Having now changed into a new set of simple brown tunic with a small capelet of the same color and a black trouser as his clothing after discarding his previous bloodied set of clothes, Jose walks along the road south of The Great Forest of Nok.
"I-I can't feel Andres' presence anymore…" He stopped walking, shook after getting that feeling. "Did he… moved up to floor 2…?"
After some contemplating and looking around in his surroundings... He suddenly levitate. "I need to get there fast," he said. Due to Andres' presence disappearing, he's now desperate to find him and need to get to floor 2 immediately, so right now, he's heading towards the nearest trial site.
"Grandpa… I'll bring him back, I promise." He said as he clutched the ring on the necklace he's wearing.
He flew with great speed towards the nearest trial site and a diagonal line appeared on his left eye as he searched for the place, using the power of that diagonal line, which gives him extremely powerful eyesight, able to zoom in and out from miles away while also allowing him to view through terrain and obstacles, he's managed to find it quite easily, even though it was located deep within the forest.
He slowly descended while flying and later, he is descended secretly into the forest before that trial site. After landing, he immediately continued his stride forward, "So this is it..."
After getting out of the forest, he was greeted with many climbers eager get their turn on the platform to fight in the trial. A Moderator sitting on the nearby tree watched casually while eating grapes as the climbers below duked it out in combat, with the only rule being is that there should be no killing or they'll be punished personally by the Moderator.
A winner of the current battle is finally decided, with the loser, while not dead, was severely injured. The Moderator simply healed him and said, "Come back tomorrow..." He then turned his gaze towards the winner and threw a phantom-like glowing key that is silver in color. "Here, now get the hell out here and go to the next floor." That winner then bowed "Thank you, Moderator!" And he finally got down from the platform while helping the loser who, while was healed, still felt weak from the previous battle.
The Moderator turned his gaze towards the crowd and they all roared loudly, eager to be picked to fight next.
"Me! Pick me!"
"Moderator! Let me fight!"
"Pick me please!"
"Hey!!! I wanna fight!"
A cackle of yellow lightning then erupted, catching everyone's attention. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! ALL OF YOU!" A person wearing noble clothing then goes through the crowd from the forest, zapping with lightning anyone who didn't gave way and kicking them aside.
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"Z-Zero?!" One of the climbers exclaimed.
"That's Zero?! What's a God-Kin doing here?!" The climbers are in an uproar, since it is quite rare for an Einherjar to participate in climbing the tower, these people are children of High-Rankers after all, they are born with exceptional power inherited and shared by their whole family in courtesy of Bloodline Powers being a thing, where each climber, once they became a High-Ranker, will then have their prominent powers appear among their family that share their blood, current or future. Meaning, that even when they had children before being a High-Ranker, that child or any family member such as parents, cousins, etc will also awaken that High-Ranker's prominent powers, and this is what Bloodline Powers is.
Due to Zero being one of the hundreds of children of the High-Ranker, Zeus, he of course inherited these Bloodline Powers too, and God-Kins are significantly more powerful than ordinary humanoids at birth, being classified as their own race separate from Humanoids and Demi-Humans in the Tree of Life by the scientists of the Tower.
As people gave way, Zero walked confidently with arrogance written on his face, but then, there's a guy who won't move at all. "Oi!" He called out. "Why the hell are you blocking my way?"
Jose simply answered with confusion as he turned around after being absent minded since he's thinking about Andres. "Eh?"
"Are you deaf? Get the fuck out of my way."
"B-but you have enough space to walk through." He answered, still clueless to what's going on.
"Ugh… this fucker..." Zero snickered before blasting him with a concentrated lightning blast.
A vertical line appeared on his right eye, which allows him to track any movement and using it, he intercepted the lightning blast despite its speed and caught it with his right hand. Before coming into contact his skin, a circle on his right palm lit up in green light just like the line on his eye and the lightning blast was absorbed into it without him sustaining any damage at all.
"Heh!" The Moderator smiled in amusement as he watched the altercation from the tree he's seated from, having no intention to stop it whatsoever, instead, he want to add fuel into flame.
This act angered Zero, immediately coating his body with the yellow lightning and going up to the platform in an instant with fast movement and signalling to Jose to come up.
"Come here, you bastard." He said with bloodlusted, yet somewhat calm tone.
"Hahahaha!!" The Moderator laughed in amusement, throughout his thousands of years of lifespan, it is very rare for fights like this to happen, so of course he was happy that one is currently happening. A fight that can truly make him somewhat entertained.
Every fight for the past centuries, despite being actually breathtaking for other spectators, are boring for him, since even though those fights are interesting, he already watched thousands of those by now. But with just sight alone, he's sure that these two will be able to show him an entertaining battle, since battles that actually made him entertained are less than five, and this is the fourth by now.
"What was his name again? Ah! Antonio… that guy was the winner last time… right?" He reminisce in the last battle that actually pushed him to the edge of his seat, as he recalled the overwhelming might of that guy. Who he had heard from news, was later on hailed as the White Phantom, the fastest man ever.
"Now… show me something similar." He then pointed to Jose, "You! Go and fight Zero! I order you to! As the Moderator of this trial site!"
Jose looked at him, surprised, and after standing there for quite some time, he finally walked forward to the platform, jumping up and finally facing Zero who was waiting at the other side of the dueling platform with bloodlust written on his face.