The staircase twisted behind him like liquid glass.
Akira's boots struck against the white marble steps, but each step felt heavier than the last, as if gravity itself was trying to hold him back.
The System's voice chimed sharply in his mind:
[WARNING: STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY DETECTED. FLOOR ALIGNMENT IS INCOMPLETE.]
Akira didn't answer. He couldn't. Every muscle in his body screamed to keep moving. He had to reach the Sixteenth Floor before whatever was stirring above could fully awaken.
The air thickened as he ran. A dense, metallic taste filled his mouth, and the shadows of the walls seemed to stretch unnaturally, as if reaching for him.
"…This is bad," he muttered under his breath. "Really bad."
[AFFIRMATIVE. ENERGY WAVES INDICATE PRESENCE OF ORIGIN-CLASS ENTITY.]
[PROXIMITY: INCREASING.]
Akira's grip on his sword tightened.
Origin-class…
He had heard that word before. From the observer on the Fifteenth Floor. From Seraphine. It wasn't just a test anymore. It wasn't just a challenge.
It was something alive, something ancient, something capable of rewriting reality itself.
[ Entering the Sixteenth Floor ]
The doors of the Sixteenth Floor swung open silently, revealing a vast chamber of shadows and light.
It was circular, like a giant amphitheater, but nothing was symmetrical. The floor rippled like liquid, and jagged cracks ran through the walls, glowing faintly with energy.
Akira stepped inside.
Immediately, the air pressed against him, dense and alive. A humming filled his ears—a sound that wasn't quite wind, wasn't quite machinery, but something in between.
[WARNING: TOWER STABILITY COMPROMISED. ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS INCREASE.]
Akira gritted his teeth. "Then I just have to be faster."
From the shadows, a figure emerged. Not fully human, not fully shadow. Its eyes glowed faintly red, and its movements were fluid, unnatural—like it was part of the floor itself.
Akira's sword came up instinctively.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
The figure didn't answer with words. Instead, it shifted into multiple forms, each one echoing Akira's own image—his movements, his posture, even his sword stance.
He froze.
The System's voice broke through:
[WARNING: DOPPELGANGER ENTITIES DETECTED. CLASSIFICATION: UNKNOWN.]
The echo-forms advanced. Each step they took distorted the floor, making cracks widen and energy pulse faster.
Akira's heart pounded.
He charged forward, slashing through the first shadow. His blade passed cleanly, and the shadow flickered—but then split into two.
"Damn it!" he yelled, spinning to fend off another.
The battle was different from the lower floors. These shadows weren't mindless—they anticipated him, mirrored him, and adapted. Every strike he made seemed to teach them, made them faster, sharper, more precise.
Akira Awakens
Akira ducked under a mirrored swipe of shadow and slammed his sword into the floor. A shockwave of spiritual energy radiated outward, sending the doppelgangers flying backward.
Not enough.
He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. Deep down, he could feel the floor's energy—the pulsing instability, the Origin-class energy moving above him, shaping everything.
He focused.
A warm heat surged from his core, and his eyes glowed red. The tattoos on his arms and chest flared with energy, tracing themselves in circuit-like patterns.
"Dragon's Breath—Overload!" he shouted.
His sword blazed with crimson energy, and he unleashed a wave of fire that tore through the shadows.
They screamed—a sound that was more the echoes of their own forms than anything real—and dissipated into nothingness.
Akira dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
That's what happens when you tap into the tower's energy itself…
He didn't have time to rest. He could feel the floor shifting, the cracks spreading, the power above awakening.
The Tower Speaks
A voice, deeper than any System tone, resonated in the room.
"Akira."
Akira froze. His hair stood on end.
"You climb too fast. You see too much. You think you control your fate—but you are a child, a spark in my eternity."
The shadows of the floor writhed violently, forming shapes like towers collapsing on themselves.
Akira's sword glowed brighter.
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
A figure emerged from the center of the chamber. It was taller than any human, taller than the ceiling itself. Its form was obscured in blinding light and shadow.
Akira felt a pressure in his chest—as if the room itself wanted to crush him.
The System's voice trembled in his mind:
[ENTITY CLASSIFICATION: ORIGIN. POWER LEVEL: UNMEASURABLE.]
[RECOMMENDATION: EXTREME CAUTION.]
Akira swallowed.
"So… you're the Origin," he whispered.
The figure's voice reverberated like an earthquake:
"I am more than that. I am the will behind all that you have seen. The beginning… and the end. And now… you stand in my presence."
Akira gritted his teeth.
"I don't care what you are! I'm climbing this tower, and I will reach the top—no matter what!"
"Bold words… human child."
The floor shifted violently again. Large fissures split the chamber, and from them emerged more shadows—more doppelgangers—but now fused with strange, semi-mechanical features, glowing faintly with corrupted energy.
Akira held his sword tightly.
They're not just attacking—they're testing me.
He charged forward, blazing red energy illuminating the shadows as he slashed and dodged.
The Origin's voice echoed constantly, like a pulse in his head:
"Do you know why the tower has grown? Why it has multiplied? Because it awaited one who can survive it. One who can endure both shadow and light. One who… might approach my throne."
Akira's jaw clenched.
"So all of this… all the floors, the doppelgangers, the shifting halls… were for me?"
"You are both the question and the answer. You are the spark that awakens my true self."
Akira stopped for a moment, staring at the fissures and the shadows pouring out of them.
He realized something:
The tower isn't just testing him. It's preparing him.
And above, at the unreachable top, the Origin was stirring—growing stronger with every floor Akira climbed.
He exhaled slowly, a calm resolve settling in him.
Then I'll climb faster. I'll fight smarter. And I'll reach the top before it can consume this place… before it can consume me.
He let his sword flare red again.
"Let's see what the Sixteenth Floor has for me," Akira muttered.