The moment I decided to teleport home I saw Gianni walking with his girlfriend. I got home and went to the kitchen because I felt like eating some ice cream so I made some. I halted. Wasn’t Gianni supposed to arrive tomorrow? I continued making ice cream. I tried to remember when he was supposed to arrive but my memory failed me. I only interacted twice with Gianni in these time loops.
The first time I got a magic sword from him which I fixed and I used it the next day. I slowly started to remember. I used the magic sword on the last day on which we destroyed the root. This means Gianni arrived on day 4, I don't remember on which day I had that fight against Donkey and Monkey but if I go with the original timeline, he is a day too early. I think this shouldn't be a big problem but my instinct says something else. I never had my instinct tell me something different. Is this how Raishin feels all the time? Events have been different but they never jumped days. Does this mean that Gianni's journey was one day shorter? Or… I dropped what I was doing and headed over to where I saw Gianni and his girlfriend.I located them and pretended to casually walk up to them. I needed to check several things. Hey Gianni, how was your journey?
“My journey? I didn't go anywhere, have we met before?” My intuition was right, this is worse than I thought, first I wanted to know if he was still a merchant, second if his journey was just a day faster, and lastly if the relationship between us was still the same. This one reply gave the answer to 2 of them. Oh, sorry, I might have misheard Hera, I thought she said you were coming back from a merchant travel.
“I’m sorry you might have misheard, I’m just a postman, not a merchant.” This is even worse than I thought, Gianni hates postmen. My bad, sorry for disturbing your date.
“Date? I'm just having a stroll with my sister, but don't worry about it.” My bad. I walked away. That was embarrassing. His girlfriend is his sister now? What more has changed in this timeline? The mothers still seemed the same, the bullies… I don't know, they seem afraid of me but I defeated them swiftly. Also, I don't have that many interactions with people inside the town. I felt a bit sad that my friend wasn't my friend in this timeline anymore. My intuition still told me something was wrong. Why is this wrong? What else is wrong? I thought things would get easy now that we have the shakes.
-Gregory, I am teleporting over to your house, drop everything you are doing. - -This sounds serious, I'll be downstairs in 1 minute. - I teleported over to Gregory’s living room. Gregory came downstairs.
We have a situation. Remember our talk earlier today? Yes, I do.
I think my nine-tailed spirit fox instinct is telling me there are things in this timeline that are wrong. I’m listening.
So, I just encountered Gianni, he is not a merchant, he is a postman, his girlfriend is now his sister and you might remember more clearly but today wasn't the day he was supposed to be in town These details make my intuition go wild but what the implications are or what actions we should take are unknown to me. Hmm, Gianni was supposed to arrive tomorrow yes, if your intuition tells you that this is a problem then it is. I don't think we can correct this, was there anything you could see that was off?
Anything that is off? Nothing made sense several timelines ago. I don’t know what is supposed to be right or wrong, I didn't pay enough attention to our original timeline. Don’t blame yourself, it was impossible to know that we would get stuck in a time loop…
Yes, but that isn't helping us at all. So, what do you think the implications are?
I have no idea, maybe the fabric of space gets messy I don't know! oh. Did you figure it out?
Nope but this reminds me of what happened when those people appeared that tried to kidnap us. Kidnap us? Oh, you mean the dimensional blinks in Hourai?
Yeh, the fabric of space gets messy when that happens. Do you mean that something is trying to dimensional blink here?
I don’t know but it looks like that. Hey Agnis, do you remember the message that you deciphered from dodging the pink spears?
No? Ugh, the message that you deciphered was “The real one isn't here”
Oooh! So, you remember?
Nope! I hate you. You really need to pay more attention to things. Anyways, what if the real one is trying to dimensional blink here?
Possibly, it is going to be a huge problem if it gets through, it might irreparably tear the fabric but what that will do, I don't know, probably chaos. It is chaos now it won't be any less chaos than this. So, what do we do, do we do nothing?
I am wondering if I should try and fix the fabric of space or at least try, I can only make holes in it and fix the holes. I don't know how to make it neat but the thing is, even if I figure out how to fix it, should I? If the last root or whatever the “real” one is will appear when it breaks through, I will be sabotaging all our efforts. So, it is to allow chaos to descend on Boshi town or stay trapped here…
I… I think I should prepare to fix the hole this will make… I don’t know if I can… If I survive all this, please remind me to find a nine-tail fox to teach me all this stuff. Don’t say that, it might get rough but we will get out of this. We just have to figure out how to avoid lethal mistakes.
There is something I need to tell you, and please keep this secret from Ted and Raishin, I lost 2 lives last timeline right before I came to save you guys. What! How, how did that happen?
The reason you guys couldn't find me was because I was stuck in one myself. Breaking out of the space as I did before wasn't a 100% guarantee if I would just die trying that wouldn't have been an issue but I could get stuck in a void forever so I tried to not recklessly force my way out. The space was full of intangible shades and they were shooting lasers at me and multiplied rapidly. I made the decision to self-destruct because if they would catch me, they would overwhelm me and tear through my 5 lives easily. I blasted the area with frost magic and the intense energy influx killed me after which my core temperature dropped to -84 ℃ and killed me again. I would have died a 3rd time if Azu didn't heal me and prevented me from bleeding out while I was unconscious. I don't know how she got me out of there but I woke up the next morning. Gregory was silent. It looked like he was sorting out his feelings and tried to come up with something to say but he kept silent.
I'm sorry, I do not know how to react to that but I should have expected this, when we were stuck, we came close to dying so many times, luckily, we didn't… And it wouldn't be weird that we would lose some lives along the way with how things are going but still. You already blew through more than half of your lives while we haven't lost any… I think maybe… maybe we aren't taking enough risks... What if being too careful has the effect that you have to do more… Hey, listen, I'm not doing all this because I think I have to, I'm doing this because I want to. I don't feel forced to do anything.
Yes, that might be right, but does that matter? Look what situation that brought us. Maybe we should stop holding Raishin back, and maybe I should play a more active role. Don’t force yourself, letting Raishin thing is one thing but if you have to force yourself to do something you are not familiar with it might come to bite you back when it matters.
I will keep that in mind. We felt an energy wave. We ran outside and what we saw was… the Umbra mountains getting hit by a [Foxfire: Winter’s end]?
What is going on? Did you?
No! Is this? The same attack you used at the beginning of the timeline?
It is, nothing is lining up here, the number specific to this timeline disappeared, everything is wrong! I noticed something and protected Gregory with frost magic. A second later the whole town got frozen in frost.
See this is what doesn't make sense! The town should freeze over before a foxfire gets cast! Did everyone get frozen?
Besides you and me yes. I undid the frozen town.
This isn't right, come with me. I led Gregory to the town square. The town square was crowded because, for some reason, the hole I blew into the town square was fixed.
Oh, no this is bad. Greg, I will need you to watch the sky and prepare to defend the whole town, I will forcefully move everyone away from the town square, also if you remember any big events like these, please remind me. I pulled as many townspeople from the town square as swiftly and safely as possible with my wires. Judging by what has happened before, there could be no tell that indicates when my past [God of thunder] goes off, the town froze after the nuke on potato village went off. So, this nuke might go off before I see a [dagger torrent], also… the foxfire I dropped on the town hasn't gone off yet. As I pull people off the town square the sky starts to brighten. An enormous blue fireball appeared in the sky. Maybe, just maybe I should find a different skill to wipe out the shades… But what happened next surprised me more. Gregory formed an enormous shadow dome over the town. I saw Gregory chugging anti-nausea potions. A large tremor shakes the whole town as my foxfire hits Gregory’s [Shadow dome].
Hey, Agnis, how about using some weaker attacks to wipe out the shades next time? Yeah, I was thinking the same. Numerous ice arrows rain down on the town. Right, that happened too, sadly not only once. Gregory canceled his dome. I should give him a cursus on using nature energy although I don't remember if he was proficient in it. I took out my tails, took out my ice bow, and shot the ice arrows down that were raining down while my tails were controlling the wires to pull people off the town square. A lightning blast goes off near Raishin’s hut followed by another blast on the potato village.
Bad news Greg, another blast went off on potato village, these things might not happen just once. More ice arrow rain this time coming from the sky and I saw a [dagger torrent] appear on the town square. Some people got caught in it. Great now I had to figure out how to break my own skill, I worked so hard to make sure it had minimal weaknesses. I decided to pull out all the mana by sending a wave of frost magic out of it and pulling the wires apart with my own wires. It didn't work that well but it was enough to pull the trapped townspeople out of it. The dagger storm was still purple but I saw a red flash collapse into a point.
This is bad. Greg, can you deal with this ice rain? I need to freeze this red lightning nuke, also it might be a bit much to ask but could you pull mana out of me as I do so? Gregory nodded and also took his tail out. I stopped sniping the ice arrows and focused my eyes on the town square. There are still too many people on the town square I have to turn this lightning nuke into a frost pillar the instant it appears. In the corner of my eyes, I see some [Aurora Bearealis] shoot some ice arrows down. I see the charge build-up. I prepare some mana expensive skills and ready them to aim at the sky. I don't need these things to come back on us later. The split second after the first sign of the red lightning pillar appears I freeze it and send thousands of spatial bolts in the air; I feel Gregory pulling mana out of me while still dealing with the continuous ice rain. My body is hurting but I've had worse. Gregory seems to be feeling nauseous. I approached him while sending nature energy into his body to help him recover while still working my wires to pull everyone off the town square.
What is going on? I explain the situation to Ted.
This is bad. Another nuke goes off at Raishin’s hut.
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Why is this happening now? I don't know but it looks like something is wriggling behind the fabric of space, it looks gross and it makes me nauseous but it might give us a clue about what is happening next. My nature magic couldn't keep up with all these nausea triggers.
What is Raishin doing? His intuition told him to go into the sewers and deal with the shades there. What? But he will get his mana corrupted down there!
I told him the same thing but he said that he feels that it will work out… Hey, Greg, what are the special lightning tiger traits? I’m not sure…
Wouldn't it make sense that a race that generates infinite amounts of energy in various forms would be highly resistant or immune to mana corruption? That actually makes a lot of sense. Hmm, yeah it would be hard to imagine having a race get their mana system overloaded when they are responsible for generating insane amounts of it…
Well, if that is true or not, Raishin’s intuition has yet to be incorrect, let’s believe him in this. If he is keeping the shades in check that works for us because the appearance of the shades in town is something we don't need right now. The ice rain that halted started again so I shot some down but they got vaporized when another blue ball of fire appeared in the sky.
Greg, I’m freezing the town, it is the only way we can do this without eventually slipping up and having a lot of people die. You are not going to self-destruct, are you?
I am going to form as many fox fires as I need, since potato village is more than ash right now, I will just dump all of these there. Can you fetch as many anti-nausea potions as you can? I’m reaching my limit and I think I will be doing this for a while. What do you want me to do?
Get rid of ice arrows that might hit me. I took out all my tails and chucked as many fox fires as I could on potato village. I tried to get my mana as low as possible before freezing the town. Moments before the foxfire dropped on the town I used [Eternal winter], weirdly this didn't hit Ted and Gregory, and I started chucking more fox fires. I paused because ehhm, I had to empty my stomach. It had been a while since I felt this but yet again it felt like bugs were crawling through my veins. It was so intense that I would prefer exploding in blood as I did in that closed space in the last timeline.
Are you alright? No, I’m not but this won’t kill me, I think. This feeling makes me want to kill myself though.
You’re bleeding… Yeah, I have to focus on dumping this mana. The ice rain started again and Ted blocked the arrows heading for us and shot some extras down. Another foxfire appeared above the sky paired with a [God of thunder] on the town square. All the people were gone from the town square. That wouldn't matter because everything is frozen but if I pass out the town will stay frozen and since I’m not conscious to keep it non-lethal it might wipe out everyone. Another huge shadow dome gets cast over the town. Ted catches 2 bottles thrown at him and passes them on to me. I see Gregory chugging a potion as I do the same. It didn't remove it but made it more bearable. I chugged the second potion. The nausea persists.
So, I’m starting to run into a similar problem as Agnis. I will soon have to dump this energy; My shadow was already quite saturated from the fox fires he dropped on my shadow on day 0.
There is a lovely ash potato village in the Umbra mountains, I’d suggest you drop it there. I don't have a ranged option to dump mana… I always have to be close. Hey guys, I know that this isn't something that I would normally say but… what if we just let everyone die, it isn't worth it right? As you guys said before they will be back next timeline. We look at Ted.
No offense but why do you think I'm protecting the whole village? I’m protecting you guys, Uraya, Hera, Philip, Paul, Paula, and Gianni, most of these attacks would turn this town into ash or an ice comet field, also I’m a little bit fixing my own mistakes. It sucks but he is right, most of these things are also our fault and if we’re trying to save a small group of people we might as well try to save others as collateral. The dome trembles as it absorbs yet another foxfire.
I am also concerned for Raishin. I haven't seen any big blasts which is his signature fighting style, unless… Unless? Hey, are you thinking of what I’m thinking of?
Ted, can you go into town and fetch Uraya, Hera, Philip, Paul, Paula, Gianni, and his girlfriend as well as other people you care for and I forgot. Yeah, please place them far outside the town, maybe also bring Cecilia, Charlize, and her family. Uhh, ok, what is this about?
Does [Solar stream] ring any bells? Oh shit! I'm on it! As Ted leaves, Gregory's dome drops, and the ice arrow rain it was blocking after absorbing the foxfire started to rain down on the town again.
Is there any end to this? The question is: will nausea incapacitate us before or after Raishin’s [solar stream] arrives?
-Hey guys! The sewers are crowded, I hope if you guys don't mind but I used [Solar stream]. - -That is fine but you could have warned us earlier, we already assumed you did because we didn't see or feel any big blasts coming from the sewer. - - Yeah, please warn us beforehand next time, how long ago did you use it? -
- Uhh 5 or 6 minutes ago. - - Right, good luck there, we will be busy here too. - I chucked more fox fires on ash potato village while chugging more potions. They didn't seem to be working anymore.
Ugh, my potions don't seem to be working anymore, did we become resistant to them? That would be a cruel joke, please tell me we just reached the maximum effect that it can give us. Our focus started to slip. The edges of the town started to lose the protection of my frost. I also missed my fox fire and sent it way too far. It might have flown over the border and vaporized something in the next country. If I do this in the last timeline that might cause a war.
Hey, I think we should start running. You expect me to run with this nausea? If I move one step my dinner of last night will come out.
Ha! I already got my dinner of 2 days ago out of my stomach! How cute! I got my dinner of last week out of my stomach! But seriously, aren't we quite screwed?
Hmm, do you think you could survive a [solar stream]? You are quite tanky after all. I’m as likely to survive that as you are able to dodge it when it comes into the atmosphere. You can’t dodge lightspeed attacks, can you?
Of course not! -The targets are safe- - This might be much to ask but could you add 2 more targets to that list? -
- If there is still time sure, who are the targets? - - Agnis Hourai and Gregory Sheru-
- Oh for fucks sake guys! I’m coming! Don’t die! - So how long do you think we have and how long do you think Ted needs to get here? I heard a loud bear roar and something really big flew at us.
I think there is your answer. Ted went into big bear form and used his big bear avatar to launch himself at us. He crashed next to us and pulverized the building he landed on. The temperature started to rise. The attack is getting close. Ted’s avatar grabbed us and launched itself toward the direction it came from.
Greg, do you still have the energy to pull energy out of me? I don't think I have a choice. As we were still flying away from the location the sky started to become bright. I covered Ted and his bear avatar in frost, protecting us all. Gregory pulled as much mana out of me as he could manage and formed a shadow ball around the frost layer. Because at this rate we will still get hit by the [solar stream], luckily not full on but we might spend a good 1 or 2 seconds in the attack which could be enough to vaporize us unprotected.
This is going to suck! We got hit by something and it almost instantly broke through the shadow layer. My frost layer held out for a second before the energy influx became too great and I had to cancel it. But that was all we needed to land outside the range of the blast. Gregory did a great job pulling mana out of me. We both ended up vomiting all over big bear Ted’s fur.
You guys are disgusting but I prefer that over dead. We dropped to the floor but didn't get up. Any movement was paired with an intensifying wave of nausea. The inside of my mouth was sour and acidic. The [Solar stream] was still ongoing.
“What is going on?!”
“The town!”
“What in the world?” The people Ted saved thawed when they were being transported by Ted or before that. They were surprised, understandably so, the town they had lived in for so long was getting wiped off the map. Hey guys, how about we ban Raishin from using that skill ever again? We didn't answer but it wouldn't take a genius to know that we agreed. The solar stream continued for 3 more minutes before it stopped. Most of the people we saved noticed us and came over. I didn't pay attention to anything they said because I was trying my best to get my nature magic flowing again but I was unsuccessful. The feeling of bugs crawling in my veins and the sensation as if they could break through my skin and crawl out was absolutely horrifying. So, I made a decision. I could only control a little bit of nature energy. So, what I did was temporarily slow the blood flow to my brain to make myself pass out.
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I woke up to an energy wave. I got up in a pool of vomit. The sour disgusting smell assaulted my nose. Yuck, it seems that I even vomited in my sleep. I did feel better now, slightly nauseous. I cleaned up and used water magic for this. I looked around. I was in what seemed like a hut made out of earth and dirt. The whole hut smelled like vomit. Gregory was laying down passed out 2 meters from me, also lying in a pile of his own vomit. I decided to clean him up with water magic too and stepped outside the hut. It was 23;17 but it was really bright outside, why? There was a [Solar stream] dropping on where Boshi town once was. I assume this was the energy wave I felt. There seemed to be a camp made out of earth huts. Only Paul and Philip seemed to be outside.
“Hey, are you ok? What happened?” I still felt weak and sat down. Before that, is there anything to eat? They shook their heads.
“We only managed to quickly get some vital stuff before we had to evacuate.” Paul continued. I took some food out of my dimensional pocket and offered them some food. Philip looked at me wide-eyed but I ignored him. I explained what had happened so far. Paul seemed to be somewhat understanding but Philip was stunned. “I see, I’m sorry there isn't anything we can do to help you, especially when you’re dealing with things like that.” as he pointed at the [Solar stream] that was still falling on ash Boshi town. That's fine, did Raishin arrive here?
“Yeah, he was apologetic, but as you described and judging from his story it seemed to be necessary.” Well, the idea was good, it’s just the skill he used that is a problem.
“How is your nausea, I never saw such strong mana rejections as you 2 showed.” Mana rejection?
“Yeah, it is something, my wife… Paula studied in her younger years, it is uncommon but it causes effects like Gregory and yours, it can occur in anyone but if it manifests it’s there to stay. There have been some great witches that had no issues with using large volumes of mana and one day, they couldn't handle using a fraction of that mana. She could never figure out why it would suddenly appear but her hypothesis is that the rejection only happens if the mana that is used isn't pure and it seems that the percentage of unusable mana in the ambient magic flows has increased since we got imprisoned." Well, I found a mild loophole, I use nature magic to offset the nausea but I guess it is more treating the symptom than the cause, Gregory is chugging anti-nausea potions like its water. Paula stepped outside a hut.
“Oh, you’re awake.“ Philip was still sitting there shocked and stunned at what he was hearing.
“We were talking about Gregory and Agnis’ mana rejection.”
“Yes, your cases are quite severe, I don't even know how you came this far with a mana rejection as severe as that.” Well, we mainly use our racial skills so we don't need to use mana and for some reason, my frost and water element don't cause it, so that is why I’m known for being a water user in town.
“Very interesting, interesting indeed, as I found out in my research, lost magic doesn't trigger mana rejection, this is because for some reason only this branch of magic can form pure mana.” Aha, I’ll pretend I understand what that means.
“Frost magic as you call it always comes with a water affinity attached to it right?” Yeah
“So frost magic converts whatever it absorbs into energy the user can utilize and on itself, it doesn't cost mana or a minuscule amount, correct?” Sounds about right.
“Now frost magic belongs to lost magic so there is that but also the part of ‘energy that the user can utilize’ is important. If your body rejects impure mana then the only mana you can use is pure mana.” Oooh, so that is why magic I use with mana gained from frost magic doesn't make me nauseous. But I did that earlier today and for the first time ever it made me nauseous.
“I don't know the answer to that one sorry, I never managed to finish my research, because of this prison thing and also because I got kicked out of the witch community.”
“sorry about that…”
“It is not your fault Paul; I chose that path.” So, did you find any ways to lessen the effects? I assume you didn't find a solution to it?
“I’m sorry but the only solution I found was to keep mana usage within accepted ranges or not use mana at all. Sadly, that is a poor choice for a nine-tailed spirit fox and a three-tailed shadow cat…”
“Hey, Paula how are they supposed to do their role with this affliction?”
“I don’t know Paul, maybe the time of this planet has come.” Is there really nothing you can tell me about a nine-tail fox's special traits or skills?
“I'm sorry, we've told you all that we know.” Do you know if there are any other nine-tailed foxes down here?
“I heard a rumor of an old merchant friend of mine but there have been sightings of 3 girls in the neighboring country and that one of those 3 girls is a nine-tailed spirit fox.” What country?
“Lopazh, a small country where a lot of beast kin live.” I guess that makes sense. The [solar stream] stopped. I think I’m going to sleep again.
“Sleep well, and be careful tomorrow, Hera was worried sick.” I’d like to say I will be careful but unfortunately, I can’t promise that. Sleep well you 2. Sleep well, Philip. Philip was still looking around shocked and stunned by all the information he just heard. I retreated to my earth hut. Gregory seemed to still be sleeping. I laid down and fell asleep too.