Tower of Heaven

There was a hidden world that had been visited once prior; not by Atlas, but by the eyes of the world.

It was a place that housed a pristine facility surrounded by a terrifying wasteland of corpses and rot. The singular image of a beautiful yet plain white building in this scenery was something that had to be marveled at every time it was seen.

Within that facility, nothing had changed. While the Tower entrapped itself in conflict, those working in this place did not deviate from what they'd been doing thus far.

"The test on the 30th Floor went well. We were able to harvest 5000 souls within the span of twenty-four hours. However, as mortal souls are not completely formed, we lost some essence in the process. We are now learning how to shorten the necessary time and make the harvesting more efficient."

Surprisingly, the person reporting to the most superior entity of the facility was the same person as last time. He hadn't been killed yet, which meant his survival skills had to be praised.

"Hmm…"

The being he spoke to hummed slightly and looked over the information he'd been handed.

"Will it be prepared for the upper floors in time?"

He asked a question that his servant could easily answer, which was a very relieving thing for him.

"Our current timeline projects that everything will be prepared in ten years at most. We will be ready when the time comes."

"Good."

That man nodded with a smile. It was quite a gruesome sight, so it was good that the attendant was looking at the ground.

"Then, is there anything else you would like to report?"

He had been here for some time, informing the leader about everything that had been achieved in the months since the last report. The "final" report was about the most important project, but this prompting…

Was there anything else?

As the servant thought about it, a piece of information did suddenly appear in his head.

"It is not nearly as important as the rest, but we have made some progress in identifying the group that destroyed the blood altar."

"Oh?"

Rather than an important piece of news, this was an interesting one. The Crazed Immortal was the kind of person who took an interest in these small things more than most, so his ears perked up.

"Yes. It looks to be a group of three. We were able to discover their identities through the recent commotion in the Tower. One of them is Artemia Tatsuya, the daughter of the Calamity Dragon. The other is the white-masked man who has been the talk of the Tower recently. Though the last does not have as much of an identity as his companions, we believe that he is the one we must focus on."

"Why is that?"

"We were only able to find a limited amount of information about him, but it seems like he uses some variation of the Dao of Light. He is a potential candidate for the Corrupted Sun Design."

Right, Horus had been climbing the Tower as quietly as Atlas in order to avoid the Ennead's constant surveillance. He did not have such a pronounced Legend, so his identity was still hidden.

However, the attendant's words and the Mad King's expression did not bode well for him.

"Where is he now? Have you sent anyone to seize him?"

"No, sir. Other than the white-masked man, the other two have vanished from the Tower. Even the white-masked man is very difficult to find. I assume that they have found some sort of hidden world that they are using to avoid attention. Once we find it, we will bring him to you."

"Good."

Looking at his loyal attendant, Lucifer smiled.

'The Corrupted Sun Design…'

He almost couldn't stop the feeling of ecstasy that was trying to climb up his throat.

'...once it is completed, nobody will be able to stop my ascension.'

He shuddered ever-so-slightly as a wave of thrilling yet wrathful emotions filled his chest.

With every passing day, he came closer to the starting point.

With every passing day, he recovered just slightly from the damage that had been done to his body.

So, with every passing day, he cursed the Heavenly Emperor of the past and celebrated the destruction of his Legend.

Such a being…

With such a being still alive inside of the Tower of Heaven…

It had to be wondered how he would act if he knew that the man he was currently targeting, the man named Horus, was a close friend of that very same Heavenly Emperor.

The sight that followed would be a bloody one, to say the least.

***

Time continued to pass at a snail's pace as the world's population took every day in stride.

This was even more true for the single inhabitant of the Xuanying Treasure Pagoda.

Atlas left the pagoda every few months in order to check the Tower Forums and keep himself updated on the world's progress, but that was the extent of his excursions for the next six months.

He put all of his attention into training and training alone.

He didn't know what kind of being he was preparing to fight, but he knew that it was an incredibly powerful entity.

Just like always, it started at the foundation.

'The Grand Arsenal is actually meant to accommodate the strengths of all possible weapons, but as I was only using the sword at the time, I never reached the full potential of the technique.'

He said that, but…

'In this life too, I will not take the path of all-weapon mastery.'

The Grand Arsenal was his life's work. He knew it better than anyone else. The peak of the technique was not the mastery of all weapons. That was merely a single path that could be taken within its complexity.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In his past life, he used the Grand Arsenal to turn his sword into a weapon beyond weapons and his body into a vessel as perfect as a mortal could become.

The only difference now was that instead of a sword, he was using chain sickles. The techniques within the Arsenal that he had to prioritize were different.

As such, when he first began his practice, he chose not to pick up a weapon at all.

'The chain sickles are best suited for mid-range or long-range combat. However, I, as an individual, tend to gravitate towards close combat. Before I pick up the chain sickles, I have to find that balance within myself.'

It worked in his favor. His training was bound to begin with physical exercises anyway, so it was a good chance for him to multitask.

Before any sort of specialized training, the Grand Arsenal only asked its users for the most simple prerequisites.

First, the body had to reach a certain hardness and flexibility. Secondly, the connection between the qi and the body had to reach a certain synergy. And finally, one had to choose their first path.

This technique could be viewed as a massive labyrinth. At every turn, one would find tens of forks in the road, each leading to its own outcome.

The only question was…

This version of Atlas, a person who had already strayed so far from who the Heavenly Emperor used to be…

What kind of outcome would he find?