Once the person dies, their soul and conscience escape the husk and leave it empty. But where does it go? With no explanation of how it is possible, people think the souls would go somewhere they could see the ones below. While it is only a myth, there is also an ancient tale which tells a story of a man with unfinished business to come back to life in another body to fulfill his promise – the tale of Luyo Sun Hue, the founder of the Hue dynasty.
With responsibility ahead, “Birdcage”, says Johann. Right as he says so, a massive construct resembling a birdcage closes in on Li, trapping him inside. Stood up and clasping his hands, “I can control every condition in my shop. If you do not want to be hurt, go downstairs!”, says Johann, suggesting Will and Anastasia to go inside. Seeing how he is utilizing his property, “If you carry on with this, your shop will be no more”, says Will, “Your capacity is large but not enough to control an emperor. Instead of trying to create a suction, just disperse the excess”, he adds, instructing Johann to act as a funnel rather than a sponge, but with roof atop, Johann cannot shoot the excess straight up and out.
As Li’s mana output increase, his constructs start to resemble, more or less, weapons. Swords, spears and shields, faintly resembling plates and cutlery, his mana output is that of a factory’s. Akin to a family, in a land far east, of one such lineage with immense powers comparable to an army of a million, but within each person. Looking back at her, “Anna, could you kindly bring something from my coat downstairs? And please hurry~” says Will, asking for his watch he forgot. Evidently scared, Anastasia goes downstairs to retrieve what Will asked for. “How long can you hold him for, mate?”, he asks. “About a minute or so. If you do not hurry, I would resort to using your body as a capacity”, says Johann, struggling to hold Li.
Downstairs, frantically searching for his watch, Anna comes across a small pendant in Will’s pocket. Setting it aside for a moment, she also finds the watch inside. With the way upstairs slower, she resorts to deliver the watch to Will via “float”. Upstairs, “My root has been severed so I cannot be overloaded with mana. If you can no longer hold his charge, transfer it straight to me”, says Will, but, after getting delivered the watch, “Johann, mate, shoot the stream into my left chest pocket. I configured this to transfer the CE99 into CE10, a less harmful microwave, so I would not die even if it could kill me”, says Will, putting watch in his chest pocket.
Turning his hands’ clasp into a bowl, Johann makes his birdcage funnel and redirect all of Li’s mana into Will’s body. Immediately lighting up, a faint mesh-like vest can be spotted under Will’s shirt… About 5 minutes later, “Mate, the stream has subsided, now stop!”, yells Will, “If you get any more out of his body, Li will die”, he adds. As he knows how a body without mana perishes, Will is cautious of the danger it could bring, even to a high-capacity body like Li’s. Upon releasing the physical funnel, Li’s mana is still directed at Will. “Try cutting the stream”, says Will… To no avail, he tries one last thing – short circuit. Removing the watch from his pocket, Will gets shocked instantly with an impulse of CE99. With an energy void inside his body, as most of it was transferred into CE10, the crude constructs of mana Li made get transferred back into his body, as well as the table and the things that were on top.
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As the situation up top finally settles, Johann brings Li and Will downstairs on stretchers, suspended in air using the same float art used by Anna. Sitting in a table, “Why is Cassandra so important to Will?”, asks Anastasia. Tired from the commotion in the attic, “I do not really know. Ask him about it”, says Johann, pointing to the unconscious Will. “This pendant here – this is what he treasured just like his lifesaver he asked me to deliver. And a picture of a girl is in this, eerily similar to me. If this is me, why do I not remember him? Why can’t I remember anything?”, says Anna, frustrated and scared. Sighing out a large, “That picture – that is the last of her photos. She is 13 in that photo. About two years ago, in 1872, the remainder of the Johannes perished along with their home city – Lahti. On a certain day, Will came in here, sat where you are now and just cried for 2 hours straight, clutching that pendant. “I cannot have anyone, sure, but why do they have to suffer? Why are people around me suffering?”, he repeated. At the time, I almost died as well. The Carnations hunted down a girl to this place; she would have been about the same age as Li now. The girl did not eat or sleep for 3 days straight and came knocking on every door she came across. I was an idiot back then, too. Instead of taking them on my own turf, I came to protect the girl outside the shop. They shot through me – the girl died. To them, my name sounded like Johannes and they almost sent me to heaven as well. But Will came just in time to explain the situation. That is when he heard about the Lahti incident, too. I think, if he had just a little bit of mana, he would have sent them to hell, even if he did not have enough for everyone, he would have done it no matter what”, says Johann, reminiscing.
“Do you know what he likes?” asks Johann, “He does not have any mana, since long before I got to know him, yet he still lives on. He is not a native of this land and he never stated where he came from, either. But he likes it here: the people, culture, and the tales. His favorite is the Song of the Capeless Knight, he said it reminded of himself and often tell me to one day write a tale about him. You know I cannot write a fairytale so why don’t you write it, mate? He would be thrilled to know at least one of his dreams came true”, he adds.