Towers of Heaven 2

by Cameron Milan

  ​ After a moment of silence, he sighed. “I surrender.”

  Victor: Amara

  Chapter 38

  ​ The Tournament of Champions was something all professional ascenders dreamed of. Now that they had the chance to observe fights between top ascenders, they were able to learn about many new skills and combat techniques.

  ​ Famous ascenders battled one after the other. Truce, a famed ranger from the Pathfinder guild. Poyle, a fist-based fighter from Legion. Lily, a mage who could summon from Rose. Ebba, a necromancer with no guild. There were too many to count. While observing the duels, Jason realized he still had a long way to go before he became the strongest ascender. He underestimated humanity. Geniuses were numerous in the tower.

  ​ Another match began, immediately catching his attention. Shenlong vs Cay. Jason had a bad feeling. Walter had informed him not long ago that Cay tried to assassinate Shenlong and failed. Was fate toying with them?

  ​ Cay stood across from Shenlong, his gear lacking only by a few notches. Compared to before, Shenlong was already in his peak state. Seeing the assassin before him left Shenlong with a strange feeling. After the assassination attempt, he searched the whole tower for Cay, but was never able to find him. Now the man suddenly appeared before him. Unfortunately, killing him here would do no good. He’d just revive.

  ​ Nobody could make out Cay’s face. It was blocked by a mask in the shape of a red oni, a Japanese ogre. Shenlong shot forward like a bullet when the timer hit zero. In response, Cay pulled out a black dagger and pointed it at Shenlong before sliding it across his own throat. Blood poured out like a waterfall. The sight left the audience gasping.

  Shenlong frowned. “Won’t let me see your face?”

  ​ Cay didn’t say anything in response as his body dispersed into light. The entire time his eyes never left Shenlong. It was eerie. Olivia, Roy, and Cheslov appeared not long after, winning their matches after a fierce fight.

  A while later, Jason found himself teleported into the arena. Across from him was Andy. Almost immediately Andy roared and destroyed his chestplate before banging on his chest. Jason chuckled, not intimidated in the slightest. “Andy, let’s fight to the death, yeah?”

  Andy froze, gazing at his opponent and finding not a shred of fear. Bewildered, he glanced up and read the name of his opponent. He gasped in horror. He was fighting someone who had twice placed first, what terrible luck. Refusing to believe that Jason wasn’t scared, he charged forward when the countdown reached zero. Shockingly, his speed was multiple times faster than Shenlong’s. Shenlong himself was speechless, as was the audience.

  In a split-second Andy towered over Jason, his massive fist barreling towards Jason’s head. The wind battered Jason’s hair from the force of Andy’s fist. Jason’s head would explode without a doubt. Jason raised his shield in defense, but the audience thought even that was futile. Andy looked invincible.

  When Andy’s fist struck the shield, while everyone was expecting a massive boom, there was only a soft thud. The difference between their imaginations and reality caused the crowd to fall silent.

  Jason didn’t let this chance go. He sent out chop, cleaving Andy’s body in half. Unexpectedly, Andy’s body faded like a mirage. Only Jason was left in the arena, but there was no victory message.

  “Why was there no blood?” The audience was bewildered.

  “Why isn’t the match ending? What’s going on?”

  Jason smiled as he glanced around the arena. “Andy, how long can you hide? All invisibility skills have a duration.”

  “What?!” A terrified voice came from Jason’s left. “How did you know?”

  Nobody could compete with Andy when it came to illusions. With a single thought, he could make himself invisible. Doing so caused his illusion energy to drop over time, so it couldn’t last forever. As far as Andy knew, nobody should know about him. He tried his best to keep it that way, and yet Jason seemed to know his abilities. The thought horrified him.

  ​ A Caucasian male flickered into existence not far from Jason. Jason chuckled when seeing this. He’s still hiding his true form, hah, I didn’t realize he was so cowardly in the past. Looks like the rumors were true.

  ​ “Hmph.” Andy pointed at Jason. “See if you can handle my ultimate attack. Nobody has lived to tell the tale!”

  ​ Over ten ascenders appeared around Jason. Astonishingly, all of them were beautiful women dressed in bikinis. They were like airbrushed magazine models come to life. The women walked up to Jason, swinging their hips. One of them clasped her arm around Jason’s shoulder. “Oh, gorgeous, want to play with me?”

  ​ Another grabbed Jason’s hand. “He looked at me first! He’s mine!” The women surrounded Jason, touching him all over the place. The audience was in disbelief. What exactly were they watching? Was this really a fight between top ascenders?

  ​ Contrary to Andy’s expectations, Jason happily interacted with the women. He gave Andy a grateful nod. “Thanks, it’s been a while since I had some fun. Could you put on some music or something?”

  ​ Andy staggered backwards. “You, you pervert!”

  ​ Jason rolled his eyes. Wasn’t Andy the real pervert? To sustain the illusions, he had to continuously picture them in his mind. Andy was the one imagining the women touch him. Wasn’t that much worse?

  ​ The audience was unable to keep up with the situation. First, they thought Jason would explode in a single punch, then ten hot women appeared. Now there might be some lovey-dovey time? It was incomprehensible.

  ​ Jason’s communication necklace vibrated. When he answered, he felt a terrifying wave of killing intent. “If you continue, I’ll stop talking to you.”

  ​ It was Olivia.

  ​ Jason laughed. “I was just going to have some fu-” She hung up.

  ​ Jason glanced up at the crowd and found them staring at him with strange looks. He coughed awkwardly. She’s right. My perfect image will be ruined if I continue. Maintaining a good reputation was important to him, so he stopped playing around. Battle energy in the shape of needles tore through the illusions. The needles spread out, trying to find the invisible Andy.

  ​ Not even a few moments later, a scream of pain rang out, followed by a shout. “I surrender!”

  ​ Nobody was able to see Andy’s true appearance in the end, though when Jason was teleported back to the stands, everyone gave him a wide berth. Jason scratched his cheek. Well crap.

  ​ In contrast to everyone else, Walter gave Jason a thumbs up. “How I envy the young.”

  ​ Much to everyone’s delight, the matches returned to normal after that.

  Chapter 39

  ​ No single country dominated the others in regards to guilds. Famous guilds came from all over. China, the U.S., Russia, India. The list went on. There were over twenty top tier guilds, and all of the strongest ascenders were in them. It was rare for a top ascender to run solo. The necromancer, Ebba, was one of the exceptions.

  ​ In terms of guild strength, the countries in Africa were the weakest. There was too much infighting between them in the beginning, which caused them to fall behind the other regions. Despite this, nobody would dare underestimate Africa. It was all thanks to two ascenders who rose up over the years, shocking all with their prowess. Dubaku and Eboni. Not only did they rank among the top ten during the tournament of champions stages, they were also guildless. Nowhere else in the world did this happen.

  ​ Ten duels occurred at a time, and yet thousands of eyes were glued to one stage in particular. A thin man dressed in tight-fitting leather stood on one side. His hair was short and shaved on the sides. By any standard, he was quite handsome. The problem was his personality. He was a coward. He shivered in fear as soon as he was teleported.

  ​ “Haha!” A muscular woman with long dreadlocks slammed her metal gauntlets together. “Dubaku! You ran from my challenge last time, but you can’t run today. We’ll finally get to fight!”

  ​ Eboni
had tried fighting Dubaku many times over the years, but the man would flee in fright whenever he encountered her. Eboni thought he was Africa’s shame. Today she would show the world that Africa didn’t need two stars. She alone would be enough.

  ​ Dubaku stuttered when he felt Eboni’s fighting aura. “W-wait, can’t we find some other way to fight?”

  ​ The countdown hit zero. Eboni kicked off the ground as she shot forward like a rocket. Her strength was so high that she left a two-foot-wide hole in the ground with every step. Her gauntlets weighed hundreds of pounds, and yet she swung them around like nothing. If one punch connected, Dubaku would be fatally injured. And yet, no matter how hard she tried to hit him, she always missed.

  ​ “Gaah!” She shrieked in irritation. “Stop dodging like a coward!”

  ​ Dubaku retreated without a fight. Actually, it was more like stumbling. It was amazing that he was able to dodge such fast attacks. It always looked like he was about to be hit, and yet at the last moment he dodged. The first time was a coincidence, but what about the second, third, and fourth time?

  ​ The audience was baffled. This was Dubaku? The man famed as one of the top ten ascenders? Who gave him such a title? He was clearly a joke!

  ​ Jason didn’t have such negative thoughts, but he was beginning to doubt the stories he’d heard about Dubaku. Walter noticed his confusion and chuckled. “Strange fella, isn’t he?”

  ​ Jason nodded. “He’s a genius at evasion. It doesn’t look like it, but Eboni has really high agility and strength.”

  ​ “Ahhh!” Eboni stopped attacking and pulled her hair in frustration. “Damn you piss me off, Dubaku.”

  ​ Dubaku wiped the sweat from his forehead. “S-sorry.”

  ​ Eboni glanced around the audience, hesitating. She was considering something very important. In the end, she made her decision. With a wry smile, she shouted at the audience. “Everyone, listen up, especially you, Shenlong. From today on, everyone will witness my strength. I will be the strongest, so watch carefully.”

  ​ On one side of the audience, Amara shook her head when she heard Eboni’s declaration. “She’s so arrogant.”

  ​ “So are you…” The ascenders next to Amara whispered.

  ​ “Huh? Did you say something?” She turned towards them with a nasty glare.

  ​ The ascenders whistled while staring at the sky. “No, no, we didn’t say anything.”

  ​ In another area, Jason turned to Walter. “Is she stronger than Shenlong?”

  ​ Walter frowned while rubbing his chin. “Not even close. Perhaps she acquired a strong skill?”

  ​ “Hmm.” Jason turned back to the arena, only to widen his eyes in disbelief. What skill is that?! For the first time since returning to the past, something outside of Jason’s wildest imagination was occurring.

  ​ Eboni growled as fur sprouted from her skin. Her limbs grew longer, her nails sharper. Most striking was her cat-like eyes. Her transformation only took a second. What was once a human was now a truck-sized tigress. Dubaku immediately turned and fled, but he was too slow. Eboni was now as fast as Shenlong. Blood blossomed in the air as Dubaku collapsed to the ground, five deep gashes appearing across his back.

  ​ Eboni inspected the crowd, clearly swelling with pride when she saw their expressions of disbelief.

  ​ Jason clasped his mouth, unsure of what to think. How did she get this skill? Where? Why? Is this because the tower changed? It has to be. The transformation skill she showed off was powerful. How many other skills were there? The threat of the unknown made it impossible for Jason to calm down.

  ​ “Look, Dubaku is getting up.” An ascender pointed.

  ​ “Why bother? He’s lost for sure.”

  ​ Dubaku struggled to his feet. He was hunched over, so nobody could see his face. Eboni glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Her voice was deep. “A futile struggle.”

  ​ Dubaku swiped his hand, an item appearing within. It was a white rectangular device with headphones. He slowly put the headphones on as he raised his head. His eyes were full of fear. “I-I really didn’t want to do this. I really don’t like this feeling.”

  ​ “Hahaha!” Eboni found Dubaku’s actions amusing. “You think listening to some music is going to change anything?”

  ​ Dubaku closed his eyes. When his thumb pressed play, something changed. Only a few ascenders noticed it, and Jason was one of them. He was horrified by what he witnessed. The fourth realm! A complete one!!

  ​ The world seemed to wrap around Dubaku, like they were fusing into one. As Eboni was the closest to him, she felt the change even more fiercely. Unfortunately, she didn’t know about the fourth realm, so she didn’t understand what she was feeling. Instead she was enraged that Dubaku actually dared to close his eyes. She growled. “You’re dead!”

  ​ A sonic boom rang out as Eboni disappeared, only to appear in front of Dubaku, her claws threatening to shred him in half. Contrary to everyone's expectations, that’s not what happened. At some unknown moment, two daggers had embedded themselves in Eboni’s eyes, causing her to scream in pain. Even though she was blind, her battle instincts took control. By using her enhanced senses, she continued to attack Dubaku.

  ​ While she couldn’t see Dubaku, the audience could. They were floored by what they saw. Dubaku was dodging by the thinnest margins, all while his eyes were closed. This battle had destroyed everything they knew about the tower.

  ​ Dubaku drew a dagger from his waist as he suddenly charged forward. He weaved in between Eboni’s claws while sliding his dagger across her body. In mere moments she collapsed to the ground and dispersed into light.

  ​ It only took a second from Dubaku’s attack until Eboni was killed.

  ​ When Dubaku appeared in the stands, he slowly took off the headphones. Everybody nearby had powerful hearing, and they were bewildered by what they heard. Dubaku was actually listening to dubstep. They all had the same thought.

  Since when did dubstep grant superpowers?!

  Chapter 40

  ​ Roy and Olivia just so happened to be teleported next to each other when the fourth stage began. Compared to the other ascenders, they were very inexperienced. Each fight was a learning experience for them and was very beneficial towards their growth. They realized what being the ‘best’ really meant.

  ​ Olivia won her first match thanks to being at the peak of the first realm, but she lost her next two matches due to lacking techniques. As she had lost one match before this, she was disqualified from further participation. Thankfully she could still spectate.

  ​ Roy had a much harder time, and if not for breaking through to the first realm during his fight, he would have lost. Unfortunately, he lost his next match, leaving him with only one chance left. Alas, it seemed like fate decided he would lose today. His next match was against the blazing phoenix, Amara.

  ​ Amara appeared wearing her usual arrogant look, but when she saw Roy, she blinked. His golden hair and eyes, his confident expression. She had been too lazy to watch other matches besides Shenlong’s, so this was the first time she saw him. And she was happy she did. He was her perfect type. However, when she used her inspect skill and saw his stats, she couldn’t help but be disappointed. Roy was just too weak. Her boyfriend had to at least be as strong as her. She clicked her tongue. “Such a shame.”

  ​ Roy gave her a thumbs up. “Let’s enjoy the fight.”

  ​ “Yeah, yeah.” Amara waved her hand dismissively, no longer interested.

  ​ When the timer hit zero, Roy used all his strength to charge forward, but in Amara’s eyes, he was just too slow. She summoned four massive fireballs, each five feet wide, and tossed them forward. Roy was engulfed in flames, and yet there was no scream. In the next moment, he dashed out of the fire, a golden bubble protecting his body.

  ​ “Oh?” Amara raised an eyebrow, regaining some interest. “Take this!”

  ​ Two fire whips appeared in her hands, the
air trembling from the intense heat. She battered Roy with attacks as he approached, but nothing she did could break the skill. Alas, such a powerful skill only lasted a few seconds. When Roy was still ten feet away, the shield evaporated.

  ​ “I doubt you have another protection skill. It’s over!” Amara cracked her whip.

  ​ Just as it was about to wrap around Roy’s neck, the transparent head of a dragon rose in the air behind Roy’s back and let out a deep roar. The fire whips disappeared in the blink of an eye. Amara received a notification she had never seen before.

  You have been silenced for 10 seconds. No skills can be used during this time.

  ​ “Huh?” Amara tilted her head in confusion as she watched Roy’s sword pierce through her heart.

  ​ After several more attacks, she fell to the ground, dead. Just like that the fight was over. Amara, the genius just over twenty years old, had lost.

  ​ Roy was teleported back to the stands. Before Olivia could congratulate him, a shout came from afar. “ROY! Where are you?!”

  ​ Olivia gave him a wink. “She’s not happy.”

  ​ Roy rubbed his cheek with a wry smile. “Should I hide?”

  ​ Amara ran through the stands and locked onto Roy after a short moment. She stormed up to him and grabbed him by the collar. “You! What is that skill? Ten seconds of silence?! Where did you get such a broken ability?”

  ​ Amara felt she was justified in her fury. A skill like that was absolutely fatal to a mage like her. If others could get it, her career was as good as over.

  ​ “Relax.” Roy raised his hands helplessly. “I’m pretty sure nobody else has this skill.”

  ​ Amara breathed a sigh of relief. She raised her chin. “You think you’re stronger than me because you beat me, huh?”

  ​ “No way, I just got lucky.” Roy remarked. He wasn’t lying. The skill had harsh requirements. It required him to get within ten feet and sacrifice ninety percent of his mana. Using it practically left him useless. If Amara didn’t let him reach within ten feet, he would lose a hundred percent of the time.