[Tower of Trial: Floor 1 – World Entrance Gate]
[Survival Time Remaining: 02:58:27]
The first thing they heard was screaming.
The second was the sound of bones snapping like twigs.
Then came the silence—unnatural, heavy, almost angry.
A few moments earlier, they'd all been on Earth.
Now, the Awakened stood at the foot of a nightmare.
They were no longer in their world.
---
The Tower's first floor stretched beyond the horizon, a twisted hellscape of black stone, crimson mist, and giant skeletal remains. It was both ancient and alive—pulsing with the breath of something watching.
Everywhere, people were vomiting, crying, or staring blankly at the sky.
Some screamed for their mothers. Some for their gods.
None of them answered.
[System Notice: Welcome, Awakened.]
[The First Floor: Survival Trial Begins Now.]
[Rule 1: You must survive for 3 hours.]
[Rule 2: All deaths are permanent.]
[Rule 3: Each pair is ranked globally. Points are awarded by kills—monsters or humans.]
A fourth line appeared—glowing red.
[Bonus: Additional Points for Killing Other Awakened Pairs.]
---
The massacre started in less than five minutes.
---
[Northern Region – Bone Fields]
Twelve-year-old Elina was still holding her stuffed rabbit when a horned creature tore her partner's head off in front of her.
She didn't scream.
She simply sat down, placed her rabbit in her lap, and closed her eyes.
She didn't see the shadow rise behind her. Didn't see the blade.
[Eliminated: Pair #1008 – Rank E (Argentina)]
---
[Eastern Region – Swamp of Teeth]
Jin-Ho of South Korea tried to protect his fiancée, Mina.
He used his newly awakened flame ability to burn through three mud-covered serpents, shouting her name with every breath.
But he didn't see the trap.
The swamp wasn't a floor—it was a mouth.
Mina disappeared into it, her scream muffled by mud and fang.
Jin-Ho followed a moment later.
[Eliminated: Pair #431 – Rank C (South Korea)]
---
[Southern Region – Obsidian Valley]
A pair from Nigeria, both Rank B, thought they had it figured out.
They'd stayed low. Avoided fights. Hid under the corpses of monsters.
But the Tower doesn't reward cowards.
From the valley sky, something fell—no, something landed.
A living meteor of claws and hunger.
They had no time to scream.
[Eliminated: Pair #218 – Rank B (Nigeria)]
---
[Tower of Trial – Global Broadcast (Visible to All)]
> Top Global Pair Rankings – Floor 1 Trial (Survival Time: 2:21:42)
1. Aya Shirogane (Japan) / Kaito Yamada (Japan) – Rank UR / ??? – Level 12
2. Bruno Reyes / Rika Tsukino (Brazil) – Rank A/B – Level 10
3. Kaede Nakamura / Mai Sato (Japan) – Rank B/B – Level 9
4. Farah Al-Muharib / Rashid (UAE) – Rank A – Level 9
5. Fatima / Balthazar (Morocco) – Rank A – Level 8
---
[Elsewhere – Tower Core Zone]
A woman sobbed as she crawled through a forest of broken blades, her legs sliced open.
Her partner, long dead, lay impaled on a twisted tree behind her.
"I don't want to die," she cried.
Something heard her.
A shadow darker than night slithered across the branches.
It didn't speak.
It simply dropped onto her back and began eating her alive, starting with her spine.
Her screams lasted forty seconds.
[Eliminated: Pair #607 – Rank D (USA)]
---
[High above – Tower Spire]
Two figures stood alone on a mountain of corpses.
Blood dripped from a floating lance.
Lightning crackled over a glowing gauntlet.
Kaito Yamada looked down at the slaughtered horde and wiped his hands.
"Not even a warm-up."
Aya Shirogane checked the floating display of rankings, her voice flat.
"We're number one."
Kaito yawned. "Good. I hate losing."
Behind them, hundreds of monsters waited, trembling—hesitating to charge.
They could smell death on him.
---
Part 2: The King and Queen of Carnage
[Time Remaining: 02:12:03]
[Tower of Trial – Central Zone]
Blood soaked the soil. Screams were the wind's lullaby.
By now, over 400 pairs had been eliminated. Each death marked by the eerie echo of the system's cold, emotionless tone:
> [Eliminated: Pair #311…]
[Eliminated: Pair #098…]
The Tower of Trial was not a game.
It was a graveyard still digging holes.
---
[Tower of Trial – Scorched Garden]
A squad of four—two pairs that had decided to ally—stood back-to-back, breathing hard.
"They're not stopping!" shouted one of them, a French woman with a spear. Her body was covered in monster ichor.
"They're not supposed to!" her partner roared. "This is the f**king Tower!"
As if on cue, the earth split open. Not metaphorically.
The ground actually split, revealing rows of burning eyes buried in the dirt.
Something crawled out, dragging what looked like a pile of human limbs stitched together.
They never got to scream.
[Eliminated: Pair #320 – Rank B (France)]
[Eliminated: Pair #634 – Rank D (Greece)]
---
[Tower Broadcast – Global Rankings Updated]
> 1. Aya Shirogane (Japan) / Kaito Yamada (Japan) – UR / ??? – Level 15
2. Bruno Reyes / Rika Tsukino (Brazil) – A/B – Level 12
3. Kaede Nakamura / Mai Sato (Japan) – B/B – Level 11
4. Fatima / Balthazar (Morocco) – A – Level 10
5. Farah Al-Muharib / Rashid (UAE) – A – Level 10
They were climbing fast. Too fast.
Because they weren't just surviving the Tower.
They were hunting it.
---
[Tower of Trial – Core Plains]
Lightning tore across the battlefield in arcs of pure white death.
Aya Shirogane floated above the shattered ground, her white battle suit glowing with crackling current. Dozens of corpses—Awakened and monsters—lay behind her.
"Still not enough," she said coldly.
A group of armored beasts—Level 8 ogres—charged at her from both sides.
She raised a single hand.
The world turned white.
When the light faded, the ogres were ash. Their shadows still burned into the ground.
Kaito walked calmly through the field, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey," he called. "Don't hog all the experience."
He stepped on a pressure trap. It triggered a volley of poisoned spears from all directions.
He didn't flinch.
The spears stopped mid-air, suspended around him like broken time.
With a flick of his wrist, they turned and flew back—ten times faster.
Somewhere behind him, six assassins from another pair were torn to pieces before they could blink.
[Eliminated: Pair #402 – Rank A (USA)]
Aya glanced at him. "Did you just reflect spatial traps?"
Kaito grinned under his mask. "I imagined them going back. So they did."
She didn't respond.
Because what could she say?
He was a monster—one whose limits weren't even defined.
---
[Elsewhere – Tower Edge]
A pair from Russia tried to flee into a hidden cave.
Inside, they found a shrine of bones—and something chained at the center.
It looked like a man. But it wasn't.
It whispered.
Then it screamed.
Then it fed.
[Eliminated: Pair #149 – Rank A (Russia)]
---
[Global Chat – Unlocked to All Pairs Temporarily]
> [Player: Rika Tsukino]: Who the hell is Kaito Yamada!? That guy's not human.
[Player: Rashid]: Aya Shirogane is terrifying enough but he's… worse.
[Player: Mai Sato]: They're cutting through monsters and other players like they're nothing.
[Player: Kaito Yamada]: Boo.
[Player: Aya Shirogane]: Focus on surviving. Or don't.
[Player: SYSTEM]: Global Chat Disabled.
---
[Tower of Trial – System Alert]
> [Warning: Monster Lord has spawned in response to Level Imbalance.]
[Warning: Category – Calamity Class: Chimera Beast – Level 25]
[Location: North-East Ruins]
---
[Kaito Yamada's POV]
"Did they just call that thing a Chimera Beast?" Kaito scratched the back of his head, looking up at the monster several kilometers away.
It was a grotesque patchwork of wings, limbs, and maws. It towered over trees, had six glowing eyes, and breathed smoke.
It hadn't noticed them yet.
Aya flicked her fingers. Lightning gathered.
"Let's kill it."
Kaito cracked his neck.
"I'll race you."
---
Part 3: The Apex Breaks Open
[Time Remaining: 01:44:28]
[Tower of Trial – Core Plains, near the North-East Ruins]
The sky twisted. The Chimera Beast stepped forward—a creature of fire, blood, and stitched agony. No breath, no heartbeat—only death.
Aya's hair rose as lightning built around her like armor.
Kaito smiled. "Finally, something interesting."
---
[Meanwhile – Tower of Trial: Outer Zones]
Blood and ash painted the world.
E through A ranked Awakened ran, fought, and died. Mid-tier heroes were reduced to corpses. The Tower didn't care.
But then the wind stopped.
---
[System Override – Global Synchronization]
> [Notice: Outer Zones stabilizing… Core Expansion Complete]
[Synchronization with Hidden Zones Initiated]
[Warning: Hidden Top-Tier Combatants Now Publicly Displayed]
[Updating Global Rankings…]
---
[New Global Ranking – Top 10 Pairs Displayed]
> 1. Aya Shirogane (Japan – UR) / Kaito Yamada (Japan – Unknown) – Level 16
2. Xenovia Kael (Vatican – SSS) / Arata Kanzaki (Japan – SS) – Level 19
3. Elijah Voss (USA – UR) / Lydia Ward (USA – S) – Level 18
4. Feng Zixuan (China – SS) / Mei Ling (China – S) – Level 17
5. Bruno Reyes (Brazil – A) / Rika Tsukino (Brazil – B) – Level 13
6. Kaede Nakamura (Japan – B) / Mai Sato (Japan – B) – Level 12
7. Fatima (Morocco – A) / Balthazar (Morocco – A) – Level 12
8. Farah Al-Muharib (UAE – A) / Rashid (UAE – A) – Level 11
9. Naomi Archer (UK – S) / Levi Hawk (USA – SS) – Level 10
10. Inoue Takashi (Japan – A) / Kwon Mina (Korea – A) – Level 10
---
Gasps. Panic. Confusion.
> "They weren't in the rankings before because they were in the Apex and Forbidden Zones," the system announced coldly. "Their trials were isolated. Public listing now deemed necessary."
Aya and Kaito's sudden top placement sent shockwaves.
---
[Forbidden Zone – Now Visible]
A divine battlefield, bathed in gold.
Xenovia Kael, clad in blessed armor, raised her crossblade to the sky. Her partner, Arata Kanzaki, floated above glowing glyphs, expression unreadable.
"They beat a Chimera already?" Arata mused.
Xenovia's eyes narrowed. "He's Unknown. He shouldn't exist. We'll see if he survives Apex."
---
[Apex Zone – Classified Zone Now Visible]
Elijah Voss, UR Rank from the USA, stepped out of a shattered cave holding a still-beating monster heart.
Beside him, Lydia Ward, S Rank, was building a new weapon from its bones.
"Aya I get," Elijah murmured, "but that guy… Unknown? Looks like I found my target."
---
[Back to Kaito & Aya – Tower of Trial: Calamity Beast Encounter]
The Chimera shrieked and shattered the ground.
Aya rocketed through the sky like a thunder goddess.
Kaito strolled through its shadow like he owned it.
Lightning spears. Time distortion. Thunder. Silence.
Kaito whispered, "Stay down."
Aya finished it with divine wrath.
---
[System Alert]
> [Calamity-Class Monster Eliminated]
[Aya Shirogane – Level Up: 16 → 17]
[Kaito Yamada – Level Up: ??? → ???]
[Tower System Alert: Tier Balance Broken]
---
[Closing Scene – Apex Eyes Watching]
Every top-tier Awakened stared at the screen now.
At the name of the boy with no readable rank.
Kaito Yamada.
Only one Unknown in the world.
And for the first time, the Tower trembled.
---