Reminisce | Tower of God

Chapter 6

After Anaak’s team along with Lero Ro, who’d declared for the continuance of the game with the new rule, had left, the room was left considerably quieter. Even Rak had calmed down a bit as they readied themselves to go out. Though it seemed her brother had found it to be the perfect time to voice his concerns, his apologies.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, “the three of you are in danger … and I can’t really do much.”

Elyse shook her head, trying to formulate an argument someone as stubborn as her brother would actually accept. She was glad that Khun stepped in when he did. 

“Don’t worry Bam. Thanks to you, that lizard got out of the chair. And besides, I think you’re pretty amazing.” Before her brother could refute the compliment, the blue haired boy continued. “You’re not strong and you’ve got no skills to rely on … but you still try to protect the people who trust you. I could never do that.”

The words silenced any further degrading thing that Bam might have previously had to say about himself. Elyse could only imagine how much of an impact what Khun was saying had on her brother, who hadn’t ever received any such reassurances even once before.

Perhaps that’s why she placed a hand on his shoulder and murmured, “If I wasn't willing to face whatever dangers come with staying by your side, I wouldn’t be here. I may not have always been there for you before, but we’re going to stick together from now on, okay?”

He smiled. “Okay.”

Right on cue, she heard Lero Ro’s voice blare through the yellow cube she’d seen earlier. “The third round of the Crown Game will begin shortly. The teams that want to join, press the buzzer.”

“If you guys are done with your little sibling talk,” Khun drawled lightly, pulling his knife from his bag, “should we go now? To get the king’s throne.”

Elyse nodded as she stepped forwards with her team towards the open gate of their room. Her heart raced inside her chest, something between fear and excitement coursing through her veins. She wasn’t sure which of the two opposing emotions she felt stronger.

“It’s the third round of the Crown Game! Let’s begin!”

Looking around the vast, circular space of the arena, she tightened her grip on her dagger. Her gaze flitted between the three other teams. It seemed all the other groups wanted to take the lizard girl’s absence as their opportunity to take the crown. With it now being a speed game, a race rather than a fight for the win, they’d probably figured their chances were fairly high.

Elyse peered over at the confident, unworried expression on her blue haired teammate’s face. ‘Does he have some sort of plan?’

Then, before anyone else could even near the throne, a rush of air and a blur passed by her. She blinked in surprise as Khun smiled from his place on the seat they’d all been vying for. Without so much as glancing the other teams’ way, he picked up the crown from where it laid on the throne’s armrest. “Is the game over if I sit here with this crown?” 

Her teammate sighed before stuffing the band of gold into his bag. 

“But that’s no fun. Let’s not make this boring.” And with that he flipped his knife, tossing and catching it in one swift motion. “Fight me, you weaklings. If you beat me … I’ll give you the crown.”

Elyse flinched as a member from one of the other teams roared out his protests, bringing up his gun to fire at Khun. Though the blue haired boy only tossed aside his blade, lifting his briefcase as a shield for the bullets to bounce off of harmlessly.

As the other groups snapped out of their daze and rushed at the throne, Khun paused to say, “On second thought, this is a bit troublesome. I changed my mind.” Reaching inside his bag, he pulled out the ‘crown’ once more to fling it away from himself. “There!”