The teleportation this time wasnāt loud, it wasnāt instant, it wasnāt slow, it was just...wrong..
And the moment I set foot on the cold hard floor of 61st floor, that wrongness took an exponential turn...
A spine numbing sensation ran through my body..
A chilling sensation so absolute it didnāt feel like anything a cold could replicate..
It felt less like a cold and more like
an absence of life...
The moment my vision cleared, only one word escaped my mouth..
"What...?"
************
Outside the
Solarium Spire..
The audience watched as Dante blitzed through the entirety of the remaining floors, the monsters unable to survive a single blow..
Hell, even the tower seemed to have cut its losses as it stopped spawning weird creatures entirely..
"Heh.. take that you crummy tower, thatāll teach to mess with the
one-punch maestro"
"Hahahaha... truly a man amongst men, to turn even such an ancient and respectable landmark into nothing but cannon fodder, who else dares claim the title of genius when the
white-haired wonder
is around"....
They were jubilant, the mood was utterly contagious, people were laughing and eating, watching Dante blow creatures and entire floors to bits and pieces...
"My lord..." a supervisor called out softly...
"I know... something is wrong" Valenās voice, for the first time ever had lost its indifferent tone, a grim look appearing on his face..
"Something is terribly wrong"...
*******
Ravenās office....
"This isnāt normal... this canāt be normal" Clarissaās grim voice sounded out as she watched Dante blow up the 58th floor, the monsters being regular old trolls, no mutations, no tower evolutions, just normal creatures..
"Itās planning something", whilst the general public believed the tower to have cut its losses, those who had climbed the tower itself knew just how petty and vengeful it could be, they didnāt for one minute believe it had given up...
A cold chill ran up Ravenās spine the moment Dante blew up the 60th floor...
{Ding}
The ominous
ding
of the tower hadnāt only been heard by Dante, it was heard by
EVERYONE!!
Crashhh!!!!
The table before Raven crashed to the floor as she stood up, face white as a sheet, breath trembling, body swaying..
"Dante...My Dante is in danger!!"her voice came out shaky and trembling...
And right at that moment, Dante appeared on the 61st floor, yet before she could see anything, the entire screen went blank. No. Not blank. A deathly black miasma had covered the entirety of the view..
"Is that..." Clarissaās face turned pale instantly...
"Dante!!!!!!!" Came Ravenās heartbreaking cry...
*********
Back at the solarium spire...
Valenās face had gone deathly pale the moment the screen became covered by that black miasma, "no... it canāt be..you wouldnāt.." he voice was shaky, pure, primal fear bleeding through his voice...
The supervisors behind him had all gone pale with dread and horror, theyād only ever heard of what they were currently seeing, and even then, It was from those who had scaled the tower to heights most could only ever dream of, so how???
....
"What the hell happened???"
"Oyyyyy. I canāt see anything!!! Whereās Dante??"
The audience became confused, Dante should be on the 61st floor by now, yet there was nothing but pitch black on the screen...
"What the fuck is going on???"
**********
I stared in wariness at the place Iād appeared in, the chill crawling up my spine making things worse by the moment, I could feel
<Chaotic Denial>
activating constantly, denying a damage I had no idea what was causing, I didnāt move, wanting to understand just what the fuck was going on..
[Ding]
[Chaotic adaptation activating.....
...
....
[<Death> infusion: 0.000000000........01%]
"Wha..what???" Death? Death as in the concept of DEATH? Or what??
"Just what the fuck is going on???"...
[Ding!!]
[Chaotic comprehension activating..]
"What now???"
[You have gained insight into the <SUPREME> law of <DEATH>.....
[You have gained insight into the <SUPREME> law of <DEATH>.....
[You have gained insight into the <SUPREME> law of <DEATH>.....
.....
......
[Current comprehensions:
Concepts:
[MAJOR]<Atmosphere>: 100%
Laws:
<SUPREME><DEATH>: 0.000000000.......01%
.......
"What the hell is this?? Where did this goddamn tower take me to?"
Before I could I wrap my head around just what the hell was happening..
{DING!!}
That ominous
ding
sound appeared..
Only this time, I didnāt just hear it in my heard, I heard it
EVERYWHERE..
The black fog recoiled and twisted grotesquely as if affected by the sound..
There was no announcement, no nothing, just a straight teleportation to the next floor, I faced no monsters, no traps, just an empty fog before being taken away...
I appeared on the 62nd floor, nothing changed, it was still the same spine chilling blackness...
[Ding]
[Chaotic comprehension activating...]
[You have gained insight into the <SUPREME> law of <DEATH>.....
[You have gained insight into the <SUPREME> law of <DEATH>.....
.....
The same messages appeared, yet before I could try to wrap my head around it..
{DING!!}
That same ominous
ding
sound and then, I was gone..
63rd floor...
{DING!!}
64th floor....
{DING!!}
....
......
************
Outside the spire..
The place had gone silent..
A silence so profound one could hear a pin drop..
It was a magnificent sight should one be of the mind to admire it..
Tens of thousands of people in absolute silence as they stared at the ridiculousness before them..
They watched as Danteās points increased steadily..
6,100....
6,200....
6,300....
6,400....
6,500....
.....
....
This meant he was steadily climbing the tower, yet aside an ominous sounding
Ding..
they could see nothing being displayed..
The confusion had changed into unease and for some that unease was already pure unadulterated
FEAR!!
******
Raven watched, with her heart in her throat as Danteās score steadily increased, inevitable proof that he was currently ascending the trial, yet nothing of him could be seen..
Her heart was tearing apart with the purest form of fear, her body trembling as she slowly hyperventilated..
Clarissa rushed to the aid of her friend, "calm down raven, heās still alive, the fact that heās ascending means thereās still hope, so calm down!" She patted her friendās back, trying to regulate her breathing..
Slowly, Raven recovered, yet her complexion didnāt look any better..
"Clare, D...he..."
"Donāt worry.. trust Dante, he wonāt die so easily." Clarissa tried to sound confident, yet the tears falling down her face made her attempt futile, if that miasma was what they believed it to be, then Danteās chances were slim,
VERY SLIM...
*******
"Shit...shit...not like this.. not when everything was already going so well..."
Valenās expression was pale white, his fists clenched so hard his nails pierced his palm, yet he didnāt seem to have noticed..
"Donāt you dare die on me now.. donāt you dare.. I failed him once, I canāt fail him again, so survive! you hear me!? DANTE YOU BETTER SURVIVE THIS OR I SWEAR IāLL KILL YOU MYSELF"
his thoughts were one of worry, fear, and utter DESPAIR.. Tears of remorse already running down his face..
"Please. My Boy... survive"
*********
{Ding}....
The ominous
ding
as I "cleared" the 69th floor of empty darkness sounded more drawn out, almost as if the tower was anticipating something..
The moment I appeared on the 70th floor, the boss floor, I realized why the tower seemed expectant..
The moment I laid my eyes on
THEM,
it dawned on me just how truly, monumentally fucked I was...
*********
A/N: the tower seemed to have stopped playing, wonder whatās in store for our boy..
*********
Thanks for reading...