Chapter 17: Needle

Chapter 17: Needle"Jahad?" Winston raised his eyebrows, staring at Endorsi in feigned disbelief.

Seeing his expression, the woman in question's smile turned wider. Her yellow brown eyes gazed at him intently.

"That's right. And what of you? Are you a member of the Po Bidau family? Or perhaps the odd one out of the Eurasia family?" She inquired, her eyes appearing increasingly disinterested.

Po Bidau and Eurasia families were two of the main ruling families of the tower, part of the ten great families. Both families were known for their prowess with controlling Shinsu, with the Eurasia family being known also for their love of sleep.

"Heh." Winston chuckled. "Hate to burst your bubble. But I don't belong to any of the ten great families." He took a bite out of his plate, feeling the different flavors in his mouth.

Endorsi stared at him with narrowed eyes, carrying a hint of shock.

"You're not one of the ten families?" She asked again for confirmation.

"Not to my knowledge no." He replied.

Endorsi leaned forward, supporting her head with her hands, appearing outwardly interested. "Hoh? That's rare. Where did you learn to control Shinsu so well?"

"It comes with experience I suppose." Winston shook his head, not wanting to elaborate much on it.

Endorsi clicked her tongue. "What a stingy guy. Can't you reply truthfully to such a beautiful princess?" She exclaimed.

Winston raised a brow. "No." He replied tersly.

A vein appeared on Endorsi's head, and it went away as soon as it came.

"Hooo~" She breathed out. "Well, whatever. It has nothing to do with me anyways!" She pouted, taking another sip from her drink.

As Winston finished his food, he looked at her in mild surprise, though none of it showed up on his face. Searᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She's... pouting? Well, for a supposed princess, I'd have guessed her to be a bit more aloof. She's even playing hard to get... Winston could not quite understand the princess' thought process, even though he could understand her emotions through her face.

Whatever, the bait has been planted already. He thought, shaking his head.

In front, Endorsi looked at him shaking his head with a slight smile.

"Are you laughing at me?!" She screamed at him comically.

Winston hurriedly put his hands in the air and made a cautionary expression.

"I'm not laughing at you princess. How could I possibly dare to laugh at such a charming figure?"

Endorsi calmed down immediately and nodded.

"Yes. That's right. It's impossible for someone to laught at me. A great princess like me deserves respect!" She declared.

"I couldn't agree more." Winston said, taking his plate and getting up.

"Going already?" She asked behind him, raising an eyebrow at the speed at which he had finished his food.

"I'm a fast eater." He replied and walked off, leaving Endorsi alone with her thoughts. As Winston walked out of the cafeteria, he could not help but think back on the encounter. Acting as a Swindler huh... I gotta use deception and trickery to deprive someone of their possession or something of monetary value. Or at least that's what it seems to be on the surface.

As for the clown, its all pretty laid out due to Mr. Fool paving the way for me. And lastly, Trickmaster. That's the one I have honestly no idea about. Am I supposed to play tricks on people and prank them? He wondered.

Then, he shook his head.

Well, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Khun stood outside Bam's room, lost in thought. Suddenly, he heard some movement to his right where the hallway turned.

Khun looked towards it, finding a certain crocodile peeking over from the corner.

"What are you doing crocodile?" He asked with a deadpan stare.

"No... I just... it's not that... I'm not worried about the black turtle... I just came to see if my prey is okay! It's just food check!" Rak replied awkwardly.

Khun shook his head and turned to head inside.

"Come inside if you're worried. Don't stand there like a guy with a crush." He said, opening the door.

"It's not like that! I'm cold blooded!" Rak yelled but still stepped into the room.

After walking into the room, Rak immediately picked up Bam's unconscious body and began to shake him violently.

"Hey! Black turtle! Are you dead?! Say no!!" He yelled.

Didn't you say you weren't worried. Khun sighed with a deadpan face.

Sorry Bam. He thought as he looked at the face of the unconscious boy.

I promised her that I wouldn't tell you anything. I believe it's for your best. He nodded to himself. "Hey turtle! Wake up! Or I'll eat you!"

Endorsi walked through the darkened hallways of Evankhell's mothership. The ambient lighting dimmed out in the long hallway to her room, making the entire structure feel old and somewhat haunting and eerie.

As she walked, she held a soft smile on her face, prancing along with a humm in her mouth.

Tap tap

The sound of her heels rang out in the hallway.

As she walked, vistas of a particular person in the crown games came to her mind. Winston Heath, his name was. The second fully fledged person capable of creating a complete baang in their testing site. Certainly, it was strange.

The sleeping man, Phonsekal Laure, was a member of the Eurasia family known all over the tower for their wave controller capabilities; so it was not so strange for him to be able to utilize shinsu. However, for someone not of the ten great families, it was certainly strange.

In the end, there were only two possibilities for it to be true. Either the person was a monster in terms of natural talent, or he had some sort of shinsu artefact from the workshop that allowed him to condense shinsu.

Either of the two, Endorsi could not be sure of.

As she was prancing over to reach the edge of the hallway, she saw someone coming out of a

room.

It was a girl of relatively short height with brown hair styled into a bob cut. She had dark brown eyes and her skin was a deep shade of green, like that of a lizard's. The tail that extended from her skirt behind her solidified the imagery of a reptile.

Propped on her shoulder was a dark coloured, jet black needle, the handle of which held the image of three eyes overlapped on each other in a triangular formation. It was one of the 13

month series, the Black March.

"Hello." Endorsi smiled, feeling a bit mischievous.

However, without replying to her remark, the green skinned woman, Anaak walked right past

her.

She ignored me! Endorsi felt a hint of annoyance but persisted nonetheless. Turning back

around, she began to follow the other party.

"Did you know who the owner of that weapon is?"

She asked, a smile gracing her lips.

"No. I don't care." Anaak's reply came without a beat of hesitation.

Endorsi's smile widened.

"It belongs to Ha Yuri Jahad, the only princess of Jahad to be granted one of the 13 month

series in the past five decades.

"She's a prodigy fisherman among the younger generations. She took less than a century to reach the ranks of a high ranker after her ascension to a ranker. And because of her irritable personality and vicious temper, most young rankers are afraid of her." She closed her eyes as she explained, seeming like a teacher explaining an important topic to her students.

Tap Tap

The voice of Endorsi's heels echoed in the hall still.

Anaak stayed quiet, not speaking anything.

Eventually, Endorsi spoke again.

"You didn't know that did you?" Her voice contained a hint of mockery.

"Don't act cocky just because you beat up a bunch of nobodies. I know who you are." She

narrowed her eyes.

"You fake."

Just then, Anaak stopped.

Then, without warning, she turned around and punched with all her might, the air ringing out with a popping sound because of the force and speed behind her punch.

Whooooo~

Bang!

Her fist met a large disc like object floating in the air.

Endorsi stood protected behind it, her hand in the air, directing the next move of the disc.

Then, without attacking, she turned around and began to walk away. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I was feeling kind today, that's all." She chuckled.

The sound of her heels began to grow farther and farther, leaving Anaak by herself in the long

hallway.

Her grip on the sword tightened as she clenched her teeth together.

Winston sat alongside Amon in the sun. The floating hotel like structure that they were on, Evankhell's mothership it was called had a variety of floors, each with their own balconies that had pools on it.

At the moment, they sat on one of the balconies that jutted out from the side of the structure.

Winston adorned blades shades on his eyes and laid silently on a beach chair, his body covered

by nothing up a simple t shirt and shorts. Amon by the side seemed to be doing push ups, sweating profusely.

Winston had a smile on his face throughout, feeling wholly satisfied by his rapid progression

rate.

However, at the moment, he was only thinking of making more opportunities to further his

acting process.

As he lay silently on his chair, suddenly, a vision overlapped with his sight.

It was a green skinned girl standing right behind the door to the balcony.

At that exact moment, the door behind them opened up, revealing Anaak. Both Winston and

Amon looked back at her figure, raising their brows.

Anaak ignored their questioning gazes and walked over to Winston. In her hand, she held the

Black March.

Stopping right before him, she spoke.

"I want your help in something." She said.

"Help?" Anaak extended the jet black needle towards him, "I need you to talk to the Black March."

Winston raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to... talk to a weapon?" He asked.

Anaak nodded. "Ignition weapons are weapons that have a soul. Although most are non-

sentient, the Black March is a special case. I want you to talk to it and make it listen to me." Winston somewhat understood her point. He had read about ignition weapons on the Box, and understood that they held soul but no consciousness. However, he was not knowledgeable about the unique nature of certain ignition weapons.

"Why do you want me to talk to it? Why can't you?"

"It says that it'll only listen to a male." She explained.

"Then why not your teammates?"

At this point, Amon had stopped his exercise and begun to listen to their conversation.

"I went to Shibisu, but it kept shocking him."

"He's a woman?!" Winston exaggerated his mannerisms, though he was actually starting to

suspect his own absurd theory.

Anaak shook her head while Amon lightly chuckled at the side.

"I don't know why it didn't work. I figured it would talk to a better looking one." She said.

Ah, I see what's going on... The soul in the needle is... what was the word... a simp?

Winston shook his thoughts away and smiled.

"And do I get in return?" He asked with a smile.

Anaak's eyes narrowed a tiny bit. "I'll pay up in points."

Winston's smile widened, elated at the opportunity to swindle her for some money.

"Deal." He said.

Anaak pointed to hilt of the needle towards him.

Winston held it without any delay.

A/N: Throw some stones.

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