Tower of God: Sequence Strength

After the 'date' they had at the rooftop, Tiara began to stay with them.

Everyone was plenty spooked when she met up with them; some more than others. And more than that, they were also very skeptical about Winston having found an actual girlfriend for whatever reason. And their skepticism came to be true when Winston cleared up the misunderstanding.

She wasn't his girlfriend. She was his to-be-not-really-fiancee.

Of course, that raised a lot of questions.

Endorsi, in particular, was extremely aggressive towards her. But her being a high ranker, there was little Endorsi could do about her presence.

Another thing to mention was that Team Shibisu decided to hold off on climbing further before Bam and Co were at their level. Which meant, that until next year, when Bam and team Sweet and Sour were supposed to go to the hell train, the entire team would stay together. And even after the hell train, they would continue to climb together.

It wasn't something Winston was too worried about. In fact, he even welcomed it.

He had nothing to do until then anyway. His potion would digest in time. In fact, it was already almost digested.

He wouldn't rush the matter with the ritual. Bam was only a singular option. He felt he could still explore more options. And perhaps on the hell train, a place he had seen in his divination, he would find a better candidate.

Although, from the divination and what he knew now about Bam's past, he increasingly felt that the divination was pointing to him. Hell Train was one thing, but the floor of death was another.

His intuition hasn't failed him until then. But he still felt like waiting.

Speaking of waiting, he had actually offered to save Horyang. He had seen what was wrong with him. His soul had been taken.

With his Visionary powers, he had managed to use the tint link his body still held with the soul to forge a bond with the Body of Heart and Mind; making the man exist in a state of lethargic awareness. He wasn't able to do much beside eat and sleep, but it was enough to go by.

And Winston was ready to go beyond.

With his body right here, pinpointing the location to his soul was easy.

But Team Sweet and Sour said no, strangely enough.

Something about, already having enough favours to fill on their part. Which was, in all honestly and Winston's own opinion, incredibly stupid. Why decline free help?

But regardless, since they insisted on not wanting his help, like, a lot; he wasn't going to force his help on them.

And so, started his next year with the team.

"What is it that you do all day?" Tiara asked him.

"Laze around." Winston replied with a smile, calmly sipping a drink from a plastic straw as he sat on the balcony of the 34th floor's hotel.

"Seems pretty boring."

"Not in my eyes it ain't." He smiled and looked at her. "Wanna see?"

Tiara looked at him with a smirk.

"How so?"

"I might show you what I'm capable of. If you were to offer the right price that is." He laughed.

Tiara puffed her cheeks.

"You want something for that?"

"Why not? I'm a swindler at heart."

"And what about the beautiful woman right next to you?"

"Where?"

"Shut up!"

Both of them burst into a short fit of laughter.

...

"I never really thought such a monotonous life could be so interesting." Tiara said, walking along a large lake with various shinhueh travelling above and below the water level. She held a book in her hand, titled 'Tales of the Old Ones.'

"I thought you found it boring." Winston asked, his eyes covered with shades and in his hand a banana.

"To be true, it's you that I find interesting."

"Heh. That's a good way to flirt." Winston chuckled in a mischievous fashion as he wiggled his eyebrow at her.

"Take it as you will." Tiara turned the other way, watching the doves that floated over the water. Only to see them be devoured by a snake shinhueh in the lake.

"Yikes." Winston said and began to walk away.

...

"What the hell is this?!" Zarhan yelled, pushing his leg into Amon's face as he furiously tapped every button on the controller.

"Hey! Stop cheating!" Amon exclaimed, throwing his own leg towards Zarhan's face.

"Geez people. It's just a game. No need to get violent." Endorsi said, watching them play a game Winston had created. It was a co-op game, one that was... Well, supposed to be played as a team. But clearly that wasn't working.

"Hah! I won!" Winston exclaimed, throwing his fist and the controller into the air.

"You cheated!"

"Yeah!"

"No evidence."

"F*ck you mean, no evidence?!"

Anaak watched from the side with a can of coke in her hand.

"What's happening?" Tiara asked as she walked into the room.

Endorsi shook her head and shrugged.

...

"Gah!" Endorsi yelled as she was, once again, thrown ruthlessly into the ground with a punch from Winston. "This isn't fair! You're as strong as a high ranker!" She threw an accusatory glare at him.

"I don't see Bam complaining." Winston pointed at the boy who had already lost consciousness after being smashed 17 times into the dirt.

"He's dead!" Wangnan exclaimed, clawing at his face as he looked to Bam's body in a dreadful glare.

"No he's not... probably." Winston shook his head and looked at them.

"Now get to training!"

"Die!" Zarhan yelled, stabbing at him from behind.

"Pro tip." Winston said, blinking right behind Zarhan, making him stab at the air. "When doing a surprise attack, don't yell. You look like an idiot."

Saying that, he balled his hand and bonked Zarhan on the head.

...

Winston sat under the moonlight, his eyes gazing at the construct of shinsu. The transient-ness of the structure made it difficult for him to take in it's full beauty, but it was a spectacle still.

He felt someone trying to sneak up behind him.

Smiling a bit to himself, he spoke, "I advise you put down the thought of using that spell. We all know how that ends."

He heard a feminine voice click her tongue before the perpetrator came up and sat beside him.

It was Tiara. It was always Tiara.

In the time they had spent, she had tried several times to catch him off guard like this.

Claiming that it was for 'research purposes' and that she merely wanted to 'see the blood bloom.'

But luckily, her psychopathic tendencies were now getting far and between, a far cry from when she had started out.

"I only came to check up on you." She said, puffing out a side of her cheek.

Winston smiled at her antics.

His eyes travelled to her figure as his spirit vision peered through her soul, seeing everything that she was made of. Information. Words. Stories.

And now, a blooming bud.

Humanity.

It was a foreign concept for Winston to use his Visionary powers as he did. In fact, it was more of a test run than anything when he started out; opting to use his assailant as a test dummy.

But now, he had begun to see something else.

Blooming humanity was beautiful. Who could have guessed?

"What?" Tiara asked, meeting his eyes.

"You." Winston said, simply.

Seeing his extreme gaze, Tiara felt a blush creep up her cheeks but hid it within a heartbeat.

"Me what?"

"You feel real now." He said. "Now that I see you, you feel all too real." A smile blossomed on his face. "And it's beautiful."

If before she was able to hide her blush, now she wasn't.

Her lips tugged back a smile as a hint of pink was on the extremes of her cheeks.

Then, she chuckled.

"Are you falling for me already?"

"Relax, Princess. I was talking about the humanity I put inside you."

"...You're terrible with ladies you know."

"You'd be surprised by how wrong that is."

...

"You can do it!" Winston stared down everyone as hundreds of baangs made of shinsu rained down from the sky.

Endorsi, Anaak, Shibisu, Hatz, Amon, Zarhan, Rak, Khun, Bam, Wangnan, Arkraptor, Yihwa, Prince and Miseng all hid under the little cover they could find in this secret space Winston had created for their training.

"Are you trying to kill us?! Scary Turtle!?" Rak yelled and threw his Mad Shocker at Winston.

An attack that resulted in his getting hit by a bolt of lightning.

"I told you not to attack me." Winston shrugged as he threw the mad shocker down.

"You're extremely sadistic you know." Tiara spoke, sitting beside him with 3D glasses on her eyes and a bag of popcorn in her hands. As she ate the popcorn, a low chuckle emanated from her lips. A chuckle that was slowly turning into a wild laughter.

Winston eyed her from the corner of his vision.

"Is that right?"

...

...

It was not long after that the team finally decided to split up.

8 months had passed by after the Workshop Battle Incident.

And with the Hell Train boarding coming close, Hwaryun felt that it was better for the team members to prepare by themselves.

Winston had nothing to say about it.

He could not keep babysitting them forever. There was a limit to what he could teach them as well. Especially now, when he had the ability to make so many baangs, any shinsu art he used in battle would not suit them.

Not to mention training could only bear fruits so long. Real battle that test their resolve had to be done. Life and Death struggles would only improve them.

Winston could not provide the same. He could promise pain lest they half assed their fights, but deep down, they held trust that Winston would not truly kill them.

Everyone had to grow on their own.

And Winston had the perfect plan for that.

As he watched then leave one by one in airships, he could not help but grow a malicious, almost malevolent smile.

Maybe it was time for his teammates to meet the Monocle Man...

"You're thinking of something sadistic aren't you?" Tiara questioned him, narrowing her eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not. Want to join in?"

"Really?" She smiled, excited.

"Well, I wouldn't mind a small donation for it though." He laughed.

"Tch!"

~~~

~~~

~~~

A/N: This was a very experimental chapter. Do tell me how it turned out and if it read okay.

Also, the romance has begun. Though it's barely left infancy stages yet. At this point, neither Winston nor Tiara think of each other in the romantic light yet.

Or so they tell themselves, that is. It's hard to say really.

Throw some stones.

Cheers~~