Chapter 177: Multi-Point Impact

After a while, Moon finally took a few steps away from the edge, sheathing Liquid Mountain and letting his butt fall onto the hard, safe ground of the facility.

"Damn, we’re actually flying," he exclaimed again, excitement written all over his face.

Uon smiled and sat next to him. "Yeah, it was crazy the first time I realized too," he said with a hint of distance in his voice.

Moon guessed, ’Not a very good surprise, was it, huh?’ but he didn’t voice his thoughts.

"Right, Big brother Uon," Moon said suddenly, "how far did you ascend the Tower?" he asked, his gaze curious.

Uon closed his eyes and shook his head. "Not very far," he answered.

"What about Mishu?" he asked again.

Uon rubbed his chin. "Not sure, maybe 5 or 10 floors higher than I did."

Moon didn’t know how far Uon climbed, so he wouldn’t know how far Mishu climbed. He ended up scratching his nape in thought instead.

"Say, would you leave the facility and ascend with me once I get to that floor you stopped at?" Moon suddenly said while looking at the floating clouds around the facility.

Uon’s gaze shook, but soon it returned to normal. He smiled softly again. "What’s the point? I like my life here," he rejected it discreetly.

Moon shook his head. "What’s the point?" he asked back. "You have locked yourself up inside the facility," he retorted.

"I have my reasons," Uon said.

"Yeah, you mentioned it already, but if I’m there, and these brats make it too and don’t die somehow, though I’m not very optimistic, welp." Moon turned his gaze back to Uon. "You won’t be alone at that time."

Uon chuckled. "Why are you inviting me anyway?" he asked softly.

"Because you’re strong!" Moon answered readily. "You are too damn strong, big brother."

Uon shook his head in self-deprecation. "I’m but a novice arcanist; my name and presence isn’t worth anything."

Moon’s face fell. "The hell you talking about?" He frowned and bared his fangs. "Big bro, are you playing dumb?"

"What are yo—"

Moon cut him off. "Who the fuck said I want you to be an arcanist?" Moon slapped the ground where he was seated.

He forced his body up, aiming his index finger at Uon’s face. "I want you as a warrior," he clarified.

Uon blinked a few times. "I’m not a warrior, though," he said flatly.

"Says who?" Moon leaned closer to his face and spat. "You can trick anyone but me, warrior Uon," he growled.

Uon smiled and shook his head. "You know nothing; the gap in stats might have tricked you into believing I was a warrior," he explained.

"Like hell would stats trick me? You’re a warrior and playing the lousy dumb game to trick everyone, but not me." Moon growled again. "I can see your true colors," he whispered.

Uon rubbed his forehead and couldn’t help chuckling.

"You finally admit it now." Moon’s eyes sparkled.

"Not at all, you just made it look too funny," Uon explained, still having a few chuckles slip by every few seconds.

Moon didn’t pressure him anymore; he sat down. "Bruh, I was rejected twice in two days," he lamented with a voice laced with sadness.

"Who else did you invite?" Uon asked casually, not expecting Moon to answer.

"Some blue gay stalker with a horn," Moon said with his mouth curved downwards in disgust. "He offered me his body and soul to work under him, but I rejected him and gave him the offer to work under me instead," he explained, waving his hand in dismissal.

"Guess what?" Moon’s eyes drifted to the clouds. "He rejected me; the best fighter to ever walk the first floor was rejected by a blue gay stalker." He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

Unaware of the changes in Uon’s gaze, Moon released his pain in a wild rant that kept going on for a long while.

"Let’s go get some coffee," Moon, without a warning, stopped expressing how hurt he was and suggested.

Uon nodded. "You can head on first; I still have to go finish some work."

"Sure, just make sure to think about joining us," Moon reminded him again. "I don’t know how long it would take, but it’d be better than living here for the rest of your life."

Uon nodded. "Sure, I’ll think about it."

"Ah, also, if you don’t want to be a warrior, that’s fine; just tag along and we’ll think about it later," Moon said last before sprinting back in the direction he came from.

Uon stood in place for a little longer; his smile faded, replaced with heaviness.

Sigh~

"Guess I was caught," he said before walking on his way as well.

Time went on, and soon it was nighttime.

The time had finally come for Moon to settle a one-week-old grudge at last.

Samuel was standing in the ring waiting, barefoot and topless as he was last time. As for Moon, he was the same.

He was too stubborn to just come with a weapon.

Thus, he came to fight in a way that made him one, refusing to yield to circumstances or fall low to the level of these cheating old men.

He had his dignity and reputation to sustain, for himself first and foremost. Or so he believed was the right way to do things in a duel.

Duels especially were an event where one warrior pitted his entire existence against another; it wasn’t simply a matter of winning or losing.

It was a matter of leaving the ring with a light heart, satisfied with thyself and proud. Head held high in the sky was the most important aspect of duels.

Yet, he didn’t know that today, for the second time, his grudge would only deepen further.

The fight started with Samuel activating the seals again, allowing them to store Shockwaves and channel them inside the body.

The thing that had driven Moon to the verge of losing his mind a week ago, but this time Moon managed to hold onto his sanity somehow.

He’d been reminding himself of this pain constantly in his mind, trying to keep holding onto it no matter what so he wouldn’t be shocked again.

The invasive feeling actually kept residing over the days; it was always there, but it was familiar.

Still, once more Shockwaves were forcefully induced inside his body, the feeling intensified again, and that was something Moon wanted to keep his mind prepared for.

Yet, he still lost.

Samuel didn’t use one-point impact tactics like the last fight. Thanks to Moon managing to stay sane, he didn’t use his Echo.

Multi-point impact was another method of using Shockwaves.

Instead of supporting attacks and movements with a single impact, like how he accelerated his punches by exploding one impact point at his elbows, Samuel sent impacts to accelerate his elbow, and another through his fists to stack damage from his fists.

Not only did his attacks become faster and stronger, but Shockwaves were sent raging through Moon’s body, bones, and organs in a penetrative manoeuvre.

Thanks to that, Moon ended up getting beaten one-sidedly against Samuel for the second time, passing out in pain and injury only to—

"FUCK DAMMIT!" curse out loud first thing in the morning of the next day.