11 Proposal?

[The continuation of the flashback on the 20th floor. 3 years before current the beginning of Season 2.]

Erik stood in the room surrounded by nine other regulars. Most of them had weapons drawn and looked around at their opponents warily. A few of them were part of a team and were lucky enough to be called into the same room.

But, no matter where they came from or what their objectives were, everyone in the room could agree on one thing; they had to stay alive. They had to survive.

Erik could smell the fear emanating off of the weaker regulars in the room as they looked to see who would make the first move.

*Step, Step*

Erik began walking slowly towards the middle of the room as everyone turned their attention to him. A thick, flowing red aura started flowing over him as he got closer to his destination. [Imagine a red Jojo aura from part 4 onwards. Something like Diavolo's Aura. I'll link a picture or Gif in the paragraph comments.]

*Step.*

Erik stopped in the middle of the room and closed his fists as his raging aura started to grow even more around his body.

"Come."

WHOOSH!

As if they had acted on his words, everyone rushed at him to kill him. It was as if their souls had acted out of fear and wanted to kill the heinous being that was in front of them.

"Die! Monster!

[POV from one of the regulars there]

My name is Ken and I've been trying to pass the twentieth floor for at least 2 years. At first, when I came here, I thought taking the test would be easy because all my teammates were here with me.

"Dead? What do you mean they're all dead?"

It's safe to say I was wrong.

During the test that year, someone had murdered an extreme amount of regulars in the test. It caused a large commotion on the floor as after doing that, the person responsible apparently forfeited the test.

Some say it was a young demon with red, monstrous horns. His skin was like steel and his eyes were the color of blood.

Some say he had spiky red hair, red eyes, a scar across his face, and could kill with a touch. The bodies of those he killed had weird, swirling holes in them as if they were dug through by some sort of drill.

As for me, I don't care what he looks like or how strong he is. Those stories are just made up by those who fear him so much that they have to convince themselves that he's stronger than he actually is in a pitiful attempt to justify their cowardice.

He killed those dear to me so I'll have to return the favor in full.

Today was the day of the test and I brought a new weapon with me that was made by the best blacksmith on this floor. I had to give him all I had made throughout my entire time spent on this floor but it was worth it.

It was said that the "monster of the twentieth" was participating in this test. Some believed it was a rumor as hearing that meant the chances of survival this time around were almost null.

Most of us didn't believe that rumor though as it was spread by a shady-looking man with a cheap perm. Maybe the cigarettes he always smoked finally started getting to him because who would trust someone like that with such important information?

It had to be a lie.

But, even then, that was the only lead I had. This man wasn't going to slip away from my clutches. No, not this time.

As I entered the room to take the test, they were nine other regulars with me. One glance is all it took for me to see that everyone had the same look in their eyes that I did.

A look of pure, raw determination.

Everyone, except one pink-haired young man dressed in black clothing. He looked...relaxed.

Too relaxed.

As if this was going to be a walk in the park. Arrogant fool. Maybe I'll defeat him first to teach him a lesson about taking the twentieth floor so lightly.

But, even I as thought about it, something within me was telling me that this was the man I'm looking for. Although you couldn't see it externally, I could feel something about him that was just...unnatural.

Like he wasn't supposed to exist.

I've never had a feeling like that before, especially about someone I've never met in my life.

'Focus Ken, it's just your nerves acting up before the big showdown. Remember, you can't turn back now. Just wait until someone makes the first move.', is what I told myself.

That is until the man started walking towards the middle of the room. A red aura started springing up around him as I felt a weird pressure weighing down on my entire being, causing my legs to almost buckle from the stress.

'This had to be him. No, this is definitely him. There's no mistake. Even in the slim chance that I'm wrong, I have to kill this guy here, break his will or make him a teammate.'

I was convinced that this was the "monster of the twentieth" that everyone was referring to. His presence was too overbearing for him to be someone unimportant.

"Come."

The young man's form started to change in front of my eyes as his demi-human visage became almost demonic. Massive horns grew from his head, his skin and hair became white as snow while his eyes took on the color of blood.

It was as they said. He was a fucking demon. One that made me question how the hell he was even allowed to live this long.

But my resolve wasn't about to break this easily. Something within was telling me that I had to attack him; that I had to kill him. Whether it was my thirst for vengeance or my being acting out of the fear of death, there was only one thought on my mind.

'I have to kill him.'

But oh, how wrong I was in thinking that he was just a demon.

No, he had to their leader.

Maybe, their general.

No, no. I was wrong this entire time. He had to be their God.

The way he moved was unlike anything I've ever seen. Every attack of his flowed into the other as if he was a machine made to fight.

A machine crafted for slaughter.

His diabolical means of killing by ripping people's heads off with his fingers lodged in their eye sockets made me want to throw up.

No matter how much blood was spilled on him, no matter how many pleaded for their lives, there was no change in his nonchalant expression.

"AGGHHHH!"

"Please, let me go! I'll never take the test aga-AGHHHH!"

Ah, he just killed two more. Maybe he's going to let me go as he's already broken my arms and legs.

God, why did I have to attack first? Why didn't you stop me? Why didn't you tell me that revenge against such a demon was nothing but a fool's endeavor?

Wait, now that I look closely, he's back in his demi-human form. Could it have been my imagination that made him look like a demon?

Was I so subconsciously afraid that I made him look like a monster so I can justify killing another human?

No, it couldn't be! Only a monster could kill this many people without any kind of remorse. Maybe what I saw was the true form of his soul.

God, it's terrifying.

"AGGHHH!"

There goes another one. Huh? I'm the last one alive.

*Step, Step*

Oh, he's coming towards me. My vision is fading from the blood loss.

Maybe he'll spare my life and take me as a teammate.

My team from before wouldn't be mad at me in heaven right? I tried my best! They can't hold it against me. Any one of them would want to join such an unstoppable monster after seeing what he can do.

But, didn't I come here to kill him? Ha, how naive those thoughts were in hindsight.

I wonder what mom is doing right now? Dad, I'm sorry for leaving you guys to climb the tower. I let my teenage emotions get the best of me.

Sorry, I'm going ahead of you. Please, God, don't let them try to take revenge for my death.

Oh, he just put his hand on my chest. I wonder what he's going to-

[End of Ken's POV]

'Rakshasa's palm.'

A gaping hole formed in the last regular's chest as he lay in the corner, his eyes filled with regret.

*Yawn*

Erik stretched casually as he used Shinsu to clean the blood off of himself. He then walked back to the middle of the room and stood there with his hands in his pocket, looking at the doors waiting for whoever is about to come through next.

The usual black mist created by the skill "Berserker" floated into his body, making him a bit stronger than before.

"Sigh, this group was even weaker than the ones from last year. Some of these guys looked like good people but I guess they're just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunate. Well, I wonder who's gonna come in next."

Over the years, even more so than when he was on earth, Erik had become accustomed to killing. He was already almost completely desensitized to it when he entered the tower and FUG just took advantage of that to craft him into the perfect killing machine.

Although they had succeeded at creating a monster, they failed at being able to control him. At first, some of the elders were afraid that he would turn against them when he got stronger but as of late, those fears turned into paranoia.

The only ones who were paranoid were those not on his side. They didn't trust Erik and wanted to eliminate him. Hence why he attacked Namo and Sola on sight. He had thought that they were sent by some Elders to assassinate him as it wasn't the first or second time that they tried that.

Elders like Sophia Tan and executives like Ha Jinsung just left Erik to do what he wanted outside of FUG jobs.

They knew he already had enough drive to go against the Ten Great Families so there wasn't even any reason to try and manipulate him. Although, that wouldn't have worked even if they tried.

Whoosh!

The door opened and a blood-soaked regular with a spear walked through it. As soon as the white-haired woman stepped into the room, she froze and looked around at the disfigured corpses on the floor.

She then turned her gaze towards Erik, who was standing calmly in all the blood and flesh with his hands in his pockets. As usual, he expected her to call him a monster and try to attack him as everyone did.

'She's probably going to attack me first. Judging from her standing stance alone, she probably relies on her left hand when using her spear and is most comfortable with that hand. I'll attack her from that side and crush her hopes of fighting me immediately. Then, death would be all that awaits her.'

After Erik came to this conclusion, he took his hands out of his pockets and folded his fists as his gaze intensified upon her.

WHOOSH!

As expected, the woman attacked Erik with her spear, and her spear stance was situated exactly how he thought it would be.

BOOM! WACK! VROOM! WACK!

Her power and skill were impressive as she swung the spear around, attacking every from multiple unpredictable angles. It was clear that she was an exceptional master of the spear arts.

But Erik was blocking every attack with his forearms as if they were nothing. Although some of them actually grazed his skin a bit, it was nothing to make him bleed.

'What a masterful spear style! Could she be from one of the ten great families? But weren't the good spear users from the Khun family? Her looks don't match theirs...'

The girl started to go even faster with her attacks but Erik kept up with them as he was accustomed to such fast attacks. She then pulled back, spun a massive amount of Shinsu around her spear, and thrust it at Erik with incredible force.

BOOM!

The room shook intensely as all the Shinsu in the room was being skillfully directed towards Erik with her attack.

'Whewww! That was impressive!', Erik thought to himself.

"But..."

Erik suddenly appeared out of the cluster of Shinsu and clamped his hand down on the spear, stopping its movements. Even the flow of Shinsu in the room stopped.

"You're still too weak."

The woman was incredibly shocked when she realized what Erik had done.

'Reverse Flow Control?! But, this is an entire room, plus he even froze me! This....'

Wasting no time, Erik broke off the tip of her spear and in one smooth motion, attacked her with it. It was a precise attack that was aimed at her throat. In Erik's mind, she was already dead.

Whoosh!

The girl barely dodged the spear by the sliver of her skin and grabbed Erik around his waist.

'Is she seriously going in for a grapple? I'm more surprised that she dodged my attack...'

As Erik was going to just stab her in the back of her neck instead, she suddenly raised her head and kissed him.

"What the?"

Erik immediately pushed her off and the woman latched on to him once again and stared intensely into his eyes.

"Marry me."

"Huh?!"