It’s Time for a Counter Attack!

"I am the gatekeeper," the old man said as each one of them stared down at the portal. It was pulsating every second as if it was a heart doing its best to stay alive.

Ed and Johan looked at each other for a second, and then Johan asked "Where does it lead to?"

"No one knows for sure."

Johan refused to accept such an answer and asked again, "Aren't you the gatekeeper? Would it make sense for you to protect something you know nothing about?"

The old man chuckled and answered, "What I protect is this side, not the other one…"

"Portals and gatekeepers," said Ed. "The death of the last Transcendent person, and the appearance of grotesque monsters all around the world. The Tower of Strength, known as the Tower of Origin, while the latter has long been erased from the memories of the people of our world."

Ed uttered the words rather slowly as if he himself was trying to understand what he was saying. Johan's eyes widened as he realized what was happening; the old man only nodded.

"Our world has been under attack for a long time," the old man explained. "I remember it happening when I was nothing but a child. The sky cracked into a million pieces, and monsters started to fall one after the other. They were so far up, they looked like nothing but ants; the smallest one was bigger than a house once they reached land."

The old man turned around. Ed and Johan followed closely behind him, all the way back inside. As the old man retrieved his pipe, he settled down on a seat and continued.

"Most of us died on the first day. Until that day, the concept of monsters was foreign to us. We lived with animals, we've heard of divine beasts such as the White Dragon, and the Black Tortoise, but we've never seen them before. That day worse things appeared."

"You said the world was under attack?" Asked Ed. "By whom?"

"We had no idea…I still have no idea," said the old man as he exhaled a cloud of gray smoke. "All the monsters that were sent to this world are nothing but small fry. That is something I can guarantee you; every time a strong one was sent, I lost a dear friend of mine. You see, sacrificing one's self was the only way we could kill them."

Once again, Ed and Johan looked at each other. Both witnessed a scene similar to what the old man said. Both of their grandparents sacrificed themselves in order to destroy the intruder during the War of Generations.

"Some great masters of our time managed to seal the cracks on the sky, but more would always appear. For a hundred years, we did nothing but fight. That is until your ancestor, Avalon, came up with an idea," said the old man as he pointed at Ed.

"One of our friends came from another world. He could create special subspaces and seal one thing inside of them. Another friend could combine any fragments of one thing back to a whole. The two of them managed to gather the sky cracks and seal them in one subspace. That was the Tower of Origin. Since the day this tower was finished, no more cracks appeared. We thought we were safe. We thought wrong."

The old man fell silent, and neither Johan nor Ed could say anything. They knew memories which he's sealed in the darkest reaches of his mind were suddenly uncovered by them. They both lost people which were dear to them; yet they could only imagine how this man could feel, hidden in this dark tower, forgotten from the memory of this world. He, himself, must have forgotten how many years he'd been confined in this place, with only his dear ones' images to keep him company.

"The next time the monsters appeared, they all came from the portal you just saw; they numbered in the millions!" he spoke with a weak, cracking voice. His eyes were seemingly too dry to ever produce tears again. "We were taken by surprise, and once again, people all over the world started dying. We tried to be ready! We created sects! Guilds! Schools! All in order to fight against this calamity, yet we still failed! The world itself recognized how we'd failed and put a limiter on itself…No person since that day could rise to the Transcendent rank. Few people would infringe upon this restriction, but would find themselves stuck at the entrance, unable to take a single step further."

Ed thought back to how he's encountered a ton of Immortal establishment people, yet the number of Transcendent level existences numbered no more than five! And all of them were at the first level.

"That very restriction ended up saving us," the old man continued. "The monsters were also affected, and the strongest ones couldn't pass through the gate. My dearest friend who created the two towers gave the last of his life in order to impose his own restriction on his creations. Time would flow slowly here. We all thought this would be the best course of action. This way, the people outside would have enough time to grow stronger. Yet, at the same time, we realized it would be a gamble. Would the world lose the power of its restriction first, or would the people rise above the challenge faster? It seems you two are proof that we won."

The old man looked at Ed and Johan with the faintest smile taking shape on his mouth. He could tell that the two of them managed to break through the world's restriction and had both achieved Transcendent establishment-level 1!

"The two of you would surely be able to fight back against…"

"That's enough old man," Johan interrupted. "What you've said until now is enough for me to confirm my suspicions, and make up my mind on what to do." He said, with a sly smile, and a twinkle in his eyes. Both he and Ed stood up at the same time; Ed seemingly agreeing with his rival.

"Our world has been under attack for hundreds and thousands of years," said Ed as he crushed Suika's card in his hand. The latter materialized right by his side.

The two young men's fighting spirits stirred and a wave of Qi, large enough to shake the entire tower blew out of them as they said in unison: "It's Time for a Counter Attack!"