Tiara was a complete psychopath.
And Adam understood that. It would be an insult to his Visionary status if he couldn't.
But he needed to admit, he had underestimated the extent to which her psychopathic tendencies affected her mindset and actions.
"I wonder what type of a beautiful flower would bloom from your body." Tiara licked her lower lip, gazing at his figure with narrowed eyes.
Adam could not say that he was comfortable with such a gaze.
It did not take too much thought for her to decide her answer. She agreed to be granted humanity. Naturally, the change was not instantaneous. For the most part that is.
Now, she seemed even more obsessed with 'making flowers of blood bloom in his body', than before.
If she had found any other variant of Winston other than the Visionary, she would most definitely have been killed without a second thought. But Adam toon interest in her due to her nature as writing.
Was it a coincidence?
Perhaps. But he liked to disagree.
Of course there was a reason behind it.
If you were to ask Adam's own theory behind the coincidence, he would mention something along the lines of the Law of Beyonder Character Convergence working here.
Of course, there were no actual beyonder characteristics in the tower. What ticked was the similarities in their powers. Tiara's ship was also created from writing, as was herself. When the ship was made for the sole purpose of finding Winston, it might have locked onto Visionary Winston, not only because of their similar abilities, but because Winston's abilities far outclassed Tiara's.
Again, it mimicked the Law of Convergence in a way. The stronger the beyonder, the stronger the convergence.
Winston, who at this point, was wearing his standard gentlemanly suit and a top hat looked at her with a smile.
He would Don his Visionary Adam outfit again after this small thing was over.
"Now that you have humanity, what are your plans now?" He asked.
Tiara broke out of her reverie and made herself proper again.
Winston continued, "We've already established that you are neither prepared nor powerful enough to kill me. Which, mind you, was your only motivation to come and find me." He said.
"Well of course I'll try again." She smiled. Her eyes scanned his figure, her eyes narrowing again.
"You appear more and more like my Father and his Companions now. I really do wonder how beautiful of a flower would bloom from your body."
Giving her humanity had indeed enhanced her psychopathic tendencies.
Then, she walked up to him and scanned his figure.
"Though you are quite handsome. You look better in this suit than that silly robe." She smiled at him. "Though that isn't to say I'll marry you still."
With a deadpan expression, Winston pointed at her and said, "Well, better luck next time I suppose. Find another version to pester. Be gone."
Just then, before Tiara had time to react, Winston spoke again.
"Banishment."
And so, Tiara was banished from the space, sent somewhere else in the Tower.
Winston donned the Visionary Adam fit again and changed his appearance this time to match the part as well.
Then, with a smile, he looked ahead and began to walk.
The tower would soon be swept by a Storm. And with the Visionary's ability to know all who utter their name, coincidences would soon befall everyone.
~~~
~~~
~~~
Winston stood atop a large building atop the 33rd floor.
Suddenly, he turned his head to look into a certain direction. His eyes flashed with colour, peering beyond the confines of the current floor and into the floors beyond.
Gaze of Fallacy.
He smiled.
Well what do you know. Gustang seems dead serious about the marriage proposal. He pinched his chin and adopted a thoughtful expression.
I wouldn't be opposed to a marriage eventually, but she seems.... awfully homicidal... she doesn't pose a threat to me as is, but it might get annoying if I marry her and she tries to kill me in the middle of the 'act'. Winston shook his head.
He wasn't an advocate of the 'I can fix her' cult like a lot of his, let's just say 'coworkers' were. They had extreme fetishes and strange tendencies to go towards deranged women.
Not him though.... for the most part.
But this was marriage they were talking about.
Well... I'll just have to see where this leads.
Shaking his head, he again began to gaze into the spirit world like an enlightened sage. His trenchcoat, a new choice of fashion, fluttered in the soft wind and his top hat, despite being on the edge of falling, never did.
Behind him, a red haired woman slowly made her way forward.
"Winston." Hwaryun called out softly.
Winston turned around and greeted her.
"What will you be doing now?" Hwaryun asked, her face impassive but her body language telling Winston everything she felt and more.
She was nervous and afraid.
Of him.
The slight angel she stood at told him of her still not being used to her vision, the way she stood with her hand slightly clenched told him of her unease, the gap between her feet, the slight incline of her neck, the slightest variation in her clothes, it all told him something.
One might think it's overthinking at first. But no. It was the spectator pathway's abilities.
Winston could share some of the abilities his avatars could develop by recalling one of his worms of stars from the avatars body.
Shinsu abilities that the avatars developed weren't inherent to themselves. As such, unless he called them in entirely, he would not be able to use them completely. But he could still use some of them by recalling parts of their worms of stars.
Winston gave her a reassuring smile, which seemed to work as he saw her microexpressions ease out.
"I aim to board the hell train in a year's time." His voice rang clearly in the air.
Hwaryun nodded and said, "When you weren't in the vicinity, I looked at Viole's path." Her red eyes met Winston's, "He is going to meet Rachel at the Hell Train in a year's time too."
Winston's face was impossible to read. His features hadn't changed upon hearing the news.
"So he's made his choice huh." He said, turning to look away into the distance. He remembered the question he had posed him.
'Is it worth it for Rachel to chase after the stars? And for you to chase after her?'
It seems, according to Bam, it was.
And what was enough reason.
"It's Bam."
Hwaryun tilted her head quizzically.
"Sorry?"
"His name is Bam. The 25th Bam. Don't refer to him as Viole again." Winston peered over his shoulder, meeting Hwaryun's eyes.
"Jue Viole Grace is dead. Bury him. 25th Bam lives on. He isn't related to FUG anymore. Don't you dare say otherwise." He said.
He felt fear emanate from her eyes, but there was another thing he noticed.
Winston narrowed his eyes, his expression changing for the first time as he dropped his smile.
"If there something I should know? Or more specifically, is there something you're not telling me?"
Hwaryun froze. Her limbs seemed to be filled with ice as they refused to move no matter how much she willed them to.
Slowly, she opened her mouth.
"B-bam is... Ahem! Th... There is indeed something you should know."
Instantly, the pressure of her body lessened as Winston turned to her once again, this time, not smiling.
"Go on."
~~~
~~~
A white dwarf moved through a large labyrinth, behind him a young man.
The young man looked around in paranoia as the dark circles under his eyes told of his not so pleasant time in these dungeons.
Theolis had never felt more compelled to end himself. Why prolong the suffering?
It was one thing to travel through a dungeon filled with eldritch monstrocities and machinery that must never see the light of day. It was another to travel through it alongside a maniacal white dwarf that would no doubt kill you in your sleep just because he felt like it.
His hair seemed to have turned red at the corners, a courtesy of his growing shinsu quality. Something he wasn't sure he appreciated to be honest.
Climb the tower they said. It'll be fun they said. You'll get all your desires come true they said...
Samuel walked with confident steps until they arrived before a large futuristic door.
The door pulsed with neon blue energy and shinsu suffused from it outside and materialized as small droplets of water on the surface of metal.
"What's this?" Theolis asked with a tired tone.
"This is a God." Samuel spoke with a clear voice. "A God of the old tower that is. Now, new Gods have taken over. But this... this will reshape the power balance. When the family heads were climbing the tower, this guy wasn't awake. And neither did he wake until now." He explained.
His eyes took on a curious glint, "The God of Mechanoids. The Broken God."
"Mechanoids? Wasn't their God called the Machine God?" Theolis asked, remembering the history.
"That's right. But the Machine God has been shattered. It shattered it's arm and it's torso to create the Mechanoids. Each and every mechanoid is an extension of it's own body." He continued. He spread his arms wide and spoke, "That's why I call it the Broken God. Even the Mechanoids alone were able to push the family leaders back at multiple points in their journey, even on the 100th floor. It was to the point that the Family Heads permanently decided to get rid of them. But the Broken God survived."
"But would the family leaders still lose?"
"No. They've only grown stronger as the time passed. Not to mention they have the power of the Administrator's contracts. If I had to tell you, it would rank something between top 20 of the rankings."
"And how do you know of it's existence?"
"I have my ways." He said.
Without another word, Theolis put his hand onto the door and spoke something. Then, a deep gash appeared in the door as it opened up with an influx of steam!
Fissshhhhhhh!
As the door opened, Theolis' eyes couldn't help but widen in surprise and bafflement.
A large expanse, thousands of cubic meters in size stood before them. And within it was a spectacle.
Thousands of machines. No, all of them were part of a single one.
The entire structure wasn't something that could be explained in mere words. The bundles of wires made out of unknown metals, the cogs and wheels that skipped and turned in various places, the lights and fibers that moved in tandem, it all came together to form a strange scenery.
It wasn't humanoid in the slightest. It wasn't even any concrete shape. Hell, even associating it with a shape would be to throw mud onto it's true nature.
This... this was a Machine in it's truest form.
The quintessence of machines.
The very concept given form.
"You... want to wake up that thing?" His eyes trembled and his heart tightened. He felt the shinsu growing restless.
Samuel smirked, but it was hidden from Theolis' eyes.
"Now... Winston Heath's demise will commence. In a year's time, he would be forgotten."
Just then, Samuel's smile fell as he felt a gaze lock onto him.
Without even a shred of time to waste, he extended his hand and muttered something. Instantly, the entire thing got sealed.
Samuel clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Let's go, we don't have a lot of time."
"Why?"
"The Silent Leviathan is coming." Samuel said grimly. "And he doesn't seem too happy."
~~~
~~~
A/N: The average web novel readers are just braindead horny teenagers bro. I was reading some books and any time any author decides to do something even remotely different, everyone stars hating for no reason. It's so bad that it's funny to me lol.
Like literally, what the hell is even up with the people either wanting a harem or no romance at all.
And it's not only the case with normal novels. With fanfictions it's worse.
I'd forgotten what Webnovel readers were like since I hadn't recieved such comments but it goes to show the dominant group in webnovel.
Most people only want escapism I guess.
Anyway, Throw some stones.
Cheers~