72. You won’t smile ever again

“Huff, huff… I… huff… I can’t go on anymore, guys…”

“If Charles-Ping could take the mistress’s suffering away, he would gladly—”

“Don’t help her, Charles,” Katya’s voice snapped. “Didn’t you hear what the Director said? ‘Learning through suffering is the only way to perfection’.”

I grimaced at those questionable words as I kept hearing their voices coming from upstairs.

“Why do I suffer like this…” Cesarine was out of breath. “I’m sorry. Why am I the only one suffering…”

“No, you’re not the only one, mistress.”

Oh. Zeeta was there, too? Ray and I finally sighted them. The first thing I saw was Cesarine Lovecryce’s beautiful golden tail. She was being supported by the four-armed Charles-Ping to her right and the bodyguard in a suit, Katya, to her left—Wait, didn’t that woman say just now, “Don’t help her”? How was that not helping her?

“Do your best… If even I can do it, you can do it, mistress…”

Zeeta said that with effort as he moved a trembling foot on the next step, following a little behind. By the looks of it… he seemed to be having more trouble than anyone there. A tall companion by his side was sweating hard but hanging in. The qi sensor indicated «1187 Mz» —no idea what Mz was, but the number had gone up by ten since we had begun to climb. I unconsciously slowed down as they kept talking.

“You all right, Leo?”

“No, but I don’t care.”

“Of course, a nobodist would say that,” the tall guy laughed.

“You two! Aren’t you ashamed?” Katya growled at Zeeta and his companion. “A true subordinate does not make their mistress wait. What did you learn all these years?”

“Ah, didn’t I tell you? I’m from a family of anthropologists,” the tall companion said with spirit. “But what interests me the most is the universe. I love the universe, mainly because there are soooo many things we still don’t know, about the crystals, the unreachable space where they came from, and the Big Blend—!”

“Shut up, Blabbermouth,” Katya snorted.

“It’s Sergei Bassala, my lady.”

“Whatever. What about you, Delinquent? Did you even learn about qi control?”

Zeeta let out a long, exhausted sigh.

“Never. After all, I’m just a delinquent with the face of a delinquent as you say. Crap, what’s wrong with this tower?”

Katya cast him a look of disbelief as if thinking, “how did a loser like you even get here?”, then she sighted us, frowned, and said:

“We’ll be caught up by everyone else, at this rate. If you want to stay at the mistress’s house, show it, work hard, and hurry up, or else you’re fired.”

As Zeeta nodded, his gaze followed hers and met mine. He looked startled.

So it was like that. Katya had not forced anyone to stay at Cesarine’s house: Zeeta wanted to stay of his own will. In that case…

Arriving near him, I clapped his shoulder with earnest.

“Do your best, Zeeta. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

Zeeta blinked.

“Yeah?”

“Come see us sometimes at Wind House so we can play music together.”

“Sure…”

As I kept going upwards with Ray at a rapid pace, he huffed.

“Hold on a sec, how are you able to climb so easily?! Th-The qi pressure…”

His eyes widened, understanding something. I grinned at him.

“Into every death a little luck must fall. Also…” I turned my head ahead and raised a hand. “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.”

After a silence during which we only heard our own footsteps, Ray commented:

“Your little show would have been cooler with only one proverb.”

“…”

I turned my eyes to the statue of a female warrior brandishing a spear, then nodded, a bit embarrassed.

“You speak truly, master.”

Ray grimaced mockingly.

“May you speak normally again one day, dear familiar.”

I laughed and replied:

“Variety is the spice of death, my friend.”

* * *

A little further, we met two trainees that looked stuck, struggling to get to the next step. One of them was Aishah, the Sleeping Beauty, and I greeted her, but the blondie barely managed to greet back, huffing an insult at the stairs.

Soon after, my attention was drawn by the majestic statue of an enormous bat spreading its wings as if ready to attack. Funny. Up until now, all of the statues represented humans, who, according to the written plaques, were renowned martial artists.

“A martial-artist bat?” I let out, confused.

Ray glanced at the plaque and read:

“Year 1903. The Fifth Nightsky Clan Master. He’s human.”

“Human?!” That gigantic bat?

“The Nightsky Clan,” Ray repeated, thoughtful. “I’ve heard of that clan. They were from Jiangshan, if I remember it well. They became famous because they managed to master a secret technique that allowed them not only to levitate but also fly quite fast. However, the family declined over the years. I heard that, when the last Clan Master died, the secret technique was lost with him.”

“So, the clan disappeared? Mm,” I meditated. “Secrets are easily lost, don’t they. But could they really transform into bats?”

“Well, I doubt they could. This statue is probably just a…” Ray suddenly fell silent and stopped. He raised his eyes upstairs, frowning. “Damn it.”

“What is it?”

The young necromancer stayed silent for a short moment before he kept climbing and answered:

“I smell trouble. That kid that took you for a sage’s disciple—”

“Oliver?”

“Mm. I’ve been hearing his thoughts for a while, and a moment ago, he was all excited and proud to go up one step, but just now…” He winced and hiccuped as if in disbelief: “That bastard.”

I soon understood what he meant when we arrived next to the statue of a standing woman wearing an extravagant robe: just behind, we saw two silhouettes, a black-haired guy with many earrings grabbing a kid’s neck and pushing his victim head-on against the wall with a wrathful hiss:

“You… You little monster. Shut up. Shut your filthy mind up. I can’t go up because of your damn thoughts, you monster—”

Axel Sunclaw fell silent when, stepping in, I grabbed his wrist and glared at him. I was boiling with rage.

“Let go of him.”

For a moment, we could only hear Oliver’s irregular breathing. He was quaking with terror. The fear Axel had instilled into me, back in Farskyer, was probably nothing compared to what the kid was feeling right now.

I kind of understood the situation. Due to his quirk, Axel had been suffering from Oliver’s optimistic thoughts, he had been unable to go up, and he had lost his patience—No, he had completely lost it.

Before I knew it, my core instinctively began to eat Axel’s lifeforce. The wave of pleasure I felt made Axel scream and pull backwards. He almost hit Ray, who dodged him, saw him recover his balance in a miraculous way, and said:

“I thought attacking fellow trainees was forbidden in this challenge.”

My master’s voice was full of disapproval. Axel glowered at us, suddenly cautious. His eyes were as dark as night. I ignored him and turned to the kid, worried.

“Oliver. Are you all right?”

He nodded, but at that moment, his legs gave in. Ray insisted:

“Axel. You should apologize.”

“Apologize?” The Sunclaw looked disgusted. “Your minds are so full of filth. That kid is a curse to me. Are you telling me to suffer in silence? I won’t.”

Ray seemed puzzled. Right, he probably didn’t know how insufferable other people’s happiness was to Axel Sunclaw. I knew, yet I couldn’t forgive him.

“Hey, crazy bastard,” I said as Oliver was still trying to calm down. “If you wanna take it out on someone, at least choose someone your age. Don’t be a coward.”

Axel’s eyes gleamed.

“Been a while since I’ve been called a coward.” His leveled voice gave me chills. He moved a foot onto the next step saying: “Kid. If you ever think positively when I’m around, I’ll make you know what real fear is. As for you, Armen Moon, if you get in my way again, I can assure you you won’t smile ever again.”

He cast a glance at Ray, strangely hesitated, then kept climbing without a word. Now that Oliver wasn’t hindering him, he went up quite fast and soon disappeared. I tsked:

“Damn lunatic.”

“Quite disturbing,” Ray admitted.

Oliver was still livid and covered in sweat, but he got up when we both turned our attention to him. His lips trembled. Ray said:

“Brother Bonnie Zombie. Thank you. I think I’m gonna throw up.” As I gave him a puzzled look, he explained: “I’m translating his thoughts. He’s making me feel a bit dizzy, actually…”

I grimaced at Ray, alarmed, as he covered his mouth with a hand, then I watched Oliver with rising concern. Several trainees passed by us, among them Andrea Sisalik, the green dreadlocked girl in a wetsuit who studied at the Champion Institute like Noah. Finally, Oliver said:

“Sorry, guys. I’m fine now. If I had taken my helmet, this would have never happened, but Yamazaki said I wasn’t allowed to wear it in here. I didn’t want to bother the other trainees—”

“Your power is not at fault,” I replied. Neither was Axel’s, strictly speaking, but that didn’t excuse his actions.

Suddenly, Oliver slapped himself on the cheeks.

“I’m fine now,” he repeated under our startled gazes. “Thank you, Armen! Thank you, er…”

“Ray,” the young necromancer helped him. “Ray Styxer.”

Oliver widened his eyes.

“You’re an elite trainee, aren’t you? Are you… Did you steal Armen’s badge?”

I smiled.

“We’re friends, actually.”

Oliver’s eyes glittered with excitement.

“I see! Did you share the same master? Are you sworn brothers like Ashkabell and Water Li?”

I snorted with laughter and ruffled his bowl-cut hair. A streak of lifeforce flew into my core, delicious and satisfying, but I had no trouble pulling my hand away—I was not really hungry anymore thanks to Natasha.

“Sorta,” I answered, and I pointed a finger toward Ray. “Well, actually, he’s the master.”

Oliver stood, his mouth agape. Ray shook his head and made a comeback:

“You honor me, master Moon. I am nothing but an ignorant disciple in front of your sageness.”

“That went straight to my heart, master Styxer,” I bowed. “But how could we compare this unworthy disciple’s sageness to your wisdom? I am but an ant that spends its time speaking foolishness.”

“Isn’t that quite remarkable, for an ant to even speak?”

“But I’ve been told my mind is full of filth.”

“Well, you see, negative minds often see others upside down,” Ray pointed out.

I grinned.

“Just listening to your wise words takes me down to size. Right, Oliver?”

The kid grimaced smilingly at us. Ray cleared his throat and translated out loud:

“The kid you just saved is thinking: the heck are those guys doing?”

“That’s not true!” Oliver protested. “I was just thinking… I’m glad I met so many nice people in this training. I wounded up in the Cactus House, and…”

He hesitated. I clenched my fists.

“Are they treating you badly?!”

“Eh? No, not at all. They’re good people. But also impressive people.” Unlike us, he meant? “We’re sixteen in there. Alysha, the dryad, rules the house. There’s a Shanghainese that’s an elite trainee too. She’s the scariest: this morning, at breakfast, she used her gravity power on Aishah because she was taking too long to get ready—Well, she was slacking off.” Aishah wasn’t the Sleeping Beauty for nothing, I nodded silently. Oliver added with a smile: “Arkifa Cythraul is like a goddess. I can only admire her from afar. Tingting is the youngest after me and… Actually, it’s super nice being there! Skylar Zang has some pretty blue eyes when she doesn’t use her power. The rice she cooks is delicious. And Konstantina even came into my room to tell me that I shouldn’t be afraid to take off my helmet… But, hey, sharing my thoughts around a group of girls is, like, well… You know, I’ve already had trouble, before, because of that.”

Ray had made an embarrassed face. I nodded with an understanding expression.

“Aah… That power of yours can be really troublesome, I see.”

“Too right. That’s why I want to control it. I’ll never get a girlfriend if she knows what I’m thinking—”

“You brat,” I gave him a knock on the head, “are you trying to make your own harem?”

The kid laughed.

“Are you jealous?”

That little demon… I smiled, a bit annoyed.

“I’ve passed that stage. But, beware, Oliver, for concealing your true thoughts to a loved one is betraying your own love.”

Oliver widened and lowered his eyes for a moment as if repenting. I patted his shoulder.

“You should retire your helmet in the Cactus House and let the girls know who you really are. If they kick you out, we’ll welcome you to the Wind House.”

“Really? Thank you! But… aren’t you just trying to get me out of my harem?” That brat was irritating… “Besides, I must get my power under control. According to Instructor Yamazaki, if I did, I could even make think others that what I am thinking is something I’m not actually thinking, isn’t that wonderful?”

I paused, dissected the sentence, then frowned.

“Fooling others is wrong, kid.”

“…? O-Obviously I would use that kind of technique only against criminals!” Oliver defended himself, and he showed an innocent grin. “I want to become a Hero, after all! And then, I want to retire into some secret place and make my own sect with my own disciples as your secret master did, then when I’m an old sage, I will set on a journey to seek the Holy Wisdom, just like your master!”

My master did all that, huh? I gave him a thumbs up.

“That’s some nice ambition you’ve got, Oliver.”

“Thanks!”

His grin was priceless. Ray cleared his throat.

“How about we get moving?”

“Right, everyone is catching up with us… So let’s go! Oliver, don’t fall behind…!”

I had climbed ten steps or so when I realized the kid was putting all his energy into getting to the next step. The energy was supposed to be getting heavier the higher we climbed, but my core was overflowing with deathforce, and I still couldn’t feel any weariness caused by the air pressure. But not everyone was naturally resistant to qi pressure. I looked at the qi sensor: «1214 Mz». It sure had gone up a lot. Heh…

“Oliver. If you get to the top of this tower, I’ll introduce you formally to Arkifa.”

The kid’s eyes lit up.

“The goddess? Seriously? Is she really a friend of yours?”

“Of course she is. Do your best.”

“I will!”

As we quickly left Oliver behind, Ray made an amused pout.

“That kid seems to be rather confused about his goals. More importantly,” he added, his face darkening, “I didn’t expect Axel Sunclaw to lose his temper like that. I remember that, in the past, he was a rather shy kid, way nicer than his twin. I wonder what happened for him to become such a nasty bastard.”

A shy and nice boy, Axel? For real? I doubted it. As we kept climbing at a fast pace, leaving other trainees behind, I suggested:

“Maybe the twins decided to change their names, and actually, Axel is Lei and Lei is Axel?”

Ray burst out laughing.

“That’s an interesting theory!”

“Ain’t it? The only problem is, Lei, the real Axel, is far from being shy, and I wonder whether he’s just a teaser or a real demon.”

“Maybe they’re the same person. Have you heard about bibodism? It’s a rare condition that links two souls at birth to the point that they become the same person in two bodies.”

I turned to him, amazed, and laughed:

“You’re kidding!”

“I’m not. It’s rare, but it’s real.”

“…” One person in two bodies? If I had a brain, it would be overheating. Just trying to imagine it… I burst out: “For real?!”

At that instant, I realized I had run into the stretched arm of a statue and lost my balance. I barely grabbed the stony hand, which must have been already damaged, because it cracked and…

I fell with the statue’s hand in mine. Ray tried to stop me, and he was dragged in the fall. I instinctively tried to protect him from the knocks and managed finally to block our fall by sticking a leg around the stone spear that the statue below was holding.

Ray’s lifeforce came in in droves.

No matter what Ray said about a Fury’s zero willpower, I reacted quickly, let go of him, and managed to get away—so impetuously that I heard something crack when, bouncing backwards, I hit a quasi-opaque glass door embedded into the inner wall…

“Hold on,” I murmured, perplexed, turning around to face the wall. “A door?”

What was a door doing there?