Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to SIU. Except for my OC.

CHAPTER 2

The mothership was full of strange looking people and creatures. Many were human, many were not. I looked around seeing faces I've only ever recognized from a screen. There's Hatz, Anaak, and Shibisu… looks like they're arguing. The sleepyhead, a chicken, a black blob, a devil… this is weird. I turned my head and found the main cast of something I thought was entirely fictional. Rak looks even bigger than I thought, Khun and Bam look insignificant beside him. I began to feel very conflicted.

A voice came out to distract me from my thoughts. "Find something you're interested in? Hwaryun asked.

I looked away. "Not in particular."

Everything was so foreign yet familiar at the same time. Considering I didn't think any of these people were real not too long ago, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be standing here right now… so why am I? A small fight began to break out between two of the regulars. Should I be trying to talk to them right now? None of this makes sense. I rubbed my temples.

I glanced at Hwaryun. There's also her to think about. I have no clue why Headon had us meet, and I don't know what she's up to. She's a guide, but for Bam, right? Even after Bam leaves FUG she follows him all throughout the series. I don't know why she's a part of my team, or if she knows about the things I know. If she knew about it, wouldn't she want to use me for FUG?

Distracting me from my thoughts, a tall man wearing full black with a white vest walked up to the fight. He had small circle marks underneath each of his eyes and curly blonde hair. One of the regulars began shouting him off until the man spoke a few words. The regular then quieted down and backed away while the man began surveying the group.

"Regulars! Please pay attention here as I will begin explaining the next round!" The man spoke. "To give you some brief information about myself, I'm your test administrator ranker Lero Ro! Nice to meet chu!" He smiled. "Now that you've had time to rest here is the next test! However, there will be a slight challenge in getting there. Those who do not pass this challenge will not be able to take the next test, just by the way!

I could feel a wave of uneasiness hit over the group. I almost forgot about this. The ranker waved his hand a few times, then everyone was blown backward suddenly. I managed to stick a landing and looked up to see a wall made up of a flowing substance I knew to be shinsu. The wall was quite pretty, with shinsu moving throughout the turquoise colors.

As expected, I could see only one person on the other side of the wall other than Lero Ro. The boy with dark hair and kind eyes. Bam. As Lero Ro made a dreary speech about how only a select few are able to succeed to go up the tower, I moved up to the wall, uninterested in his lecture. Curiously, I pressed my hand against it, only to find it pass through quite easily. What the hell? I pulled back quickly however, looking back to see if anyone had noticed. Luckily, they all seemed more focused on Bam and the ranker. Was this Headon? What the hell did he stab me with?

"Seems as though you are quite lucky Shun." Hwaryun spoke out from behind me.

A slight chill went through my body. "You were watching? I should've been more careful."

"Why don't you go through? You can obviously do it."

I eyed her carefully, unable to see her expression through her mask. "I wouldn't want to attract any unwanted attention. Besides both you and I know there are dangerous people here."

She stood still for a moment. "I guess you're right. Smarter than I took you for."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I smirked. It's almost like she's trying to get more information out of me, like she's not sure of something. It's possible that we don't know anything about each other then Headon saying that we would meet.

Seeing Hatz enter the barrier after Anaak, I decided to walk through. A slight, tingly feeling followed me in, but it felt more comfortable to be in this space. A lot more regulars including the members of my team, followed up soon after.

My teammate with the needles faced me after he made it through. "You look like you didn't have any trouble going through. Good."

"Thanks." I spoke out, suddenly realizing I didn't know his name. I hardened my gaze. I guess it doesn't matter, he's just going to be knocked out during the crown game anyway. Better to not talk to him at all.

Looking back outside the barrier, I saw the ranker face up against one of the regulars who was complaining that the test wasn't fair. Within a few seconds, the regular fell to his knees, clawing at his face, as a large amount of shinsu encompassed him.

"It's not because you weren't strong enough, or that you didn't put in enough effort. It's simply that you aren't one of the chosen ones. Even if I let you pass this test, you would undoubtedly be faced with a darker despair as you tried to climb the tower." Lero Ro began walking back through the barrier.

"Why?!" The regular cried out, huddled to the ground. "Why am I not chosen?! I've tried so damn hard to climb the tower! I risked my life to train harder than ever and gave up everything I ever had! There's nothing else for me if I go back!" The man screamed and sobbed.

My throat sank down to my gut, and I grit my teeth.I quickly remembered what kind of world this is, and the misery that exists here. A place where people will try their best to work towards something they won't ever get simply because God didn't favor them. A thought struck me. I don't deserve to be on this side of the wall.

As the man gathered himself and left the testing grounds, Shibisu shouted out. "To hell with that! Chosen or not chosen I'll make it through!" He began pushing against the barrier with his entire body to eventually make it through. I couldn't help but give a small grin to the guy.

Soon after the test was finished, the next test administrator showed up in a yellow dress, guiding the passing regulars to a waiting room where the next test that would be held. I smiled mirthlessly. This test is kind of pointless for our team. I'm pretty sure that if I answer the puzzle by myself, Hansung Yu won't question it with Hwaryun on the team.

As teams went one by one into the testing room, there were various screams that occurred. Being the third team up, we went into the dark room with only a man with blonde hair in a traditional dress, a kettle, cups, and some red doors. The man introduced himself as the aforementioned Hansung Yu and began explaining the rules to us. "The test is simple. There are 12 doors behind me, find the real door and open it. Failure to find the door within 10 minutes will result in death."

I eyed the man carefully as he drank from his cup. Hansung Yu, the one behind everything during the first season. Since I'm not being taken in for information right now, I guess Hwaryun hasn't told him anything. Hopefully, it stays that way. After a few minutes of pretending to look around, I kicked open the closest door. Not one word came out during the test.

"Congratulations, you passed the test." Hansung Yu said smiling. "All you had to do was open up any of the doors before five minutes were up." Both my teammates walked through, unquestioning, and seemingly uncaring of how I solved the test. I prepared to walk through as well until I felt the hairs on the ends of my neck rise up and my gut drop.

"That's an interesting power you have, Mr. Shun." Hansung Yu commented, as the atmosphere changed. "Be sure to take care of it." I could hear the smugness in his voice as I pushed myself to walk through the door.

What an ass. It's worse meeting him in person. Moving through the hallway to reach the next testing area, I let out a heavy sigh.

The waiting area was very similar to the one before, though with significantly less teams. Muddled in my thoughts, I hardly noticed when Lero Ro came back and started to talk about the crown game. He quickly captured all the regular's attention with the prospect of being able to skip the rest of the tests with this bonus. A quick interaction within our team occurred, and we all decided to participate in the game.

Most teams also agreed to participate and were separated into their rooms for the bonus challenge. Here it is. I looked aimlessly at the huge arena from our room while Lero Ro explained all the rules of the crown game. "The goal of this game is to steal and hold the crown until the last moment. There will be five rounds with only five teams being able to participate in a round at a time. After the first round the winning team of the previous round will stay in to play in the next one. To participate in a select round, press the red button in your room, and teams will be chosen on a first come, first serve basis. The winning team will be the last team that has the crown at the end of the fifth round."

He continued. "However, there is a way to complete a round early. If one of your teammates sits on the throne wearing the crown before five minutes are up, the round ends with your team as the winning team. One of your teammates will then be forced to stay on the throne with the crown in the remaining rounds. If you lose the crown or walk of the throne your team will lose, and the other teams will be able to steal the crown. As well as this, one team from another test will be joining us. Please don't ask, it's a long story."

As the announcer began the countdown for the first round, Hwaryun turned to me and our teammate. "It'd be better for us to wait out the first rounds. Let the other teams brawl it out and waste their strength. Once the moment is right, we'll take the crown." We both voiced out our agreements and sat in silence. I turned away to roll my eyes, knowing that Hwaryun probably doesn't actually have any intention to win this game.

"Let the first round of the crown game, begin!" The announcer blared out.

The buzzer sounded, and only two teams showed up in the arena. Anaak, Shibisu, and Hatz stood confidently against the other team I couldn't recognize. Immediately, Anaak pushed forward to knock one of her opponents to the other side of the wall. In quick succession, she viciously knocked out the remaining two with overwhelming strength and took the crown with ease. There's such a huge difference in power, speed, skill, and well basically everything. She really is a monster compared to normal regulars. What a strong lizard.

After the round ended, I could see Shibisu arguing with Anaak over who would be sitting on the throne. As expected, she decided to stay on although it would've given them a significant advantage if instead Shibisu sat on the throne.

The second round of the crown game began, and with that, two more teams entered the arena. The sleepyhead, Laure. If I'm right, he's a member of one of the ten great families. It started off with both Shibisu and Hatz taking on an entire team by themselves, and while Hatz proved that he was more than enough for his opponents, Shibisu struggled in handling multiple people. Although one of the regulars facing Shibisu did nothing but sleep, he was still caught by the other two. He couldn't move with one of the regulars grabbing him from behind and as the other prepared to stab him, Hatz swiftly jumped in to save Shibisu.

Hatz then turned his attention to the sleepyhead and launched a sword into the sky to attack. However, before Hatz could go through with it, Laure launched a huge amount of shinsu towards Anaak on top of the throne. Anaak quickly dodged, while the other members of Laure's team rushed in. Shibisu chased after them while Laure continued to attack with shinsu.

Anaak stood fearlessly against her foes and swung her weapon out yelling out a single word. "Ignition!" Almost instantly, her needle grew to the radius of the arena and smashed the place where Laure was. Through the smoke I could see Laure barely getting away, but Anaak launched another attack with her weapon splitting into multiple fragments. Laure struggled to evade each piece until Anaak stopped all of the sudden. Laure's team then used that opportunity to grab him and return back to their room, forfeiting the round.

Without any regard for her team, Anaak suddenly leapt off the throne, smashing through a room that I knew had to be Bam's.

The man with the needles laughed. "Crazy lizard. What the hell is she doing?"

I was inclined to agree, but I knew she what she was really after. I couldn't see the exchange that happened between Anaak and Bam's team but eventually, Lero Ro entered the scene. He led Anaak and her team back out and went back up to administer the third round of the crown game.

"Should we enter this round?" The man with the needles asked Hwayun and I.

Hwayun shook her head. "With the lizard out of the picture, many teams will try to take the throne. It won't be worth it to waste our energy here, instead we'll look towards the later rounds to steal the crown."

Once more, the announcer started the next round, this time with four teams entering the arena. Of these teams I only recognized Bam's team and recalled that Khun absolutely destroys these teams. Just as I finished my thought, Khun made it to the throne within a blink of an eye. Rather than ending the round by wearing the crown however, he put the crown in his bag then processed to throw the crown out of the bag onto the ground between the other teams.

I couldn't entirely make out what the teams were saying but they all seemed to agree to try and eliminate Khun first. He really is cocky. It's not like he doesn't have reason to, but hell, I'd hate to face off against him. Most of the regulars gang up on Khun and Rak but they prove their battle prowess by quickly dispatching them through tactics and decisive strikes. Rak overwhelms his opponents with his strength and huntsman experience, while Khun makes quick work of the other teams with his bag and knife. The round ends with Khun revealing the real crown hidden inside of his bag with all the duplicates fading away.

"That kid really is a nuisance. Let's get rid of him early on." The man with the needles grinned as he moved to press the red buzzer.

I quickly stopped him. "Hold on, he's so confident right now that there's no way he doesn't have something else planned for the next round. Let's wait it out for one more round, then take everything during the last one."

The man grunted, clearly irritated. "Alright fine."

I could feel Hwaryun's gaze on me. She's still trying to figure me out. I guess I can't be annoyed at that, considering I'm doing the same thing with her.

The fourth round began, and I couldn't help but look at Khun's changed hairstyle. Everything's going as I knew from the manhua. It's kind of… unsettling. With three more teams joining the round, they began trying to talk to one another, similar to the previous round. But one of the teams suddenly lashed out and began attacking the other teams. Large vine-like attacks and brief concussive punches were thrown. Before five minutes were up, all the members of the attacking party returned to their room, leaving a massacre in their wake.

"What the hell was that?" The man with needles exclaimed. "They didn't even try for the crown! What a joke."

"Looks like you were right Shun, he did have another trick to win the next round." Hwaryun noted.

As our team prepared to head out, the examiner announced. "The crown game is reaching its peak with only the final round left! The count will now start, so any joining teams, please press the buzzer! One, two, three, four, five!" Riddled with anticipation, I pressed the buzzer and we moved out to meet the other four teams.

A/N

Hi there,

Currently, I'm just testing some things out with this story, and any comments would be appreciated.

I really like Tower of God and want to see where I can go with this.

Edit: 15/07/2021

Thanks for the read!