Chapter 46 - Twenty-Fifth Floor (2)

A month passed on the 25th Floor, and Lumen's team was about to take on the Test.

The Test takes place in an open arena and is a team battle of ten rounds. Each round, a team would have to send out a Regular to participate. Regulars could fight in multiple rounds, but they can not participate in consecutive rounds. They have to rest at least one round before competing again.

The two Regulars would have to fight while Observers would fly over them. Each Observer would have a different color, and the Regulars would have to shoot down the correct one. The first one to destroy three of the correct Observers wins the round. If a Regular dies during a round, the round will continue until the other Regular destroys the correctly colored Observer three times.

Lumen's team was on one side of the arena, while the other team was on the opposite. The other team had exactly ten members, and two Regulars were standing ahead of the rest, clearly the leaders of that team.

One of them was a blue-haired woman with angelic wings attached to her arms. She had blue eyes and wore a purple outfit. The second Regular was a tall, muscular man that wore a weird white suit with black dots on it and a fedora with the same style.

Red was chosen as the correct color for the Observers, and the Test began, as both teams chose their Regulars.

"Go get them." Androssi kicked Leesoo in the but and sent him flying towards the stage.

"Steve, take him on." The blue-haired woman said to a silver-haired man wearing a black outfit.

Once on stage, Steve looked towards Leesoo in contempt.

"You are considered the strongest E-Rank team, but I will show you how weak you truly are in the grand scheme of things," Steve stated.

"We are considered the strongest E-Rank team? Really? I thought we were the best Team even amongst D or C-Rank Regulars." Leesoo replied back.

"Weaklings like you should know their place," Steve responded in loathing.

Leesoo shook his head when he heard that. "Who wouldn't be considered a weakling when compared to those monsters?" He asked while pointing towards his teammates.

No more words were exchanged between the two, and the first round started.

The silver-haired Regular looked at Leesoo in surprise, not expecting him to avoid his attack and kick him back. He was about to jump towards him again when a red Observer flew over their heads. Steve formed a Baan and was about to shoot it, but before he could manage, the Observer was shot down by a light blueish laser from Leesoo.

"And the weakling takes the lead." Leesoo mocked him.

Amongst everyone from Lumen's team, Leesoo was considered the weakest. He wasn't from one of the 10 Great Families, nor did he have unique qualities to himself, besides his intellect. He had bȧrėly even passed the Shinsoo veil on the 2nd Floor.

Leesoo knew that, and that's why he pushed himself the hardest out of everyone else. With hard work and a bit of ȧssistance from Lumen, he had changed.

Leesoo's body, although not the strongest, was now comparable to branch members of the 10 Great Families. He didn't have an amazing talent in Shinsoo manipulation, but he was now able to control up to four Baangs. A feat that the majority of the E-Rank Regulars are unable to replicate.

Despite being the weakest in his team, he was one of the top 20 E-Rank Regulars in terms of strength.

Steve realized that Leesoo wasn't the weakling he believed him to be. He rushed at him again, but this time, he was prepared.

The two were attacking and avoiding the strikes of the other when a red Observer flew over them. Before Steve could form a Baang, Leesoo had shot it down.

"Two to zero, in favor of the weakling." Leesoo didn't forget to mock him.

Steve was furious that he was being outdone by what he considered a random E-Rank Regular. He hadn't delayed his climb, and stayed as an E-Rank Regular for hundreds of years, just to be outdone by someone like Leesoo. Steve wanted to hide his Shinsoo quality and save it as a surprise for the others, but it seemed he had to use it now.

The two continued exchanging attacks, but Leesoo martial arts skills, were very good. The martial art passed down in his family wasn't something special, but he had combined that with the ones shown to him by Lumen, and had created his own personal martial art.

As much he tried beating him without his Shinsoo techniques, Steve was unable to achieve that.

A blue Observer flew over them, but since it wasn't the correct one, they continued their fight. A yellow one followed afterward, again not the correct one.

A few more exchanges later, a red Observer flew over them. Before Leesoo could even form his Baang, Steve made his move.

The silver-haired Regular had already formed a Baang made of sand, threw it at Leesoo face, and followed up by punching with all his strength. He was then easily able to shoot down the red Observer with another Baang.

"Oh, man. That was a dirty move, but your punch was lacking. Androssi hits me harder on a daily basis." Leesoo commented after cleaning the sand from his eyes.

Androssi crossed her arms under her bosom with a proud smile on her face. "Yep, that's true! I hit him just for fun!"

Their fight continued, but Steve had decided to use his techniques. He could control a total of five Baangs at once. For hundreds of years, he had focused on honing his skills and increasing his Shinsoo control. One Baang was used to strengthen his body, and he used three Baangs to form sand around him.

"Sand Whirlwind." Steve created a whirlwind made of sand and enveloped Leesoo in it. Wherever he went, the sand whirlwind followed after him.

Each grain of sand was moving at tremendous speed and cutting through Leesoo's body. However, his vitality was quite high after his training with increased gravity, so he was able to survive this for a few more minutes without any problems.

While Leesoo was trying to escape from Steve's technique, a red Observer flew above them, and the silver-haired Regular was able to shoot it down easily. With this, both of them had destroyed two Observers each.

Being in the whirling was starting to take its toll on Leesoo. He was being constantly stuck from a nonstop onslaught of sand when he shook his head. 'I'm just not a good Fisherman...'

'Well, I better act my role and win this, otherwise...' Leesoos shuddered at the thought of losing. The two scary devils, Lumen and Androssi, were watching this fight. Should he lose, he didn't even want to think about what might happen to him later.

Steve smiled when his opponent stopped moving. "It was about time."

The silver-haired Regular knew how strong his Shinsoo technique is. He had developed it for hundreds of years. Even D-Rank Regular wouldn't be able to handle it easily. Nonetheless, he kept the technique going just in case, Leesoo was still alive.

A minute passed, and a red Observer flew over. Steve shot a sand Baang towards it, but a few meters before the attack could reach it, the blast of sand hit something else.

In the next moment, a light blueish laser coming from the sand whirlwind, and shot down the red Observer.

Steve turned towards where his own technique was still causing havoc and wondered how is Leesoo still alive. As the sand whirlwind dissipated, Steve saw a big white triangle wrapped around Leesoo as he had squatted underneath it.

Since he wasn't going to play around anymore, Leesoo had decided to act his role. He summoned his B-Rank Armor Inventory, as a high-rank item, it has a few additional qualities to it than lower-ranked ones. One of them was the ability to increase or decrease its size, and another was that it was very flexible and easy to bent.

Once the red Observer appeared, he had maneuvered one of his own Observers to block Steve's attack while he had created a single Baang with highly concentrated Shinsoo. The attack pierced through the whirling of sand and accurately landed on the red Observer.

Leesoo stood up when the whirling dissipated, dusted himself off and made his Armor Inventory turn invisible. "And the weakling wins."

He proudly walked back to his team since he won the round. Once he reached them, Androssi smacked him on the head.

"What was that? Did you just lose two times? Why are you embarrassing us?" The Princess of Zahard started criticizing him.

"He was tougher than I expected. I'm sorry. I thought I could act like a Fisherman... like most of you guys." Leesoo meekly apologized.

Androssi had none of that. She immediately smacked on him on the head again and called out. "Laure, show him how it's done. I want you to win without losing a single time."

The green-haired Regular who was sleeping ground, didn't respond. Laure was peacefully dreaming when someone grabbed him by the clothes, yanked him upwards, and yelled something at him.

"Five more minutes." He uttered.

"I said, show him how it's done. I want you to win without losing a single time!" Androssi ȧsserted as she shook Laure awake. "Now, go!"

"Do I have to? Can't you win without me?" Laure just wanted to continue sleeping. Why would he want to do anything else but sleep when he had a soft pillow and a warm blanket.

"You will go!" Androssi stated and pointed towards the arena, and Laure slowly started moving towards it. He wore his blanket like a cape and carried his pillow with him.

"Can I just forfeit? We don't need to win all rounds, right?" He asked as he was walking.

"If you lose a single time, I promise you won't get to sleep for a very long time." Androssi was adamant. She wanted him to dominate his opponent.

Dejectedly he walked onto the stage and looked at the Regular that was already there. He was a black-haired man that wore a black outfit.

"Bates, make sure you win this." Called out the blue-haired woman.

"Don't worry, I got this." The black-haired Regular reassured her.

Blue was the chosen color for their round, and the fight began.

With extreme speed, Bates rushed towards Laure. Arriving in front of him, he sent a punch towards his face, but before it could reach him, a barrier of Shinsoo blocked the attack.

Laure adjusted his blanket to cover him better, let out a sigh, and looked at Bates.

"They can win even without me, but I was forced to fight. I also have to try and win every time, but all I want is to sleep," Laure said with a sad tone. Bates was attacking the Shinsoo barrier in the meantime, but there wasn't even a ripple on it.

Laure raised the pillow in his hand. "I have a comfy and soft pillow." He pointed at his blanket. "A nice and warm blanket, but I have to fight. Do you understand my plight?"

"Shut up!" Bates, who was still unable to bypass the Shinsoo barrier, screamed out. At that moment, a blue Observer flew over them.

Before Bates could even form a Baang, the Observer in the air got shot down. He turned to look in disbelief at Laure, who was letting out a yawn.

"How much longer until the other two. Can't they send them out together? I'd much rather sleep than do this. Don't you agree with me?" Laure asked him in a sad tone.

"Would you just shut up!" Bates screamed and placed his hand on the barrier of Shinsoo. A massive wave of Shinsoo exploded out and nearly destroyed Laure's barrier, but he was able to repair the damage done to it as soon as it happened.

"Impossible," Bates exclaimed. He had just used Flare Wave Explosion, a very destructive Shinsoo technique that is only taught to FUG members.

Flare Wave Explosion allows one to transfer a shock of Shinsoo through vibrations from oneself to a targeted object, vibrating the target's inner Shinsoo, and destroying it from within.

However, the technique could be blocked if the target has high Shinsoo resistance or better Shinsoo control than the user. Laure had much better Shinsoo control than Botes.

The moment Bates used the technique, Lumen was instantly able to recognize it. Urek or more like his butler, Yuje, had given him a detailed explanation of FUG and some of their techniques. Flare Wave Explosion was one of those techniques.

"Laure." Lumen called out the green-haired Regular, and he turned around. He might disobey Androssi commands at times, but Lumen was a different story. That man could be very scary when he wants to, so Laure would prefer to be on good terms with him.

"Kill him." Lumen stated with no further explanation.

Before Bates could even realize what's happening, a laser pierced through his head. Laure had formed a Baang in an instant, and it had a high concentration of Shinsoo. He had shot Bates in the head without the man being able to react to his attack.

Lumen had an easy way of dealing with Laure slacking off. Whenever the green-haired Regular decided that it's time to take a nap, he would shoot him with a light beam. Due to that, Laure learned to form Baangs of Shinsoo in an instant. He had to learn how to defend himself while napping. After all, there is nothing better than sleeping.

"What a bother. Now, I have no one to complain to." Laure looked towards the sky with dead eyes while waiting for the last two Observers to appear.

Lumen turned towards his team. "Kill your opponents every round."

"FUG?" Androssi questioned.

"Yes." He confirmed.