Workshop Battle (4)

Death Karambit and Death Bird were surprised seeing Lumen's black and white wings made of fire. They were under the impression that Karaka's impostor had similar abilities to the Slayer. His speed at which he flew towards them was also astounding, and most Rankers would find it hard to keep up with him. Death Bird was faster than him, but she was a Scout that focused on speed.

But what really startled Death Karambit were the flaming wings on Lumen's back. Those flames looked so similar to his and Death Lady's, but they were also different at the same time.

Death Bird flew away from there, but Death Karambit was momentarily dazed from seeing the flaming wings. He woke up from his stupor the moment Lumen reached him and attacked him with his spear of darkness. The lizard head at the tip opened up and was about to chomp on him.

Despite that, Death Karambit was an Advanced Ranker*1 for a reason. Quickly, he brought up his flaming blades and blocked the maw of darkness. Lumen's strength was incredible, but Death Karambit was able to match it.

"Let's see whose flames are stronger, shall we." Lumen stated, and a massive column of black fire erupted from the lizard head. Death Karambit was engulfed in the black fire, but he managed to counterattack and block with his own dark-blue fire.

Despite that, he was forced to fly away from there since the black flames suppressed his own and were roasting him alive.

Death Karambit was barely able to extinguish the black flames on his body with his Shinsoo and understanding of the fire element. This was the first time someone had managed to suppress Lumen's black Phoenix fire.

"Tsch." Lumen clicked his tongue. He was actually hoping to take him by surprise and possibly kill him with his first attack.

"Be careful of his flames! They are even dangerous to someone like me!" Death Karambit warned Death Bird. His grey skin had turned pitch black from being burnt by Lumen's black flames, and the worst part was that he felt weakened after getting touched by them. His prized flaming blades, which were B10-Ranked weapons and were tailor crafted for him, also had scorch marks on them.

Death Karambit was one of the few natural Flame Users that weren't a part of the Yeon Family. His body constantly emitted his dark-blue fire, and he had never feared other Flame Users. The only people that could actually harm him with fire were the High Rankers of the Yeon Family, the unsurpassed masters of fire. However, even they wouldn't be able to damage him and his blades to this extent with just a single attack.

"Got it!" Death Bird called out while numerous large, blue feathers materialized around her. Their tips were extremely sharp, and they resembled arrows.

"Feather Rain!" With extreme speed, all the feather arrows flew towards Lumen. Their flight pattern was very tricky, and one couldn't easily predict where they will hit. They would also split into smaller ones, making her attack even more unpredictable. As the feather arrows were flying after Lumen, Death Bird was already creating more of them around her.

However, she was forced to stop, as she saw a vortex made of black fire surround him and incinerate all the feather arrows. Lumen hadn't even bothered to dodge her attack and stood there in the air while watching her with indifference.

"He is a lot stronger than what the information stated. We have to fight him seriously!" Death Karambit told Death Bird. They were only aware of his darkness abilities and believed that he was only slightly stronger than a normal Ranker.

They also didn't think that he could have possibly made major improvements in just three years. Due to the large lifespan of the inhabitant of the Tower, some could even go on vacations that last for a dozen years or even more. To them, it was simply unimaginable for someone to have a massive increase in strength in just three years.

Nevertheless, they couldn't be careless fighting with Lumen, and the two were about to take this fight seriously now.

"Act as the Fisherman while I support you!" Death Bird said to Death Karambit. Although she is a Battle Oriented Scout*2, she didn't want to go anywhere near the black flames after seeing that they were able to hurt her partner.

Since they were planning on taking him seriously now, Death Bird summoned two Observers in the shape of falcons. One of them was black with razor-sharp wings, while the other was purple with a canon on each wing. Both of them were larger than Death Bird herself. The two were Ancient Observers*3, which were a lot more battle oriented than the Observers that Scouts currently used.

"That's easier said than done." Death Karambit replied. He also didn't want to deal with Lumen's black flames, but he didn't have a choice. He was better suited for the job than Death Bird. He surrounded himself with dark-blue fire, hoping that would protect him from Lumen's fire, and flew towards him at top speed.

Death Karambit crossed his blades and slashed at Lumen, who used his spear of darkness to block them. Two waves of dark-blue fire erupted from the blades in the form of an X, but Lumen was undamaged from the attack. He was nearly immune to fire attacks due to him being a Phoenix.

The two were in a deadlock, but the lizard head on Lumen's spear twisted around and turned towards Death Karambit. Black fire gathered in its mouth and was about to shoot him point-blank. However, at that moment, a massive beam of purple Shinsoo shot from the Purple Falcon, blasting Lumen away.

He quickly recovered from the attack and flew towards Death Karambit. The two were exchanging attack after attack, but the Purple Falcon would interrupt Lumen right before he could unleash a massive technique.

During one of their bouts, the Black Falcon appeared behind Lumen and crashed into him. The body of the Ancient Observer changed shape and transformed its body into a liquid state. It surrounded Lumen and held him in place for a moment.

"Get him now!" Death Bird shouted. She had materialized a massive amount of feathers, which took the form of a falcon. Death Karambit engulfed the falcon with his dark-blue fire, and the bird flew towards Lumen with astounding speed. "Combined Shinsoo Technique: Falcon of Hellfire!"

The Combined Shinsoo Technique crashed into Lumen and caused a massive explosion of dark-blue fire, which covered the entire Sepia Island below them.

"Did we get him?" Death Karambit asked as he wasn't able to see or sense him in the explosion. Even High Rankers wouldn't be scot-free from their Combined Shinsoo Technique.

"No." Death Bird replied to him. As a Scout, she had incredible eyesight. Before the attack hit him, she saw that Lumen had transformed into a bird made of black fire. She didn't understand what he did, but she was sure that he survived.

Before Death Karambit could say anything else, he saw a massive bird, whose body was composed of black flames, fly out of the explosion. During the past three years, Lumen had learned how to change the flames of his Phoenix form from white to black. His Phoenix form had also grown considerably in size.

Black fire materialized in front of him in the shape of an orb, which quickly grew even larger than him. Lumen flew towards them, and the orb followed after him.

"Let me show you true Hellfire!" The giant orb of black fire suddenly compressed itself to the size of a peanut.

"Damn! Run!" Death Bird shouted as she sensed the massive amount of Shinsoo that Lumen had gathered. She grabbed Death Karambit and quickly flew away at top speed as a massive explosion erupted from the orb of black fire. It covered the entire Sepia Island and removed it from existence.

Unfortunately, Death Bird was a Scout that focused on her speed and was faster than even some High Rankers, so she was able to escape with Death Karambit. Otherwise, the two would have surely died in that explosion.

"Marvelous!" Exclaimed Gustang seeing the explosion. He was truly impressed by Lumen's technique. "His Shinsoo manipulation reminds me of Blossom. Violent and unpredictable."

"Didn't you say that the two should be able to take care of him?" Madoraco questioned Poken. The massive explosion that he witnessed could potentially even harm him. That guy was a lot more dangerous than what they imagined.

Poken observed the Lumen's Black Phoenix form for a moment and calmly answered him. "Such a massive attack should have exhausted him. Death Karambit and Death Bird are still alive. They should be able to finish the job now. Worst case scenario, I would jump in and take care of him."

Poken was somewhat right. That attack would normally exhaust him, but it had also eliminated the entire Sepia Island and harvested the life force of anyone that had survived after the Combined Shinsoo Technique of Death Karambit and Death Bird. With that life force, he was able to recover his stamina and was as good as new.

"So be it. I didn't want to use it, but you forced me." Lumen stated and transformed into his human form. An Arms Inventory that only had a single weapon appeared in front of him, and he pulled the weapon out.

Meanwhile, Androssi and the rest were killing of Regular after Regular.

"Ten are behind that column on our left, Laure, you can handle them. A dozen Regulars are coming from the front, Anak, take care of those. Seven are on our right, Tiana, you snipe them." Merrie was calmly telling the location of all FUG Regular to the group while giving orders. Her Lighthouse would cover the FUG Regulars with light, marking their position and giving her group an easier shot.

Laure created five Baangs of Shinsoo and shot them towards the column. The Baangs curved around the column and attacked the Regulars behind it. Each Baang took care of two Regulars.

Tiana shot a massive beam of Shinsoo towards the seven on their right, and easily annihilated them.

Anak dashed towards the group in the front. She was wielding a D10-Rank hook that could increase its size. With a single attack, she lopped off the heads of six Regulars while she formed six Baangs of Shinsoo and sniped the other six.

"Two more are coming from behind us. Those two should be the last, Hatsu, deal with them." Hearing Merrie, Hatsu jumped towards them.

The swordsman was about to slash them apart, but the two raised their hands and shouted. "Stop, friendly fire!"

Novick and Ran were sweating. Had they not screamed, Hatsu would have killed right there and then. Thankfully, he was one of the few from the group that didn't enjoy killing. Otherwise, if it was someone else, they would have killed them without hesitation.

"Merrie?" Hatsu called out to the Red Witch. Merrie turned around and looked at them for a moment and asked. "Ha Novick and Khun Ran?"

"Yes!" They both quickly confirmed.

"They are Agnis's previous teammates. They are not our enemies." Hearing her, the two let out a sigh of relief. They had witnessed how the group had annihilated over 100 Regulars in a matter of moments. They definitely didn't want to be on their bad side.

"What are you doing here?" Merrie asked them.

"We were hoping to meet with Khun," Novick replied.

"Agnis is somewhere else on the Archimedes," Merrie told them.

"Damn, then the rest of the FUG Regulars are going after him and his group," Novick responded while biting his finger.

"Oh, fuck! We forgot about Agnis!" Leesoo exclaimed. "We have to help him, as well."

Merrie thought for a moment before speaking up. "You and Hatsu go with them and help him. As Scouts, you should be able to locate him. He and his group should be somewhere on the Westside." As a Guide, she had a faint idea where Agnis might be.

"Got it!" Leesoo replied and led the three towards the location Merrie pointed at. A small red Lighthouse floated after them. Once they locate Agnis and his group, Merrie would then lead them back to rest.

After running at their top speed for a few minutes, the four of them were able to locate Agnis's group thanks to the sounds of fighting. There were around 30 Regulars that were fighting against his group at that moment. The four jumped into the fight and helped them finish off the Regulars.

Agnis and his group were able to reduce the number of FUG Regulars by half, but they had suffered heavy casualties in doing so. Out of the eight people that they were at the start, only four of them had survived the fight. Agnis, Rak, Yihwa, and Wangnan.

Yihwa and Wangnan were teary-eyed from the loss of their friends. They had been together since the 20th Floor and had grown closer to each other. They couldn't believe that their teammates had now died.

[Quickly follow the Lighthouse. We don't have much time!] Merrie's voice came from the small red Lighthouse. Their group had already reached the second level of the Archimedes and were making their way towards the third one.

Yihwa and Wangnan wanted to mourn their friends but now wasn't the time. They had another friend that they needed to rescue. They followed after Merrie's Lighthouse and made their way towards the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, on the fourth level of the Archimedes. Bam was laying on the ground, crucified by spears made of shadow. The Fake Thorn was trying to heal him, but Reflejo would pierce him with spear after spear. At that moment, the Real Thorn below them fully activated.

"Finally," Reflejo stated as his body was already slowly dissolving. He had activated the shadow granted to him by Poken, so he didn't have much time left. Thankfully, he had accomplished his mission and forced Bam into activating the Real Thorn.

Reflejo looked up towards the tiny opening in the ceiling and saw a small Suspendship there, which was being piloted by Gromm. The ship turned around and placed a container on top of the hole. A massive amount of blue liquid started pouring from the container into the enclosed room.

*Edited by O'Brien*

//////Trivia\\\\\\\

1.Advanced Rankers are within the top 10% strongest people in the Tower, while High Rankers are within the top 1%. Advanced Rankers are in no way pushovers and very rarely would one die. Of course, it's even rarer for a High Ranker to die. Rankers are actually forbidden from associating with Regulars. Of course, FUG is a random bunch so they don't care about the rules. Rankers can be a few hundred till a few thousand years old, for example Ha Jinsung is 5 000+ years old. We can only speculate how old is his grandmother, Ha Yurin, the head of the Ha Family.

2.The Basic Scouts generally work on gathering information for the Light Bearers and keep watch whilst the Battle Oriented Scouts focus on backing up the Fishermen in close-range combat. Leesoo is a Basic Scout while Hatsu and Vespa are Battle Oriented Scouts.

3.Observers were not always used only for reconnaissance. In ancient Tower history, Scouts needed all the fighting power they could get. As such, Ancient Observers were more battle oriented.