The 36th story arc of the Tower of God series consisting of chapters 85 - 90 from the second season. The arc centers around the second stage of the Growth Tournament with four Vanguard teams left as Team Khun and Team Shibisu join forces to try to bring Bam back to them by getting ready to summon Viole at the Calling Center. Meanwhile, the three seceders of the FUG Team, Yuto, Nobic, and Horyang, stage a rescue mission to free Viole from the Thorn's mountain to get him ready for the summon into the Growth Tournament.
Arc 35 | Return to the main Tower of God recap page. | Arc 37
30F - Workshop Battle: Thorn
The man in the white suit continues to watch the Workshop Battle unfold aboard the Archimedes. The person on the radio asks if it's about time to get moving, but the man in the white suit answers that he wants to see how Viole deals with this bad situation he's currently in. He also states that he wishes to see the strength of the Thorn powered by an Irregular.
In the Growth Tournament, Vespa is shown to have made it to the final four having defeated an opposing Vanguard for Team Shibisu, as well as Bellux's Bundawan Vanguard. She's also summoned Lauroe into the tournament for Team Shibisu, but it's at this point that they hear the news about Viole's disappearance and the FUG and Mad Dog teams combining. Vespa is then greeted by Hatz coming out of the nearby woods, who warns Shibisu that they need to save Bam before the worst weapon to ever exist gets finished.
Team Khun, along with Khun himself, arrive at the building in the tournament's waiting area to rest before the start of the final four stage of the Growth Tournament. The guide robot, R-9, shows everyone to their rooms while Khun heads to the video room to see footage of the FUG vs. Mad Dog match. The rest of Team Khun discuss how they're confused about what's going on about Viole leaving Team FUG as they overhear gambler Miya's Vanguard team calling Viole a coward for running away from the Mad Dog.
Khun watches the video footage of the FUG vs. Mad Dog match, but still isn't able to understand what's going on other than Viole and Nobic suddenly disappearing from the arena. He's then greeted by gambler Miya, who reveals that she knows his identity as Khun Aguero Agnis behind his mask. Miya reveals to him that several of the gamblers, including herself, are part of FUG, and taunts him that Bam will soon be killed, which leaves Khun even more confused. After Miya leaves, Khun thinks things over angry at the thought that everything has been a massive FUG trap. An angry Shibisu then appears in the video room to find out from Khun what's going on.
Within the Battle Temple arena where the FUG vs. Mad Dog match took place, Yuto, Nobic, and Horyang continue to hide at the base of the mountain that Viole is currently trapped in. Yuto reveals to them that despite FUG wanting to give the Thorn over to Viole, there's an opposing FUG faction involving FUG Slayer Karaka that wants the weapon for themselves. Karaka and his allies' plan being to dissolve Viole, and fuse him with the weapon. Elsewhere, Beta remains sitting at a high location on the island, and is greeted by Cassano, who is revealed to have been the one that freed Beta from his Workshop cage if Beta completed the task of baiting Viole to the Thorn room. Beta then heads off prepared to kill Viole's friends since he wishes for the Slayer-Candidate to feel the same despair as him.
At the bottom of the Thorn room, Viole wakes up, but realizes that he's tied up to a nearby substance that's blocking his shinsu usage, which has begun fusing him with the Thorn. Unable to escape, Viole is met by Reflejo, who taunts Viole for breaking the rules even though Viole knows full-well that this was all planned from the beginning anyway. Reflejo explains that pretty soon, the Archimedes will arrive above Viole's current location, and will pour a solution down upon Viole, which will melt him to nothing. Viole's remaining soul will then fuse with the Thorn, and FUG will finally have the Thorn weapon that they've always wanted. Reflejo then departs, leaving Viole tied up to the Thorn waiting for his eventual death.
Back to Khun in the waiting building's video room, Shibisu and Hatz meet with him to tell him everything surrounding the current danger that Bam's currently in. Hatz explains how the Archimedes has been conducting experiments, such as the Emily chat robot actually being a girl being experimented on. Another being the Living Ignition Weapon experiments, which its overall purpose was to eventually learn how to combine people with ignition weapons in order to melt Bam down into a weapon with Irregular power. Hatz also reveals that Lero-Ro found out about all this, and has been on the Archimedes as well trying to put a stop to the creation of the FUG weapon. In addition, the melting solution is going to be poured down upon Bam from the odd structure that resides on the tip of the Archimedes.
Khun gathers the summoned members of his and Shibisu's teams (Rak, Wangnan, Ehwa, Akraptor, Quaetro, Vespa, and Lauroe) to inform them of Bam's current situation, which leaves everyone shocked. Rak calls out Hatz for letting this happen, which Hatz apologizes for as it's revealed that he was disguised amongst the guards that tried to stop Beta from jumping off the Archimedes. Khun then spends the next moments cleaning his disguise off in the bathroom, which they discuss why Lero-Ro and Hatz couldn't tell them all this before hand. That FUG has Rankers stationed aboard the Archimedes, so nothing could be done without being seen until the Workshop Battle started. It's at this point that Khun gets a message on his Emily terminal, and informs Shibisu that this isn't over yet for them as they can still change the results by playing out the tournament.
Back to his original appearance, Khun and Shibisu return to the group as Hatz informs them all that they have two hours before the Archimedes gets into position to pour the fatal solution down onto Bam. Khun then announces the plan that they will play out the Workshop Battle's 2nd Round to ruin FUG's plans. Their goal being to summon Bam at a Calling Center to their side.
Aboard the Archimedes, Lero-Ro gets to work to stall the ship for as long as he can to give Khun and company more time to rescue Bam. He disrupts the ship's shinsu prison fields, which allows for the captured intruders, such as Traveller, to escape their cells so that the Archimedes would be preoccupied with hunting down the escapees. Lero-Ro informs an ally (Wolhaiksong) over his communicator that they've done all they can on their end, such as also sending Hatz off to the Growth Tournament arena, so now they're left with hoping that Khun and company can succeed on their end. Watching from a high room, Madorako, a FUG Ranker, gets word of the breakout. Thinking things over, he finds it odd how the Archimedes disrupters seem to believe that the E-rank Regulars can somehow free Viole before he's killed.
Back to the tournament waiting house, Io and Punk make the announcement that the final four stage of the Growth Tournament is about to begin. The remaining four teams being Team Khun, Team Shibisu, Miya's Team Snake, and an unknown fourth team. As the Khun and Shibisu teams head out, Khun states that the only way to truly save Bam without FUG intervening is to play by the Workshop Battle's rules. A brief flashback to a few minutes beforehand is seen where Khun explains how they will summon Bam to their team. Showing his Emily terminal with a message from Yuto, Khun informs everyone that he was contacted by her amongst the three seceder FUG teammates that includes Horyang and Nobic. That the three of them are planning a rescue attempt to free Viole from the Thorn's mountain. Once they do, Bam will be ready to be summoned to the Calling Center since Viole's considered a drop-out from Team FUG.
Shibisu's the one to question if this plan is going to work given that it has a lot of holes; including Yuto being a member of FUG. In return, Khun answers that Yuto is trustworthy given that Nobic has no issue working alongside the FUG member, and appears to be on Bam's side as a result. He sends word to Yuto over the Emily terminal that their team got her summoning message, and have now set their goal to perform the summon. On the three FUG seceders side, Yuto is seen getting Khun's message, and informs Horyang and Nobic that everything has been set up.
The second stage of the Growth Tournament for the final four Vanguard teams begins as Team Shibisu remains on standby for the second unknown opposing team to appear while Team Khun sets out with Wangnan and Quaetro heading for the Calling Center. In addition, Rak and Ehwa are the attacking group to gather the remaining points needed for Bam's summon while Akraptor remains in hiding for the time to strike. Rak and Ehwa are soon attacked by Vanguard Paul and Macha of Miya's Team, and are able to overpower Ehwa and Rak for a short while. Ehwa was made useless due to Paul being a fire-eater, and Rak's attacks are held off by Macha's umbrella weapon. However, Rak transforms back into his original large form to begin the counterattack.
While the normally sized Rak begins to push back Team Snake's Paul and Macha, Wangnan and Quaetro are seen continuing on towards the Calling Center. Meanwhile, Beta is seen watching the final four battle of the Growth Tournament get underway, and decides to get moving. He's then greeted by gambler Devil Bon, who's revealed to be the final of the three FUG gamblers alongside Miya and Ron Mei, as well as being the unknown fourth team that made it to the Growth Tournament's final four. It's also made obvious that Beta and Devil Bon know each other, and had planned this meeting ahead of time.
Devil Bon shows off to Beta a water jar with a small wormlike creature inside it, a Medina parasite. The FUG gambler explains how the parasite is actually a Regular, and that it's his true Vanguard that was hiding within the gray-haired swordsman Regular that Bundawan killed in the Growth Touranment's first stage. Thus, making it look like Devil Bon's team was defeated when it really wasn't. Devil Bon then informs Beta that eating the parasite will make him the Vanguard's new host to take part in the Workshop Battle without breaking any rules. Despite being warned that the Medina parasite could take over his mind, Beta quickly swallows the parasite to become Devil Bon's Vanguard. Beta then heads off alongside the FUG gambler to kill Viole's friends.
Returning to Rak and Ehwa's fight, Team Snake's Macha and Paul realize that Rak was hiding his true strength as a compression licenser (being able to change body sizes on a Tower Floor if its Floor Guardian allows it).As a result, Macha and Paul decide to team up against him believing that Ehwa is no threat when Paul can just eat her flames. In order to get Ehwa's fire-shinsu to work, Rak grabs hold of Paul's throat so he can't swallow the flames, and ends up taking the full-blast of Ehwa's flamethrower. The sight of Rak tanking Ehwa's flames while holding up Paul by his throat makes Macha fall apart in fear. Thus, resulting in Paul and Macha's defeat.
Paul and Macha of Miya's Team Snake lie on the ground defeated as Rak yells out for everyone in the Workshop Battle to hear that he's Rak Wraithraiser, the alligator who will stop at nothing to return the black turtle back to his team. He's then greeted by Beta, who asks if Rak is one of Viole's friends. Meanwhile, the three-man Yuto, Horyang, and Nobic rescue team reach their destination on the island arena known as the Abandoned Summoning Area.
Chapter 168 (Season 2: Ch. 89)
At the Abandoned Summoning Area, Yuto explains how it's a cave entrance that not even the FUG Team knows about. Yuto then asks for Nobic and Horyang to use it to reach the backdoor into the Thorn's room to save Viole. That it will be her that distracts Reflejo, Sia, Baragav and Ron Mei at the main entrance while Horyang and Nobic sneak in from behind. Yuto states that this is their last chance to back out, but Horyang and Nobic are both determined to go through with it in order to return to Team Sweet-and-Sour and Khun respectively, and they head in.
Returning to the Growth Tournament, Hatz is shocked to see that Beta somehow got into the arena. Beta stands before Rak and Ehwa, which they lie claiming to not be Viole's friends. Convinced that they're telling the truth, Beta decides to instead go after Wangnan and Quaetro after being informed about them over Devil Bon's Scout Observer. Rak and Ehwa then chase after Beta after hearing from Shibisu over his Scout Observer that Beta's the one that trapped Viole in the Thorn room. Meanwhile, Wangnan and Quaetro continue to make their way to the Calling Center, but are greeted by the last remaining red-faced member of Miya's team. As a result, Quaetro stays behind to fight the red-faced Regular since he's taken a liking to Wangnan. Khun confirms that seeing Wangnan rub off on the vicious and crazed Quaetro makes him a good leader, and admits that Bam found himself a good friend in Wangnan.
Beta continues to make his way towards Wangnan's location having heard from Devil Bon that Quaetro split up from him. He's then greeted by Vespa as the two engage in a speed duel with Beta coming out on top using his Dionysos ignition enhancements. Rak and Ehwa then manage to catch up to help Vespa, which leaves Beta confused as to why everyone's so desperate to keep him from reaching Wangnan. Thinking it over, Beta puts together that Wangnan's teammates are gathering points by defeating Team Snake's members along with having heard that there's a traitor in the FUG Team that's trying to support Viole. As a result, Beta asks Rak and company if what they're trying to do is summon Viole at the Calling Center.
Back inside the Abandoned Summoning cave, Nobic and Horyang reach the backdoor to the Thorn room that's being guarded by Grobin and Pandit of the Mad Dog team. Keeping in contact with Nobic and Horyang through a Pocket, Yuto gives the two of them the order to go on. As a result, Nobic and Horyang step forward to battle the Mad Dog members blocking their way to Viole.
Within the Thorn's mountain, which the hole of the top of the volcano can be seen above, Viole continues to struggle trying to escape from being tied up to the Thorn. Reflejo waits on standby finding it odd that it's taking awhile for the Archimedes to get into position to pour the melting solution into the volcano, and wonders if something happening on the ship is keeping them preoccupied. He also remains worried about what FUG member Yuto is doing given that she was sent by the FUG Elders, and disappeared as someone knowing of FUG's plans. He finally gets a message on his Pocket from her asking to meet.
At the main entrance of the Thorn mountain, Yuto and Reflejo meet. Reflejo remains suspicious that Yuto is trying to pull something at a time like this when FUG is on the verge of providing the greatest weapon to defeat Jahad and the Great Families. However, Yuto warns him that this current path Reflejo's on will lead him to destruction. Ron Mei enters the room to stand alongside Reflejo as the latter announces that soon enough, his master, FUG Slayer Karaka, will have an Irregular weapon to start a revolution in the Tower. In addition, the Archimedes is finally spotted hovering above the volcano's peak. However, Yuto calls Reflejo a foolish one for believing that Karaka is a god just because people within FUG call him one, which Yuto reveals herself to be the Guide, Hwaryun.
Shocked by the sight of Hwaryun, the Guide explains that Yuto's goal was just to gain the trust of the FUG Elders so that she would get placed on the FUG Team alongside Reflejo, and then be replaced by Hwaryun once the Workshop Battle started up. She also informs Reflejo that they knew of this plan to dissolve Viole into the Thorn from the beginning, and asks for Reflejo to think about why Viole had a replica Thorn placed within him. Reflejo remains confused by the question, which Hwaryun answers that what Viole actually had stored within him is an object known as the Bowl that will store the Thorn within it. Once the Thorn reacts to the Bowl, it will choose Viole as it's user.
Meanwhile in the Thorn room, Viole looks up in shock at the massive Thorn beginning to react to the Bowl within him. Back to Hwaryun, she taunts Reflejo that the FUG Elders are going to hate him for his failure here, which enrages him. Before Reflejo and Ron Mei could move in to attack her, Hwaryun jumps down a dark chasm in the room, and disappears from sight. Enraged by Hwaryun's stunt, Reflejo calls for the Mad Dog, Baragav, and states that they can't allow anyone to escape.
Meanwhile, Nobic and Horyang have already easily defeated the Mad Dog team's Grobin and Pandit, and enter the next room. They spot the door into the Thorn's chamber, but but turns out to be guarded by a Level 85 Workshop patrol robot known as a Blue Titan. Horyang activates his Devil Arm to hold off the Blue Titan himself while Nobic runs to the other side of the room to open the main door that leads to the Thorn room Viole's trapped in. Despite struggling to get it open, Viole opens it from the other side, and sends a blast of shinsu at the Level 85 Blue Titan patrol, which destroys it. The thorn wrapped in bandages is now seen in a smaller form floating above Viole's right shoulder; having chosen the Slayer-Candidate as its user.
Long Summary
Flying above the 30th Floor island that's been established as the location for the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle, the Archimedes continues to remain. From his seat, the man in the white suit continues to observe the current E-rank Workshop Battle, and has his attention brought to learning about Enryu's Thorn having been placed within the island. A voice on the man in the white suit's radio is heard stating that FUG's discovery of the Thorn is quite interesting, and questions if this Workshop Battle was designed surrounding it. However, the man in the white suit, shown to have brown hair and wearing glasses, orders for the person to not act dumb since this was something that they already know about.
The person asks on the radio what the next step of their plan is since he's allowing the man in the white suit to have control of the E-rank Workshop Battle so far. The man in the white suit answers that he's just going to sit back, and watch how the Viole boy deals with this hardship, and will only step in if a major line gets crossed, such as outside interruption. Giving off a smile, the man in the white suit states to the person on the radio that he hopes to see how strong Enryu's Thorn will get if it's in the hands of an Irregular.
Switching to the 2nd Round of the Workshop Battle, Vespa of Team Shibisu, who's carrying around Lauroe having summoned him into the tournament, is seen laughing in happiness with itself that it managed to easily move on to the next round of the Growth Tournament. Having easily defeated its Vanguard opponent, as well as Bellux's Bundawan Vanguard, in the Growth Tournament's first stage, Vespa laughs at how stupid the Workshop hosts are for not knowing the power of its poisonous sting.
Vespa yells out that it's thanks to everyone being morons that this has been extremely easy for it. Shibisu continues to watch Vespa from his lighthouse as the bee-person laughs once more that it's strong even without having to transform into its ultimate form. Vespa claims that this good momentum will allow for it to conquer all the humans, which Shibisu reminds her that they got to complete their current test first. At this point, the announcement from Io and Pun is heard about the result of the FUG vs. Mad Dog match.
Similar to Khun beforehand, Shibisu hears the hosts mention how four members of Team FUG, including Viole, had left the team. And due to Mad Dog giving up part way through the match, Team FUG has recruited Ron Mei and Baragav. Shibisu is left surprised to hear that Viole has departed, and that Mad Dog and FUG have apparently joined forces. He also concludes that this result doesn't make any sense. Suddenly, a voice is heard calling out to Shibisu and Vespa from the nearby woods, which the two of them recognize to be Hatz with blood streaming down his face.
Shibisu and Vespa are confused as to why Hatz's here, which the swordsman Regular answers that they need to stop them from making the worst weapon, which confuses Shibisu even further. Hatz states that time's running out, which Vespa believes that the swordsman is not himself due to the hit he received to the head.
The swordsman Regular then yells out that they need to hurry, because Bam is in trouble. Hearing Bam's name mentioned grab's Shibisu's attention as he's left wondering what's going on.
Switching over to Team Khun, Rak begins to throw a tantrum over why Bam would suddenly depart from the FUG Team, and knows for a fact that Bam isn't the kind of person that would ditch people. Ehwa agrees that Viole isn't someone that would betray his team despite being an evil person. Rak and Ehwa begin to bicker over Bam being an evil person as Khun orders them all to head to the waiting area to figure out what's going on. He also asks for Rak to hide his face again.
The five members of Team Khun arrives at a building in the tournament's waiting area. Quaetro is surprised to see how great the building looks as Khun arrives to greet his team with his mask back on. The tean enters the building, and are greeted by a robot named R-9, who will be their guide. R-9 explains that this building in the waiting area has been established to allow Regulars in the 2nd Round tournament to rest before the start of the next stage. Showing them to their rooms, R-9 asks that they use this time to get some rest as Quaetro asks if he can burn the building down, which Rak orders the psycho not to.
Khun asks R-9 for the records on the FUG vs. Mad Dog match, which the guide robot answers that they can be viewed in the building's video room. Khun turns to his team, and asks for them to get some rest while he checks the records, which they all agree to do so.
Walking to their rooms, Wangnan remains shocked after hearing that Viole left the FUG Team, and questions why he did it. Rak answers that it's obvious that FUG is plotting something which resulted in Viole being forced to leave. Wangnan agrees, but still finds it confusing considering the bet FUG gave to Sweet and Sour to prove that they can be Viole's teammates. Wangnan adds in that it's because FUG is a sneaky bunch, and that they only know the surface of what's going on. Rak begins to throw another tantrum that he knew FUG couldn't be trusted, and claims that he will blow them all up now. At this point, they watch a 3-man side-A team that made it through to the next round walk by them: a red face, a man in a brown hat, and a giant with red-colored face tattoos that was established as their Vanguard.
Of the three, the one wearing the brown hat gives off a laugh at how easy this Growth Tournament turned out to be. The Vanguard with the red tattoos points out that their snake gambler Team Leader will give them extra money, and states that they just need to hold out for a little while longer.
Wangnan's group continues to eavesdrop on their conversation as they hear the opposing team make fun of Viole being a coward for running away from the Mad Dog match. They joke that this perhaps makes Baragav the new Slayer Candidate for FUG.
In the video room, Khun watches the FUG vs. Mad Dog match unfold, and hears the hosts, Io and Punk, providing the commentary for the battle. Khun could tell that something was off since he caught sight of Viole running to face Baragav alone the moment the match started, and for some reason, Nobic has suddenly disappeared. Since the end result was FUG and Mad Dog joining forces, Khun is left trying to come up with an answer as to why it ended up this way, and where Bam ended up in his match. Suddenly, Khun is greeted by the snake-lady gambler, Miya, in the video room, who asks if Khun Aguero Agnis is having trouble locating his missing friend. Hearing that Miya has figured out who he is leaves Khun stunned in shock.
Khun asks how she knew about his real identity, which Miya answers that she knew since the start of the Workshop Battle. She also reveals that she's one of the gamblers that was planeted in the tournament by FUG, which leaves Khun even more shocked. Khun gets up to face Miya, which she explains that FUG planeted three gamblers in the Workshop Battle, and that she is one of them alongside the Mad Dog team.
Miya taunts him that Khun and company have been deceived from the beginning, and that everyone in the Workshop Battle is connected to hunt the guys that are outside of FUG. She leaves off saying that he doesn't need to wear the mask anymore since his friend is going to fall asleep soon enough.
After Miya had left the room, Khun is left thinking over how FUG has been controlling the Workshop Battle, and wonders what she meant by Bam falling asleep forever. Khun thinks back to the bet he made with FUG to get Bam back, and begins to wonder if this has all been one giant trick of theirs. He continues to try to make sense of what's going on as his name gets called by Shibisu. He sees Shibisu standing at the doorway of the video room, which Shibisu calls him a bastard considering that all this time, Shibisu thought Khun was dead.
Back to the Battle Temple arena where the FUG vs Mad Dog match took place, Yuto is seen hiding in the bushes alongside Horyang and Nobic. Looking up at the nearby mountain, Yuto explains that Viole has most likely been locked up in a deep location where they're keeping the Thorn. Nobic asks Yuto why FUG has suddenly decided to betray Viole considering that he thought FUG's overall goal was to hand their new Slayer Candidate the Thorn. Yuto answers that while that is FUG's overall goal, there's an opposing force within the organization who thought differently.
An image of Karaka is shown as Yuto explains that within FUG, there's a group of senior FUG Slayers, as well as elder members, that didn't want to hand the power of the Thorn over to a new Slayer Candidate that still wasn't a true member of FUG. She states to Horyang and Nobic that the opposing FUG force wants to use the power of the Thorn themselves.
The plan Karaka's faction came up with was to plan alongside some people in Workshop to take Viole, and dissolve him into the Thorn so that they would have an ignited Thorn weapon to use against their enemies. Hearing FUG's plan to kill Viole to activate the Thorn leaves Nobic and Horyang stunned in disbelief.
Meanwhile, at a high location of the island, Beta looks down at the surrounding arena, and thinks back to a time during the Living Ignition Weapon experiements where he was ordered to kill someone for the sake of the research. Beta is then greeted by Cassano, who asks if the former completed his objective by locking Viole up in the Thorn room.
Beta states that this was a given since it was part of the deal to repay Cassano for getting him out of his Workshop cage by completing this task for FUG. Beta states that he assumed Cassano hated Viole more than him, and asks the Devil Arm if his assumption was wrong, but Cassano remains silent.
At this point, Beta gets up, and states that he doesn't care what FUG and Cassano are up to at this point. He informs Cassano that he will go along with all this as long as FUG makes Viole feel the same pain that he felt in the Workshop experiments. Preparing to move out, Beta states that he will now go about killing Viole's friends.
At the bottom of the Thorn room, Viole remains tied up by an odd blue tube connected to a pond beneath the end of the Thorn. The FUG Slayer wakes up, and looks upon the massive Thorn weapon; realizing that he had fallen to somewhere deep underground. Seeing the Thorn continue endless up towards the top, Viole is left amazed at how truly awesome the weapon looks from here, and wonders how much power it has if it ever ignites.
Trying to move, Viole remains tied up by the giant blue tube, and realizes that he can't use shinsu either. The FUG Slayer deduces that it works similar to the octopus ring that Shibisu used on him in the One Shot, One Opportunity game.
Viole looks to the pond nearby, and is able to put it together that his shinsu is being drained to another location. The Fug Slayer deduces that he just needs to break free from the tube somehow, but at this point, hears a voice ordering him not to even try to attempt it. Looking in the direction of the voice, Viole sees that it's Reflejo.
Looking up at the masked Regular, Viole asks if he planned everything from the beginning, which Reflejo answers to be the truth, and that the reason Viole's been brought down here to the bottom of the Thorn room is to turn him into a weapon. Reflejo also states that the weapon will then be handed over to his master, and asks if Viole believes he's someone that can be forgiven for betraying the rules. Viole's attention is brought to the rule breaking, which Reflejo points out that he broke the rules by meeting his teammates at the FUG dormitory, and had been playing to escape the FUG Team with Nobic. Reflejo points out that once the FUG higher ups found out about this, the obvious result would be to kill Viole, and fuse him with the Thorn. He taunts Viole that it was a simpler choice to control the weapon rather than hand the Thorn over to an unreliable Slayer rookie.
Reflejo continues his explanation that once the Archimedes arrives above the Thorn room, it will pour a solution down upon the island stored in it's newly crafted tail construction. Once it reaches this room, everything will melt down aside from the Thorn, and the ultimate weapon that FUG has always dreamed of having will finally be in their hands.
Lookin at this hand, Reflejo states that it will be a weapon perfectly suited for his master. He begins to walk away, and asks that the FUG Slayer gets some rest before the time of the dissolving finally starts. Viole looks down in frustration, and wonders if coming across Khun and Rak were all a part of their plan. He also thinks about the other people that could be in danger, and remembers that Nobic and Shibisu are also a part of this that could have their lives threatened. The FUG Slayer realizes that he needs to escape from this no matter what.
Back to the waiting building for the Growth Tournament, Shibisu runs toward Khun in the video room, and yells at him for not telling anyone in Team Shibisu that he was alive. Before Khun could react, Hatz appears behind him with a gun in his hand, and orders for Khun not to move. He also informs Khun that he already knows everything about Bam's situation.
Khun looks back at Hatz, and finds it irritating that Team Shibisu apparently knows everything now. He asks if Hatz knows how to use a gun despite being a sworduser, which pisses Hatz off. Hatz states that he's in the mood to blow Khun's head off, but goes against it, because they have more urgent matters to attend to. Hatz informs Khun that Bam's in danger, which grabs the former's attention. Khun asks what Hatz means by that, as well as knowing that Bam is alive, which Hatz answers that Lero-Ro told him, which confuses Khun even further. Hatz answers once more that apparently, Lero-Ro was on the Archimedes as well.
Nearby in the waiting building, Wangnan, Rak and Akraptor continue to walk as they listen to Rak's tantrum about Miya's team talking down to Viole as if the FUG Slayer is a coward. They spot Ehwa appear out of her room complaining about bugs, and yells to the group that there's a man-sized bug in her room. Looking in the room, they spot Vespa, as well as a sleeping Lauroe, on the bed, which shocks everyone seeing a giant insect.
Khun asks if Hatz was telling the truth about Lero-Ro being on the Archimedes, which Hatz answers to be the case. Hatz explains that Lero-Ro is here working for some organization to watch over Viole, and possibly try to recruit the FUG Slayer into said organization. However, Lero-Ro had started to become suspicious since Viole looked an awful lot like Bam. Hatz continues to explain that Lero-Ro felt something weird was going on, so the Ranker snuck into the Archimedes pretending to be Workshop guard so that he could eventually meet Viole and the other E-rankers he taught on the 2nd Floor.
During the investigation, Lero-Ro had discovered the plan that FUG and Workshop are attempting to pull off, and shows the Emily terminal to Khun. Seeing Khun confused as to how Emily fits into this, Hatz explains that Emily is a human being currently aboard the Archimedes, which shocks Khun. Hatz states that she is a victim of the research conducted by FUG and the Workshop researchers, and was used for a certain purpose. He also adds that Cassano and Horyang were in on this as well. Hatz gets to the main point of the investigation that FUG and the Workshop researchers had been conducting experiments to turn humans into a Living Ignition Weapon.
They had also been doing experiments of the opposite, which is to melt down a human, who has become an Ignition Weapon, and create a new weapon. Hatz gets the main point across that what FUG is trying to do is melt down Viole, and turn him into an Ignition Weapon combined with the Thorn as the main prize of the Workshop Battle. However, the kicker as to why this will be a dangerous weapon is because Viole's status as an Irregular will be placed into the Thorn to create something extremely powerful that could break the rules of the Tower.
Khun finds it unbelievable what he's hearing as Hatz continues to explain that the Archimedes is set to pour some sort of solution down from its new tail construction onto the island, which will melt Bam. Hatz states once more that there's not much time left before the Archimedes is perfectly in place above Viole's location, and that they have to rescue Bam as soon as possible.
Bang to Wangnan's group, they try to shoo away the giant Vespa bug, which Vespa yells in return that she's the honey-bee that will one day rule the world of humans. Rak yells that he will kill Vespa in one show, but has his efforts stalled when Khun arrives, and orders everyone to gather at the video room. He also makes sure to get across to everyone that this is an emergency.
Some time later in the video room, Khun and Hatz finish explaining Bam's situation to everyone. Rak is left shocked to hear the black turtle's predicament, and asks the swordsman Regular what he means by Viole being turned into a weapon.
Hatz repeats himself that he's not kidding, and reminds them that Bam's trapped in the mountain at the moment, and that the Archimedes will soon pour the solution down upon him to be melted into a weapon. Rak grabs hold of Hatz ordering him to spill why it took so long to inform them of all this since he had the chance to take Viole away earlier at the FUG dormitory.
However, all Hatz can do is apologize, because he had a chance to stop it earlier, but failed to stop Beta from jumping off the Archimedes. The swordsman thinks back to when he was disguised as a guard, and got hit by Beta's giant yellow Ignition Weapon foot when he jumped off the Archimedes, and landed in the 30th Floor water.
After the meeting, Khun spends his time in the bathroom cleaning himself up. Shibisu remains outside the bathroom, and asks Khun if he knows the reason as to why Hatz and Lero-Ro didn't inform them earlier about what FUG and Workshop was planning. Khun answers that it's because there was nothing they could do about it. FUG has Rankers aboard the Archimedes watching their every movement and communication, so trying to do something hasty before the Workshop Battle would have just ended up putting everyone in danger of getting caught by the FUG Rankers.
Shibisu states that he understands why FUG hasn't touched them until this point since they're basically hostages to keep Bam under their control, but he also yells out that he won't forgive FUG for ruining their great reunion. Khun finishes up cleaning off his brown dyed hair to become blue again, but it's at this point that he gets a message on the Emily terminal.
Khun yells to Shibisu that it's not over just yet, which grabs Shibisu's attention. He informs Shibisu that parties only begin once the game is over, and that it's impossible to know who it is that will be smiling by the end of it. Khun states that Lero-Ro didn't tell them anything, because he must have already known that their only chance to do anything about Bam's situation is to play to the rules of the game. However, for them to win, the game has to start.
In a nearby room where the rest of the group is waiting, Rak begins to get impatient, and claims that he will now head out to rescue the black turtle. The rest of the group try to stop him as the alligator heads for the door, but the door suddenly opens from the other side with Khun walking in with a towel finishing his head clean-up. Khun asks where Rak is heading off to all by himself, which Rak answers that he's going to get Bam back, and no one is going to stop him.
However, Khun asks for him to wait up, as he's going to be going with him, which grabs Rak's attention. Khun asks how long they have until the Archimedes gets into position to pour the solution down onto Bam's location, which Hatz answers that it will take two hours. The swordsman adds that Lero-Ro will try to delay it by any means within the Archimedes, but they still should work to try to get Bam out within that two hour time period. Having heard Hatz's time limit, Khun informs the group that they will work to get him out of there, but they will do it by playing the tournament, which confuses everyone.
Khun states that the plan is simple. They will summon Bam to their side using the tournament's Calling Center.
Aboard the Archimedes, an alarm is sounded as the intruder Regulars that were imprisoned along with Traveller are seen attempting an escape through the main door. The Workshop guards are seen trying to get a handle on the situation to recapture as many of the intruders as they can as one of the guards informs the unit that there seems to have been an error with the shinsu walls that were holding the intruders in their cells. The prison area is seen giving off a few sparks of electricity that are disrupting the shinsu.
Lero-Ro in his guard get-up is seen nearby hearing the guards continuing to try to get a handle of the situation. On Lero-Ro's radio, a voice is heard informing the Ranker that they've bought some time by doing this, and asks if the E-rank Regulars are going to be ok. Lero-Ro answers that they should know the truth by now since he sent Hatz to the island to inform everyone about the weapon FUG's trying to make.
Lero-Ro informs the person on the radio that it's now up to the E-rank Regulars on their side to finish it, which the person on the radio agrees with. Lero-Ro thinks to himself that now's not the time to be giving up, and hopes that they find some way to win the Workshop Battle.
Elsewhere on the Archimedes, one of Madorako's bodyguards meets with the businessman Ranker to inform the boss that they encountered a problem at the intruder prison, and the Viole operation will be delayed for a little while to get a handle on the situation. Looking out at the island, Madorako comes to the conclusion that they have rats aboard. The bodyguard asks if he should take care of it, but Madorako answers that what's more important is the results of the Workshop Battle rather then trying to stop a prison riot. Madorako orders to leave it be until the tournament's over, which the bodyguard complies to. Madorako is left wondering if the people causing trouble aboard the Archimedes during the tournament truly believe that the E-rank kids will be able to pull something that will stop the creation of FUG's Thorn.
Meanwhile, Traveller is seen making his escape with the rest of the intruders, and hears Io and Punk announcing over the nearby monitors that the next round of the Growth Tournament is about to begin. Traveller is left thinking about Emily, and gets moving himself.
The hosts announce to the remaining four Vanguard teams that the rules of the next Growth Tournament stage are the same as before. The four teams will battle it out until only two teams are left remaining. These two remaining teams will then battle it out, and the only team left remaining will move on to fight the new FUG Team that had Baragav and Ron Mei join up with them due to the Mad Dog team calling it quits. The overall winner will then be handed the prize of the Workshop Battle. Io and Punk then order for the teams to get into position as the Wangnan, Rak, Ehwa, Akraptor and Quaetro team is seen entering the area along with the three other teams.
Within Shibisu's lighthouse, Hatz takes his seat alongside him. Shibisu asks if Khun's plan to summon Bam will truly work, which Khun agrees with that there are a lot of uncertainties regarding said plan, but at this point, they have no choice. Khun answers that without breaking the rules of the tournament, summoning Bam to their side at the Calling Center is the only way to get him away from FUG.
Earlier at the waiting building, the group is all surprised by Khun's plan to summon Bam. Khun explains that they can't break the rules of the Workshop Battle, or else it will give FUG an excuse to intervene with their Rankers stationed on the Archimedes. Hatz adds in that as long as they complete the objective on their end within the tournament, Lero-Ro will take care of the rest on his end to keep the Rankers preoccupied aboard the Archimedes.
Wangnan asks how they're going to summon Viole given that he's trapped within the Thorn's mountain, which Khun answers by bringing up the three other people that are said to have left the FUG Team. Khun brings up that the three other seceders from Team FUG include Horyang, Nobic and that Yuto scout person. Khun states that the three of them are planning a rescue attempt to get Viole out of the Thorn's mountain, which shocks everyone. Wangnan asks how Khun knows about this, which Khun answers by showing his Emily terminal. Khun shows how he asked Emily where Nobic is at the moment, which Emily answered that he's alongside Horyang planning to rescue Viole, and was asked by Emily to prepare for the summon.
Since this is the first time Sweet and Sour have seen an Emily terminal, Khun explains that it's a chatting bot that answers questions if one is provided to the terminal for Emily to answer. However, the answers only come from those have provided Emily information.
Since Emily knows about Horyang and Nobic's current location, it means that someone amongst the three Team FUG seceders are providing Emily information for Khun and company to catch wind of. Khun comes to the conclusion that the one providing them this information through Emily is fighting to keep Bam alive. He informs the group that should the rescue of Bam on the Team FUG seceders side succeed, then they can perform the summon to bring Bam to their side.
Back to the present, Shibisu asks if they can trust the person that sent the message given that one of the three Team FUG seceders was confirmed to be a member of FUG (Yuto). Khun answers that despite not knowing Yuto's true intentions, all they can do is trust in this FUG person, and the fact that Nobic is working alongside Yuto is more than enough reason to believe that Yuto is on Bam's side. Khun then sends information through the Emily terminal that Team Khun are entering the tournament again prepared to perform the Bam summon so that the Team FUG seceders will get the info when they ask Emily about Khun's current situation. Hatz is left annoyed at the thought of having to trust someone that the untrustworthy Khun trusts, which Shibisu agrees with given that he thought all this time that Khun was dead.
On the side of the three Team FUG seceders in the Battle Temple arena, Yuto is seen checking on her Emily terminal about the status of Khun's current team. Horyang asks if they can truly communicate with their friends this way, which Yuto answers that it's possible as long as they use similar keywords, which Nobic finds amazing. Horyang asks if her contact is going to notice their current plan, which Yuto answers that it's a given since he's (referring to Khun) an outstanding Regular.
Back to Khun, he announces to the group that they need to finish the Growth Tournament on their end so that they can be ready for the Bam summon. He orders the Vanguard Wangnan to wait alongside Quaetro at the Calling Center to wait on standby for when they have enough points to perform the summon. Quaetro remains excited about finally getting to fight as Wangnan remains irritated being stuck with the crazy guy. Khun then gives the order to Rak and Ehwa that they will provide support by getting rid of certain enemies so that they can obtain enough points to reach 1,000,000 for the summoning. Meanwhile, Akraptor will remain hidden to strike at the enemy when the crucial moment to attack appears.
Meanwhile for Team Shibisu, Vanguard Vespa travels with Lauroe as they remain on standby waiting for an enemy Vanguard team to appear. Shibisu points out how this reminds him of the past given that he's working together again with Khun, but Khun orders him not to get sentimental since the complete team isn't done just yet. Khun thinks to himself that the team will only be completed again when Bam returns to them. Io and Punk announce that the match is now set to begin, and asks for the second stage of the Growth Tournament to now begin.
Team Khun begins to get moving to their locations, but are quickly greeted by gambler Miya's Vanguard team. The Vanguard with the red tattoos named Paul Belkrohn is seen standing alongside his teammate with the brown hat named Macha. Paul gives off a laugh at the people who've appeared before him as Rak orders Wangnan and Quaetro to get moving to the Calling Center so that he and Ehwa can deal with these guys. Despite Wangnan wanting a piece of them given that they're the jerks talking crap about Viole back at the waiting building, Wangnan agrees to do so, and pulls Quaetro along. Quaetro gets pulled along by Wangnan despite wanting to burn his opponents as Macha charges toward them claiming that he's not going to let them go.
However, Macha's effort is stopped by Rak, who attempts to land a punch on Macha, who easily dodges out of the way. Macha turns toward Ehwa and Rak, and states that he would prefer to fight the beautiful lady rather than the dwarf alligator. However, Rak claims that Macha's out of luck given that the female needs to be plump, and not a skinny stick, to have kids, which completely embarrasses Ehwa to the point of complaining that that's sexual harassment. Macha claims that he will play with her anyway, and orders for the pudgy Rak to go play with a hippo somewhere, which enrages Rak.
The pissed off Rak charges forward, and attempts to land a punch on Macha, which the latter easily blocks with an umbrella weapon. Macha laughs how a weak punch such as that won't affect him, and knocks Rak back with a blast of shinsu. The Regular in the brown hat then turns his attention to Ehwa stating that it's now her turn as Ehwa charges up a ball of flames. Having been watching the battle until this point, Paul realizes that Ehwa's a flame user, and tells his teammate that it's now his turn to enter. Ehwa fires a blast of flames towards Paul, and asks for them not to blame her if they get burned. However, Ehwa is left stunned to see Paul eating up her flames. Paul gives off a burp, and tells Ehwa that her flames are quite tasty.
Paul explains that he's one of the Gueta race that lives near volcanos, and can withstand the heat of any flames to the point of eating them as a decent meal. Ehwa is left stunned finding it impossible that such an enemy to all flame users actually exists. Macha then appears behind Ehwa ready to land an attack, but chooses instead to just threaten his weapon at the back of her head.
Macha explains that their snake boss, Miya, payed them good money to get rid of Khun's group in the Workshop Battle, but has decided to make an exception for Ehwa given how beautiful she is, and asks for Ehwa to join their team in return for having her life spared. However, Ehwa orders him to piss off, and yells that she would never climb the Tower with a creepy guy like him. Enraged by her comment, Macha asks if Ehwa knows what he's about to do to her, but is soon ordered by someone to move away from her. Ehwa looks up in shock, and sees that Rak is finally in his giant form again ordering once more for the Macha turtle to move.
Macha is left surprised to see that Rak has gotten bigger, but the alligator corrects him by yelling that it wasn't that he got bigger, but instead just returned to his normal size. Rak lands a punch on Macha that breaks the Regular's umbrella weapon, which knocks the hat-wearing Regular back. Continuing to drag Quaetro along, Wangnan can spot the fight going on in the distance, and worried about Rak and Ehwa. However, Khun yells at Wangnan not to get distracted since he has his own job to worry about, which Wangnan agrees with.
From a high location, Beta watches the Growth Tournament battle unfold as he hears Io and Punk provide their commentary pointing out their amazement of the tiny alligator suddenly becoming large. Beta then jumps off the cliff, and begins to make his way towards Viole's friends. Landing at the bottom of the cliff, a voice is heard claiming that he's been waiting for Beta's arrival.
Beta looks in the direction of the voice, and sees gambler Devil Bon waiting for him. Devil Bon introduces himself as one of the three gamblers that FUG put in the Workshop Battle, and points out how true it is that Beta looks like a scary one. Beta orders the FUG gambler to shut up, and orders for Devil Bon to hand over what he promised.
Seeing Beta sticking out his hand for the item, Devil Bon doesn't find it surprising how short-tempered Beta turned out to be, and hands over a jar holding a Medina parasite within it that will allow Beta to be considered a Vanguard for the Workshop Battle if Beta swallows it. Beta opens the jar as Devil Bon explains that having the parasite within him will allow Beta to participate in the Workshop Battle without breaking any rules.
Beta asks if this is legit, to which Devil Bon answers that the Medina parasite is something that lives within a human's brain, and is a Regular of its own will. The Medina had previously been placed within the gray-haired swordsman that was supposedly defeated by Bundawan during the Growth Tournament's first stage. However, FUG had staged the gray-haired swordsman's defeat so that it would look like the man lost after falling off the bridge, but the parasite that was the actual Vanguard had left the man's brain, and slipped away to swim away in the water unnoticed. Devil Bon gives off a giggle that the staged loss was a complete success.
Since the Medina parasite is technically a Vanguard that hasn't been defeated, Beta will end up becoming the new Vanguard host by eating the parasite. However, Devil Bon warns Beta that he will become the parasite's puppet if he loses control when the Medina's inside of him. Before he could warn Beta to give up if he's too afraid, Beta had already chosen to swallow the parasite.
Devil Bon asks how Beta could swallow it without hesitation, but Beta calls him an idiot for not thinking Beta could handle it given the amount of experiments Workshop had already put him through. Walking away to begin the chase for Viole's friends, Beta states to Devil Bon that it's time for them to get moving. Devil Bon asks if Beta is really ok at the moment with the parasite inside him, and is surprised to hear Beta claim that he's perfectly ok.
Returning to Rak and Ehwa, Macha manages to hold his ground against Rak's full-sized punch despite losing his umbrella weapon, but calls the alligator a bastard for hiding that fact that he's a compression licenser (a license provided by the Tower Guardians to allow for Regulars to reduce their own size, and back, on each Tower Floor). Rak calls Macha a moron for not understanding that his giant-self is his real form as the latter admits that he was wrong to look down on alligators just because he was compressed as a small body.
Rak looks back to Ehwa to see if she's ok, which she admits to be so. Rak looks back to Macha and Paul, and asks what they're going to do now that they lost their umbrella weapon. Paul answers that given Rak's strength, they will attack the alligator together, which Macha agrees with after pulling out another weapon to use from his Inventory Pocket.
Holding a new blue needle as his weapon, Macha gives the order that they will attack Rak first given that Ehwa's flames are too uncontrollable to truly be any threat to them, which Paul agrees to. They both charge at Rak. Rak manages to deflect Paul's punch, but ends up having his leg cut open by Macha's needle. Rak takes a closer look at his leg injury, and notices that while it was just a slight graze of his body, the needle is an unordinary weapon that's sharp enough to cut in deep. Believing the needle to be dangerous, Rak asks for Ehwa to join the fight with him, which catches Ehwa off-guard. She informs Rak that she can't aim her fire properly, and that Paul is a flame-eater, but Rak orders Ehwa to do it anyway with all her strength. Macha and Paul charge forward once more against Ehwa and Rak.
Ehwa prepares her fire shinsu once more as Paul yells out to her that it's useless against him. However, Rak manages to grab onto Paul's throat, and asks the fire-eater Regular if he can swallow the flames if his throat is closed shut. He warns Paul that Ehwa's flames are definitely hotter than lava since he's felt the pain of it before. Paul realizes the trouble he's in as he watches Ehwa's flamethrower hit him while Rak holds on tight to his neck. Ehwa is left in shock that she actually managed to hit an opponent with her flames. Paul falls unconscious having been defeated by Ehwa's flames as Macha calls out to his teammate hoping he's ok. However, Rake stares at him as the alligators next victim, which freezes Macha in fear. As a result, Rak easily defeats Macha after another punch.
Io and Punk make the announcement that Ehwa, and the alligator Regular known as Red Hawk, had defeated two players of Miya's team thanks to their incredible teamwork. Hearing the Red Hawk chant, Rak yells out his true name as Rak Wraithraiser, which surprises even the hosts. The alligator then yells out that he's here to meet the black turtle, and will crush anyone that gets in his way. It's at this point that Rak and Ehwa are greeted by Beta complaining that Rak's being too loud. Rak asks who the hell Beta is, but the latter ignores it, and asks if Rak is one of Viole's friends.
Elsewhere on the island, Yuto, Horyang and Nobic enter a cave known as the Abandoned Summoning Area. Yuto informs the two others that they've arrived at their destination. Nobic asks if going through here will really get them to Viole's location, which Yuto explains to be the case. Yuto explains that this area was used for a summoning experiment, but has since ben abandoned, and the enemy has no idea that this location still works to reach Viole's location without being seen. Nobic continues to ask questions as to how Yuto knows all this, why she's helping Viole, and why she knew that Khun was alive, but Yuto simply answers that he'll find out soon enough.
Since the enemy FUG Team is Reflejo, Sia, Baragav and Ron Mei protecting the main entrance into the Thorn room, Yuto informs Horyang and Nobic that she will head off to act as a distraction there. Yuto states that the plan will be for the two of them to sneak in and grab Viole before the FUG Team notices that anything is amiss.
They will then move as quickly as they can to reach this abandoned summoning area. She asks if Horyang and Nobic are prepared to do this since their lives will be in danger going up against some of the more powerful E-rank Regulars, but Horyang answers that he's already decided to return to his Sweet and Sour family, and Nobic has decided to do this given that his former team leader, Khun, is still alive. Yuto accepts their resolve, and states that it's time to get moving.
Back to the Growth Tournament, Beta continues to stand before Rak and Ehwa as Io and Punk are left confused if there was a participant in the Workshop Battle that looks like the former. Shibisu and Hatz are seen confused by Beta's appearance as well as the hosts finally realize that it's the escaped Living Ignition Weapon from the Acorn Workshop. They question in panick how Beta managed to get into the tournament as the latter asks once more if Rak is Viole's friend. Rak corrects him that the black turtle is his prey while Ehwa yells out that being a friend with Viole would be nonsense given that she's a member of the honorable Great Yeon Family, which leaves Beta confused.
Turning to Devil Bon's lighthouse, Beta asks if the gambler got it wrong, which causes Devil Bon to be confused about the situation as well. Beta orders the idiot Devil Bon to begin searching for Viole's actual friends, which the FUG gambler answers that there appears to be two others (Wangnan and Quaetro) heading for the Calling Center to perform a summon. Beta then gets moving towards their location, which leaves Rak and Ehwa confused about what's going on.
Shibisu's lighthouse calls out to Rak and Ehwa for being idiots that they shouldn't have let Beta go. Seeing Rak's confusion, Shibisu explains that the one who trapped Viole in the Thorn's mountain was the guy they just saw, which leaves Rak shocked. They order for Rak and Ehwa to catch up to Beta, because their plan to summon Viole will be ruined if he manages to catch up to Wangnan, which they quickly do so.
Switching to Wangnan and Quaetro followed closely by Khun's lighthouse, Wangnan asks about the distance of the Calling Center, which Khun answers that it will take about 20 minutes if he runs at full speed. Wangnan complains to Quaetro that he should be running on his own two legs, but Quaetro answers that he's having more fun this way. Wangnan complains back that he doesn't have time dealing with Quaetro's silly antics, but the crazy fire-user asks why Wangnan cares so much about Viole living or dying since that shouldn't be any of his business. Wangnan yells that it's because Viole's his friend, and it's a given that he would attempt to rescue a friend that is close to dying. At this point, Khun warns Wangnan of an incoming enemy; the red-face from Miya's team.
Wangnan and Quaetro manage to dodge out of the way of the red-face's strike as Quaetro prepares his fire Bangs, getting excited that he finally has something to burn up. Quaetro orders Wangnan to move out of the way as the fire-user sends his Bangs toward the red-face Regular, who easily dodges out of the way. The crazy fire-user then yells to Wangnan that he will catch up after defeating this guy despite not caring about the Viole situation, which leaves Wangnan confused.
Quaetro explains that he's taken a liking to Wangnan, and will catch up to him at the Calling Center once he's done here. Making it simple, Wangnan states that he's choosing not to help Viole, but Wangnan, and asks for Wangnan to go save his friend. At this point, Wangnan accepts Quaetro's resolve, and runs away to the Calling Center by himself.
Watching Wangnan run away, Khun thinks over how Quaetro, who's known for having a vicious personality, had taken a liking to Wangnan seeing him as a fellow teammate. Khun confirms that Wangnan has it in him to make for a good leader, and doesn't regret one bit choosing Wangnan as his team's Vanguard for this tournament. He then thinks of Bam, and realizes that he found a good friend coming across Wangnan during the 20th Floor test.
Meanwhile, Beta continues to move through the tournament forests. He asks Devil Bon where the location of Viole's friends is, which gambler Devil Bon answers that one is heading for the Calling Center while the other has broken away to fight one of the last remaining members of Miya's team. Beta decides that his best option would be to go for the person running for the Calling Center, but is greeted by the arrival of Vespa claiming that it won't let Beta go any further.
Vespa zooms in to land a strike on Beta, but the Living Ignition Weapon dodges out of the way, and grabs hold of a nearby rock with his giant ignition hand to reestablish himself on the side of a rock cliff. As Beta lands back down to the ground, Vespa taunts Beta that it's known as the fastest Regular, Vespa the Great. Beta finds it amusing coming across different kinds of people in the Tower from a talking alligator to a bee-person, but gets to the main point, and asks if Vespa is a friend of Viole.
Vespa complains that he's incorrect given that Viole is an enemy that stole its honey, which Beta states that they're on the same side given that he doesn't like Viole either. Vespa figures that it would be best that they join forces, but Shibisu yells out to the bee-person not to be an idiot, or else it will get lured in by Beta. Vespa gets serious at this point, and gives Beta the bad news that it still sees Beta as an enemy, which Beta questions if Vespa really thinks that.
Standing opposite Vespa prepared to fight, Beta asks if Vespa wasn't kidding about its claim to be the fastest amongst the E-rank Regulars, which Vespa answers to be the case. Beta states that this is good for him then as it gives him a chance to test out how fast his speed is against the best. Vespa falls for the provocation, and charges toward Beta.
In return, Beta enhances his legs with an ignition move known as Dionysos, and strengthens his speed to bypass Vespa. Beta taunts Vespa for being a slow turtle as Vespa is left shocked that she was beaten at speed. Ready to land the finishing kick, Beta claims that the speed test is over, but Vespa is saved at the last second by Rak, who blocks Beta's ignition kick with his spear. Beta is surprised by the return appearance of the alligator as Rak is able to confirm that Beta is indeed a strong one.
Ehwa is seen catching up to them as Beta and Rak are knocked back from one another. Beta asks what's going on since Rak's already stated that he's not Viole's friend, but Rak corrects him once more that they are indeed Viole's friends, and that Ehwa here is actually the FUG Slayer's wife, which she orders for Rak to stop talking gibberish.
Looking over the Rak, Ehwa and Vespa enemies standing before him, Beta deduces that something about this feels off. He thinks back to how their Vanguard was sent off to the Calling Center, and that the Vanguard's teammates are here fighting off the enemies they come across.
Beta questions why they're so desperate to get their Vanguard to the Calling Center, and remembers that there happened to also be a traitor in the FUG Team (Yuto) that has gone into hiding. He believes to have come up with an answer as his Living Ignition Weapon begins to act up. Beta asks Rak, Ehwa and Vespa if they're trying to summon Viole to their side, which grabs everyone's attention.
Back to the Abandoned Summoning cave, Nobic and Horyang continue to travel through it, and eventually reach a backdoor into the Thorn room that's being covered by the other two remaining Mad Dog teammates, Grobin and Pandit. Horyang finds it unbelievable that the cave managed to lead them here, and questions if Viole really is trapped behind that door.
Nobic also points out that seeing Mad Dog's teammates here all but confirms that Baragav is a part of FUG, and finds the Mad Dog to be a weird one. Horyang then looks to his Pocket, and sees a message telling him that now's the time to go in. Nobic and Horyang then step out of hiding and state that that need to do this fast to reach Viole. Horyang powers up his Devil Arm, and Nobic beings cracking his knuckles as they walk towards the surprised Grobin and Pandit. Meanwhile, in the Thorn room, Viole is left completely exhausted having been unable to free himself from the blue tube that has him tied up to the Thorn.
Looking up, Viole gives off a sigh in frustration knowing that this is a bad situation since he's been unable to do anything about this. He thinks to himself that he can't just continue to sit around here tied up like an idiot, because his friends are currently in danger. He's also left wondering what the point of becoming stronger was since his current state is making him feel like he's trapped in the cave prison again waiting for Rachel to return. Becoming even more frustrated as he tries to continue escaping, Viole makes it clear to himself that he will get out of this by himself, even if he has to make himself bleed to do it.
Nearby, Reflejo sits on a chair, and is seen to be becoming a bit impatient since the Archimedes is taking a bit longer to arrive than he thought. He wonders if those aboard the Archimedes ran into a problem, and knows for a fact that he alone can keep the current FUG Team under his control. However, what leaves him worried is the disappearance of Yuto despite her being someone that the FUG elders trusted dearly to be a part of Team FUG. He deduces that should Yuto prove to be a traitor, it will be a huge problem considering that she knows FUG's entire plan of dissolving Viole into the Thorn. At this point, a message appears on Reflejo's Pocket. Reflejo accepts the caller, and hears that it's Yuto wishing to see him.
At the front entrance of the Thorn room, Reflejo meets with Yuto alone as the two face one another on opposite platforms with a gaping chasm below them. He orders for Yuto to tell him what she's up to since she's been missing, and hasn't spoken to anyone in FUG, since the FUG vs. Mad Dog match. Yuto answers that she just wanted to speak to Reflejo one last time, which grabs Reflejo's attention. He orders Yuto to not pull anything sneaky since the current FUG Team has already blocked off the entrance to the Thorn room if she decides on betraying them. Reflejo adds that he doesn't understand why the FUG elders would sent someone like her to join the FUG Team at such a special time as this, but Yuto replies that this current plan of their will lead him to destruction.
Hearing Yuto claim that his plan is flawed leaves Reflejo amused, and states that this is a revolution by finally obtaining a power that will prove to be devastating against Jahad and his ten Great Families. Yuto notices Ron Mei enter the room as well as Reflejo continues his speech by claiming that the Living Ignition Weapon experiments were completed, and there's now nothing that will stop their plan.
The Archimedes is finally seen beginning to over over the whole in the Thorn room as Reflejo states that once the solution pours down from it, a substance hotter than lava will melt Viole down, and FUG will finally have a powerful weapon with the overwhelming strength of an Irregular being. He warns Yuto that at this point, he's too late for her to change her mind. Reflejo announces that it's not the new Slayer Candidate that will act as the catalyst that will bring about a revolution to the Tower, but by his great master, Karaka, once the Thorn with Viole's Irregular status is handed over to him.
Yuto hears the name Karaka, and finds it amusing that said FUG Slayer, Karaka, is a young member in FUG himself, and yet he was the one who plotted this entire scheme. She asks if Karaka considers himself a god just because people call him as one within FUG, which leaves Reflejo speechless and confused. Taking her helmet off to reveal herself as Hwaryun, the red-headed guide calls Reflejo, the shadow of Karaka, a foolish one for being caught in that belief.
Reflejo realizes that he's looking at the guide known as Hwaryun, and orders for her to tell him why she's here and not Yuto. Hwaryun explains that Yuto isn't here, because she already completed her original goal before the Workshop Battle began. Yuto's mission was to work herself up to being chosen by the FUG elders as one of the two recruits to join Team FUG alongside Reflejo, and once that goal was accomplished, Hwaryun would take Yuto's place once the Workshop Battle started up.
Reflejo remains confused in silence at what he's hearing as Hwaryun points out that the people of FUG on Viole's side knew from the beginning what was going on, and were only pretending to have been lured in by Reflejo and company's plan. Hwaryun also adds that it was her that gathered Viole's friends to the tournament in order to help the FUG Slayer, and that she hid amongst the FUG Team wearing this mask in order to put her plan into action.
Reflejo continues to remain silent, which Hwaryun finds amusing that he still doesn't understand what she's saying to him. She explains that their plan failed the moment Viole had become trapped in the Thorn room. She asks Reflejo to think about why FUG had put the Thorn replica in his body to begin with, which causes Reflejo to ask what she's talking about.
Hwaryun informs Reflejo that the fake Thorn within Viole's body isn't a fake. It's actually an object known as a Bowl to store the Thorn within it, which causes Reflejo's attention. Hwaryun explains to him that at this very moment, the Thorn must have already begun to react to Viole's Bowl the moment he had become trapped within the Thorn room. Long story short, the moment Reflejo and company had trapped Viole within the Thorn room, the owner of the weapon had officially been decided.
Meanwhile, within the Thorn room, the bandages surround the Thorn begin to peel off. Viole looks up in shock at the power of the Thorn swirling all around him.
Reflejo remains silent thinking over what he had just been told as Hwaryun reminds him once more that this plan of his has driven him towards destruction. She taunts Reflejo how the FUG elders will feel towards him once the rumors begin to spread of his failure here as an enraged Reflejo yells out how she could dare to pull off a stunt like this. He orders Ron Mei to attack her, but before she could act, Hwaryun jumps into a dark chasm below them, and disappears into the darkness.
Ron asks if this was Hwaryun attempting suicide, but a panicked Reflejo yells at her that she wouldn't kill herself since she has the guide position to know all the paths of the Tower. Reflejo asks about the situation at the Thorn room, but Ron informs him that she's lost contact with the Mad Dog teammates stationed there, which confuses Reflejo even further as to how Horyang and Nobic managed to get passed them. The panicked Reflejo orders for her to call Baragav since no matter what, they can't allow for anyone to escape.
Meanwhile, at the backdoor of the Thorn room, Horyang and Nobic are seen having already defeated the Mad Dog Team's Grobin and Pandit. The bloody bodies of their two opponents are seen lying on the ground. Nobic finds it weird how the security at the backdoor was weaker than he thought, and questions how the current FUG Team run by Reflejo wasn't expecting something like this to happen.
Suspicious that this was too easy, Nobic questions if there's something else blocking their way that the FUG Team is relying on, which Horyang replies that he hopes there isn't. The two of them walk through the Thorn room's backdoor after Nobic punches it open, and just as Nobic had been suspicious of, they enter a giant room with a Level 85 Workshop Patrol known as a Blue Titan. Nobic remains unsurprised that his suspicion was correct, and notes how Team FUG had come up with a great means of defense using a Blue Titan patrol. He spots a door in the back of the large room with red circles, and assumes that beyond it is where Vile's being held, which Horyang agrees with. Horyang states that he will deal with the Level 85 patrol himself while Nobic heads for the red-circled door to free Viole, which Nobic accepts, and begins to run for the door.
The Blue Titan patrol attempts to punch Horyang, which he manages to parry with his Devil Arm, but a struggling Horyang admits to himself that he's already reaching his limit since he's had to activate his Devil Arm several times today. However, Horyang activates the Devil Arm once more since he's got no other choice fighting a Level 85 Workshop patrol. Nobic reaches the door, but realizes that it can't be opened since it has a keyhole. The two keys of wich are held in the possession of the Mad Dog team, and Viole himself.
Still holding back the Blue Titan, Horyang asks what Nobic is waiting for, and orders for Nobic to just break in. Nobic attempts to punch it, but becomes irritated to see that it's having no effect against the red-circled door. Horyang continues to keep the Level 85 patrol preoccupied as Nobic sticks his finger into the keyhole hoping that this last ditch effort will get him to open the door. He hears a clicking sound, and is shocked to see the red-circled door beginning to open. Seeing blue shinsu before him, a voice is heard ordering for Nobic to move out of the way, which he does.
A moment later, a giant beam of shinsu is shot from the doorway Nobic was standing, and blasts through the Blue Titan patrol. Watching the Level 85 patrol fall to the ground, Horyang and Nobic remain shocked by the sight. The shinsu and smoke disperses as Viole is seen standing in the doorway with his shinsu Bangs active, and a small thorn-like object wrapped in bandages floating above his right shoulder.
Workshop Battle: Thorn Tropes
- Arc Villain:
- Beta serves as one for Viole and the friends he wants to kill.
- Miya and Devil Bon's teams serve as this as the other FUG gamblers that were placed in the Workshop battle alongside Ron Mei's Mad Dog team. They fight against Team Khun and Team Shibisu.
- The new Team FUG that consists of Reflejo, Ron Mei, Baragav, Sia, Grobin and Pandit serves as this for everyone.
- Breather Episode: Sort of one. After the 1st stage of the Growth Tournament finishes, there's a brief resting period at a waiting building before the 2nd stage of the Growth Tournament starts up.
- Cliffhanger:
- Beta realizes that Team Khun and Team Shibisu are trying to summon Viole at the Calling Center.
- Reflejo calls for Baragav to deal with their current situation.
- Viole frees himself out of the Thorn room with the Thorn at hand.
- Damsel in Distress: Viole could be seen as one here since he's trapped in the Thorn room while his friends are trying to free him. He frees himself at the end after obtaining the power of the Thorn.
- Deadly Game: Continuing right where the Growth Tournament left off.
- Exposition: Hwaryun provides Reflejo a massive info dump that the FUG members on the side of Viole knew about the plan Reflejo's side was doing, and planned against it.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Viole gains the power of the Thorn.
- The Reveal:
- A very minor one, but the Workshop Guard that tried to stop Beta from jumping off the Archimedes was Hatz in disguise.
- Yuto was Hwaryun in disguise. The real Yuto had swapped out after she had gained the higher-ups trust to get into Team FUG alongside Reflejo.
- The fake Thorn within Viole is actually an object known as the Bowl that will store the Thorn within it; giving Viole the rightful ownership of the Thorn.
- True Companions: Quaetro comes to see Wangnan as one which amazes even Khun considering how crazy the former is.
- Wham Shot:
- Yuto taking off her mask to show that she's Hwaryun.
- The massive Thorn reacting to Viole, and choosing him as the container.
- The final shot with the Thorn hovering over Viole after he had escaped the Thorn room he was trapped in.
- Wham Episode: Viole obtains the power of the Thorn.
