Tower Of God: Life As Hoaqin

"Let me repeat. Board the transport ships immediately. By the mercy of the temporary commander, you have been granted the right to live. Those who refuse will be considered heretics and may be executed later without responsibility on our part."

"Get lost!"

"How can we trust you?!"

"You were about to bombard us just a moment ago!"

"And once we leave you'll raze the land, right?!"

Despite the Zahard army's warning—almost a threat—the villagers refused to move.

Years of fighting over whether to abandon this land had pushed their hatred of Zahard's army to the extreme.

And they had just tried to bombard the village with civilians still inside.

Their reaction was understandable.

But still—

Why were they all being so stubborn?

Cheonhwa pounded her chest in frustration.

She understood their feelings.

After all, she herself had struggled desperately since learning about the crisis facing the village.

But right now—

Evacuation was the only correct choice.

She quickly read the mood of the crowd.

Most were openly hostile.

The few who wanted to leave were too intimidated by the crowd to move.

At this rate—

Hoaquin would suffer for it.

And the villagers would die.

I… I have to do something.

To protect the village, she stepped onto the platform with resolve.

"Everyone! Please listen to the Zahard army for now!"

"Miss Cheonhwa?"

As the second daughter of the Hong family—the village's ruling family—stepped forward, the mood softened slightly.

"That floating fortress belongs to Leruie! They're criminals of the Tower who dug tunnels under our village without caring about the damage! If this continues we'll die—either by Zahard's army or by them!"

"What if we board those ships and they kill us all?! And Young Master Hong Ryuhwa said Leruie was our ally! That they'd help us drive Zahard's army out!"

"Oh?"

The 2nd Division Commander, who had been overseeing the evacuation, smiled faintly.

Cheonhwa noticed the dangerous look and hurried on.

"Why are you trusting them?! They tried to kill me! And can't you see the village center that got blown apart?! How could those people be our allies?! The one controlling Zahard's army right now is my friend! Your safety will be guaranteed—so please—"

"Miss Cheonhwa's friend is with Zahard's army?! Have you betrayed us?!"

"Why can't you understand—!"

Something was wrong.

The villagers acted like they couldn't hear her.

Their tempers were far worse than usual.

And the atmosphere was turning openly hostile.

At this rate—

"Yes, yes. Let's end this headache here."

Snap.

"Miss Cheonhwa betrayed us! The only ones we can trust are Leruie and Young Master Ryuhwa—"

The moment the 2nd Division Commander snapped his fingers—

Everyone fell silent.

Not just unable to speak.

Their eyes turned dull, as if hypnotized.

One by one, they quietly began boarding the transports.

"…Cheonhwa, was it? Responsibility is nice, but it seems you lack authority. They don't trust you at all. Though… something about their condition was strange anyway."

"…Thank you…"

"Well, I'm the one doing it. If it were the Vice Commander or the 1st Division Commander, they'd have executed them on the spot."

Cheonhwa bowed deeply.

If he had decided to brand the villagers heretics and kill them all—

She could have done nothing.

And that made it even more humiliating.

No one had listened to her.

Some villagers seemed to have been influenced by hypnosis—

But at the root of it all was simple distrust.

Because I'm not like Ryuhwa…

I don't have the qualities of a leader.

The villagers were forced onto the ships under the division commander's ability.

But then—

Where was her brother?

Where was her father?

Everything felt wrong.

Yet she could neither know nor change anything.

Caught between Zahard's army and Leruie—

They were merely weak people swept away by the tides.

And the only thing the weak could do—

Was suffer.

Amid that suffering, she clung to one hope.

Not Zahard's army.

Not Leruie.

But her friend.

"…Hoaquin."

No.

She couldn't rely on him alone.

Surely there had to be something—

Something she could do.

Grasping at faint hope, she looked toward the massive tunnel where Leruie's fortress had risen.

"…."

Rumble—

Perfect timing.

White light struck the sky.

....

BOOM!

The floor of the fortress's highest level collapsed.

Debris fell to the level below.

Amid the falling rubble—

A scythe and a sword clashed.

Dozens of times in a single second.

Weapons flashing past each other's throats.

Strike. Parry. Counter.

Slash—

I sent out a blade of energy.

Asinus ducked.

The brief moment while I reset my stance—

He swung his scythe wide.

A crescent-shaped attack, trailing purple and black, flew toward me.

But—

CLANG!

The slash I had already released returned and blocked it.

"Indeed… an Arie is still an Arie."

"That's basically our family's livelihood."

Messenger Thousand Slaughters.

Taking advantage of the distance, I unleashed over a thousand slashes in seconds.

Asinus chose not to block.

Instead—

He charged straight through.

"Hmph."

Without defending, he took the thousand slashes head-on.

His body was cut apart repeatedly—

Yet each wound flickered like shadow and restored itself.

Regeneration? I hate that.

No matter how many strikes I unleashed, he kept advancing.

Changing attack angles became meaningless if he ignored them completely.

So I retrieved my blade and spun.

The centrifugal force powered the next attack.

Circles carved through the air—

And those circles became channels for shinsu cannons.

Wailing Spirit Sword — Phantom Messenger Blade

A terrifying roar accompanied the white shinsu blast.

Only when it reached his face did Asinus move.

He swung his scythe.

In an instant—

A pentagram formed.

From it burst a storm of purple-black shadows.

Pentagram — Violet Frenzy Devour

BOOOOM—

My attack vanished in the collision.

But the shadows spread everywhere—

Filling the battlefield.

Asinus vanished within them.

"I acknowledge your strength."

"But you lack experience."

"Have you never fought a proper sorcerer?"

"…Shadow-using sorcerers aren't exactly common."

"That's true."

"My body itself is made of shadow."

Wait.

That sounded familiar—

Slash!

Suddenly a shadow spike erupted toward my head.

It was completely silent.

I reacted late and got cut slightly.

Warm blood ran down my forehead.

This was dangerous.

"Magic is a force separate from shinsu."

"It comes from outside the Tower."

"Which means your shinsu—or that amusing swordsmanship of yours—cannot deal significant damage."

"Then what about a sword?"

"…?"

At my words—

Baekya, clenched in my hand, began to shine and change form.

Slash—

At the same time, shadow blades erupted from four directions.

Two I blocked.

One I redirected with my returning slash.

But the last two—

There was no avoiding them.

I twisted my body to avoid vital points.

The shadows pierced me cleanly—

Then melted away like snow.

Leaving only my wounds.

"Cough… don't you know the rule about transformation scenes?"

"I don't."

"Haha… ruthless."

But the preparation was finished.

Two holes in exchange for this—

A cheap price.

CRACK—

"The sword…?"

Asinus stared.

Baekya had changed.

Blue-white light flowed across its entire body.

The blade itself had become light.

Longer.

Thinner.

Cross-shaped.

Baekya Form Change — CHARON

Like the mythical ferryman guiding souls—

Charon cuts not the body—

But the soul.

Unless his soul was made of shadow too—

This would work.

I raised the transformed blade—

But at the same time, Asinus swung his scythe.

Hexagram — Shadow Path Annihilation

A six-pointed star formed instantly.

The points connected into a path.

From the condensed center—

A thin violet beam fired.

Thin as a thread.

But carrying terrifying power.

Still—

I could break it.

I felt certain.

Power surged through me.

The beam would reach me in less than a second.

I hadn't even taken a thrusting stance yet.

Didn't matter.

I gripped Baekya with all my strength—

And thrust straight into the beam.

Arie Hon Lineage Swordsmanship — One Thorn, Ten Thousand Crowns

The beam was thin as a thread.

But even the thinnest line—

Still has a point.

I stabbed that point.

CRACK—

The beam split into two in an instant.

Divided by Baekya right in front of me, the beam pierced through the floating fortress and shot outside.

Purple light flashed outside along with a violent explosion, but I ignored it and immediately charged toward Asinus.

Even if he swung hundreds of times, I could block everything and counterattack with only a few dozen swings.

Normally a sword strike cuts once.

But Arie swordsmanship cuts dozens of times with a single swing.

BOOM—

CLANG—

BOOM—

"Ghk—"

Confusion appeared in Asinus's eyes.

Every time I swung my sword, multiple slashes were created.

Those slashes had been accumulating the entire time.

Now hundreds of them swirled together while the strikes I continued swinging shifted their trajectories, targeting only his blind spots and relentlessly tormenting him.

The accumulated slashes had formed a storm.

Inside it, Asinus frantically swung his scythe just to survive.

Because Charon, Baekya's alternate form, cuts the soul rather than the body, he couldn't simply tank the attacks like before.

Even so, small wounds continued to accumulate.

If he had stayed in that storm just a little longer, I could have landed a decisive blow—

But the sharp-eyed Asinus suddenly leapt backward to escape the storm.

And as if I had been waiting for it—

I launched the thirty shinsu swords I had prepared earlier.

Hidden within the storm, they shot toward him and embedded themselves deep into his body.

"Pop."

I clenched my fist.

At that moment, the swords inside his body shone simultaneously.

BOOOOM—!!

"…."

"Even if your body's made of shadow… that must've hurt, right?"

I still had thirty more.

"…!"

Thirty shinsu swords surrounded him from every direction.

They fired toward him again all at once.

Shhk—

In an instant, Asinus's body collapsed into a sphere of shadow.

Hundreds of spikes burst from it like a chestnut burr.

Every one of the swords was impaled and destroyed before reaching him.

I threw Baekya toward the sphere.

Piercing through all the spikes—

Baekya shot forward and stabbed straight into the center.

"Ghk."

The shadow sphere immediately collapsed.

Inside it appeared Asinus, pierced clean through by Baekya.

Black blood poured from his mouth as he staggered.

Spreading my wings, I leapt forward and swung my arm as if grabbing my sword.

"A swordsman throwing away his blade? Foolish—!"

"Who said I threw it away?"

"…!"

Baekya was half of my soul.

Which meant—

Baekya was me, and I was Baekya.

The sword that had been embedded in Asinus's chest vanished.

And suddenly—

Baekya was back in my empty hand.

His eyes widened.

With his final desperate effort, he swung the scythe again.

Seven-Star—

Before the technique could fully form—

We both crashed through the floor.

After falling several levels, we finally stopped one floor above the lowest level.

RUMBLE—

"…This place feels different."

I sensed many presences here.

"Master!"

"Master, are you alright?!"

"…Tch. How absurd."

"Oh, so everyone's here."

Asinus and I had landed on the floor just above the lowest level.

A massive gate stood behind them.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of black-robed Rankers gathered as if waiting for something.

"Oh, Cheonhwa's brother. Nice to see you again."

"…Yes. We meet again, Hoaquin."

"So saving the village was a lie after all."

He gave a bitter smile.

"If the target of salvation were the village, then yes—it would be a lie."

"What I want to save is this land."

"This great land defiled by humans and Zahard's army. My goal is to purify it again."

"So you're the only one in the village who knew this plan."

"Of course."

"When you slaughter cattle or offer lambs as sacrifice, do you explain it to them first?"

"No. You deceive them so they remain calm."

"It's the same thing."

"Well… I do hope Cheonhwa survives. She's family after all. Hahaha."

Watching Ryuhwa scratch the back of his head and laugh shyly—

I had no words.

"…We'll talk later."

"For now—"

I glanced toward Asinus, who was being supported by the cultists.

Large wounds from Baekya cut deep into his body.

Black blood poured from his mouth as he struggled to breathe.

First—

I needed to finish him.

"He's approaching the Master! Stop him!"

Several cultists rushed forward to block me.

Slash—

Their heads were severed instantly.

A clear path opened.

As I moved to stab the kneeling Asinus—

A purple shinsu cannon blocked my way.

BOOM!

"You will go no further."

A black-robed figure stood there.

Behind him, three purple monsters aimed shinsu cannons at me.

BOOM—

I split the incoming blast in half.

Then I threw about twenty enlarged shinsoo swords.

They exploded.

Two monsters were destroyed instantly.

One remained.

Just as I moved to finish it—

Wooooong—

"…?"

Light appeared beneath the floor.

No—

Not the floor.

From below.

A bad feeling hit me.

I smashed through the floor and dropped to the lowest level.

And only then did I realize what they were doing.

I stood in the center of a massive magic circle.

Dozens of sorcerers surrounded it, chanting in an unknown ancient language.

At the center floated six swords wrapped in black energy.

I tried to stop it—

But the circle was already glowing.

Slash—

"Ghk!"

A purple slash struck.

I blocked it, but the force slammed me into the wall.

"Ah… my strength is finally returning."

Asinus descended with his scythe, smiling.

"That ritual consumed too much power."

"Now that it's complete… we can finally have a proper battle."

Rumble—

Black smoke began rising from the circle.

The sorcerers began chanting louder.

"Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh vetus est R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn."

"…What nonsense is that…"

Even hearing it made my ears feel like they were tearing apart.

Was that magic too?

I wanted to kill the sorcerers immediately—

But blocking the scythe that kept trying to take my head came first.

"Hahaha! Hoaquin! What's wrong?! You seem far less relaxed than before!"

"Tch…"

Whether because I was distracted or not—

He was much faster and stronger than before.

Before I could react, he quickly drew another pentagram and blasted me away.

His eyes burned with madness as he shouted in ecstasy.

"Ahhh! Master! I've done it!"

"The divided swords of the soul!"

"The blood of those who sealed the Ancient One!"

"The perfect ritual!"

"Now that the 366th night has arrived!"

"Everything proceeds exactly as the prophecy foretold!"

CRACK—

The six swords began spinning rapidly.

They flashed and fused together into one.

That single sword sank back into the magic circle.

The circle's light intensified.

The black smoke thickened.

"GRAAAAH—!"

POP—

One sorcerer's head exploded while chanting.

Then another.

Then another.

Each screamed strangely before their heads burst apart.

While I gagged at the grotesque sight—

Their corpses dissolved into smoke and were absorbed into the circle.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh vetus est Fomalhaut n'gha-ghaa naf'lthagn Ia! Ia! antiqui!"

The remaining sorcerers chanted again.

Pain surged through my ears.

My eardrums felt like they were going to burst.

Blocking Asinus, covering my ears—

Everything was chaos.

Then suddenly—

ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!

"…!"

A monstrous roar echoed.

My body froze.

Inside the thick black smoke filling the chamber—

I saw it.

A massive dark-blue tail sliding through the smoke.

Then—

A navy-black dragon with eight red eyes emerged briefly from the darkness.

[The scent… of the soul… I smell it…]

"…Tch."

I'm not your father.

Please go bother someone else.

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