Free Web NovelThe closer one got to the black tower, the more souls there were on the ground.
It was an extremely absurd contrast.
On the tower walls, the souls embedded within were struggling frantically.
They opened their silent mouths and clawed at the masonry with mangled arms, desperate to escape this structure that represented destruction.
Yet outside the tower.
On the gray wasteland.
Countless translucent souls knelt densely on the ground.
Their postures varied.
Some had their hands pressed together as if praying for something.
Some had their foreheads to the ground as if repenting for something.
Some looked up at the high tower, their lips moving silently.
But all their gazes pointed in the same direction.
Toward that millstone that had swallowed and crushed them—that black tower that was forever collapsing and forever being rebuilt.
Pavela walked upon the ashes.
With every step, a ripple of gray spread beneath her feet.
She looked at the scene before her, somewhat unsure of what to say.
As she approached, the gray ocean of souls began to surge.
The souls kneeling in prayer seemed to sense something.
They slowly raised their heads.
Hollow eye sockets turned toward Pavela.
Then, they began to move.
There was no sound.
No shoving.
They even remained in their kneeling posture.
They began to spontaneously move to either side.
Like the ebbing tide.
Like clouds parting.
Like gray waves of wheat being pushed aside by a pair of invisible giant hands.
Before Pavela, a straight path leading to the base of the tower opened up.
With every step Pavela took, the souls on both sides bowed their heads. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Saluting her.
Worshiping her.
Yet also carrying a hint of fear.
Their bodies trembled slightly, as if welcoming some indescribable calamity.
She walked this path for a long time.
The crowd parted bit by bit, and the high tower grew larger and larger.
To be honest, this was her first time walking toward that high tower.
It was also her first time observing the tower from such a close distance.
The tower was massive.
Even larger than it appeared from afar.
From a distance, you only felt it towered into the clouds, forever collapsing and rebuilding.
But when you truly stood before it, the sense of oppression was tangible.
The base's diameter was at least a hundred meters.
Black masonry was stacked to an incredible height.
Looking up, the tower's body vanished into the leaden-gray sky.
The top was nowhere to be seen.
The patterns on the tower walls were still squirming slightly.
Those were patterns composed of countless pained faces.
Their mouths opened and closed.
Screaming silently, full of fear and despair.
Violent black-red lightning roamed around the tower, making a tooth-grinding'sizzle' sound.
Every piece of masonry peeled off in the lightning, turned to dust, then reconsolidated in mid-air and smashed back onto the tower's body.
Pavela stared at the tower for a good while.
"It's quite lively here."
She said.
The Gatekeeper floated beside her.
That mass of void-form contracted slightly.
"You're actually in the mood to joke?"
Pavela shrugged and did not continue responding to the Gatekeeper.
She withdrew her gaze.
And looked straight ahead.
There was a door there.
A massive, twisted door.
It had no fixed material.
One second, it was rusty black iron, covered in dark red oxidation patches.
The next second, the rust peeled off, and it became pale bone.
The second after that, the bone shattered and turned into burning charcoal.
The door panel itself was even more bizarre.
It was translucent.
Like solidified smoke.
Or like liquefied shadows.
Pavela could see countless tiny cracks on the door panel.
Those cracks were constantly expanding, spreading, and tearing.
But at the same time, new matter was growing, filling, and healing within the cracks.
Destruction and rebirth carried out a never-ending cycle on this door at an incredibly frantic frequency.
"I remember you saying just now that they reorganized the structure inside the tower."
Pavela asked the Gatekeeper beside her without looking back as she approached the door.
"What exactly is it like?"
The Gatekeeper followed Pavela forward but stopped three meters away from the door.
He seemed to have some kind of psychological trauma regarding this door.
"They re-divided the space inside the tower into levels according to the strength of the imprisoned souls."
He said sullenly.
"Then, based on the height of their sequences when they were alive, they formed patrol teams of different ranks within the various levels."
"Once a soul goes mad due to the erosion of the Path of the Tower, or tries to break out by damaging the tower's structure, they arrive on the scene immediately."
"Then they grind that mad soul into the dirt until the other party behaves."
"Though speaking of which, ordinary souls actually can't reshape the space inside the tower."
"Their understanding of the Path of the Tower seems to lean more toward rebirth than destruction."
Pavela nodded thoughtfully.
"Alright then."
She reached out her hand, preparing to push the door.
"I want to see exactly what kind of Free-for-all is playing out in my head."
Just as her fingertips were about to touch that twisted gate.
The Gatekeeper suddenly vibrated violently.
"Wait...!"
He blurted out, then forced the words back down.
Pavela's hand stopped in mid-air.
She turned her head.
"What's wrong?"
She saw the edges of the Gatekeeper's featureless flame flickering frantically for a moment before quickly calming down.
Then, he spoke in an extremely unnatural, feigned tone of ease.
"...It's nothing."
"I just wanted to remind you... you have to use some force when pushing the door; it's a bit heavy."
Pavela sized him up suspiciously.
"Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
The Gatekeeper was now full of assurance.
"Hurry on in, Master. Any later and they'll tear the roof off the tower."
Pavela withdrew her gaze.
"Acting all mysterious."
She muttered a sentence and pressed both hands against the door.
Seeing Pavela turn away, the Gatekeeper's flames began to flicker frantically again.
Just in that instant.
Through Pavela's weak connection, he had perceived some images from the outside world.
He saw Pavela's body curled into a ball, teeth gritted, letting out pained howls.
But she was no longer rolling around.
It wasn't that she didn't want to roll.
It was because a woman with ice-blue eyes was standing before her, holding her down.
Behind her, the cockpit door seemed to have been forced open.
And in those eyes that always carried arrogance and elegance, there was now a near-overflowing amount of terror, heartache, and a certain madness on the verge of erupting.
It was Eleanor von Schwartz, Pavela's dear sister!
She saw it!
She saw everything!!
The Gatekeeper had originally intended to remind Pavela out of instinct.
But he immediately reacted and stopped himself.
Ah, if he told Pavela about this now.
Told her that her disguise had failed and that her precious sister was watching her roll around on the floor.
Pavela would absolutely, immediately, without hesitation disconnect from the Mental Space and roll back to reality.
Then who the hell would handle this group of old perverts in the tower?
Who would suppress the souls who might be causing a riot in the tower right now?
Him?!
Was he going to get beaten up again?!
