Oliver roamed the streets of Avalon alone. Everywhere he looked, busy people scurried around with some sort of job. Following the monster invasion, hundreds of houses crumbled down, leaving families with no shelter, many streets had gaping holes in them, large enough to swallow all the citizens. Men and women alike, they took up tools and started to work on rebuilding their capital.
The cultivators helped as well, but their job was outside of the walls surrounding Avalon. Although Ed made sure to stock up on food, more couldn't hurt them, so they decided to hunt outside. Some of the wells were contaminated with blood; as such a new source of water was needed. The cultivators used spatial rings to stock u on freshwater until the problem could be solved.
Oliver soon found himself near the slums where he used to live only a couple of years ago. He could visualize the broken-down house where he used to hide during rain. The house was now nothing more than a piece of memory, as it turned into dust during the battle.
He felt relieved how no one had to live in the slums ever since grew more powerful. Similar to how he had helped him, Ed took it upon himself to empty the slums and give decent living areas for the homeless.
Oliver walked around more and found himself standing in front of Bard's shop, where he had the first decent meal in his life with Ed and Becky. Every night, he would dream of the day he met Ed for the first time. He could taste the meal he'd eaten at the time. He would also remember the promise he made with Ed, how he would become strong enough to protect him and his loved ones.
"Yet, at the most important time, I wasn't even around to protect Edmund…" Oliver muttered to himself and started to walk again.
He arrived at his actual destination not long after. He arrived at the biggest hole in the capital, where Edmund gave up his life to protect his fellow Elders and the citizens of Avalon.
The people, once they found out about their savior's sacrifice, started to walk to the hole, and each one of them would through a flower in order to express their sorrow, their happiness, and show Edmund proof that his sacrifice wasn't for nothing, that the people he protected didn't, and will never forget him.
Oliver was no different from these people. He brought out a bouquet of blue and red flowers and walked to the hole. These two colors were Edmund's favorite. It was a famous story of his, how the blue reminded him of the sky he first saw when Ed freed him, and the red was the special color Ed's eyes would take when he turned serious in a fight.
Cloudy eyes, and trembling lips, Oliver threw the bouquet into the hole while remembering the bright face that greeted him every day in the sect. However, he was surprised as he heard a thud almost instantly. He looked down and his eyes widened in shock. The hole that was supposed to be deepest, largest, in Avalon, was filled to the brim with beautiful blue and red flowers.
Oliver smiled as he realized that the citizens of Avalon couldn't have filled it alone. It was the work of someone who respected, and was deeply hurt by the sudden leave of Edmund.
.
.
.
"Well then, old man William," Ed said as he stared at the Tower of Origin. "The tower is empty as promised, right?"
"I gave you my word young man," William answered back as stared at Edward. He couldn't believe that this was the same person he's met a couple of years ago. Every time he reappeared stronger than ever, more daunting than ever, and his demands more outrageous than ever.
"I see. If something happens it's on you. Oh, by the way, I don't suggest you send people inside ever again," Ed warned. "If my guess is correct, this tower is more dangerous than ever."
"You'll have to give me better reasons. Your gut feeling is not enough."
"It is enough," Ed said with a powerful tone. "Just tell whoever it might concern that it's my gut feeling. I'd like to see who's brave enough to say anything to you then."
William couldn't say anything back to Ed as he sighed. However, he had one last question, "Does it have to do with the recent monster invasion?"
"That's what I'm going to find out."
Ed finished his conversation and stepped into the tower. A nostalgic feeling overcame him, as he was teleported to the first floor. He looked around the forest and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and focused for a second as he digested everything that happened to him ever since Ryuunosuke passed away.
In two days, the whole world suffered through an unprecedented monster invasion. The number of monsters was insane, while the monsters themselves were more diverse than the ones inhabiting the tower. Although he made preparations in case such a thing were to happen, he still lost a good old friend. Even though he got stronger, he was still losing people.
"I just need to get stronger. However, I don't have a year this time; don't you think so, Raikou?" Ed said as a wolf jumped out of his shadow. He extended his hand and patted his old friend. "The old dragon must be enraged because I took him forcefully, but he'll come around. Although he's mad, he's reasonable…Which is pretty contradictory, isn't it?"
Ed and his friends chuckled for a couple of seconds before they focused back on their tasks.
"Go back to my shadow; I need to put in some work today. My goal is the twelfth floor in an hour!"
As Raikou sunk back into the shadow, Ed's En started to spread all over the floor. At the same time, he charged a Ki blast in his right hand, while his left hand created small holes in space. Once his En reached the extremities of the floor, he released thousands of small Ki blasts that crept their way to the space holes. A couple of thousand explosions shook the entire floor, while Ed's notifications blew up at the same time. He had killed all the monsters on the first floor, yet he was unsatisfied by the result.
"It takes too much time to spread my En and then attack," he said to himself, as the snowy floor's cold barely tickled him. "I guess I'll do both at the same time."
Ed charged Ki all around his body, and in an explosion of aura, released all of it with a shout. The resulting energy sphere melted snow, rocks, and the monsters it came into contact with. After thirty minutes of energy explosions, Ed reached the twelfth floor, a new record that no one would break after him.
The trials went by in a flash and the days turned into a week. Ed found himself waiting for the last boss to appear; he reminisced about the last time he visited the tower. He lost precious people and gained valuable comrades. He who was a weak man, both physically in mentally back in his old world, turned into a pillar on which people could rely on. His line of thought broke once he heard the crackling of thunder near him.
In the middle of the platform, a great red circle kept expanding while a black shadow surfaced ever so slowly. The gigantic claws came out first and clutched the white marble floor. The entire body soon popped out and the dragon looked around. It focused its eyes on Ed and released a laser-like breath in an instant.
However, the person that it wanted to kill was not there; only smoke remained in his place.
"That won't work on me a second time," the dragon heard a voice come above his head. It attacked Ed successively with its breath, but none of them ever hit. It realized that the pinpoint attacks it was using were never going to be effective. Its opponent was too fast for it.
The dragon switched to an all-area attack, with crimson flames that swam around in the sky chasing after Ed. This time, however, Ed didn't move an inch and let himself be swallowed by the flames. The dragon smirked as it believed itself to be the victor, but its smile faded as it noticed Ed, who was yawning amid the flames. The air around Ed had been eaten by the flames, so he couldn't breathe, but chose to enrage the dragon by his actions.
The latter roared and lunged at Ed with its destructive fangs and claws.
"I grow tired of this," Ed mumbled before the dragon could reach him. "Let's see, Suika should have a grudge on his since he almost killed her last time."
As Ed withdrew a card from his Inventory, it crumbled between his fingers, and a moment later, a round crimson slime bounced amid the raging flames that burned still. The dragon noticed the unusual addition in its territory, yet paid it no heed. However, once the slime transformed into a small girl, the dragon stopped in its tracks. The aura of an Immortal Establishment level 10 exploded in the arena, and the dragon danger surrounding it.
Suika was now a Mythical grade monster that could control death magic. Her actual color was black, and her species was named Nephalem by Ed. However, she didn't like the color and controlled her constitution to turn crimson.
Suika locked eyes with the dragon, which looked nothing more than a lizard to her, and extended her hand forward. Hundreds of tentacles exploded forward and pierced the dragon, which couldn't react. The tentacles each pierced a specific part of its body, but never a vital spot. It was stuck, unmoving, as it watched its flames, which surrounded the two enemies, die out.
Suika kept looking at the dragon and puckered her lips; an instant later she released a black hazy smoke from her mouth. After what seemed like an eternity to the dragon, the smoke finally reached its body. A second later, the dragon died. It fell after it was released from the tentacles, while its body started to fall apart and disintegrate. The white platform turned quiet once again.
"As usual, your upgrade is the scariest among the group," Ed said as he patted Suika's head. "We don't have much to waste, so let's go to the next floor. Ed crouched down on the teleportation circle and started to modify it. He already did the same thing once before, so it took him a lot less time than it did originally.
The magical circle grew brighter and enveloped the two of them. They were then teleported from the white platform to a dark world, where the sun was hidden by murky black clouds.
"Time to rest Suika," he said. "I got someone I need to calm down for now."
As Suika turned into a card, Entei the black dragon appeared behind Ed. He was barely visible due to the dark nature of the surroundings. If not for his scales, which glistened slightly, he would be invisible.
"Before you start to ramble again," Ed started to speak while flying upwards, "take this chance to blow off some steam. Some stupid enemies will be appearing soon."
Ed released his aura into the wind and sat on top of Entei's heard. The dragon snorted flames out of its nose while waiting for the so-called 'enemies' to appear. Of course, he didn't need to wait for long. The flying creature with a triangular head-tracked Ed's aura once again. It flapped its wings and started to search for the tasty human that it missed on eating last time.
"I didn't sleep for a week, so I'm really tired," Ed said. "I'll leave the rest to you; make sure you don't drop me somewhere while you're battling like crazy. Oh, by the way, we're leaving in one day; this place has a stupid time restriction that I don't want to suffer through again."
As Ed closed his eyes on top of Entei's head, the latter focused in on the approaching creature. He opened his mouth and released his flames. The triangle headed creature fell prey to the flames that burned him in an instant.
Entei was not satisfied with only one enemy, so he flew up into the sky and charged up his flames once again. As he flew forward, his flames continued to burn the dark ground, and along with it, the parasites residing inside were killed as well.
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