12 Striking The Top

Finally, I'm back for a bit my dudes and dudettes!

Apologies for not updating at all the past two weeks, I had exams in my first week and had a bunch of assignments to finish during this week and it was an utter nightmare of work. I needed to use the previous two days of weekends to rest after the whole thing, so apologies for not updating during that time. This is a short chapter though as I still have assignments due next week as well...

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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"Talking"

'Thinking'

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Lux, Willa and Hyuto were now approaching the hallway that led towards the reception area, though it didn't take them long before Lux seemed to react to something as he stopped walking. Shaking slightly as he gulped a small lump in his throat.

"Y-You guys feel that?"

Both Willa and Hyuto stopped walking and looked back at him in a confused manner. They noticed how the male had stopped at the front of the hallway before having called out towards them, and they were confused as to the reason. Both of them looked at one another before looking back towards Lux and shook their heads.

"That bloodlust... it's chilling."

"Bloodlust?" Hyuto muttered in confusion for a second before looking down the hallway. He quickly focused his senses as hard as he could, and to which he soon began to see as well as feel the bloodlust that seemed to be leaking out from beyond the hallway. 'Huh, didn't even notice it... though, I'm surprised that Lux isn't fainting.'

From what he could feel of the bloodlust that was leaking towards them. It was incredibly weak but was dangerous enough to probably kill, if pushed enough, a normal human who couldn't handle such a sensation or had any form of protective barrier. Willa appeared just fine under the bloodlust, she didn't even seem to have noticed it just like him.

Now that he thought about it, he turned to look at Lux and noticed something peculiar.

"Yo, Lux. You didn't have any points to buy the manual, right?"

"You mean for Nen? Yeah, what about it?"

"Look at yourself." Willa spoke in her usual tone as Lux blinked his eyes in confusion. He then did as she said and looked down at his hands, to which he soon widened his eyes in surprise when he noticed that what looked almost like steam was erupting from his body. How they didn't notice before was beyond them.

"Wh-What the?!"

"Interesting. You seem to have tapped into your life force, Lux." Hyuto commented with interest. He knew that Lux had no knowledge of how to utilise his life force, and was impossible for him unless he unlocked the different sections within the body that produce the power. He knew this quite well since he pretty much used a similar power every day. "How'd you do that?"

"I-I don't know... I didn't even notice."

"Well, it's not like we're going to complain. It seems that you have quite a lot of talent if you can just casually unlock your access points without even meaning to." Hyuto smiled softly with amusement as he saw Lux looking all over himself. Though, he soon frowned a bit. "Though, I would recommend you keep that power from flowing outwards like that. You're not releasing all of it since you don't seem to have complete access, though that amount is still dangerous. You are pretty much-losing your life span..."

"What do I do?" Lux gulped with a panicked look on his face as he looked at Hyuto with a pleading look in his eyes. "You seem to know about this stuff, how exactly am I supposed to keep my life force inside me anyway?!"

"Well, it's not really keeping inside, more like containing it and reducing the outward flow of energy." Hyuto said with a calm tone. "You just need to focus on that energy, close your eyes if you need to if that helps you focus. Just imagine that power as your own blood, imagine it flowing back inside of your body. That's how I do it."

"Like my blood...?" Lux muttered before closing his eyes. Willa and Hyuto just watched calmly before both smiling as they saw the erupting aura around Lux suddenly condense before seemingly wrapping around his body like some kind of smooth liquid substance sticking to his body. "Woah~... this feels a bit weird."

"You'll get used to it. We'll get you and Aya that manual at some point, it'll help you learn a few things." Hyuto may not be an expert on the manipulation of life force specifically, but he could only assume it was similar to control as divinity since life force does make up a small part of divinity. 'Maybe I should ask him for some notes to give Lux and Aya, I could learn something myself...'

"Welcome, you three must be Lux, Hyuto and Willa."

The three of them turned their heads to see that one of the arena clerks had walked out and into view at the end of the hallway, having pink messy hair and a pair of almost dead-tired looking eyes, though that didn't really go well with the constant calm smile that the woman had on her face. It was obvious to the three that she was the one that was sending the bloodlust.

"I welcome the three of you to the two-hundredth floor. It would also appear that the other two within your group are not present." The clerk voiced as she noticed that Warrod and Aya weren't with them. Though, she didn't seem at all affected as she just looked at them. "No matter. The reception desk is this way."

"Thanks. Let's go." Hyuto responded calmly as the three of them proceeded to walk forwards, with Lux fairing better against the bloodlust as it seems that after he had condensed his aura, it was protecting him better from the output of bloodlust from this clerk. As they were going past, someone suddenly spoke.

"Oh~, some fresh new blood, huh?" The voice obviously belonged to a male. Lux, unlike the other two, stopped to look at the male for a second, though only for a second before continuing walking. The male that had spoken was a large muscular male who barely wore anything to cover himself. It was honestly shocking how people could just walk around in such little clothing without feeling embarrassed. "H-Hey, don't you ignore me!"

"Hands off."

Hyuto suddenly spoke in a cold and dark tone as the male had grabbed him by the shoulder as he was walking past, causing the male to tremble as he let go with a fearful look on his face. Hyuto's eyes had flashed into a grey-ish metallic white colouration as some kind of heavy pressure pressed down on the male in front of him.

The clerk, along with both Lux and Willa felt the pressure as well, surprising them as they hadn't actually seen Hyuto act like this before. This guy reminded him way too much of that first guy he fought upon entering the arena, and god was that person annoying as hell. He didn't care if he scared this dude like hell, he didn't want to deal with him.

Hyuto then began walking off again as his two friends soon followed behind him, the clerk just watching them walk away as the male that was on the ground was still shaking uncontrollably as visible yellow liquid seemed to have made its way onto the ground beneath him. Though, he didn't seem to know as he was still busy trying to calm down.

'Wh-What was with those eyes...?!'

"Oh~? How interesting, perhaps some new playthings~." The rather creepy voice seemed to speak to themself from around the corner across the other side of the hallway as the person that had spoken peeked over as they observed the retreating forms of Hyuto, Willa and Lux. "I sure hope that they can entertain me~, at least until those two arrive."

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"Lux, since we can utilise weapons up here on this floor, you can use that Drag-Ride thing you have. You still aren't accustomed to using your life-force as a weapon or as a defensive technique, so don't be afraid to use your weapon against these people. They should all be fine as long as you don't do anything too drastic."

"Right, I know."

The three were now quickly approaching what appeared to be the reception desk of the floor as the person behind the glass window wore the usual staff outfit along with having somewhat long greenish-blue hair. The person also was holding a constant smile on their face and quickly bowed slightly to them as they made it to the desk.

"I welcome the three of you to the two-hundredth floor, congratulations! I would like to ask you to quickly fill out all of these forms for me!" The receptionist pushed a stack of papers to them as Hyuto took them and scanned through them quickly. "Would the three of you like to register for a match today? Keep in mind that you have ninety whole days to prepare and if you don't register for a match at the end of those days, then you will be disqualified."

"Then from what you're saying, then that means we will have more than one fight today?" Lux asked curiously as both Hyuto and Willa were just filling in the papers as Lux asked the questions. The receptionist held her constant smile as she nodded her head before beginning to explain herself.

"That's correct! You have to rack up a total of ten victories to be able to clear this floor, though losing four times before being able to accumulate those wins will end in your disqualification." The receptionist warned them as none of them really seemed affected. "However, if you do win! You'll be able to challenge the floor masters! They're the twenty-one strongest fighters here!"

'Strongest fighters...' Hyuto frowned. He could sense a few stronger life forces on the above floors, and he was not impressed. Their power wouldn't even rank them in the top hundred-thousand back home. Though, not like he cared much as he wasn't planning to stay forever. Not like he could anyway. "We don't plan on staying forever, so we don't really care about the benefits of beating this floor. You guys good to fight straight away?"

"I'm fine to go."

"Mm."

Lux and Willa replied respectively as Hyuto just simply nodded. The receptionist had slumped over after having heard Hyuto's previous statement, probably seemingly depressed due to how blunt his words were. It truly appeared that the group in front of her didn't care a single bit about the rewards such as becoming a floor master...

She just sighed before pushing three other forms towards them to fill in.

"Then please fill these in as well..."

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After having gotten themselves registered for their first matches up on this floor, they were all given separate rooms, similar to how they had been granted rooms to stay in back on the one-hundredth floor. However, when they entered the room, which was Lux's, they had noticed how the rooms were far larger and much more expensive looking than the previous rooms.

They knew that both Willa and Aya were going to need to book rooms at a nearby hotel since they weren't going to be registering at all, and they would be kicked out since they weren't going to fight. The hotels around the area were quite nice though, so at least they won't be uncomfortable at all when staying at those places.

The two could still easily come and buy tickets to watch their fights though, so that was good.

"Lux, Hyuto. Look."

Both Lux and Hyuto heard Willa speak as they both turned their heads to see Willa staring at the television screen, both of them stared at one another before shrugging as they walked on over to see just what it was that she was looking at. When they saw what it was on the screen, they blinked their eyes in surprise at what they saw.

"Wow, they sure work fast, don't they?"

The reason for their surprise was the fact that on the screen was the date that was selected for Lux's upcoming match, and it was tomorrow...

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