Disclaimer: Tower of God is the property of Slave. In. Utero and Naver. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
A New Challenger Approaches!
Tower of Glorious Bastards
Chapter One
Darkness all around me, clouding my vision...That's new. Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Those poor souls used their once in a lifetime wish on trying to get rid of me, after all.
Hmph.
Perhaps I should have gotten the specs for that ritual before cutting them all down.
Oh well.
A blue light huh. Seems to be approaching me, growing in intensity. I wonder what's coming ne-!?
A man's figure materializes on a vast stone floor, bathed in a shining blue light. He looks up from where he has appeared on the dusty floor, and stands up. Dusting off an otherwise immaculate suit, the expressionless man takes in his surroundings. His blond hair slicked back, aside from three prominent curls descending past his forehead, framing a face appearing to be hewn from wood made into flesh. The flickering torchlight reveals his current location to be no mere cave, but a manmade hall, the walls adorned in frescos, carvings, and murals. The man's gaze flickers over those closest to him, depicting a series of images which somehow compel him to take notice. A being of fused flesh and machine. A church nestled in a city stretching into the clouds. A drooling demon standing atop a sea of corpses. A man standing alone in an inferno, his expression one of utmost loathing. And the last of the series, the face of an angry god, sitting atop the throne of a tyrant, flanked by four shadows stretching into the distance. But the man's gaze sharpens. If he can just shift the angle of his view a little bit, it's almost as if the image shifts into…
"Do you like them?" A voice whispered to his side, drawing the man's attention with it's whimsical tone. He turned to his side in annoyance, where a creature now stood, it's figure resembling nothing so much as an eyeless rabbit in a blue vest made of velvet, it's hands disproportionately large, with three fingers on each.
The blond figure raised in eyebrow in skepticism, taking in the creatures sudden appearance, "They're not bad. I'm impressed with the way that they seem to draw you in."
"Hmmhmmhmm," the creature tutted, "Yes, they do at that. I often wind up losing myself for hours at a time, simply gazing at them."
The man shrugged, "I suppose it isn't a bad way to spend your time in this place, empty as it is."
The rabbit smirked, revealing a set of very un-rabbit like razor teeth, "Oh? And what is it that makes you think that…this…" the creature swung an arm lazily, gesturing towards the vast, mostly unlit hall, "Is all that there is to this place, Dear Irregular?"
"Hmph." The man snorted, his gaze wandering across the creatures face, "…It's not as if I have any idea where 'this'" a gloved hand swept out in sarcastic imitation of the creature's previous gesture, "Even is."
A snort, followed by an even wider smirk greeted the man's statement, "…Is that so? That's interesting," The creature began, raising a hand to it's chin as if in wonder, "That's very interesting indeed."
The blond visibly tensed, now on guard, "What do you mean?"
The rabbit raised it's other hand, a finger waving in admonishment, "Now now, Dear Irregular. No need for that, it is simply very, very rare for a person to enter this place unaware. Why, you might even be the second one in memory…" The smirk reached even further up the creature's face, it's ends suddenly rounding out and forming black holes from which pupils stared in interest, "And my memory goes very far back indeed."
The man's expression shifted, his face cracking into a frown, "What are you?"
The rabbit turned it's head, looking into the distance, "I am Headon, Guardian of this Tower." It bowed deeply, with a dramatic flair, "It is a pleasure."
The blond's expression relaxed, becoming blank as he stared at the Guardian, "I have neither heard of you nor this Tower, Headon." The man paused, before resigning himself, "I have spent a great deal of time researching the inhuman at the Clock Tower and elsewhere, and nowhere have I heard of so much as a hint of the likes of you before."
"…Clock Tower, is it?" Headon replied, "I myself am at a loss, Irregular. I am not familiar with that place either."
"Not…familiar, you say?" The man stared, "I believed that all immortal creatures like yourself were at least passingly familiar with the Mage's Association."
"Mages, hmm? Interesting." The Guardian replied, as if savoring the term, "I'm afraid I don't know what those are. An interesting day this is turning out to be indeed."
The air around the magus shifted, subtly, imperceptibly, taking on an edge that had not been there before, "Tell me, Headon. Where is this place? And why do you keep calling me an 'Irregular'?"
"Well, well, since you asked so nicely, dear Irregular," The rabbit tilted his hand, where a bronze rod had suddenly appeared, and tapped his weapon to the ground, somehow causing the torchlight to dim, "This place you are in now is the Tower. Irregulars such as yourself are encouraged to climb from floor to floor until you reach the top."
"Why?"
"Because whatever you may desire, it is at the top."
"Does this 'top' of yours have a way to kill a genocidal crystalline arachnid from space?"
"I'm sorry, what?" The creature paused, his head tilting to the side in apparent confusion.
"I'm asking if this tower can show me how to kill a reality warping spider from Mercury."
The rabbit lowered it's hand into it's chin, clearly perplexed, "I don't rightly know myself. That's incredibly specific."
A dismissive tone met the rabbit's uncertainty, "Then I have no reason to be here, now if you'll just sho-"
"Then again," The rabbit interrupted, " I don't see why there wouldn't be. I can guarantee that after reaching the top, such a thing will not even be a concern to you regardless. Such is the Tower, whatever you may desire, be it riches, glory, or power, is at the top."
Skepticism crept into the man's voice, "Well, if it's all the same, just show me the way out."
Barely hidden mirth bubbled to the surface of the monster's tone, "I'm afraid that is quite impossible, dear Irregular. The only way out is to continue climbing. Now then, may I have your name?"
The man simply glared back, his face suddenly an unexpressive, flat mask, which did nothing to hide the fury burning within his gaze.
"My name is Aaron Gentles, Headon. I'll have you show me the way out. My time is too valuable to waste on your little games."
Headon raised a hand to his chin, as if savoring the man's name. "Aaron...hmm. A plain name, no flavor to it. But you strike me as an odd kind of creature, Mr. Gentles. Your personality certainly doesn't fit your moniker at all."
Aaron acknowledged the compliment with an inclination of his head, "Quit stalling. Show me the way to proceed, rabbit."
"But of course." The Guardian tapped his staff against the ground, and an eery blue light flooded the chamber.
"This is a test, Mr. Gentles. The name of it is 'ball', and the objective is-"
A loud sigh tore through the hall, interrupting the rabbit's explanation, "Let me guess. There's a ball in that cage thing, and my objective is to break it, right?" Headon's gaze simply locked onto Aaron's face, expressionless, a stark contrast to the naked disdain and impatience seeping into his tone. "And of course, to make things interesting, there's some kind of powerful guard to keep me from having an easy job of it?" The Guardian looked away, it's face breaking into a rakish grin, composed of rows upon rows of sharklike teeth.
"Such insight, Mr. Gentles. You are indeed correct, once you get past this White Steel Eel-"
"I'll pass. With my abilities, a giant floating snake or two is no threat. Just grant me passage. My time is much too valuable to waste here." At some point, a hatchet had appeared in Aaron's hand.
A spot opened at the edges of Headon's grin, a dark glare bore into the man's wooden expression. "My dear Irregular, that is simply not how it works, you must pass the-"
In an instant, Aaron had moved to the front of the Guardian, his free hand reaching out to grab his clothing, "I have no time. You will grant me passage, creature." But his hand merely grasped open air. In an instant, Headon had vanished, to reappear a great distance behind the Irregular.
"Now now, no touching. That's grounds for disqualification, Mr. Gentles." As Aaron turned towards the creature's location, he spied it's shape waving a finger lazily in apparent admonishment.
The man simply rested his axe on his shoulder, and let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Teleportation, huh? I guess all I have to do is beat you up, and then you can take me to this top of yours relatively easily, am I right?" Interesting trick, how does it work? Part of the mechanism that transported me here? Unique status of the creatures physiology? Different physics?
The smirk vanished from Headon's face, the atmosphere in the chamber chilled as all light vanished. The sound of metal tapping flesh echoed, as Headon answered in a voice filled with disdain and impatience.
"It goes against my role to eliminate those chosen by the Tower such as yourself. But it seems that your arrogance leaves me with little other choice, Mr. Gentles. There will always be more Irregulars, so do not hate me for this." A loud buzzing filled the air, as thousands upon thousands of lights flared to life in the air above the two. Headon's expression, as implacid as the man opposite him, nevertheless emitted an overwhelming intent to kill.
Aaron simply arched an eyebrow, whistling in appreciation. "Quite the lightshow."
"Had you lived longer, Mr. Gentles, you would have heard of a Red Rain, an attack similar to this, which strikes fear among all who inhabit this Tower. The legends of the Guardian Slayer, the Red Tower, Enryu, are well circulated. Needless to say, my 'Starlight Shower' surpasses that attack by orders of magnitude." The rabbits face split once more.
"Farewell, dear Irregular. This test, I'm afraid to say, has resulted in your failure."
"Interesting." The atmosphere was overwhelmed by a force of even greater bloodlust. Inside the cage, forgotten, the massive steel eel swam away, cowering in the face of it's amazing pressure.
"Well then, Headon." The wooden face split, revealing too-white teeth, "I suppose that, from here on out, it's self-defense, isn't it?"
The creature's expression froze, his eyes narrowing dangerously before lifting his staff on high, "You talk far too much, Mr. Gentles." He swung it down, as if pronouncing his judgment to the guilty, "Disappear."
Everything vanished in a bright flash of light. Innumerable explosions rang out, the enclosed space of the chamber multiplying the echoes into a deafening cacophony. As the bombardment came to an end, there was nothing left before the Guardian other than the craters and scorch marks left in the attacks wake. The rabbit's expression twisted in confusion, glancing around as if searching for the remains of his victim.
Because as overwhelming an attack as it was, Headon had not keyed it towards vaporization. He had intended to use the explosive force to scatter the man's body into bits and pieces, and send them across the chamber. And yet, in spite of his overwhelming strike, among the numerous craters, there was not so much as a hint of a human body taking damage.
To the contrary. The only sign of bloodshed was the Guardian's right arm, still gripping his staff, lying on the ground some distance away from the rest of his body. A gloved hand reached down, and picked up the severed appendage. The staff was pried from the three digits clutching it, and dropped to the floor. Aaron Gentles simply stared at Headon, a ghoulish smirk cracking his features even more.
"How convenient. I was in the market for a good back scratcher." He chuckled, using the macabre tool to rub between his shoulders. "Excellent workmanship. My compliments." Can't let this go to waste, must keep it, must preserve-!
The Guardian stared in abject shock. His eyes opened wide, their yellow pupils seemingly clouding over as if trying to see something that was not there, and failing. "...How?"
A ghostly bird materialized upon the man's shoulder. "You could call it an inheritance of sorts from an Ancestor of mine. This is the White Owl of the South, and it's blessing wards me from harm of that kind." Headon's gaze swerved towards the stump where his arm had been, a replacement already growing, "We can repeat this as often as you like...Headon, was it? But the result will be the same each time. And I rather doubt you'll be able to overcome me in close quarters like that." The shaman pointed towards the forgotten staff with his newly acquired back scratcher, "So I'll just chop off your limbs until you run out, or you simply agree to take me to the top." His rakish grin grew wider still, "You've proven quite amusing, with that body of yours.
'I wonder what face you'll make when you finally break."
The arm regrew, as the Guardian seemingly mastered himself. He snorted, then shook his head before a low chuckle escaped from his mouth, the sound echoing through the chamber. The chuckling lasted a long, unsettling minute before Headon flexed his newly regrown appendage, seemingly testing it out. The staff vanished from where it lay and reappeared in his hand. "You've convinced me, Mr. Gentles. A simple ball test is far beneath you. I shall send you along forthwith."
The atmosphere around the two seemed to warm, the tension dying, as the torches flickered back to life. Aaron's smile vanished, replaced by an expression of mild disappointment. "That's it? You're not going to come and do something about this arm of yours?" The shaman waved the severed appendage as if to emphasize his point.
Headon merely grinned, "Not at all. As you can plainly see…" He flexed his regrown arm, "I have plenty to spare. As a matter of fact," Headon brought it to his chin, "You can keep it. Consider it a…gift, a token of our meeting, if you will."
"It almost seems a shame to end things on such an anticlimactic note."
The Guardian wagged a finger in admonishment at his guest, "Mr. Gentles, you need not sulk. There will be plenty of other playmates for you to meet as you make your way to the top."
Aaron's composure finally broke, his expression filled with rage, "Wait! I told you to skip that crap and send me straight to-!"
A flash of blue light enveloped the man, as Headon gave him his full attention, "That is….I'm afraid, not quite how things work, Mr. Gentles." The Shaman screamed in rage, his the last words he heard being a tilting "I wish you good fortune", and with that, the well dressed man vanished. Alone once more, Headon turned his gaze to the ceiling above, "Well then, Mr. Gentles, I sincerely welcome you to the Tower."
As he retreated to the shadows, Headon simply stopped, and added as if the Irregular were still listening,
"You can be someone else's problem from here on out."
Author's Notes:
Hey there, TehChron here. Originally this started out as a random fanfiction in a creative writing thread nestled deep within the Batoto Tower of God fan community, after awhile, someone suggested that I just upload what I'd done onto and have with it. So I did, as it turns out, since I didn't know what I was doing, the original upload of these chapters was rather messy.
Fast forward a bit, and the story's gone from being a random way to pass the time, to being a serious project on my part. My first, in fact. So now that I've uploaded my 7th chapter of this, and taken a good, long look at what the real Masters of this particular niche of writing have done, in particular Gabriel Blessing's masterful works, and I've wound up coming back to fix things up.
So: To those of you that have taken the time to read this introduction to the world, I deeply thank you for your time. Tower of Glorious Bastards is, as the summary implies, the story of a particularly unlikeable Mary Sue protagonist. Truth in advertising, people. But there's a lot more to that. A number of the people who have already read this story thus far are themselves acquainted with the universe of Tower of God, which is the setting of this story.
For those of you that are not, I highly suggest looking up the series (TheCompany's translations start off a bit rocky, but as of now their quality is without a doubt superior to other scanlations of the series). Without spoiling too much, Tower of God is the story of an enclosed, massive world. The scale is so far beyond what the characters can experience as they are now, that it gives you a sense of wonder and curiosity as you want to follow the cast as they climb the Tower.
There's tragedy, and heartbreak, catharsis, joy, and a good chunk of characterization. Behind the characters growth, you also see SIU's growth as a writer over time, and the subtle signs of just how grand his vision for the Tower is.
So for those of you who came across this story because it's a F/SN crossover, I thank you, but I would like to ask for your patience going forward. This isn't a story where Emiya Shirou can flourish. It's possible for him to do so in the world of the Tower itself, but Aaron Gentles isn't the kind of person who would allow him free reign.
So then how is it a F/SN crossover? Again, I ask for your patience. The world of Magi and Servants is incredibly alien to this kind of setting, and will no doubt take some time to reconcile. After all, before anything else, Aaron Gentles is a Magus to his very bones.
I thank you for your time, and thank you for reading this humble story of mine. It goes places that, while not as lofty as the original authors of the borrowed works may have had in mind, are pretty damn crazy all the same.
If you have comments, suggestions, feedback, vitriol, I look forward to hearing from you. I'm still pretty new at this, and you're never too old for improvement. Until the next time
-TehChron