Six months.
That's how long it had been since the Superior-Class Tower disappeared from the face of the earth.
One day it was there: a massive black spire that had swallowed an entire stadium and everyone inside it. The next, it was gone. Dissolved. Vanished. Like it had never existed at all.
The survivors came back.
The national teams returned to their countries. The civilians were rescued and reunited with their families. The lesser teams who had stayed behind to protect the non-combatants, returned safely. They were hailed as heroes.
But nobody felt like heroes.
Because too many people hadn't come back.
---
One month after the Tower vanished, a memorial was held.
It was massive. The largest the capital had ever seen. Thousands of people filled the streets. Banners hung from every building. Candles lined the sidewalks.
The names read aloud weren't Climbers. They were civilians. Families. Children. People who had come to watch a tournament and never went home.
