WEEPING GODS II: Arcana Tower and The Tainted Godhood

First Floor

   I wanted to save them. I wanted to free them from this misery. I couldn’t bare the fact that these innocent lives suffer every single seconds. It hurt me. It hurt my heart. Now that I stood before the very thing, my heart was clenching to eradicate it. To finally set them free..

   “Yue!!!” He shouted as he ran to her.
   Yue was dead. She was drained dry. All that was left was just her skin and bones.
   “Yue!! No!!” Rei was beyond shocked. He was trembling. He looked at the tower sharply. “You..!! You monster!!” He cursed. “I will kill you!! I will definitely kill you!!!”

…

   Rei let go of Yue’s passing. He carried her into the nearby tree and put her there, leaning to it. He prayed for her for a while. Rei then glanced the tower. The striking aura was stabbing him. He braved himself, in fact, he was not scared at all. Rei was too furious to even get scared. He wanted to kill the person who ended Yue’s life.
   Rei stood up. He turned around and walked to the tower. Expressionless and stoic, he entered it.

   Lights started to flickering as he entered, it lit up the place. Rei was greeted by a long corridor that seemed to be endless. Yue was right, the dimension inside the tower didn’t correspond with the outside.
   As Rei went deeper into the corridor, he saw many big picture frames hanged on the wall on each side of the walls. He saw the figure on each pictures. He saw the man who’s ability can copy others, then the Zhou’s siblings. He then stopped at one picture. It was Yue.

   ‘Was she part of this tower before..?’ Rei wondered.

   He went further. The frames started to change into more glamorous and beautiful. He spotted Zhong and the other man that transported him on the pictures. Finally, he reached the end of the corridor. A dead end. A giant frame was hanged there, a picture of a man he didn’t know. But Rei was certain that that man was the one that killed Yue. The one that he needed to kill to end the virus.

   Suddenly, the corridor rumbled. It shifted. Rei quickly unsheathed his blade. He looked around. The corridor changed its appearance. It shifted into something more of a library. Books were flying around, trying to knock Rei down. Rei dodged all of it, though getting hit by one won’t damage him.

   “Isn’t it beautiful?” A voice heard. A woman.

   Rei looked around. All the books were still flying around and rearranging themselves into shelves. Rei didn’t spot the woman.

   “Kamikazean~” She said in a lustful tone. “Does my ability amaze you?” She asked.

   The voice echoed from place to place, Rei couldn’t locate the exact place where the voice originated.
   “Hey.. Kamikazean.” The voice suddenly became so close.
   Rei was thrown off-guard. She was right behind him. Rei could see her hair flowing over his shoulder. He glanced just a bit and slightly caught her face. Rei jumped forward, he leaped and turned around to face her. But she was gone. Rei looked around. Where has she been? Rei thought.
   “Zheng Jie.” The voice came again. “My name.”
   The middle part of the library, happened to be where Rei stood on, changed into some sort of flower garden.
   “What yours, Kamikazean?” The voice appeared on his back again, but as Rei turned around, she was already gone.
   “What’s the benefit for you if I tell you my name?” Rei asked as he inspected the surrounding.
   “Oh come on..” She showed herself for a moment in front of Rei, then vanished immediately. “I just wanted to address you by your name.”
   Rei was surprised by how she immediately vanished like that. He wondered how strong her ability was.
   “So what is it, Kamikazean. Your name.” She insisted.
   Rei gripped his sword tight. He readied his stance.
   “Oh..? Alright then. That’s fine by me.” She said. “Nameless one. Time to die.”

   All of Rei’s surrounding began to come crashing down to him. The shelves, the garden, the walls, everything. Rei looked at all of it. He calculated it. As all of it came closer to him, he took a deep breath.
   “Thunder flash.” He said.
   He made a circular motion, breaking all things that came to him in all direction. It all shattered, revealing a massive empty chamber. He also saw the woman, standing far from him. She seemed to be surprised by how Rei just escaped her attack.
   “So this is the original look of the tower?” Rei looked around. “How ugly.”
   The woman gathered back her composure. She smirked.
   “No one ever survived my ability before. Master was right. You’re indeed different.” She said.
   “Now that I looked at it, your ability is quite weak. Zhou Ling is way stronger than you.” Rei dashed to her, ready to strike her.

   “Blood moon virus.” She reached out her hands, aiming it at Rei. “Void of limitless fantasy.”

   Before Rei could even reach her, he was teleported somewhere else. A open and wall-less place. Rei looked around, inspecting what place he had been teleported. Field on grass on a sunny day. There seemed to be no wall that Rei could breach. The field have extended infinitely.
   “Do you think..” The woman appeared on his back. “That my ability is weak?”
   Rei turned around. Once again, she was gone. A rumble then could be hear from his back. Rei turned around again. At the distance, gigantic centipede emerged from the ground. It rushed to Rei. Rei was surprised. He held his sword tight. He dashed forward to the centipede. The thing jumped and about to strike Rei from mid-air. Rei looked up. He performed thunder flash while running. He didn’t attack the centipede rather than blinked to the very rear of it. He was behind the centipede now. The thing didn’t realised it. Rei then glanced back. Another flash, it penetrated all of the centipede’s body and it exploded into pieces. The place began to disintegrate and Rei returned to the chamber. He stood at the very same place as before.

   “Eh..? Why..?” The woman was confused. “Why are you still alive..?”

   Rei didn’t say a word this time. He charged at the woman, ready to perform a flash.

   “Void of limitless fantasy.” The woman casted in confusion.

   Rei was transported again to somewhere else. He was outside of the tower. He saw Yue’s lifeless body on the tree.
   ‘Is this.. reality?’ Rei wondered. He pinched his own cheek. It hurt. ‘This is real..’
   Soon, countless mindless started to swarm him. Rei did his best to slay them all off. Several times he did thunder flash. After a gruesome unbalanced battle, Rei killed all of them. He looked to the tower’s entrance. It was still open. He ran inside. The endless corridor was dark. Rei kept running. He finally met the woman in the middle of the corridor. She face was utterly confused. Rei immediately sliced off her neck.

   He returned back to the chamber. He was on the very same place as before, the distance was same. He looked at the woman. She was still alive. Before was just an illusion. After third time he experienced it, he finally got it. But Rei was left wondering. How can he defeat her, as she could activate her ability from a far. Could thunder flash be fast enough before she activated her ability?
   Rei stared at the woman. Her confused face was still showing. She still couldn’t comprehend how Rei survived all of her attacks.

   “Thund—”

   Rei was already teleported into somewhere else. He was surprised by how fast she could do it. She didn’t even need to say anything. It all happened in a blink of an eye. Where was he now? Rei looked around. He was in a dark place. He couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, he felt a punch to his abdomen. Rei slashed to his front, but he didn’t hit anything. Then another hit came to his back. Rei struck his blade, making a circular motion, but still, he didn’t hit anything. How could he defeat something that he couldn’t see?
   Rei was getting desperate. He was hit in every direction. The hit wasn’t fatal, but it was getting a bit annoying. He was more afraid that he will be stuck in there forever. In that desperation, Rei performed thunder flash. A flick of a light happened during the attack, Rei could see the surrounding at least for a fraction of a second. Just a few milliseconds of light. He didn’t know nor care the direction of the flash, he just wanted to see his surrounding.
   Rei performed many thunder flashes, he started to grasp his surrounding. The room he was in. It was quite small since Rei hit the wall every two flash without turning his body into different direction. Rei kept doing flash to scan, to illustrate the room in his mind. Finally, after what it seemed to be countless flashes, Rei completed the scan and found something rather valuable, a light switch. He walked to it calmly despite being punched over and over. Rei flicked the switch and the room lit up.
   It was like a bedroom, quite big for it, but it was a bedroom. All the furniture were broken apart from his flashes. Rei also saw two shadowy figures lurk around, occasionally ran to him and punch him. Rei tried to evade their attack. It was quite easy since their speed was quite slow. They didn’t react to the sudden shift of Rei’s movement and kept the trajectory of their attack, hitting the wall.
   ‘A weak attack..’ Rei thought.
   Rei was right. The point of this attack was not to kill him, but to trap him eternally in darkness. Too bad the woman didn’t calculate for this. Rei let the figures charged at him, and without even doing thunder flash, he slashed both of their necks. His doing collapsed the entire room and Rei was brought again to the chamber. To the very same position, very same distance between the woman.

   “How can you escape..?” She was devastated.

   Rei didn’t waste a time and immediately flashed to her. He sliced her neck.
   “Weak.. your ability was just troublesome, it was weak compared to the previous ones.” Rei said as he sheathed his blade.

   “Really..?” Her voice was heard.

   It shook Rei. Rei turned around. He was back at the very same spot. Her neck was not cut by him.

   “Is my ability that weak?” She asked.

   ‘What..’ Rei was confused. ‘I’m sure I sliced her neck.. how am I back here..’

   “If it’s really that weak, I would be dead by now. If someone is weak in this room, it would be you. Nameless one.” She mocked.
   ‘What is this..’ Rei tried to figure it out. ‘Why am I always return to here..’

   “Blood moon virus.” She reached out her hands.
   ‘That thing again. I couldn’t figure out what her true ability is.’ Rei breached himself, ready for another shift in place.
   “Void of limitless fantasy.” She casted.

   Rei was teleported into another place yet again. A snowy tundra. He was on a flat surface on top of a mountain. It was cold, bone chilling cold. Rei unsheathed his blade so it won’t get stuck in the sheath due to being frozen. Rei was having a difficult to breath too. He looked around, looking for a place to cover his head. There was none. No one was coming to attack him either. She sent him to die due to frost.

   “You got to be kidding me!!” Rei slashed the ground using thunder flash.
   The ground shook. The snow layer was melting, revealing a rock ground that was cracked. Rei looked at it.
   “If there’s no place to cover myself, then I’ll make it!”
   Rei performed many flashes towards the ground, making a large hole deep into the mountain. As he kept going further down, he accidentally broke a bedrock. It shattered the whole surrounding, bringing Rei back into the chamber.

   ‘What is her ability..’ Rei looked at her. ‘Her attacks are not that powerful, but it’s really annoying.’

   “Void of the limitless fantasy.” She casted again.

   It kept going over and over and over again. Rei was thrown into many different places. Jumping from the chamber and the next location over and over. It drained his mental health. Rei was growing tired of it.

   “What is her ability!?” Rei shouted. He was thinking really hard. “Why do I keep returning to that chamber!?” Rei kept doing thunder flash everytime he returned, he was sure that he cut her neck each time, yet she was still alive. “Why is she still alive!?”
   Rei was furious. “She kept casting those ability! Those void of limitless fantasy!” Then it slowly hit him. “Void of limitless fantasy.. limitless fantasy..” It hit him. “Fantasy!”

   Rei returned to the chamber. He stared at her. She reached out her hands.
   “Blood moon virus. Void of limitless fantasy.” She said.
   “All of this..” Rei was moved into another place. “All of this is just a fantasy. An illusion.”
   Rei escaped from the place real quick. He returned to the chamber. He then performed a flash, cutting her neck.
   “What is it? You’re still trying? You are still thinking that I am weak?” She said.
   Rei returned to the very same position. It confirmed him.
   “This place.. this very chamber.. is just another illusion!” Rei shouted.
   “Hmm? Is it so?” She reached out her hands.
   Rei was transported into different place once again.
   “But how though.. how can I escape from the illusion?” Rei was teleported into a middle of a battleground. Many mindless swarmed at him, yet he didn’t care at all. He was thinking about a way to escape whilst fighting them.

   He then returned to the chamber. He looked to the woman once more. He gripped the handle tight. “If this is just an illusion.. and that I can’t attack you.. then there’s just one thing I can do.” Rei aimed the blade to himself. He rest his neck on the blade tip. “That is.. to kill myself!! Thunder flash!!”

…

   Rei was abruptly woken up. He opened his eyes and realised that he was knocked unconscious while still standing up. His blade was one that held him up as it stuck to the floor. He looked around. It was the very same chamber as before. At a distance from him the woman was also woken up. She coughed up blood.
   “You..!” She stared at him. “How dare you!”
   ‘Is this another illusion..?” Rei pulled his blade. He was ready to attack her.
   “I’ll kill you! I shred you to pieces!” She shouted as she reached out her hands. “Blood moon virus! Infini—”
   ‘That’s it. The ability’s name changed. This is reality.’ Rei immediately dashed to her. “Thunder! Flash!!”
   Lightning emitted from him. Before the woman knew, Rei was already on her back. Her hands quickly went to her neck, but something was missing. Rei had cut her hands instead of her neck.
   “Aaarrgghhh!!! It hurts!!!!” The woman screamed in pain. She kneeled down. She looked at her severed hands. “It hurt so much!!!”
   Rei cleaned his blade from blood and sheathed it. He walked to the front of the woman. The woman looked up to him. Rei noticed that her hands started to regenerate. The explanation he was given was right, the virus grant rapid regeneration to all damaged area as long as the neck was still intact. But Rei also noticed that her regeneration was quite slow.
   “Agghh..” She looked to the floor. “It hurt so bad..” She started to tear up.
   ‘Is it what I think it is?’ Rei kneeled down, he sat on the floor. ‘Her ability compesate for her lack of raw virus strength. She couldn’t heal fast enough like the others.’
   “What do you want!? Just kill me already!” She shouted to Rei.
   “I need some information.” Rei said. “I hate fighting a troublesome enemies like you. It drains my mental health. Well.. I believe that’s the point, to crush me pyschologically.” Rei looked at her in the eyes. “Is there a way I can directly go to the highest floor? To your master.”
   “Why do I even need to answer that..” She replied.
   “Well so you.. your regenerative power is quite slow. And I know for a fact that as long as your body is connected to your head, you’ll still live. So what if.. I cut all of your limbs off? Of course I won’t do that if you answer me.” Rei offered.
   The woman was shocked. She was overwhelmed by fear. “No.. don’t do that..” She was trembling. “I’ll tell you.. I’ll tell you!”
   “Good. Go ahead.” Rei said.
   “There’s.. there’s no shortcut. Each floor is guarded by a powerful successor. You need to face them off one by one, climbing your way to the highest floor.” She said.
   “Eh.. that’s unfortunate..” Rei commented. “You’re not lying, right?” Rei hovered his hand to the sword handle.
   She noticed it. “No!!” She shouted in fear. “That’s the only way! And master is not on the highest floor!”
   “Hmm? What do you mean by that?” Rei asked.
   “Jiang Qiao!” She shouted someone’s name.
   “Jiang Qiao?” Rei repeated.
   “The empress’s grandfather. His left eye controls a pocket domain where master hides. It’s not part of his virus ability, rather than his own. If you can get hold of his left eye, I believe you can reach where master is.”
   “Good.” Rei stood up. He walked past her. “Now how can I go to the next floor..?”
   A ruckus then heard from behind him. He turned around. His eyes were widened by surprise. The woman was left like Yue. Dried up. The man was watching them all this time, he didn’t tolerate any betrayal.
   Another ruckus was heard. Rei turned to face where it came. The ceiling opened up, from there, staircases came down, showing him the way to the upper floor. Rei held his sword handle, ready to draw it as he walked to the stairs.

   ‘He’s challenging me.’ Rei went up the stairs.