Devil Fruit Powers In The Tower Of God

About a week passed since the incident with the Workshop Battle happened. Unfortunately, Androssi had not woken up during that time. However, Gustang had assured Lumen that she is fine and that she will wake up shortly.

Everyone had mostly stayed on the Ghost Ship during that time since the Suspendship was large enough to house at least 50 people.

The appearance of the Ghost Ship is V-shaped Suspendship, but the middle bottom "V" view is flat-wide instead of narrow. The Suspendship has two engines on the top of it's each wings side that looks like commercial airplane turbines.

Besides the high number of bedrooms, the Ghost Ship had a large kitchen and dining hall, a storage room, and a spacious compartment where everyone could train.

Agnis, Rak, Ran, Novick, Yihwa, and Wangnan had also been staying on the Ghost Ship with them. They wanted to take revenge against FUG for what the organization had done to Bam. Lumen had decided to keep them for the time being since he needed people to deal with the day to day stuff in the Suspendship.

They were too weak compared to the rest of his teammates, so they would form another separate team. They all had the potential to grow in strength and possibly join his team in the future, but for the time being, they would be a separate team that takes the Tests from the Floor Rulers.

During that time, Gustang had given everyone, except the six new additions, the Test to become a Circle User. The Test was easy enough that almost all Rankers with an adequate Shinsoo control could pass.

Everyone from the group passed the Test on the first try, expect for Leesoo. He was the only one that struggled and failed three times, but had just managed to pass it on his fourth attempt.

"I don't understand why Lumen hasn't kicked you out of his team." Gustang looked at him in contempt.

It was quite the achievement that the rest managed to pass the Test on their first try, but that was something that Gustang had expected from them.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be worthy of climbing the Tower with Lumen. Especially when he would be taking the Tests directly from the Guardians from now on. Those Tests would be more difficult depending on who is taking them and what they have requested for their reward.

"You are by far the weakest in the group," Gustang told him in disdain.

"You are not wrong. I am the weakest, but do you know that eight years ago, I barely even managed to pass the Shinsoo veil Test on the 2nd Floor?" Gustang raised his eyebrow at Leesoo's reply.

Growing so much in strength in just eight years wasn't an easy thing. Leesoo might not be as strong as a Ranker right now, but in another eight more years, he would definitely be as strong as one. There's also the fact that he didn't even know his Shinsoo quality.

"Lumen might be the only reason that I actually reached this far, but that still depended on me. You don't know how discouraging is to see those monsters every day, but I put my blood, sweat, and tears into training every single day." Leesoo knew his strength was nothing compared to the rest, but he took pride in how far he had reached.

With his current strength, he could fight against a team of C-Rank Regulars on his own. Other than his teammates, Leesoo didn't know other E-Rank or D-Rank Regulars that could do the same.

"I also don't think that he would kick me out of the team. He might have done that before, but now, I don't believe that he will do it. Hell, I was more scared of him killing me before if I didn't meet his expectations. You don't know how cold he used to be towards us." Leesoo stated before Gustang could say anything.

"But after the incident on the 10th Floor, Lumen warmed up to us. Since then, he has been pushing us all to grow stronger, because he doesn't want to leave any of us behind. We are the closest thing to a family that he has, and he cares for us. And we care just as much for him. All of us would gladly do anything within our power to help him. " Leesoo said confidently.

"Now, with that being said. Please, don't kill me for talking back to you. Lumen won't be happy if you kill me." Leesoo meekly said with a trembling voice and slowly started backing away. All his confidence from his earlier speech was gone.

Seeing that Gustang was staying silent, he booked it and ran as fast his legs could carry him from there.

Leesoo ran to the dining hall, where everyone had mostly gathered. Aleksai had prepared a delicious meal, and everyone was enjoying his cooking.

"Did you finally pass the Test?" Agnis asked him. He was annoyed that Gustang didn't want to give the Test to him and the other five, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Pff, of course, I did. Did you doubt me?" Leesoo asked.

"Yes," Agnis replied with a straight face.

"..." Leesoo speechlessly stared at him.

"What?" Agnis said.

"That was mean, you should have more faith in me. I even dared talk back to Gustang, one of the 10 Great Family heads. I'm not a simple guy, you know?" Leesoo boasted about his earlier experience.

"So? I've talked back to my father multiple times. I even dared steal from his treasury." Agnis responded.

"Yeah, but Gustang didn't even dare reply back. You should have seen his face, it was priceless, I tell you." Leesoo stated with pride.

"Are you sure about that?" Gustang's voice came from behind him.

Before he had even finished his question, Leesoo had dropped on his knees. "Please, don't kill me! I was only jesting around! I didn't mean anything that I said!"

"Pathetic," Gustang said and looked towards the rest. "Since the weakling finished his Test, I will check your Shinsoo qualities. Afterward, I will help you out with your Shinsoo control."

"Where's Lumen?" Gustan questioned as he noticed that he wasn't there.

"He left earlier to meet with someone, but he said that he should be back pretty soon," Merrie answered him.

"Meet with who?" Gustang questioned.

"What up four-eyes?" Before anyone could answer, Gustang heard someone address him. He turned around and saw Urek looking at him with a grin. Next to him were Evan and Yuri, who had her arm around Lumen's arm.

"Heard you are helping out my little bro. You are not thinking of doing anything stupid, right?" Urek asked him.

"Do not worry, I won't harm him. We do have the same goal after all." Gustang answered.

Urek immediately understood what he meant and turned towards Lumen. "Hey! We talked about that before. Killing Zahard is not something that you should be aiming for."

"You did advise me on that, but you never answered me why." Lumen replied.

"It's a bit complicated." Urek said. He didn't want to tell him that the Gods from Earth are the reason why ascending from the Tower was forbidden.

By killing Zahard, Lumen would allow for people to go to the 135th Floor. That Floor is currently sealed by Zahard. He had created a key that could open the way and split it into multiple parts. The 13 Month Series were one half of the key.

"You are going after Zahard?" Yuri asked with excitement in her voice.

"Yuri, please..." Evan muttered as he already sensed where this is going.

"That sounds fun, count me in!" Yuri exclaimed.

"Yury, think about it. That's not a smart idea and definitely not something fun." Evan tried dissuading her.

"Shut up, Evan. No one asked you." Yuri replied.

"But, Yuri..." Before he could continue, Yuri interrupted him. "I said. Shut. Up."

"I agree with Evan on this. That's not a smart idea." Urek told her.

"Are you scared of Zahard?" Yuri asked him a provocative manner.

"I'm scared of no one in the Tower!" Urek declared proudly.

"Then why are you acting like such a p.u.s.s.y? Don't you always go about how you are the strongest in the Tower? Then prove it by killing Zahard with us." Yuri told him.

"I am the strongest in the Tower! Killing Zahard is not a problem, the problem comes after that is done!" Urek replied.

Even if he does manage to get out of the Tower without ascending, if he kills Zahard, someone will manage to ascend at some point. That someone will be hunted by the rest of the divine beings, and they will find out that Urek had entered the Tower and killed Zahard. That would cause trouble for him and his family, which he didn't want.

If he wanted to escape the Tower without the divine beings finding out that he had entered it, he would need Zahard to be alive. Otherwise, someone will ascend sooner or later.

"I didn't know you had such a side to you." Yuri shook her head disapprovingly.

"Think whatever you want, but I'm not killing Zahard." Urek said.

"That's fine since I will kill him." Lumen stated.

"Come on, little bro. We can find another way out of the Tower. I'm sure there is one. You don't need to do this." Urek told him, but Lumen shook his head.

"It's not about getting out of the Tower. I'm not sure if I would even want to go out, but I am sure that I want to kill Zahard. I will definitely attempt it in the future!" Lumen stated.

He had more people that he cared about in the Tower than the outside world. In fact, he didn't have anyone that he cared about outside the Tower. If he couldn't bring them with him, he might decide to stay inside it.

"But Urek is right, it's better if you don't participate in fighting Zahard." Lumen turned towards Yuri.

Gustang had told him that Zahard could control all the Princesses that have been injected with his blood. The only exception to that rule was Anak, who was the only second-generation Princess. She had never received his blood.

Now that Androssi had received the Thorn, she might be another exception, but even Gustang wasn't sure if that was the case.

Either way, Lumen didn't want Yuri to be near him when he goes against Zahard. Otherwise, Zahard could potentially end up controlling her and forcing her to fight him. Lumen would prefer to "fight" with Yuri in bed rather than the battlefield.

"You too?" Yuri asked him with a frown. Fighting Zahard sounded pretty exciting to her. Yet, everyone here is trying to dissuade her.

"Lumen is right, you shouldn't fight Zahard. You might be unaware, but he can control all the Princesses that have his blood." Gustang stated. He was the one that suggested injecting women with his blood and the one that thought of the process to do it.

"Bah, you guys are boring," Yuri replied and made her way towards Anak. "How are you doing, little sis? How has Lumen treated you?"

"I'm great, and Lumen is the best. Look at the bracelet he gifted me yesterday." Anak nodded to Yuri with a smile and showed her an emerald bracelet waved in an intricate pattern.

"He also picked me this needle, Anoph." Anak pulled out a black needle from her Pocket. The needle had a small opening at its tip, and its handle had two small insect-like wings.

Anoph was a Compression Weapon that had quite a few abilities. In its compressed state, it's only a C3-Rank weapon, but when decompressed, it is as big as the entire Ghost Ship and is a B8-Rank weapon.

"He picked this for you?" Yuri asked and grabbed Anoph. She gave it a few practice swings and returned it back to her. "Not bad."

"Yep. There weren't any hooks from the items the Workshop offered us. And the only spear was more suitable for Aleksai. I didn't know which to choose, so Lumen picked it for me." Anak explained.

While the two were talking, Lumen sensed a distraught emotion from Androssi's room. She had finally woken up.

"Androssi is up. I will go check up on her." Lumen told them and made his way towards her room.

"I'm coming with you." Yuri followed after him.

The two quickly reached her room just as Androssi was exiting it. Without saying anything, she walked up to Lumen and tightly hugged him.

"You are not going to leave me as well, right?" Androssi whispered. The first person that had ever shown her kindness had died. Lumen was her closest friend, and she couldn't imagine him dying as well. Androssi would banter with him, but she never meant anything she said.

"Don't worry." Lumen replied and rubbed her back. "I'm not going anywhere."

His words made her hug him tighter. "Promise me," Androssi whispered.

"I promise I won't leave you." Lumen said. "The others have also been worried about you. Should we go to them?"

"No." Androssi refused. "I want to stay like this for a bit."

Yuri looked at the two for a bit, raised her finger, and mouthed "First" to Lumen before she walked back towards the dining hall.