Tower Of God: Life As Hoaqin

My two arms were more than enough to hold Maschenny.

We stayed like that, feeling each other's warmth, exchanging heat through simple skin contact. After a few minutes passed, I was the one who pulled away first.

If I had to describe the feeling… hmm…

Warm. Soft. She smelled nice, too.

Of course, I gathered shinsu droplets beneath her feet so she wouldn't fall.

Then we just stood there, quietly looking at each other.

"..."

To be honest, I wanted to stay like that a little longer. But there was Maschenny's position as a Princess to consider, and the shinsu storm that had completely cut us off from the outside was already beginning to subside. So I swallowed my true feelings and ended it sooner than I wanted.

And more importantly—Maschenny's condition…

"…Should we go to a hospital first?"

I hesitated, then asked her timidly.

Honestly, she looked awful.

Blood was running down her cheek. Her forehead too—no, really, there wasn't a single place on her body that hadn't been cut.

It was my fault. I'd regained my senses while she was holding me, so I hadn't seen her face properly until now.

Only realizing it at this point…

"Rather than that—what exactly happened to you, Hoaquin?"

"…I don't really know either. Leta Zahard used a cursed item to interfere with my mind—some kind of illusion spell. After that, I don't really remember…"

I had no memory of anything after being swallowed by the flash of light from that ring.

I knew I'd gone on a rampage… and judging by Maschenny's injuries, I probably—

When I kept glancing at her wounds, she casually wiped the blood from her face with her arm.

It smeared and honestly made her look scarier, but anyway.

I placed my hand on her forehead and let shinsu flow, washing away the blood that had spread over her body.

She accepted it calmly—but her gaze was fixed behind me.

"We found her."

At Maschenny's words, I nodded.

"Yeah. We did."

Behind me, Anna was floating gently inside a shinsu bubble.

The moment I regained consciousness, I remembered her and lifted her with shinsu so she wouldn't fall.

That made one out of three found.

Where were the remaining two?

Were they even still alive…?

Feeling both the joy of finding Anna and the bitterness regarding the rest of my family, I let out a bitter smile. Maschenny, as if reading my heart perfectly, looked at me.

"What are you going to do now?"

"…I think it'd be best to go back toward our family's floating fortress. We have to climb anyway."

It hadn't even been half a year since I started climbing the Tower again, yet a wave of completely unexpected events had crashed down on me.

Meeting Eurasia Enne.

The massive clash between the two largest Zahard Princess factions.

Finding Anna, whom I'd thought was dead without even a body left behind.

And then… an unexplained heart condition, and my rampage.

But the most important thing was Anna.

Going to the 99th Floor would probably be our next goal.

That way, we could at least try to find Albelda and Vicente.

And once we reached the 100th Floor, maybe Anna too—

—Maschenny noona! Are you alright?!

"…?"

As I was lost in thought, a boy's energetic voice came through Maschenny's Pocket, and at the same time, a floating ship rapidly approached from the distance.

Who was that?

There was someone who called Maschenny "noona," but—

The floating ship reached us in an instant. Its door opened, and the owner of the voice revealed himself.

"Noona, it looks like you're injured. Should we head to a hospital?"

"Oh, Khun Marco Asensio."

The moment I saw the Khun boy blowing bubble gum and holding a blue spear, the words slipped out of me without thinking.

Seeing someone I'd only ever seen in the webtoon, right in front of my eyes—it was a strange experience.

Of course, since he'd never met me before, he looked at me with confusion.

"…? Do I know you?"

"You're pretty famous. I'm—"

I tried to gloss over it as usual and introduce myself, but Asensio raised a hand and cut me off.

"Ah, I know who you are. You're Arie Hoaquin—the one who's always climbing the Tower with my noona. That alone is a tremendous honor, so you should be grateful. Al. Ways."

For some reason, the hand holding his spear seemed to be trembling slightly—but I figured it was just my imagination and nodded casually.

Hmm. Now that I looked closely, his pupils even seemed to crackle faintly with electricity.

Anyway, we boarded his floating ship and decided to head back to the lodgings.

We were originally going to go to a hospital, but Maschenny said, 'This will heal quickly.'

And sure enough, even to my eyes, her wounds were already healing naturally.

"Asensio, what happened to the Ruler?"

"Oh, the Ruler? He returned to his original post right after exiting the storm."

"I see."

…A Ruler?

Why was a Ruler involved all of a sudden?

I wanted to ask, but somehow it felt like bad timing, so I kept quiet.

Honestly, I had a rough idea anyway.

Haah… just how much trouble did I cause?

Even just looking out the window of the floating ship, it was obvious.

Buildings in the area near where I'd been were completely sliced apart.

Mountains, forests—natural terrain had been reduced to wasteland.

Even the ceiling's weather looked off.

That Ruler had even helped the Khun family at my request—and I'd ended up stabbing him in the back like this.

Staying on this floor any longer would just make things awkward. We should rest briefly, then move on.

First, get some proper rest on this ship and at the lodgings—

…Huh?

"...!"

As I stared out the window, something caught my eye—piles of debris drifting through the air.

No—more precisely, the wreckage of floating ships.

And among them—

"Stop the ship for a moment."

"…? Alright."

Asensio tilted his head at my request but stopped the ship without comment.

I opened the door and stepped outside.

Moments later, Maschenny realized what I'd spotted and followed me on a one-person floating craft—basically a board.

I pushed aside chunks of floating fortress debris blocking the way and moved forward.

"…Unexpected. I didn't think you'd be alive."

"Yeon Yuhwa Zahard."

At my words, the woman who had been lying there limply slowly raised her head and looked at me.

I'd thought she'd died when the floating fortress exploded.

How did she survive?

That explosion should've been too much even for Rankers.

But my question was answered when I noticed the faint flames still clinging to her body.

The Yeon family's flames.

The same ones my friend Hwarang has.

They must have ignited automatically in a moment of danger, protecting Yuhwa Zahard just enough.

But there would be limits to that—hence her current state.

Yuhwa Zahard, staring at me with unfocused eyes, finally spoke.

Her entire body was horribly burned, and it looked like she'd suffered fatal internal injuries from the explosion—opening her lips alone seemed difficult.

"Haha… so… Leta failed in the end, huh…? If you're standing there this fine…"

"She didn't exactly fail."

Because of her, I'd gone on a rampage and hurt Maschenny.

At my reply, Yuhwa Zahard looked momentarily surprised, then let out a hollow laugh when she saw Maschenny behind me.

"What… why is she fine too…? Huhuh… this is insane. I'm the only one who gets a dog's death… well, not bad."

Cough, cough.

She spat out a mouthful of blood, then continued speaking with effort.

"You know… just because you have power, you think you can do everything…?"

"No."

The answer came out without even a second of hesitation.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

"Idiot… that's because you're still… weak. If there's something you can't do even with power… then think about whether your power is truly enough. The Tower… is that kind of place."

Her words felt vague, like grasping at clouds, and I frowned slightly.

"So what are you trying to say? Self-justification? An excuse? Mental gymnastics?"

"My hatred hasn't changed, so don't worry about that."

"If you're not even going to kill me, then why did you come here…?"

Honestly, I could have just pretended I hadn't seen her and passed by.

Then why did I get off the floating ship and start talking to her anyway?

To be frank, I don't even know myself why I'm doing this right now.

"Just a whim. By your logic, I have power, and you don't. So I'm simply doing whatever I want."

"Heh heh… already using it. You learn fast."

She coughed up blood once more, then slowly swept her gaze over Maschenny and me.

"Then… could you leave now? I need to recover quickly and start planning my revenge against you two. If you're not going to kill me, just go."

Ridiculous.

"Yeon Yuhwa Zahard."

"…?"

She looked at me, puzzled, and I spoke bluntly.

"I'll at least listen to your last words."

"Hah… what are you talking about… I'll recover soon with these flames…"

"You know it too, don't you? You're dying. At this rate, you won't last even two minutes."

Even I could see that the flow of shinsu inside her body had slowed to a crawl. There was no way she, the owner of that body, didn't know it.

That was also why I wasn't killing her myself.

She was already dying in agony from her injuries alone.

"Looks like you want to die alone, as miserably as possible. I'll hear your last words, so you'd better speak before you regret it."

After saying that, I shut my mouth.

Yuhwa Zahard's body trembled slightly—then she burst out laughing.

"Hahaha… hahahaahahaha! I really can't deal with you to the end… Fine. Then first—Maschenny. You."

With great effort, Yuhwa Zahard lifted a finger and pointed at Maschenny.

"So you're going to swallow up my entire faction now too? Congratulations. Still, when we were kids, it was pretty fun… and you seem to be scheming something. Live within your means. That's what it means to be a Princess."

At the veiled threat in Yuhwa Zahard's words, Maschenny replied indifferently—

as if a dying shark was nothing to fear.

Not that she'd ever been afraid to begin with.

"No thanks. Why should I? This Tower is boring enough as it is."

"…I figured you'd say that. I'll pray you die miserably after biting off more than you can chew… little sister."

"At least I won't die more miserably than you, Yuhwa."

"…Heh heh heh, you rude bitch… never once called me 'unnie'…"

"Next—you, whitey."

"…Me?"

When I pointed at myself, she nodded.

"Yeah. You. This is about your little sister. Since you're hearing my last words, I'll throw this in as a courtesy."

The moment she mentioned Anna, killing intent leaked out of me—but I forced it back down and listened closely.

What was she about to say?

Mockery?

Or something only she knew?

As if to signal that time was running out, Yihwa's breathing grew weaker, her voice quieter.

I focused even harder, staring straight at her.

"A researcher from the Workshop… examined her and said…"

"…that your little sister might still be alive. There were too many strange things about her."

"What…?"

"..."

"Haha… that hit you pretty hard, huh? You didn't bury her already, did you?"

I ignored her taunt.

This wasn't the time for that.

"Then—then how?! What do I do?! Can she wake up again?! Is she still alive?! How do I wake her up?!"

Her breathing began to fade.

I could feel the shinsu flow inside her body slowing to a stop.

Was she still alive?

I desperately waited for her to say something—anything.

"…How would I know? Go ask your father or something… heh heh. The Ten Family Heads are omnipotent, after all…"

"Ah… what a shame. If only I'd won… become a High Ranker, receive one of the Thirteen Months… bring honor to my family, again… again…"

"...…."

Yeon Yuhwa Zahard's words ended there.

Moments later, red flames erupted from deep within her body, burning her—and everything around her—to ash.

After offering a brief, perfunctory prayer for the dead, we left.

"Goodbye, unnie."

Maschenny murmured while gazing out the window, then turned to look at me.

"Hoaquin. So what will you do now?"

"…First, we cancel Anna's funeral."

—Your little sister might still be alive.

Her words kept echoing in my head.

Alive.

My sister.

If that was true—then couldn't the other two also be alive somewhere?

As long as there was even the slightest possibility, I couldn't give up.

If Anna was alive…

If I could wake her again…

I'd use every method, every means necessary.

—Go ask your father or something… The Ten Family Heads are omnipotent, after all…

"…The 100th Floor. It was the 100th Floor."

I lifted my head and looked up at the ceiling.

Beyond it—to the floors even higher above.

—

One week later

134th Floor — "Rulers' Council"

A gathering held roughly once every hundred years, where all the Rulers governing the Floors of the Tower convened to exchange opinions on the Tower's future governance.

Centered around the Three Lords who truly ruled the Tower, and attended by Rulers from the 2nd Floor to the 134th, each session of this council inevitably brought major and minor changes to the Tower.

Kugugugung—

As a massive door opened, a white-haired swordsman stepped inside.

The amphitheater-like hall was still sparsely occupied—the scheduled time for the meeting had not yet arrived.

"Oh, welcome. It's been a while, Schmitt."

Another white-haired, white-eyed swordsman greeted him.

"Yeah. Long time, Dickel. I have a lot to say to you. Hoaquin? Hoa-king? You dumped that kind of bomb on me?"

"Hahaha, that kid does have something of a bomb-like nature. That's why his future is so promising."

"Future? Promising?! A Regular going toe-to-toe with a Ruler—what future, it's already—!"

"Hahahaha…"

As Arie Rom Dickel, Ruler of the 99th Floor, laughed it off, Arie Schmitt, the 96th Floor Ruler who had nearly died cleaning up the mess, glared with killing intent.

"I helped you because you asked. I didn't expect you to stab me in the back like this. Don't contact me again."

Dickel scratched his head, trying to placate him, and the briefly noisy hall returned to silence.

As time passed, more Rulers entered the chamber, gathering with acquaintances, and the hall quickly grew lively.

"Oh, isn't that Yeon Cheonhwa? Those ten billion points you gave me over the Yeon Hwarang matter last time—I'm still spending them well."

Their casual chatter made it easy to forget that everyone present was a powerbroker ranked within the top hundred of the Tower.

And finally—

The leaders of the Rulers' Council, the ones who truly governed the Tower, revealed themselves.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

As a massive halberd struck the ground three times, the noisy hall fell silent.

Three figures stepped onto the stage, not the seating area.

Among the Three Lords who ruled the Tower in rotation every thousand years—

Molic One P.GR stepped forward.

Currently serving his term as the Tower's ruler, he surveyed the now-silent hall and nodded in satisfaction.

In a place where the Ten Family Heads' proxies, Floor Rulers, Zahard's royal administration, and the Three Lords all gathered—

Molic One finally spoke.

"Let the Rulers' Council begin."