Tower climber 2 a litrpg.., p.32
Tower Climber 2 (A LitRPG Adventure), page 32
Suddenly though the already odd day became even stranger.
A giant square of mana formed across the sky.
Then, as if a portal to another world appeared, the sight of a pale man with long black hair filled the square.
He looked to be kneeling on the ground of a throne room.
For a second, the commander even thought he saw the colors of the Old Elestrian banners.
What is happening?
The figure in the screen began to speak, he was scowling at someone beyond the screen.
“I don’t have to do shit...” hissed the man. “It was all a game. All it takes is to say, ‘I’m not playing’, and these foolish rules disappear—ugh—”
The man on the screen began to gurgle as if being choked by some invisible creature.
The man let out a breath and then screamed with pain and agony.
“Okay,” he gasped. “I’ll do as we agreed. My name is The Gambler. Along with my partner, Priscilla the Performer, we work for an organization known as The Fallen Angels. Our assignment was to manufacture and orchestrate a civil war across Elestria.”
A collective gasp echoed across the battlefield.
Nat gripped his spear and stared upward at the giant screen in the sky.
None of his army mates around him were rushing forward.
“Blimey,” said one of them. “Is that the truth? Have we all been tricked?”
Nat didn’t know what to believe anymore.
He’d started the day thinking he was going to die, but die honorably taking as many New Elestrians he could with him.
Instead, he’d ended up standing around watching his king strangle a teenaged girl.
It was all quite disconcerting.
Worse, it was deflating.
Anti-climactic.
He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to fight any more. Part of him just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and try and forget today’s strange events.
The man in the screen continued to talk.
“First, we bribed the already corrupted New Elestrian council. That was easy, but to foment discontent we needed to gain control of both sides of the floor. That was a bit of a problem. The Truthseeker family could not be bribed or manipulated. Worse, their plans to introduce the parliament was so popular with the people, if allowed to go through, it would create too much hope within the people of Elestria that positive change could be achieved peacefully. We couldn’t have that, could we? In the end it was inevitable: the Truthseekers had to be assassinated.”
The crowd of soldiers was growing angry now.
Nat’s ears burned as he listened to more.
He shook his head.
Lies. It had to be!
This wasn’t the truth. This was a New Elestrian plot to trick them before their big battle.
“Once the Truthseekers were killed, creating discontent across the floor became even easier. My partner, Priscilla the Performer, took on the shape of King Edward Truthseeker and began making moves that would anger many across the floor. We played the two Elestrian societies off of each other with ease. Meanwhile, we hired mercenary clans on floors above and below this one to keep any foreign climbers from stumbling onto the chaos we were creating here. Obviously, such a move was only tenable for so long, but we only needed to do it for a few months. And who would notice? The races above Elestria don’t care about the bottom floors and the humans—they had too much going on with chaos we had created for them to notice any similarities or patterns happening elsewhere.”
The man on the screen began to laugh.
“So there you have it! Your own personal how-to guide on how to tear a floor apart. Do you really think this will make a difference? We didn’t create the hatred here on Elestria. It was here already, waiting for us. What do you think they’ll do out there when they see this? Half of them will have already killed one another. Anger is blinding. This won’t stop anything. Mark my words. The Elestrians are fools and we played them like a fiddle.”
Violet felt the pressure on her neck go away.
She gasped for air and opened her eyes.
“LIES,” screamed the imposter king.
Violet blinked, trying to get her bearings.
What’s going on? she wondered, looking around.
A giant screen glowed out in the sky above.
Max, she thought. You did it. You’ve shown the truth to my people.
Violet lifted herself up off the ground to see the imposter king pacing back and forth, yelling at the soldiers nearby.
“HOW DO WE KNOW THIS SCREEN IS EVEN TELLING THE TRUTH, HUH?” the imposter king barked at the soldiers. “THIS COULD ALL BE A LIE!”
Violet looked across the battlefield with dismay.
The soldiers weren’t going to believe this imposter after what they’d just seen, were they?
The king paced back and forth, yelling and screaming, all of which proved he was desperate.
He turned to Violet and pointed an accusatory finger.
“YOU LITTLE TRAMP,” seethed the imposter king. “YOU’VE SPOILED MY WHOLE DAY. YOU’VE LEFT ME NO CHOICE BUT TO SPOIL YOURS.”
The man unsheathed his sword and began walking towards her.
Violet felt an anger begin to bubble up inside her.
“You keep fighting with that sword,” said Violet. “My father had a much more powerful weapon than that. Proof that you’re not him in the very fact that you don’t wield it!”
Violet’s hair fluttered upwards as energy swirled around her.
Her whole body began to glow.
What’s happening to me?
She looked down to her hands that began to glow with a bright blue energy.
Casey lifted her hands to block her eyes from the bright light emanating off Violet.
Toto scurried into Casey’s hair and brought a strand up to his face to dampen the powerful light shining at him as well.
“Violet,” Casey gasped. “What’s happening?”
The New Elestrian commander watched on in awe as the young girl stretched her left arm above her head and a sharp blue bar of mana formed in her hands.
He heard the audible gasps of awe and wonder from the soldiers behind them.
“Incredible,” said the commander. “I’d heard of the power of the Truthseeker family, but it is much more magnificent to see for oneself.”
The light of the powerful mana emanating out of the girl shined across the entire battlefield, coating Nat’s face and the Old Elestrian soldiers around him with a blue hue.
The girl held out her arm and the blue bar of mana she held in her grip began to form a large pointed blade at the end of it.
The bar of mana had taken on the shape of a spear.
“It’s just as King Edward had done so long ago,” said a nearby soldier.
Nat watched on with wonder.
This magnificent display was proof that the girl had been telling the truth all along.
This girl was the real Princess Violet.
The imposter king took a step back from Violet as the energy swirled around her.
His eyes bulged with shock and confusion.
“What’s happening,” he hissed. “I don’t care how impressive your ability is! It won’t harm me, an A-ranker!”
Violet smirked and shook her head.
“You’re wrong,” she answered.
The spear in her hand kept growing and to all those who watched on, it had the portent and magnificence of a lightning bolt.
“When the truthseeker trait evolves, the user is able to manifest their weapon of truth,” Violet explained. “It is not just a high rank ability that can be measured in terms of basic stats, it is more unique than that. It can only be conjured in the face of great falsehoods and its power matches that of the lies spread.”
The imposter king’s skin was turning a ghostly white.
“Those who lie will face this weapon’s wrath,” shouted Violet. “I urge you once more imposter king: reveal yourself for what you are!”
“There is nothing to admit you crazy little girl,” shouted the imposter king. “You should be locked up in an asylum!”
Violet nodded determinedly.
“Your choice has been made. You must now face my truthseeker trait’s evolution: THE SPEAR OF TRUTH!”
Violet stretched her arm back and threw the gigantic spear of shining blue mana across the battlefield towards the imposter king.
The king snickered and reached out his arms to grab the spear.
“I’m not afraid,” the imposter king shouted, grabbing hold of the spear as it flew through the air.
The man gripped the powerful spear right as it came towards him.
“Argh,” the man groaned.
The spear ripped through the man’s gloves and flesh, burning through him as the force and power of it pushed itself closer and closer to the man’s throat.
“What is happening?” hissed the imposter. “This is impossible! You are so much weaker than I am.”
Suddenly, the king standing before all of them began to morph.
It transformed into the shape of a young girl.
“Don’t hurt me,” it squealed.
Everyone watched in horror.
The shapeshifter then turned into a kitten with big beady eyes, all the while its paws still holding onto the spear of the truth as it burned through its grip, pushing closer and closer to their throat.
The imposter morphed into a dozen different strange beings—children, animals, monsters, famous men and women—all while gripping the spear of truth with all his might.
STAB!
The spear broke through the imposter’s grip and then right through the false king’s jugular.
The imposter morphed into a long-haired woman with blood and drool dripping down her chin.
Her true form.
The woman collapsed onto the ground of the battlefield, dead.
The woman’s body quickly disintegrated into black dust, leaving behind a single black feather.
Nat stood in awe at the power of Princess Violet Truthseeker.
She had defeated an evil scourge that had been haunting their country against all odds, when very few believed her, himself included.
Nat found himself wiping a tear from his eye and planting his hand on his chest.
When other soldiers began to kneel and swear their allegiance to the powerful princess who was brave enough to stand between two massive armies, Nat followed suit gladly.
After months of only angry hateful thoughts, Nat smiled as a more optimistic one fluttered into his mind.
I’m happy you’re back, princess.
“They’re all kneeling, sir,” said the New Elestrian commander’s assistant.
The commander watched the moment with heart struck compassion.
“Shall we ready the troops to attack,” said the assistant.
The commander ignored his assistant and marveled at the girl’s bravery.
She was an Elestrian they could all be proud of.
The commander held his arm up to indicate he wanted the soldiers to remain still.
He walked three meters ahead of the front lines so the majority of the army could see him.
He thought about the words that evil man had spoken on the screen above the sky.
He had spoken a truth he hadn’t wanted to admit.
A truth many in New Elestria had been running from.
“The New Elestrian Council was easy to bribe and corrupt” the man had said.
Their country wasn’t the bastion of hope they had once believed it to be.
The commander slowly went down to his knees on the ground and placed his hand on his heart.
He would swear fealty to this young princess.
Even if the army behind him murdered him for it.
He didn’t care.
The future didn’t belong with New Elestria, the commander thought.
It didn’t belong with Old Elestria either.
The future belonged to one united country, under one flag and one banner.
Elestria.
Casey watched in shock as the New Elestrian commander bowed to Princess Violet.
What happened next was even more shocking.
All the New Elestrian soldiers behind the commander began to drop down and kneel for the Old Elestrian princess.
Casey walked up to Violet who was standing alone in the battlefield, panting for breath.
She placed a hand on the shoulder of her friend.
“Look Violet,” Casey said. “You did it.”
Violet smiled at Casey as she took in the soldiers of both Old and New Elestria bowing down around them.
“I couldn’t have done it without you and Max,” she smiled.
One by one the bowing soldiers dropped their weapons onto the ground.
The gray clouds lifted and the sun shone forth across the battlefield.
The fighting was over.
Elestria had been saved.
75
A loud triumphant cheer echoed from the battlefield outside, reaching all the way to the halls of power inside the palace.
The Gambler stayed motionless on the ground.
“It’s over,” said the red-haired boy. “Face it: you’re nothing without your games.”
The Gambler began to chuckle and then laugh manically.
“You fool,” said The Gambler and then in a flash of a second grabbed three playing cards from his jacket and threw them at the boy.
His playing cards were imbued with the mana of an A-ranker and would easily slice through this boy’s flesh.
The cards smacked into the wall behind the boy and fell to the floor.
“What the—” hissed The Gambler.
The red-haired boy stood in front of him, still alive. His skin had gone transparent.
“Thank you,” said the boy. “Before we’d come up to Elestria, I’d added a new ability to my arsenal, just in case. Up until now, it looked like I wasn’t going to have an opportunity to use it.”
The Gambler bristled at the boy’s words.
“Have you heard of invincible slimes?” said the boy. “They have a very cool phase-out ability. I made sure to add it to my arsenal attacks right before we came to Elestria.”
The bastard, The Gambler thought. I can no longer delay the inevitable. I must accept the loss.
He reached into his hand and pulled out a small pill.
Max’s eyes bulged as he saw what his opponent was about to do.
He instantly triggered shadow blink.
“Ugh,” groaned The Gambler.
Max had reappeared right behind the man and grabbed his arms.
“I’d kill you straightaway for all you’ve done,” Max hissed. “But I know there are more of you. Who are the other Fallen Angels? Why are you trying to harm so many people?”
The man’s body began to shake, the veins in his skin going black.
“What’s going on?” said Max. “I stopped you from swallowing that pill!”
The Gambler laughed.
“You foolish foolish boy,” said The Gambler. “There’s a reason those of us who work for my organization take this pill with ease, because the alternative is way—”
The man writhed in pain as the black lines on his veins grew thicker and thicker.
Max shook the man.
“Tell me what you were trying to accomplish here in Elestria,” shouted Max at the dying man.
The man chuckled, even as he was seconds away from death.
“You’re all fools. The coup in Zestiris. The civil war in Elestria. It’s all a distraction as we prepare for our true purpose,” hissed The Gambler as his skin began to crack and disintegrate into black dust.
Soon Max was looking at nothing but a black feather on the floor of the throne room.
He stood up and walked over to the window and saw the battlefield, the soldiers all cheering triumphantly with happiness and glee.
The battle was over.
They had won.
But something told Max, the worst was still yet to come.
76
The very next evening, Princess Violet held a celebratory feast in the palace of the newly united Elestrian capital.
Max and Casey were given the royal treatment and provided with tailors and seamstresses so that they could wear full royal garb at the dinner.
Toto was even made a new bow tie.
It was purple to represent the official colors of the newly united Elestria.
The feast was held in the royal dining hall. They sat at a grand table where Violet was positioned at the very head of it.
As honored guests, Max and Casey sat right next to the princess on her left.
There were a few familiar faces at the table.
The former commander of New Elestrian army sat on one end. The man had been promoted to commander of the united country’s soldiers.
Trenton, the guard, sat further along.
The table was full of delicious-looking food. Roast chickens, seasoned potatoes, yams, gravy, honeyed apples, and more.
Casey was practically drooling at all the food and had lifted up her hand to have a bite, which Max had to swipe away.
“We’re not allowed to eat until the princess tells us to,” said Max.
Casey’s stomach growled.
“Why are they making us go through such torture?” she groaned.
Violet giggled nearby and said, “Here, let me end the torture.”
She lifted up a glass of wine and the murmuring across the table quieted down.
“Honored guests, thank you so much for coming,” smiled Violet. “I owe everyone in this room a great many thanks and I hope to reward each and every one of you over the coming days, but tonight, I’d like to raise a glass for the two people who helped me most during these difficult times for our country. Max and Casey, human climbers of Zestiris. Elestria thanks you for your help and aid. I thank you for everything you have done for me and my people.”
Everyone at the table clapped heartily and Max looked down to his shoes with embarrassment.
