Chapter 60 - Workshop Battle (6)

Poken appeared in the air above Lumen and stared at him disdainfully. He had to admit that the Karaka impostor was incredibly strong for a Regular, and he was sure that he is an Irregular. No other being could have so much power on the Lower Floors.

Lumen could have been someone that they could have used in their plans, but death was the only outcome for someone that dared impersonate his God.

"What will you show me now?" Gustang wondered with a smile when he saw Poken exit the Suspendship. He was impressed with Lumen's strength and progress. However, that wasn't enough if he wanted to kill the King of the Tower.

Zahard's strength was unmatched in the Tower, and Urek was the only one that had the power to kill him. Sadly, Urek was against that and refused to go after him no matter what, and Gustang didn't know why. He did have some theories, but he wasn't completely certain.

Gustang pulled out an archaic book from his Pocket. Books weren't uncommon in the Tower, but the one in his hands was made of materials that couldn't be found inside the Tower. The book was his diary from before entering the Tower, and he opened it to its last page.

'I can't believe it! I was one of the 13 people chosen to enter and conquer the Tower! I will be granted an Essences of Intelligence tomorrow whatever that is, and I am supposed to become one of the Kings of the Tower!' Gustang read the last three sentences of his diary.

"Why do I have no memory of this?" Gustang questioned himself for the millionth time. All the content inside the book was of his life outside the Tower. However, he couldn't remember even a single event that was listed there.

Gustang's earliest memories were of him climbing the Tower, but even they were extremely vague. Something had happened to him, but he didn't know what. He also didn't remember being granted the Essence of Intelligence. However, for some reason, he believed that Zahard was the cause of his memory loss.

Gustang had been able to find records of what an Essence is inside the Tower. He knew that they were the crystallized form of beings that had failed to become divine beings. Once someone obtains an Essence, he will receive that person's memories and abilities. However, he wouldn't be able to improve upon the skills he had obtained.

Essences could boost someone's power, but they would also limit that person's improvements. Another drawback was that the person who absorbs an Essence, would no longer be able to become a divine being and exit the Tower.

Gustang shook his head, stored the diary back into his Pocket, and turned his attention to Poken and Lumen.

"I will give you a simple choice," Poken told Lumen. "We can do this the easy way, and you can die for me. Or we can..."

Before Poken could continue, he saw Lumen disappear from his spot in a flash of white. The next instant, he had appeared in front of him. The speed at which he moved was something that even Advanced Rankers wouldn't be able to accomplish.

However, Poken wasn't a simple Advanced Ranker, he was a High Ranker. He might be one of the weakest High Rankers, but he was still one. A blast of shadowy Shinsoo emerged from his body and disintegrated Lumen, but that was nothing but an illusion created from his light powers.

The real Lumen appeared behind him and shot a massive blast of light at Poken. The attack completely enveloped the FUG member. All of that happened in less than a second, but despite that, Poken had managed to create a shield made of shadows that covered him. He then disappeared from his spot and appeared a distance away from Lumen.

"You!?! How are you alive?!" Poken exclaimed in surprise. He knew of only one person that could use light powers like this, but he should have been killed by Karaka on the 10th Floor. Yet, he was sure that the one in front of him was Lumen, even though he was covered in his metal armor.

Lumen didn't respond and disappeared from his spot. He couldn't waste time talking to him. During the past three years, he had managed to increase the speed at which he moved, but that came with its own drawbacks. He would experience terrible headaches that would make him feel as if his brain would explode.

Using the moment that Poken was surprised, Lumen appeared in front of him and struck him with a kick. A massive shockwave erupted from the speed at which he moved, and the attack destroyed Poken body from the head down.

However, that wasn't enough to kill him. Poken was a being that was made entirely of shadow. He was like a Logia user on steroids.

Poken disappeared yet again and appeared a distance away from Lumen. Shadows formed around him and reconstructed his body.

Angered that he was injured by Lumen, Poken had decided to take this fight seriously and end it now. He will kill him and eliminate this annoying variable. No more playing games.

"Shadow Realm!" Shadows bubbled out of Poken and covered an enormous area. He prepared to attack Lumen, but his body froze up. Hachuling and Yuje had arrived at that moment and used Reverse-Flow Control on him. They were Advanced Rankers and were able to hold him in place for a second, and that's all the time Lumen needed.

Lumen appeared above him with his extreme speed and kicked downwards with an axe kick. His attacked caused another shockwave, and a massive light beam was also sent out from his leg.

Poken's entire body was disintegrated, but even that wasn't enough to kill him. He appeared a distance away, and shadows were already reforming his body. However, the Shinsoo technique, Shadow Realm, had been broken. Poken wasn't able to cover the entire area with his shadow.

"Wolhaiksong? Damn it!" Poken exclaimed in surprise and looked around. If Urek was also here, there was no chance of their plan succeeding, and he will surely die as well. Thankfully for him, Urek was nowhere to be seen. He knew that Urek was very arrogant and would never hide.

"You okay?" Yuje asked Lumen, who was clenching his teeth from the headache he was experiencing.

"I can handle this." Lumen replied to him.

"You better be able to. We won't be able to deal with him without you." Hachuling stated. He had already ȧssessed Poken's strength and knew that he and Yuje wouldn't be able to handle him by themselves. Even with Lumen, he wasn't sure if they could kill him.

"Act as the Fisherman, we will support you to the best of our abilities," Yuje told Lumen, pulled out a wand that looked like a microphone, and started singing a traditional folk song from his home floor in an atrocious voice.

"I've got a little book with pages three~."

"And every page spells liberty~."

Yuje's was tone deaf and couldn't sing at all, but Lumen felt himself being strengthened from his voice, and his headache was somewhat lessened. Yuje was a Support-type Wave Controller. He can strengthen his allies with his ability. As long as they could bear his awful singing, that is.

Hachuling's entire body was covered in lightning. He was also holding a needle made of lighting in each hand.

Lumen dashed towards Poken, and Hachuling followed after him while Yuje continued his singing.

Madoraco was observing this from his Ghost Ship, with an evil smirk and a greedy glint in his eyes. "Yes, fight for me. Then I will swoop in and get everything for myself. The Thorn and Chompapophis will be mine."

Lero Ro had summoned ten yellow Lighthouses. Nine of them were hovering around Gromm, while one was next to him and Quant. The nine Lighthouses had an electric current going through them.

Merrie's five red Lighthouses were in the form of a pentagram. Tiana and Laure were behind them, and using them as an amplifier, they were using Reverse-Flow Control on Gromm. With their combined strength, they were able to hold him down for a moment.

Verdi combined her Telepathy with Shisnoo and sent a mental attack at Gromm. Further freezing him up.

"Quant Style: Godly Fire Punch!" Quant had formed a massive fist of fire and punched towards the yellow Lighthouse. The flaming fist disappeared and was teleported out of the other nine Lighthouses. His attack was strengthened by them, and it was covered by lightning as well. The flaming fist covered in lightning hit Gromm head-on.

Aleksai had entered his Devil form and had a massive spear of made of purple miasma in his hand. He threw it with all his might and pierced Gromm through the ċhėst.

Vespa was in her ȧduŀt form, and she had six of her specialized needles floating around her. They formed a large yellow Baang of Shinsoo in front of her, and she shot a massive beam at Gromm.

Androssi and Anak dashed up to Gromm and punched him with all their might. Both of their attacks caused a massive Shinsoo blast.

Gromm flew and crashed into a wall. His body was nearly broken, but he was still breathing. Gromm was slowly standing up with bones forming around him.

Hatsu seeing this, had pulled out Ryu. "Ignite!"

"Ice Annihilation!" Hatsu shot a massive ice wave and covered Gromm with it. The Advanced Ranker was frozen in place, but the ice was slowly being broken by him.

"Quant, do it again!" Lero Ro called out to Quant, who was already forming another flaming fist. He hit the yellow Lighthouse, and it teleported out of the other nine. The attack that was amplified by the nine Lighthouses hit the frozen Gromm and shattered him in pieces.

The Advanced Ranker would have never imagined that he would die by the hands of a bunch of Regulars and two Rankers. However, he had greatly underestimated them. The Regulars were able to hold him down, while the two Rankers were constantly dishing out damage.

During the past three years, the group's strength had greatly increased. As a team, they were able to fight and kill a normal Ranker. Achieving a feat that should be impossible for a team of E-Rank Regulars.

With Quant and Lero Ro backing them up, they were able to kill an Advanced Ranker. The two Rankers were the ones that actually killed Gromm, but they weren't able to do it without the help of Lumen's team.

"Haha! You were no match for the amazing Quant Blitz!" Quant proudly declared. Quant by himself would never be able to kill an Advanced Ranker, but with Lero Ro constantly amplifying his attacks, he had accomplished that.

The bone wall that Gromm had erected crumbled down. Androssi shot down the wall behind with a blast of dark-red Shinsoo and rushed inside the room.

Meanwhile, outside the Archimedes, there was a massive lightning storm going on. A black figure was constantly clashing with a white and blue one. They were moving at such a speed that most people wouldn't be able to see them.

With the ȧssistance of Yuje, Hachuling and Lumen were able to fight Poken as equals. No matter how many times Poken tried to cover everything with his shadow, he will get interrupted by Hachuling and Yuje, while Lumen was constantly attacking him.

Despite that, their fight had turned into a battle of attrition. Whoever gets exhausted first, would end up as the loser. And if this continued, Lumen's group would be the ones to get tired first.

As strong as Lumen had gotten during the past three years, he wasn't on the level of High Rankers yet. Even with the ȧssistance of the two Advanced Rankers, he wasn't able to overpower the FUG member. Poken knew that his victory was just a matter of time.

Madoraco was observing that from his Ghost Ship and had decided it's his time to act. He will deal with everyone there and collect the spoils of war. He spun the wand in his hand and appeared above them.

"Time to end this." Madoraco laughed out and took control over Shinsoo in the entire area that they were fighting. Everyone there was frozen in place, including Poken.

"Madoraco, what is the meaning of this?" Poken shouted at him. He had never imagined that Madoraco would betray him. With just a little bit more time, he was going to kill the three.

"Don't take it to heart, Poken. I just like being in control and owning everything precious there is." Madoraco was a very greedy person. With the Thorn and Chompapophis in front of him, he couldn't resist and wanted to take them for himself.

Four gigantic Baangs of purple Shinsoo formed around him. He twirled the wand in his and aimed it at four beneath him. Massive beams of purple light were shot from the four Baangs, but before they could reach them, they were dispersed in the air.

Suddenly, Madorace lost control of the Shinsoo in the area and froze in place as well. He bȧrėly managed to look up and saw a handsome brown-haired man in a white suit staring at him with a smile.

"That's my son in law you are trying to kill, and I can't let you do that, can I?" Gustang laughed out.

Gustang was happy with what he had seen from Lumen. He had seen him go from a strong Regular to someone that could survive in a fight against a High Ranker, albeit with the ȧssistance of two Advanced Rankers. Nonetheless, that was an impressive feat for someone that has been in the Tower for only eight years.

Gustang initially wanted to force Urek to go after Zahard, but he had changed his mind. He didn't mind waiting for Lumen to grow strong enough to face the King of the Tower. He had already been in the Tower for thousands of years, what's a few hundred more to him.

Gustang was sure that Lumen had the potential to become someone as strong as Urek, and he would show him the right path and correct way of climbing the Tower.

Everyone was looking at him in astonishment. They couldn't believe that one of the 10 Great Family heads was actually here. They couldn't understand why one of the rulers of the Tower was on the 30th Floor.

"Begone." Gustang snapped his fingers. There were no flashy moves or massive attacks, but both Poken and Madoraco disintegrated without even being able to resist. Just a snap of his fingers and the two High Rankers were killed in an instant. There were very people in the Tower that could contend with Gustang when it comes to Shinsoo manipulation.

Gustang ignored Hachuling and Yuje and calmly floated next to Lumen, who was staring at him in hatred.

"Don't look at me like that. After all, we will be family members in the future, son in law." Gustang laughed out while teasing him. "You should probably go and check up on your little team. We can talk after that, son in law."

Lumen was angered hearing Gustang call him a son in law, but he wanted to check up on his friends. He also knew there was nothing that he could do against him.

Gustang was an existence on a completely different level even when compared to High Rankers. Since he hadn't killed him yet, he decided to listen to him. With light speed, he rushed towards the fourth level of the Archimedes.

Gustang then looked towards the Ghost Ship in the air. "That should be a good dowry."