No Matter What

When Zhuque woke up from her brief slumber, a familiar scene greeted her again. The same straw mat, the same bed, the same table and candlelight. Things were finally back to normal, with no monsters to threaten her life, nor were there foreign companions to travel along with her.

But this time, there was no laughing coming from her mouth. Nor were there any gasps or sighs. Zhuque sat there on her bed, her hands still trembling in silence as she raised them close to her face.

She could still see it. Smell it. Hear it. Sense it.

The crimson stained in her palms. The horrid mixture of iron and mud. The deafening screams that came from her own throat. The warmth spilling from her body, contrary to the chilling cold that her brother once exuded.

A torrent of emotions surged within her stomach, coming to form as bile rising to her mouth, forcing Zhuque to cover it with her hands in an instant. Yet, it was not enough, as the girl still managed to throw up everything within her, covering both her hands and the bed she was on with digestive fluids.

But the stench had managed to clear her head at last. Gasping for air, Zhuque mumbled:

“It worked…”

Her suspicion was true… or rather, her gamble had paid off. Her reincarnation would trigger at any cause of death, not just ones caused by the tower. As long as she was willing to take her own life, she could come back and do things over any time she wanted.

The only issue was the time and location. As the rummaging occurred once more, Zhuque’s doubts were clear. This had been the third time she got revived, and every time, it was at the same point, in the same spot. This was no cheat to save her from danger, nor it would be some hack to ensure she would always be on top.

Each time she returned, it would be another grueling climb back from zero.

She was elated to realize this on her second revive. But this time, only after a mere month in her operations, Zhuque had realized how painful it could be to lose and revive with nothing.

“... Never again.”

The girl mumbled to herself. That night, like her first revival, Zhuque set off alone once more.

Before her stood again the familiar rocky door. The tower was still the same, no matter how new or old it was – around this first floor was still a dense miasma of death that was chilling to the bone, daring anyone to step forth.

“I call forth the Judge of Souls.”

This time, there was no one to stop her. The tower shook lightly, as if welcoming its first challenger back to their rightful place. From the door, golden letters appeared, just like the first time she had caused it to appear.

Let the Judge of Souls weigh your sins. For what purpose have you embarked on the journey to the surface?

“To protect what is dear to me, even if it means my life.”

This time, her answer was slightly different. But it didn’t matter – the tower had heard her plea and answered nonetheless. The door split once more, opening its maw of doom for the young princess to freely explore.

With her experience in tow, Zhuque stepped into the fray with nothing to fear. Or rather, losing her brother twice was enough fear already for the girl, that nothing else could shake her anymore.

Snapping her fingers, a flicker of flame sparked forth. If there was anything good that came out from the situation, however, it would be this. Zhuque didn’t know the reason herself, but back when she was rushing towards Baihu – no, back when she was in the tower for the first time, her power had already stabilized enough to be freely wielded. Spawning a small flame like this to light her path was nothing.

However, with light now on her side, it had also triggered the denizens of the towers, the undead spirits that lurked about, from their slumber. A familiar face dashed off from the shadow, ready to plunge its talon into Zhuque’s unguarded flesh.

Or so it thought. But this time, the Ba was unfortunate – this was no longer the princess that needed protection from before.

“Out of my sight.”

Zhuque was swifter than ever. In a blink of an eye, she had already drawn out her dagger hidden within her sleeve and slashed the unfortunate Ba in half. And this time, even the Ka couldn’t manage to form in time – as soon as the mask came off the bird-like creature, its corpse was lit up in flame, burning to a crisp in a mere moment.

“In the end, bugs are just bugs,” Zhuque exclaimed without a lick of feeling in her voice. In truth, she had also never tried this theory before, but it had proven to be correct – one could technically kill Bas in single, one-on-one combat, they just needed to not let it call out its signature sound for a duel. Any insects that made up the corpse afterwards were also especially weak to fire like any normal bug, and so, her fire was a natural advantage over the tower’s most crowded type of monster.

And so, she was nothing short of a one-girl army. Every Ba was the same – rushing towards her only to get burned into ashes. With their corpses turned to cinders, there was no Ka, and once there was no Ka, there was no mummy either.

Zhuque rampaged through countless Bas, her path littered more and more with ashes and fire. After each kill, her strikes turned even more accurate, even more lethal. Her flame grew hotter and hotter, to the point of searing even the ground beneath her with each step she took. And yet, there was still no emotion on her face – while the Zhuque of old would rejoice in vanquishing her foes in such an easy manner, this Zhuque, the one who had finally understood the weight of loss in its entirety, had forsaken her smile in turn for immediate power.

It wasn’t as if she wasn’t aware. Zhuque knew it as well – her flame had always been a representative of her own life force. The harder she tried, the brighter it burned. But at the same time, the harder it burned, the more her own life was expended along with it. But she chose to use it nonetheless. The more her fire burned, the stronger she became. The hotter she felt, the more refined her flame was.

From the moment she was revived, the girl had already decided. If there was one person that had to walk this path of hell, it would be her, and her alone.

Within the cavern of the first floor, there was no telling how much time had passed. But even Zhuque could guess that it had already turned to the next day, considering how weary she was starting to feel. But alas, she had still managed to make it to her objective – the hollowed-out stone wall that once spelled her demise.

Baihu wasn’t there to punch through the rock formation as before. But this time, there was no need.

“You will open for me.”

Zhuque raised her dagger, focusing her entire mind and soul onto the tiny blade. As she would have expected it, the flame on her hand started to move, flickering and coating perfectly on the dagger as if it was always a part of the blade itself.

“Yup, I knew it,” she muttered. “When Baihu covered everyone’s weapons with his rocks, I had a feeling it was possible for me too.”

With all her might, she stabbed onto the rocky wall dead-center with her flaming knife. It had always meant to be a hollowed-out door, and so, the formation quickly crumbled into dust, leaving the entrance to the cave on the other side wide open for Zhuque to take.

The girl had been able to pass the mud field safely from her last expedition. But this time, she had no plans on crossing to the other side.

“Hey, jerk,” pointing her dagger towards the mud, Zhuque raised her voice. “I know you’re down there. Spare me the introduction and come up so I can have your head.”

As if able to pick up her words, from below the depths of the field, a pair of golden eyes glared towards the girl. Slowly rising from its slumber was the unknown monster from before; the one that had terrorized the entire army with its incredible size and destructive force.

A head-on confrontation was impossible. Zhuque knew this. But she didn’t come here just to die anyway.

The timing was perfect. Right when the eyes were closest to the mud field’s surface, but the body was still lying deep within, that was the moment for Zhuque to strike. Jumping down towards the mud, the girl plunged her fiery dagger straight down one of the eyes, and, for good measure, ignited her life’s flame with everything she got.

The result was a deafening explosion that rocked the entire room, along with an equally booming shriek from the monster. It never expected its tiny opponent to come with such a direct attack, and so, its right eye was completely scorched as it fully emerged from the mud. And to make matters worse for it, Zhuque had already climbed onto its body from that strike, and was now on its long snout, rushing forward with her knife to take out its other eye.

But the monster was no fool, either. The surprise attack might have worked once, but it wouldn’t work for a second time. In fact, Zhuque had expected the strike to fully blind the beast, but its size was still simply too massive for her current firepower. And so, with no choice left, she had to hope that her speed was enough for her second attack to land.

Unfortunately, no matter how much experience she might have gathered, there was nothing that could overcome the sheer difference in physicality.

The monster violently shook its head to the sides, and with it, Zhuque was sent flying with ease. Her body smashed onto the cave’s ceiling, resulting in a massive crater easily three times her own size. And as if that wasn’t enough, as soon as gravity peeled her body from the rocky ceiling and Zhuque was falling to her impending doom, a side swipe of the monster’s paw sent her flying sideways, crashing onto the other side of the wall with the same, if not much worse impact.

Zhuque could feel her ribs being crushed to dust and her organs rupturing inside her body as she coughed out a pool of red once more. She already knew that she had lost – one strike was enough to bring her body inches away from death’s door, let alone two. But this time, instead of panic or fear, on her face remained a smile.

“Yeah, I knew that this would happen,” the girl spoke through her battered lungs, her knife still pointing at the rampaging beast coming straight at her. “But guess what?”

Slowly turning her knife from the beast to herself, Zhuque continued. “I’m a damn sore loser.”

With a determined stab onto her chest, the princess was ready to do things all over again.