Chương 438: Chapter 425 - You Have Been Chosen

"Who do I want to… well," Ayu leaned back, giving it some thought.

"I am sure we have some shared choices so… yeah, just decide yourself. It's your bonus, not ours." She smiled, softer this time.

"Do what feels right." Alonso held her gaze for a moment, studying her.

"What about your dad?" Ayu blinked, clearly not expecting that. She froze for a second, then her eyes dropped.

"My… dad…" Alonso didn't rush her. He let the silence sit, giving her space. Ayu exhaled slowly, then looked back at him.

"No. If he's chosen by chance, then it is what it is, but… I won't make that choice for him. And I don't want you to either."

"Alright," Alonso nodded. Ayu watched him for a beat.

"So, you're gonna talk to Leonie about it?"

"Yeah. I want to hear her input at least," Alonso admitted.

"But before she hits me with all the 'logical' picks… I want to hear everyone else first."

"Sounds good," Ayu said quietly.

"Just… don't let it get to you, yeah."

"I won't," Alonso replied. Ayu smiled, a small breath of a laugh slipping out.

"And don't make that face either," she added as she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You can be a Contender, a Sovereign, humanity's strongest, or even some god deciding the fate of everyone… I don't care." Her voice softened against him.

"To me, you'll always be my Alonso." Alonso's arms came around her without thinking, pulling her closer.

"And you'll always be my Ayu." They leaned in at the same time, the space between them closing. His hands settled against her back as their lips met, warm and familiar, her chest pressing into his as she held him tight.

Imani remained silent for a long moment before speaking.

"It's your choice to make, Alonso," he replied calmly.

"I know, I know, it's just…" Alonso exhaled, leaning back.

"I don't have seven names lined up yet. I've got some but not all. That's why I'm asking around."

"And I appreciate you asking," Imani added, a quiet smile on his face.

"But my answer stays the same."

"Alright, fair enough." Alonso let it go. A comfortable silence settled between them for a moment.

"How's it been anyway?" Alonso asked.

"Haven't had a proper chance to catch up in a while."

"It's been alright," Imani answered.

"Chiara's situation hit us hard. But it ended well."

"Becoming enemies of the most powerful organization in this world in the process," Alonso said with a quiet chuckle.

"Real smooth ending." Imani glanced at him.

"We're all back together though." Alonso looked at him for a second, then nodded.

"Yeah. Fair point."

"I mean, I don't want to sound rude but… do you really think I would care?" Chiara said with a mild smile.

"It was worth a shot," Alonso said, kind of expecting the answer.

"Well, thanks for asking, I guess," Chiara went on, the floating structure she had been idly playing with collapsing as tens of thousands of tiny conductive elements scattered and stilled mid-air.

"Just don't lose sleep over it. Whoever comes next won't change much in the grand scheme. Personal feelings aside, and being completely rational about it, I don't believe our civilization has, or will ever produce, a better Climber than you, Alonso. So choose whoever feels right." She paused.

"Statistically, one or two out of the next wave might get close to our level eventually. But I wouldn't count on it."

"I don't know if you're complimenting me or just putting more pressure on my back," Alonso replied.

"Both," Chiara answered without missing a beat. Alonso laughed quietly.

"For what it's worth," she added, "whoever you choose will be lucky. Even if they may not understand that for a long time." Alonso slowly nodded.

"Two or three, maybe. But honestly…" Lukas said.

"You already know who they are, don't you?" Alonso held his gaze.

"So why are you asking me?"

"Why not?" Alonso shrugged.

"Fair enough," Lukas replied with a grin.

"So I guess you're prepping before my sister hits you with the next All-Star Climber roster, huh?"

"Something like that," Alonso admitted.

"Well, good luck with that," Lukas added, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"You'll need it."

"Well… as a matter of fact…" Pablo said after a long moment, "I do have someone in mind." Alonso raised an eyebrow. By this point he had expected more of the same.

"Who?" Pablo held his gaze for a moment. And answered.

"... so then after the Red-rank candidates come the Purple—""Leonie," Alonso said, cutting in gently.

"I appreciate the breakdown, and I get that they are doing a fantastic job with all the VR and super AI and whatever else they have going on over there but…" he leaned forward slightly, "would any of these lab-trained supersoldiers actually make a difference?" Leonie paused.

"Well… yes. I mean, I was the only Purple-rank in my batch, and I ended up here, at the vanguard, didn't I?"

"You did," Alonso said with a smile.

"And so did the only person on your team who wasn't 'ranked' at all." Leonie held his gaze for a moment. Talking with Alonso in private was, for reasons she was entirely aware of, the one instance where keeping her focus strictly professional required a conscious effort. She breathed in quietly and pressed on.

"Pablo was an anomaly. The chances of that happening again are basically zero."

"And that's exactly what we need to bet on," Alonso replied.

"Anomalies." He leaned back.

"Talent and training might carry someone smoothly through the earlier stages, sure. But would that be enough to defeat the seven-tails? Would that be enough to become a Sovereign? A Contender?" Alonso let it sit for a second.

"What we need are people with passion. People who refuse the conventional path and carve their own with blind faith and absolute discipline. People who treat death inside The Tower as a real end, not a ticket home. People willing to do whatever it takes to reach the peak of what they can become, through a road they build with blood and pain and stubbornness." He glanced at her.

"Not soldiers who walk in rank files and defer to whoever outranks them." He exhaled.

"Not criticizing what you built. Just… that's my point of view." Leonie looked at him for a long moment, something quiet crossing her expression before she smiled.

"You're right."

"Now, I will be honest with you," Alonso continued.

"I already have five… six names I've made up my mind on. So I am not asking you for a list. Given what we just discussed, give me one name. Just one. Someone you genuinely believe, if they were inside, would dedicate everything to carving their own path and give it all, and more, to make it real." Leonie nodded slowly and fell silent. A long moment passed. The hum of the airship cutting through the sky filled the quiet between them as she sat with it. Then her expression shifted.

She looked at him, something uncertain crossing her face.

"Is there a limit on who can be chosen?" she started, then paused, choosing her words carefully.

"Age, for example. Is there an age limit?" Alonso stared at her. The question caught him off guard.

"I'm not sure," he admitted.

"But I don't think so. The Tower was pretty open in how it was worded." Leonie held that for a moment, then gave a slow nod. She breathed in once, steadying herself.

"Alright then," she said quietly.

"In that case—"

"So, have you decided?" Ayu said, opening one eye from her lotus position on the floor as Alonso stepped into the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Yes," Alonso said, settling beside her and leaning back against the wall. Ayu smiled and leaned into him, her head finding his shoulder, looking up at him with that mix of childish amusement and genuine warmth she never quite bothered hiding around him.

"So? Who made the cut?"

"About to confirm it now," Alonso said, turning it over one last time in his head.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Ayu added, lips curving.

"That's one way of making sure I do," Alonso chuckled. Ayu grinned, satisfied, shifting against his shoulder as she got comfortable. Alonso closed his eyes. He let each name settle in his mind, one by one. Then he confirmed them… and felt The Tower answer. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Jack stared at the countdown he always kept in the corner of his display. Barely a week left before the next Ascent. Each day that passed made his heart beat faster, more anxious, a constant fear nudging at him. What if, once more… he was left behind? Yet he knew he couldn't dwell on those feelings. His life was already messed up as it was. He barely spoke with friends, or even family, throwing himself into more and more drills with increasing levels of pain as he fought his way through the hellish VR challenges.

He exhaled as he finished his high-protein snack, leaning back against the wall to catch his breath before pushing forward, about to head out for his usual trail run around Sugarloaf Peak. Yet just as he rose from his chair, something hit him… and he froze. [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] A sudden thought. No…

something else had been placed in his head, like words written directly into him with utmost cold clarity, leaving no room for misunderstanding. Words that made Jack's heart skip a beat. He didn't move for several seconds, then slowly touched his head, his chest, making sure he wasn't still inside VR, that… this was real.

"MAI… did you just… send me something? Did we get a signal? Am I… okay?"

"I am not sure what worries you, Jack, but nothing has changed since you finished your training. You are currently—" The AI's voice continued, but Jack stopped listening after the first few words. His legs trembled slightly, his hand rising to cover his mouth as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. Relief. Happiness. Gratitude. Validation. Months of pressure crashing into a single moment. His eyes reddened. He couldn't stop it.

"Thank you," he whispered through muffled breath.

"I… I'll do my best… I… promise… I promise… wherever you are… I'll make it… I'll join you… pal."

Arjun stood in a white room, surrounded by millions of nanosensors weaving interference patterns that only he could perceive, a tear in space built from light and frequency. He had come a long way in the months since returning. No longer fighting his condition, no longer trying to be something he wasn't. Just focusing on what he was best at, and pushing it as far as it would go. Because if he— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] A pulse struck his mind. Which was odd, given the space he was in was supposed to block any outside EM signal, and yet as it registered, its nature and content… Arjun's eyes widened as he stood in silence for a long moment, staring at nothing. Then he smiled. A genuine smile, rising from deep within.

"I guess… we will be fighting together once more after all," he murmured to himself, a heavy yet warm feeling settling in his chest. He stood, calm and composed, and the door opened before him. An ASCENT officer at the side looked at him, confused.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Rathore?"

"Yes, everything is more than fine," Arjun answered, his speech measured to human standards, something he could do with ease now, no less annoying.

"Just let the superiors know I will be going back home for the remainder of the week."

"Sir?" the officer asked, eyes widening at the sudden request.

"I want to spend my remaining time with my family," Arjun said as he kept walking.

"After seven days… I may not see them for a long while." And with that… he left.

Mei was interacting with the quantum server, trying for the eleventh time to optimise the current algorithm ASCENT used to map neural responses to— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] Huh? Her mind froze. The coded lines she was writing halted completely as the machines waited for an input that never came. She stayed there as the realization hit her fully. The signal was clear and absolute, in a way she did not doubt.

Something only The Tower could weave. Her fingers stilled. Her hands moved to her lap as she leaned back in her chair… and she smiled. She would finally see the others again. She would see him too… Wang… Her cheeks warmed with a soft flush.

"Thanks… Alonso," she whispered.

"This time… I will make it count… no matter what."

Ishaam leaned back, flexing his restored right arm slowly. The one he had lost during the fight with Ian, a confrontation that had gone sideways real fast and reminded ASCENT exactly how dangerous a cornered Climber could be. He exhaled, letting the memory settle, then pushed himself up and magnetised his blade to his hand, ready to continue— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] Ishaam went completely still.

He knew who the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse was. The whole world did. Alonso had chosen him. He stayed with that for a moment, turning it over, making sure it was real. The Tower's signal left no room for doubt, cold and absolute as always, and yet his mind still circled it once more before it fully settled. Then he exhaled, and something in his chest loosened. Gratitude. Validation. The quiet kind that didn't need words. He appreciated it more than he could say. But alongside it came weight.

Last time he had been just one more face at the side, someone present but not truly counted. He had carried that ever since. His fist tightened. This time… would be different. Whatever it cost. He gathered his things and headed out, already fairly certain that if he had been chosen, Arjun had been too. He sent a pulse and waited. The response came quickly." See you in The Tower. Let's finish what we started." Ishaam smiled and sent one back." Glad to fight at your side once more… Captain."

Camila's head moved with the beat, shoulders rolling, feet shifting across the floor in smooth, practiced steps as her self-made track pushed through her EM-controlled headphones. Around her, twelve magnetised mannequins moved with her. They popped, locked, slid, and spun in full sync, each one driven by pulses she originated from points scattered across the room rather than from her own mind, her Awakening turning empty air into a control grid.

From the outside it looked like a full crew, twelve dancers hitting every beat with the kind of precision that came from years of practice. She dropped low into a windmill, came back up, snapped her fingers, and the mannequins answered the beat with a synchronized chest pop that rippled left to right across the line. She grinned, changed the tempo, pushed it faster— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] Every mannequin dropped at once, crashing to the floor in a heap of loose limbs as Camila's concentration snapped. She nearly went down with them, one hand catching the floor, then snapped into a clean kip-up and landed steady on her feet. Her headphones came off in one smooth motion. Her jaw slackened just a touch as the signal settled in.

"For real…" A quiet laugh slipped out. She had always figured she had a shot at getting back in, but this was different. Chosen directly by the legend himself. Cool. Still, she was pretty sure she wasn't Alonso's first or second pick, which meant Mei was definitely in too. A grin spread as she turned toward the door, already moving to catch up with her nerdy friend.

Siddharth's blades moved silently through the empty space, his bare feet shifting in quick steps that made him seem to blink from one spot to another, barely any tell in his posture or his knees. He moved calmly and unhurried through several stances, the blades cutting the air almost gracefully, like brushes painting an empty canvas. He thrust forward, ready to follow up with— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] His blade froze in place, his breathing stalling for a full second. Then, for the first time in as long as he could remember, his perfect control faltered, the arm holding the blade trembling slightly, just for a moment, before he slowly lowered both arms. A surge of emotions hit him at once, enough to pierce the restraint of a man who prided himself on self control. At first, he wasn't sure how to feel. He had always imagined their reunion one day, to make things… different.

And yet, not even in his wildest expectations had he envisioned this. For all that, he had genuinely thought Alonso would have forgotten him by now, just a stone on his path, surpassed and left behind. And yet… The message was there, clear, leaving no room for doubt. Alonso had chosen him. Not The Tower, not someone else… but him, out of his own free will… had chosen him as someone he wanted on his side.

Siddharth looked up at the empty white ceiling, blades resting at his sides as he closed his eyes, remaining perfectly still for a long time, seconds stretching into minutes. Then, at last, he let out a breath, a rare smile touching his face.

"Alright then… let's fight together this time… Alonso."

Viktor had been awake for nineteen hours. The reports kept coming. Climber incident in São Paulo, three casualties, containment ongoing. Budget dispute between the Eastern and Western branches, again. A senator demanding transparency on the Ascent selection process, as if anyone had answers to give. His coffee had gone cold forty minutes ago and he hadn't touched it since.

"Sir, the projections for the third quarter show a significant—""Significant what?" Viktor cut in, not looking up.

"Significant waste of my time? Da, I agree, move on." The junior analyst across the table swallowed and kept going. The board meeting had been running for two hours. Eight people around the table, none of them saying anything that couldn't have been an email, and Viktor was strongly considering telling them exactly that when— [You have been chosen by the Wielder of the Stellar Expanse. Be prepared. You will be summoned in the next Ascent.] He stopped. His pen stilled against the paper.

The room kept moving around him, someone was mid-sentence about resource allocation, but Viktor heard none of it. He sat completely motionless, staring at nothing, as the signal settled into him with the cold, absolute clarity that left no room for anything else. The room fell quiet. The board members exchanged glances. Frederica leaned slightly toward Oliver beside her. Oliver gave a small shake of his head, equally lost. Then Viktor started laughing.

A full, genuine, from-the-chest laugh that bounced off the walls of the conference room and made two people physically lean back in their chairs. Nobody in that room had ever heard that sound come out of Viktor.

"Sir?" Frederica ventured. Viktor kept laughing, one hand coming up to press against the table, eyes creasing at the corners.

"Sir, are you—""Oliver," Viktor said, pulling himself together just enough to point across the table. Oliver straightened.

"Sir?"

"You always wanted my job, yes?" A pause.

"I… well, I wouldn't say—""Well I got good news for you," Viktor said, still grinning.

"You are promoted!" Everyone blinked.

"Effective now." Viktor pushed his chair back and stood, still wearing that grin that looked completely foreign on his face.

"I quit, by the way." He picked up his cold coffee, looked at it, and set it back down.

"Consider this my resignation. I am taking my 100-year leave, I believe I have earned it." He waved a hand loosely at the room.

"Someone send the paperwork." He was already at the door.

"Sir—" But he was gone, his laugh still fading down the hallway. He walked alone through the long corridor, the noise of the meeting room shrinking behind him, and for the first time in longer than he could properly calculate, the weight that sat permanently across his shoulders simply wasn't there. 77 years. Seventy-seven years he had spent building toward something he thought he would be part of. The age limit had hit him harder than he let anyone see.

He had buried it the way he buried most things, under work and discipline and the quiet conviction that if he could not go himself, he would at least make sure humanity was ready. And then that young man had gone and made every calculation irrelevant. Viktor stepped out into the open air and looked up. The pride of their entire race, without question. That young man was truly remarkable, and while Viktor thought his opinion of him couldn't get any better, well… he had, once more, underestimated him.

Viktor exhaled slowly, the grin softening into something quieter and warmer. Thank you, Alonso. He put his hands in his pockets and kept walking, the corridor stretching out ahead of him, quiet and unhurried for the first time in years. Can't slack off now, he thought, the grin creeping back. Might as well express my thanks in person.