"A taste of your steel? Do you even know who I am!?" the bald man asked, puffing his chest. "I am Sam, the hobgoblin hunter, the sect leader's right-hand man, and, starting today, the first Lv2 warrior amongst the challengers! Your previous unfair victory over me was just pure luck! If you hadn't appeared out of anywhere, you would have never defeated me! And now that I'm an Lv2 warrior, you won't even be able to lay a finger on my armor! Because…"

Aito sighed and left Sam to spout his nonsense that seemed endless and prepared himself for battle. He used Pneuma to invigorate his mind and body, not that he had no stamina, but he liked that feeling, it seemed to rise his awareness.

He focused for a few seconds on his ax before he felt its weight increase by 2.5 times. Then, he looked for a target ready for the picking. The bald man in the middle was still talking, the topic changing to how great his sect was while the other two nodded like indoctrinated imbeciles, infatuated by Sam's speech.

They all seemed to underestimate him, and Aito intended to exploit this opening kindly given by these three men.

Aito flexed his legs, his every muscle fiber sprung back, ready to unleash their explosive strength. Then…

"The sect leader is an exemplary person—"

Surprised by a large ax head slicing through the man to his right, Sam interrupted his speech and rapidly took two steps backward.

"You savage! Have you no manner?" Sam asked, with underlying anger.

Aito ignored him, rushed towards Sam's left, and brought down his ax on the remaining henchman, who lifted his shield to block the incoming strike.

BAM!

The heater shield bent, curved, and barely resisted Aito's powerful blow, just like its wielder. The henchman crawled under his opponent's strength, his knees shaking from weakness, surprise, and a growing fear of death.

Seeing his enemy's foundation "shaking," Aito brutally shot a low kick, sweeping his opponent's legs. The latter fell to the ground and screamed from terror before a giant ax head decapitated him.

Aito's Intuition flared up. He turned towards Sam and lifted his long steel ax handle to block a sword blade that glowed yellow. Aito furrowed his brow upon realizing that his steel handle had been cut a quarter of the way through. He then turned his gaze to Sam to see his whole armor and weapon coated with light.

"First time seeing Durability, hun?" Sam said, while crossing blade with his opponent. "Too bad you haven't had the time to learn i—"

Aito front kicked the man, pushing him back to create distance. Before Sam recovered, Aito grabbed the henchman's corpse, hurled it with all his strength towards the full plated armored man, and quickly rushed after the projectile, planning to use it to create an opening.

Sam sliced the corpse and, his blade out of reach to counter Aito, blocked the blow with his glowing arm guard. His knees slightly bent under Aito's brute strength, but he stood firm. Sam was shocked.

He had never thought he would have to use Durability to resist the blows of a challenger who just arrived today.

'This is ridiculous!' He thought. 'I've just reached Lv2 and I can only go toe to toe with that bastard?'

Aito stepped back to avoid Sam's Zweihander. This time, however, he stopped himself from rushing at the man. That yellow light covering Sam's weapon and armor seemed to protect them from blows, although he wasn't certain. He then looked at Sam's arm guard he had hit previously and noticed a cut. Or was it a dent?

'Hum, that's all the damage I managed to deal?' He thought, then looked at his own weapon's blade. His barbaric uses of the ax had left a big dent where the arm guard and his blade had connected.

He was certain that some of his weapon's sharpness was now gone. It would have been fine if he had cut through his opponent in one go, but Sam had resisted the blow.

'In short, I can't aim for the glowing areas.' He thought, analyzing his enemy. 'Also, there has to be a limit to how much damage he can take, but my weapon probably won't hold until then.'

Just when Aito and Sam were about to jump at each other's throat again, a somewhat familiar voice to both of them interrupted the duel.

"Sam! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Mind your own business, Ogoro." Sam said, turning towards the tall Asian man coming from D3.

Unbeknownst to Sam, Aito took advantage of his distraction to rush at him.

"Don't meddle, Ogoro. Or the whole sect will—" Sam said before he was violently thrown to the ground. Lying on top of him, Aito controlled Sam's arms by blocking them in between his legs.

"You talk too much," Aito said, before bashing Sam's unprotected face with his fists.

Ogoro walked by the plaza's fountain and sat on its frame. A blue fruit akin to a pear in hand, he ate while watching the gruesome spectacle of a man being bitten up.

In his opinion, Sam would be a worthy foe he hadn't had that stupid habit of talking too much. In fact, their whole sect members had that habit.

Perhaps it derived from their pride or overconfidence stemming from their numbers. He didn't know. But seeing Sam being brutally beaten was a satisfying show to watch.

"Why did you attack me?" Aito asked, pausing his assault.

"Stop! Do you really want the sect to—"

BAM!

"Why did you attack me?" Aito asked once again.

"Do you wish to di—"

BAM!

Aito beat him to a pulp, trying to punch an answer out of the bald man. By the time Sam decided to talk, the light on his armor had dimmed and disappeared. His disfigured bumpy face had lost a few teeth, turning his pleas even more pitiful.

"Purease, ftop. No more." Sam said, unable to talk properly.

"Then tell me why you attacked me," Aito said, pausing his punches.

"Becauze, ze zect leader, Fai Fzubame, azked me to eizer bring you alive or dead," Sam said. "He wantz to invite you to cooperate wiz uz to clear ze top floors."

'More like a threat than an invitation,' he thought. 'But what the fuck is that sect and why would he want me? No... more importantly...'

Aito punched him once again, more for the sake of vengeance than anything else, then asked. "Who's Fai Fzubame?"

Ogoro, seated by the fountain, replied. "It's 'Kai Tsubame,' he just can't pronounce it right with his mouth in that state."

"It'z the honorable Fai Fzubame for—!" Sam tried to say but was punched once again. Sam's mind blurred as he fell unconscious.

"Do you know more about him?" Aito asked, turning towards Ogoro.

"Sure, he's quite famous in the Tower." Ogoro replied, before throwing his blue fruit in the fountain's water. "He was also one of my clients back on Earth."