Chapter 31 - Ninth Floor (3)

"Little bro! Let's go!" Urek yelled out, interrupting Lumen and Yuri.

"Go where? What are you talking about?" Lumen asked, but Urek had already grabbed him.

"Sorry, Yuri. I have a promise to fulfill." The blonde Irregular turned towards the Princess and jumped away with Lumen.

"Damn you, Urek. I never said that the date is over!" Yuri cursed him in annoyance.

[Next time, wear a dress.] She received a message from Lumen on her Pocket. The two had exchanged their contact numbers during their date.

"Next time? Tsch! You don't decide if there will be a next time and what I will wear." Yuri said out loud but didn't send it as a message.

Urek arrived with Lumen in a remote place on the 9th Floor.

"Dude, you gotta teach me how you pick up girls! How did you even manage to get a date with a Princess of Zahard? I've asked out all Princesses, and they have all refused me!" Urek complained about his misfortune with women.

"I got lucky." Lumen answered with a straight face.

"Bah! If you don't want to tell me, just say so." Urek replied with a frown. He really wanted to know how Lumen scored a date with Yuri. He's been trying to get one with a particular Princess for quite some time without having any success so far.

"Whatever. I have a promise to fulfill, so let's get started." Urek said while cracking his knuckles.

"Get started with what. What promise are you talking about?" Lumen had no idea what was Urek on about.

"You don't remember? We made a bet, if I can't hurt you with my full strength without using Shinsoo, I will train you for three days. I punched you, but my arm went through your body. That was a nasty trick that you pulled, but you did win the bet." Lumen didn't remember making such a bet, but that must have happened after he drank too much of the alcohol that Urek gave him.

"Each day, I will teach you a different thing. For the first, I will teach you how to read the flow of Shinsoo better. For the second, I will show you a Shinsoo strengthening technique. And for the last day, I will show you a Shinsoo manipulation technique."

"Everything that I will teach you has been shown to me by my parents. And I will teach you the way they taught me! So put this on." Urek pulled out a futuristic-looking black helmet and threw it to Lumen.

"The helmet will block your sight, hearing, and sense of smell. While wearing it, you will have to really on the flow of Shinsoo around you to see." That explanation sounded a lot like observation Haki to Lumen.

"The way my father taught me is, by attacking me while I wore a helmet like that. Every time I didn't dodge his attack, he will hit me and nearly brake my bones. His excuse was that if I don't feel pain, how would I know that I made a mistake." Yep, definitely like observation Haki.

"His training was quite effective, so be prepared to face the same," Urek told him with an evil smirk.

The moment Lumen put on the helmet, he felt as if he was in a void. The feeling of losing three of your main senses was incredibly weird. However, with the loss of three, all others were enhanced.

His brain constructed an image of his surroundings using the flow of Shinsoo around him. Sadly, it was only a hazy picture since he wasn't that good at it yet. Nonetheless, he had a vague idea of where everything is around him. He was even able to see a blurred image of a man.

As he was trying to get used to the feeling of using Shinsoo to see, the blurry image of Urek disappeared. He had a very faint sense of where the attack would come from, but he knew he couldn't dodge on time. Knowing that he tried to use his elemental form to let the attack go through him.

Sadly, Urek had strengthened himself with Shinsoo and punched him in the shoulder. With a nasty crack of bones breaking, Lumen was sent flying. Standing up, he quickly tried healing his shoulder with his Phoenix flames.

Lumen wasn't even able to heal his wound before he felt Urek moving. The blonde Irregular was moving as fast as him when he was going at top speed.

This time, he was going to kick him in the stomach area. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge this one as well, since he sensed the attack too late. Knowing that his Logia form would be useless, he used his Phoexis flames. He might not be able to avoid the attack, but he could start healing the injury as soon as it happens.

This continued on, and attack after attack, he would get sent flying over and over again. After the 100th attack, he started letting some go through his body by using his elemental form and creating a hole right where the attack would hit.

He was getting better at that, but that wasn't enough for him. Lumen wanted to be able to dodge his attacks. He knew he could move as fast as him, so he knew he should be able to avoid his strikes by dodging them.

Without even realizing it, the surrounding image was no longer as hazy as before. He could even faintly see Urek's facial expressions. He could even anticipate some of his attacks and knew exactly where the blonde Irregular would aim at. He didn't know when, but he started predicting his attacks at some point.

Lumen didn't know how many times he was sent flying before he managed to dodge an attack, but he finally did it. He was bȧrėly able to move out of the way, right before he punched him. He actually avoided a hit from Urek.

'Little monster! It took me over a month to even dodge one of my father's hits, and he does it in a day? I'm starting to regret that I promised to teach him.'

"Not bad. Of course, you are nowhere near as good as I was, but you are getting there." Urek would never admit that someone is better than him.

"You know what? Since you are my little bro, I will let you keep the helmet." He threw it back at him, and Lumen stored it in his pocket.

"Meet me here tomorrow, so we can continue our training. Now, I will go and try to find some chicks to go out with." In an instant, Urek disappeared from his spot.

On his way back, Lumen had closed his eyes, trying to continue his training from earlier. Seeing by reading the flow of Shinsoo was a novel feeling, so he enjoyed viewing the world that way for the time being.

While walking, he sensed a Regular that was being chased by a bunch of other Regulars. They were a distance away, but they were disturbing the flow of Shinsoo, so he able to sense them.

The one that was being chased was moving exactly towards Lumen's direction. As the Regular got closer, he opened his eyes.

In front of him was a beautiful and voluptuous woman with long red hair that reached her waist and charming red eyes. Just a head shorter than Lumen and dressed in a purple dress that stuck closely to her, he watched as she walked right next to him. Since he felt no danger from her, he didn't do anything to stop her.

She stood on his right side without saying a word and turned towards her six pursuers. All six of them were wearing black cloaks. Five of them were lined up next to each other, while one of the Regulars stood in front of them, clearly the group's leader.

All of them had their hoods on, so he couldn't see them with his eyes, but he was able to see them by reading the flow of Shinsoo. Surprisingly, the group consisted of only women and beautiful ones at that. All of them had alluring figures that could put supermodels on Earth to shame.

"You might be famous, but you shouldn't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. If you leave now, you might get to keep your life. Otherwise..." The leader of the group hissed out with a male voice.

'Another trap?' Lumen wasn't sure if the person used some kind of device to make her voice sound male, or if it was a male that had gone through an operation to look like a female.

"Are you threatening me?" He laughed out. Lumen was punched around by Urek for the whole day, and no matter how much he wanted to punch him back, he couldn't do it since the blonde Irregular was faster than him. Now, those six popped up and threatened him, they looked like the perfect targets to let out some steam.

"Yes! You have ten seconds to leave this place." Hissed out the leader with a male voice. Being able to see the female figure underneath the cloak and hearing the male voice, really bothered him.

Lumen formed a purple Baang in his hand and threw it at the group. The six were able to dodge the attack and were about to jump towards Lumen and the red-haired woman next to him.

However, a sudden pulling force stopped them. The purple Baang that Lumen shot didn't explode, but floated in the air between all six of them. The group of Regulars was helplessly suċkėd in towards the Baang infused with his gravity powers.

Screams echoed out, as all six were slowly being ground together. In a matter of moments, there was only a giant blob of meat that was left from the six Regulars.

Lumen didn't even bother to look at them as he continued on his way towards his room. The red-haired woman followed after him and was right behind him. He stopped and turned towards her.

"What do you want?" Lumen asked the woman.

"In 30 minutes, I will be attacked again. My fate tells me that as long as I am with you, nothing will happen to me." The red-head replied.

"Your fate? Are you a Red Witch?" Diana had told him about that species of Guides. Red Witches have the ability to see the fate of people.

"Yes, I am a Red Witch. I have already completed my pilgrimage, and I'm currently climbing the Tower as a Regular." She truthfully answered him.

"And why are you so sure that I will help you?" He asked her.

"Because my fate says so. It is my destiny to follow you right now. Unfortunately, that's all I can see when it comes to you." The red-head answered him. She is considered one of the most talented Guides, but for some reason, she could bȧrėly read the fate of Lumen. She had never experienced something similar before.

"Hah. So you are saying that someone will definitely attack you in 30 minutes?" Lumen wasn't sure what to think of that. Being able to see the future sounded so farfetched, but also being given incredible abilities and being sent to a place like the Tower, sounded just as improbable.

"Yes, exactly 29 minutes now, until they attack me." She confirmed with confidence.

"We'll see about that. Until then, what should I call you?" Lumen asked.

"Marrie." She responded.

Like Marrie said, exactly 29 minutes later, a group of five cloaked Regulars arrived. They all stopped a distance away from them. With hesitance, one of them asked. "Can you please step away from her? We need to capture her."

If they didn't have the FUG symbol on their cloaks, he would have stepped away. However, that organization had already attacked him before, so he wasn't going to let them do as they please.

Without responding, he shot five quick lasers, killing them all, and turned towards Marrie. "So, what does your fate tell you now?"

Her eyes widened in surprise as she uttered. "Nothing."

Marrie's vision of the future was blank. She had no idea if she would survive or die. Red Witches never feared their death even when they foresee it, as that is simply their destiny. What they feared the most is not being able to see their fate and the fate of others.

Her current situation was terrifying, for that matter. The only other time she had the same feeling is when going through the Floor of Death.

"Now, little lamb. Would you mind telling me why FUG is after you?" Marrie gulped down as she heard him and faintly nodded.