There was a noise audible for all to hear throughout the Prime Settlement. Even as everyone went about their day-to-day activities, preparing for the most intense battle of their lives filled with unpredictable variables, they had no choice but to halt when they heard the ethereal sound in the distance.
It was the sound of running water. There was no water to be seen, though. Ahead, there was only a vast layer of holy blood creating the crimson sea that'd become a familiar sighting to everyone occupying the mobile Prime Settlement.
Worthy was sitting in his usual spot on the wall, staring in awe at the display. It was not something that he'd ever see again, more than likely. There was a crimson fog in the distance, so thick that it was impossible to see beyond the veil.
"Hey, Mr. Reaver." Looking to his right, Worthy beckoned the attention of the towering knight in a suit of enchanted armor. The man was just as magnificent as he'd been during their initial introduction, what felt like years ago. It was funny how things were.
Continuing, the child asked, "What's that noise? It sounds like a loud shower, doesn't it? Don't tell me it's raining blood on the other side of the mist."
War pondered for a moment, but Worthy knew he'd long become aware of what it was. The Holy Knight's sight was far better than the average person's. If Worthy wanted to be bold, he'd presume that War Reaver could see through anything, as long as he truly wished to see what was on the other side.
"Raining would not best describe it." The man entertained the child's innocent curiosity. He never once asked why the child seemed so down or different.
Maybe he had an ability that gave him insight into things he ordinarily should not know about. There's the other possibility that he'd simply been too busy to notice that the child who'd once been scrawny and seemingly starved had put on more weight and seemed a bit taller than before. That was far too unlikely for the boy to confidently set his reasoning on. War would no doubt notice such a change, even if he did not immediately comment about it.
"It isn't raining, but it's certainly a downpour. Tell me, Young Man… Have you ever witnessed a waterfall? A current of water that falls from a high peak, seemingly never-ending. That is what's on the other side of the fog… I doubt there is any water to be found beyond that wall, of course."
The boy was stupefied, finding difficulties envisioning the display in his mind. The sewers under Malas Town had something similar to what the Holy Knight described. Down there, in that drainage system where the sewage lines hardly worked properly half the time, it was a rare sight to see any running liquid, let alone water. Blood rolled over the stones of the sewers often in the town, as far as the child remembered. In that regard, it might not be all too different from what he was seeing before him now.
As the flying city continued its voyage forward, it eventually came to meet the fog head-on. And then, after a highly anticipated moment that felt like an eternity for the child, it breached the veil of crimson vapor and made way for its passage.
Worthy should have been fearful in that moment, where anything could be waiting on the other side of the translucent screen. Everything on this floor, besides the humans—and even then, there were still some who were without sanity and were more than willing to harm others—was deadset on bringing ruin to the surviving Climbers of the Floor.
The looming prospect of death did not terrify him as much as it should've. He knew now that he was the safest he could ever be.
Every living, breathing person on Floor 1 had been transported to one place. All of them were now in this together, meaning that should they fail, there was no chance of victory to begin with. If every challenger wasn't enough to overcome adversity, then there was never a chance — they'd all walked into a slaughterhouse.
'Of course, I'm not personally guaranteed to live — I'd bet I'm probably the most probable to face my end out of anyone here… except Robert. I'm almost one-hundred percent sure my dad would chew me out if he saw how reckless I've been the last few weeks.'
His father, who'd agreed to let his child embark on the journey into Aciago Tower, likely would not have agreed to it if he'd been aware of how terribly the challenge had been altered. The enemies the child had to fight were tremendously worse and the duty of sailing across the world on a flying city certainly hadn't crossed the man's mind when explaining the First Floor to his son; such a conclusion was impossible to conceive.
"A seemingly never-ending flow of water? You know, we don't really need to eat or anything in the Tower. Still, I can't help but hate you a little. The thought alone is making my mouth dry."
The Holy Knight tilted his head, "You're drooling."
Worthy gasped and his body dramatically leaned back, and his hand covered his face. "See? I'm dehydrating myself in real time."
Their banter continued for some time. War enlightened Worthy on the various waterfalls of the world, things that the boy never once considered seeing before entering. He later needed to defend that leaving Malas Town is practically an impossibility in the conditions people lived in.
The young adventurer's inability to see the world freely did not inhibit his ocular abilities.
Moments passed, but finally, the grand display of the waterfall came into the child's view.
Initially, he believed he saw a river falling from the sky. Even craning his neck, he could not see the point where the descent started. At some point, darkness encroached upon the peak of the wall of running blood. Somewhere inside of that darkness was whatever construct contained the never-ending reservoir of blood that was assimilated with the ocean.
'Then, I think this must be… No doubt, it must be the source of all those dreadful sea abominations.'
There'd been tenacious monsters stalking them all this time, and many of them were equally as deadly, if not moreso, than the terrible, flesh-seeking predators in the mainland they escaped from. Without a steady influx of Climbers to consume, there was no possible way for the beasts to have grown so mighty, lest there be an alternate source of nutrients for them. Worthy was even willing to bet many of the avians they battled fed from the source directly, rather than the stream.
'That'd also explain why the world isn't flooded. If there really is a neverending stream of blood pouring into the water, it should've drowned the world by now. Predators are fueling themselves with the ocean as well.'
After thousands of years, how had the blood continued streaming so magnificently? It was no doubt the blood of the Blood Marauder, whom they were now coming to finish — the very Blood Marauder that Alice failed to exterminate all those years ago.
The child did not want to dwell on what was to come, he'd spent enough time sulking about his misfortune already.
"Glorious is not the word I'd describe this sight with… Breath-taking, I'd wager is better suited." Through the slit of his visor, War's shimmering eyes watched the blood with fascination.
Worthy understood what he meant as well. There was no glory in witnessing the result of carnage flowing into a sea of gore, yet there was still something so eye-catching about the otherworldly showing. Nothing of this magnitude was visible to those who came from outside the Tower. There were many respective wonders in their world, but every wonder was unique in its own way.
"You're right about that. This is amazing, I'll admit. I don't think I'll ever want to see it again once I'm out of here."
"Wiser words have never been said, boy. I cannot help but feel I'm to blame for much of the ruckus we've endured, but I cannot say I find the patience to reminisce on it. The time I've idled in this realm of death, despair, and doom — I cannot reclaim it, make no mistake. Reclaiming lost time is not the way of a Holy Knight. We are raised to be steadfast and push forward when it calls, but never turn to what we have passed."
Holy Knights carried within them unquantifiable pride and honor. Fewer men had greater cause for such pride than them, who achieved the pinnacle of human capabilities. They were akin to deities among mortal men, yet they dedicate their lives to servitude.
Faltering was a sign that a Holy Knight was inept, and unfit for their duty. That is why War Reaver could not falter and dwell on the past.
As he is taking in War's words, something in the distance caught and reeled Worthy's attention. He could make out the shapes of skeletal figures out in the distance, before his eyes focused and realized they were not skeletons at all. What the boy was seeing was none other than bone constructs, statues through the thick fog of blood produced by the pouring ichor.
Stationary figures forged of bone, perhaps dormant remnants of the fallen abomination, were positioned in various positions surrounding the floating city. Dozens of them were facing inward, whatever plot of land resided inside of the fog.
They pointed toward the heart of the Floor, or rather, to the end of it.
Worthy did not know it, but this was the expanse of land which the unfortunate Edwin Redglaive had been sent. It was also the land he had crossed in record time while possessed by the Demon of the Mind. Hundreds… thousands of miles away from the mainland, the group approached the final battle.
Men sat in buildings speaking and conversing, preparing for the greatest battle of their lives. They'd entered Aciago Tower with the intention of having their wish fulfilled — now they would be tested in the grandest way fate could offer.
Many of them would perish without ever seeing what resided beyond this floor, and a great many would also survive to continue climbing thereafter. Tales would not be sung about their deeds, as there were no bards to write the lyrics for the epic that'd shortly unfold.
Worthy gazed in amazement as more shapes began to emerge through the fog.
As the flying city advanced, it passed between the large, bone statues. Worthy, as well as all the others occupying the wall at the time, were too amazed to notice the intricate details of the bones that composed the motionless sculptures, which were not sculptures at all.
Writing was embedded across the bodies of each skeleton, carved from a language that was extinct.
Beholding the writing ordinarily would cause great distress in those who could not comprehend it. The otherworldly, foreign might of the power of writing held by the world that was once the First Floor of Aciago Tower, was more sumptuous than given credit for.
Should any of them look close enough to read and decipher the words, they would instead see a riddle, or something closely resembling a warning — pleading passers to carry caution as they pass through the Hunter's Nest.
Written upon the nearest statue to the west of the settlement, those that paid attention to the writing on each mountainous statue would notice the same consistent location, where they ran up the large legs, low enough for humans to see but high enough that they needed elevation to see the rest.
This pattern remained present on each of them, until the boy's eyes settled upon a statue that was close to them at the east.
"Hey, War…!"
His hair stood on edge when he realized the difference between the statue closest to their east did not have anything written on it. Worst of all, the statue was not facing the same direction as the other statues anymore. Once, it had, but unnoticed by the others, he had shifted.
It moved. The skeletal statue moved, because it was not a statue to begin with. Its arm was raised and arched, lengthy digits open as though anticipating something to arrive in them. Soon, something did. In the time that it took for Worthy to speak to the Holy Knight, and for the Holy Knight to thereafter turn and see the danger firsthand, streaks of white crossed the air as a weapon of mass destruction formed in the hand of the skeleton.
A giant spear made of bones loomed over the city.
Dozens ran to defend as chaos erupted in the streets, but even with the presence of Knights and the Knight Captain who led them, they were not quick enough to prevent what was to come.
'...The damn spear thrower!' Realization settled on his face. Worthy turned and broke into a sprint, meanwhile War ran to meet the spear that the giant skeleton was dropping on the wall of the city.
They had been fortunate before; the spear thrower was mysterious, unleashing its weapon from such a great distance away they could prepare accordingly whenever the glint of its approach formed.
However, now that the creature, taller than the walls of the settlement, loomed over it in all its terrible magnificence, Worthy understood he was wrong in assuming the worst was over. In actuality, the worst was now right at their doorstep.
Light emerged around the spear, a blinding light unleashing agony on anyone who approached the abomination.
War Reaver persisted in his approach, his Divine Sword shining with equal radiance. Rather than slow down, it only made Worthy speed up — terror settled in his heart as he grasped the final result of the clash that was to come.
For the first time, War was going to fail. His intention was to prevent the spear thrower from destroying the wall of the city and ending the lives of anyone remaining in the eastern region of the city. He may succeed in preventing deaths, but will find no grace in the eradication of the wall.
With the same might that hurled spears across the world, the skeleton unleashed its spear upon the city.
The Holy Knight leapt, an indestructible grip on his weapon that had eradicated the projectiles in the past. Only this time, he is meeting the advancing projectile at its strongest. Worthy could not see the spear move, nor could he track War's movement as he rapidly advanced towards its point.
When they clashed, the world went white. Shockwaves rippled across the earth that chipped away at the wall, as well as the burdens holding them together. Yet, not even the burdens of Alice could withstand the aftershock of their clash — certainly not when War was pushed back down to the wall, then into it, and finally through the other end.
…The wall was destroyed.