The Ascension Tower

"LEON!" the tall blonde-haired boy rushed toward Leon, stopping in front of him right before he was about to enter the black fog, and thus the tower.

Foxxy, the golden gox, was still beside him, her (yes, foxxy is a female) mouth surrounded by blood and debris as she kept licking over and over.

"Looks like you… managed, heh," Leon smiled, actually surprised that Dan defeated all these monsters only with Foxxy.

"Yeah, but the fight with the dummy taught me I also had to fight, so I only put my stat points in strength lately, which really helps," Dan flexed his muscles, and they were indeed more defined than before.

"That's good, well then let's go," Leon pointed at the black fog, "Two people already went in, can't be late."

"Alright."

Leon was the first to traverse the black fog, and and overwhelming feeling of suffocation washed over him as he pushed through, his head hurting like hell for some reason.

"Hah~ Hah~" and after a few seconds, he finally emerged on the other side of the smoke, his breathing returning to normal.

He looked ahead of him, and saw that there was quite literally nothing in this giant tower: the interior was really big, but no furniture or anything, the only thing present was a flight of stairs that led upward, toward the top of the tower.

No monsters, no traps, no nothing: the third zone was simply the final boss.

[Third Zone: Ascension Tower]

Leon could see Alan and Max, the mage and samurai, climbing up the stairs, following one another as they were pretty damn close to the top.

"Holy, that was bad," soon enough, Dan emerged from the fog, and immediately, Leon ordered him to rush upward.

"Come on, or else they'll take our fight," Leon smirked as he began to dash upward, skipping three steps at a time.

"Wait!" but Dan wasn't that fast, and so he tried his hardest to keep up with Leon and the others, who had already reached the top in less than three minutes.

And once they reached the very top floor… they found themselves in front of a giant door in a decent-sized hallway.

"Huh," Leon looked up to see Alan and Max against the wall.

And right as he took his first step in that hallway…

~DING~

[You have reached the 'safe-zone' before the boss, please rest as you will not be able to go back if you pass this door!]

"Hah… Hah…" Dan finally reached the top floor, almost crawling, while Foxxy was easily following him from behind, unbothered.

"Let's go," Leon immediately headed toward the giant stone double-door, then grabbed the golden handles and opened it with a single push.

"W-WAIT!" Alan had wanted to rest as his 'talent' actually required him to accumulate mana points (MP) to cast his spells, but now that Leon had opened the door…

~DING~

[The door to the boss has been opened, head inside to participate]

[The door will be closed in exactly 60 seconds, all those inside will participate, those that aren't inside won't be able to fight the boss and will have to wait for: either the participants to all die = failure, or for the participants to kill the boss!]

And right as those panels disappeared…

[60…59…58…]

A countdown appeared above the stone double-door, indicating how much they had left to enter.

"Oh well," Leon shrugged as he was the first to entered, quickly followed by Dan, Max and Alan.

They found themselves in an empty void, like actually, it was literally entirely black, and the only thing they could see was a giant timer in front of them, ticking down.

[27…26…25…]

"No one else is coming anyway, just us four against whatever that thing is," Max sighed.

"Oh well, more EXP for us, am I right?" Dan laughed, "We'll kick that guy's ass!"

"Hiikk~" and Foxxy even made happy noises as she jumped around her owner.

[5…4…3…]

And just as expected, no one else came since they were all too busy.

Needless to say it, but the four people standing right here were probably the strongest in this entire ascension trial: they escaped the forest first, meaning they had the speed and intelligence to kill all their enemies and figure their way out, then they defeated the mini-boss which was super tanky.

They were the top of the cast.

And now…

[2…1…0!]

The timer vanished, swallowed by the darkness, and an oppressive silence settled over the group.

Then, a blinding light erupted from the void, illuminating the surroundings.

And…

~FWISH~

Suddenly, the void disappeared, and they were able to check out their surroundings: they were at the very top of the tower, and they could now see the dark sky, as well as the crimson moon with an eye on it, looking down at them.

Their new "arena" was fairly big, at least big enough for them to fight fairly without anything distracting them.

There was a wall that reached their stomach around them as it was the top of the tower, but it wouldn't be enough to stop them from falling to their deaths if they were kicked away.

"Hm…" they stepped toward the middle of the "arena", looking around them.

There was no trace of a boss or anything of the sort.

Yet, all of them were EXTREMELY cautious: Max kept his hand close to his belt, Alan took the rotating staff in his hands, Foxxy completely changed her attitude, now showing her teeth, and Leon had his aura focused on his hands, his eyes darting everywhere.

[Please look at the moon.]

And suddenly, this panel appeared in front of them all.

Which, obviously, prompted them to follow its orders, as they all looked at the sky, specifically at the crimson moon, the single eye staring back at them, at the top of the tower, and they could feel it in their bones that it was analyzing them.

The moon's gaze felt heavy, pressing down on them like a weight.

"No way we're fighting that thing, right?" Dan let out a drop of sweat.

"Not a chance," Leon answered, he could feel it.

[Smart partner, aren't you!] EGO smiled, [But be wary,] and then his smile dropped just as quickly.

Then… EGO spoke one last time.

[It's coming.]

And then, as if summoned by EGO's voice, the moon pulsed with a powerful crimson light, visible from all over the dimension.

And… a dark shadow detached itself from the sky, swirling like a smoke before rushing toward the top of the tower like a meteor.

"HOLY SHIT!" Dan exclaimed.

"Fuck no," Alan used his second skill: [Blue Shield], and it appeared around him.

~BOOOOOOM~

The meteor-like figure crashed into the ground, precisely at the center of the arena, which they had all backed away from, creating a small crater in it, though it didn't destroy the tower as they had feared.

And then… after the smoke dissipated… IT appeared before them.

[Sinful, The Ascension Judge - Boss]