Chapter 58: Year
Time elapsed in the blink of an eye. Not too long after Winston and the group had decided to continue on with the journey up the tower, they had already made their way upto the 20th floor, just a year and 2 months after.
It was surely sooner than they had expected. By the speed they had yet been going at, they had expected to reach floor 20 by the next 2 years. Supposedly, Winston's improved strength had something to do with that.
Speaking of, Winston's sudden development of new abilities had brought another great wave of shock, surprise and even suspiciousness in the group. Who was Winston even? Why did he always develop such strangene abilities? What was even the concept behind them and how could he even in the first place?
Naturally, this suspiciousness was something Winston had thought of adressing soon after his advancement to Sequence 6.
"I'm an irregular." Winston had admitted. With such non chalance and finesse was the statement simply thrown out of his mouth that the others had almost skimmed over them. It was not until a whole 10 seconds later that they had finally reacted with a collective expression of flabbergast.
The things from there on were of course, somewhat annoying for Winston to explain. But with his natural charisma and the the respect he commanded in the group alongside their developed trust, he managed to pull through. After that, none of the two princesses seemed to mind his abnormal strength, even though they had tons of problems with it before. It seemed coming out as being an irregular had it's own perks. No one questioned any strange abilities you might have. But then again, the cons often times outweigh the pros in terms of public opinion.
It was not all smooth sailing though. That day stands to be one of the more hectic ones in Winston's life ever since he arrived in the Tower. An experience he would like to not have to go through again, if possible.
Anyway, on that note, Winston also had his opinions about revealing to the public the fact that he was an irregular. It would no doubt have to be when he became a demigod. Anything before that and he would not feel too comfortable about it. Knowing how the Jahad forces looked at irregulars and the previous three not having the best reputation, he didn't wish to take any chances.
And now, after a year, they had passed the test of the 20th floor, the Boundary which marks the E ranked regulars.
And so...
"I'm leaving." Winston dropped the bombshell.
"What?" Came the collective thought of the group from a Shibisu's mouth.
"I said I'm leaving." Winston said simply.
"What do you mean you're leaving?" Hatz asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Exactly how it sounds. I have to leave for a while." Winston explained. "Now that we're E ranked, we are allowed to take on jobs in the middle region, so there's no rush to ascend up the tower. On that note, I'm looking to increase my powers a bit. Prepare for the Strom that's about to take the tower."
"Wait a second! This is going too fast for me!" Endorsi exclaimed at the side. She turned towards Winston and asked with a clear voice.
"What made you come to this decision? Why are you suddenly so adamant on leaving?"
Winston shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not leaving permanently. There's bound to be a time when I reveal that I'm an irregular. I'm only preparing for that moment.
"Besides, information exchange is a lot more prevalent beyond the 20th floor. Once the news of a new irregular goes up the tower, its bound to cause some chaos."
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"Is there any way we can talk you out of it?" Zarhan asked.
"No."
"Then there's nothing to talk about is there?" Zarhan said, getting up with a smile.
A wave of displeasure at his nonchalance stirred in the group, with Endorsi and Sunwoo even getting up to reprimand him about it.
However... "What're ya'll getting so worked up for? If there's nothing that we can do, might as well play along."
And that was the end of the discussion. It was pretty anticlimactic as far as big reveals and leaving of teammates go. Winston wondered why Zarhan had not said something like this when he revealed he was an irregular, just to save him from the drama.
With that, after everyone got over and on to the 21st floor, it was time for him to leave.
Winston bid everyone farewell, again, without too much unnecessary drama. Something he was deeply thankful for. After hugging everyone goodbye, Winston used flaming jump to travel in a particular direction while observing the state of his potions.
The digestion of his potions had not been the main target of his focus for the last year. It was instead focused on the new revelations he could achieve through Shinsu experimentation and increasing the number of baangs he could create at once. That fact made his total digestion stay mostly static, reaching just below 40%. However, that would soon change.
Flame jumping right into an alleyway, Winston's face started to morph, turning almost into an amorphous liquid like state that wished to melt off his face and onto the stone floor below.
His features morphed, as did his height and muscle structure. His gait changed and his hair increased in length, turning into large locks which weren't too disparate from his usual hairstyle. His eye colour, previously a shade of dark black now turned completely void, appearing as black as the darkest night without a hint of stars.
And as his appearance changed, a man came into view. He had a broad forehead and a thin face that had a scholary feel to it. Alongside that, a strange appendage, which was also made through the Faceless ability hung over his right eye. It was a clear and bright crystal monocle. The man smiled and pinched the crystal monocle on his right eye, narrowing his eyes in the process. Then, taking out a piece of garment from his pocket, he was prepared. It was a pointed top hat that rested gently over his head.
It was his new identity. Amon, the Angel of Theft and Trickery. The God of Deceit. Error of all Things.
Winston could not help but curl his lips into a baleful smile, thinking of everyone that was going to get a crippling fear of monocles from here on out.
"Hehehe." A low chuckle rang out in the alleyway.
~~~
It was always quiet here in Yunskeet's local Bar. Being a small town somewhere along the middle region of the 21st floor, not many people frequented here. At least not the regulars. To the townsfolk, the bar was a place of respite and relief.
It always got cheerful at the evenings, even though not a single soul could be seen here in the mornings or the noon. It was an anomaly why this town even provided the regulars with payment for working at the bar, but that didn't matter as long as the pay was good. Many regulars that had lost points in the 20th floor tests would frequent the town to work at all sorts of places. The Bar, the sawmill or the hunting squad.
Almost everyone picked the hunting squad. Not Roy though.
He was a... a blogger if you will. Being a lightbearer, he had his own personal blog on the Box. Mind you, it recieved one hundred thousand weekly views; which although paled in comparison to the true behemoths out there, it made Roy feel accomplished if nothing else.
He had gained popularity when he was stuck on the 20th floor. People seemed to enjoy his daily shenanigans, scrounging for help and points, doing all sorts of odd jobs just for another try at the test. It didn't strike any sympathy with the others, but it made them relate to him. Most of the regulars had been stuck there at some point in their journey.
Anyways, enough about that. It was a normal day. Roy was cleaning the glasses behind the counter. As any other day, the bar was completely empty. It was morning still and the solitude one could feel here made one question their own sanity. The place looked to be deserted for ages.
It made him wonder why they even kept it open in the day. But it made him free enough to work on his blog, so he was happy.
However, unlike the usual course of events, when he was working on his lighthouse, the doors to the bar opened.
And in came an imposing man that stood at a height of 6 feet and 2 inches, wearing a long robe that extended just below the ground and a pointed top hat. This man who had a gentlemanly feeling to him donned a crystal monocle that hung just over his right eye.
Roy was surprised to say the least, but he welcomed the man nonetheless.
"Welcome! How may I serve you today?" Roy asked the man as he sat at the table before the counter.
The man in question smiled. It was a normal smile for the most part. But the strange thing about it was that his eyes and almost every other part of his face remained completely static. Only his lips moved to stretch into something that would roughly resemble a smile. It honestly made Roy feel eerie and somewhat threatened.
"A glass of champagne please." The man smiled, adjusting the crystal monocle.
Roy got him the champagne without too much thought. But as he did, he noticed the door still ajar. Which was weird since it was supposed to close by itself. It was made in a way that allowed for unidirectional flow of shinsu, as were most wooden doors, making the door close by itself if no force opposed it.
After giving the man his glass of champagne, he went over the closed the door and moved back to the counter. However, he noticed something peculiar yet again.
There wasn't one man sitting there. But two.
The second man looked mostly identical to the first one, yet only he had a tanner skin, was somewhat shorter in stature and wore a standard t shirt with baggy pants. But the thing about him was, he also wore a crystal monocle on his right eye.
Both of the men looked at him as he went behind the counter.
"A glass of champagne please." The second man ordered.
At this point, Roy was feeling a bit strange. He did not see the man come in after all. But he tried not to think too much of it.
He got the second man his glass of champagne but as he turned to hand him the glass, there again, he noticed something.
Not one, not two, but three people were now sitting before the counter. This third man also wore the same crystal monocle on his right eye but had vastly different fashion than the other.
Curiously, this man did not order anything, but began to ask questions about the various things that went on about town. The culture, the tradition. And although Roy knew all too little, he gave him the small bit of knowledge he could.
At some point in the questioning, the other two had joined in, asking all sorts of strange questions to him.
The first one, who had been the most silent, out of the blue whispered at him. "You're just a fucking disappointment aren't you?"
It left him feeling more than uncomfortable and he wished nothing mote than to tell them to leave. But his logical fear overwhelmed his impulses and reflexive actions. He knew the men before him were strange and not to be messed with. There was a Mysterious air about them that made one not get too close.
Luckily, after a bit more questioning, the people left.
Roy inwardly sword to document the entire thing word for word in his blog later. Thinking of that, it was a shame he had not managed to catch any of their names, but he was sure he could make a cool sounding sobriquet.
And as Roy watched them leave, he noticed something peculiar laying about the bench. It was a clear crystal monocle.
Those eerie men must've forgot about it.
~~~
A/N: Throw some stones.
Also, I wanted to experiment a bit with this chapter and lay the foundation for the Amon shenanigans that will be pulled off. But I'm skeptical about calling him Amon since a character already exists with that name. So, I wanted to ask for some suggestions.
How does Bartholomew sound like?
And do tell me if you liked the vibe of the second half of the chapter if I should continue writing chapters like this. It was the first time and I wanted to keep it a bit tame still.
Cheers~
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