Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon closed his eyes and waved his hand once. "No, I refuse them all!" he stated flatly and utterly dismissively.

Talia’s eyes opened wide. "What?" she asked, leaving it at that one word. She had thought every word through before dropping the proposal to make sure everything worked perfectly in Moon’s favor.

She wanted him on her side by any means, even if she suffered a loss in the process, even if she had to lower herself and her status.

Yet, it was Moon who denied it, everything she proposed.

Talia exhaled slowly before inquiring, "May I know why?"

Moon scratched his eyebrow; he felt like some rough skin was falling off before saying, "I refuse your terms, every one of them. Don’t look down on me, young noble lady," Moon said, blowing off the dust-like dry skin particles on his nail.

"First, I didn’t agree to this duel to begin with, so don’t force your terms on me." He raised a finger before adding, "Your proof of authority is meaningless for me to hold onto for a second after the second trial is over." Moon raised a second finger.

Moon looked at his fingers and squinted for a second. "Third, is it?" he whispered. "Yeah, third, the skirmish reward is for whoever wins. I’m not some beggar... remember this well," he stated, raising his third finger.

He rubbed his chin with his other hand while looking at the three fingers.

"Is there something else you don’t agree to?" Talia inquired.

Moon squinted for a moment. "Yeah, right, fourth... the restriction on items and Echo is useless... I’ve seen how strong these scrubs actually were. I’m not going to handicap others in a fight... let’s go all out if we’re doing this round your way."

Talia stayed silent for a moment. "I understand," she nodded.

"Well, let’s first agree that the round will be a duel between us first, no issues there," Talia said to Moon.

Moon nodded. "Sure, let’s do it that way... there won’t be anyone to fight anyway if not you, I guess."

Talia nodded. "I agree to everything but the last term," she stated flatly, before adding, "I have no intention of restricting your freedom or forcing you into subordination by any means."

"Too late for that." Moon waved his hand dismissively, not convinced. "By the time the second trial is over, your affiliation is useless anyway," he said intentionally.

Talia closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath.

"What about the last of the conditions?" she asked.

"Which one was the last?" Moon raised his eyebrows, genuinely not sure of the order.

"The part where you said restrictions on Echo and items are useless," she reminded him calmly.

Moon clapped lightly. "Ah that, yeah... what’s the point in fighting someone while being crippled?" he asked.

"There’s a point," Talia retorted. "There’s a good reason for that."

"What would that reason be then?" Moon asked, tilting his head slightly.

Talia glanced at Samuel before closing her eyes for a moment.

"You already know, we’re being watched... Our opponents are not in the branch," Talia slowly started explaining.

"I get intel reports of the other branches just as they do this branch, which means... exposing our cards will only backfire once the next trial starts." Talia justified her decision.

Moon thought for a moment. He was eager to say ’intel is for the weak,’ but his last discussion with Dorbish made him rethink his words.

Talia wasn’t done. "I also know that there is an issue with your Echo, they also probably know..." she said, before adding, "If it was resolved, they will know. If not, it’ll give them an obvious advantage."

Moon rubbed his chin. "You’re not wron—"

"They already know about the fact that you have a gift and what it does exactly by now, thanks to your display against the universal armor last round," Talia cut him off, reminding him with a very serious face.

Yet, she wasn’t done. "I also don’t want to expose my cards to them yet, thus, we need to stick to these rules."

In front of her, Moon kept blinking nonstop. He pointed at himself. "My gift?" he asked.

Talia nodded. "It was obvious; you can’t hide it after everything that happened yesterday."

Moon squinted. "Was it that obvious?"

Talia nodded. "A gift that reduces Echo damage is very valuable and rare," she said truthfully. "Considering your limited ability to use Echo, they’ll seek to study its limits thoroughly," she warned.

Moon listened; he couldn’t help blinking twice. "Oh that!" He nodded readily. "No wonder, no wonder, something so obvious cannot be hidden, hahaha!" he laughed sillily.

His eyes darted to Samuel, who happened to give him a look he didn’t want to make contact with. His eyes returned to Talia instantly.

He nonetheless heaved a sigh of relief inwardly. ’I was wondering how they found out about Hypothetical Prospective; turns out... hehehehe.’

"Then?" Talia asked, her eyes widening.

Moon nodded. "You aren’t wrong, I agree then... let’s do it that way as you said."

Talia smiled. She took off her ring and placed it on Samuel’s desk.

"Unified terms for both sides. Authority for the second trial duration. No weapons, Echo, armor, pills, tools, or items. The winner keeps the skirmish reward," she summarized.

"One more thing," Moon said. "I want to be updated with this... intel you have about these guys," Moon requested.

Talia nodded readily. "That’s fine," she agreed.

After a moment, she added, "There’s something very important that I need to mention."

Moon curiously shook his head.

"The guy, Dara, you killed is from a clan called Havoc of the middle floors," Talia began.

"What about him?" Moon inquired.

"His clan is in subordination to another called Specter," Talia explained.

"Ah, the ones who made the universal armor." Moon connected the dots without having any real concern.

Talia pursed her lips. "I just wanted to warn you that the two clans will be forever hunting you for what happened yesterday."

Moon closed his eyes for a moment, counting on his fingers. He then started massaging his glabella.

Talia didn’t interrupt him.

"That," Moon suddenly said. "That’s probably fine, I guess?"

Talia seemed to be taken aback. "Is it?" she asked.

"Ah, you see... once the second trial is over, too many will be after me anyway... two more won’t change much." Moon shrugged, seemingly not very bothered by the new enemies he had made for himself.

He didn’t seem to regret killing Dara either; one of them had to die anyway. How things progressed didn’t allow for a third conclusion.

Moon had to kill him if he wanted to win, if he wanted to prove that he could walk on his own in this new world he had yet to understand.

Talia, on the other hand, was at first feeling tired of going back and forth with term details with Moon. He was so proud that it was both tiring and maybe even advantageous to her.

Talia was by no means weak when it came to unarmed combat; it was a very basic starter’s lesson for all of those who were born in the Knights’ Realm.

She didn’t think she would lose, and knew very well that he also didn’t think he would lose... and that made the battle both exciting and worth anticipating.

Yet, at his last claim, she couldn’t hold back her soft chuckles.

Talia ended up laughing, unable to help but feel that regardless of the result, she would gain a dependable ally.

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