Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

            It was morning again and the group of seven were venturing again to see if they could leave or not. After staying one night at here, they learn it was not as fun as they thought it would be. At least not to the four of Michelle, Jacob, Anton, and Kevin. the nights were awful and cold, though they stayed together for one night and did not felt that bad. but it was entirely different for the trio of Evan, Lillian and Lan. 

          Even though the trio did not have a lot of money, they could very well afford a nice place at Gala, not as extravagant as the place they were staying, but a humble resort was easy. When Michelle asked about why they were staying there. All they said was that this place was good for training, though they did look hesitant about something else. 

        "I wondered if they would let us leave without squabbling," Jacob said as the six of them walked towards the warp gate. There were many people like them on the path, people who were waiting for the lockdown to end to return to their homes. It has been a day already, yet they were still keeping it.

        "If they don't, all we can do is complete the test we left yesterday," Michelle said, dissatisfied. "Though I don't know if they let us enter the test zone or not."

        Since yesterday, her mood has been bad. Partly because she had no one to talk with. Though Jacob and Davin are good friends, there were always things a girl could not talk to boys about.

        Byul was in and out since the last month with the other two. She was angry at them for not letting her in, and worried as well. She was even missing Anton, who she detest most in their group, but she was worried for him as well. 

        Evan moved away from them to talk to the inquisitor guarding the gates and other places. He needed to know the progress of the situation or they would still be in here. The inquisitor did not seem to be in a good mood, barked at Evan just when he asked about the situation. In the end, the former inquisitor acolyte conversed with a couple of climbers and soldiers before coming back, shaking his head.

        "There is no news about when this lockdown will end," he said. "I think they would let the climbers into the testing zone though they had to go through a lot of checking and the numbers they would send inside would also be limited."

        "Looks like we have to do that," Jacob said, and looked at the line before the gate to the testing zone.

        "But we need to buy a map first to do that," Michelle said. "I don't want to run around aimlessly even if the place is picturesque and beautiful."

        Jacob nodded and unconsciously, his eyes moved towards people in the line. A frown appeared on his brows, looking at the weary man. "Isn't that Anton?" saying that the archer lifted his arm and called, "Hey, Anton?"

        The person he was calling did not even look back, but the others moved their sight to the person he just called.

        "That really appeared like Anton, but why didn't he answer?" Davin said, frowning.

        Michelle raised her eyebrows and saw the legs of the person were shaking, as his head was only looking straight. Something was up and it's her instinct that told her it wasn't anything good. The others seemed to feel a little of that as well.

        "Jake, buy the map, I'll see why this stalker was acting like this," saying that Michelle moved to the line. Anon was almost approaching the gate only behind a few figures, and when she moved towards him, he did not look at her but his movement fastened as he was doing whatever he could to move away.

        "Hey, miss you are cutting the line," one of the people in the line said looking at the redhead. Even the two inquisitors that were in charge of the gate were looking at her.

        Michelle cursed inside and lunged towards Anton. She embraced him at the very moment and said, "I'm with him. I asked him to keep a spot for me. We are going to the test together."

        She did not even budge from her spot after that, and giving a sweet smile to the person behind Anton, she slid into her splendour body.

        "What do you think you are doing?" Anton grunted, whispering.

        "What a coincidence. I have the same question," she said, resting her neck on his shoulder. Seeing him grunting in pain and gritting his teeth, she condensed a few strands of mana and moved it to his body. Anton tried to reject it, but with the overwhelming fatigue and injuries he had it was almost impossible.

        That was not all. He was still using his shadow element to mask a few injuries in his body.

        It only took a dozen seconds for Michelle to find out all this. There was a big wound on the thigh that was barely kept in place, with smaller or bigger wounds all over the body. Other than that, his side waist was almost burned. She was even wondering how he was still standing. "You are hurt," she whispered and lifted her chin from his shoulder. "What happened?"

        "Don't ask questions that I could not answer back," Anton whispered back, sighing. "Leave now."

        "Byul," Michelle asked as if she had not heard anything about leaving. Her eyes moved all-around to find. "Where is she? Did anything happen to her? And Wrik, he's not here?

        "Byul is fine. She's at the gala," Anton said. "Leave now or you will get involved in something you would not like to."

        "Do you think, I'm afraid?" She asked in a low voice and moved along with Anton. Now there was only another group of four before them.

        "It's not about being afraid or not," Anton glared at her. "Flame Girl, stop acting unruly and leave."

        "Can you even walk straight?" she said. "I'm not leaving you in this position."

        "Don't talk loudly," he said. "I don't want unnecessary gazes on me."

        Now it was their turn for the inspection before entering the testing zone of the seventh floor. Now it was the last drop for Anton to get out undetected. Even though it would not be the safest place he would have wanted, he could do a lot of things there. For starters, not all people could enter the testing zone.

        Only the climbers of that floor and people with special permits could. And he was sure that people would come after him in there as well, but gaining the special permit would take time. A day or two at least, all he needed in that time was to treat his wound and be ready when they appear.

        "Stand steady," one of the soldiers said and was about to scan Anton's body.

        At that very moment, Anton yelled at Michelle next to him. "Walk away, flame witch. I already told you I don't want your love. I already found someone else."

        Anton moved away from a couple of steps further from Michelle and kept on yelling, making a scene for the people to see. "You mad bitch. I want nothing to do with you. Bugger off."

        Michelle's lips twitched when she heard all this. She did not know what's wrong with Anton. Did he hit his head or something? But even with all that, she could not calm her anger.

        "Are you attacking me again with your flames, bitch?" Anton screamed at her, taking shelter behind the soldier who came to scan his body for anything unusual. "Common, take a swing then, I don't fear you bitch.. . ."

        Anton used all sorts of awful words and Michelle almost burst into anger, but her insides hurt too. She never heard anyone foul mouth her like this before, and that too was in front of so many people. But moreover, hearing it from a friend made her feel worse, even if it was just acting. Even if Anton was doing it after falling into a dangerous situation and trying to send her away. 

        "Come on, fire at me, bitch! is that all you capable off?" Anton screamed like a madman. In between, he really gestured her to fire at him, though he did not know if she noticed it or not. "Or do you fear it now? So you are just a bitch who will bark on the back, but before people—"

        Anton could not finish his phrase as he saw flames bursting out surrounding Michelle's body.

        "So, you decided to show your true colour, bitch?" Anton yelled and ignored the inquisitors and people moved away when the flame blew towards him.

        "Common, Bitch. Come at me if you can." Taking advantage of the situation, Anton rushed straight at the glittering warp gate and jumped into it.

        "You are not going anywhere," Michelle roared and flames burst out from her legs. Her body shot straight towards Anton, whose head was already in the Warp gate.

        Within the blink of an eye, the two figures teleported away towards the testing zone in a dramatic way.

          While only twenty yards away from all the drama, the others who were coming to help, looked at each other with dumb looks. 

          "What the hell did I just see?" Jacob asked.

          "Don't ask me, I'm clueless as you are," Davin said. "All we could do is wait for them or move to them. Though we all will only be able to meet at the eighth floor."