Chapter 18 - Third Floor (12)

Lumen woke up with a nȧkėd Diana sleeping in his arms. The girl was hugging him so hard as if she was afraid he will disappear if she lets go.

As much as he enjoyed the sensation, he had his own plans for the day. Gently, he woke her up, and with sadness in her eyes, Diana teleported him to the Residential District. "I'll see you later."

In a few minutes, his team gathered together.

"Are you all ready? We are challenging the small tower today." Lumen asked his team.

They all gave their confirmation except Laure, who was still sleeping while being tied to Aleksai's back.

The group visited the small tower and announced that they will challenge it today. Since the Guardian teams were not present, they had to wait for an hour for them to come to the small tower.

The fighters from the Guardian team of the 1st floor were two brown-haired twins. The two guys were also wearing the same matching blue outfits. Both Regulars had needles as their chosen weapons, and they looked to be Scouts.

Aleksai wished to fight them, and since Laure was sleeping on his back, he was his partner. With confidence, he stepped up to challenge them.

The two twins were strong for Regulars on the 3rd Floor, but nothing too remarkable.

However, their teamwork was something else. They were moving as if they were on the same wavelength. When one attacks, the other would support him.

They were like a relentless stream, trying to pave its way through a mountain. The twins were sending nonstop attacks his way.

Calmly, he dodged their attacks or blocked them, by strengthening his body with Shinsoo.

Everyone from Lumen's team had learned how to enhance themselves with Shinsoo. This is a mandatory skill for climbing the Tower.

In a couple of minutes, he had already learned their rhythm.

The next time, one of the twins attacked him, Aleksai caught his arm, alongside the needle the twin was holding. Pulling it with his strength, he ripped the brown-haired Regular's arm from his arm socket.

While the twin was screaming in pain, Aleksai threw his arm at the other twin. With the arm still holding the needle, it pierced the throat of the brown-haired Regular.

The other twin didn't even realize his brother had died, before Aleksai threw a punch at his face, caving his skull in.

The red-haired Regular killed of both twins in a couple of minutes, while Laure peacefully slept through the whole process. The Guardian team was staring at Aleksai wide-eyed, unable to believe how easily he finished them off.

Lumen's team moved on to the next floor. Hatsu and Anak were the two that decided to participate in this round.

Their opponents were tall blue-skinned Regular and a short green-haired Regular.

Anak simply punched the green-haired Regular and made a hole in his ċhėst. While Hatsu reached the blue-skinned one in an instant and placed a sword on his neck.

The swordsman does not find pŀėȧsurė in killing his enemies, so he left him the option of surrendering. The blue-skinned Regular wasted no time at all and threw in the towel.

The fight ended, just as fast it started.

Anak looked towards Lumen, and when she saw him nod at her with a smile, her tail started happily wagging behind her. She truly looked like a cute pet, that's also a killing machine at the same time.

For the third and last floor, Tiana, Leesoo, and Androssi took the stage.

Their opponents were a black-haired guy, a blonde-haired girl carrying a needle, and Fai, the green-skinned girl that was on Lumen's team during the 2nd Floor.

Androssi just let out a yawn and addressed her two teammates. "You two take care of this."

"Those two are mine! I have some unfinished business with them." Tiana said while staring at Fai and the black-haired guy.

Had Fai not jumped on Tench's offer, she wasn't going to be targeted by him. She constantly had to be on the lookout, and nearly got rȧpėd by the black-haired Regular.

"Woah! I didn't know you two are in this kind of relationship. You hid it pretty well from the rest." Androssi exclaimed and looked back at Lumen.

Tiana didn't respond to either of them and clenched her teeth.

Leesoo was standing to the side, not knowing what he is supposed to do. He was about to open his mouth, but Tiana had already sprinted ahead.

Androssi kicked him in the but, and send him after her. "You too go and fight."

Unfortunately, Tiana had already reached the blonde-haired girl. She tried intercepting Tiana, but the purple-haired girl was too fast for her.

After a quick dodge, Tiana lodged her own needle in the blonde-haired girl's head and continued towards the other two.

Fai had pulled out two Lighthouses and formed a barrier of Shinsoo with them. While the black-haired Regular was shooting Baangs of Shinsoo in her direction.

While dodging the attacks of the black-haired Regular, Tiana continued moving their way. She passed through the barrier that Fai had set up, as if it wasn't there, to begin with.

Both her speed and strength have increased by leaps and bounds after she started training daily with Lumen. She was no longer the week girl that was lucky to pass the 2nd Floor.

Before her two opponents could respond, Tiana had already punched the black-haired Regular a dozen times in the face, leaving him in a daze.

Her next action caused all the males that were watching to shudder. Strengthening her leg with Shinsoo, she landed a kick on his family jewels.

The black-haired Regular let out a girly scream and passed out from the pain. Without sparing him a second glance, she shot Baang of Shinsoo towards his head and continued moving towards Fai.

The green-haired girl had pulled out a needle to try and defend herself, but her combat skills were lacking compared to Tiana.

With just a single move, she disarmed Fai and took the needle from her. Tiana's next action was to punch her in the face, breaking her jaw in the process. She was not going to allow her to surrender.

Grabbing her by the hair, Tiana started throwing Fain around like a sandbag. This continued until the hair couldn't take it anymore, and separated itself from Fai's head.

"Phgeage." Fai tried pleading, but Tiana was having none of that.

"What did you say? I couldn't quite hear you." The purple-haired girl asked while continuously shoving her head in the ground.

"Pkefe." With her broken jaw, only blood came out of her mouth.

Leesoo was staring at her in fear. Never would he have imagined that he purple-haired girl could be so cruel.

Tiana spat on her face and left her to bleed out. She started walking back towards her team, but you could see her hand trembling. Her eyes had also started to water a bit.

In a minute, Fai died from blood loss with the needle still stuck inside of her.

With the defeat of the last Guardian team, Lumen's team had successfully passed the Test on the 3rd Floor.

Diana, as the Ruler of the 3rd Floor, appeared before them and shooed the other team away.

"Congratulations, Regulars. You have all passed the Test on the 3rd Floor. Good luck, climbing the Tower." With that, she teleported everyone to the 4th Floor, except Lumen.

With the two of them alone, her eyes watered up a bit, and she closed the distance between them. Tiptoeing, she raised herself and gave him a kiss. The moment their lips touched, she melted in his arms.

Not only is Lumen, the person Diana had spent the most time with for the past hundreds of years, but she also gave her first time to him. Their previous night is something that she will remember for the rest of her life.

They had a rough start, but they slowly grew up to each other. Diana had told him stories about the Tower and taught him what's considered common sense here.

On Earth, Lumen would be considered a psychopath. At the age of 17, he had already killed his first human.

He didn't think that there would be a female that would be able to accept him for who he is. Lumen would have never thought that he would have a stable relationship with someone else for that fact.

Here in the Tower, psychopaths are the norm. There are bȧrėly any sane or kind-hearted people. Lumen didn't think that he would find someone that he would like, but fate proved him wrong.

"In the future... If by chance... you can't kill Zahard for some reason... You could always come and visit me, you know? I don't get many visitors... In fact, I don't get any at all..." Without letting him respond, Diana gave him one final kiss and teleported him away.

Had she delayed it any longer, Diana might have not let him leave at all. For someone that has been alone and emotionally starved for hundreds of years, Lumen was like the sun that illuminated her endless night.

Diana wasn't sure if he would end up killing Zahard in the future, but she dearly wished for that. That way, she would be able to reunite not only with him but also with her sister.

Unlike Diana, her sister had been imprisoned and sealed away.

Tears started falling from her eyes as she teleported back to her bedroom. Next to her bed, there sat a transparent sphere with a white flame burning inside it.

Hugging the sphere and feeling Lumen's warmth, she fell asleep while her tears stained her sheets.

Lumen didn't know his exact feeling for the pink-haired girl, but he knew he definitely was attracted to her. He had been attracted to other females on Earth as well, but it was mostly to their bodies.

With Diana, it was a bit different. He wasn't simply interested in her body, which was incredibly beautiful.

During their time, they had connected as both of them are similar-minded.

Did he love her? That was a question that he couldn't answer. Lumen had never experience that feeling, so he wasn't sure about that.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. That's something that he will realize on his own the more time passed.

Nevertheless, he had finally reached the 4th Floor.

He was currently in a large room, and his teammates were next to him. In front of them was a human-looking person with cat ears on his head. He was staring at the group in interest.

His team was staring at him in confusion at why it took him so long.

"Hey, what happened? Why did it take you so long to come here?" Androssi questioned him.

"That doesn't concern you." Sharply he responded to her.