- Three Routes; Three Trials : Part 5 -

Now that the walls had been destroyed by Bam's [ Blue Shield ], it was easy for him to spot the core.

But just when he was about to use the [ Blue Shield ] to destroy the core, there was something disturbing him.

Underneath them, inside the golden tower itself, he could feel tremendous force.

And both Khun Edahn and Zahard could feel it as well.

But as powerful as it was, the three of them couldn't help but to think how familiar the power felt. And when they wondered who could possibly have that kind of power, only the thought of the brown- haired girl crossed her mind.

'Charlotte!'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

The arena was covered with grasses now. It was all caused by Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at her injuries. They vanished as if they had never existed. But because they have been healed, it doesn't mean that she was never wounded. And just because they were healed already doesn't mean that all those injuries were not painful at all.

She waited and endured all the beatings and stabbings just for this moment.

'I could feel it. My strength is increasing,' she thought. 'As long as I'm in this field, my strength will be superior than her... which also mean that... this is revenge time.'

"It's called territory or domain. You are free to call is as you enjoy," The pink- haired lady said. "The simplest thing you can do with domain is either to increase your own strength and make it superior from your enemies, or you can suppress your enemies' strength."

Charlotte remembered it when Anan activated her own [ Domain ]. The strength that she possessed increased while theirs were being suppressed. She honestly wondered, with her talent, could she do more than her?

"Depending on your strength and the level of your mastery, you can do more than those two," she explained. "But you need to remember. The core of your territory or domain is yourself. So if you ever lose your consciousness or get distracted, it'll vanish easily. But you are a fast- learner, someone who managed to learn orb in two days. It'll be fine for you, as long as your strength isn't depleted."

Remembering what the pink- haired lady said during her training, she knew that she couldn't afford to be attacked again. After using her domain that kept absorbing her strength to enhance her own, it will be a matter of time before she collapsed due to exhaustion. So she must finish this game soon.

She leapt towards the puppet. When the puppet noticed, Charlotte suddenly appeared in front of her. She swung her fist right on her face, sending her flying away and hit the wall, destroying it.

With her green vine, she pulled the puppet close to her rather than letting her fall from the tower. She pulled the puppet towards her and kicked her away. After that, she jumped to chase the puppet and punched her as many times as she could before grabbing her collar and threw her down.

The puppet gritted her teeth. The table had completely turned. Now, she was the one in great disadvantage.

[ Time Manipulation : Deceleration ]

Charlotte grinned.

[ Time Manipulation : Irreversible Time ]

The puppet's eyes widened before she hit the ground as hard as she can. Charlotte landed on her [Blue Oar] and looked at the puppet from above.

Charlotte knew that although the back of the puppet was starting to heal, it was still wounded and injured. She didn't hold herself back when she attacked her so it wasn't an injury that could heal in a blink of an eye like what she expected.

The puppet looked at Charlotte from above. The girl who she trampled underneath her feet, the hateful thief who stole her body, the person who was tormented by her, that despicable person was looking at her with her head raised high. From above, she looked down on her.

She hated how those eyes looked at her.

"You sneaky little... I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I CAUGHT YOU!"

Her biggest mistake was to let her ruthlessness take over her mind, to let her hatred blind her rational judgement, allowing her to buy some time and turn the tables around like this. Had she killed her from the beginning, then she would have ended things once for all.

[ Charlotte's Style : Lotus Manipulation : Flower Punishment ]

Her lotus petals appeared on the ceiling. Every single of them was aimed to the puppet.

The puppet saw them all and she struggled to stand. She tried to use the shinsu to create a shinsu barrier to protect herself from all directions.

"Useless attempt," Charlotte said, releasing them all together to the puppet.

The puppet tried so hard to protect her life with the shinsu barrier. The shinsu barrier managed to block some of the petals. When the petals failed to hit her, they will disappear and vanish to thin air. But even though she had protected herself from majority of the petals, some petals still manage to break her shinsu barrier and stab her all over.

One of them torn her sleeve and scratched her arm, revealing the tattoo of a black lotus.

Now, it was the puppet's turn to kneel. She looked at her blood dripping at the green grass before glaring at Charlotte again.

'This is all because of her... If only she doesn't exist....'

"Let's try it again," she said, using the same technique in order to suppress her.

Charlotte knew that as long as she maintained her distance, the puppet would have no way to attack her in her current condition. She just need to attack her continuously like this and the puppet would die anyway.

The puppet grinned, "Do you think the same trick will work against me?"

The black lotus on her hand glowed, releasing shock waves that destroyed every single pink lotus petal and turned them into ashes and dusts.

Charlotte was surprised.

When she saw the puppet again, her eyes had changed from golden to black. She looked at Charlotte with malice and confidence again. Charlotte could see it that dark purple shinsu covered her right arm. She noticed the tattoo of a black lotus.

"You like to play with flowers right? Then I'll play with you as well."

Using the same trick as Charlotte, she created dark purple- colored petals on the ceiling and then aimed them at Charlotte.

"GO TO HELL, CHARLOTTE!" She shouted as she released them all together.

They went to stab her together. At this moment, Charlotte pulled out something from her pocket. It was a small white marble at first, before it changed its appearance into a sword.

With that sword, she slashed through every single of the petal quickly, smirking at the puppet who frowned again. She pointed her sword to the puppet, indicating that she was the next to be sliced.

But although Charlotte managed to smirk, she was actually confused with what she had just seen.

'The puppet could also use lotus? How similar is her power with my power?' She wondered. 'It bothers me that her lotus is black. And as strange as it is, the offensive power of her lotus seems to be greater than mine even after I restrict it, although my lotus is more useful in healing-- wait, healing?'

Charlotte wondered, if the puppet could use the lotus flower from the beginning, if the lotus that she had was the same with her but the color, why didn't she heal herself from the beginning? Was it because she was stupid? No, no matter how hateful her enemy was, Charlotte had to admit that the puppet was a skilled fighter. And even though she was actually stupid, she couldn't be stupid to that extent right?

'It only means that she couldn't heal herself! Although the offensive power is great, but her recovery and healing speed are low!'

If she could land a fatal blow on her, it will be a game- over!

[ Charlotte's Style : Lotus Manipulation : Lotus Cage ]

The puppet was trapped inside her lotus.

'Do you think I'll let you trap me like this?'

With the dark purple shinsu on her right hand, she created a sword and broke through the lotus cage. The moment when the lotus cage was destroyed, by reflex, she jumped backward.

When she landed far from her previous spot, she felt her throat was bleeding. She looked at the one who made her throat bleed.

Charlotte jumped from her [Blue Oar] and swung her sword to her throat. If she was a split second late to dodge it, then her head would be separated from her body.

'That's not even funny!'

She gritted her teeth and leapt towards her. She pointed her sword towards Charlotte who blocked it. The next was the fight between their swordsmanship.

'I could feel it,' Charlotte thought as she retaliated and tried to stab right at the puppet's head. The puppet tilted her head and spun to her right. Her cheek was scratched by Charlotte.

'If my lotus gives others calm and peaceful feeling, then her lotus seems to be desiring for chaos.'

She wielded her sword faster and faster. The puppet didn't want to lose, so she tried to keep up with Charlotte's speed as well.

[ Charlotte's Style Lotus Manipulation : Power Boost ]

When her power became greater than the puppet's for a moment, she managed to hit the sword away. The puppet appeared to be startled before she tried to catch Charlotte's sword.

The corner of her lips were lifted.

Turning the sword into a dagger and changed her trajectory, she used the hourglass again.

[ Time Manipulation : Acceleration ]

She wielded her dagger to attack the puppet from all directions. As her speed increased by her domain, lotus, and her hourglass, the puppet couldn't see her at all. In fact, at this rate, she couldn't see even Charlotte's shadow.

'No....'

The puppet could only wonder where she went. Her body was scratched from all directions and she could only endure it. But no matter how wide she opened both of her eyes, how she tried to stay focused, she couldn't even see a strand of her hair.

'I don't want to die like this!'

She was aware that the gap between their powers suddenly increased, with her being weaker than her.

'For him,'

Her existence was more than a thief and the one who she should held responsible for ruining all her plans. In the same time, the existence of someone who stole her body and could display greater talent than her seemed to make all her efforts thriving to be stronger worthless. To see someone who was naive and a person who she found undeserving possessing those talent and strength without doing anything, she felt that everything she had endured in her lifetime for what she desired seemed to be...... futile.

'Even if I must to give up my everything,'

The amount of determination that she put to reach her goal, all her hard- works, before the child loved by Gods, bestowed with many things that others could only dream to have, she felt ridiculed. Overshadowed. Unfair.

'I think it will be worth it.'

She gave up her freedom and loyalty for strength and she was still left behind. It was a lie when the rabbit extended his hand and said that everything that she desired was at the top of the tower, as until the end,

"I CAN'T LOSE HERE!"

Black shock waves were released from her body and they suddenly became much powerful than before. Charlotte managed to dodge the shock waves right on time, knowing how threatening they suddenly became. The grasses on her [ Domain ] that stood on the paths of the shock waves turned into ashes and it became the only corner that wasn't affected with Charlotte's influence.

When the puppet created a small "hole" on her domain, Charlotte could feel pain right at her chest.

'Her power suddenly increases,' she thought, looking at the puppet who was surrounded by the black malicious shinsu. 'It seems like if something happens to [ Morning Forest ], I will also be injured.'

The shinsu that surrounded the puppet took form of black flames. Even so, the flames didn't seem to be injuring the puppet physically. It didn't leave even a scar or burn mark behind. And rather to say that the puppet has been injured physically, looking from her eyes that were now completely black, her hostility that suddenly became more powerful and her growl, Charlotte would say that the puppet seemed to lost her mind.

"CHARLOTTE! I'LL KILL YOU TODAY--!"

With her nails that suddenly became sharper with the help of the flames, she leapt towards Charlotte and swung her right arm to her neck,

"NO MATTER WHAT I MUST SACRIFICE!"

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

"Hey!! What are you standing there for!? Are you scared of me!? Bring it on! I'll beat you right down to the bone!" Rak challenged the scale.

Altaira had to admit, although the alligator has nothing but muscles and raw power, but he was actually very good in provoking others. Back then, he provoked White by calling him something like "squashed rice cake".

"Ah!! All you have are bones! Then I'll make a nice bone stew with you! Bring it on! You useless scale that couldn't even be used to make a bone stew!"

"You... little... punk...."

'Even I will get angry and curse him if I was the one insulted,' Altaira sweated dropped.

The scale suddenly appeared in front of Rak and Altaira and shouted angrily, "I'LL WIPE YOU RIGHT OFF FROM THE FACE OF THIS WORLD!"

"IT'S HERE-!"

The mirror at the scale began to glow.

'ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, ROCK-!'

"YOU'LL DIE IF YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR!"

As Khun warned them, he wielded his lighthouses.

'ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, ROCK!!!'

Miraculously, without eating a rock, rocks appeared before Rak. The lighthouses arrived on time to assist them as well.

[ Rak & Khun Shared Skill : Five Seconds Freeze and Petrification ]

"YES!!" Rak shouted in happiness.

'As expected, looking it with your own eyes is better than reading it on manhwa or book,' Altaira thought with a huge grin.

'Did those two...? Just use shinsu...?' Rachel looked at their shared skill in disbelief.

Khun pulled out his Good and Evil Monitor and hurriedly spoke, "Hwang! Hurry! It's in the Bug Room!"

"All right!" They could hear Hwang's voice from the monitor. "I'll open the gate!"

The gate was opened and behind them, they saw the Bug Room again.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Zahard pulled out another weapon, Coelacanth. It was the second form of Lecalicus, thin but with wide attack range along with straight beam of light that released shock waves.

'The range and speed of those shock waves combine with Zahard's shinsu control skill to make them unbelievable fast which makes the needle's weakness which could only attack in a straight line useless, and creates an unstoppable needle!' Khun Edahn thought.

Bam looked at his injuries. He huffed and huffed while standing on the [ Blue Oar ], holding to where he bleeds.

'I was sure that I blocked him but I got hit by few more attacks afterwards. That last one left deep wound. Scattering orb doesn't even work. It would be too dangerous to keep fighting against him. But if I lose the next core, it's all over.'

Holding Coelacanth, Zahard jumped towards him. Although he managed to dodge the main attack, the shock wave attacked him and he managed to block it. But behind him, many yellow- colored bangs were created and attacked Bam all in the same time.

But Zahard's attacks failed.

[ Bam's Style Shinsu Control Skill - Orb Defense Mode ]

He managed to defend himself by hiding inside a dark blue- colored orb. After he knew that he was fine, he left the orb and on his back, the [ Blue Oar ] has changed its appearance. Now, it took form of a pair of butterfly wings, black on the upper wings and blue on the lower wings.

He was just like a butterfly getting out of a cocoon and he could feel that it was easier to use the [ Blue Oar ] in that way.

But behind him, Zahard was prepared.

"Those are some pretty wings you have."

[ Zahard's Style Shinsu Control Skill - Cosmos ]

Like a yellow sun, there was a large yellow shinsu floating above him, filled with power. And aside from that large sun, there were two smaller "suns", surrounded by spheres that resembled "planets".

"You change and grow in an instant, like a new- born baby," Zahard admitted, "I have no idea who the hell you really are, but you certainly have the potential to reach the level of me on the outside. You must have sensed it too, right? Your friends and Hwang have disappeared."

Apparently, Bam wasn't the only one who noticed that.

"Hwang probably thinks I haven't noticed, but I know all about what he's up to," Zahard explained. "But if he puts it into a practice, it will all be over. Those guys will end up dying with regrets."

"WHAT...?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE...?!"

"Well... you'll find out once they smash the scale," Zahard gave an unhelpful and mysterious answer, but Bam had a strong feeling that it was not anything good. "On the outside, I'm the king of this tower. A king's destiny is to command everything according to his will. You picked a fight that you could never win."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

Bam faced Zahard with his [ Shinsu Black- Hole Sphere ]

"You--" He swung his hand towards Bam and the [ Cosmos ] followed his command, "WILL NEVER SURPASS ME ON THE OUTSIDE!"

With the clash between two energies, Khun Edahn was nearly pushed away.

"UGH! DO YOU INTEND TO KILL BAM, YOU FAKE?!"

The arena was half destroyed and Zahard thought that he had finished Bam in that way. His expectations were betrayed when he heard a voice,

"Destiny you say?"

Bam survived from his attack and even had the time to prepare a counter- attack. He formed another [ Shinsu Black- Hole Sphere ] with his black shinsu.

"To me, someone who declares themselves as a king without seeking the acknowledgement of others can never be acknowledged as a king," he declared. "If that's why Zahard became a king-- if he torments and killed countless of people because of that destiny, then I shall declare my destiny to be--"

"To destroy that destiny as of this moment."

He had the right to choose his own destiny according to his will and his judgement. It was something that he learnt after facing a lot of adversaries. His first goal that started to be with Rachel, to find her and then growing up to be curious more about himself before at the end accepting who he really was and declaring his own destiny, a destiny filled with thorns and dangers lurking around the corners.

But if it was something that he desired, if it was something that he could declare as a destiny, then he was prepared. He must be prepared to face it, since it was the path that he chose.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

The Scale of the Past had never seen the buildings from the Bug Room before, so he was very surprised. But as surprised as he could be, until the end, he was only thinking about his task and his main purpose; to maintain balance.

"In order to maintain the balance..."