Unconquered Tower

FORTY-SEVEN

Roan watched Amir like a hawk, every bob of his throat as a poisonous word exited his mouth. Taoya stood gently relaxed, but Roan knew the big man well. Taoya was scared, or at least wary. Which was something Roan hadn’t truly seen before. Whatever their history, Amir had been memorable for Taoya.

“Mixed up our instances again it seems. Most of these are mine, but I see a few who aren’t. They're yours?” Amir asked. Taoya shook his head.

“Who is running your instance? I had precious few allies in mine,” Amir asked. Roan saw the way the man’s black eyes bored into Taoya. The mind-fucker was trying to make eye-contact, but Taoya wasn’t giving in, keeping his eyes locked straight ahead.

“Is this why he had the mental resistance skill manual?” Roan looked over at the crowd who Amir said was from his own instance. Not a single person looked up from the ground, all of their heads were bowed and staring at the ground.

“Is this fear or does eye contact help his ability?” Roan stared hard at the people and realized it was fear. These people were deathly afraid of Amir. Taoya was either scared or deferential toward Amir. It rankled Roan’s stomach.

His hand tightened on the grip of his polearm to the point the enchanted weapon creaked. Roan took a step forward without thinking, then another. He made up his mind before he could fully process what it was he was doing.

Amir turned to look Roan in the eye and it felt like a building slammed into Roan’s head. He rocked to the side, his steps faltering while Amir’s smile widened.

“How about you? Are you the leader of Taoya’s instance? I know he’s not, always been more of a muscle not thought type,” Amir said. The mind-fucker’s smile was condescending as he looked at Taoya who was trembling next to him.

“We’ve faced each other enough times that I had to leave a few implants behind. Did it to most of my competitors honestly. One of the reasons I had to kill Gideon. Can’t have someone like that running around ruining my plans.”

“Who the fuck is Gideon?” Roan asked. He took another step toward Amir.

“You don’t know? Then you’re not running their instance. Tyler? Nikki? No, Nikki is a brawler like him and Tyler is too anti-social. Hmmmm, Darren maybe? He’s borderline psychotic and paranoid, but I could see it. Is that it Taoya? Is it Darren running your group? He was always in Gideon’s shadow, he knew Gideon’s plans. It could be Darren,” Amir said, turning and tapping a manicured finger on his chin.

“He’s too confident in his ability. Crush his fucking skull.” For possibly the first time since entering the Tower, Roan was confident that was his own voice in his head.

“This whole little Pact thing they built, it was cute. They’re good-doers, ready to save the world. It was easy to figure them out. A few suggestions and everyone was telling me what they planned. Fucking idiots. Think they can clear this tower and then what? Overthrow our world?” Amir asked, laughing maliciously.

“These dumb fucks actually think that they were discreet. It’s unfortunate it was me who had to come and deal with this. It probably means my death.” Amir quieted and turned back to Roan. He was only feet away but every step was a challenge now, a shimmer in the air between Amir and Roan.

“But the elders will take care of my family for ensuring that no cause comes from this tower. Just more missing bodies.” Amir chuckled and his eyes focused, the weight against Roan doubling. He couldn’t walk further, frozen just inches from polearm range.

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“People like you are my favorite. Those with strong wills who refuse to bend. Breaking you is fun. I get to rebuild you then. All those shattered little pieces that I can turn into a beautiful mosaic.”

“This guy is a fucking prick.” Roan focused on moving. Any body part, even an inch and he’d take it as a win. A bead of sweat broke out on Amir’s scalp and started to trickle downward. It was the only sign of success that Roan needed, he redoubled his efforts to keep moving forward.

“Stop that. Stay still. Where was I?” Amir’s voice was strained, a wince appearing and disappearing near instantly.

Roan shifted a half-inch forward. Taoya’s eyes snapped up and Roan could see the pain in his eyes. The man was trembling in pain, whatever suggestions that Amir had placed were obviously powerful.

“Roan…I…can’t…” Toaya groaned, taking a step forward. Power started to build around his body.

“You little shit. Can’t do anything yourself,” Roan rasped. It was a struggle to even breathe but he managed to get the words out.

“I am though? This is my bloodline ability. Built into my very genetics. I am a controller, not a pawn. This is just an extension of who I am. Taoya, hold him down, don’t permanently damage him.”

“Fuck you,” Roan snarled as he took a single step forward. An alert popped up about a skill upgrade, but he ignored it. The weight of Amir’s presence nearly vanished with the alert.

Roan shot forward and stabbed the man through the throat. Amir didn’t have time to react let alone grab one of his swords. Red blood ran over the polished enchanted steel, dripping onto the thirsty badlands ground. Roan ripped the speartip sideways and opened a gaping wound on the man’s throat. He gurgled, blood spraying from his lips before his knees folded and he slammed into the earth.

A potion appeared in Amir’s hand, but Roan was ready for it. The axe head slice the man’s arm off at the shoulder. It thumped to the ground and more blood poured free. All the arrogance was gone from Amir’s face, only raw panic showing. Roan had to give it to the man, he was still calm enough to keep trying to save his own life.

Another potion was summoned and this time Roan speared him through the hand, pinning the limb to the ground.Taoya was completely frozen, body locked tight and sweat pouring off of his face.

“I think you look better this way. More natural, at least for me,” Roan whispered.

“Mind-fuckers like you, I can’t stand them. Those who manipulate and twist a person into something foreign, a prisoner in their own flesh. Just kill them, it’s cleaner that way,” Roan finished. The life left Amir’s eyes and he slumped to the ground.

TOWER CLIMBER

FLOOR 1.03

AMIR KHOURY

CREDIT TRANSFER: 67,850

BONUS: 5,000 CREDITS

“What did you do?” Taoya whispered, running his hand over his throat. He looked down at the slumped over corpse with disbelief.

“Killed a mind-fucker. Why? Didn’t look like you were friends?” Roan asked. He was already kneeling and pulling the multitude of spatial rings off the man’s fingers. Amir hadn’t spent money on armor, or arms, but he was carrying a wealth of spatial treasures. There were quite a few nice pieces that Roan would have to break open. An open spatial ring wasn’t as valuable as a locked one, but free was the best price that roan knew, even if it required a bit of water to clean the blood off.

“He was one of the heaviest hitters we had. We knew he was coming and that’s why we all invested in the mental resistance skill. In a level or two we would have all been immune to him,” Taoya said.

“Maybe. Or maybe he’d get stronger. I don’t really care, Taoya. He threatened me and I wasn’t going to let that slide. He admitted to murder, whoever Gideon was. He had this coming,” Roan said, rolling the body over and patting him down. There was another canteen similar to his own, but larger. A few odds and ends he’d have to look over, but stashed for the moment.

“I know. I won’t say anything about it, just, he would have been a powerful ally once we had him under our thumb. With mental resistance skills he wouldn’t have been a threat to us and could be used against the mobs,” Taoya said. Roan snorted and shook his head.

“He was always a threat, you know it, I know it, and everyone over there knows it,” Roan said, pointing a bloody finger to the group of people who were staring at him with wide, unbelieving eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” Taoya said, softly. A second later he whispered so quietly that Roan could hardly hear him.

“Thank you.”