The Tower of Emnu

Aaron stood in the top of a tree looking down on the little Clearing, where he had bound his hostage. He did not know her name, but it was the same woman that he had talked to briefly at the Buffet table. She was a mess and Aaron felt bad for making her go through all of this, but as he looked around it was clear to him, that it was a necessity.

He was surrounded by a giant winter forest. It was cold and the snow piled high in places. There had been animal tracks all over at some spots and others had looked deserted. There were wolves in this forest and bears, if these animal tracks were the same as they had been on earth. Which he honestly doubted. More likely they were monsters, true monsters not animals.

Aaron had confidence in his new abilities, but he did not think it would be possible to just go out there like he was and survive. Even if he was lucky and there would "only" be animals to worry about.

He had no winter gear and even though his new body managed the cold better than he expected, it would not be enough. Hypothermia would slow him down, even if it would not kill him. He had no food, no water, no tools, no weapons. He would die, starve or get killed by monsters if he just went out there unprepared.

Fleeing from the camp had also cost him almost half of his Qi reserves, a thing he could not replenish quickly enough. It would take hours of meditation.

So Qi was precious, but not worth more than his life. It had been worth it to use the Wind Steps. It had enabled him to flee and leave no easily visible tracks in the snow.

They would have trouble to follow him and so he had the choice to leave.

But he would not.

He needed equipment and supplies.

The only source of both of them would be the people living on this floor, which either meant finding the settlement on this floor on his own and then trying to steal what he needed, since he did not have any money, or to steal it from the people who were with him still out here in the wilderness. He could go back to the camp and try to salvage gear there, but there was a rather good chance the camp had been broken and even if it was still there, it would be swarming with guards.

So the only viable option to him was to ambush whoever came and tried to save the girl. A cruel plan, but it had not been him, who had escalated things. He had seen the amount of arrows loosed on the edge of the forest. Had seen the warriors chasing him with unsheathed blades.

The mayor had ordered them to kill him and so they were his enemies.

During his short time in the army he had learned a lot about compartmentalization. In situations like this, there was only him and the enemy. Everyone coming after him, no matter their personal guilt, was at least guilty of trying to kill him. They were all his enemy and Aaron would treat them that way.

In a way this was almost a classic scenario for Escape and Evasion Training. Lost alone in an unfamiliar environment, chased by a numerically superior force. Hell probably even qualitatively superior, considering he had only been on this floor for a few hours.

If the enemy was smart then they would take full advantage of their numbers and send huge groups that would be impervious to ambushes from him and do a slow grid search while Aaron starved.

It was a good strategy, but vulnerable to him sneaking past them while they stayed safe.

No, the more common response he was banking on was that they did not want to give him the chance to slip through their search. They would probably split up in small groups they felt were enough to overwhelm or corner him.

But those small groups he could ambush. They would have supplies or at least weapons he could use.

A bow would make his life a lot easier, as well as a few knifes.

So now he waited for someone to hear the girl scream, while he hugged the trunk of a tree, so high up that without his movement skill he would have had trouble to even climb this far. He had not disturbed the snow in his climb and his dark gray outfit and pale complexion would melt into the gray overcast sky.

His breath slowed and his eyes wandered patiently over his surroundings. He hoped they had no skills to track him specifically and would run into his trap.

He would use the remainder of his Qi to get him his equipment. And then he would vanish in this massive floor, or maybe even go up. All he had to do now was wait patiently.

It took barely 10 minutes before Aaron could hear shouts and froze in his hiding position. A group of armed men and women strode into the clearing, looking around wearily. Aaron had to smirk when he realized they were going to pass directly below him and were moving not as carefully as they should have, checking big snow piles and the trees, but not looking up high enough to see him.

There were 4 people, 3 men and one woman, no...wait. There was another woman he had barely noticed. She had climbed up a tree and held a bow in hand, scanning the clearing wearily.

The three men all wore armor, one had a thick metal breastplate and the other two chain mail and helmets. The one with the breastplate wore the classic board and sword combination as he slowly walked over to the screaming girl who had stopped when she heard the voices of the group. The second man wore lighter armor than the one with the shield and had only a longsword unsheathed.

The last man was tall, burly red headed and had a giant Axe in his hands. He made quite an impressive figure in his pelt armor and glinting chainmail.

The woman was probably a mage. It was fairly obvious from her white robes and from the glittering staff in her hands that slightly pulsed with magic.

But none of these guys were as careful or stealthy as the female ranger sitting in a tree not far from Aaron.

Silently Aaron imbued himself with Qi, let it flow down his limbs until he could feel the soft sensation of Silk underneath his toes. Then after taking a slow silent breath, he let himself fall from his high perch. Aaron floated downwards like a leaf on the wind, gravity seemed to slow down around him as he fell. But he did not gauge the speed of his descent correctly and had to grab hold of some branches twice to correct his path. He wasn't even remotely proficient with this weird way of movement courtesy of his Wind steps technique. But still his passing was totally silent and besides him grabbing a branch, he made no noise.

The Ranger did not notice his approach and Aaron watched her carefully. She had her bow in hand and he could see a long dagger in a sheath at her left side, her long fingers cradled the feather fletchings of an arrow in her quiver as her eyes scanned the clearing.

The men carefully approached the woman, while the mage hung back at the forest's edge.

Quietly Aaron landed behind the ranger and transitioned from his landing quickly.

Smoothly he clasped his right hand over the woman’s mouth, while his left shot down and grasped the hilt of her dagger. He unsheathed it and in the same movement he stabbed the sharp tip upwards underneath the woman’s ribs. The ranger yelped in surprise, but it made only a muffled sound and he felt her body stiffen, while she died in his deathly embrace.

Her bow fell out of her hands, as she struggled and Aaron stabbed the dagger deeper through her leather armor until it pierced the woman’s heart.

Aaron frantically reached with his foot for the bow as it fell, but luckily it hit a branch and he managed to snag it with the tip of his boots and halt its fall.

The woman did not struggle much, or maybe it just felt that way with his new and improved strength. Her body stopped twitching after a bit while he felt hot blood soak her clothes and stain his left hand crimson.

Silently Aaron removed the dagger, once he was sure she was dead and wiped it off the woman’s clothes, before he slid it into his pants.

Not a safe method to store a knife, but it would do for now.

It was lucky that the moment the bow had hit the branch had coincided with the girl calling out to her would be saviors and their attention was more taken in by her than the stealthy ranger in the trees.

Aaron pushed the woman to sit against the tree trunk, her legs dangling over, while he recovered the bow.

Carefully he angled her so he could reach her quiver and the arrows, while standing on top of the branch behind her.

He tested the bows draw strength and cursed himself for not having spent more time on Archery while hunting.

But who expected not to be able to use guns?

Aaron at least did not.

But he had to level the playing field and take out at least the Mage before he could deal with the warriors.

He did not really know what a mage could do and she was by the looks of it the only other ranged attacker in the group. It was the next logical step in his mind to take her out.

Carefully he drew an arrow, knocked it and drew the bow smoothly, while he aimed at the woman in robes peeking out into the Clearing.

Aaron calmed his breath and then exhaled slowly while he let the arrow loose.

Quickly he grabbed after a second arrow and heard the woman yelp in surprise. The arrow would have hit the mage in the throat, but barely an inch from her delicate skin the arrow stopped dead in its tracks as a thin transparent shield burst into shards of magic.

The mage in her surprise jerked back and hit her head on the tree trunk she had leaned against with a loud clearly audible oomph.

She fell out of Aaron’s vision and he cursed as he switched targets towards the men in the open. The longsword and axe warrior turned, but the one with the shield was standing in front of the girl and was talking to her. Luckily the mans breastplate did not have a back piece and so he aimed at him and let the arrow loose.

But at this range his accuracy was poor and the arrow thunked into the mans shoulder blade, instead of piercing his lungs, making the man cry out in pain.

"He is in the trees!" the Axe warrior shouted and Aaron grinned while he reached for another arrow, when the branch he stood on exploded in a shower of ice.

Aaron shouted as he felt something cut into his side and he let himself fall from the tree as the branch was cut apart by a myriad of shrapnels made of ice. The rangers corpse got shredded, blood spluttered the splintering wood and her limp corpse fell to the ground with a wet flop.

Aaron let the bow drop while he fell parallel to the tree and stared in the direction of the mage.

The entire side of the tree was marred by small sharp icicles that acted like buckshot pellets, just cold and sharp ice instead of metal. Aaron knew he had taken some of the hits, but he did not have time to feel the pain as he saw the prone mage raise her staff again.

Aaron reached out to a nearby branch, dragged himself towards it in his fall and heard the woman shout:

"Hailburst!"

The mages accuracy was abysmal, as Aaron needlessly put the tree between them and watched the shotgun blast of ice missing the tree entirely. He swung himself around on a nearby branch, turned in the air and pushed himself off the tree trunk tree.

He winced as he felt how perforated his left side was, but ignored the pain and concentrated fiercely on closing the gap with the mage.

Adrenalin pumped in his veins as she shot forward in a downward angle towards the mage who paled when she saw him close in so quickly.

Aaron grabbed the dagger out of his waistband and the woman raised her hand fearfully.

"Dragon Tongue!" she shouted and a gout of flame burst from the middle of her palm like a bloody flamethrower.

A wall of red fire cascaded towards Aaron, who deactivated wind steps for a moment and fell to the floor. Quickly he reactivated the technique, wasting a deluge of Qi on it and pushed himself off the ground. He flipped over the fire as best he could. But Aaron was not used to moving like that at all, he was no acrobat and so he misjudged his angle and flew straight through the fire.

He burned, his skin melted as he burst through the stream of flame with a shout of pain.

Aaron’s feet hit the surprised mage in the chest as they collided and Aaron fell on top of her more than anything.

The woman grunted and raised her staff once more. But Aaron recovered quicker than her and leveraged his position to mount her, before he punched the woman’s arm to the side, a spray of ice and frost blasted the lower branches of the tree they were underneath.

Aaron had still the dagger in his right hand and sliced through the surprised woman’s throat. He could see the shock in her blue eyes as she let the staff fall out of her hands to grasp at her throat.

Aaron had expected the spray of blood and even though she tried to stop the flow of blood, he could still see it flood in between the fingers of the woman.

"MELISSA!" the shout was deafening and desperate.

Aaron turned his head and saw the tall man with his two handed axe charge him. The mans face was furious and he dug his feet into the ground before shouting:

"[Bull Charge]!"

Then the mans form shot forward at the speed of a bloody car. The acceleration was near instant and the man's form blurred in Aaron’s view. Aaron shot up from the dying mage's body, pushed his feet against her to propel himself out of the way, but he was too slow. The mans axe blade glinted and all Aaron could do was turn his body, before the man reached him.

The crash was horrible. Aaron shouted in pain as he was battered away, he flipped in the air and felt his entire left side flare in agony. He lost his dagger while he spiraled in the air and then fell to the floor face first.

He tasted blood in his mouth and agony flooded through him, defined him for a moment, before adrenaline pushed away his pain, fear and the cold fury of battle made him raise his head.

The Axe warrior stood a few steps to the side, unmoving, his form trembling.

Aaron pushed himself upwards with his feet, snatching the dagger that was laying close by up while he charged at the man. He could only guess what was wrong with him, but such a powerful instantaneous movement skill apparently had its downsides.

Aaron’s left arm dangled uselessly at his side, broken, battered and bruised, but for this maneuver he only needed one arm.

He stepped into the Axe warriors range and saw his clenched muscles relax. In the back of Aaron’s mind he guessed this forced paralysis was a downside of using the powerful skill. The man tried to raise his axe, but it was too late to defend himself against the upper cut with Aarons dagger that caught the Axe warrior in the throat, cutting upwards through the mans mouth until it pierced the mans brain.

The man collapsed, almost dragging Aaron with him. He had to let the dagger go not to fall, as the blade had lodged itself deep into the mans skull.

"[Shield Bash]!" A massive hit took Aaron by surprise in the back and he got flung to the ground once more, groaning in agony.

The last two warriors were upon him, a longsword cutting down at his prone form, while the shield warrior followed only one step slower behind the man. Both men were beyond furious, their faces filled with shock and murderous determination.

Aaron rolled away from the longsword and kicked upwards with Wind steps, using the last bit of Qi he had to activate the technique. His feet accelerated unnaturally, battering away the longsword warriors arm.

Aaron quickly capitalized on the imbalance of the man and rolled up to his feet, but both men did not let up.

He was unarmed, his dagger still stuck in the corpse of the axe warrior, his left arm broken and pulsing with agony.

But Aaron grinned. Felt his body pulse with power as he slipped into the Rejuvenating Fist Kata.

He never felt so alive than when he was about to die and in the few fights he had been in, that had been scraps like this, he had always prevailed. Those fights had never been a fair fight and this was not fair either.

The shield warrior stabbed him with a wild shout and Aaron’s feet slipped around him as he dodged effortlessly, his right fist shooting forward jabbing the longsword warrior in the face, who recoiled from the sudden attack.

Fighting South paw had always been difficult to Aaron, but the Rejuvenating Fist Kata did not prefer a side to begin with. His right fist was strong, unnaturally so and his footwork was impeccable.

He slipped in between their next attacks, made the longsword scrape against the breastplate of the shield warrior, while Aaron leaned to the side and jabbed the Longsword warrior in the face once more, making the man recoil. His plan was to make them hit and hinder each other and he largely succeeded for a while. His crisp punches hit one guy in the wrists, the longsword warrior once more in the head and then Aaron battered the longsword warriors stomach as he danced and hammered away at them.

But his initial superiority was broken once the longsword warrior started using his skills.

Suddenly the mans blade accelerated and cut out too fast to dodge, so Aaron did the only thing he could do and raised his arm to block. The blade cut deep down to the bone, but stopped there. The man drew his blade back with a spray of blood, before he lunged, using another skill.

The sharp pain was barely noticeable as Aaron tried to dodge, but could not. The skills gave the man too much speed, but luckily the attacks lacked power. He felt the blade scrape along his ribs, drawing blood once more, before Aaron battered away the blade.

The shield warrior was behind him, his blade cutting at him and Aaron turned, stepped back into the mans range and elbowed him in the face.

The mans nose broke and he cried out, while he fell back. Aaron raised his fist and smashed it into the mans temple, but the man with the longsword had recovered quickly and so Aaron could not finish the shield warrior off, as the man lunged at him.

Aaron dodged the lunge, evaded right and counter attacked in between the quick flurry of strikes wherever possible.

The longsword warrior kept using skills, which apparently had a short cooldown. The sudden acceleration of his strikes or thrusts made him a difficult foe, especially with only one arm.

Aaron took cuts, while he punched back, unbidden, unrelenting. His steps following the kata, his fist bashing like a mace against the man, who was slowly but surely overwhelmed, despite his skills.

Aaron had never had so much fun before in his life. Despite the Pain, despite the danger, or maybe because of them he could feel his body so intensely. Aaron felt invincible, strong, superior and he grinned madly while he used the kata in combat. It was all a rush that carried him away.

His body reacted to his enemies movement sometimes quicker than his mind as he slipped in between two skills and caught the warriors wrist.

The chopping hammer blow he delivered was not in any boxing manual, but with his strength it broke the mans arm, not just his wrist and the warrior screamed in pain.

The bloody blade clattered to the ground and Aaron took his chance. The man still had a dagger in his belt and Aaron quick as a snake grabbed it, before the man remembered it.

The warriors eyes widened as the dagger came down in a sharp angle.

"No, please!" the man shouted, his arms raised. Aaron’s first stab was blocked, but the man fell back from the strength of the blow. Aaron kneed the man in the stomach as he stabbed again and again.

The man screamed in horror and pain as the sharp dagger punched through the light armor and cut into the mans chest, over and over.

Blood spluttered out, gushing from the wounds, but Aaron did not let up, finally he buried his blade in the mans throat as the arms of the warrior sagged aside.

"Die!"

Aaron felt something pierce his back, felt the pain as he looked in shock at the blade that came out of his chest.

He turned his head in disbelief and stared at the furious face of the shield warrior, who grimaced at him, his nose a bloody mess, his face already beginning to swell from all the blows the man had to endure.

Aaron snarled and turned, ripping the blade out of the mans hands.

With a bestial howl he jumped at the last warrior and his fist crunched into the battered warrior as he brought him down to the ground. The shield warrior was heavy and they struggled and grappled for a moment, before Aaron came out on top.

His right fist hammered down, crunching against the mans face. The warriors gauntleted fists tried to trade blows, tried to push him away. But Aaron was strong, far stronger than a normal human and his right fist was a hammer.

With all his might the warrior grabbed at Aaron’s right fist, struggled and brought it to a halt, while he desperately tried to push Aaron off with his legs.

Aarons eyes were bloodshot and Aaron knew he was heavily injured, that this whole fight might have been a mistake. He had underestimated these warriors, but Aaron was not simply strong. Aaron had the Fiend-god art and the Fiend-god was not known for his strength, but his voracious appetite and ability to regenerate.

Aaron clenched his left fist and smashed it down on the warrior grappling his right arm.

The stunned warrior loosened his grip and even though each punch hurt like hell, Aaron punched again and again until his right arm was free and he could punch with both fists.

Left, right, left, right. Instinctively he shifted his weight and Aaron barely noticed as the man lost consciousness.

In a frenzy Aaron punched, felt his blood roar as he hammered down unbidden.

Only once he felt something give under his fists he stopped, breathing heavily.

The shield warriors skull had caved in, his head a bloody, gory mess that had once been a face.

The mans eyeballs had popped and the entire front of the mans skull had pierced into the warriors brain.

Aaron stared down at the dead man and then at his arms, at his fists.

His knuckles were raw and bloody, the cuts, some deep and to the bone were closing in front of his eyes.

His left arm had been broken, his left side torn by ice shrapnels, but Aaron could watch as his body regenerated, his bones snapped back and fused, his skin healed.

Aaron laughed, a mad desperate laugh as he got to his feet and stared down at his body, at the torn clothes, now more rags than anything else.

He knew he had basically lost this fight, that he would have died from blood loss and his injuries if he had still been a bog standard human, but it did not matter to his new body.

By the time his hysterical laughter had stopped most of his body was hale and whole.

With awe he stared at the slight discoloration at his arm, where he had blocked a strike from the Longsword and the blade had cut down to the bone. The cut was gone and the only indication that there had been anything wrong, was a white line, that differed slightly in color from the rest of his skin.

Aaron sighed and stared at the blade still stuck in his chest, just underneath his shoulder.

He frowned and went over to a nearby tree, he pushed against it, felt the blade cut into his flesh as he pushed it back. Then he entangled the crossguard of the sword with a branch and pulled the blade out.

Aaron groaned in pain and chuckled softly as he watched the wound close, his blood clot and only leave a bloody stain on his rags of a shirt.

He had survived, he had won!

And now, he was no worse off than he had started.

Well, not really. Aaron was hungry again, but that was a price he was willing to pay gladly.

Aaron took a deep breath and clenched his fists, before he pushed his emotional turmoil to the side and focused on the here and now. He took stock of the clearing and the corpses littering it. The snow was muddy, spluttered crimson and the corpses still oozed blood out of their many wounds.

It was time to loot and gather equipment, before getting out of here.