The Birth of the Zahard Empire and the 135th Floor

Lore & Background

In the ancient past, a group of thirteen irregulars entered the Tower, seeking its ultimate prize: the power to rule. Among them was Zahard, a charismatic and ambitious warrior who, with his companions, climbed the floors, making contracts with Administrators to use shinsu. The only confirmed Administrator death is Enryu killing the 43rd Floor Administrator; Zahard made a contract with the 100th Floor Administrator, not a kill. This journey culminated in the establishment of the Zahard Empire, with Zahard as its king and his allies becoming the heads of the Ten Great Families. The empire brought order, but also stagnation, as Zahard decreed that further climbing would cease, locking the Tower's progression.

In Their Own Story

The air on the 134th Floor tasted of ozone and old lightning. Zahard stood before the Administrator—a being of coiled light and absolute law—and spoke without sound, his will crashing against the entity's core like a tidal wave. 'I claim this floor,' he declared, and the Tower groaned in response, its very shivers felt from the Outer Tower to the Workshop's deepest vaults. Behind him, his companions stood silent: Eurasia Blossom's hair drifted in an unfelt wind, Khun Eduan's spear hummed with barely restrained lightning, and V's eyes were fixed on the floor above. The Administrator bowed, its light dimming in submission. Above them, the 135th Floor loomed—a dark, patient mouth, a challenge that would never be answered. In that single, electric moment, the empire was born, and the Tower's fate was sealed like a tomb.

Reader's Guide

The Birth of the Zahard Empire begins with thirteen irregulars breaching the Tower's gates—Zahard, Arlene Grace, V, Eurasia Blossom, Khun Eduan, and the others—each climbing from the Outer Tower as outsiders with nothing but ambition and raw power. They conquered floor after floor, sometimes through pitched battle against Administrators, sometimes through nerve-shredding negotiation, each victory stacking their legend higher. Along the way, they forged alliances sealed in blood and marriage, giving rise to the Ten Great Families, and commissioned the Workshop to craft the 13 Month Series—weapons that would later become relics of grief and war. The climax came when Zahard stood atop the 134th Floor, crowned King, and decreed that no one—not even his oldest friends—would climb higher. That decree locked the 135th Floor behind a wall of taboo and fear, and it birthed the Genesis War: V and Arlene's desperate rebellion, their deaths, and the simmering hatreds that still poison the Great Families today. The 135th Floor remains unconquered, a sealed door that whispers of what lies beyond—and a constant reminder that the empire's greatest victory was also its first betrayal.

Did You Know?

• The 135th Floor remains an unbreached mystery, but no canonical 'Key of the Tower' exists—only speculation and rumor surround its sealed door.
• Zahard's decision to halt the climb is whispered to be tied to a prophecy: if he ascends the 135th Floor, he will die.
• The Ten Great Families were once bound by shared glory, but millennia of scheming and blood feuds have twisted those bonds into razor wire.
• The Workshop, an ancient and shadowy organization, created the 13 Month Series specifically for the princess selection system, not simply as a general gift for Zahard to give to the princesses.