A sharp crack sounded, that of all the creature’s bones breaking simultaneously under several tons of invisible pressure. The wolf was instantly reduced to a shapeless mass of crushed flesh and fur, collapsing like a useless sack of shit.

Klein, who had just finished eliminating the rest of the pack, stopped to observe the carnage. He felt a drop of sweat run down his temple. "Impressive. You crush living beings like one crushes insects under a boot. Your cruelty is really your most charming character trait."

Walpurga resumed her walk towards the staircase leading to the second floor. "Pity is a weakness that dark elves eradicated millennia ago. You should do the same with your sarcasm, it is starting to become repetitive junior disciple..."

As they ascended, the enemies became more dangerous. Between the fourth and the seventh floor, they encountered the possessed: former disciples or guards of the tower whose bodies had been deformed by demonic corruption. Their eyes were an opaque black, and bony outgrowths pierced their gray skin.

Klein had to intensify his efforts. The fights became more physical, hand-to-hand. He blocked claw attacks with the flat of his blade, feeling the brutal strength of the possessed make his arms vibrate.

< Second Movement : Quarter Moon >

He traced arcs with both hands, leaving behind sharp aura remnants that shredded the possessed who tried to encircle him.

The scene was a whirlwind of severed limbs and inhuman screams.

It was on the eighth floor that there was an S+ rank possessed, massive and endowed with skin reinforced by chitin plates, managed to break Klein’s guard with a devastating punch. Not expecting it, the possessed hiding in the crowd of other monsters, Klein was thrown against a pillar, the breath knocked out of him. As the monster prepared to crush his skull, Walpurga intervened.

She did not just use her magic this time. She appeared in front of the possessed with a speed that stunned Klein. With a simple gesture, she grabbed the monster’s wrist. Under the pressure of her fingers, which seemed so fragile, the metal and bone of the possessed exploded. She literally lifted him off the ground with one hand before driving her other hand directly into his chest, piercing the chitin plates as if they were paper. She pulled out the blackened heart and crushed it between her fingers.

Klein straightened up, a little embarrassed... Obviously the blow did not really hurt him but, with his negligence, he could have been unnecessarily injured.

"I knew you were powerful magically, but this brute strength... you are a physical monster under this fragile little thing appearance."

Walpurga wiped her hand on a piece of fabric with manifest disgust. "Do you really think that over the centuries I would not have a body capable of crushing a skull if necessary?" She looked down at him. "Now, get up. Your mind is distracted and that can be fatal..."

Klein nodded, indeed... It had been quite a few years since he had his lovers: Whether it was his princess Kleopatra, his beloved milf Irene, his tsundere Kitsune Kara, his duchess Dyana, his beloved witch Eleanor, his childhood friend Evelyn, his cold elf Seraphina, the new Predator Isabella, his saintess Scarlet, his toxic ex Arianale was somewhat missing... And even the vice director Amaera Castillon who had been haunting his dreams since he had merged with the Sulyvhan essence...

He was thinking a bit about what Diavolo had told him concerning the creation of angels and demons... Was he going to meet one of his dead acquaintances but who had lost their memories... Or again if he went to Paradise or hell would he find Ruby’s soul since it had not been destroyed at her death?

He had many unanswered questions...

Arriving at the tenth floor, after having cleared a room filled with possessed mages, they decided to stop. Fatigue was starting to weigh on them, not because of the physical effort, but because of the temporal fluctuation.

"Look at your magic chronometer, Klein", said Walpurga as she sat on a throne debris.

Klein took the object out of his pocket. "Only three hours have passed outside... But I have the impression that we have been fighting here for at least three weeks. My beard is even starting to grow."

"Time is a suggestion in this tower", she replied while taking out a pipe and lighting it with an elegant gesture. "That is why I brought you here. You will progress more in a few days than you would have in a year."

They remained silent for a moment, only the crackling of the residual flames in the room disturbing the calm. Klein observed Walpurga. Despite the combat dust, she remained of an irritating beauty, her generous chest rising calmly under her dress as she smoked. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Why are you really helping me?" he asked abruptly, abandoning for once his mocking tone. "A witch of your rank has nothing to gain by training a little human noble."

Indeed, it was training because throughout their fight Walpurga was deliberately casting her spells slowly so that he could see how she manipulated her Mystical art and that, Klein had noticed it.

Walpurga exhaled a long puff of blue smoke. "Don’t get a big head, Klein. I am not acting out of the goodness of my heart. You are an investment.... and I need pieces on the chessboard that do not break at the first shock". She stared at him intensely. "You have the essence of Sulyvhan in you, and the teachings of my master. Do not be a disappointment."

Klein sketched his usual smile. "Then I suppose I will have to continue to put up with you. Try not to fall too much in love with me while I save your tower, mistress."

Walpurga let out a cold laugh. "Junior, you have more chances of ending up decapitated by my hand than of seeing such a miracle happen. Now, sleep a little. Tomorrow, we climb to the eleventh floor."

She turned away, leaving him with his thoughts as the darkness of the tower seemed to close in on them.

...