Chapter Text
“Do you truly wish to turn back the wheel of time? All your accomplishments, all your successes, will be overturned. All of the sacrifices made will be in vain. It is no guarantee that it will be better the second time… things may even end up worse. Your destiny ensures your eventual victory. If you make this choice now, that destiny will not be assured.”
“Even so… there are things that I want to protect. I think that I’ve found someone I want to save badly enough. More than changing the tower, more than defeating Jahad, more than avenging my parents—I want to be with my friends. I want them back with me. If this path hadn’t presented itself to me, maybe I could have continued forward. But since it’s here, how can I not try? I know it’s selfish of me, but I…”
“Heh. I see. Well, who does not have selfish desires when climbing the tower? Very well then. This is your privilege as the very first to clear this area. Yes, if you continued on this path, you would have been glorious, but I see now that glory is not what you desire. How rare. Good luck then, Jue Viole Grace. May you find your happiness.”
“Yes.”
OoOoOoO
Bam awoke to an outstretched hand. Reaching. Reaching for something indefinite, something just out of grasp. For his master. For Khun. For his teammates.
Panic flared within him, before awareness set in. He noted the purple light, and the ancient murals around him. His arm dropped back to his side, and slowly, he pulled himself up to a seated position. His body felt heavy. Weak.
“My, my—” A single voice rang out in the grand, empty halls. “It’s been a while since there’s been a visitor like you here.”
Bam tensed, but resisted the urge to spring to his feet.
“Who is it?” He asked lowly.
The faint sound of footsteps echoed down the empty hall. Bam noted, however, that the voice had appeared before the footfall. That meant the owner of the voice was only pretending his entrance could be heard.
A humanoid metal rat appeared in the light, twirling a golden baton. “It’s been a while since a visitor opened the gate by himself. Welcome to the tower, young man.”
Headon.
It had worked, then.
Bam’s shoulder slumped in relief. He hadn’t seriously thought he’d be betrayed. He trusted the administrator. Still, he’d been afraid, been so afraid that something would go wrong. It always seemed to, with him. But here was Headon. It had worked.
“Woah. That’s not the reaction I usually get,” the silver creature tipped his head in consideration. “Do you already know who I am?”
“Ah.” That was hard to answer. Bam didn’t want to lie, but the administrator had warned him about letting people know that it was possible to manipulate time. “Um.”
“Interesting.” It wasn’t possible to see Headon’s eyes, but something about his voice caused Bam to shiver. “Well then, you have me at a disadvantage. If I could have your name, young man?”
“Right.” Bam inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that the floor guardian wasn’t pursuing the matter. And then he hesitated. The 25th Bam was certainly the name that he was most used to. It had always been the name he introduced himself as, when given a choice. But it was also the name that she gave him.
On the other hand, he was the son of V and Arlene. Jue Viole Grace may have been a name he initially hated, but it had become precious to him. After the Hidden Floor, after his master’s sacrifice, he had come to see that it was part of himself too.
But that name was too dangerous to use right now.
“Right. My name is… uh, the 25th Bam, after the day I was born.”
“Huh? Sounds tasty.” Headon didn’t seem suspicious about the pause. “But a bit difficult to say, eh. Well, I’ll just call you Bam. Tell me, boy, how did you end up here?”
Bam’s lips quirked. How indeed. He remembered how he had first answered this question. He answered it differently this time. “Isn’t it… to climb the tower?”
“Ho? And what do you want from this tower?”
There was no reason to lie. “I have a wish. I don’t think the tower itself can grant it, but I still think climbing it will be worthwhile.”
“This…” Headon stared at him. Even though Headon had no eyes, Bam could tell it was a stare. “This is… most unexpected.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.” Headon sounded thoughtful. “But rather interesting. Very well then, Bam. I won’t keep you. To ascend, you must pass a test. Do you know how the tests work?”
Bam nodded. Later on, he would definitely have to be careful about how much information he revealed. But Headon was an administrator. He doubted the administrators would be plotting with Jahad or FUG.
“Very well then, I shall give you your test.”
Headon tapped the wall, and blue suddenly illuminated the dim space. A White Armored Eel swam lazily inside a shinsu cage, circling a black ball. Idly, Headon explained the rules.
Bam frowned. He hadn’t known this the first time, but that monster was clearly from the 20th floor, wasn’t it? It wasn’t difficult for him to deal with now, but back then he’d really been a weak nobody! How could the floor master give out a test like this? Headon was just sadistic!
“Are you afraid?” Headon asked. Bam could practically hear the grin in his voice.
Bam ignored him, and moved forward. And it was just then that he caught a flicker in the corner of his eye.
He was moving before he fully registered it, but his body’s reaction was too slow. A foot smacked his cheek, sending him careening to the ground. He groaned. Yuri. Right.
Yuri was babbling something excitedly above him. It wasn’t a language he understood. He shoved himself to his feet again, rubbing his cheek. Yuri had started talking to Headon, and Evan came down from wherever they were hiding to join in the conversation too. They were still babbling in a foreign language and—oh.
Evan handed him a pocket. And that was why he couldn’t understand them.
Bam took it with a smile. It flared in his grip. “Thank you.”
“No problem. What’s your first impression of it? You can understand what I’m saying now, right?”
Evan proceeded to explain just how a pocket worked, with the occasional input from Yuri. They also introduced themselves. Bam listened to it with a smile. He had always loved listening to his friends, so although he knew everything already, he didn’t feel the need to interrupt. He just thanked them for the information.
“Hey,” Yuri complained to Headon, “isn’t this test too unfair? I mean this kid just seems like an ordinary boy. He’s like a baby compared to the other Irregulars.”
“I wonder about that.” Headon hummed. “But if you really want him to climb the tower, princess, I can change the rules slightly. How ‘bout this, you lend him one of the weapons you own.”
Bam watched in wonder as Headon and Yuri began haggling about Black March. Back then, Bam hadn’t known what a big deal the black needle was. But now that he knew what being a Princess of Jahad meant, it was really incredible that Yuri had been willing to lend it to him.
“Miss Yuri,” he interrupted, “it’s fine. Thank you for watching out for me, but I can take this test without a weapon. Don’t worry.”
“What?” Yuri turned to gape at him. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Okay boy, what’s your name?”
“Oh, I’m Bam. The 25th Bam.”
“Alright Bam, do you wanna go up the tower, or give up?”
“Of course I want to go,” Bam smiled gently. “There are people I really want to meet.”
“Ehhh? But you might die, you know? There’s a high possibility you’ll die before you find what you seek.”
The administrator had warned him about that, too. By coming back, he’d wrecked Destiny. Even so. Bam curled his fingers into a loose fist. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll go anyway.”
Yuri let out a breath that sounded like a laugh. “Well, okay.” She held out an arm. “Arms inventory. Visible mode.” Snagging a familiar blade, Yuri held it out towards Bam. “Take it. This is Black March. I’ll lend it to you for a while.”
“Whaaaaat?” Evan freaked out. He and Yuri had a brief argument before the blade was shoved into Bam’s hands. Bam was too startled to stop them.
Black March pulsed in his grip. In the future that was no longer, he’d carried the blade for three years. He’d known its power and its spirit intimately. It welcomed him now, whispering for him to journey with it again.
But it would also bring him attention, attention he couldn’t afford. Moreover, Evan wasn’t kidding about this action putting Yuri in danger.
And also… He’d lost this weapon to Anaak last time. He’d promised Yuri he’d return it and he lost it. It was so embarrassing. To this day he didn’t know how Yuri had gotten the weapon back. He didn’t think it’d happen again, but what if?
“No um,” he smiled weakly, and shoved the weapon back at Yuri. “It’s really alright. I’m not trying to be arrogant or overly courteous or anything. I really don’t need it.”
Yuri narrowed her eyes. “You…”
“Really, thank you. But I’m stronger than I look, promise.”
Not wanting to fight with her more about the issue (he had a feeling he’d lose), Bam turned and entered the blue test space. He took a breath, and gazed up at the Armoured Eel. It loomed over him, hunger in its eyes. And then it dove. He’d fought many similar creatures in the past, and many scarier ones besides. It wouldn’t be difficult to kill it, even in his current body. But how should he do this without drawing too much suspicion?
Umm, he probably shouldn’t use any techniques from his master, right? He trusted Yuri, but she’d be put in an awkward position if she saw abilities of a top FUG executive and didn’t report it. So no Floral Butterfly Piercing.
Haaah. Well in the end it was just a creature from the 20th Floor, wasn’t it?
Two bangs should be enough. The moment the eel reached him, Bam set off the simplest version of Straight Line Long Pierce that he could. A spear of shinsu shot towards the eel, shimmering even in the shinsu field. The beast didn’t even have time to react.
A long hole tore through the eel’s body, and it floated, suspended for a single moment. Then blood began to fill the water. And yuk. He really hadn’t thought this through!
He leapt towards the black ball with shinsu reinforcement, moving in a path that avoided the leftover bits. Soon the entire pool would be filled with it though, and he really didn’t want to go swimming in blood. It was icky and it got everywhere. Thankfully there was a fast way out of here.
He looked up again just in time to see Yuri’s shocked face. He beamed at her. “I hope we see each other again, Miss Yuri.”
And then he pierced the black ball, and the world dissolved around him.
Last time, he’d been knocked unconscious by the transference, either by the high concentration of shinsu, the shock of the battle, or the activation of Black March. This time, he’d experienced dozens of testings, and this one felt no different. The disorienting sensation of teleportation lasted a split second, and then a nostalgic wheat field filled his vision.
“Mic test, mic test, one two three! One, two. Hello everyone.”
Bam raised his head to see a yellow lighthouse, floating high above. He blinked, and blinked again. That was… Leroro’s voice, wasn’t it?
“To all the Regulars who have made it to the tower, we sincerely welcome you to the second floor.” The voice from the lighthouse continued. “This is Evankhell’s Floor, also called ‘the Floor of Test’, because here we carry out the final test to see whether you are qualified to go up the tower!”
Evankhell, his second master. The only one who was willing to help him with the impossible task of fighting Kallavan, the one who always chose his side. She was also the one who constantly threw him into deadly traps without telling him the way out, and smiled with glee every time she beat him to a pulp. Oh fudge nuggets he hoped she wasn’t here right now.
“Well, I will explain the details to you later. First, let’s start the test. It’s been a long time since we warmed up. The first test is simple. I will explain the rules, so listen carefully. There are 400 Regulars here. Narrow that 400 down to 200. Try every possible means. The test ends when the number of Regulars reach 200. Ready, begin!”
The audio from the lighthouse clicked off.
Ummmm.
Bam wasn’t alone. Even though his body was untrained, it had become automatic of him to sharpen his senses with shinsu. He counted twenty people in the immediate vicinity, and five of them were already engaged in a fight. One was approaching at what was probably a rapid pace for new regulars, but felt like a snail’s crawl to Bam.
If Bam wanted to, he could take out all twenty. It would probably be kinder of him to do so. After all, he could do it without killing anyone.
But there was the issue of how much power he should reveal.
Unlike Headon’s floor, Evankhell’s floor was being watched by many players with allegiances to other parts of the tower. To Jahad. To FUG. To their own agendas. Never again did Bam want to be under someone else’s complete control. Moreover, he couldn’t draw too much attention because he didn’t want to be separated from his friends.
But if one were to ask him what the normal level of competence of a Regular was, he wasn’t sure he even knew it, let alone be able to conceivably fake it. He more or less realized that his abilities reached beyond those of his peers. He couldn’t yet fight those who truly had power, which was why he had to hide, but comparatively speaking he had never been ‘normal’. Likewise, most of his companions were not exactly normal either…
And if he were to be honest, he knew that a weak persona would never hold. The moment his friends were in danger, there was no way he was holding back. His pretense would be ripped to shreds.
Yeah, he probably couldn’t pull off a ‘regular’ Regular.
“Alright, found one!” A red skinned warrior ran out from the wall of wheat. He raised his spear, a murderous glint in his eyes. “Alright little pygmy, time to see what you’re made of.”
Bam gave a lopsided smile. “Sorry, I don’t fight people who are weaker than me.”
Ahh, Evankhell was such a bad influence on him. But since this was her floor, it seemed only right to pay homage? Besides, if he couldn’t pull off normal Regular, then the only remaining option…
“Weak?! Why you—!” The red skinned warrior charged at him. Bam leaned back to get under the swing, trapped the spear within his elbow, and kicked the man in the stomach. The red skinned man went flying back, just as Bam flung the spear towards a nearby cliff. A woman yelped as an arrow shot wide, landing harmlessly in an empty patch of wheat.
…was to lean into his identity as an Irregular.
Bam let out a breath, wincing as he rolled his shoulders to ease the tense muscles. He’d been light on the shinsu reinforcement, but it was still a bit much for this body, huh? He’d really had to train it up again.
The sound of slow clapping rang out across the wheat field as another examinee stepped into view. Sunlight lit his entrance to a radiant glow, turning pale blue hair almost white.
“Wow, that was impressive.” The boy languidly lowered his hands, taking a casual stance as he fingered the briefcase at his side. His lips were pulled up in an enigmatic smirk, as if he were about to share a secret known only to a selected few. “Hey, what do you say about teaming up with me?”
For a moment, Bam’s heart stopped. And then, an incredible smile bloomed across his face. “Khun!”