Day 41.2

***POV Ketlia***

Ketlia looked with distaste at the smiling receptionist as she entered into their new lodgings.

Smiling brightly, the receptionist said, “Welcome back, Madam Kat. How may I-”

But Ketlia just walked smoothly past him, reaching the lift and taking it up to their floor. She did, however, feel a small surge of satisfaction, as she always did, when she was called the wrong name. A small act of defiance there was no way of being called out on.

‘Except…’ She thought to herself bitterly, biting her lip. Except Predator. Except the one man that she had wanted to forget. The one individual she was constantly being reminded of by Kettle.

Thinking back, she could still remember the cold cruelty of the wild man’s gaze, especially when they first ran into each other. It seemed a very long time ago, even if it was just over a month. This life of struggle and death had a way of making time flow strangely.

It almost made her shiver, trying to imagine how the time had affected him. If Kettle was to be believed, he had become a monster, both in power and temperament.

***POV Predator***

Fury +1

Fury +1

For a few seconds, I wanted to explode. Time and time again I had been mocked and derided by my minions, taken for granted. What even were they, without me? I gave most of them life. I was more than their superior. I was closer to a fucking god.

And yet…

Fury +1

Fury +1

And yet they barely bother to acknowledge me…

Fury +1

Fury +1

What was most frustrating was that the fury would give me power, but it would not help me deal with them. What would I do with increased stats? Crush them more? I didn't really have a stat that would make them obey me.

-Or at the very least respect me.

Fury +1

Fury +1

Fury +1

Fury +1

The arrogance of their actions made me itch, but then… I had just let them do what they wanted for so long. Perhaps I hadn't been disciplined enough, but I was either fighting or gone ascending through other floors for most of their existence. It wasn't a surprise they started to act out like spoiled chlidren without supervision. But now, what should I-

A thought struck me. I tilted my head to the side, mulling it over. After my experience with the Architect of Bone, I wondered, why not just-

-Ignore them.

It was as if the bottom fell out of my soul. And with the plug pulled, all of my feelings and emotions swirled down slowly, draining out of me and falling away.

My eyes glazed over as I looked at the horizon, and it was only when the last of my emotions drained away that I had a thought to break the silence.

‘What am I doing?’

My mouth began to twitch, curling slowly upward at the edges.

‘This training, this worrying….even this path….why bother?’

-Let’s go to where we improved the most. On the battlefield.

I turned to Ashni, who was watching me with an increasingly disgusted expression, beaming at her. “Call Jenn for me.”

“Why? So you can have a lover’s quarrel? I care not for your troubles; instead, focus on training.” Her drawling voice wormed into me, threatening my apathy.

Fury +1

Fury +1

Hot anger gushed, filling me up. Why can’t I get a single person to listen? Even now-

Fury +1

Fury +1

But before that train of thought could continue, I regained control, the emotions swirled and drained away, leaving only emptiness. I chuckled.

“Call Jenn.” I could sense it in my voice, and from the way Ashni stiffened, she did too. There was a lazy arrogance in my tone that wasn’t there before. A predator’s surety. A sense of superiority.

Ashni looked at me for exactly 3 seconds. I held the eye contact, still grinning, my mouth continuing to twist further.

Then, slowly, she nodded. “Fine. But first you must demonstrate the sufficiency of your training. Else, you must complete another set of exercises before you… take care of your business.”

Fury +1

I felt a single spike of vicious anger, but it instantly drained away. I regarded her coolly, considering her request. It was a method to subvert me, that was sure. But I was also convinced that ultimately, Ashni believed that she was doing this for my own good, sure in her own belief that I needed further training more than I needed talk to Jenn.

-Her motivations are pure, but she deserves to be taught a lesson for ignoring me.

-Twice.

-So should we…?

I could feel the image other me was focusing on: attacking suddenly, holding nothing back.

But just like everything else, the hot rage that fueled that image fell away, leaving only pointless violence and a waste of time.

-No. We teach her a lesson, but… Not as a punishment. As a lesson.

-That we…

-That we are Apex. That we are unstoppable.

I stepped forward. I knew what Ashni wanted. A consistent ability to step forward using the thunder stance, without me relying on my own body or tumbling over when I succeeded. Thus far, my results had been inconsistent at best. Frustration had piled high in my chest, making my movements tense and choppy, the Thunder Stance becoming extremely difficult to control.

But now, with everything falling away… I could feel the tension leaving me. My joints were relaxed and supple, and for a moment, I turned my senses inward and marveled at just how imposing I was, as a physical specimen.

-After all, we are Apex.

A small smiled formed on my face at Other Me’s comment. And with that surety fueling me, I stepped forward.

Stone and dirt cracked beneath, but I could suddenly intuit the perfect balance, and my mind raced to control my muscled to compensate. Rushing smoothly forward, my perception spread wide, taking in every inch of ground, every shrub and bump. I could see it.

I always could. Now, for the first time, I was looking. My body was a trap, just like it had been with mana. I was powerful. I was unstoppable. Why worry about whether I could accomplish something? It was obviously yes.

My foot landed, ending my step. Now, force traveled in reverse, slowly being dispersed as it ran up my legs. Shuddering beneath me, a flash of worry rose that the ground wouldn’t be able to stand the force. My leg trembled.

But that drained away, leaving confidence. My body flowed like water.

25 meters, traveled in an instant, the sonic boom howling around me.

I turned and grinned at Ashni, who was looking at me with narrowed eyes.

But I wasn’t done; I raised my left leg, first slowly, and then with increasing speed, aiming a high kick into the air. I felt the force, resist me, wanting, just like foolish water, to flow downwards, the path of least resistance.

But I pushed back, corralling the rapidly growing force up my leg, through my thigh, exploding up around my knee, rushing down my calf, and then…

BOOOOM.

The air shattered as I didn’t just kick, I pressed with the force, breaking the very air with the immediacy of the power.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Thunder Stance Lvl 6”. The chance of successfully executing Thunder Stance moves is greatly increased. Damage amplification has slightly increased. The strain on your body has decreased.

-Was it always this easy…? What a waste of time.

“Get Jenn.”

That was all either of us spoke. Willing or not, Ashni left.

***POV Ketlia***

Luckily for Ketlia, Gillette was in his office when she returned, pouring over paperwork. Also lucky for him, because Ketlia had secretly promised herself that she would trash his office, leaving several nasty mental traps for him encounter, had he not been there to stop her.

Also, she wasn’t even sure what Gillette as looking at. Most of the work had been turned over to Kettle since she had arrived. And yet, if anything, Gillette was now even more busy. With basically nothing to show for all the hours he sequestered himself away.

“We need to talk.” Although she disliked doing it, Ketlia knew that she had speak first. Gillette was perfectly willing to let her stand there for an hour before he would address her, letting the sharp edge her temper fray, her wits slowly succumbing to annoyance and rage.

Gillette looked up at her with a sly expression. “Oh? I assume you want to talk about Kettle again. Still annoyed that there is another woman bossing you around?”

A split second of silence, then Gillette chuckled awkwardly. “Relax, Kat. You know I don’t think like that. I was just trying to lighten the mood. I’m not sexist. What do you need?”

‘If you really weren’t sexist’ Ketlia thought, ‘You wouldn’t think to make jokes like that. And they wouldn’t make you laugh.’

But her face stayed completely neutral, and Ketlia had no plans on pointing out every small hypocracy that crossed her path. She would likely run out of breath before anyone bothered to pay attention.

Still, this was another problem with Kettle’s arrival. It had… not relaxed Gillette, but loosened him somehow, letting these strange comments slip. Gone was the confident and exacting Administrator she had initially been glad to have been sponsored by and sought out. Now…

“Why are we tarrying here to fight Predator? Our strength would increase faster if we continued upward. We are near the front of the queue anyway; if we made a deal with a path boss-”

“One that would put us in an extremely disadvantaged position,” Gillette said coolly, reminding her once more of why she had chosen him. But it was not enough.

“-even disadvantaged, the three of us are more than powerful enough-”

“Ah, is it a problem with the new recruits that Kettle brought? They are quite arrogant, but I trust there is no problem with their capabilities?”

Frustrated, Ketlia let Gillette have his little detour in the conversation.

“The additional… challengers are fine. Impressive, even. But.” Ketlia hissed the last word through her teeth.

The new people were great, it couldn’t be denied. There were 5 of them. She had seen almost all of them training, and it was slightly intimidating. One was a strange human whose body was covered in metal. Another was a mage who couldn’t move without inadvertently producing unbelievably powerful thunder. Another was a young woman whose very body seemed to be slowly turning to ash, burned from the inside by a small sun held within her breast.

Then last two were the strangest, but were the ones that gave her the most chills when Ketlia’s powerful consciousness brushed up against them. The strange, hooded figure fought like a mad man, never bothering to block, and didn’t seem to have any real impressive traits, except for his ability to ignore just about everything that hit him. Ketlia hadn’t seen him fail to recover from any sort of damage, physical, magical, or mental.

That sort of relentless endurance type was exactly the kind of opponent that gave Ketlia a headache. And exactly why she too admitted to herself Predator would be a tough opponent. He was that type as well. In addition to hitting hard with both his fists and magic.

But it was the final member of Kettle’s entourage that really scared her. Ketlia hadn’t even seen her train, but somehow he knew, the woman with blood red hair and long bunny rabbit ears was the one she least wanted to go near.

“But,” Ketlia hissed again, emphasizing the point, “ Why is this so important? We made a deal. You would help us climb the Tower. You are not holding up your end of the bargain, Gillette. Is what you are doing helping us at all?!?”

He was silent for a long time, looking down at the papers in front of him. Ketlia scanned them briefly, but they were just reports, endless reports, from different floors. Deaths, victories, struggles, powerful monsters… Just occurences in the Tower.

Finally, sighing, Gillette said. “Not in the way I promised you. But in another way…”

While his eyes remained on the reports in front of him, he continued. “But in another way, this work is the only way you will be able to safely climb the tower. Above the 50th floor… a monster roams freely. That was why-”

Shaking his head, Gillette fell silent.

“Then these reports…?” Ketlia gestured at the desk. “They are preparation for killing this monster.”

“In a way.” Gillette chuckled awkwardly, leaning back in his chair. “That thing… it is not a challenger, but something older. I’m trying to find what exactly it is.”

***POV Predator***

“But why,” Jenn whined, even as she formed the portal in front of the three of us.

Grinning, I said, “Because I said so.”

Then I turned to the weird ghoul, who was gnawing on a femur the size of an overweight horse, and the grumbling Architect of Bone.

“You two. When the other undead and the murloc return, I want them to realize how much I support their feeble attempts to become stronger,” I could feel a strange cruelty growing in my words, and there was a small pang, wondering if I should be more careful, but that too drained away. I supposed they already had their chance.

“I’ve decided to surprise them with another ‘war game’. You will create an army to meet them when they return,” I pointed at the architect. Then I looked at the ghoul. “And you will lead them. Don’t be gentle. No need to fight to the death, just… make them know war.”

The architect began to complain about the lack of inspiration, but the ghoul nodded absently. I turned away, satisfied.

“But Predator-” I put my hand on Jenn before she could continue, pressing her mouth closed.

I noticed how Ashni’s eyes narrowed further at his action, but I ignored her ire. She was powerless to do anything with it, and I didn’t want to deal with Jenn’s incessant questions.

Jenn seemed to react completely different, blushing. “Oh… Predator…. Your hands are so firm… B-b-b-b-but here…. In f-f-front of everyone…. I don’t know……”

“Meet me on the 10th floor.” Then I looked at Ashni, showing her my teeth. “Are you coming?”

Without any further words, we left the wiggling Jenn and stepped through the portal.