Law Tower(Conclusion)

Rowan stepped onto the ninth floor, feeling somewhat refreshed. He had reached a level where he was confident in smashing anything the law tower could throw at him. The addition of the laws into his arsenal had made him downright frightening. He had been slowly feeding his abilities with soul force and so he was down to 2 points. His control of soul force had become immaculate, so when combined with his attainment in the laws coupled with this space, he had become a terrifying contender. He had not only faced guards, the reason he got army representatives on the fourth floor was because of his massive talent, but what type of criminals would get locked in his master's most heinous prison? The moment he stepped onto the seventh floor, he had been faced by cloaked criminals once more and so this time he was more careful and created more soul weapons.

The one thing he did remember to do was borrow clothes from some of the guards. He no longer had the luxury of maintaining the facade of fake skin or using mana to keep himself clothed. He was in his third uniform from them, and it was already shredded as he stepped onto the ninth floor. He was feeling the hurt of being out low on mana. He would need to find a way to remedy this problem soon, otherwise he may run into real trouble. There was a bright light and instead of three people, there were just two. One of them was someone that Rowan knew rather well. Valentine Lowe, the heir to the king. There were other names that people whispered behind his back though, but one in particular had become rather popular. The evergreen monarch, a moniker he had taken a liking to and was the most widespread thanks to a battle beside his father. Valentine battled an astral and won. Now across the myriad realms, this name was whispered by the enemies of the Ark, they thought him just one of Regius generals, but the Ark knew better.

The evergreen monarch was nearly as fearful an entity as Regius himself , his soul affliction was said to be like his fathers, the battle gene but that was what made the Lowe family so special, they were beings constantly in change. A fearsome pack of wolves that never stopped evolving, so there was no doubt in Rowan's mind that Valentine too had evolved his soul affliction much like his father. The man standing next to him was even more strange. He had bright pink hair and was, in fact, lounging in what looked like a padded beach chair. He had begun to stand and was so tall that he was more than a head taller than Valentine, who was around six feet tall. He stretched his limbs and looked over at Rowan. "I truly did not expect anyone to be able to make it this far but based on what my nephew said, your that brats apprentice right, maybe this will be a chance to make up for me and him not continuing our battle from all those years ago." Rowan cocked his head to the side as he walked forward, confusion drawn on his face.

Valentine met him in the middle of the room and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "No worries for specific reasons. The ninth floor can not be broadcast. You can speak freely here. This is my uncle Astaroth, on my dad's side. Rowan nodded, but then paused. "Wait, I thought your father's family had all passed away? Valentine nodded, "They did but on his father's side, I call him uncle but he is in fact my grand uncle on my grandmother's side." Valentine got noticeably down at the words grandmother and Astaroth came over and patted him on the back twice. "I miss her too, Lad, but it was her decision. It is okay to respect it. This world is not for everyone." Valentine nodded and picked his head back up to look at Rowan as Astaroth returned to his chair. I came here today because I told you that I would if you made it into the trial world and because I have brought two things. The first is this, a present from your master. Valentine pulled a band out from his pocket and, to Rowan's surprise, with almost zero hesitation, it flew to his bracelet that contained the system and attached to it.

The band grew thicker and, at the same time, Rowan's eyes lit up. "Father says you can use it as you will. It's yours now, but he also sent it down because things have changed in the first layer. The battles are ramping up and you will be needed sooner, so my father asked that after the trial world, you complete your assignment and come to the first layer. The school will give you the necessary information needed to pursue the target. Take his head and the system will guide you to the door to the first layer." Rowan sulked for a moment "I was looking forward to the studies of the school I feel like I'm still missing so much information when it comes to cultivation, I just learned off laws and it helped me improve massively, I know I will have you there but does this mean I will need to leave my friends behind?"

Valentine nodded his head, though. "Your cultivation path will continue in the first layer. You will resume lessons with my father and gain practical experience within the king's army. I promise you it will be just as beneficial as the school, if not more so. On the matter of your friends, while it sucks they each have their own paths to walk that do not include being in your shadow but fret not, a friend of yours has already ascended and will be waiting for you." Rowan's ears perked up, and he picked his head up. Who could it be that ascended? There was no one that he knew that was capable of that except one individual, but there was no way right. Valentine did not make him wait long for an answer, though. "Akari Abe has ascended to the first layer, but even more than that, she has been adopted by my father. As it turns out, while she was infected by the zombie parasite, something that should not have existed within her awoke and killed the parasite, well it turns out that thing resting in her soul was my father's first slash on his cultivation journey. At the time, father dabbled in the laws of blood, among other things, and his slash became a butterfly that absorbed the blood of his enemies."

"Father thought that the slash dissipated but instead it had wandered to the second layer when the ship was built slipping through the cracks and eventually found refuge in your friend's soul. She is a direct result of father and therefore upon her arrival and his noticing the issue, he offered her our name as his adopted daughter. Now other then that young Rowan I have other matters to attend to before my return so let's proceed with your test for this floor, though I started the moment you came through the door, Let me know how Godkiller feels, I have not used it in years, its potency has been difficult to improve even after all these years, I practice the laws of poison."

The moment the words ended, Rowan was overcome by a bout of dizziness and was falling backwards. Rowan convulsed on the floor and could still hear Valentine's voice. "Important lesson number one: there is no honor in battle and bloodshed. When you ascend, you will face death at every corner from every means possible, and poison is one of those ways. I decided on the path of poisons after strenuous research as a child. How do you fell targets that may eclipse you in every aspect? Poison is one such way to bridge that gap." Valentine rolled up his sleeves and lowered himself before Rowan, revealing the vibrant tattoos that colored his arms. They came in different shapes and sizes, but all of them were plants, always in constant motion. "These marks represent my achievement. They are referred to as heavenly sin marks. You have your own thanks to your bloodline. They boost a cultivator in every aspect. It shows an attainment in my laws that transcends what even the laws of the universe thought possible." Rowan had begun to convulse on the floor as he desperately tried to connect his will to his mana zone and move his mana.

"Now on to what the godslayer does, it was a poison I created to rob my father of his abilities as a young boy. Its primary purpose is to stop you from moving your mana, but in the case of someone whose body technique is not the same as my father's and his adaptations, it's much more worrisome. The poison is working through your body so you can't reach your mana and soon it will reach your mana zone and aim to devour your mana space. Defeat this poison by any means and it will count as defeating me."

While Rowan was writhing on the floor he had in fact already gotten to work ridding himself of the poison it had invaded through his left shoulder when Valentine touched it but to Rowan's surprise it had been stopped when it reached the right side but it had manifested while inside him. A wolf made of gas ran through his veins, crippling him, but it could not breach the part of him that had evolved into its fairy form thanks to soul manipulation. The next miraculous thing is that the moment the poison turned towards his mana zone and the mana space inside of it, the cloud giant who seemed to be resting moved. It wielded a storm glaive and lopped the head off of the wolf the moment it got close to the ring that was Rowans mana space and then it swallowed the poison and returned to its resting state while Rowan shot up and headbutt Valentine right in the chest sending him skidding backwards as Rowan stood up. "That was awful. Thanks for that." Valentine smiled and patted his chest before waving as he began to shimmer and vanish. "Good work, you are just as special as Empry claims. See you soon Rowan, I look forward to us working together in the near future. Uncle, it's always a pleasure, feel free to come home soon."

Astaroth waved a hand and stood up. "Always too much work, no way I'm going to that place, then I will never get to sleep anymore. He turned to Rowan now. "Valentine was, in fact, teaching you another lesson in having his test take place with a single move. In a fight between experts, it takes only a single moment for a battle to be decided, so let's do the same so that I can go back to sleep. Survive a full force blow from me and you will pass this test and the final floor and be returned to the entrance. Oh yeah, I practice the laws of sleep." It was no later after he said those words that purple rings began to bloom from his body and he began to snore where he stood. His original aura was that of a demigod, but it quickly began to climb before becoming as fearsome as the queens. Rowan sat there with his jaw wide open as the sleeping Astaroth soon began to move.

He took one step forward, and a hammer appeared in his hands. He took another step and raised the hammer above his head and all the purple rings gathered to it. He took a third step and swung the hammer. The entire tower shook at the force of the strike as space around the hammer bent and the hammer, now giant and purple, slammed forwards. Rowan was assaulted by a feeling of tiredness as he almost fell asleep on the spot under the duress of the hammer and its laws of sleep. The hammer was getting closer and closer to his skull with each passing second and space began to clap together in a series of booms as the strike gained power.

Rowan bit his tongue to stay awake but this time he pulled the Storm glaive and spent both remaining points of soul force. The weapon looked different now. Several of the previously empty spots on the feather design now had gems of all different colors in them. Rowan fused the soul force into the weapon and it thrummed as all the gems lit up and created a loop where they fed the weapon as the weapon morphed.

It was a new ability that he had he had planned for when he reforged the weapon. He could turn the storm glaive into any combination of the weapons slotted into it, but he did not have enough soul force for more than two at the moment. He combined a chain whip and short swords and threw the weapons high before calling out. "Storm Stoop, Heavens fall." He had no access to his attunement and so he used his own pulling force to accelerate the attack. The short swords became a magnificent falcon made of blades in the air and he pulled down. The attack came down in the nick of time and the two attacks met in the air. The room exploded from the force and the tower shook so much that pieces of it fell on the outside.

Rowan was blown backwards while at the same time his already shredded clothes were basically blown from his body, leaving him in nothing but his pants. He heard a voice, but he was too tired and too injured to really care. The last thing that he remembered seeing was streamers in an amount triple the floor before it as he passed out.