Chapter 195: Trial Announcement

"OOOOOOOOH!" Lexie jumped from her seat and punched the air repeatedly. "FOR THE WIN!" she screamed her lungs out, cheering for Moon.

Though she didn’t clearly see what exactly happened, she was cheering for the love of the game.

Nola, next to her, was watching in confusion, while Boa... she was in her seat, wordless, tired of this spar, or of Lexie’s screams.

But it wasn’t only Lexie; everyone was cheering for the rising underdog except for a few.

Moon, who fought brilliantly against the advantages of stats, heritage, and upbringing, was being cheered for.

A guy who suddenly appeared from some unknown battlefield they had never seen for themselves but had heard notorious things about was overtaking the ranks known to ascension and the Tower through skill and experience alone.

Meanwhile, in a lower row, Basil was holding his chest, crying by himself.

Colten, opposite him, knew at this point that his money was gone, so he took a look at them, Basil and Barrett.

He found Basil crying, grieving even. Barrett was looking deeply at the ring and holding Basil’s shoulder tightly.

Little did he know—

"Boss is awesome, Barrett bro, he’s too awesome," said Basil, unable to hold back his tears.

Next to Colten, Dorbish ignored the wails of Roran, who kept crying, "Lady Talia." For a while now, his eyes were also on Basil.

He couldn’t help shaking his head; a chuckle escaped his lips.

Colten looked at him. "What’s so funny?"

Dorbish once again shook his head. "Most of these guys put their money on Talia; who would have thought..."

Colten looked back at the ring. "Yeah, who would have thought," he whispered.

In the ring, Moon studied Talia for a moment. "Shouldn’t we end this here?" he asked softly. "Or do you want a moment to catch your breath first?"

Talia didn’t answer, nor did she look like she could.

Moon didn’t try to rush her, nor did he approach her to attack again. He took a few steps back and sat down on the sand cross-legged, waiting for her to catch her breath.

Though many in the crowd were screaming for him to finish the fight as he should, Moon ignored everyone and sat comfortably.

He leaned back, placed his hands on the sand, and looked up at the sky.

Meanwhile, Talia was trying to catch her breath, waiting for the pain to subside. Slowly, "You’re not attacking?" she asked, still breathless.

"It’s just a spar." Moon lowered his gaze and answered, "That was harder than fighting adults when I was a kid." He shook his head.

Talia sat down cross-legged as well, looking considerably better after a few minutes. "Was this the only way for you to win?" she asked; her face was relaxed again. The frown and anger were gone.

"Welp, unless I wanted to kill you or keep fighting for another hour." He nodded. "It was the only way." Moon shrugged.

Talia looked at the sky and started laughing.

Moon frowned. "What’s so funny?" he asked, skeptical.

Talia shook her head. "Sorry, I just..." She exhaled slowly. "I really didn’t think I would lose."

"We can keep going if you want to," Moon offered, as proud and generous as always, not letting anyone know he was using his Gift the entire fight.

Though the success rate was 0.02%, he still took advantage of that little possibility to the extreme, playing it in his head without rest to make sure he could correct any mess early on.

His Gift was a secret between him and Ed for now, and everyone knew that his Gift was Echo Damage Reduction. This was more convenient, though Moon didn’t entirely understand the reason behind Ed’s secrecy; he could see the urgency and worry in his eyes clearly.

Responding to Moon’s generosity, Talia smiled and shook her head.

At this moment, Moon saw the golden radiance around the ring disappear. The skewered ball disappeared.

"It’s your win; I admit defeat," Talia said softly.

Moon looked at the seal while it was fading, while the entire arena was jumping in a fit of cheers and screams.

Uon walked into the ring again. "The third round of the skirmish ring has come to an end," he said in a loud voice that was heard by everyone. "The winner is Moon with three consecutive wins!" He announced.

Moon was distracted by the fading seal and didn’t hear; he was suddenly startled to his feet, looking around in confusion.

He gave Talia a questioning gaze. "You admitted defeat?" he asked.

Talia shrugged, not giving an answer.

Moon pursed his lips, walked to her, and extended a hand. "Good fight," he said.

Talia looked at his hand for a second before reaching out. "I guess it was." She took his hand and stood.

Amidst the cheers and the admiration, the two contestants were showered with applause. A new event was about to take place.

"At last," Lucen whispered.

Ed and Samuel ignored him once again. Ed was smiling but not saying anything. Lucen’s presence killed their usual conversations.

"Edmond, didn’t you ask me about something a while ago?" Lucen asked.

"Which one?" Ed didn’t remember and wasn’t in the mood for any tricks.

"That one," Lucen said, snapping his fingers once. Only once, bringing the entire Normalization Facility to complete silence.

Ding!

[Trial Notice]

Second Floor: Second Floor Ascenders Exclusive

Title: Strand War

Details: The Fable Empire is in the process of launching an all-out war on the Strand Kingdom. Those who seek ascension beyond the third floor must choose a side to support.

[Quest Rules]

Tower Integral Normalcy

Theme: Live Event

[Ascension Condition]

Each ascender is to join The Defender faction or The Assailant faction. The winning faction will be rewarded with ascension.

Further rewards will be distributed based on individual performance.

This quest was designed and built by the Tower Administration with the authority and supervision of the Tower System.

Below the quest screen, two buttons floated.

[Join Defence] and on the other side, [Join Assault].

Moon and everyone else watched the screen in silence. All five branches of the Normalization Facility were standing wordless.

Talia looked at Moon, who was still looking at the screen.

His eyes were fixed on the Strand Kingdom.

Strand Kingdom; he had seen that name before. On the day Ed brought him to the beach, the day he met Kylo and Joshua.

Yet, that wasn’t everything.

Moon, without much thought, didn’t weigh his options by strength but by his own principles as a free man.

Moon was not going to join a side that waged war on others; he was past that point. He no longer had a brand seal to force him to obey.

That was but a part of it; as for the second part, he didn’t want the only memory of normality he ever had ruined.

Moon tapped on [Join Defence]; the screen in front of his face turned into a grid of images where his own was at the very top under a crown.

Below him was everyone who agreed to join him or was under his subordination. People from the four branches were picking sides right now based on Moon’s choice.

Soon, another screen holding a new grid rose next to his own.