𝖉𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖔𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖒 𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖛𝖔𝖑𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆 𝖛𝖎𝖛𝖆 𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖒𝖆𝖒.

•••

The 101st Floor belongs to Khun Eduan.

At least, that’s what was originally documented in the tower’s archives, officially recognized by the King and Three Sovereigns of the Tower of God. Fertile soil and vast fields boasting promising abundance of crops, livestock, and natural resources, as well as Strategic terrains one can utilize to their advantage to strengthen the territory— those were the selling points, the things that convinced the entirety of the tower to believe that it was the most suitable reward to grant Jahad Empire’s exclusive strategist who spearheaded the subjugation of the rebel forces. Perhaps, what were once facts once upon a time, became muddled with mistruths.

Though, since when had the Jahad Empire not spun its web of lies?

Citizens residing at the Outer Tower would have surely lived their lives in nothing but blissful and pure ignorance. But, those inside these walls have always known. It was an open secret. That Floor 101, the territory King Jahad first bestowed to the spearbearer the moment he was enthroned at last, was the land that Khun Eduan, for the longest time, had always wanted to abandon.

Yet, he now finds himself returning to such a pathetic position of managing a place that had ties with the very empire he loathed with every fiber of his being, because this— his floor, needed to be revived for the sake of his future plans. Though, if Eduan must say, returning this wreakage back into its full potential might have been the easiest part.

“Found you,”

Eduan’s train of thoughts came to a halt as the lack of oxygen had finally snapped him back to reality— a cloaked man of brusque features riddled with deep scars, tackling the bluenet to the ground with a crazed grin.

“Electric Eel.”

Of all his numerous sobriquets, must this barbarian really choose this?

It was rather amusing of the Family Head to disregard his neck being throttled with only a single hand just because he held an unrivaled amount of disgust over the title. Unbeknownst to Eduan’s inner musings, the calm he displayed only made his enemy angrier.

“Did my ancestors really waste generations worth of fear because of a weakling like you? To think, a bastard only of this caliber is the famed strategist and a Great Family Head— what has the Empire become?” Blood spattered from his mouth, dyeing his light-colored clothes crimson as the man, seemingly the leader of the rebel forces based mainly on this floor, towered over him, slamming the Khun’s back flat on the ground. He laughed, darkly like a brainsick lunatic, tightening his grip until the former’s pupils rolled into pure white.

Although it baffled the leader how a warmonger chose to visit a rebel-infested territory with only a portion of his elite guards, beggars can’t be choosers, can they? He unsheathed the dagger protectively hidden underneath his thigh, specifically instructed by his benefactor to be used for this moment alone. Avoiding the intense stare from the electric blue orbs whose clearness spooked him, the man lifted the dagger high up in the air before thrusting it to the spearbearer’s throat, down to his chest.

“You only have the emperor to blame, Khun Eduan.”

Eduan’s body spasmed, struggling for air before losing strength the more the enemy asphyxiated him.

‘At last, it is finished.’

“What is finished?”

Horror loomed over the rebels’ leader’s expression as he turned his sight on his hands— the same pair of hands that strangled the family head, had lost its flesh, and a blood-curdling scream he never knew the top of his lungs had the capacity to produce. “M-My arm... You fucking lunatic!”

Eduan opened his eyes, releasing a burst of shinsu after tearing the former’s skin with his teeth, repelling him meters away with force before standing up with a straight line halving the bluenet’s throat to his chest, and the artisan-crafted blade impaling his heart.

The 101st Floor belongs to Khun Eduan.

What does it even mean— being owned by an immortal blessed by the Guardian? Not many might know, but there is a way to tell if a floor has no or has lost its contracted facilitator.

“My apologies.” Eduan spat the residues of human skin out and wiped his bloodied mouth clean, staining his sleeves. “I meant to completely detach it, but my teeth could only go so far.”

The cloaked man howled once more at his torn veins, the excruciating pain finally dawning in on him. Once fearless eyes now clouded with terror as the spearbearer decompressed his weapon, releasing immense pressure that pinned him to the ground.

“I shall grant you the greatest reward, as someone who managed to wound one of the Ten Great Warriors.”

A floor and its owner fuse their life for diversity to flourish. The reason why, despite the Khun Family Estate’s eternally harsh winters, it still thrives as one of the most populous territories that stood the test of time, is because of Khun Eduan. so long as he breathes, and as long as the administrator and the Tower itself recognizes the contract, life inside the territory will continue to exist.

The Great Warrior struck his lance like lightning— unforgiving, unrelenting, that the enemy never even realized his head had already been decapitated from his neck. Eduan walked, locking their sight together until his feet and the head’s face were only inches away.

“Any last words?”

The leader glared (at least, that was what his facial features were insinuating). “May you burn in hell, Jahad’s lapdog.”

“I guess there is none.”

Eduan’s mood dimmed, and without hesitation, crushed the enemy general’s skull with a single step. “Die.”

Fluids and tissues splattered against his clothes and body, yet he stood still, watching as his army subjugated what remained of the rebels, whispering mockingly into the wind.

“You only have your emperor to blame.” He cackled.

The commotion soon died down due to the competence of his workers as he cursed the strength of the body he had chosen. But, it is none the matter, for the real dilemma of having to report back the circumstances and see the faces he hated was yet to come.

Eduan activated the warp gate teleporting him back to Jahad’s castle, unaware of the trail of blood he left in every step he made.

ー

“Is that Khun Eduan?”

‘Ah, how perfect is this timing?’

The bluenet simpered deviously, earning shrieks of disgust as the crushed head he had just thrown rolled over towards the center of the hall, the mess tainting the platform made of pure gold, where those in the upper ranks were seated.

“Oh my God, is that an actual human head?!”

“In the presence of the King, no less!”

“How blasphemous!”

“Your majesty,” he spoke in an imposing tone which demanded attention from the whole venue. “I present to you, the commander of the 101st Floor rebels. I hope this gift appeases your majesty’s anger.”

The palace was holding a banquet, without even thinking of sending him an invitation despite the uproar caused by his recent return among high society. Surely, scaring them off this much is justified.

“Eduan, how could you be in this state...?”

He followed to where Ha Yurin, who was the first to recover from the shock had pointed, from his throat through the line towards his heart. The dagger had still been stuck deep in his chest, as if it was absorbing his finite yet massive amount of shinsu, which what kept him awake in the first place.

“Assist the Khun Family Head at once!”

OH.

He was stabbed with the Illuminium.

His knees, as if just waiting for the finale, gave out, yet panic was not evident in his features, unlike the rest of the personalities present in the celebration who was reasonably concerned of the weapon that had managed to reduce such a powerful being into this weakened state. Black spots invaded Eduan’s vision, the burning sensation caused by the wound scorching his insides, but he managed to direct a knowing look towards Yurin whom he had leaned on. An expression of disbelief on the ravenette’s features as she aided him towards the infirmary amidst the endless barage of instructions by the imperial doctor who was tasked to remove and seal the dagger from its place.

Getting stabbed by a blade no immortal is immune against was a dangerous gamble in itself, but what if he succeeds in separating his self and soul? What if the gods were astonished by the risk he took that they decide to give him their favor?

And what if this time, Eduan actually dies?

He secretly smiled at the thought. Before the Khun Family Head became an immortal, he was a gambler. He might be doing this out of pure selfishness and spite, but it’s not like the reason he was still alive right now is any different.

“All hail the King.”

Khun Eduan’s consciousness drifted away as he mouthed those words dripping with pure sarcasm,

and time in the Tower of God began to tick.

ー・ー

The Hidden Floor.

The family head, still donning clothes of white in aquamarine streaks waited in bated breath, taking in the remnants of what was left of his memories— data, as he heard the regulars of the newest generations termed it, that gained its own separate conscience, eventually living each a life of their own. Though, it was not this floor’s dystopian counterpart of the Tower nor the ruined version of his estate that bothered the family head. No, not at all.

The Empire could burn the entire clan to the ground and it still would not matter, because he could always rebuild versions of the prosperous Khun Family Estate as many times as it is physically possible. He knows that.

The Khun Eduan of the Hidden Floor, however, knew it best.

So, why was this version of himself laying over the thickness of snow like he had lost his reasoning?

Eduan caught the shard of ice that nicked his cheek between his fingers with ease, seconds before the wound recovered. “You’re my data.”

“And you are my sworn enemy,” his other self muttered, hazed eyes staring back at him emptily, as if he had not been the one who had just initiated an attack against the newcomer. “Or, were you his?”

His heart skipped a beat, and he took another step. “Whose?”

“We both know that you know.” The data let out a dry, humorless chuckle, knuckles whitening as his fingers tightly gripped around what was left of a handcrafted hair ornament that seemed all too familiar. The tip of the pin piercing his skin until the darkest red dripped from his palms, yet he never let go.

“Claiming something you cannot covet. Taking things that never belonged to you. Always wanting and waiting— we all were similar in that manner. But why...?” tears slowly formed on the corners of the younger Eduan’s eyes before it streamed down his face, and Khun Eduan could not fathom the emotions he ought to feel seeing a person in his likeness weep. “He was mine. We were finally together. Everything was perfect. V and I, we were so happy. Is that not what you wanted? How could you destroy something you’ve always desired, Khun Eduan?

Why did you allow a monster like Jahad to take what was left of V?”

The latter felt his chest constrict, head spinning, and suddenly the shinsu surrounding him felt like a tight noose around his neck, waiting for the perfect moment to completely suffocate him. He was late. No, he was already centuries too late, but this was the sharpest blow second to when his son brought V’s son back to his estate, which contained all manifestations of the sins he committed for the sake of forgetting V.

Still, if he executed his plans a little faster, he could have seen a state where V shone of pure happiness. The timeline where Khun Eduan became the catalyst for such an addictive emotion. Most importantly, he could have witnessed a moment where the man who died in his arms was alive and breathing.

“‘I hope the next lifetime will be good to us both.’” Eduan stared at the data. “Those were his final words before crumbling like sand, as if he never even existed. Is that not ironic? Such a child, hoping for another life when we were just memories that created our own realities because you had chosen to leave us behind.”

‘I’m sorry.’

“But,” the youth’s gaze softened as he brought the accessory closer to his chest. “That was V’s charm. Believing that in every evil, there was a semblance of good. How could I refute a dream from someone so lovable? Yet, the Jahad of your world wiped it all out and returned those dreams back into what they actually were— nightmares. Why?”

‘I’m sorry.’

“Why did Jahad spare me and my family, Khun Eduan?! Why did you deny me the luxury of dying with V?!”

The man closed the distance between him and his younger self, enclosing him into an embrace which made the other stiff and squirm, trying to break free. “He toyed with us! He let his soldiers do whatever the fuck they wanted with V, then erased him as if he was just washing the filth off his hands!” Soon, the data’s shoulders shook and he wailed loudly, childishly, in Eduan’s arms until the latter’s own clothes were soaked wet with tears.

‘Even in this life, his happiness never lasted.’

Eduan tousled the disheveled fringes covering his data’s face, his own eyes glowing, mirroring the dormant rage. Perhaps, they weren’t so different after all. He’s glad to know Jahad still remained the demon that he truly was, because this would just make his revolution a whole lot easier.

“Do you want to seek something from me?” ‘Tell me what you wish for, and I shall make it happen.’

“I want his kingdom to crumble and fall apart.” Data Eduan sniffled, gripping on his host’s back. “I am not the only one around here who seeks retribution. The false king must die in the hands of the people he scorned. I will gather them in due time, but I need a guarantee you will not turn your back on us.”

“Then tell your people of an oracle that the Son of V— no, a prince shall arrive and take the Tower by storm. Accompanying him will be people from all races— from the Ten Great Families or not, and he shall fight tooth and nail against Jahad’s iron fist.”

Tame but similar electric blue orbs shook. “He had a son?”

“Yes.” ‘And he took after him as well. But not with us.’ “He sure did.”

“Jahad should have destroyed all records of V by now.”

“Ar—” the name still leaves a bitter taste on his mouth even to this day. “His mother succeeded in reviving him Outside.”

“Is,” the hands crumpling his clothes suddenly seemed smaller. ‘My pitiful, younger self. What must I do to grant you the peace they’ve stolen?’ “Is the child happy?”

‘Oh, Jahad. It seems that your death has become another reason for my  living.’

“He will be.”

ー・ー

71st Floor ;
Khun Eduan ;

“Eduan?”

The newcomer instinctively moved to the left before the fragments of the mercury glass vase Khun Eduan had thrown towards his current guest could nick him. Though, whatever may have happened couldn’t have been the man’s fault, seeing as he was seething with rage while the former trembled before him.

“Get lost.” Eduan couldn’t believe the madness that was happening at his own territory. His family, trying to keep his growing influence in check when they were the ones who instilled this thought to his head in the first place? “Get the fuck out of my sight! Who do you think you’ve become— dictating my marriage, when you only advanced this far because you were a Khun?!”

“But, monseigneur! The elders—”

“Opinions are insignificant. Are they not but senile old men frightened that a measly child has now gained more than enough power than all of them combined?”

The audacity of this weakling to regain an ounce of composure and threaten the bluenet with the destruction of the reputation he built with his own blood, sweat, and tears.

“The Family Head decreed that Monseigneur Eduan shall be removed from the family registry if he refuses to comply with his wishes.”

The spearbearer breathed, long and slow, sitting back on the swivel chair, spinning himself once before crossing his legs imposingly. “You know what? If I were you, I would watch where I’d bare my fangs at. Father’s glorious days were over a long time ago. It was I who put you in the map— me. I could always create another clan,” he leaned his back against the rail, flashing a wry smile. “But what is the Khun Family without Khun Eduan? Maybe you’ve forgotten, I don’t need you as much as you need me.”

‘I am the Khun Family.’

The messenger’s shaking legs finally lost its strength as he knelt on the floor, rubbing his hands aggressively as if finally realizing his mistake. “Sire, please don’t make an enemy out of the—!”

“Out.” Looking at him almost made Eduan feel sorry, but his conceit diminished what little patience the former had left for those who chose to serve other masters behind his back. “Move or I’ll make you.”

He should have chosen his sides wisely, but no, they just had to ruin his noon with a ridiculous condition. How many times must he declare that he wasn’t interested in preserving the damned old man’s lineage? Does becoming the official heir meant he must spread his likeness far into the horizon for the family to prosper? His mother had other children and his father even more, for a reason. Why were they acting like the world would end if he doesn’t get wed?

“I thought I told you to scra—”

He heard the door creak and suddenly he’s on survival mode all over again, but not before he caught whiff of a scent of pine and bergamot.

“I’m guessing that this is not the best time to check on a dearest friend?”

“V,” Eduan’s breathing hitched.

‘Why must you always catch me at my worst?’

“Let’s save our greetings for another time, no?”

“No!” Oh, how he wanted the ground to swallow him whole at this moment for such stupidity. Calm down, Eduan. It’s just V whom you’ve never seen for six months straight. “I mean... it’s alright. You can stay.”

“Is it? You did seem extremely upset earlier.”

“Stay,” the bluenet spoke, this time more firm and composed. All the stress the incident caused made him forget that he was supposed to meet V at the city pier before it got canceled the last minute. “Please?”

The brunet beamed, sinking as they both sat on the couch across each other. “As long as you’d like.”

Absentminded, Eduan leaned towards the wavecontroller and parted the locks of hair hiding deep amethyst, before retracting his distance. “You grew out your hair.”

V’s brows furrowed, arranging his bangs with shinsu with his lips unconsciously pursed. “Not as long as I wanted them, though. I think my hair bore a grudge back when I allowed Meri to cut it.”

‘I can’t see your eyes anymore.’

“I tried to style it the same as yours, but I cannot seem to get it right.”

The sspearbearer’s mouth parted in an attempt to say something, but settled  for just a blush on his cheeks. “Mine?”

“Yes. Why?” V asked, his head tilting in curiosity. “Will it not suit me?”

It will. Eduan doesn’t know if it’s the afternoon sun or the infatuation talking, but he genuinely believes his best friend looks good in everything that he could even wear rags. But, of course, he’ll keep those thoughts to himself before it’d make this reunion awkward. “No, this one’s fine. In this way, you won’t be going around stealing and breaking everyone’s hearts as you please.”

“Who do you think I am, Hon? How mean of you to say that, Eduan. After all we’ve been through!” He exclaimed, cheeks huffed in offense, to which the other just answered by sticking his tongue out teasingly.

To be honest, Eduan was internally screaming right now— nervous and scared shitless of what may have become of them after half a year with barely any contact. Against the Khun’s will, V had to rescue a vassal of the Grace Family on the 64th Floor who had got caught in a scuffle between the Khun Family’s power struggle and now had been traumatized. Though Arlene and him did not go there alone, who’s to say of what happened while Eduan was not around to guard the man from the ire of his master? Thankfully, he seemed fine. Healthier, even. The same could not be said to him though, whose value in the marriage market skyrocketed after the development of the network which broadcasted events in real-time all throughout the tower.

“Are you busy?”

“As you can see,” he pointed towards the invitations he had yet to read (and burn) piled upon his desk. “Yes.”

“Go out with me?”

The bluenet glared, then flicked V’s forehead as hard as he could. “No.”

“But why?!” He rolled his eyes then stared at the brunet with an empty expression. “You’ll just end up getting distracted by the local products again, and the majority of our time will be spent with you getting scammed until you’d almost gotten sold to an auction.” ‘Which literally happened, by the way.’ “Just rest and stay put with me here, V.”

“But the festival’s last day is today!” He prolonged, then pouted. Where the hell did this expressionless man learn to act so cutesy with him? “I want to go with Eduan. Come on, I promise I won’t get strung along. Please go out with me?”

Eduan threw a pillow at the brunet’s face.

“Don’t you miss hanging out with me?”

‘Goddamn it, stop exploiting my weakness!’ “Okay, fine! Whatever, I’ll go with you. As long as you don’t wander off.”

V reverted back to his usual self, pumping out his fist in triumph and Eduan could feel a headache incoming. But, in the depths of his heart, a faint swell of pride lingered knowing that V specifically wished for him as company.

Not Arlene, Traumerei, nor Yurin, but Eduan alone.

ー

Eduan was exhausted as fuck.

Due to his collected and passive nature, it is almost always easy to forget that V had the tenacity of a five-year-old and the stamina of that five-year-old on a sugar rush, and now, that same grown man was running around the marketplace as if he had just been released from isolation.

“Eduan, hurry up! We do not have all day!” Though, he admits, that too has its charms.

Apparently, the wavecontroller indeed visited downtown on his way to their rented mansion and befriended a stall owner who promised to try and reserve a seafood platter for him before it sold out, and he thought it was a good decision to drag Eduan along with his misery. Still, it was a long morning for the bluenet as well so a meal might not be too bad for someone who, after battling wits with his father’s messenger, was forced to visit at least 15 merchants who sold rare souvenirs because a certain airhead lost his baggage on the way.

As soon as they arrived, the owner, who was a woman in her middle forties, toned and muscular, immediately caught his attention. “Youthman! Youthman! Quickly!”

“Gran, you really saved some! You’re the best!” V gratefully accepted the insulated box before transferring quintuple the money needed for the platter which made the woman laugh in glee. “No biggie! Will you stay for the fireworks display with the pretty man over there later?”

“I think he prefers somewhere more peaceful. Do you have any recommendations?”

‘Tch, outsiders interrupting my precious time with V,’ he grumbled, but relented. It’s not often that he gets to see the former act so carefree, even if its just the thirteen of them. And they’re all supposed to be best of friends at this point!

Eduan strolled around the nearby stalls while V and the owner continued chatting, and he stumbled upon a store selling handcrafted goods. Ranging from dreamcatchers, bags and wallets, fans, lanterns, and jewelry. Though, what caught his attention were the ornaments— fairy hairpins, as what he heard the vendor tell his customers, adorned with blue bejeweled butterflies and glass-like flowers with purple pistils.

“Pretty.”

It matches V’s eyes.

“Eduan, come on!”

ー

The spearbearer should have known V would pick the harbor. He always expressed his love for the sea in his embroidery as well as the items in his room. His favorite color is blue, and even his shinsu manifests as water. Eduan’s surprised he never used the wood sage and sea salt perfume oil he gifted to him on his 21st birthday. That made him a little disappointed, but the bergamot suited his pallor.

Halfway through their meal (Han was right, free things does taste better), V began telling tales of what they’ve been through while rescuing the vassal such as having to stop a brewing war between tribes because apparently their chiefs were secretly in a relationship, learning about shinsu tension from a hermit residing on the mountains, and encountering a floor whom he had similar features with but were actually people with special blood whose time had been stuck on a loop.

Likewise, Eduan told him of the hell that was the twin-like cousins causing a ruckus in every event they participated in that the Test Administrator had to put them in probation for a whole month, Traumerei calling him in the middle of the night just to rub it in the bluenet’s face that V and him (and Jahad, but we don’t talk about him) were sharing a room, and the chaos caused when the monthly video chat commences— especially when Yurin and Han converse.

“My brother and the late Young Master loved the sea too, you know?” V grinned in a cryptic manner as he dipped his now bare feet on the water. “They’d always drag me along their mini-trips late in the night whenever they could and played to their hearts’ content.”

“They sound really close,” Eduan commented, peeling a shrimp as he listened.

“They were. The Young Master would sometimes tell me how grateful he was to have met my brother and by extension, my family. I was aware he would often get punished for hanging around us whenever the elders are in a bad mood, but he said he’ll gladly do it over and over again if it meant peace away from his duties.”

The bluenet agreed. If he were Arlene’s brother, he would also do anything to escape his fate. Such a shame he wasn’t, though. He could have met V earlier, although Arlene and him being siblings was a questionable situation. Still, who wouldn’t want the closeness between the Grace Family’s late heir and his personal attendant?

“Then, why did he have to die?”

V shrugged, sipping on his cocktail. “For love, of course.”

“That’s...” Eduan let his thoughts trail, trying to find the right words. “Twisted.”

“Isn’t it? But,” the brunet hid the bitter smile on his lips behind the cup. “I’d die for love too.”

The former, perhaps drunk off the sullen mood, voiced out his impulsive thoughts rather too quickly. “Does that mean you would die for me?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

What Khun Eduan did next was beyond him— even at his worst. Cupping V’s face and nape with his palms, drawing their lips together until the distance was long forgotten. Lips he prodded open with his tongue soon entwined with the other, and soft wanton sounds leaving their mouths when Eduan’s hands traveled down V’s waist, bringing their bodies closer almost grinding with scalding passion, and V’s own tracing his spine. He could hear V’s heartbeat, his moans, and the heat of his body, and everything was too much that the bluenet felt he was levitating or in an out-of-body experience.

That was, until the booming sound of fireworks regained their control and the wavecontroller was able to push the Khun away, his face flushing crimson as if he was smothered in blush, which he failed to conceal with his arm.

“You and I... we can’t!”

‘Why not?’ the spearbearer wanted to ask, but all thoughts that were spinning around his mind were ‘stupid, fucking, idiot!’

“V.”

Eduan wondered what type of expression had he plastered up right now for the other to look at him in such a pitiable manner. ‘What am I to you, V?’

“What are we?”