Thane reappeared in the center of the coliseum, collapsing onto all fours. The aches withdrew, but his body still shuddered from the phantom pains.

“Thane!” Bradley shouted and rushed over. Many of the others curiously looked on with their new summons at Bradley’s sudden actions. “Are you ok? You hurt anywhere?”

Thane pushed off the ground and dusted himself off. “No, I’m fine. I think,” he replied. Looking around, he did not see the expanding and contracting ball of silver metal that was his first summon.

“Jeez, Thane. Had me worried for nothing. But what did you get? Where is your summon?”

“I think it’s stored away? I still sense it.”

“Huh? It went to the soul space where summons are stored on its own? Is that possible? I thought only we could command them to do that.”

Thane shrugged his shoulders in response. However, he was worried and curious as well, and he called out, “Summons page.”

Tower System Interface

………………………………….

(Summons)

(Status screen) | (Quests) | (Inventory) | (Tower Marketplace) | (Class Paths and Branches)

…………………………………

Name: Beta

Species: ???

LVL: Zero

Originator: ???

Contractor: Thane

Stats:

Strength: ???

Dexterity: ???

Agility: ???

Intellect: ???

Charisma: ???

Stamina: ???

Mana: ???

Skills:

Assimilation - LVL 1

…………………………………

Thane was even more confused by all the question marks on his summons page.

“Beta? Is that my summon’s name?” Thane questioned, but he could not look into it further. A shadow from the sky suddenly covered parts of the coliseum surroundings and his blue screen.

Thane and everyone else looked up into the sky. Something small blotted out the sun, and it quickly descended to their location. It grew larger and larger, flying straight at Ms. Maribell’s class with extreme urgency that it caused a sonic boom in its hurry.

A massive humanoid with six white wings shot down like a meteor from the sky. Its six wings extended long and wide in all directions, almost reaching from one end of the coliseum to the other. Some of the students screamed in fright, covering their faces as whistling wind kicked up dirt and rocks that swirled around like a tornado in the coliseum. The large humanoid flapped its wings one time, and the wind oddly and abruptly died. The giant human-like man gracefully floated down, dressed in a flowing white tunic that could not hide his muscular figure.

“What seems to be the problem, Sir Lancelot, Sepharath of the First Order?” Ms. Maribell respectfully addressed and asked the overly tall being, whose feet now touched down on the floor.

Lancelot’s blue eyes, on his clean and chiseled manly face, darted around, searching for something. However, he could not find any sign of what he was looking for. He glanced back at Ms. Maribell and spoke with a low baritone voice.

“Lady Gwenievre sensed a disturbance in the universe. It alarmed her, and I am here to investigate the ominous phenomenon. It echoed through the fabrics of all existence, partially rippling and ending in this area.”

Ms. Maribell’s face turned serious. She looked around at the new summons in the area. Many supreme beings existed in the universe, some with enough power that rivaled the Dungeons and Towers. However, the Tower System should have eliminated the possibility of interference from unwelcome or enemy factions.

The System was never wrong, both Sir Lancelot and Ms. Maribell knew and believed it. However, they could not disregard the owner of the Ivory Tower’s ominous words. They both glanced over the new summons, one by one. However, nothing was out of the ordinary. They overlooked Thane, as one of Bradley’s dual summons unknowingly covered for his lack of a summon present.

“I will report back to Lady Gwenievre. Nothing seemed unusual. The Tower System functioned normally, and no oddities were seen. It may have been an echo distortion as the new Climbers summoned their creatures through the fracture of time and space.”

Ms. Maribell nodded, but she felt uncertain. However, there was truly nothing she could do. Sir Lancelot stretched his wings. He bent his knees and launched off with a powerful flap. Feathers flew off. Dust and dirt blasted outwards, swirling around the coliseum once again as he flew off into the sky and disappeared.

The class of sixty students looked at their teacher with confused faces, waiting for an explanation that did not come.

“Class will now take a study hall session. You will all continue to familiarize yourselves with your new summons and the Tower System interface. I will leave momentarily and return. I expect no mishaps, or there will be dire consequences for those that do not heed my words.”

Ms. Maribell tried to not alarm her students by running and only hurriedly rushed out with fast-moving steps. Everyone knew something was wrong, but without further information or a dismissal, they could only follow their last orders from their teacher.

The panting young man who was punished with running five hundred laps for his cheeky remark, entered the center of the coliseum after Ms. Maribell rushed off. Although he was exhausted, he looked around at the others with an excited face.

“Whoa! How do I get me one of those?!”

No one nearby replied to the black sheep that got himself punished and distanced themselves from their classmate. They did not want to get involved with the troublemaker that got on Ms. Maribell’s bad side. However, unlike the others, Bradley happily dashed over with his dual summons in tow.

“You want one of these bad boys, right? Hi! I am Bradley. You can call me Brad. These two here are Hond and Strauf. Oh! And that guy over there is Thane.”

Hond, the burly pale and spotted-skin troll with a round pot belly that wore only a loincloth too small to hide a sleeping monster down below, followed his new giddy master and waved his club wildly in a troll-like greeting while scratching his thick-skinned bottom with his other free hand.

“Master, friend? Like skinny bone man over there? Or smash?” Hond asked with a tilted head, pointing his club back at Thane.

“He is a friend, Hond. No smashing, ok?”

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“Yes. Hond not smash. Hond like master and other friend.”

“Good! Hond you are such a good guy! Always so obedient!”

“Hond is good guy! Hond like smashing!”

Thane just looked on with a deadpan face at his happy friend and cheerful summon that just nonchalantly mentioned attempted murder. Their conversation disturbed him.

“Master, I do advise you to be a bit more prudent with your words to Hond. As your teacher said, she did not want any mishaps while she was gone.” Strauf, a dark-skinned ogre with a hulking physique in leather armor added in a gruff voice from Bradley’s right side.

“What Strauf mean?” Hond asked, titling his head. The words were too many for him to remember them all.

“You should do as our creator told you and listen to me and Master carefully before swinging that club of yours, Hond.” Strauf tried to explain in shorter terms, but it was still a bit long.

“Oh, Hond knows. That why Hond ask Master first. Strauf worry too much. Hond know what he doing. Right, master?”

“That is right, my plushy new friend!” Bradley responded, wanting to squeeze Hond like a huggable teddy bear.

“Master, I advise you to avoid putting us on your level. Although we appreciate the sentiments, you are our superior and must remain so.”

“Master is Hond friend. Hond is Master friend. Care not about what Strauf say. Strauf is poopy.”

The young man interrupted their small little world. “I’m Horacio! Brad, how can I get me some underlings just like yours!? They’re so cool!”

“Master, Hond like new friend. Old friend is boring and strict like Strauf.”

Bradley turned around and smirked at Thane, the stern voice of reason between the two of them. Thane rolled his eyes and allowed Bradley to show Horacio how to summon his first creature. He had more concerning matters over his own summon.

“Come forth, Beta.” Thane commanded.

A black fracture split the air, and the metal silver ball the size of a human head dropped down through the crack and crashed into the dirt field with a heavy rumble. It expanded and contracted in a slow and easy manner as if breathing in a deep slumber.

What are you, Beta?

“What’s this crappy lump of metal? Summoned a piece of trash, just like its trashy summoner,” Duncan ridiculed as he walked over with his hands in his pant pockets.

His slithering summon hissed as its long thick obsidian-scaled body, twice the size of an adult man, pushed the dirt beneath it side to side. Duncan looked at Thane with disdain. Thane would never be a Climber in his eyes. He smirked and walked over to the ball of metal and pulled back his foot for a kick.

“The hell do you think you’re doing, Duncan!” Thane shouted as his face warped with anger.

“This!” Duncan replied and launched a spin kick at Thane’s summoned creature.

Duncan’s foot connected with the mass of metal and a sharp metallic ringing sounded out into the surroundings. Duncan yelped, taking more damage from the kick. He jumped around in pain, holding his aching foot. Others laughed at his actions, and his eyes watered while his face distorted with embarrassment and rage.

“Enzeol! Attack that thing!” Duncan shouted at his summon.

“Yessss, Master.”

The large viper pulled back its body like a spring and launched itself at Beta. It was fast for having such a large and heavy body, slithering with rapid jerking movements with its long body from side to side and upturning the earth in its path. Before Thane could physically react, it approached and swung out its tail, smashing against the side of the ball of metal and launching it into the crowd. The others screamed at the incoming flying metal ball. They leaped off their feet and crashed into the ground as Beta whisked past them overhead.

Beta flew and crashed into the white stone walls of the arena with a loud thud before collapsing on top of some of Sir Lancelot’s feathers on the dirt floor. The snake did not give up. It rushed forward, pushing and knocking over anyone and any summon in its path as it headed straight for Beta.

“Dark Fangs! Crush and kill that useless summon!” Duncan shouted one of his summon’s skills.

He knew he would only get off with a slap on the wrist by killing Thane’s summon. His father was a high-ranking officer in the Fortuna Guild, and he got off easy too many times already.

The obsidian-scaled snake raced over toward Beta with its mouth wide open, baring its two large fangs that flared with a smokey black aura while dripping bright yellow corroding juices that melted the ground. Beta remained unmoving, simply expanding and contracting in slumber as if nothing happened. The snake was upon Beta. The corrosive drips of venom from its fangs burned holes in Beta’s exterior and awakened the sleeping summon.

Thane sensed a cry of pain rippling out from his connection with Beta.

“No! Stop, Duncan!”

“Kill it! Enzeol, Dark Fangs until it’s crushed into pieces!”

Thane sprinted forward with all his might. The entity he made a contract with would only return his parents to life and to how they once were if he fulfilled their agreement. If Beta died, then all was lost.

However, Thane was too slow.

The viper’s eyes gleamed and thirsted with frightening intentions for murder. Its fangs extended wide before snapping down and piercing through the corroded holes in Beta’s metal hull. The fangs dug deep into the metal fibers of Beta’s flesh, tearing Beta’s insides and melting it with the corroding venom.

A heart-wrenching agonizing scream screeched in Thane’s mind. The sound of pain caused him to trip, and he collapsed into a slide across the dirt.

“BETA!” Thane desperately screamed, pushing himself off the ground. His hopes of reuniting in a warm embrace with his lost family were being torn apart by the viper continuously crunching down and ripping pieces out of his summon.

“Call your summon back to the soul space, Thane!” Bradley shouted.

His friend's urgent voice snapped some logic and reason back to him.

“Return, Beta!” Thane hurriedly shouted, right as Duncan’s summoned viper went in for the final blow.

Beta vanished, taking along with it chunks of itself that were torn off along with dirt, feathers, venom, and silver blood that bled out and clung onto the ball of metal. The snake’s snout quickly snapped down at nothing but thin air.

“You bastard! You tried to kill my summon!” Thane turned back and shouted at Duncan. Duncan’s posy came over and stood by his side, all of them smirking at Thane and the other Climbers that originated from outside the Tower.

“Better dead now. That useless thing couldn’t even fight, and you can’t even make a decent contract. You probably begged on your knees with the supreme being you dealt with, and they still only gave you crap. You’re all just Climbers in name, but you outsiders who only lived outside the Tower are all useless trash. The Tower should use its resources for those like us, who actually can do something. Pathetic losers, all of you.”

Bradley and Horacio rushed over to Thane.

“Master, Hond smash stupid shiny man and yummy black snake? Can Hond eat black snake and wear shiny dead man clothes?” Hond asked eagerly, swinging his large club back and forth over his head.

“At your command, Master,” Strauf lowered his stance.

Sensing the threatening duo, the obsidian viper hurried back to Duncan.

“We need to teach that damn stuck-up Duncan a lesson! Get ready, Hond, Strauf!” Bradley shouted, glaring angrily at Duncan and his gang.

“Yes, Master!”

“Yey! Hond smash and eat snake!”

“Count me in! At the ready, Azaelia!” Horacio exclaimed, jumping along with Bradley.

Horacio’s icy blue bird, with frosty white plumes coming off its head, whined, “Do we have to, Master? I don’t like that snake and that arrogant guy over there.”

“All the more reason to freeze their asses, right? Rain down some icicles, Hail Storm, Azaelia.”

The large bird, the size and height of an adult man, fluttered its wings and lifted into the sky. An icy wind swept through the surroundings as dark clouds covered the sky. The temperature dropped to a freezing cold as daggers of solid ice formed below the clouds. Duncan’s gang did not wait and called their summons to retaliate at the impending attack.

However, a familiar broad-shouldered man suddenly appeared and stopped the fight.

“Enough. Cease all your attacks! Why are you all fighting amongst yourselves when we should be fighting the Dungeon and its Heathens?!” Vice Guild Master Liam shouted as he flashed in from the seating area of the coliseum.

“What’s wrong, Liam? My boy was simply taking out the trash? They merely are Climbers in name, but they can never erase their disgusting lineage as non-Climbers. We do not need such useless burdens,” a man who looked like an older but scrawnier version of Duncan retorted as he also appeared from the stands.

The dark-brown-haired man looked younger than his age. His hands and skin were soft and unblemished, as well as pale from staying and enjoying life away from the dangerous world inside closed doors within the Tower.

“Dad! Those insects dared to insult me and tried to attack me and the true Climbers! They need to learn their place!”

“I will show them, son. Step back.”

“Ha! How ridiculous for the coward of Fortuna to get involved with a dispute between newbies! You disgrace! I will be your opponent, Dylan!”

“Shut up, Liam! Just because you outrank me doesn’t mean shit! You Adonis bastards always get in our way! I will show you and your group of worthless thieving outsiders the consequences of your existence!” Mana burst from his heart and Dylan channeled it to his hand. “Rapture! Burn down the Heavens!”

The dark clouds evaporated and disappeared, replaced by a huge molten ball of fire ever expanding bigger and bigger above the coliseum.

“Dylan, you shithead! You dare risk the lives of everyone here!”

“Idiot, just your worthless lives. Burst! Divide and scatter!”

The giant ball of sparking molten fire split into smaller balls of fire, taking aim at all the Climbers who originated outside of the Tower.

The flat thorny voice of Ms. Maribell echoed into the surroundings. “You again, Dylan? I told you last time I would let your foolish son slide because of a favor I owed to Fortuna. However, my debt has been long repaid, and now you dare attack my students?!”

“They are worthless, Anna! They don’t deserve such privileges!”

“I will make that decision! And I decided that you’re stupid bullshit ends here! It seems you forget who I am, Dylan. You will take my punishment for underestimating the top ex-ranking Climber of the Ivory Tower! Come forth, Kazeo, Sovereign of the Twilight!”

An immense pressure slammed down from the sky on everyone in the coliseum. All the newbies and their summons collapsed onto the ground. Dylan staggered, struggling not to fall down. Liam withstood the heavy aura, but beads of sweat rolled down his rugged face.

Like the fire of a match dowsed into the waters of the ocean, Dylan’s balls of fire in the sky were immediately consumed and dissolved into a twisting of light and darkness in the sky. A massive being, the size of Sir Lancelot, phased into existence from the warping of space. Half of her face was dark and smirking with an evil grin, while the other half was light and smiling with Heaven’s grace.

Her odd contrasting grin stretched from ear to ear, revealing a set of razor-sharp serrated teeth. She sucked in all of Dylan’s meteor spell like sipping through a straw. Covering her mouth she let out a fiery burp before looking eagerly down at Dylan for more.

“Keep them coming, young man. That was a nice appetizer.”

“Quiet, Kazeo.” Ms. Maribell sternly commanded with a cold voice.

“Someone is in trouble,” she meekly responded while twirling the silky white hair on the ‘light’ side of her body with an expectant look.

“I didn’t forget you were once the top ranker of the Ivory Tower, Anna! You need to remember that Fortuna helped you obtain your cherished items that saved your siblings! I helped you acquire it! They are alive and well in the Tower today because of me!”

“And I paid it back too many times already. I owe you nothing anymore, Dylan. However, you risking the lives of my students, the future protectors of all humankind, is unforgivable!”

“They will never amount to anything even close to that! They’re all scoundrels, living outside the borders of the Tower, taking away useful resources that we need! And don’t you dare forget! Your siblings would be dead without me and my help! Is this how you repay your savior!?”

Ms. Maribell gritted her teeth. “You have used that excuse too many times! I swear on my name as a Climber of the Ivory Tower that this is the last time I let your antics slide! Next time, prepare yourself for a fight! Or be beaten into a bloody pulp! Leave and don’t you dare try something so foolish in front of me again!”

Dylan glared at everyone there and stormed off, yanking his son in tow.

The expectant fight or beating that Kazeo excitedly waited for did not ensue. Her summoner went to pick a fight with Vice Guild Master Liam, and she was left with nothing to do. So she glanced around, but suddenly felt something off.

What is this faint unsettling feeling? What happened here? Who or what is the cause of all this?