I'm the bomb.
No, but really, I'm the bomb, and I was going to blow up the mansion.
Basically, Elara was going to copy the mana circle somewhere in the mansion and get as far as she could, and I would activate them.
There was one problem, though...
"You tryna kill me?!" I exclaimed, dumbfounded at Elara's plan.
She gave me a blank look. "Weren't you also thinking about blowing up the mansion?"
"Yes, but that didn't include me blowing up with it!" I dramatically raised my hands to replicate an explosion.
"That sounds like a you problem." She was now looking at me with... disgust?
"...Wow arent you a cold-hearted princess?" I smiled, expecting a reaction.
"Hmm..." She smiled back, "Guess you're right."
My smile faltered. 'This girl.'
"Haa..." I sighed. "Okay, seriously, how do I not blow up? Dying isn't fun, you know."
A small cube appeared in her hand, and she threw it in my direction. "Here."
Catching it, I asked. "What's this?"
"Its a short-distance warp device."
Staring at the cube, I was amazed at the technology.
"Wait, why didn't you use this before?" The words slipped out of my mouth.
"Before?"
'Shit.'
"I mean... back at the hotel when the explosions were going off." I nervously spoke whatever excuse I could come up with.
"..." She paused for a moment, her expression unreadable. "I'd rather die."
"Wha-?"
"Lets move." She cut me off, but I could tell she didn't want to talk about it, so I just listened and followed.
------
Reaching the mansion once again, there we could see the townspeople gathered. We followed the same path as last time, leaping over the gate, just this time we had a lot softer of a landing, not attracting any attention.
We decided to go around to the back of the mansion and blow up the courtyard.
Sneaking around, we eventually reached the courtyard, and here was a big problem...
"It's full of thosethings," I whispered to Elara.
The entire courtyard was flooded with those black figures. If they spotted us, the demon would've immediately known we were there.
"We can go through the mansion instead." She whispered back.
"Hmm," I nodded.
We went through a nearby window as quietly as we could.
I focused mana on my ears...
Nothing.
"There's no one nearby we can move."
"Okay."
I blinked.
'Okay...?'
I expected her to question me on how I knew or something.
'Why does she trust me so much?'
Thinking of it, I realised how trusting Elara had always been of me, as if she knew I meant no harm. I brushed the thought aside.
'Maybe I'm just really charming.'
"What are you waiting for?"
Cutting into my thoughts was Elara, and right below her feet was a mana circle.
'That was fast.'
"I thought we were gonna sneakthrough," I spoke, puzzled.
Her lips curled into a wide smile, a bit too wide. "It's better to blow it up from the inside."
"..."
'Fractus, you're seeing her smile, right...? She's insane.'
"Okay... what should I do?" I asked.
"..." She gave me a blank look. "How am I supposed to know? You're the half-demon."
'Gods, why must you challenge me so?'
I reluctantly walked up to the mana circle. Crouching down, I put my hand on it and tried to channel mana toward it.
"Ghk-!"
A sharp pain pierced through my head as I felt something entering my mind.
Ignoring the pain, I tried focusing on whatever it was, and eventually an image appeared in my mind, or rather...
'Another circuit?!'
Lots of questions appeared in my mind, such as. Are circuits demonic magic? Is this why Elara referred to Fractus as a demonic sword? But I decided to focus on the circuit before me.
Channeling mana through the circuit, I prepared myself for any sudden changes or loss of control, but... nothing of the sort happened. In fact, it was incredibly easy compared to Fractus's circuit.
For easier referance imagine grinding through level 100 as a complete noob. You'll eventually complete it after many trials and errors. But now, what if you went to level 1? It would be extremely easy, right? That's what it felt like.
After breezing through the circuit, I stood and scanned my surroundings.
'She's gone.'
Elara had left, already leaving me alone. I focused my mana on my eyes and began to see the mana in the air once again. It stood still, but eventually it began to rush toward the mana circle.
'It's kinda cool to watch.'
I took out the cube and prepared to leave.
'Wait... how do I activate this thing?'
The mana around began to speed up as it swiftly moved toward the circle.
'Shit!'
I rotated to the cube, constantly touching and pressing anything that looked like a button. As a last resort, I tried directing mana to it.
It didn't work, reminding me I couldn't use mana outside my body, Fractus and demon circles apparently being the exceptions.
"Haa..." I sighed. 'Fuck.'
I closed my eyes, prepared for death, but just then another idea came to me.
'The mana in the atmosphere.'
I tried something new I'd never thought of. Instead of using the mana within me, I tried to use the mana directly from the atmosphere.
'Come on,' I tried commanding it to move, but to no avail.
'Damn it, move!' Sweat dripped down from my face.
But eventually...
It responded. Moving fast, really fast, toward the cube and...
-BOOOMMM
"Ha-ha-ha"
In an instant, my scenery changed.
"I did i-"
-Thud
I fainted.
------
-Splash
"Ahh! What the fuck?"
Coughing loudly, I tried to comprehend what was going on.
I opened my eyes, and there I saw...
Elara...
Holding a bucket.
"The fuck was that for?!"
She smiled. "Oh, you weren't waking up, so I decided to help you out."
"So you thought throwing me with water was a good idea?"
"Yes." She answered without hesitation.
'I swear she wasn't like this in the first loop.'
"Anyway... did the plan work?"
"The fact that we are still alive should answer that question."
"True." I agreed, she was making sense, "But wait..." I finally noticed my surroundings.
"Where are we?"
"Where else? In the Solmere Duchy."