Inside the Celestial Tower, Floor 32 hummed.
Not with magic.
Not with machinery.
But with pressure—a low, vibrating tone that made the stone ripple and the air buzz like an orchestra tuning for a performance that might accidentally shatter reality.
Julian Breadstone cartwheeled in midair, his suit transforming into a moving mosaic of musical notes.
"LISTEN! LISTEN, MY DEAR VIEWERS! DO YOU HEAR THE MUSIC OF DOOM? THE HUM OF DESTRUCTION? THE SOFT YET TERRIFYING SOUND OF A THOUSAND BEE SWARMS HARMONIZING?!"
Jimmy leaned into the cohost microphone, waffle in hand.
"Julian, that's one person humming."
Julian gasped.
"YES! AND WHAT A HUM IT IS!"
Floor 32 was the Resonance Chamber, a labyrinth of vibrating pillars and sound-reactive platforms. Every footstep caused a ripple. Every breath altered the tone of the room. The wrong pitch could collapse entire pathways.
Fighters dreaded this floor.
Even the Wolf King had paused at its threshold before bounding onward.
But now a new fighter entered.
A thin figure in a long dark coat with hair like drifting smoke and eyes like frozen moonlight.
Seren Vex, the Frequency Blade.
Where she walked, the hum shifted.
Where she breathed, the floor answered.
Her presence was a tuning fork made flesh.
Julian swooped closer.
"OHHHHH YES! IT'S SEREN VEX, LADIES, GENTS, AND GENDERLESS STAR CLUSTERS! A MASTER OF RESONANT MARTIAL ARTS! A WOMAN WHO CAN CUT STEEL WITH A WHISPER!"
Jimmy whispered, "Not metaphorically. She literally slices things with whispers."
Seren placed one foot onto a vibrating panel.
The hum warped—
tightening—
rising in pitch—
Then the entire panel stabilized beneath her, settling into a calm tone that spread outward in gentle ripples.
Julian clutched his face with both hands.
"SHE MATCHED THE FREQUENCY BY FEEL ALONE! MY HEART! MY POOR HEART!!"
Three fighters entered behind her—a heavy-armored brute with a warhammer, a feathered assassin, and a telekinetic scholar.
The brute stepped onto a different panel.
It shrieked.
"AAAAUGH—NO NO—NOPE—NOPE—WHY IS IT SCREAMING—"
The panel flung him backward into a pillar, which resonated like a gong and ejected him through a safety sigil.
Julian narrated helpfully:
"That's what we call a pitch mismatch! Happens to all of us! Usually when we try to sing in the shower!"
The feathered assassin moved next, hopping lightly.
The panels hummed pleasantly.
Seren watched her, head tilted.
Good balance.
Good hearing.
Good instincts.
But not enough.
The assassin stepped on a panel with a faint purple shimmer.
Seren inhaled sharply.
"No—"
But too late.
The shimmer collapsed.
The panel detonated in a burst of discordant sound, sending the assassin tumbling upward into a net of vibrating strands.
Julian winced.
"Ooooooooh—caught in the dissonance nets! You HATE to see it!"
The third fighter—the telekinetic scholar—floated gracefully, avoiding contact with the floor entirely.
"Ha! I can bypass this whole thing!"
Seren turned toward him slowly.
"That is not… advisable."
The scholar waved dismissively. "I'm fine."
He rose higher.
The hum deepened.
The pillars around him vibrated harder.
Jimmy whispered, "This is about to be very bad."
Seren extended one hand.
She whispered.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Soft.
Barely audible.
Yet the sound spread through the chamber like a string being plucked.
The vibrations shifted.
The pillars aligned.
The air thickened.
The scholar's telekinesis destabilized instantly.
He shrieked and dropped like a rock—
straight into a safety sigil.
Julian burst into applause.
"AND SHE SINGS THEM TO SLEEP! WHAT A VOICE! WHAT A TALENT! WHAT AN ABSOLUTE MENACE!"
Seren stepped further into the chamber.
The pillars vibrated at her presence.
Pathways extended, retracting, reshaping as if the tower were adjusting to her tone.
Other fighters scrambled, thrown off by the shifting sound patterns.
Seren, however, moved with effortless precision, altering the hum with the tiniest twist of the wrist.
Jimmy blinked in disbelief.
"She's… conducting the floor?"
Julian nodded vigorously.
"Yes! Exactly! She turns the entire battlefield into an instrument!
A deadly, beautiful, deeply expensive instrument!"
At the chamber's center, a massive tuning fork construct pulsed with radiant energy.
This was the way out.
This was also the guardian.
Seren approached.
The construct whined, building pressure.
Another fighter—a horned warrior wielding dual axes—charged ahead of her.
"Out of my way!"
He leapt, bringing both axes down on the tuning fork.
The sound that erupted was indescribable—
like a mountain collapsing inward,
like a storm being swallowed whole,
like someone screaming into the void
and the void screaming back.
The warrior was launched into orbit—
and immediately caught by a recovery sigil.
Julian shouted:
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! WE HOPE YOUR NEXT BODY HAS FEWER FRACTURES!"
Seren approached the construct calmly.
She lifted two fingers.
And hummed.
The tuning fork stilled.
The chamber trembled
and then quieted.
All the vibrating platforms aligned in perfect harmony, creating a glowing path upward.
Seren walked through without hesitation.
Julian's voice softened for a rare moment.
"Some fighters climb with fists.
Some with claws.
Some with cunning.
But Seren Vex climbs by understanding the rhythm of the tower itself."
Jimmy nodded, surprisingly solemn.
"She's… beautiful to watch."
"Beautiful," Julian agreed, "and deadly. Very deadly. Deadlier than a waffle dropped from orbit. And trust me—I've tested that."
Jimmy slapped the waffle out of Julian's hand.
"Stop dropping waffles from orbit!"
Julian wiped a tear. "Never."
Floor 33 greeted Seren with a chamber of floating crystal bells.
Each bell rang with a different effect.
Some generated illusions.
Some generated barriers.
Some exploded.
Julian cheerfully announced:
"THE BELLS OF BEWILDERMENT! A PLACE WHERE MANY FIGHTERS DISCOVER THEY HAVE TERRIBLE RHYTHM!"
Other fighters raced ahead, ringing bells recklessly.
A blast of steam shot one into the ceiling.
An illusionary maze swallowed another.
A rain of small frogs engulfed a third.
Seren did not rush.
She stepped forward slowly.
The bells shivered.
Each one rang once—
a soft, delicate chime—
aligning to her frequency.
She reached the center.
Three bells floated before her—
large, gleaming, dangerous.
Each one pulsed a different note.
A choice.
She listened.
Then tapped the middle bell lightly—
barely a whisper of contact.
It rang true.
The chamber responded.
Bells parted.
A bridge formed.
The exit revealed itself.
Julian gasped.
"She picked the PERFECT bell! Incredible! Amazing! I, personally, would have chosen all three at once and exploded!"
Jimmy groaned. "Thank the stars you're not competing."
Seren ascended once more.
Floor 34: The Wave Garden.
A room filled with flowing streams of energy that rose and fell like living tides. Fighters had to navigate the currents to find solid platforms.
Seren stepped in.
The waves rose to meet her—
not to drown her,
but to carry her.
She rode the resonance, letting each wave lift her higher.
Julian watched, enraptured.
"THE WAVES LOVE HER. I THINK I LOVE HER. I THINK WE ALL LOVE HER."
Jimmy nodded. "But also fear her."
"Same thing, darling!"
Seren reached Floor 35—
and paused.
The Wolf King's scent lingered here.
Fury.
Heat.
Dominance.
A massive claw mark had been burned into the floor tiles.
Seren touched it gently.
Then looked upward.
She didn't smile.
She didn't grow fearful.
She simply noted:
"A powerful rhythm.
Unrefined.
But strong."
Then she ascended.
The Resonance Chamber hummed behind her.
The Wave Garden rippled.
The Tower watched her rise—
and adjusted itself accordingly.
Seren Vex, the Frequency Blade,
the Whisper of Harmonics,
the Silent Song of Violence,
was now among the fighters destined to reach the Top 500.
Julian spread both arms dramatically.
"SHE IS A SYMPHONY IN MOTION! A MASTER OF MURDEROUS MUSIC! A LEGEND IN THE MAKING! REMEMBER HER NAME, VIEWERS—SEREN VEX!"
Jimmy added:
"And someone please remind me to wear earplugs if I ever meet her."
Julian nodded seriously.
"Absolutely."