entire body stopped moving. Prolonged exposure to the venom could be both addictive and deadly. Ignoring the tentacles as they touched her bandaged arm, Nyra shoved an observer inside the jelly's body. It was how she kept the brainless thing moving where she wanted when not directly in front of her, as well as how she kept track of when it caught someone.

"I agree that I should be used as bait," she answered Illiam, "but I don't need your protection. Just worry about hitting your shots." She stepped towards the door. "Lighthouse, visible mode." Her grey lighthouse appeared, and after she typed something, a second Nyra appeared sitting atop the lighthouse with a glass bowl held in its arms, exactly like the real Nyra. A projection, another piece of bait. She stepped out of the team's safe room and into the hallway. The projection floated down the hall towards the stairs, with the observer-guided jellyfish floating after it.

She looked back at her teammates. "Come. We're winning this test."

Ha Naseon

Naseon was sitting on the floor of his team's safe room when Von Hare's attack came out of nowhere. He hadn't even been able to jump up in time up to avoid an attack from his own shadow, if one had come, before it was over. The hands had come out of his teammates' shadows and tried to steal their extra charges. John had lost his, but Len, much to Naseon's surprise, had reacted instantly to avoid having his own stolen. Nothing had come out of Naseon's shadow.

"Attacking another team's safe room should be against the rules," Naseon mumbled, walking over to John's shadow and punching straight down into it. His fist shattered the floor, but the shadow was just a normal shadow. "Just checking," he answered their looks. "But you should assume whatever he just did he can do again." He pulled off his own belt and tossed it to John. "Don't wear the belt how it was. The hand that came out of the other guy's shadow didn't seem to react when he pulled off his belt, so maybe the rabbit can't see what's happening on this side. Just in case, move the belt around if the rabbit sees you so he can't pull that trick again."

Naseon sat back down on the floor. "I'm strong, if I can touch a person I can take them out of the fight, and can make bullets miss, but it'd affect our bullets too, so that's what I've got. I assume one of you can come up with a plan better than what I could come up with, so let's hear it."

Azure Sky · May 20, 2020

Exnor- Team Illiam

Nyra's reaction was quite unexpected. From how Exnor saw her react around Illiam, he would have thought she was afraid of him. "Wait, she is..." Her reaction of summoning Shinheuh to protect her was a defensive mechanism. She was still afraid of Illiam, but a cornered rat will bite the cat. That's what he believed anyway. Yet something felt off. The way the Shinheuh moved, the way they reacted to her commands alone... He felt it. She had that...

"I see..."

Exnor had a revelation.

"You are the same as other Anima. It is my fault I guess. I was too quick to draw conclusions. Heh, I am a moron." He said, on a disappointed tone, talking for himself more than anything. Since Exnor was blunt and outspoken he made sure to also express some of his oppinions. "I can partially guess why you are so upset. He really isn't the most tactful of people, but remember this: you cannot defeat Illiam, Nyra. Despite all the bravado, and your dangerous puppets." His tone changed when speaking to Nyra, it was icy and unfriendly, as he dismissed what she displayed as being her strength. It was easy to hide behind others. He also stopped calling her "kind anima", and nominating her pets as mere toys. As he got out and went passed her. He was in the unfortunate situation of finding out who Illiam really was when High Ranker Ran simingly killed him and tore his arm off. Yet he survived, and came back stronger. Compared to his immense potential, Nyra and himself were nothing more than ants.

"I will be the vanguard. With all your arsenal, you hardly qualify as bait." He proclaimed. Whether she had a problem with that or not was of no concern to him.

"Oh, sorry Illiam. I guess your plan died before it even got born. But I still intend to win. Do you have other ideas?" Exnor talked to the Irregular as he walked.

Len Lumiere and John Wu- Team Naseon

"Plan?" John scoffed as he removed his restriction bracelet and placed in back into his inventory. The air around him changed as he emitted a dangerous miasma. "I have my own agenda, unfortunately for you." John Wu's voice changed. It was deeper, colder, and malicious. "Guide, I trust you will show me the path to victory." He turned his attention to Lumiere.

"If you wish to attain the information that you need, the most qualified to answer that question is Illiam Herlaa." Len replied casually. "Show me the way then." John demanded.

"As you wish, mister Drake."

"I'd usually punish you for using my real name... Eh, I'll do it later."

"Oh, I almost forgot." he turned to face Naseon one last time. "I don't care what you do. You may even attack Herlaa and anyone else I will inevitably crush in this game. Don't get in my way though. I wouldn't want to accidentally kill you." He said with a cruel smile.

John Wu, real name Drake, bastard child of a Tu Perie member. Unimpressive Light Bearer. Dangerous wave controller. Undercover C-Rank Regular. Member of FUG.

Yet Lumiere had a few reasons for revealing his name: he was a member of FUG but not Drake's ally, he hated the guy's guts, the paths he saw would all lead him to failure anyway, and most importanly...

"Like this, my goddess Scorpion Fish will surely be impressed. Ahhhhh, Azalea-nuna!" Drake's breathing became heavy and uneaven as he took out a detailed Azalea figurine he made himself.

This. Drake's fanaticism regarding the Scorpion Fish, Azalea Crimson. It creeped Len out to the point of making him want to puke.

"Just go straight ahead sir." As Len guided him, he also showed him the middle finger while trailing behind. It was also for Naseon to see that, despite working together, Len was not on Drake's side one bit.

The One Eyed Bandit · May 21, 2020

"These are just toys, aren't they...?" Areum mumbled whilst turning the imitation firearm over in her hands. Of all the tests she'd been through so far, this definitely ranked as one of the stranger ones. She kneaded at the nape of her neck in a half-and-half mix of contemplation and irritation. What went through the heads of these stranger Rankers, she'd never understand.

When the rabbit thought to play charity, the balance of her emotional milkshake tipped and her features begun to glower. In one motion, she snatched the recharge pack from the air and tossed it onto the ground.

"Hey, rodent." She spoke at her new teammate through a slide-long gaze, only half-paying him her attention. "Don't make any mistakes. The munchkin over there picking you doesn't make you even a little trustworthy. You really think I'm gonna do what you say after all the crap you've been pulling? Huh?" As she spoke, a tone of aggression rose higher and higher up in Areum's voice. This, she figured, was what she got for letting the other two do whatever they wanted.

"I don't know what you were thinking-" She turned her attention to Minerva. "-But in my experience, guys like him are usually more of a liability than they are any help. I wouldn't get your hopes up for him, regardless of how strong he is."

Her gaze hopped from Minerva, to Ji-Hyeon, and then finally to the door. If she really wanted to, there were some choice words she could've divvied out to that horned woman too, but she chose to keep her mouth shut. Despite her tone of voice, her agenda here was to teach them a lesson, not just vent her frustrations.

"Anyway. Loathe as I am to admit, my skill-set isn't particularly suited for this sort of test. My armor inventory should be able to help out a fair bit, but... I'm not exactly a deft sort of fighter. The best I'll be able to do is provide cover. So-" Her eyes scanned the group. Every single one of them struck here as the kind of person to have a laundry list of dirty tricks up their sleeve, of some description or another. "-I expect you guys to do the heavy work. I'm not going to lose this test just because floppy ears over there wants to play with his food again."

Brendanfp · May 21, 2020

Mun Minseo

Minseo watched as three more lighthouses appeared around her. Her specialty had always been using Shinsoo to enhance herself or others. Healing was something she could do, but it usually took a long time and was rather exhausting even with the aid of her lighthouses. However, with six lighthouses all controlling the flow towards one combined effort, Yeong-Su’s wound was closing faster than ever.

Minseo turned her head back towards the pair, “Thank you for your assistance,” she calmly stated to the mysterious man who had not come up in her search. At least she now knew he was a light-bearer like herself. “He’s not angry Ms.Fars, just a little shy, please give me a moment to speak to him in private,” she called back as she made her pocket visible.

[Private Communication Mode: ON]

Minseo looked up at her partner with a plain expression. Her dull grey eyes looked into his own.

“Yeong-Su… what happened out there? You had her right where you wanted her but gave up at the last moment. Is everything alright? I know you aren’t fond of tournaments, but this is a great opportunity to earn a large sum of points.”

She raised a hand to the back of her head and looked off to the side, “I hate to ask you to do this again, but I have one more target in mind. I’ll fill you in on the details after I find out what the two regulars behind me want.”

[Private Communication Mode: OFF]

Minseo turned around to face Selcity and her mysterious partner, “Hi, my name is Mun Minseo, and this is my partner Yeong-Su Xia. Did you have any questions? I’d be happy to answer.” Her face all the while still devoid of emotion.