Jose was traversing through the mountains with just one thing in his mind. "Just where is Andres?" He uttered worriedly as he catch his breath.

Because of the line that's on his forehead, which he's been using since the floor 1. He's able to feel the presence of any individual he had met before, no matter where they are in the world. But since each floor of the tower is a world of its own, he wasn't able to feel Andres' presence in floor 1 as the latter had already moved up to floor 2. However, now that he's here, while he certainly can feel Andres' presence and his most likely location, the farther they are from each other, the more inaccurate this detection becomes, which is why Jose's trying to go to the direction where the prescence was felt, to try to close the distance between them and maybe find Andres.

He can still vividly remember Andres' departure after burying their grandfather, a massive altercation ensured between them. He can still vividly remember the faces of the killers, but wasn't able to find out who they are even until now. He can still remember the sadness he felt and the way he cried on that day, along with the way Andres expressed his anger after the burial.

They buried him behind their farmhouse at that day. The crops are plentiful during that time and are all just awaiting to be harvested later in the day after they finished their preparations, but instead, strangers broke into their house, trapped their grandfather in an area using magic and killed him there.

Despite the lively, sunny day, with bright clouds freely hanging from the sky, a temperature perfect for a picnic and maybe a swim by the river after their work at the farm is done. With warm rays of sunlight shining down from the heavens but yet, the atmosphere between the two were heavy. They stood motionless, their hearts were broken to a million pieces after their world came crashing down.

"I'm going to find them… I'll kill them…" Andres uttered while looking at the spot where they buried the old man, clenching his hands so hard that blood began dripping from them.

"Andres…" Jose spoke with a voice full of worry while glancing to the side, yet kept to himself.

"Jose, you're going to stay here, got it? I don't want you to get hurt… I'll go and kill the fuckers that did this." Despite almost tearing, not because of sadness but anger, Andres held them back as he looked down.

"Wait… you don't mean…"

"I'll find them, I will destroy them the same way we are right now. I will make them grovel at my feet like maggots…! They better pray that I kill them during a fight or I'll torture them relentlessly…" Andres then pat Jose's shoulder as he walked away.

"Please, Andres…! This is not what grandpa wants! He… he just wants us to live peacefully!" Jose turned around to his departing brother.

"Then live peacefully! I'm not asking you to go with me and I will never do something that will endanger you like that! So live here! Just like what he wanted for you!"

Andres continued walking away with heavy steps filled with anger yet Jose grabbed his shoulder as he walked.

"Don't, please…" Jose spoke sincerely as his emotions overflowed and manifested as tears.

"Don't stop me please, we both know you can't stop me… Jose…"

"I will do my best… Grandpa do not want this…"

"You really would not listen…"

The vertical lines appeared on both of his eyes as Jose wiped the tears off of them and almost immediately, spikes made of flesh rushed up from the soil beneath him.

Stolen story; please report.

Crack—!

Whoosh—!

His eyes widened as he saw them approach him at an alarming speed and so, he hopped away.

"You don't have the strength to stop me from doing this, Jose!"

While mid-air, Jose answered back. "I won't let you… Brother…!" He tried initiating an attack by opening the circle from his left palm to throw out many projectiles, but stopped midway, not wanting to desecrate the grave below.

Suddenly, he just felt a strong force grabbing him from behind by his clothing.

"Let's not damage gramps' grave." Andres uttered coldly as he tossed Jose far away from their farm and onto the plains.

With a loud thud and dust being kicked up, Jose felt as if some of his bones shattered upon impact which created a crater around him.

"Andres…!" Gritting his teeth, he enabled his regeneration via the line across his nose, as it lit up in ethereal green, he felt his bones rearranging themselves back up and he quickly jumped back up by slamming his palms on the ground to face his brother.

He activated two of the five dashes on his right shoulder which then gave him tenfold more strength and also the two lines behind his right leg, which then granted him four times his usual speed.

As Andres came flying towards him, he readied himself, and on Andres' right arm, a large blade made of flesh and bone was formed, large enough that it is surely able to cut Jose in half if the he landed an attack with it.

'At this distance, I can easily react to this…' Jose though to himself. But why would Andres take an approach where Jose can easily react to? Considering that they know most of each other's abilities and combat style.

'He's making me drop my guard?' With that thought, in a split second, Jose activated the diagonal lines on both of his eyes, one allowing him to view far away and through obstacles, even underground, and the other granting him the vision to see around himself in a 360° fashion.

Surely enough, in just a fraction of a second that Andres arrived there, he had already set up multiple hidden tendrils underground. These tendrils rushed up as Andres closed in on a certain distance but since Jose already knew of them, he could deal with them now.

A black sphere appeared to surround Jose and as the tendrils approached it, they instantly decayed into nothingness. He instantly dispelled the sphere and faced Andres who didn't give much thought to the failed attack but focused instead with relentless swings of the blade on his arm.

Jose quickly retrieved a pair of metal sticks as he dodges the first few attacks and they finally engaged in a heated melee combat.

Clang—!

Clang—!

Andres was getting pushed back courtesy of Jose's enhanced speed and strength but he's getting tired out now. He kicked Andres away and used the force to jump away but the latter caught up to this and quickly transformed his left arm into metal which then fired a massive sphere of red energy.

'I need to absorb this!' At the moment Jose have no choice, he can only absorb it as he currently can't dodge it due to its speed nor block it, which will do more harm than good. Not only that, because he's getting tired, absorbing it will replenish his stamina to fight more and he doesn't really have a choice right now. He knows Andres is not stupid enough to just casually fire this knowing that Jose can absorb energy and benefit off of it.

As soon as he absorbed it, Andres arrived in front of him, who had hidden an orb of metal inside the sphere that he used to teleport in front of him.

'Oh no…!' Jose was about to open his left palm to bombard Andres up close with metal from his pocket space but suddenly, his brother hugged him with his right arm that's no longer in the form of a massive blade.

"Jose, I'm sorry… I've become a disappointment to you and gramps…" He gave Jose a light tap on his abdomen with his palm and suddenly, a massive spike penetrated through it from his palm which he quickly retracted.

He continued hugging Jose as they began falling back down gently and then laid him on the ground, still holding onto his abdomen which had a gaping hole on it.

Jose coughed up blood as he looked Andres dead in the eyes, his strength quickly leaving his body.

"Y-you're… Absorbing… my blood…?" Jose asked with a soft, pained voice.

But Andres just answered with remorse. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I had to make sure you can't follow me temporarily." As he finished weakening his brother, he then began walking away. But due to his stamina being drained this much, Jose cannot muster the strength to stand up and physically stop his brother, he's just hoping that his words might stop him, which too, are futile. "Please…! Brother…!" He teared up once again, mustering every strength he have with one final cry. "PLEASE!!!"

Andres finally released all the tears he's been holding back all this time and silently cried as he walked. "Sob... I'm such a weak bastard, sorry gramps… I'm so, so, sorry… brother…"