Chapter 8: Tower Master : The Devourer.
"Aria, snap out of it." Rex's shout wasn't enough to wake her up.
"What are you doing?" Aria's pupil was golden. It gave off a bright light. It was not just her eyes her whole body was glowing golden. The skin of the old man started to burn, but…
Rex didn't move his hand nor it was crystal. The burning effect wasn't working. It was more surprising that it was her skin that was losing the glow under Rex's grip.
"Who are you?" The body of the old man slumped on the ground. Aria jerked her hand to get it out of the hold. It was a futile effort
"Leave her alone. If you leave now I won't do anything to you." There wasn't any change in his body and his voice was calm, but the pressure that was crushing on her was huge. Other than Aria and Will nobody was aware of it.
"What are you? There is no way a mare human could stop this body." Aria panicked. "Why are you standing there? Attack him," she shouted at the beast.
Will was watching the mana flow through Rex body. The huge amount of mana was getting absorbed in his body. He wasn't absorbing it just from the tower, also form Aria's body. He never knew someone could do that. It confused him more that Rex wasn't turning into mana beast even after devouring so much mana. The Devourer, it was a true name.
And there was not a shard of a magic particle in his body. The light magic particles on her skin were getting repulsed by his mana. When the beast tried to attack him, his crystal malleoli spit out a huge amount of mana igniting the earth magic particles. The beast was encapsulated in earthen prison by Rex's mana even though he didn't even look at it.
The Old man healed up using a lot of mana from the tower's mana supply. He woke up. The scene in front him was surprising but he was quick to catch on. He jumped and grabbed the broken sword, tried to plunge it through her body.
"Jakhyo," Will shouted. Alas, it was too late. He was already sent flying with a kick, slammed on the giant tree and lost consciousness.
"Who told you to attack my sister?" Rex spat out a curse. "Sister, I am reaching the limit of my patience. Are you going to leave my sister or not?"
"Brother I can help you." Will came forward. "But I have one condition." Rex looked at the boy in front of him. "I want to take you as my master."
"You are sprouting that kind of nonsense again? Boy, I am not in that kind of mood now. Either help me or fuck off."
"Then how are you going to save your sister? There is no one who could do it other than me."
"Then I would beat her up."
"Can you even you do that?" The question touched the weak spot. It was not just Will, even the spirit noticed that, which was also the reason she didn't leave the body till now.
Rex sighed, "Why are you want to become a slave? That is not some fun profession."
"It is not slavery. You will be my master. And that is also the reason she is here. To become my master." Will stopped for a breath before continuing, "You will leave with your sister and then she will be back."
"If I become your master, she will come after my head."
"She can't leave the tower. And if you become my master there will be many advantages too."
"I don't want to know. But you should remember that I can't always be here to save you neither I can take you with me. If you are ok with that the do as you wish." Rex felt he was reaching his limit. It won't be long before he couldn't control his body anymore. It will be better to get over it as quickly as possible.
Will's face brightened up. He reached out for Rex's right hand and kissed it. Rex was quick to retract his arm. He was about to say something but felt something hot on his wrist.
"Master help me." Will plunged his hand inside Aria's chest. Rex was dumbfounded. Not a drop of blood came out.
"Master let me use your power." Rex wouldn't mind that but he didn't know how. Will extended his hand and Rex grabbed it. The crest on his wrist heated up in green. It was a simple crest that had a big lush tree with aerial root in the middle of a circle.
In a blink, weakness flooded his body. His knees gave away. All his power was sucked through the crest.
Will already closed his eyes. He was pulling something out of Aria's body. Aria was trying her best to escape. She understood that she couldn't escape Rex so she tried to fend Will off but to her surprise, no matter what type of attack she used at him all went in vain. The bright light that had protected her vanished as soon as Will got close to her.
Aria's face distorted as Will pulled out his hand. Rex wanted to stop him but it was hard for himself even to stand on his leg. Aria was screaming in intangible language. It wasn't long before Will pulled out the spirit.
The spirit had the same body as the woman in the basement. Most of the left side was missing. It was a gruesome sight to watch. The spirit left Aria and her body went soft in Rex's hand. Rex supported her. She coughed up some blood then opened her eyes. She looked at Rex, gave a smile before losing her consciousness.
Rex laid her down. He looked at Will. With the connection between them cut off Will was having a hard time to control her. The spirit gave a fierce struggle before escaping.
Rex hadn't seen a spirit before much less caught it. But he jumped at it nonetheless.
"Ahhhh!" it gave a shrill scream. It looked at Rex with fearful eyes.
"Leave me. I have been contracted with the tower, you can't kill inside… Ahhh" Her sentence ended in another scream. Her spiritual body broken down creating white fume that passed straight through Rex.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" A splitting headache attacked him and the pain was unbearable. Screaming didn't relieve him but his voice vibrated through the whole floor. Others could only watch as the unconscious body of Rex fell beside Aria.
***************
"Aria," Rex screamed back up. It was a grassy field. The giant tree was above his head. With a light breeze and mild heat from the sunlight, the weather felt just perfect. The animals were still there. The only new addition was the spirits those were floating above the head.
"Where is Aria?" Rex mumble. Soon a stele sprout out of the ground.
[She is recuperating.]
Rex never expected to get the answer from the stele. He tried once more. "What about the old man and Will?"
[Jakhyo is fine.]
"What about Will?"
"Master, I am fine too." Rex was greeted by a girl of the same height as Aria. Her flowing hair was like a cloud drifting through heaven. Even with simple brown eyes, she looked too adorable.
But Rex had a different question in mind, "Who are you?"
"I am Will, master." She answered with a bow.
"You are a boy...no a girl? How long I have been sleeping?" 'Can it be he was sleeping so long that the child grew up?' Rex was confused
"18 hours." her each answer was precise.
"What happened to you?" More he questioned more confused he got.
"I evolved after accepting you as my master."
"What are you talking about? How can you turn into a girl after making a contract."
"Let me explain." It was the old man came with an explanation. "I am Jakhyo, the caretaker of the tower. I am a magical being who look after the matter regarding the tower also a contracted being, but not a spirit like them."
"She is the tower itself. The previous master called her Will." The Old Man stopped to take a look at Rex before continuing. "It might be hard for the master to understand but the tower itself is a living being, it absorbed the surrounding mana and generate magic particles. If you think the tower is a living being then she would be the heart."
Will lowered her head and said, "I thought master will be happy to see me in such a form. If the master wants I can change back."
"That is not important. Where is Aria?"
"Master if you may." Will extended her hand. And Rex took it without hesitation. On the next moment, the space around them wrapped.
Rex took a deep breath when he reappeared. "Tell me beforehand if you do something like this."
Will apologised before pointing at the bud like stasis pod. The stasis pod was glowing in bright golden light. The human inside the pod was naked and floating in the unknown liquid.
"There is no wound on her body but the spirit is injured. Her will was forcefully overwritten. Don't worry, her situation is stable now. She will wake up soon."
Rex couldn't help but get angry thinking about it. He wanted to kill that spirit again and again until he is satisfied. Looking at the angry face of Rex the old man added, "The magic particle she had inside her is too much. She had already contracted with mythical being. There will be very few who would be as strong as her if she trains perfectly and might also the reason why the spirit tried to possess her. It was due to her inexperience that the spirit almost succeeded."
"What was that spirit?"
"That spirit was the actual owner with of the building. It tried to become master of Will hence the Tower Master."
"About that master, we have something to talk about it. Will you mind if we change the place?" Rex was surprised by her words but took her hand.
A gust of fresh wind greeted him. This felt different from the one inside the tower.
The sky was bright red. His familiar view gave Rex an unfamiliar feeling. The river Ganga felt the same at first, but with a closer look, one could see the raised water level.
The view was greener than before, sprouting trees everywhere. Combination of different trees had created a unique view. Peculiar beasts could be seen here and there. Unlike what a normal human would have felt, Rex feeling was totally different. His adventurous spirit was pulling him towards the open unknown world.
"Master, please put your hand here." the stele was same as the one at the beginning of the quest. Rex put the hand on it. It brightened up.
[The Tower of Will (incomplete)
Type: Wood
Master: The Devourer.
Floor: 6/14
Contracted spirit: 5,426/10,000
Magic particle: 34,324,982
Conquest attempt: 01.
Successful attempt: 01.]
"This is the status of the Tower. As the master, you will be able to see it and change it. If…" Before the old man could explain more Rex stopped it.
"There is no need to tell me. Do what you do."
"But…"
"No but. That is an order"
The old man nodded, "But there is some decision you should take. It is about the future of the tower."
Rex was surprised, "You should do whatever you are doing till now."
"We can't." The old man sighed " The ownerless tower has only one duty that is to produce Magic particle. But we have an owner now."
"Why do you do that?"
"I can't say it."
"Then do whatever you want."
"Master let me give you a suggestion. Let's make another Seed." Rex was confused hearing it. Will continued, "There are many uses of seed but most immediate one is that seed can create another tower."
"Do it." Rex wasn't interested in this kind of matter at all.
"And what about the trial?"
That was something Rex was interested in. He was disheartened to see that the last floor was so easy. For the first time, he was happy about being a tower master.
"Now that floor challenges were interesting but was too easy. I want you to make a complete tower that will entertain me most and add some physical floor too."
Will's face brightened up seeing the master was finally interested in something that had to do with the tower. "I will do just that." Little did he knew that the work he had just given will yield such a difficult tower that it will later be known as 'The Willbreaker.'
Weekly Power Status
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