Day 1: I woke up and instantly felt there was a weird vibe in the air. I looked around but I couldn't find anything. It seemed I didn't wake up in an isolated space. Good starting point. My pillow seemed to still be here. I went downstairs. Are Hera and Philip still sleeping? I checked on them and they seemed fast asleep. Normally one of them wakes up early but I guess they were really worried about me and went to bed tired from worrying. I didn't forget this time that to them I was away for a whole day and night. I couldn't shake off this weird vibe. I made some sugar apple ice cream and ate some. My buddies arrived and we talked a bit after heading toward the town square. Hey Greg, do you feel that bad vibe too? It woke me up at 4 am. I feel it too but that is nothing compared to what my intuition tells me. It is going crazy saying that there is danger. We stopped.
This is bad, can you see anything Agnis? I checked and even though I can feel something is off I can't see what is off. I also don't know what to look for. Can you feel what direction it comes from Greg? It seems to come from everywhere so I can't pinpoint the source sorry.
Ugh, this timeline is going to suck even more than the previous one, isn't it? It can't be worse than the Mountain timeline. Ooh so we’re naming the timelines after the end bosses, sounds fine by me! We arrived at the town square and I looked around. The town square looked quite normal; the people were just doing their things like they always do. There were still some traces of the market from two days ago but besides that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I looked into the sewers and… oh. There was so much miasma down there, the moment somebody would lift the manhole it would certainly create problems. This brings me to the question: why isn't it leaking from the sewers, manholes normally aren't made to seal off high-density corrupted mana, I think. Who made this sewer system? If these manholes don't leak how did Charlize get mana poisoning in the original timeline? The more I think about it the less and less of this town starts making sense. Not only do details about this barrier not make any sense but this town's sewer system doesn't make any sense either. Are they related? The sewers in Boshi town are suspiciously clean but nobody seems to ever get down there. As I thought about this we arrived at Uraya’s shop.
Wasn't something supposed to happen here? Yes, but maybe nothing should happen. Hey, Greg, just curious, do you have any idea what is going on in the sewers?
Hmm, it feels like the corruption down there is higher than before, I wouldn't be surprised if some townspeople would be able to feel it without going down there. Do you think we should do something about it?
What can we do about it? I don't know? Don’t you have some Shadowcat secret technique to deal with this?
Well, there is something that could deal with this but I don't know how to do it. No luck, eh? I am just wondering if is there anything any of you theoretically can't do?
Hmm, eat potatoes? Deal with water. Be single... I was a fool to ask…
Well, I only know what a phoenix can do I have no clue what a nine-tail can do but all I know is that we probably would be screwed if I grew up in phoenix mode. Yeah, I was thinking about that too, if you were more skilled at using phoenix stuff like your sisters we might not be here.
Also, life would be hard without you 3 I don't think any of us would have been alive or doing well without each other. Well, shadow cats are only good at manipulating energy, curses, possibly assassination, and defensive techniques. There is a love-hate relationship with light users, we are either super weak to them or super strong against them.
Huh, I know that the first shadow assassins were shadow cats but how does being bad at offensive magic and being an assassin match together it is kind of hard to assassinate people if you can't attack. Well, that is where the love-hate relationship comes from there seem to be 2 types of shadow users and I even have a good example for this. It might look the same but the shadow magic I use is different than yours, you have the one that assassins use which is weak to light magic while mine is the defensive type which is strong against it.
Hmm, that is odd indeed. We have to consider ourselves lucky that we only found opponents that exploit our personal weaknesses because there is nothing we can do about our racial weaknesses. No, don't say that you just jinxed us! At that moment we felt an energy surge, even the random people walking around casually seemed to feel it.
See! What did I tell you! Nothing visually impressive happened but we got hit by a feeling that induced nausea. Luckily, I’m no stranger to nausea neither is Gregory. Ted seemed to suffer the most. I circulated nature magic through my system and took out some anti-nausea potions Gregory had me store and handed them to my buddies. Gregory emptied the bottle and directed his attention to the source.
Guys, we have a big problem. Out of nowhere, they appeared, and everyone started to scream and panic. In mere seconds the whole town square turned into chaos. Why? The shades that normally only Azu and I could see now appeared. I wasn't even using the correct filter so that means everyone could see them. It wasn't just any small number. As far as I could see there were shades.
Hey on a scale from 1 to fucked how bad is this? I'd say pretty fucked, we will be fine but I can't say that about the civilians... I made some ice walls to block the path of some shades so that the people could escape. Gregory was doing the same with earth walls. I looked around, there didn't seem to be an isolated space this time and the shades weren't just on the town square but throughout the whole town. I could lead these people safely out of the town square but there was no use if they would get attacked by the shades out on the street.
“Hey watch out twerp! Hey, what are you! Aaah!” Oh, that must be Donkey. We looked over and some shades were approaching their group. Please tell me we don't have to save them. That would be the morally correct thing to do. Let's save them and be the heroes! I don't think we are obligated to help them.
I don't want to be a hero or morally correct, let's watch them squirm! And maybe help them afterward. Ted shook his head and ran at them with Raishin to help out while Gregory and I watched by.
Not saying I disagree with you there but you sounded like a villain there. I don't care what people think of me I'll be whatever aligns the best with my interests. Let’s see if we can find a way to deal with these shades while those guys play the heroes. I threw a dagger cloaked in ice at a shade and it went straight through the shade.
It seems that they still don't interact with magic or physical objects, at least they interact with visible light now. Oh, maybe light magic works. Well, I don't know any light magic neither do you. You don’t, right? Nope, but I can try something. As I see it now, I have the choice to allow you to blow up this place or get mauled by pink shades, I would like to say that the difficulty scale is set too high here!
Hey, come on I haven't blown stuff up in a while! Give me some credit! Do you even know any light-based magic circles?
Haha of course not! Who would learn magic circles they can’t use! You are not helping! Then how are you going to try light-based magic then?
Hmm, light-based yes, magic? Not so. You just have to be creative! I could move the shades with my water magic by using [Frozen Ground] and making slopes that they would slide off to the edges of the town square. Gregory was moving the ground under the shades
Ok I give up how are you going to try to defeat them? With my archnemesis! The laser!
What? You know a beam of light, the things I have bad experiences with, I got hit by a laser in the dungeon, and another laser while fighting Nayani, I have a bad track record with lasers.
I know what a laser is… I formed droplets in the air and formed them into a lens shape. I focused the lenses on an ice mirror which aimed at a bigger lens. Laser go! A weak light beam got out of the lens and hit a shade. Nothing is happening and I'm sure a laser looks differently.
Hmm, this went better in my head. Laser go! I cheated and shot out a [Fire beam]. Ha, see! It worked! You know that I realized that you were cheating, I could clearly feel the fire magic. Meh, tough customer, ok fine I’m out of ideas, are you happy now? Not really and that shade seems unscathed. At that moment I heard the sound of [Windblasts]
“What is going on? What are those things.” Oh hey, Charlize, we have an issue with these things, maybe you can help out.
“Uhm sure what is the plan? We defeat them! Charlize sends a [Wind blade] at a shade but it doesn't do anything.
“I want to know how to defeat them!” We are working on it. In the distance, I saw that Ted got tired of these shades and used his Bear avatar to keep himself, Raishin, and the bullies off the ground and out of reach of these shades. A shade got close and Gregory manipulated its energy and folded it in itself until it was a small ball and disappeared.
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Any chance you can do that to all of them? 0 chance sorry, it takes quite a lot of concentration.
Given infinite time can you get rid of all of them? I know this is normally a normal question but since you are asking it, I would want to hear some details first.
Charlize and I will try to bundle them up and you will do that stuff on the bundle before it gets too big for you to handle how about that? If they are bundled up that could work but I'm not sure how fast this will go.
Oh! Hey look they have shadows how about you shadowmeld them and remove the shadow of whatever you dumped them in? That! Hey, that might work. Go bundle them up I will make a big rock in the middle of the town square.
I left a clone in stealth close to you to defend you! I ran over to Charlize. Hey Charlize we have an idea can you help me with luring these things to that rock over there?
“Sure, how about you go on a date with Kanna after this? “Our town is in danger!
“Ok sorry! I will help out!” Ok, the guilt trip worked I don't have to go on a date with the troll.
“How do I lure them though? magic doesn't work on them” I thought about a rude comment but I decided to try and be civil. Uhm you could grab their attention and lure them they seem to go after anything that gets close. I dashed at a group of shades and made them slip toward the rock by making slippery ramps. They were still walking on the floor which means they did interact with the floor. They didn't seem to slip and fall though. Not that I could use my signature move of freezing their pants to the floor because they didn't have any pants. Charlize seemed to just lure the shades and made them follow her but since the shades weren't fast it took a while and I could see that she was getting frustrated. I really hope she won't take it out on me later.
The shadow of the rock was full. I made a small ramp of ice at the perimeter of the shadow of the rock so that they couldn't walk away and slipped back into the shadow of the rock. Gregory connected his own shadow to the shadow of the rock he made and [Shadow melded] them into the rock. The shades sunk into the shadow and disappeared. He then made the rock sink into the ground causing its shadow to disappear. He brought the rock back and seemed to check if the shades were still there. He gave me an ok sign telling me that it worked.
“Aagh, this is so slow and frustrating! You are so going on that date later on Agnis!” I guess I have an even bigger problem than those shades now. Luckily, she didn't see what Gregory did because she was getting frustrated. The shades had a low attention span so after a while, they could just break away and wander off. Charlize would lose about 6 to 7 shades while trying to lure them to the rock. “Hey, where did the shades by this rock go? Don't tell me they wandered off!” I continued slipping the shades to the rock but I might have been sloppy and left some ice patches untended.“Aaah!” Oops, it seems Charlize slipped over an ice patch. She gave me a murderous stare. Uhm Greg, I might have found the end boss of this timeline. Hmm? Charlize seemed to forget her task and rushed at me.
“I know you did that on purpose!” I didn't this time!
“This time? What is that supposed to mean!” Wait I'm sorry! Let’s just cool down and deal with these shades!
“Cool down? I’m heated up because of your ice!” I know this is frustrating but it isn't good to take it out on me! Look there are a lot of targets here to vent!
“I can't vent on something I can't hit!” I dodged wind attacks which were clearly aimed at me. Greg! Help! Greg shook his head. I'm sorry but you brought this upon yourself. Why! I slipped Charlize to get away but this didn't seem to improve her mood. She made a tornado. Any possibility we can talk this over?
“Sure, if you date my daughter!” Never! Raishin teleported to me. Hey, need help?
Hey, you want a date right Raishin? Ooh, can you set me up for a date?
I surely can. I used some illusion magic to make him swap appearances with me. I layered some water magic on top of it which would bend light to cause a similar effect. It is a possibility that he might mess up and that it gets found out that it is deception so the water magic is just in case.
Right, you are now me and I am you, you can get a date with Kanna now. Ehhh? I feel scammed but a date is a date.
I’m thankful for your help. I gave him a short explanation of the situation. Alright, I got this. It is time for my famous Agnis impersonation.
I am worried about those words but go for it. Hey! Charlize, I give up I will date your daughter! Hey, that is not how I would act at all.
“What? Really?” Charlize stopped the tornado and looked very surprised yet happy. She dashed at Raishin who looked like me now and grabbed him.
“Let's go meet Kanna now! She will be delighted to finally get a chance to know you! “She dragged Raishin away with amazing speed. But the shades!... I don't agree with what you did there but at least you know how to make life interesting. We managed to clear out all the shades on the town square. Luckily there weren't any people left there so nobody saw someone who looked like Raishin use water magic.
Ok, I'm back! Those guys were a real pain but I managed to bring them home, where is Agnis? I'm here.
Hmm? This jerk swapped appearances with Raishin to dodge Charlize, Raishin is going to have a date with Kanna soon looking like Agnis. The worst part is that Raishin agreed to this idea. I don't know who is worse, Agnis for forming this idea or Raishin for going with it. I can call over Cecilia, I wonder what you would do in this situation. Ahum, given the situation Agnis had no choice let's just forget this happened and move on. Hah! Thought so.
None of you guys make sense... So, do we need to save Raishin? He did put us in a situation where we got caught by Charlize and Cecilia so I would suggest making him sweat a bit. Agreed.
You guys are pure evil. Disagreed! He agreed to this idea! Moreover, what are we going to do about these shades, they are everywhere in the town we only got rid of those in the town square. Give me a second, I can instantly get rid of any shade standing in the shadow.
Don't you mean you can get rid of any shade standing in the shade? … … Come on guys! Ellipses aren’t a valid dialogue option! That was a very good pun! Ok, I got it! Gregory slammed his hand on the ground and the shades we could see from here which were standing on any shadow got sucked into the shadows.
They won't get defeated but at least they are trapped. They can't escape from there, can they?
Unless they learn to [Shadowmeld] they are stuck there yes, You might want to be careful while [Shadow melding] yourself you might run into them and if you get too close you might drag them out of a shadow with you if you're careless. Still, an uncomfortable feeling that there are shades trapped forever in the shadow of these buildings.
Hmm not forever, if the sun is just right and shines directly above some houses it might eliminate the shadow completely, destroying the shade. Would be a very unlikely event but not impossible. Hey, any chance that some super strong monster might be sealed in some shadow somewhere and one day it gets dug up because of some fool carelessly shadow melding?
I think it has happened once or twice before. I think it is something the shadow cats also deal with because in some cases the monster fuses with the shadow and becomes stronger than it originally was. So, it is a suboptimal way to banish opponents if there are other options?
Yah.
“It is quite noisy outside.” Granny Uraya looked outside her shop. Oh, granny Uraya! We walked over to her shop. You didn't notice anything about these shade things outside?
“I was brewing potions but I saw some pink things walking past the window, Is that what you guys are talking about?” Yeah
“It is rare to see you guys with just the three of you, you either are alone, with 2 or all together, did you guys have an argument with Agnis?” No, he got abducted by Charlize.
“Oh, the poor soul” Granny Uraya looked strangely at me. She didn't see through my illusion, did she? Ooh! What is this!? I picked up a potion and clumsily dropped it.
Woops! I stepped aside to make sure the falling bottle didn't splash on me and in doing so knocked over some other potions. I feel sorry for Uraya and I will pay her back for the potions I broke but I need to do my Raishin impression to not be suspicious.
Ugh, this potion stinks! A... Raishin! Stop touching stuff! Oof acting for Ted is a hit or miss. I’m sorry granny Uraya but we have to leave before this clown smashes all your potions.
Hey! Who are you calling a clown? My buddies herded me out of the shop. I “accidentally” dropped a small sapphire in her shop. I made sure she didn't see me drop it though. When we were outside, I told my buddies that I left a sapphire in her shop to cover the cost of whatever I broke and more.
Phew. I think any longer and she might've discovered your illusion Agnis. So, you think so too, eh?
That was a good Raishin impression but I'm not sure she bought it. Do you think she also got trapped here like Paul and Paula? They should be around the same age and she seems to know more than she lets on.
Yeah, remember when we slipped up and we had a conversation in ancient Kaledonian with her? Yeah, maybe she is doing her best too to make sure we don't notice even though we could probably just tell her.
“Wait you forgot something!” Uraya came out of her shop and had the sapphire in her hand. Oof, we lingered too long in front of her shop, what now? Ted whispered. Easy. You keep it granny Uraya! We’re in a hurry! I grabbed Ted and Gregory and dashed away transporting them in the Torai manner. I dropped them off at Raishin’s hut.
Hmm, I will have to pretend I’m Raishin while he's still held captiv... On a date, what does he even do on a normal day? Your true thoughts are slipping through. And mining for gold, trying to pick up chicks, and getting rejected, I guess?
I will just attempt to hunt something. More shadow clone training this evening Greg or are we done? Depends on if there are still things you want to learn as far as I’m concerned you are good enough with shadow clones and [Shadow meld] that I feel comfortable letting you mess with it and make it vaporize stuff or even more overpowered.
Ok! I will work on my Raishin impression and will just have a relaxing day then! I dashed off into the wilderness looking for prey.