Chapter 178 Chapter 178:Third Ordeal[2]
Two figures panted heavily, after exchanging several blows in quick succession.
"It's interesting."A soft pleasant voice arose.
"It surely is."
Frederick answered with a bitter smile seeing Rose's haggard appearance.
Though he looked calm, he was inwardly cursing the Tower for making him fight against Rose out of all participants.
Even though there was no makeup on Rose's face and her hair was disarrayed, it didn't lessen her beauty, rather it gave one a refreshing and pleasant feeling.
Rose's chest heaved up and down as she took a deep breath. Her dishevelled hair fluttered and danced elegantly in the wind.
Rose stared at Frederick with a resolute expression.
The person that stood before her can be said to be the most important person in her life other than her family that had shared many joys and woes since childhood.
Rose beamed remembering the scene where they met with each other. It was a banquet where she was bullied by other girls who were jealous of her.
For that age, the confrontation was quite childish and didn't have much significance, however that small moment of security where Frederick, despite being hurled with all kinds of curses and mockery, stood beside her melted her heart for some reason.
Unlike today, Frederick of that time was quite naive. Though he was quite weak in terms of physical aspects, mentally he was way stronger than others.
Rose's interest in Frederick began with curiosity wanting to know how this weak boy was able to face the world that ridiculed him and wanted him dead. Even a random servant at the time was able to treat him badly.
As her interest deepened and she started getting closer to him, Rose promised herself to protect Frederick. Though many people questioned her and advised her to stay away from Frederick, she didn't care and her father instead of reprimanding her encouraged her to do what she felt was right.
However, the weak boy that raised the feeling of pity with a single glance, had now grown up so fast that even she couldn't catch up to him.
She had been always watching Frederick from behind.
From having no friend to speak to, to having a friend that could do anything for him, he had come a long way.
His friends were also a bunch of an oddball. Every time she met that group of weirdos she couldn't help but laugh at their interactions as each of them was going over the throats of another.
Even Charles, who had deep enmity with Frederick had resolved his grievance and became a pillar of support for Frederick.
But she knows that at the centre of all changes wasn't Frederick, but rather a very mysterious individual who always gave her a sense of deja vu.
Lucas, who met Frederick at the academy, was the one who brought many changes in Frederick. Every time Rose stares at him, she could feel that Lucas knew Frederick like the back of his hand as if they have known each other for ages.
It was quite weird seeing their interactions that looked as if they had known each other for ages. This weirdness had always forced her to keep a guard around him.
She had come across him many times, but every time she tried to interact with him, she felt goosebumps from him for some reason as those seemingly innocent gazes seemed to pierce deep inside her soul.
Rose shook her head and kept on firing arrows.
Frederick spun his spear at high speed to deflect the arrows and using his footwork danced around to dodge and deflect the arrows skilfully.
Tack!Tack!Tack!Tack!
Seeing her arrows getting disrupted easily, Rose put down her bow startling Frederick.
"Frederick!"
"Yeah!"
"Be serious."
BOOM!
Almost instantly, a pillar of greenish incandescent arrow was shot.
An arrow fired with full force took Frederick by surprise, and even though he managed to deflect it, he was dragged away for a few steps.
Frederick choked up seeing Rose's fierce look.
Rose could see the hesitation in Frederick's expression to fight her and couldn't help but feel sweet inside.
'If I have to get stronger, I have to do this.'
'I need to fight as if I am facing death otherwise I would never be able to grow. I want to stand and fight alongside him, not walk following his footsteps."
A gust of wind emerged from Rose creating a shockwave.
Rose's hair stood up against gravity and her figure slowly emerged from the ground. The arrow loaded on her bow glowed with a greenish-bright light as if a large amount of magical energy poured out on it.
Rose took a high stand as her figure floated in the sky with the use of wind manipulation.
"Frederick, stop pitying me and fight me with everything you have got as if I am your arch-nemesis."
Frederick tilted his head and lowered his spear.
If it was any other time, Frederick would take up his time to admire Rose's figure.
The hair stuck in her face along with her warrior pose in the sky coupled with her temperament gave her an unearthly look which made his heartbeat hastened but he knew it wasn't time to lose himself in those emotions.
Frederick took a deep breath to calm his emotion. And as he opened his eyes lightning started to crackle that emerged from his body like snakes that wanted to devour everything on sight.
A hint of weariness flashed in Rose's eyes.
A storm emerged around her and high-speed wind blades rotated like blades of a motor shot towards Frederick.
Frederick raised his spear covered in lightning and with a step, his body turned into a ray of light and shot towards Rose.
"Rose since you want to prove yourself, then prove yourself and come at me with everything you have got!"
Frederick roared which was followed by a loud piercing blast.
BOOM!
......
A few metres away from the spot where Frederick and Rose fought, stood two individuals giving each other weird looks.
There was an awkward atmosphere between the two and unlike others, they didn't engage in fighting after they met, rather each of them stared at one another wearily.
'She looks so cute for some reason.'
"I think we can change our opponent. Though we are placed like this, there is no rule that says we have to fight. We can move and look for other individuals."Tiffany spoke in a feminine tone and tucked her purple hair behind her ears displaying her feminine charm.
In front of him, Charles stood with a blank expression. He didn't know why but he always felt a bit strange when facing her.
Charles had interacted with Tiffany in banquets though it was limited to small greetings as there was no topic for them to move on.
However, despite this small interaction, Tiffany had always given him an odd uncomfortable feeling.
Her temperament and behavior always gave him a weary feeling.
Charles suppressed this odd feeling and spoke with a gentle voice.
"We haven't interacted much in the past. Since there is an opportunity, we should spar for warm up-"
Charles's words stuck in the middle and his eyeball almost popped out of the socket, seeing an object hurtling towards him with great speed.
Channelling his strength, he kicked his right foot and propelled his body to the side.
SWISH!
An axe reflecting the rays of sunshine while spinning around crazily went past Charles giving him a shudder.
BOOM!
The axe upon touching the ground exploded creating a crater behind him.
"What...?" Charles's jaw dropped wide on the ground seeing many axes hurling their way towards him.
'I take it back, she isn't cute at all.'
'Damn! Is she a psycho? Who shoots in the middle of the talk.'
"Why did you attack me out of nowhere?!!" Charles screamed while running around the place to avoid the axe crashing here and there creating mini blasts.
Tiffany paused a bit and her purple eyes showed a hint of confusion.
"Huh!! Didn't you say to fight? So I am fighting."
"I was just talking about the scenario.''
"I see."Tiffany put down her axe and waited for Charles to finish the talk.
"I have always pondered about your house bloodline ability."Taking a deep breath, Charles spoke casually to engage in a conversation with her and failed to notice Tiffany's subtle change in expression.
"By the way, where do you store so many axes? Last time at the Church, I remembered you took out more than a hundred axes. I am sure, you didn't store them in a storage ring as you raised your hand and an axe appeared."
"Th...That..."Tiffany stuttered and a trace of panic appeared over her face.
Thinking that Tiffany was feeling shy, Charles continued.
Ignoring her weirdness, Charles who was observing the battles happening around the floor, suddenly stood petrified.
His jaw dropped wide and his shocked gaze lingered on Tiffany as sudden realization hit him.
Tiffany's family was said to be logistic specialists and during the war, they were in charge of transporting things. There hadn't been a single moment when they failed in transporting things even though they were attacked countless times.
"Taking things out of thin air does your ability have something to do with dimensional storage..."
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Dozens of axes splitting the air hurled with frightening might towards Charles as his vision was covered with axes.
Charles waved his hand, creating a wall of rock that was bombarded with axes.
"Why...Why...?!"
Tiffany's angry roar echoed as she stomped the ground with sheer frustration.
"Why did you have to run your mind so much? Can't you simply fight with me? Because of you, I have lost my element of surprise"
Tiffany looked down with a dazed expression while contemplating over something serious.
"It seems I have no other option but to Kill."
Charles nudged out his head with a baffled look.
"Kill...whom do you want to kill?"
"You...I will kill you so that my secret won't be discovered."Tiffany shouted, raising two huge bulky axes in both arms.
Charles shuddered seeing those hollow lifeless gazes.
'What...Kill...Just for such a reason.'
'Since when did talking about bloodline ability become taboo?'
"Is this even something that you need to hide?"
"Yes, I need to as others might laugh at such pathetic ability."
"Damn! She should be in a mental asylum, not here. From which angle did this ability look pathetic?" Charles unsheathed his sword to defend against the abuse of many axes raining down on him.
.....
"Charles had Tiffany, Rose had Frederick, Monica had Humphrey, even Roan's opponent is a girl and I..."
Parth's dreary eyes scanned the fatso, huffing and puffing before him.
With a surge of anger bursting out from his chest, Parth shouted.
"Damn you, Tower of Bitches!!"
"Can't you at least give me a girl with whom I can have serious discussions about life? It would be okay if you gave me an ugly girl but you...gave me a pig."
"Who are you calling a pig, you bastard?!"
"I am calling you, do you have a problem?!"Parth screamed and pouncing on the pig, he started butchering it…he meant butchering him.
....
Lucas with a hollow gaze stared at Ezekiel standing behind the cloud of smoke.
As he became aware of his situation, his pupils moved and he felt wronged.
The Tower would start when the last one would enter, which means those who appear before can rest while those who appear later would have less time to relax.
Unfortunately, he was the last one.
His heart was still messed up and he was feeling air-headed as the previous trial had strained him mentally.
So, his mood has been really bad recently.
First Tower gave him an uncleared quest and now that he had cleared it, there were no rewards for him, instead the next trial started after he came.
Lucas felt cheated.
"Stop day-dilling bastard."
"What happened? Are you scared? Do you want to call your mommy?"Ezekiel's sword flickered and his sword shot two fiery masses of energy.
Under the intense pressure, the ground was obliterated and chunks of rocks flew around as the blade energy made its way but much to Ezekiel's horror, Lucas instead of retreating stepped forward while twisting his body narrowly to dodge the attack with a casual stroll.
Lucas' distorted expression became blank and his lips curled into a crescent shape.
Seeing Ezekiel's angry expression, Lucas pulled out another sword as if to taunt Ezekiel.
"I am in a really bad mood now."
"You have been finding fault with me for a long time. "
A golden aura enveloped Lucas that was followed by a blood-crimson aura that stirred the calm wind.
"If today, I don't butcher you and cut you into pieces, I will change my name."
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