Tower of God: Sequence Strength

Chapter 104: Inside the Ricepot



He felt a strange pull. A rhythmic drumming in his intuition that fueled his steps in a certain direction.

Interesting... Winston mused as he walked past the different monsters situated in the different areas of the Train.

Travelling through the structure wasn't hard. He could simply pass through the enemies using illusions while the doors that had to be unlocked by defeating the said enemies could be passed right through.

None of the enemies posed a threat to him in the first place. After all, the entire thing was made for regulars.

Even if the train held the title of 'Hell' for its difficulty, it couldn't hold a candle to his level.

Before long, he reached a large dome shaped metallic hall.

And in front of him was a large humanoid giant. He had blonde hair and stood at a height of 20 meters, wearing red-black armor.

As Winston stepped out of the illusion that bound him, the giant turned to face him.

"Hmm?" He raised his brows. "Who are you?"

As his words left his mouth, his eyes immediately went wide with shock. As if he had seen something out of his wildest dreams.

"You're... from the outside?"

"Hoh? You can tell?" Winston asked, pleasantly surprised.

The Giant nodded with a thoughtful look. And with a clear expression, bordering on thoughtfulness, he replied.

"I can sense the rules of the tower. Anyone that doesn't adher to the same is naturally from the outside. A non-native. Or how the newcomers call them, 'irregulars'." He continued. "But I'm surprised. Not even Urek was as strong as you when he first met me. At least not until he completed his revolution."

Winston nodded, inwardly feeling a bit incredulous at Urek's absurd strength. He knew about the so called 'revolution'.

It was something the 10 family heads, Jahad and the other two had gone through when on the Hell Train. Supposedly, it unlocked their true self and made them stronger than before. A power up unlike anything before, bordering on an enlightenment.

And to think that Urek, before even getting to the 50th floor, right after taking the revolution rivaled his current strength was astonishing.

Of course, he doubted the guardian took note of the hacks provided by the potions.

"I assume you're the 'God of Guardians' I've heard so much about?"

"That is what the others call me, yes. But my status is anything but of a God." He replied with a disappointed shake of his head.

He extended his arms towards Winston, as if showing him shackles that weren't really there. "We are all chained by destiny and function. My function is to guide regulars and test them. That is what I live by. I am merely a slave to what I must do."

Winston smiled. "And I assume you will guide me as well, if I ask for it?"

The God of Guardians stared at him, for but a moment.

"That's right. If you wish to seek the road of revolution, I hold neither the judgement nor the power to deny you of what you have the right to claim."

Winston held a thoughtful look pm his visage. His mind processed the guardian's words carefully.

"Say... can I ask you something?" He inquired.

"Go on."

"Who was it that created you?" He said.

And the air stilled. The shinsu flowing naturally through the metal walls became stagnant, stopping in it's tracks. The air seemed to overtake a particular density, and turned boggy.

"I..." The Guardian opened his mouth. The tension rang in the air, becoming almost tangible. "I have no idea."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Huh?" Winstin raised a brow. "You don't know?"

"That's right. I don't know."

"...Okay."

Winston didn't pry further. He sensed no deception in the words of the guardian. And since he had no idea of the creator of the different structures that stood for time immemorial in the

tower, his plan to gather pieces of history was ruined.

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head and his dark eyes met the Guardian's blue ones. He had reverted back into his Amon persona.

He shifted the monocle on his eye and smiled.

"Then, let us begin the revolution. Shall we?" He grinned.

Without a word, the Guardian grabbed his body and leaped into the smaller dome shaped structure behind him.

Once inside, he kept him back down and began explaining.

"This is what everyone, including me, calls the ricepot. It's a place where every irregular that I've encountered have undertaken their own revolution and came out different." He said. "In here, my powers are at their peak. And this place can also force a person to confront their inner self." He explained.

"I see." Said Winston.

"Then, let us begin."

And with that, darkness overtook his vision.

The Wheel of Fortune spun rapidly in the air.

It appeared tall and unmoving, reshaping the very land it was situated to it's desires and manipulating the thin strands of fate; or at least trying to.

It was unbothered by the rapidly approaching warship fleet in the distance...

Say what?

Thud!

A heavy sound, and wheel jammed itself, stopping forcefully it's otherwise perpetual motion. The snakes that lined the wheel turned their eyes, staring down the gigantic fleet of 279 ships.

Colours exploded behind their eyesockets, and the world unveiled itself before them. They

saw everything.

And as their eyes zoomed to figure out the people that were on the ships, they met the eyes of

a beast.

His electric eyes flashed with plasma and his hair flapped wildly in the wind. His thin robes fluttered too and as he stood atop the leading warship. Beside him was another man, his golden hair, short compared to his companion also seemed strikingly apparent.

He knew who they were.

Two of the family heads.

Khun Eduan and Ari Han.

Eduan's mouth opened, spelling out a specific phrase.

And though no sound reached so far, the Wheel heard it all too clearly.

"10th of the Major Arcana." He said. And then grinned. "The Wheel of Fortune."

The corners of the snakes' mouths seemed to curve upwards in a disgusting smile.

A declaration of an all out battle.

A response to his provocation.

It seems the Ten Families are finally making their move.

Winston's avatars had been waiting for when the battle between the two would commence.

For the same reason, he was not too surprised that they had managed to locate the Wheel of Fortune instance of himself, associate the same with the cards of the major arcana, and come knocking to the door. Part of it was also because his Visionary self was the one that pushed the

act.

The power of coincidences was truly terrifying.

As the warship fleet continued to draw near, the wheel crumbled and the snakes separated from each other, transforming into two distinct entities of sheen silvery scales. They had wings on their back, also draped in silver feathers.

The rest of the wheel disappeared into thin air. The snakes didn't speak still, maintaining the

persona.

One of them hissed at the surrounding space, while the other hissed at the shinsu.

The ripple of shinsu traversed the myriad distance between the two opposing forces, resonating with the metallic hull of the warships and stopping most in place.

The only operable ones remained to be the ones at the forefront. Following that, the space surrounding the snakes began to crack and shatter, forming deep

gashes that loomed large enough for a person to pass through.

And from within one of them, stepped forward a man.

He wore a pure white robe and carried a pendant at his neck that resembled an eye. His hair

was pure white while his eyes gleamed silver. His disposition was of a Scholar that had gleamed all the secrets of the Universe.

The surrounding shinsu began to constitute itself into its most fundamental forms, having

lost its previous forms and separating into droplets. Information flew out of the spirit world to flow into his eyes and as his gaze travelled to the warships, he scoffed.

It was the White Tower. The 16th of the Major Arcana, and a pathway that corresponds to God

Almighty.

Through another gash, another man stepped forward.

He had a weighing scale in his right hand and a small wooden hammer in his left. His eyes were dark and he wore a dark robe.

Immediately, the world seemed to still. Everything seemed to arrange itself in order, destroying the previous chaos that had been the truth. The shinsu droplets arranged into a constant flow that travelled in controlled directions. The laws of the tower seemed to

juxtapose together and loop in on themselves.

Everything was in order.

It was none other than the Justiciar. The 20th of the Major Arcana and the pathway that

corresponds to The Anarchy.

And finally, through the last gash walked out a blazing existence.

His form was vast and fiery, draped in pure light that seemed to blind the world. In his eyes

were two balls of light, miniature suns.

The shinsu evaporated, turning into a burning mesh that wanted to fly high up and burn

through the sky as well. But it was stopped by the order in place. The burning shinsu, mostly light and heat dissociated into even more information that too arranged itself into order. This was the Sun. The 19th of the Major Arcana and the pathway that corresponds to God

Almighty.

As they appeared in the air, Eduan and Han's faces changed. Their previously smug expression now became eerily serious and their bodies tensed.

The White Tower spoke with a clear voice.

"Eduan is more focused on using his left hand for attacks. And when doing a spear throw with

powerful shinsu, he will step forward with his right step. So moving to his right while attacking will be the best if you choose to go in physical." His eyes travelled to thr justiciar who nodded softly in response.

"His right back muscles also seem less developed than his left ones. There's a very small gap

between his left knee cap, possibly the result of a previous battle. Also the reason why he steps with his right leg. He uses shinsu to fill up the gap though, making it physically stronger than his other leg." One by one, the White Tower listed out the different weaknesses he could

see about the man.

And then, he moved onto Ari Hon.

"His shinsu black hole sphere might be troublesome. It would pierce right through any rules

and order that we might establish. As a matter of fact, it might even pierce right through luck and misfortune." He listed.

This didn't come as a surprise for any of them.

Irregulars could interact with concepts for the most part. That much had been made clear

from his interactions with Urek, Traumerei and Gustang. But it was the first time they had seen such a combat oriented shinsu black hole sphere.

And of course, after seeing Eduan use a black hole sphere to instantly take care of every avatar

that infiltrated his ship, Winston had taken the time to study Shinsu more thoroughly; by making the White Tower, Hermit and the Paragon meet up to research.

The result was more than satisfactory, with many new things such as the black hole sphere, tension, flow rate, conceptual affliction and plethora of other stuff coming getting discovered. Some of them were even stuff the ten families did not know.

"Ari Han is adept at using both hands equally. His muscles are perfectly aligned on both sides.

But he has trouble attacking in a wider area unless he uses the black hole sphere." Like a Scholar studying a new subject, White Tower looked at the two subjects in fascination.

Truth be told, they had little to no weaknesses. Everything could be covered with shinsu. Han's weakness of range was only superficial. With his weapon arrangement and shinsu, he could effortlessly take down an entire Floor within seconds. But that didn't mean they were invincible or that they were perfect.

The slightest tilt in their muscle structure, a bone joined a millimeter too low or high, a

congenital error in the bone density. Even though they were covered by shinsu, they hadn't

been taken care of by the root. Partly because they weren't aware of such faults in the first

place. Like Eduan's knee cap, even though the White Tower framed it as a 'gap', it was only a few micrometers too wide. The shinsu film Eduan applied on it was also only on instinct. But because they were small, it didn't mean they were useless.

As the still functional warships continued to get nearer, the Snakes of Mercury hissed at them,

inflicting the ones left behind with calamity.

And so-

BOOOM!!

They all exploded in a shower of flames and destruction, a malfunction in their barely

functional engines and the warp drives of others.

The Avatars watched as the people on board began to contact the Jahad Forces and forces from

their families for reinforcements, however redundant they might be when family heads were involved.

It would provide solace to their minds if they had 'reinforcements coming' even if they did nothing in the long term.

Or maybe it was all just manipulation on part of a certain Priest, pushing them to make more

casualties. Regardless, as the Warships neared them and arrived within a distance of 300 meters, The Sun stepped forward in the air, his firm blazing and illuminating.

"Let us begin."

His declaration echoed in the air and the space beyond, marking the moment as one that

would go down in the history of the tower.

A/N: Throw some stones.

Also, I just realized just how op having the three LoTM pathways in one body is. Not even the

three. Just the Fool and Error.

Let me explain, those that don't want to read power rants may skip this.

In the series, Amon's avatars are extensions of his beyonder characteristics. Meaning, every

time he makes an avatar, it's actually splitting the beyonder characters. That is also the reason he can't just make all of his avatars sequence 1, despite himself being a King of Angels.

Eventually, he will reach a limit if he doesn't devour more characteristics of the same or neighbouring pathways. The limit might be somewhere along a million or so avatars, but it will still come. Of course, it is removed once the man reaches Error. And as for the Fool, he can make marionettes and gift them his worms. Each worm carries the

same characteristic so they have the same strength but they're less in number. This is, again, removed at Sequence 0.

Now, when you combine the two like I've done, it makes something interesting.

Because all the worms are one and the same, each marionette is an avatar and each avatar is a marionette.

And that means, when splitting off an avatar, the avatar isn't splitting the beyonder characteristic, but taking the same characteristic within the worm. Making the problem of reduced power redundant as each avatar will be just as strong as the main body.

And not just that, because each marionette is an avatar, even if the spirit body threads are no

longer attached, they will continue to function normally.

Imagine an infinite army of ever increasing Amon's. And each of them is at the level of a King

of Angels. That is what I've created.

Now, I'm realizing just how extremely busted Klein is.

Combine all this with the Door pathway's record ability and he can basically graft the same

ability to himself and use the abilities of every pathway simultaneously with each of his

avatars in the Endless clone army.

Terrifying.