Chapter 59 — An Old Alliance
The hot spring bubbled gently, steam rising in lazy tendrils to mingle with the cool air of the capsule.
The soft glow of lanterns cast warm reflections on the water's surface, creating a small sanctuary amid the chaos outside.
Rin straddled Riya, her breath hitching as she savored the lingering warmth between them.
Every subtle movement sent waves of sensation rippling through her — amplified by the slickness still nestled inside her, evidence of their recent intimacy.
As Rin settled, her eyes fluttered closed, savoring the moment, the feeling of him deep within her — utterly theirs, perfectly synchronized in a rare bubble of calm.
She could still feel the slick wetness inside her, mingled with his essence, pulsed with every subtle shift, sending tremors of pleasure coursing through her veins.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she leaned down, lips grazing his neck in soft, teasing kisses, her body arching against his with desperate need.
Riya gently slid out from beneath her. The wet warmth remained, a physical imprint of their union, and as Rin shifted, a thin trail of fluid slipped quietly down her inner thigh — a secret sign of what had just passed between them.
"As Rin slowly lifted herself off of him, her body still trembling from the aftershocks, a warm rush of white fluid slipped free from deep within her — a quiet, intimate trail marking the passion they'd just shared."
Just then, the door creaked open.
Cú Chulainn stepped inside, his imposing figure breaking the serene moment.
Draped only in a towel, he grinned, already imagining a peaceful soak.
But then his gaze landed on the unmistakable glisten on the floor — and the subtle, unmistakable dampness trailing from Rin's rear.
His eyes widened. "Uh… that's… unexpected."
Rin's eyes snapped open, blazing with fury.
"You idiot! What the hell do you think you're staring at?!"
Without hesitation, she surged forward, dripping and indignant, her sharp nails raking at Cú's chest as she lunged.
"Get your perverted eyes away from me right now, or I'll make sure you regret it!"
Cú stumbled backward, trying to keep his towel in place.
"Hey! I was just coming to enjoy the hot spring, not to get attacked by a raging tsundere!"
Rin snarled, bare skin gleaming with water and anger, chasing after him with furious determination — the air filled with the unmistakable chaos of her stomping feet and murderous intent.
She caught him in a flash, tackling him into the shallow end of the hot spring with a splash.
Straddling his back, still naked and dripping, she yanked his ear with vicious glee.
"You're going to pay for everything you just saw, you damn pervert!"
Riya watched with a tired smile, shaking his head.
"Yep, this is definitely my life now."
The sound of splashing water and Rin's shrieks echoed behind him like background music to a deranged sitcom.
Time passed.
The heat faded.
Clothes returned.
The storm that was Rin eventually calmed—though not without bruises for Cú.
Later.
The capsule hissed open.
Ash drifted through the air like snow, and Riya stepped out into the still-burning corpse of a city.
Fires glowed weakly in the distance, their light flickering against shattered buildings and rusted vehicles turned to tombs.
No breeze, no birds.
Just the sound of cooling metal ticking faintly beneath the red-tinted sky.
Rin stepped beside him, arms folded, her eyes scanning the horizon.
She didn't say anything at first.
The silence was heavier than conversation.
Another floor.
Another death.
They walked forward slowly, boots crunching over blackened gravel and broken glass.
Flames burned between craters in the streets like veins beneath a cracked skin.
The city around them had been destroyed.
Bent iron, buildings slumped like kneeling giants, as if everything had given up long before they arrived.
They kept walking—slow, deliberate, cautious.
Neither of them spoke again until they reached what used to be an intersection.
Riya paused.
Something was wrong.
He was being watched.
Then the second story of a half-collapsed building gave out, bricks crumbling in a clean arc—and someone stepped through the dust.
Rani.
One foot pressed into the air like it was solid ground, and her figure drifted forward.
She landed with a soundless hush on the debris-covered pavement, the ash swirling gently around her robes.
Lu Bu landed beside her with a crash, war spear in hand, steam curling from his frame.
Robin froze.
His bow creaked in his grip.
His eyes narrowed, jaw tight — fury burning low beneath his calm mask.
Rani didn't flinch.
But for a moment, she looked away.
Like she could feel it — the killing intent that didn't need words.
Riya stepped forward, instincts already flaring.
He looked Rani dead in the eyes.
"I told you," he said quietly, "if we met again... we'd be enemies."
Rani didn't blink.
"I remember."
Her voice was calm—maybe too calm.
Almost mournful.
She raised her hand slightly, as if presenting a fact rather than making a threat.
"There are four Masters on this floor," she said.
"You, Rin, myself... and the Floor Master."
Silence.
Rin's eyes widened.
"That's—?"
"There's no trial," Rani continued.
"No gimmick."
"Just the Tower's rule: a Master must die so another can ascend."
"We are the only candidates left in this floor."
Riya clenched his jaw.
No way out.
No more trials.
No fake-out this time.
Just blood and choice.
"I take no pleasure in this," Rani said.
Her eyes slid toward Rin.
Cold.
Unblinking.
The kind of gaze reserved for things already dead.
Her voice was even — almost gentle.
"But I'm afraid I have to kill her."
That was the real truth.
That last line.
That unshakable purpose.
And it was that—not the threat—that made Riya move.
He stepped between Rin and Rani.
Rin behind him.
Rani before him.
And in the middle, the final breath of their alliance.
"…I liked being your ally, Rani."
The words were rough.
Honest.
And maybe, just maybe, that honesty hurt more than anger ever could.
"You were strange."
"Quiet."
"Half the time I wasn't sure if you were plotting something or just incredibly awkward."
"But I trusted you."
"We fought side by side, survived that hell on Floor 2 together."
"I kept my end of our deal."
Rani didn't move.
Her head tilted slightly — just slightly — like she was listening for subtext rather than words.
"I acknowledge that," she said evenly.
"But trust is not eternal."
"And to move forward in this tower…"
Her eyes slid to Rin — cold, certain.
"I have to kill another Master."
Riya stepped forward, his tone low but unshakable.
"That still doesn't mean I'll allow it."
His body remained between them like a drawn line, unmoving, unwilling to bend.
"You're not the only one who's made hard choices, Rani."
"But if you think I'll stand by while you put a blade to her throat, you've forgotten who you're talking to."
"I told you — back then — that if we ever were to met again."
He let the sentence hang.
Rani didn't flinch.
"…Then we would be enemies," she finished for him.
Rin stepped forward from behind him, arms crossed, chin raised.
The subtle shake in her shoulders was almost invisible — almost.
"You said you were our ally," she said, voice sharp.
"But the moment you saw a path forward, you decided I was expendable."
"You're a monster wearing logic like armor."
Rani's eyes met hers with sterile calm.
"I am not a monster."
"I am a competitor."
"You are simply a variable I must eliminate."
"Try it," Rin snapped, her hair whipping slightly in the heat-stained wind.
"I dare you."
Riya's hand trembled — not from fear, but from the unbearable weight of decision.
"I get it, Rani," he said.
"I do."
"You're not doing this out of hate."
"But you're still about to kill someone I care about."
"Someone that I love—"
He turned, just briefly, to look at Rin.
Her eyes widened — not with fear, but with startled recognition.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, as if caught between scoffing and saying something sincere.
A faint pink rose to her cheeks.
She looked away sharply, arms crossing as she muttered,
"Tch... baka."
But her voice lacked its usual bite.
"—someone I won't let die."
Rani's fingers curled subtly, a signal to Lu Bu — who did not move, yet loomed like a fired cannon waiting to go off.
"And what will you do, Riya?" Rani asked.
"I meant what I said back then—I'll honor the alliance we built on the second floor…"
"But that doesn't mean I'll stand by and let you hurt someone I care about."
"Rin comes first for me."
He took a breath, then stepped fully in front of Rin.
"I won't let her fight you alone."
"Not without someone watching her back."
Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he raised his hand.
Red light pulsed.
Command Seals flared.
Robin, who had been silent all this time, tensed.
"No," he said suddenly. "You can't—"
"I promised," Riya said, turning to face him.
"I promised you'd have a shot to finish what you started."
"And she needs you more than I do right now."
The light flared, violently — and in an instant, the bond was severed.
Robin staggered.
A gentle pulse of light passed between them — quiet, resolute — as the bond between Robin and Rin took hold, forming the start of a new connection.
Rani's gaze followed the movement.
"You used your Command Seals to transfer your Servant?"
"Yeah," Riya said, his voice hoarse.
"Rin has Robin now. Along with Cú."
"I've got… well, me."
A pause — then Richard's voice, dry as ever, cut in from behind.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic."
"You've got me, too, partner."
A tense silence followed.
Robin didn't speak.
He couldn't.
His eyes were locked on Rani — not with duty.
With rage.
The kind of rage that boiled without a scream.
The kind that watched her kill his previous Master.
The kind that would wait, patient, for a perfect shot.
Rin was still stunned.
"I—why are you giving him to me? You're going to be short one Servant."
"I'm already short one Servant," Riya said.
"I'm giving you someone who'll make sure you don't die."
He stepped close.
Rin looked like she wanted to argue.
Instead, she grabbed the front of his shirt.
"You reckless—stupid—soft—!"
He kissed her.
Not fierce.
Not rushed.
But real.
Her breath hitched in her throat, and when he pulled back, her cheeks were scarlet.
"I'll be fine," he said.
"You better be," she whispered.
Then, more quietly—almost too quietly to hear:
"Promise me," Riya said, voice low but firm.
"Promise me you'll still be alive when this is over."
Then, more quietly—almost too quietly to hear:
"I promise."
She turned toward Rani, expression hardened.
Robin and Cú stood at her sides.
Three against two.
Riya turned without looking back.
Richard waited a block away, leaning against a scorched lamppost.
"Everything settled?"
Riya nodded.
"Good," Richard said.
"Because we're being expected."
They walked through the ruins together.
Unlike the floors before, this one wasn't twisted or surreal.
It was real.
Dead and dry and real.
And that made it worse.
Eventually, they found the only standing building—an office tower untouched by the flames.
Its windows were shattered, its steel frame bent—but it was upright.
In a world where everything else had crumbled, this place stood tall.
Two figures waited in front.
One of them, unmistakably, was a servant—arms folded, calm as stone.
The other was a young man, perhaps twenty-five, with shoulder-length black hair and eyes like empty wells.
He wore a long black coat lined with fur, and the rest of his outfit was sharp blue—from gloves to shoes.
He looked like royalty walking through a funeral.
"My name is Julius B. Harwey," the man continued.
He raised a gloved hand, gesturing to the silent, imposing figure beside him.
"This is my Servant, Li Shuwen."
The assassin gave no bow, no acknowledgment — only a stillness that spoke of lethal focus.
"I serve as the floor master of this floor."
"You will not proceed."
Richard stepped forward, sword ready.
"We'll see about that."
Julius didn't flinch.
"Very well."
Li Shuwen stepped beside him, his gaze settling on Riya and Richard.
"Let's begin."