Collateral

The spell Winston had trapped Kallavan into was by no means a simple one. Once a spell has been completed, it is very difficult to break. That is one of the rules of a spell. You can't just cancel a complete spell.

As such, High Rankers of the Po Bidau family were called in and the spell was taken down within a time of 2 days.

At that point, the damage had already been done.

The name of Jahad, someone whose power had rung undisputed for centuries in the tower was, for the first time in a millenia, tarnished with a stain so large it could not be ignored.

The name of Jahad, which had been imbued with unspeakable power until then was ruthlessly dragged into the mud. And by whom? All by the acts of a single irregular that had challenged Jahad's forces.

The damage control couldn't be performed. Everywhere in the tower, discussions of the fight were taking place. Blogs were made of the irregular, Winston Heath, to theorize about his abilities and powers. Fan pages were created, gaining more and more traction. And along with that, Winston's surface account of Charlotte had gained even more popularity for reasons that couldn't be explained. Perhaps people found it more attractive that the 'Goddess' was climbing the tower with an irregular.

As the popularity rose within only 3 hours of the fight, the Commander in Chief of the Army, Adori Jahad officially announced a statement.

Kallavan was demoted from his position as a Corps Commander and the entire 4th Squadron would be disbanded, to be built from the ground up again.

A tower wide revolution went underway in the army. The leader of the Lo Po Bia family, Lo Po Bia Traumerei openly sent 3000 rankers to the Jahad army, 250 of which were advanced rankers and 3 High Rankers.

Meanwhile, the Ha, Arie, Ari and the Khun families were all invited to send more recruits to the army.

And contrary to everyone's expectations, they had actually agreed.

A total of 10,000 rankers were sent out to join the Jahad Forces from the various families, with even the Tu Perie family joining in.

Everyone was on edge. A war was on the verge of breaking out.

One ones that were looking to overthrow Jahad's rule in the shadows... were now starting to surface from the depths again. The previous irregular, the slayer nominee Jue Viole Grace, was no longer a priority for them!

And so, all the major forces including Jahad' Army, the Ten Great Families, FUG, Wolhaiksong and various others began to pay attention to the next moves of the one who changed it all.

Winston Heath.

The various forces and the masses had already begun to call Winston Heath by a sobriquet.

Silent Leviathan. But of course, Winston's own honorific names were booming in popularity. Practically every other person referred to him as - "The Beacon of Destiny" or "The Uncontrollable Cosmic Error" or "Traveller of the Endless Worlds.'

In the ranking administration headquarters, when the news reached them, Aisand and Tommy arrived at a specific conclusion.

They would include Winston Heath, the irregular onto the rankings. It was a composed decision on Aisand's part. For one he had already sent a confirmation notice to Jahad.

The entire thing was still hidden. But then, just 3 days after Winston's stream, Jahad finally came forth.

Aisand's notice had been affirmed and he had been told to go through with it.

But not only that. Winston Heath, the irregular was offered something. The position of a ranker without even needing to climb the tower.

The news again shook the entire Tower.

A regular had been offered the position of a ranker. And by the King himself, no less.

But the one it was offered to had no reaction. 2 weeks passed in silence. There was no other movement on behalf of the other party.

Seeing that, Jahad promptly withdrew the order, but the bill to include Winston in the ranking had already been passed.

His position?

Rank No. 345 - 'Silent Leviathan' Winston Heath.

~~~

"Damn..." Shibisu couldn't help but mutter as he scrolled through the various blogs that had been made about Winston.

It had been a month since Winston took on Kallavan and the heat from the battle was still going strong.

"Are you looking at pictures of that woman again?" Suddenly, a pissed off voice came from behind him, and then, a small fist slammed into the back of his head.

Bam!

"Ouch!"

Anaak walked over to the front and took a peek at his phone.

"Huh. Look at that. It's actually not Charlotte." She said.

"Of course not! I'm trying to gather information on the slayer candidate!" He yelled.

"Then how's it going?" Another voice rang in their ears as Hatz entered the hall.

Shibisu sighed and slumped back into the sofa.

"Not well. There was barely any information beforehand. Now, every other page can't help but go without mentioning Winston. He's become a celebrity." He shook his head.

"That's to be expected." Spoke Anaak as she took a seat beside him and switched on the television.

"He fought a High Ranker and was even included in the rankings. It's something that has never happened before." She continued.

Hatz sat beside Shibisu on the other side, his sword by his side.

"Weren't there rumors that he would appear at the Workshop battle?"

"There were. But anything beyond that just isn't there." Shibisu said. "Not to mention Winston suddenly disappeared. This is all turning into a big mess by now."

"It'll be alright... probably." Hatz nodded.

Just then, Shibisu's pocket rang with a familiar caller ID.

"...Mr. Lero ro?" He raised an eyebrow.

Anaak and Hatz at the side instantly became interested.

Without waiting, Shibisu picked up the call.

Lero ro's face appeared on the pocket.

He smiled at Shibisu.

"Long time no see."

Shibisu smiled, "Hello Mr. Lero ro. I didn't know you had my contact info."

"I can pull some strings. It's fairly easy to hijack a regular's pocket." Lero ro chuckled.

You hacked my pocket? Shibisu said silently.

"I see Anaak and Hatz are doing just as well."

Anaak and Hatz jumped into the viewing frame and smiled at the ranker. They greeted him with smiles and sat back into their respective positions, listening in to the conversation.

"Why did you contact me?" Shibisu inquired.

"It is because of a particular task I have been assigned with."

"Task?"

Lero ro closed his eyes. "It is from the Wolhaiksong. And the subject is..." He paused. "Winston Heath."

Winston's name rang in their ears like a thunderclap.

"Winston? Is the Wolhaiksong trying to recruit him?" Shibisu asked, instantly guessing the organisation's motives.

Lero ro nodded. "That's right. After his reveal as someone from outside the tower, Wolhaiksong, whose entire goal is to leave the tower have been getting restless." He said.

"Furthermore, the issue has even reached the upper echelons of the organisation."

Shibisu raised a brow.

"You mean...?"

"Urek Mazino." Lero ro confirmed. "Mazino himself has left the 77th Floor to have a meeting with Winston. But in the month that followed the stream, there was no guessing where he had disappeared to."

"And you contacted us because..?"

"It is of course because you ate Winston's friend. We simply wish to get his coordinates from you. Even the floor that he's on will do."

Shibisu turned quiet for a moment before he sighed.

"I would have helped you, but even we don't know where he is."

Lero ro looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. "That's surprising, but not something we hadn't expected." He nodded.

"I apologize for wasting your time. Though if you happen to get anything on him, do contact me."

Shibisu nodded in agreement. "Will do."

Just then, Lero ro's tone turned serious.

"Also." He said. "Are you thinking of joining this year's workshop battle?"

"That's right?"

Lero ro didn't say anything. The air turned quiet for a moment.

"I see. Be careful. There's something very troublesome about to unfold at the Workshop. Along with that, it would be good for your to lay low for a while. With how popular Winston had been getting recently and the fame it comes with having two Jahad Princesses, Zarhan and Hatz on your team, I wouldn't be surprised if someone were to target you." He said and cut the call.

Anaak looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"That was strange."

"It was." Hatz joined in. "What do you think is the reason for his warning."

Shibisu stopped, seemingly to organize his thoughts.

"It doesn't matter. We're going there either way, aren't we?"

~~~

While the entire Tower was in disarray, a previous myth was again starting to rise.

People with monocles on their faces were beginning to rise on the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd floor in waves.

Hundreds of people in public places would all of a sudden pull out monocles from some compartment in their clothes and keep the monocle on their right eye. Then, they would all smile enigmatically towards the people without and not speak a single word.

Over the course of a month, hundreds of such stories began to circulate all across the Box. People shared their own personal experiences with the 'infection' as they were beginning to call the strange and eerie phenomenon.

There were a number of prevailing theories as to why this was occurring.

One of which was that an ancient Parasite had been awoken on the 20th floor, one was possessed it's host and spread through the use of 'monocles.' To confirm that theory, various Anima's were called by the floor Rulers to check the state of the floor.

Needless to say, the theory was quickly debunked. From there on, the entire thing spiraled out of control.

Hundreds of different stories about there being a large bacterial or fungal hivemind located somewhere on the 20th floor were thrown all over the blogs. Other described the entire thing as some sort of a mass hysteria, relating it to some of the old historical recordings like the 'Dancing Plague of the 37th floor.'

There was even one that preached the entire thing as a call to join the messiah, a God that would lead everyone to eternal paradise where everyone was part of a larger whole. It was a future where everyone was equal. Naturally, this quickly became a cult. Curious thing about the cult, everyone involved donned monocles over their eyes.

Whether it was due to actually succumbing to the infection or merely as a way to pay their respects, it could not be said. But it was also probably because of that, that the cult capped out at a total number of 300 members.

People were afraid. Even more so when the infection actually began to reach the 24th floor. This sparked a crazy theory. Perhaps the infection was actually a regular climbing the tower?

Of course, none could confirm anything.

The one that could confirm, however, was... experimenting.

~~~

~~~

A/N: I experimented a bit with this one. Tell me how it turned out. Would you like more of such chapters where the after effects of Winston's actions are explained in a brief analysis or not?

Anyway, leave a review if you've read until now. I feel that the story deserves at least that much.

And as always, donate the stones.

Cheers~