The 34th story arc of the Tower of God series consisting of chapters 77 - 80 from the second season. The arc centers around the Archimedes party where the E-rank Regulars enjoy themselves one last time before the start of the Workshop Battle's 2nd Round, which has been reestablished as a game called the Growth Tournament due to the amount of gamblers that ended up failing in the 1st Round. Meanwhile, Viole looks to get answers from Beta as to why he's the final ignition weapon reward of the Workshop Battle.
Arc 33 | Return to the main Tower of God recap page. | Arc 35
30F - Workshop Battle: The Truth
Within his Archimedes jail cell, Traveller complains to himself that he needs to save Emily before the Workshop Battle ends. However, he begins to hear voices from the other prisoners claiming that they're the ones who were given the task from Emily to come save her from Workshop. Thus, leaving Traveller confused about what's going on. Meanwhile, Hatz drops down the ladder from the room he was trapped in, and enters a large open area of the Acorn Workshop. He approaches a door where he hears a voice from the other side begging for help, but is interrupted by the arrival of a Level 60 Workshop patrol robot known as a Guguah Crab, which attacks Hatz.
During the fight, Hatz finds a piece of a metal pipe, and uses it as a sword to battle the patrol. Relying on his own strength rather then a sword, Hatz uses shinsu control to enhance the pipe's durability to stab into the Guguah Crab, but the damage sets off a self-destruct mechanism that Hatz's unable to escape from. At the last second, Hatz is saved by the arrival of an Acorn Workshop guard, who finishes off the Level 60 patrol robot, and shows himself to be Lero-Ro.
Hatz and Lero-Ro have a brief chat to catch-up, which Lero-Ro reveals that along with quitting his work on the 2nd Floor, he now has a new job related to watching over someone at Workshop. Hatz hopes that Lero-Ro knows the way out of the Acorn Workshop so that he can return to his team, but Lero-Ro informs Hatz that the latter can't enter the Workshop Battle now since it's already started. Realizing that this means that Hatz is free for the time being, Lero-Ro asks the former to help him out in order to stop Workshop from creating a dangerous weapon.
At that same time, the Archimedes party before the 2nd Round gets underway. Ranker Madorako watches over the party as he remains excited that the object has reached the Grand Stadium. Madorako begins to gloat that soon enough, Jue Viole Grace will be his. During the party, Wangnan drinks with Akraptor, Blarode, and Quaetro, but is left sulking due to Khun's all-in fail on the Ran pick making it highly likely that he will fail. However, Akraptor reassures Wangnan that Khun isn't the kind of person that would allow for this to keep him from getting into the 2nd Round. They are then all distracted by the arrival of Endorsi wearing a pretty dress to the party.
Anaak runs into Ran during her escape from the party media, and engage in talk over how they're both able to move normally after their hard-fought duel. Ran then claims that he would have won had Paracule not interrupted, but before leaving, he points out how Viole seems to know Anaak and company really well, which leaves her silent. Returning to the party, Xia is left depressed having to come to the party with a casually dressed Nobic, and the Horyang Devil. However, two Regulars dressed as a pumpkin and a melon (Miseng and Prince in disguise) appear before them, and drag Horyang away to bring him to Goseng where the two engage in a dance.
Following the dance, Goseng and Horyang have a heart-to-heart conversation where Goseng apologizes for only thinking about herself rather than her friends, such as not knowing about Horyang's issue with Workshop. In return, Horyang reveals that he got to reunite with his mother figure, Researcher Sophia. However, he reveals that she hadn't stopped the Living Ignitio Weapons as he initially believed. Thus, he's started to question if her love for him and Cassano was genuine as it could have been fake just for the sake of continuing said experiments. Nearby, Cassano is seen asking his Emily terminal if Sophia loves him, but the chatting bot answers that she doesn't.
Meanwhile at another Archimedes location, Ehwa watches as Rak beats up Paracule for screwing up his and Khun's plan to bring Bam back. Ehwa manages to convince Rak to stop, but the alligator Regular decides to take it upon himself to bring the black turtle back. As Rak walks off, Ehwa follows after the former in an attempt to calm him down. Back to the party, Endorsi spots Viole in the crowd, and decides to follow after him. In addition, the 1st Round's ten gamblers gather at the banquet room for a meeting to hear the results of the six that are moving on.
As it turns out, eight of the 1st Round gamblers ended up with 0 points due to failing their all-in bets. The only surviviors being Ron Mei of the Mad Dog team holding on with 1 point, and Reflejo of the FUG Team breaking even at 500,000 points. Io and Punk arrive before the gamblers to point out that only two have managed to make it through. However, Shibisu and Khun lodge their complaints that their all-in bets shouldn't count since the duel between Anaak and Ran was interrupted by an outside source, Paracule.
The hosts agree that to be the case, but state that the gamblers still have to accept that Anaak and Ran failed to come out on top against one another. However, Io and Punk note that it goes against the rules of the Workshop Battle to have just two gamblers for the 2nd Round. As a result, Io and Punk announce that the eight failure gamblers will take part in a tweaked game for the 2nd Round called the Growth Tournament. Meanwhile, Endorsi has lost sight of tailing Viole due to him providing his wrong location to Emily, which Endorsi's using to try to find him.
At a high room of the Archimedes, Beta looks down at the Workshop guards looking for him given his escape from the Acorn Workshop. Viole appears behind him having found Beta's location through his Emily terminal, and uses this chance to ask him about why the Slayer-Candidate, himself, is an ignition weapon. Beta answers that what Viole has within him currently is just a weak replica of the real Thorn ignition weapon so that his body gets use to it for when the time comes that the real thing gets placed within him. Beta explains that Workshop had the real Thorn this whole time, and that the 2nd Round arena is going to have said Thorn hidden somewhere within it so that FUG can transfer the ignition weapon from Workshop into Viole. He leaves off saying to Viole that this is his chance to break away from FUG if he manages to steal the Thorn away from them.
Following the gambler meeting, Khun returns to his team's room. He then explains to Wangnan and Akraptor the rules of the Growth Tournament:
- 1) The two winning gambler teams, FUG and Mad Dog, will have their whole teams provided to them, and face off against one another to come out with a winner.
- 2) The eight failure gambler teams will face off in the Growth Tournament with 100,000 points to spend.
- 3) Each Growth Tournament team will start with someone chosen as the Vanguard that will spearhead the team, who has to go out and recruit new members to their team.
- 4) Every Regular fighting in the Growth Tournament will have a price that the Vanguard will have to purchase.
- 5) The winner of the Growth Tournament is the team that will face off against the winner of the FUG vs. Mad Dog match.
After explaining the rules, Khun announces that he's chosen Wangnan to be their team's Vanguard since he was the cheapest price. He warns that they needto save as they can for the fight against FUG or Mad Dog. They're then left wondering what happened to Rak.
Switching over to Rak, he and Ehwa manage to sneak into the FUG dormitories to search for Viole. They end up bumping into Endorsi since she's also still searching for Viole. Endorsi moves toward Rak trying to get him to confess that he's the former alligator from Bam's team. However, they're interrupted when Viole appears since he returned to check up on a drunk Xia.
Khun rests on his bed hoping that Rak's not doing anything stupid. Meanwhile at the FUG Team's dorm, Viole attempts to run away due to coming across his old friends from the 2nd Floor. Endorsi, Rak, and Ehwa all attempt to catch him as Viole zooms off riding on a Blue Oar platform (a skill he copied from Mule Love). Before reaching the FUG dorm's stairwell however, Paracule appears to block Viole from escaping. Thanks to Paracule's interference, Rak manages to catch up to pin Viole against the ground, as well as knocking Paracule unconscious. Upon closer look at Viole, Rak begins to cry in happiness finally having confirmation that Bam's alive, which shocks Endorsi.
Meanwhile, Goseng and Hoyang leave the party, and are about ready to return to their teams. They thank one another for the dance, but Horyang takes the time to think back to the great times he had with Team Sweet-and-Sour. He asks Goseng if he's allowed to return to the team he sees as his family once the Workshop Battle is finally over.
Back to Viole, Rak proceeds to give black turtle a hug claiming that he won't forgive FUG for what they did to Bam. The Slayer-Candidate returns Rak's hug as the alligator states that they can now go back to climbing the Tower together with the blue turtle, Khun. Before Viole could answer, they begin to hear the voices of the FUG teammates, which Viole orders Rak and company to run. Rak refuses to since he's not going without the black turtle, but Endorsi drags the alligator along, and reminds Viole that he still has to go out with her on a date. Using the Bong Bong fairy that she won in One Shot, One Opportunity, Endorsi escapes with Rak, Ehwa, and Paracule by using the Bong Bong's teleport ability to have the four of them disappear from the FUG dormitory. Arriving at a new location, Endorsi orders for Rak to tell her everything he's been keeping secret about Bam's current situation.
Back at the FUG dorm, Nobic and Reflejo appear asking what they just heard, but Viole answers that it was nothing. Reflejo departs; leaving Nobic alone with Viole, which the Slayer-Candidate thanks him for keeping Reflejo and Xia preoccupied while he got to meet his friends from the 2nd Floor. Viole then asks Nobic to fight for him in the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle since the Slayer-Candidate is about ready to leave the terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Reflejo meets with Poken to inform his FUG master that Viole has broken the rules due to the Slayer-Candidate coming into contact with his friends from the Floor of Tests. Thus, Poken figures that now's the time to start killing off Viole's friends in the Workshop Battle's 2nd Round, and orders Reflejo to send out the kill order to the gamblers that are sided with FUG.
Eventually, the Archimedes arrives at a small 30th Floor island with a volcano in the middle of it. The island acting as the arena for the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle. Beta looks out at the island, and is excited that the time has come to put Viole into despair by taking everything away from the Slayer-Candidate. The Workshop guards appear to bring Beta back to his Acorn Workshop cage, but the latter shows off his Living Ignition Weapon ability by creating a giant leg out of his body to kick the guard closest to him away. Beta then jumps off the Archimedes down to the water below; yelling back at the Workshop guards to inform Sophia that he will show the despair that she brought to the Tower by creating him.
The next day, the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle known as the Growth Tournament begins. Wangnan's seen entering the island arena as the Vanguard of Khun's team. He's set to go up against one of the gambler team's that has chosen the Tebo & Lebo duo as its Vanguard.
Long Summary
Still locked up in his Archimedes jail cell, Traveller holds his head in frustration wondering how he's going to get out of this. He figures that he has to get out of this as soon as possible since he's got to save Emily before the end of the Workshop Battle. Traveller rethinks how Workshop plans to kill her, and make her into a weapon. He calls out to the Irregulars, such as Jahad, Enryu, and Urek Mazino, to come and free him from this cell, but his begging is interrupted by a voice in the cell next to him.
Looking to the jail wall to his left, Traveller can make out a voice from behind it asking if he's also here to save Emily. Traveller answers that to be the case, but becomes interested upon hearing the voice say that he's also here. The person on the other side gets excited being in the same boat of also being here to save Emily. Traveller remains confused by the statement, but then hears a voice coming from the jail cell to the right of him this time.
From behind the jail wall to his right, Traveller hears another person claim that they're here to save Emily. Hearing a second person making the claim confuses Traveller as more voices are heard around him yelling out that they were asked by Emily to come to the Archimedes to save her. The voices begin to bicker with one another claiming that they're going to be the one that saves Emily.
At this point, Traveller realizes that all the people who have been taken prisoner with him aboard the Archimedes are because they're here trying to save Emily. In the end, Traveller is left in a state of confusion wondering why Emily let this happen.
Within the Acorn Workshop, Hatz continues to descend down the ladder from the room he was trapped in. Hatz admits to himself that without his sword, he's such a weakling. He thinks to himself that the room he's entering appears to be large, and that should he come across any enemies here, he won't have any means of fighting against them. Reaching the bottom of the ladder, Hatz stands within the giant room, and wonders if there's even a way out of here.
Nearby, Hatz notices an odd looking door that has a couple red circles on it. He walks up to the door, and figures that the red circles are some kind of keyhole to open the door. However, he hears a voice begging someone to get them out as Hatz realizes that someone is trying to call out to him from the other side of the door. Before Hatz could perform his next action, he's greeted by a Workshop Patrol trying to attack him from behind. More specifically, a Level 60 Guguah Crab patrol. Hatz backs away to evade the Workshop patrol's first attack, but the Guguah Crab next charges forward.
Hatz manages to dodge out of the way again, but deduces that it's extremely fast, and will eventually be able to land a hit on him. Looking around, Hatz eyes anything in sight that he could possible use for a weapon, and makes do with a small metal pipe that popped up from the Workshop patrol's first attack. The Guguah Crab charges forward once more as Hatz manages to grab the pipe in time, and evades the patrol's attack.
Reestablishing himself, Hatz holds up the pipe piece towards the Level 60 Workshop patrol as if it was a sword, and claims that he feels much better now that his hands are wielding something to fight with. Hatz deduces that because the pipe he's using is hollow, it will bend easily once it hits something. However, he comes up with a plan to flow shinsu into the pipe to strengthen its durability. The Guguah Crab attempts to land a strike upon Hatz as he jumps up, and strikes down hard on the Workshop patrol with his shinsu enhanced pipe.
Despite making a tiny dent, the pipe ends up still bending, unable to break the Workshop patrol's armor. Hatz backs away again admitting that the Guguah Crab is a strong enemy as the Guguah Crab prepares to fire beams of shinsu in the swordsman Regular's direction. Hatz manages to deflect the shinsu beams with his shinsu enhanced metal pipe as the Level 60 Workshop patrol stops firing for a brief moment to recharge. Looking down at his metal pipe, Hatz believes that he can do this.
Thinking back to his fight with Cassano, Hatz believes that the Devil of the Right Arm spoke the truth when he called Hatz as a person that's just a useless human when his sword is taken away. However, Hatz comes to the conclusion that he can change that depending on the way he uses his shinsu enhancement control, and make even the useless pipe he's holding on to currently as a dangerous weapon. Shinsu begins to flow around Hatz's pipe as the Guguah Crab patrol prepares to fire its shinsu beams upon the swordsman Regular once more.
Hatz charges forward, and begins to deflect the shinsu beams with his metal pipe as he goes along. He orders himself to not think about the make-shift weapon he's currently holding, but rather think of himself as the best sword. Making his way past the Level 60 patrol's shinsu beams, Hatz uses his Single Annihilation technique to stab into the Guguah Crab's eye with the metal pipe.
Seeing that Hatz managed to break through the patrol's eye, Hatz realizes that he managed to pull it off. However, the Guguah Crab begins to explode as Hatz begins to fear that the patrol has activated a self-destruct mechanism. Hatz tries to turn around, but knows that he won't be able to escape in time before the explosion kills him. At that moment, a Workshop guard drops in, and lands on top of the exploding Workshop patrol. The guard aims his gun downward, and sends a lightning attack into it that completely disables what remained of the Level 60 patrol. Hatz stands in stunned amazement looking at the guard that managed to stop the exploding Guguah Crab in one shot.
The swordsman Regular questions who it is as he hears a voice from the guard telling Hatz that while he's become more skilled, he's still reckless. Hatz becomes surprised hearing something familiar about the voice as the guard takes off his helmet to show his face. Hatz's assumption was correct as he sees Lero-Ro standing before him stating that it's been awhile.
Seeing his old Test Administrator standing before him, Hatz asks why Lero-Ro is here, to which the Ranker answers that he quit his job on the 2nd Floor. Lero-Ro adds that he's here at Workshop working a part-time job primarily to keep an eye on someone. Hatz asks about the way out since he wishes to participate in the Workshop Battle, but Lero-Ro informs him that it's already too late given that the individual matches for the 1st Round have already ended. He gives Hatz the bad news that there's no point heading there now.
Hatz looks down in frustration knowing that he can't join the tournament as a person on Lero-Ro's radio is heard ordering the guards to head for the Archimedes lobby since the party between the 1st and 2nd Rounds of the Workshop Battle is about to start. Seeing that Hatz has nothing to do now, Lero-Ro asks the Regular to work with him for a bit, which grabs Hatz's attention. Lero-Ro tells him that it's to make sure the Archimedes Workshop doesn't complete the worst weapon imaginable.
Some time after, the Workshop Battle party has officially begun. Madorako is informed by one of his henchmen of the party having already started, to which the businessman Ranker replies that he can hear the singing in the distance. The Ranker also states that the object will be placed within the Grand Stadium pretty soon, and once this is all over, Jue Viole Grace will be in his hands.
At the location of the Archimedes party, a band that includes the hosts, Io and Punk playing their guitars, are seen providing music for their guests. At one of the tables, Wangnan is seen with Akraptor, Blarode, and Quaetro. However, Wangnan is currently down in the dumps due to what went down in the final moments of the Anaak vs. Ran duel.
With his head buried in his arms, Wangnan complains how he didn't expect both Anaak and Ran to lose in the end. A result that even Khun didn't see coming, which resulted in him losing the all-in bet. Thinking back to the moment Paracule interfered, Wangnan becomes angry knowing that it was because of the green cactus bastard that they've been put in this situation with Khun possibly not making it as a 2nd Round Team Leader.
Quaetro asks if this truly is it for Khun, to which Akraptor answers that the ten gamblers were gathered just now to reach a conclusion as to who the six moving on to the 2nd Round will be. Blarode points out how it shouldn't bother them much considering that Wangnan and Akraptor have already made it to the 2nd Round, but Wangnan replies that it's meaningless if they're not going to have Khun with them for leadership.
Blarode jokes if Wangnan would have done a better bet, which leaves Wangnan unable to say anything except that Blarode thinks dark sometimes. Akraptor however reassures Wangnan that Khun isn't the type of person that will give up over something like this, and will surely make something happen to get him through to the 2nd Round, which Wangnan agrees with. At this point, their attention is brought to the arrival of Princess Endorsi.
Seeing the beautiful dress, everyone at the party around Endorsi stops what they're doing to look in her direction. Wangnan and Akraptor admit that she looks absolutely gorgeous as other guests make their comments that despite how she looks, she's actually a fierce battler that they wouldn't want to cross paths with. Endorsi destroying her competition in her 1st Round Plug game was proof of that. Endorsi looks around, but is not interested in anyone, and just thinks to herself that they're all losers.
At another location of the party, Ran remains alone; feeling down that he didn't manage to come out on top during his one-on-one duel with Anaak. The green lizard then appears near him having gotten away from the people trying to take pictures of her. Seeing Anaak able to move about despite having been inches from death during the 1st Round, Ran finds it surprising that the green lizard appears to be acting quite lively at the moment. Anaak is left shocked to see Ran here, which the latter answers that even the people who lost in the 1st Round were asked to participate in the party.
Anaak comments how Ran appears to have lied considering that he's walking around normally despite claiming that the lightning pill would keep him immobile for quite awhile. However, Ran answers that unlike her, he thought ahead by controlling the right amount within the lightning pill for him to at least start walking again after getting a bit of rest. However, Anaak finds that to be a bluff since Ran looked completely out of it after their duel.
Ran walks away at this point claiming that they will finish their fight at a later time. He adds that he would have won this fight had Paracule not interfered, which Anaak doesn't believe. Ran continues to walk away, but stops when he remembers something. He turns around to ask if Anaak knows who Viole is, which confuses Anaak. She asks why Ran is interested in knowing, which Ran answers that it's because Viole comes off as someone who knows Anaak and company. Ran decides to leave for good this time telling Anaak to forget about it if she doesn't actually know Viole, but Anaak is left silent since she's already become suspicious that Viole might be Twenty-Fifth Bam.
Elsewhere, Xia gives off a sigh in frustration since she's arrived at the party alongside two guys, Nobic and Horyang. Nobic calls her out for treating the two of them poorly, which Xia complains that Nobic has no right to speak since he decided to show up at the party in his usual clothing. Xia continues to complain begging for someone to get her out of here as Nobic questions why she feels the need to be rescued here. At this point, two people dressed as a pumpkin and a melon appear before her claiming that this is a surprise cupid-of-love event.
Xia, Nobic, and Horyang remain confused about he sight of the melon and pumpkin heads before them as they state that whoever gets the lucky number will have a chance to meet the most beautiful girl in the party room. Throwing up confetti, the two claim that Horyang Devil is the winner as they begin to pull him away to some location. Xia and Nobic are left behind wondering if this is supposed to be some sort of kidnap.
Horyang continues to be pulled away by the melon and pumpkin heads. Horyang asks where the two of them are taking him, but suddenly hears a voice calling his name. Horyang looks in the direction of the voice as his Devil wing instantly turns into a heart. Before him, he sees a dressed up Goseng in a dress. Horyang asks what this is about, to which Goseng asks if he wants to have a dance with her. Nearby, Miseng is seen taking off her pumpkin head while the melon head (Prince) hopes that things will go Lord Devil. In the back, Verdi is seen spying on the two of them considering that she still wishes to see Miseng and Prince as her married dolls.
Having finished their dance, Goseng and Horyang stand beside one another as she informs him that this was her first time dancing. She thinks back to how she was swinging around in the air all over the place, which Horyang apologizes for since it was obvious that he was pulling her around too strong. Looking down at her dress, Goseng becomes embarrassed asking if Horyang thinks this is awkward, but Horyang quickly informs her that she looks great in it.
Goseng then states that ever since Horyang left the team, she's been thinking about one thing, which grabs his attention. She brings up the night when they were having fun before the 20th Floor's Trustworthy Room test, and that she told everyone her dream was to give up everything to one day live outside the Tower.
Goseng admits to Horyang that she's regretted saying that since she didn't take into account how the people around her may have felt about possibly living in the Tower. That hearing about Horyang's story as an experiment for Workshop made her realize that she was only thinking about herself. Horyang thinks it over, and informs Goseng that he was able to meet his mother figure, Researcher Sophia. Goseng asks if he's referring to the person that he and Cassano were with during the Workshop experiments, which Horyang answers to be the case. She states to Horyang how great it must be that he got to meet his mother figure again, and asks how Sophia's doing.
Horyang answers that all this time, she's still be doing research, which confuses Goseng. He explains that she continued the Living Ignition Weapon experiments, and was able to succeed in making the next version (referring to Beta). Horyang's left disappointed that Sophia had known all this was happening to the two of them from the beginning. That Cassano and him were going to have half of a devil forced upon them to become Living Ignition Weapons.
Goseng is left saddened by Horyang's story as he continues by stating that it was the thought of Sophia loving him as a mother that pushed him this far up the Tower. However, he's now starting to question if that love displayed by Sophia was all fake. The smile she gave, the things she taught, the love she provided, Horyang questions if everything was fake just to further her research. He questions if this revelation will cause them to become real devils that will hate the world around them. At another location of the party, Cassano is seen looking at himself, and then back to his Emily terminal. Cassano looks at the message of Emily telling him that Sophia doesn't love him.
At a location outside the party, Rak and Ehwa are seen with Paracule. Calling Paracule garbage, Rak punches him, which Paracule complains that he did nothing wrong since he was just using any revolutionary means necessary to survive. Rak continues to beat him up claiming that the pickle Regular ruined everything regarding their efforts to get the black turtle back, and orders Paracule to die.
Ehwa, who had been watching from the sideline, asks for Rak to stop since he really could end up killing Paracule, which finally gets the alligator to stop the beatdown. Leaving Paracule, Rak begins to walk away, and states that it's now time for him to be more straight-forward. Ehwa asks where he's going, which Rak answers that he's off to see the black turtle despite FUG being in his way. The alligator states that he's done waiting around to get the black turtle back as Ehwa follows after him begging for Rak to wait.
At the party, Endorsi has changed her clothes into basic clothing, and is now wearing a white hat. She spots Viole amongst the crowd, and decides to follow him.
At a private room at the party, the ten gamblers are seen gathering in a room prepared to hear the results for who's going through to the 2nd Round. A sign of defeat is seen upon the faces of many of the gamblers as eight of them have lost all their points going all-in between Anaak and Ran. The only exceptions are the two that didn't end up in the all-in disaster. Ron Mei, who held on with just 1 point, and Reflejo, who ended up breaking even at 500,000 points.
Shibisu complains to himself that it's unbelievable how he lost to a complete idiot such as Ron Mei, who complains back that she's not stupid. The bickering between Ron Mei and Shibisu continues as one of the gamblers, Miya, looks over at the masked Khun, and points out how handsome he would look if he took the mask off. Khun warns Miya to mind her own business as the snakes interested in him have all gone to hell. However, Miya states that she likes people who are like that. At this point, the hosts enter the gambler room; apologizing for taking so long since they got caught up performing music for the party. Io and Punk taunt them as eight losers amongst the ten gamblers, which causes Ron Mei to giggle, but Khun counters by stating that they aren't losers.
The masked Khun explains that the fight between Anaak and Ran was established to be disconnected from the Plug game, and yet the closing moment of their fight was interrupted by the failed Paracule after he had already fallen off the Plug game platform, and into the water. He claims to the hosts that as a result of Paracule's interference, the all-in bets placed on Anaak and Ran shouldn't count.
Shibisu thinks to himself that the masked Khun is on the right track, and goes along with it. He points out that Anaak and Ran were given permission to use the entire Grand Stadium for their fight, but that didn't apply to Paracule, who caused the interruption outside the Plug game. He also adds that the all-in bets were established because there was supposed to be a winner. But, because neither Anaak or Ran came out as the winner due to an outside accident, the all-in rule failed to do its job, and shouldn't count.
Io and Punk admit that the logic of the masked Khun, and Shibisu, are correct, but it still doesn't change the fact that in the end, Anaak and Ran failed to come out the winner against one another. However, the hosts also add that it's against the rules to only allow the two gamblers that still have points to go through while dropping the other eight that all failed since there will barely be enough Team Leaders for the 2nd Round. As a result, Io and Punk suggest that for the eight gamblers that failed, they take part in a new challenge called the Growth Tournament.
Elsewhere, Endorsi is seen going through a tunnel of the Archimedes. Looking around, Endorsi throws her Emily terminal at the ground in frustration complaining that the location she's been brought to shows no sign of Viole. She thinks to herself that she put on the perfect disguise to escape the party to chase after Viole, but finds it unbelievable that Emily can't locate the FUG Slayer. She deduces that Viole must have noticed that Endorsi was following him, and provided Emily false data to send her somewhere else. Grabbing her Emily terminal again, an enraged Endorsi finds it unbelievable that Viole would dump her, and says to herself that she will catch the annoying FUG Slayer no matter what. Obtaining another location from Emily, Endorsi starts moving again,
Overlooking the party from a high location, Beta spots the Acorn Workshop guards searching for him, and calls them idiots for their poor effort. Beta then turns around, and sees that Viole has appeared before him. Calling Viole the completed one, Beta greets the FUG Slayer, and asks if he used Emily to find him up here. Viole answers that to be the case. That Emily knew about this spot which Beta uses to look down on everyone.
Beta gives off a laugh, and points out how funny it is that they can use Emily to send people wherever he wants. He points Viole down to the Workshop guards that are trying to use Emily to find Beta. Beta laughs that they're depending on the locations provided by the chatting bot despite it being the wrong info provided by him.
Viole asks why the Workshop guards are searching for him, which Beta answers that he's kind of a runaway that left his cage for the time being. He states that being stuck in the Acorn Workshop made him bored, and wants to be part of the Workshop Battle just like Viole. Turning back to Viole, Beta asks why the FUG Slayer is here to see him, which Viole answers that it's because he wanted to ask a question about the Ignition Weapon that's inside of him.
Beta answers that it's impossible to tell him since the weapon inside Viole can't be ignited. Seeing the FUG Slayer confused, Beta explains that the Thorn weapon that's currently within Viole is just a replica so that the body can get used to a weaker version before placing the real Thorn in him. Beta states that Workshop had the real Thorn this entire time, and that FUG is planning to eventually put it within the FUG Slayer. That the Thorn for Viole has been placed somewhere within the arena for the Workshop Battle's 2nd Round so that Workshop can sneakily transfer the Thorn over to FUG's control.
Beta states that since Viole is going to be in the 2nd Round, the FUG Slayer has the chance to find the real Thorn. He asks Viole if he knows of the method to get the Thorn without being a part of the FUG organization anymore, which grabs Viole's attention. Beta answers it for him that the simple answer is to just steal it away.
Elsewhere, Khun returns to his room where he has a meeting with Wangnan, Akraptor, and the Dinn guy that Rak won his Plug game with. Khun explains to the group that it's been decided that the teams of the eight gamblers who failed the 1st Round will be taking part in an additional game called the Growth Tournament. And that the winners will be the ones who move on to face Team Mad Dog and Team FUG since they had the only two gamblers left with points.
Khun explains the rules of the Growth Tournament. The gambler Team Leader chooses a Vanguard that will spearhead for the team when the game starts. He also states that the Team Leaders can use points gathered from the 1st Round to help them advance to the finals, but given that they've all failed the all-in, the rule doesn't really apply anymore. Akraptor asks about how Team FUG and Team Mad Dog fit into this, which Khun explains that they will have all their teammates to start with, and will battle it out between one another to come out on top.
The winner between the FUG and Mad Dog teams is who the winner of the Growth Tournament gets to face off against. Khun gets to the point of their side of the Growth Tournament, and announces that Wangnan will be their Vanguard that starts their team, which grabs Wangnan's attention. Wangnan and Akraptor yell out in confusion why he went with such a pick, which Khun explains that it's because he was the cheapest.
Khun explains that the eight loser gamblers have been provided 100,000 points to spend, and that each Regular that is purchased to become part of the tournament team has been given a price. The reason he's starting with the cheapest, Wangnan, is because they need to save as much money as possible for the fight against either the FUG or Mad Dog team. At this point, Khun relaxes on his bed, and states that they should wait to explain further details until the rest of the team gets back. Wangnan tries to reassure himself that he can do this as Khun asks about what happened to Rak.
Meanwhile, Rak is seen alongside Ehwa having arrived at the FUG Archimedes dormitories. Ehwa asks if he's really going in there since there's a high chance that FUG could catch him sneaking in, but Rak answers that he's going since he can't rely on the stubborn blue turtle anymore. Saying he will bring the black turtle, Rak charges toward the FUG rooms as Ehwa follows after him.
Rak and Ehwa are next seen sneaking around each FUG room, and passes by Xia's room, who's become completely drunk. Continuing to sneak through the halls, Rak eventually bumps into someone as if he was crashing into a tank. Looking upon the Regular he bumped into, Rak realizes that it's Endorsi in her hat disguise. Endorsi shakes off the bump wondering what ran into her as she sees the alligator before her. Seeing that Rak is in his shrunken form, Endorsi asks if he's truly the alligator from Bam and Khun's team, which Rak tries to deny. Rak thinks to himself that this is no time to get caught as Endorsi walks towards him stating that he is indeed the alligator from the 2nd Floor. Beginning to sweat, Rak once more tries to deny it, but it's at this point that they are met by Viole, who's currently stopping by to check on Xia.
In his room, Khun looks up at the ceiling. He hopes to himself that the alligator isn't currently doing something really stupid.
Back over to the FUG dormitories, Rak recognizes Bam's face behind his hair as Endorsi charges towards the FUG Slayer ordering Viole to show himself. However, Viole manages to dodge her using Ranker Mule Love's evasion technique, and begins to run away. Endorsi and Rak begin to chase after him calling out for Viole to stop.
During his attempt to run away, Viole is left wondering why Endorsi and Rak were here, and how they managed to break into the FUG dormitory. He decides to create a board of solid shinsu, and uses it to carry him faster through the dorm halls compared to if he continued to just run on foot. Endorsi and Rak are left surprised by the action as they see him zoom around the corner. However, Ehwa is there to greet him.
Considering that they were former Sweet and Sour teammates, Ehwa claims that she knows Viole's movement patterns very well, and orders for Viole to get caught by them. However, Viole easily evades her as well and sees his chance to escape since the dorm's stairwell was just around the next corner. However, his efforts are blocked by the sudden appearance of Paracule, who gets in between Viole and the staircase. Rak praises Paracule for his effort, and manages to catch up to Viole, and bodyslams the FUG Slayer to the ground while Paracule gets knocked out.
Endorsi and Ehwa manage to catch up as well as Rak remains holding on to Viole, and pinning him against the floor. Knowing that it's Bam, Rak confirms that the black turtle has been alive this whole time. The alligator begins to cry seeing his teammate from the 2nd Floor truly being alive as Endorsi and Ehwa stand shocked and confused by the revelation. Endorsi continues to watch, and asks if this truly is Bam. Rak continues to yell out that the other turtles were telling the truth about Bam's survival, and gives Viole a hug.
Meanwhile, Horyang and Goseng leave the party. Goseng states that it was fun, but needs to go back now to prepare for the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle. Horyang replies back that this was fun for him, and thanks Goseng for spending time with him, but Goseng answers that thanks isn't needed since he saved her live during the Plug game. Goseng leaves off saying to Horyang that she will see him tomorrow, which the Devil regularly half-heartedly agrees to.
Seeing Horyang's disappointment, Goseng asks what's wrong, which Horyang tries to explain that he's just a bit dazed at the moment. He states that he should get going now as Goseng says her good-bye in return. Beginning to walk away, Horyang looks back at Goseng, which confuses her once more. Horyang looks down at his feet, and admits that this feels weird for him that his feet want him to stay just a little longer. Thinking back to a time when Sweet and Sour were all together, Horyang admits to himself that he misses everyone. He calls out to Goseng asking if he can return to the team after the Workshop Battle; wanting to be with the people who saved him from loneliness that he considers his family.
Back to the FUG dormitory, Rak continues to hug Viole; saying over and over that he's happy to see that the black turtle is alive. The alligator states that he won't forgive the people who turned Bam into this, and won't let him go this time. In return, Viole returns Rak's hug by hugging him back. Getting to the point, Rak asks that he and Viole get out of here so that they can return to climbing the Tower with the blue turtle like before.
Before Viole could answer a voice is heard nearby asking what the noise just now was. The voices get louder wondering if an intruder appeared as Viole realizes that his FUG teammates have started to return. Standing up again, Viole asks for Rak to turn around before he gets caught, but Rak replies that he's not leaving without him. Viole tries to explain that now's not the right time for him to go back, and asks once more for Rak to turn around. Rak continues to counter back that he's not leaving as Endorsi takes the initiative to grab hold of Rak to begin pulling him away.
Getting a good hold of Rak, Endorsi looks down upon Viole and sees Bam's full face. She turns around to leave, but orders Viole to come back as soon as possible or else he will miss it. Seeing Viole confused, Endorsi reminds him that they still have a date. Hearing the word date not only leaves Viole confused, but Ehwa as well. A blushing Endorsi begins to run away seeing that Bam still hasn't changed one bit despite becoming FUG's Slayer Candidate.
Rak calls back to him wanting Viole to come with them as Endorsi calls to Ehwa to follow after her. Paracule is also seen finally getting up again, and chases after them as they all jump off the balcony of the FUG dormitory. Endorsi calls for the Bong Bong fairy as she, Ehwa, Rak, and Paracule all fall off the dormitory. They are then surrounded by a giant pink sphere of light as the Bong Bong fairy teleports them to another location. At this point, Reflejo and Nobic finally catch up to Viole as the former asks what just happened here. Despite the loud noises, Viole answers that nothing happened.
A moment later, the Bong Bong fairy reappears at another location of the Archimedes. The fairy shrinks back to normal size in Endorsi's hands as she stands alongside Ehwa, Rak, and Paracule. Endorsi thanks Bong Bong for its efforts as it disappears once more. A sweating Rak is seen nearby finding it unbelievable that he just took part in teleportation. Endorsi then looks toward Rak, and orders the alligator to tell him everything that he's hiding.
Back over to Viole, Reflejo is seen having already left; leaving just Nobic alone with Viole. Nobic is left disappointed how nothing seems to have happened here, and begins to walk away to get some sleep. However, Viole gives his thanks to Nobic, which gets the latter's attention. Viole explains that he deduced that Nobic got Xia drunk, and asked Reflejo out, so that his teammates that broke into the FUG dormitory wouldn't get caught.
Nobic states that thanks isn't required since he's doing it to find out the relationship between Viole, and the Regulars that intruded here, which causes Viole to ask him for a favor. Nobic asks what the favor is, which Viole states that he wants Nobic to fight with him. Viole explains that he plans to depart from the FUG Team following the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle.
Meanwhile, Reflejo is seen talking with his master, Poken, in private. The masked Regular informs Poken that the rules have now been broken since Viole was able to meet with the teammates from the 2nd Floor, and now, don't have to follow the rules anymore themselves. Poken gives the order to inform the other gamblers of this, and that they all now have permission to kill Viole's teammates in the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle.
Looking out at the 30th Floor island arena for the 2nd Round from a high balcony, Beta gives off a laugh stating to himself that he's waited so long for this. Thinking of Viole, Beta states to himself that he will be sure to put him into despair by breaking everything that's important to the FUG Slayer. At this point, the Workshop guards have finally caught up to Beta.
One of the Workshop guards appears behind Beta with a gun pointed at the Living Ignition Weapon's head ordering him to return to his cage. However, Beta continues to laugh, and asks if the guard actually believes he would be able to put him back in his cage. Beta then jumps off the balcony as a giant yellow leg shoots out from his back to knock the guard away form him.
Continuing to fall from the balcony away from the Workshop guards, Beta yells back to them to tell Researcher Sophia that it's her fault the Living Ignition Weapons had been turned into this. Beta also yells that he will be sure to show everyone the power of the weapon they created. He leaves off also saying that he will show the despair they created quite clearly, and lands into the 30th Floor's water to swim his way over to the arena.
The next day, the Archimedes is seen remaining stationary above a small island of the 30th Floor. The island has been established as the arena for the 2nd Round as the spectators are seen within floating disks flying in the air to watch the 2nd Round Growth Tournament unfold. Io and Punk apologizes for keeping the audience, and E-rank Regulars, waiting, and states that within this beautiful island water stadium the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle will now begin.
Within the arena, Wangnan is seen starting with a couple stretches to prepare himself as the Vanguard for Khun's team. Going up against Wangnan are the two miniature monsters, Tebo & Lebo, who've been chosen to be the Vanguard of the team facing off against Wangnan.
Workshop Battle: The Truth Tropes
- Arc Villain:
- Beta sets himself up to be one here for Viole in the upcoming 2nd Round.
- Poken also reappears here to send the order to Reflejo to finally put the plan in motion to start killing off Viole's 2nd Floor friends.
- Breather Episode: A cooldown arc that takes place between the 1st and 2nd Rounds of the Workshop Battle. Even has a party.
- Cliffhanger:
- The 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle officially begins.
- Poken also gives the order to Reflejo to kill Viole's 2nd Floor teammates in the 2nd Round.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- Really, a good majority of the E-rank Regulars get a moment of screen-time here. Hatz's fight against the Level 60 Workshop Patrol was probably the biggest though.
- Exposition: Beta explains to Viole that the FUG Slayer only currently has a replica of the Thorn ignition weapon within him so that his body can get used to it for when the time comes to have the real thing put inside him. The real Thorn is currently in Workshop's possession, and is using the 2nd Round of the Workshop battle to transfer the weapon over to FUG's control where the organization plans to put it into Viole.
- The Infiltration: Endorsi, Rak and Ehwa break into the FUG dormitory to find out if Viole really is Bam. Paracule also broke into the FUG Dormitory...for some reason.
- The Reveal:
- Emily reveals to Cassano that Sophia doesn't actually love him as a mother figure.
- Endorsi shooting the Bong Bong fairy in the One Shot, One Opportunity game provided her with the ability to teleport to certain areas, and keep the Bong Bong as a pet.
- Shout-Out: Io and Punk's band sing a Daft Punk song at the Archimedes party.
- Wham Shot:
- The shot of Emily informing Cassano on his terminal that Sophia doesn't love him.
- Poken ordering Reflejo to start killing Viole's friends in the Workshop Battle.
