- Three Routes; Three Trials : Part I -

"LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE!"

Charlotte immediately put her right hand on the floor.

"[ Green Vines ]! Release!"

Large green vines came from the ground right under where the puppet was standing.

'This brat! She immediately attacks me after I said it started!' The puppet thought with a smile of disbelief, jumping towards the sky in order to avoid the vines. 'And these vines didn't even make a single sound when they move!'

"Capture her!"

"AS IF SOME LITTLE VINES COULD CATCH ME!"

[ Time- Manipulation : Time Reverse ]

The vines suddenly vanished into thin air and the arena looked as if it was never damaged before.

'Time Reverse...' Charlotte noticed it.

"You see? You are not the only person who could manipulate the time! How does it feel to have to face someone with the same power as yours?!"

"I've guessed it from the start that Christ will give you some cheat..." Charlotte said as she created several bangs in the same time. "And it pisses me off!"

The bangs were released towards her. The puppet, although she was in the mid- air, she was still capable of dodging all the bangs thrown towards her. As for the last bang, it vanished before it could touch the puppet.

'The [ Time- Manipulation ] again...' Charlotte gritted her teeth. So this was how her opponents felt whenever she used the hourglass. 'If I can't find away to get rid of it, then there is no way for me to attack her!'

"I still remember the day when you were struggling in the midst of the pain you felt," said the puppet again as she looked at her from the sky. Her cold and arrogant looks were to be expected, but when she used the same appearance with Charlotte, it made her felt like she was fighting with her villainous self.

The puppet herself was reminiscing the day when the "miracle" happened in front of her.

"The lotuses blossomed in the land of death, as if there was a hope of rebirth for the creatures trapped in bloody place of administrator. Those flowers floated on the surface of the red liquid, undisturbed, and seemingly like pure flowers. There was no a single stain of blood on those flowers. It's truly a beautiful sight."

And the cause of the miracle was the woman she deeply hated the most, the woman who was now glaring at her as if she was the one to blame, when she stole and nearly ruined everything that she worked hard for.

"But just because the flowers are beautiful and pure, it doesn't mean the one who planted them is just as beautiful and pure as the flowers. I'm going to remove that fake kindness of a hypocrite."

The shinsu around her was starting to form a liquid. With that liquid, she created bangs which were bigger in size and larger in number.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this day."

Those bangs were released towards her all in the same time.

Charlotte ran and dodged each of the bangs that were falling like meteors. Her physical strength had been faster than before with all the trainings she had endured. Dodging those meteors were nothing.

Even if one of them was going to hit her, she knew that she could stop running and activate her hourglass.

[ Time- Manipulation : Time Reverse ]

The puppet extended her hand, "Not so fast!"

[ Time Manipulation : Irreversible Time ]

Her skill didn't work, much to Charlotte's surprise.

At the end, in the middle of the confusion, she had no other choices but to evade the last bang that hit the ground. She dodged them all and was unscathed.

"I guess you must be wondering huh, why your hourglass didn't work before?" The puppet read her mind. "It's actually very simple. The two of us have the right and ability to manipulate the time. And it is because of that, we could cancel out each other's attacks."

"In another word, your hourglass is worthless in this fight."

Charlotte knew it. It was annoying to have an enemy with the same power as her.

'But I won't lose just because of that!'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Bam received a direct hit from Zahard which caused him to be blown away and hit a wall.

WHAM!

He fell from the wall towards the ground. As painful as it was, he could still endure it.

From distance, Khun Edahn could only watch the fight between the two of them. One was the data of his friend and the other one was the son of his friend. He had raised him and trained him for one month and now, it was all up to him.

"Sorry, I was trying to control myself but I must have gotten too excited," Zahard spoke after he sent Bam flying like that. He watched how Bam was holding on the wound and struggled to stand again. "To be honest, I was extremely surprised when you dodged the first punch. I can't believe you grew to be that fast... you must have performed a revolution with Edahn's help."

"I also went inside with the help of the guardian in the train. It was inside myself that I found out I have the 'destiny of a king'. Whether I like it or not, I realized that I would become the peak of this tower and rule over everyone."

Bam suddenly thought that if his little sister was there by his side to help him, she would do her best to heal his wounds while loudly cursing Zahard for saying words that she would consider as nonsense.

She was such a honest child, and now she was out there fighting for her survival. He also couldn't lose.

"Tell me, little monster. What did you see inside yourself?" Zahard asked. "What destiny is making you stronger?"

"...."

When he had the revolution with Edahn's help, he felt like he was entering a pool of cool water again. And when he saw the blue monster again, he felt no surprise. Everything looked the same like before, except for the fact that his sworn enemy was inside there.

"What's this?" The monster wondered. "Someone has come in here again."

The fact that Jue Viole Grace was there surprised him.

"What are you doing here?! My sworn enemy!"

All he remembered was the orb that he created absorbed his sworn enemy, but he had no idea that the sworn enemy would end up in that place.

"Why is my sworn enemy here?" He asked the blue monster who replied in annoyance, "I'd like to ask you the same thing!"

"Why do you keep shoving things here? First that red guy suddenly came in here, then that massive thorn wrapped with bandages! Hey kid! Are you a blue whale or something?!" The monster questioned him.

Bam held his head and smiled in a little bit of guilt, "... s... sorry... a lot of stuffs has happened recently."

"Seeing that you've come all the way inside here, you must have met another super strong opponent and need strength," the blue monster assumed.

"Yes," Bam agreed without slightest hesitation. "I need enough power to rule the world."

"........................."

It took a moment for the monster to understand what Bam has just said.

The place suddenly felt awkward and strange. Although the monster was the first to offer him the power to rule the world, but he remembered when Bam immediately refused the power he offered and even mocked what he was going to give to him as a fake power. This time, Bam wanted to have the said corrupted power, but it just felt strange to give it to him right away.

"You've... gotten tougher."

He didn't know which word is suitable to describe Bam's sudden change of heart. It was too unexpected.

"You used to say you don't need anything like that..."

"Well... that's because I'll never beat this opponent unless I do that."

"............it must be really a strong man," the monster spoke after hesitation. He wondered if Bam even feel uncomfortable like him, seeing that he answered all his questions and replied to his words in ease. Like, was he the only one who felt that it was wrong for someone like Bam to ask for corrupted power? When he coldly rejected and refused it years ago?

But aside from feeling uncomfortable, he also felt a different feeling. It was just like watching a naive child slowly growing up into realizing how tough and unfair the world was.

"This guy is the data of the person who will be the king of this tower..."

"I am the one destined to rule over the very top of this tower. The first and greatest adventurer in this tower."

"The enemy of my parents...."

"He shall achieve vengeance for my love and finish the war that we started with our own hands."

"And the young data of my sworn enemy who I'll have to face even if I return to FUG..."

"FUG started to look for the thorn, while waiting for someone to obtain it and slash the king's throat."

"Everyone is telling me to kill him."

"I could feel it... you are my God."

"Regardless of what I want,"

"A NEW SLAYER HAS BEEN BORN! REJOICE! IT HAS BEGUN!"

"Everything is making me hate and fight him."

"If you don't tell me the truth, I'll make you and your companions here disappear forever."

"But.... what... am I...?"

So many thoughts and memories came across his mind. He had reached this far and he was now fighting against the data of someone who would be his future enemy. But even though he had become stronger and everything, at the end, he still couldn't understand about himself.

The more he had, the more he felt like he was lost.

"Am I just a person who was born to avenge someone else, or to make someone else's long- awaited wish come true? The more I find out about myself, the more faint my own existence feels. Like the bubbles floating in this water, as if I was created for someone else's desire and disappear once that goal is reached... what... am I...?"

"You are..."

The danger that he sensed distracted him from his thoughts.

Forming an orb, he tried to block all Zahard's attacks.

All the hits that were reflected or missed hit the arenas and destroyed the massive place slowly. Every single attack packed with powerful strength, it was a fight that any ordinary D- rank regular couldn't imagine.

"An 'orb'," Zahard spoke. "It must be what your shinsu looks like. Only those born with outstanding tension can create that. Plus, it won't be easy to stop my shinsu with a shape that you just found out about."

He could see his troubled expression and added, "It seems like you're barely hanging in there now, but you could be a threat if you grow even more."

He formed a giant golden needle.

"I had better destroy you here."

Once it was launched, it approached Bam quickly that it was hard for him to defend or to dodge it. When he discovered that he was still alive after he faced that kind of attack, he was honestly surprised.

He felt as if he was going to die for a moment when he survived. His heart was beating fast and his breath was messy. His golden eyes looked at the sky, realizing that he nearly lost his life.

He was one step away from the gate of hell.

Yet after realizing that he was still alive, his mind was still thinking about the revolution that he had.

'That's it...'

He discovered something.

'I fount it, inside myself.'

The answer he has been looking for.

"You (I) are... simply me (you)," Jue Viole Grace answered his question. "Why do you keep waiting for someone else and relying on others to find yourself?"

"You are you. Whether you are alone or with other people, that's what you've always been. She has answered that question for you, right?"

Bam's eyes widened. A piece of memory that he nearly had forgotten resurfaced.

"Brother."

'Right, she has said it before.'

"You are who you are. You are just Bam. It is just that simple."

'She has answered that question for me.'

The answer he had been looking for was very simple. It was actually in front of his eyes, no, the answer was himself. But he was just too distracted. At the end, the more he felt doubt, the more blinded he became.

As he sat down and took a deep breath to calm himself, he unconsciously had a small smile on his face.

'Thank you, Charlotte.'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

They couldn't believe it as they stood before their nemesis and someone who was supposed to be their ally.

"What are you doing with them, Icarus?!"

Icarus, the woman who promised to return quickly after she went to check a few things, the woman who disappeared for a month and had her existence forgotten by them. And now, she stood before them as an enemy.

"Take it easy there, guys. You're going to have to work together now."

The one who spoke was someone with grey hair and a pair of red eyes, wearing a white cap and simple grey sweater with black pants. He was also wearing earrings. He was surrounded with red boxes where the word "error" was written on each of the box. A part of his face was ruined by something.

"U- UREK MAZINO?!"

"HE'S GOTTEN SMALLER!"

Shockingly, it was the data of Urek Mazino!

"Now, we have to go and 'destroy' the scale that shows the past.

"What...?!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" Khun asked in surprise. "We're going to destroy that scale?!"

He remembered the scale. It was the talkative scale which talked non- stop.

"Whoa! What do we have here? Another one who has been through death once!"

When he said those words, he could see that Charlotte's eyes were shaking for a moment. Only when he had intruded her privacy and saw those memory spheres that he understood what the scale has been talking about. He was hinting about Charlotte died once and lived again in another world.

'But what does he mean with another one? Doesn't that mean that there's someone else who died once and reborn again? I have to consider about this one later.'

"That's right. You will lure the scale here, and I'll destroy it," Urek Mazino explained. "By the way... you guys must have seen Urek at the outside, huh?"

The data thought that if they had never seen the real him outside, how could they possibly know that he was the notorious Urek Mazino?

"What... wait a minute..."

"I'm impressed that some small time regulars like you met Urek," his data spoke.

Hansung Yu whispered to Khun, "Really? That's Urek Mazino?"

"Yeah, that's him," Khun whispered back. "We've met him before."

"... I'm a bit surprised... I thought he would look like a real pervert... but he's surprisingly... you all heard the rumors..."

The data of Urek Mazino frowned. Do these people think that he couldn't hear their words?

"He's not Urek Mazino," Big Breeder Hwang corrected. "He's the data of the sworn enemy that he left behind."

"What?!"

"But he ended up being very unstable because he wasn't copied completely. Urek Mazino... there wasn't really any problem until that guy came here. It was an artificial system where I left the other mirror in what you guys refer to as the 'Hidden hidden floor' and was in charge of controlling this hidden floor, and I never questioned my existence."

Altaira didn't need to hear the rest of the story to guess what was going on. Even if Charlotte didn't give him the cheat book he could still tell the plot of this background story.

'It must be because that bastard couldn't stand seeing his data couldn't be saved properly, so he smashed the mirror, right?'

He knew that he was right when he heard that Big Breeder Hwang explained that Urek Mazino cause no troubles while clearing the stages of Hidden Floor. He only caused trouble when he knew that his data wouldn't be able to save properly and smashed the mirror out of rage, without thinking that it might just create another whole bunch of drama just like in the Floor of Death, and he left without regrets.

"A temporary error occurred in me and all of the other data people, and even his sworn enemy who should have disappeared when he left remains here in an unstable form."

'Look at those "error" words,' Estelle looked at Urek Mazino's sworn enemy. 'He looks like a criminal with his bad records that couldn't be erased.'

"Then, a massive 'bug room' was formed, which refers to the entire territory of the mirrors."

The more Big Breeder Hwang explained, the more pissed Altaira got.

'Does he think it's cool to create problems and leave like that? You create this and that problems, and others are always the people solving it!'

"I opened the gate and started putting all of the data with errors inside that bug room. I thought that was the only way to keep the Hidden Floor from collapsing. But I gradually came to realize that something about me had also changed since that error. At a certain point, I started to take interest on the data from the outside and created more and more human- like dolls and often stood before data people."

'We better make a confining room and put that crazy irregular inside, preventing him from causing more troubles for us. Let us quarantine him from letting his craziness infecting anything or anyone else.'

"Then I ended up meeting a person who would later be referred as my mother. Although it ended tragically.. after that, I had no other choice but to admit that I had malfunctioned. It was as if... I had become more of a 'human'."

Altaira was using his mind to think. Urek Mazino caused this Big Breeder Hwang to be more "compassionate", or sentimental and sensitive. With his help, Yura's mother could give birth to Yura who later on became Rachel's number one fanatic and kept hindering their problems, just like back then in Hell Train.

'In another world, if this guy doesn't come to the Hidden Floor, no, if he knows to be a little bit more patient and use that brain of his, we won't suffer this much!'

One of the reasons why they were suffering right now was actually because of Urek Mazino!

"Ultimately, after losing to the being known as my mother, I felt disillusioned with this entire system and as I gazed at the mirror at the end in the bug room, I arrived at a single thought," Big Breeder said, "'I am getting out of here'."

"What?! Getting out...?! But you are a data!"

"That's right. I am a data without a real body. But right now, you guys are also data. You guys aren't in a space known as the Hell Train anymore. If it's possible for humans to be data, then conversely, shouldn't it be possible for a data to be a human?"

'Do you think that you are some sort of liquid, can freely change into solid and then back to liquid again?'

"The Scale of Past which appeared here after the mirror's territory was split in two floating around in a third space. That scale analyzes the people who come here and turns them into data and created sworn enemies based on that data. That means the mirror must have some kind of 'analytical transformation ability' which turns people into data, right?"

'... if one day I cut the marriage fate between Garam and Urek, then it must be because of the amount of stress he gave to us.'