✎ to you, who swallowed a star 「 ed•v 」

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𝖉𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖔𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖒 𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖛𝖔𝖑𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆 𝖛𝖎𝖛𝖆 𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖒𝖆𝖒.

•••

The 101st Floor belongs to Khun Eduan.

At least, that’s what was originally documented in the tower’s archives, officially recognized by the King and Three Sovereigns of the Tower of God. Fertile soil and vast fields boasting promising abundance of crops, livestock, and natural resources, as well as Strategic terrains one can utilize to their advantage to strengthen the territory— those were the selling points, the things that convinced the entirety of the tower to believe that it was the most suitable reward to grant Jahad Empire’s exclusive strategist who spearheaded the subjugation of the rebel forces. Perhaps, what were once facts once upon a time, became muddled with mistruths.

Though, since when had the Jahad Empire not spun its web of lies?

Citizens residing at the Outer Tower would have surely lived their lives in nothing but blissful and pure ignorance. But, those inside these walls have always known. It was an open secret. That Floor 101, the territory King Jahad first bestowed to the spearbearer the moment he was enthroned at last, was the land that Khun Eduan, for the longest time, had always wanted to abandon.

Yet, he now finds himself returning to such a pathetic position of managing a place that had ties with the very empire he loathed with every fiber of his being, because this— his floor, needed to be revived for the sake of his future plans. Though, if Eduan must say, returning this wreakage back into its full potential might have been the easiest part.

“Found you,”

Eduan’s train of thoughts came to a halt as the lack of oxygen had finally snapped him back to reality— a cloaked man of brusque features riddled with deep scars, tackling the bluenet to the ground with a crazed grin.

“Electric Eel.”

Of all his numerous sobriquets, must this barbarian really choose this?

It was rather amusing of the Family Head to disregard his neck being throttled with only a single hand just because he held an unrivaled amount of disgust over the title. Unbeknownst to Eduan’s inner musings, the calm he displayed only made his enemy angrier.

“Did my ancestors really waste generations worth of fear because of a weakling like you? To think, a bastard only of this caliber is the famed strategist and a Great Family Head— what has the Empire become?” Blood spattered from his mouth, dyeing his light-colored clothes crimson as the man, seemingly the leader of the rebel forces based mainly on this floor, towered over him, slamming the Khun’s back flat on the ground. He laughed, darkly like a brainsick lunatic, tightening his grip until the former’s pupils rolled into pure white.

Although it baffled the leader how a warmonger chose to visit a rebel-infested territory with only a portion of his elite guards, beggars can’t be choosers, can they? He unsheathed the dagger protectively hidden underneath his thigh, specifically instructed by his benefactor to be used for this moment alone. Avoiding the intense stare from the electric blue orbs whose clearness spooked him, the man lifted the dagger high up in the air before thrusting it to the spearbearer’s throat, down to his chest.

“You only have the emperor to blame, Khun Eduan.”

Eduan’s body spasmed, struggling for air before losing strength the more the enemy asphyxiated him.