Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Realizing that it could not harm Tobias, the Primarch released another frustrated growl. "KRUUAAAGHH!!!"

Brown-gold light flared from Tobias’ vessel, then the smaller scale trembled.

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Evaluating Causal Affiliation... 」

Light passed through him, once, then twice. Tobias stood calmly while golden lines crawled over his temporary body. The process reached beyond the vessel as if the Chamber was searching, evaluating, and not merely asking who Tobias was. It was deciding whether the old man chained before it had any lawful claim to the Judgement already underway.

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Contracted Constellation Soul Recognized.

Origin Authority: Misha Apocalypse 」

Then another window burned through it.

「 Catalyst Link: CONFIRMED 」

「 Historical Libra Association: CONFIRMED 」

The smaller scale slid sideways. The pan moved toward Caius’ side of the greater balance and locked beneath it with a deep metallic sound.

Klang.

Tobias had not been accepted as an independent third combatant. He had been appended, a derivative, an extension of Misha’s Contractor Authority attached to the historical bond already recognized by Libra.

The chains around him loosened but not completely. The restraints at his wrists unwound and dissolved, the one at his ankle disappeared too, but the chain around his waist remained, transformed from a binding into something closer to a golden tether connecting him to the smaller scale.

The Chamber displayed its verdict.

「 〔EQUINOX — DERIVATIVE ADMISSION〕

Petition for Third Weight: DENIED

Petition for Recognized Derivative: GRANTED

—

The manifested Constellation Soul shall stand under the authority of the admitted Catalyst and may act only insofar as such action preserves the integrity of the Judgement.

—

Authorized Conduct:

«Restrain»

Prohibited Conduct:

Deliver Lethal Force

Execute Final Judgement

Replace or supersede the adjudicated combatant.

—

Violation shall result in immediate revocation of Derivative Standing and expulsion from the Chamber. 」

Misha stared at the notice, then at Caius. "Your skill writes like a prosecutor."

"I have never seen this one before." Tobias shifted his attention toward the Primarch.

The creature pushed itself upright again, five arms spreading while one remained protecting the regenerated bronze gong.

"So you’re the one making these children cry."

"I wasn’t crying!" Misha snapped.

"Neither was I," Caius added.

Tobias looked between them, slowly. The way an old coach might look at two athletes insisting they were not exhausted while both were visibly limping. He simply shook his head before he lifted his left hand.

Nothing happened for half a breath, then the Chamber floor answered him.

BOOOOM.

Six black pillars erupted beneath the Primarch. It was not rough columns, but hands. Each pillar twisted halfway up into shapes resembling massive stone restraints. One clamped around a wrist, another locked beneath an elbow, two wrapped the chain-bound arms. The fifth caught the hooked limb at the forearm. The sixth rose directly in front of the gong-protecting arm and forced it outward.

With all six limbs strained simultaneously, the Primarch could only roar violently.

Misha stared in disbelief. "That’s... restrained?"

The floor cracked beneath Tobias but he remained unmoved. The remaining golden chain around his waist drew taut and his jaw tightened. "I am not harming it."

One of the Primarch’s arms pulled hard enough to fracture the pillar around it.

Tobias looked at the crack, then sighed. "Yet."

Caius surged forward before the opening could disappear. There would not be another chance like this; the Primarch’s chest was exposed, with neither its chain nor its arms standing between him and the gong.

Valecyr flashed as he crossed the remaining distance. He struck the upper seam where bronze fused into flesh. Black tissue split, crimson threads writhed underneath. He did not attack the center but cut around it.

Misha could not cross the restriction, but helplessness had never been the same as uselessness. She moved along the edge of the chains’ boundary, her eyes following every seam Caius opened. "Lower left! There’s another bundle feeding it!"

Following her words, he shifted immediately and drove his staff-spear into the seam. Lightning burst and a cluster of crimson filaments snapped.

The gong pulsed.

Gong.

At point-blank range, the sound was vicious. The boy’s head jerked, his ears rang, and warm blood ran from one side. He stayed upright even with that damage. He had to.

Tobias tightened one hand. Black stone flowed upward from the floor and wedged itself into the seam Caius had just opened. The Primarch’s regeneration reacted immediately, crimson strands crawling toward the wound, but the stone kept the bronze from knitting completely shut.

The Primarch’s roar became louder, then ripped one limb free entirely.

The pillar exploded, sending fragments tearing through the Chamber, but they stopped in midair the moment Tobias raised one hand. With a slight turn of his wrist, the debris reversed course and wrapped itself around the Primarch’s arm once more.

Caius cut faster, carving through the remaining supports until only one upper and two lower connections held the bronze gong in place. Crimson strands immediately raced across the open seams, but Tobias’ stone wedges jammed into the gaps and disrupted enough of the flow to slow the regeneration.

「Chamber Stability: 16% 」

Misha’s head snapped toward the warning. "Sixteen!"

"I know!"

The Primarch’s other arm tore free, but Tobias reacted instantly. He stopped one pace short of violating whatever invisible limit Libra had imposed. Since he could not strike the Primarch himself, he forced the floor upward beneath its elbow instead, redirecting the limb and wrenching it away from Caius.

"Rules." Tobias clicked his tongue as he felt the golden tether around his waist pulled tight.

Misha looked at him. "You sound offended."

"I dislike being told exactly how much I’m allowed to inconvenience something that’s trying to kill the children I’m supposed to protect."

She went still. ’Children...’

「Chamber Stability: 10% 」

Valecyr entered the final seam, making the creature twist violently.

"Solmere boy, finish it." Tobias’ voice came calm despite cracks crawling across this vessel’s chest.

The vessel was unstable since she had created it for the first time while already wounded, and part of what sustained it came from a borrowed historical record she neither understood nor knew how to control.

"Tobias..."

He glanced at her once, then smiled, not broadly. "This is your first attempt."

"Still..." She swallowed hard. "You’re breaking."

"Everything does, young lady."

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