Chapter 16 - Heads or Tails [2]
"So how'd I do?" Noah placed his sword on his shoulder and struck a pose.
"...50 points."
"Not 100?"
"Look at yourself in the mirror first."
"What do you mean... oh."
I know he's excited to have a cool sword in his hands, but at least have some decency.
'That sword…'
His fancy sword caught my attention. I was surprised he conjured it so quickly.
Its moniker was Insignia, the blade of Theodore the Hero, the hailed national hero of Demiurge.
Ichor's true power lies in its remarkable ability to manifest any creation you desire, provided you possess the necessary mana to bring it to life.
Ichor acts as an extra limb; it can copy, bend, and transform into anything you desire.
Though it comes with reasonable constraints, only pure mana core individuals can use the Ichor.
The mana it also uses is astronomically high, which means that if I had conjured Insignia, I would've perished from having all my mana sucked off me like a dried squid.
As much as I want it for myself, the Ichor was something I cannot use unless I want to die.
"Can you stand?"
Noah gave me a hand. It was the same arm that he used to slay the Eldia, all sticky and gooey. I'm surprised none of it went to his eyes.
"It's fine, I can get up by myself, no worries."
—Rumble Rumble!
"Tch, it seems like this isn't over yet… Noah, could you come over here for a moment?"
"Sure, but can you tell me what for?"
"I'll show you the benefits of having a pure mana core."
—Voom…!
Particles swirled at my fingertips, the exquisite focus and precision required for this Magic Art elevating it beyond mere spellcasting to the realm of true artistry.
It stands as my most revolutionary contribution to the world, a testament to innovation and mastery.
Such profound Magic Art was hailed…
"Cleanse."
White particles of mana rose into the air and clumped themselves into our clothes.
As it slowly sucked the filth off our clothes, the collected dirt gravitated toward my hand, resembling a black sphere.
"My clothes are...!?" Noah was surprised by how clean he was; even his clothes were neat and tidy, as if he had recently taken a bath.
This is my ultimate magic—the ability to never take a bath ever again.
…I still need shampoo and soap, though.
—Fwoop!
After using Cleanse, the two floating balls still gravitated toward my fingertips, covered with blood and dirt.
This spell barely uses any mana because it's entirely dependent on mana control.
So that's one advantage of having no mana yet and proficient control. I can invent something stupid like this.
'Ugh, that's foul.' The two balls looked atrocious, so I threw them away out of sight.
—Splat!
"Kuro, that magic. What is it called?" Noah placed his hands on my shoulders. It was the first time he looked at me so seriously.
"Cleanse, didn't I say it out loud?"
"Cleanse… Cleanse. I've never heard of that spell..."
"Yeah, cause I invented this myself, wanna learn how?"
“…”
—Clench…!
"YEAAAH!!!" Noah pumped his fist in the air after I agreed.
"...Heh."
As expected by the character I handcrafted.
Great minds think alike after all.
—Ziiip!
Cackling at Noah's reaction, I unzipped my backpack and tried to recollect the events from that peculiar dream.
'The Exitium stone is still here…' I remembered what happened back in that empty white space.
It felt so surreal that the questions in my head piled up into a towering mountain.
The more I travel with Noah, the more the novel derails into something completely different.
It won't be a surprise if it's irreversible at this point.
'No, now isn't the time for this.' I took the Exitium stone to find the portal's location in the Lower Stratum.
Compared to the portal back in the Middle Stratum, this one wasn't going to be as immense as that one. Finding this portal is going to be more challenging now that the Eldias are in a frenzy.
Thank god it doesn't matter anymore now that we have secured the Ichor.
—Fwip!
"Give me that for a bit, thanks." I took Insignia off Noah's hands.
"Hey! At least ask me beforehand!"
"Sorry, but there's no time to lose."
I closed my eyes and tried to think of an artifact we require at this instant.
I can't conjure artifacts without sufficient mana, so I have to take advantage of the mana that was still inside the Ichor, fresh out of the oven.
—Vooom…!
One of Ichor's abilities was to take out an artifact from Eclecia and use it for yourself, which is what Noah did a while ago.
The stronger the object or weapon I visualize, the more mana Ichor saps away from me.
If I form something minor, I won't die… I think. I could only make a ball the size of my hand with the Ichor, as tragic as it sounds.
It's times like these that make me worry about how incompetent I am in specific ways.
Besides that, the Ichor has three main functions: Form, Conjure, and Copy.
First is Form. I can make anything I want as long as I know what I'm doing. No matter how big or small, if I have enough mana, anything is possible.
Next is Conjure. The Ichor memorized almost every non-lethal artifact in its database from Eclecia, while combat-oriented artifacts were limited.
Theodore's weapon, Insignia, was one of those artifacts.
The last ability is called Copy, which allows the Ichor to replicate anything by absorbing an object of importance.
Sounds broken as hell, but there is a catch.
The ability is currently in a sealed state.
Copy in its sealed form won't retain the object memorized, making it useless. It's more of a trump card, not ideally used in situations where mana is crucial.
Refreshing my memories to re-understand the Ichor's capability, I thought of something that could take us down to the portal.
Something that could surely get us out of here…
—Shiiing…!
A golden light began to shine brilliantly.
Unlike Noah's Insignia, which lasted a long time, the glow dissipated not a second after, turning the flamboyant sword into something else.
"A wooden board...?"
…
…
Holy shit.
"Just? A board?" My smile turned into a grin; I could barely hide my excitement.
At first, I dismissed it as a joke, but for it to actually save our lives... this is what it's all about.
Peak Cinema.
"Get on. Trust me on this one."
"…Understood."
Noah obediently hopped on the board without knowing what this was.
For someone who's supposedly the same age as me, he acted like a boomer, when in reality, I'm triple his age.
'I guess I inject mana into the artifact?'
The board was bigger than a traditional skateboard; it could fit three people if we crammed ourselves in.
—Bzzt…!
'It's working!'
The board switched colour and glowed blue after I gave the artifact mana.
It's time for me to shine.
"Let's get this party started!"
—Vroom Vrooom…!!!
I revved up the board and positioned myself.
From here on out,
I knew I was born ready for this.
"Wait, what do you mean- GYAAAAAH!!" Noah's face twisted in terror a split second later.
—Nyoom!
The skateboard descended without deviating from the tower.
"Th-This isn't a regular boaaard…!" He clung to me for his dear life, and his grip crushed my shoulders.
Of course it isn't—it's a hoverboard.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Hang on tight!!!"
—NYOOOM…!
I sped down the tower at an unimaginable speed.
This hoverboard was the pinnacle of my childhood when I wrote about how citizens from Eclecia travelled from here and there.
It was rejected when it didn't fit the overall atmosphere, so it stayed in the concept sheets… until now.
We didn't have to worry about flying off the ground thanks to the hoverboard's quality and the thought put into it.
'Where is it…' I held the Exitium stone in my right hand to see where we were supposed to go.
I thought it would be a smooth ride from top to bottom, but the main problem was what was behind us.
"Dude, get off me- Woah!" I barely managed to avoid the falling debris when the tower was about to collapse.
"W-Won't we fall from here?!" Noah gripped my shoulders tightly; his dignity as the protagonist was faltering.
"No. We. Won't!" I tried to get him off by shoving him away.
"○●○□●■○□●■○■!" An Eldia that saw us going down screeched, crawling on the wall behind us.
It's grotesque; human limbs were used to crawl like a centipede.
"It's another Eldia! Hold on tight! We're gonna go faster!" I bent my posture and accelerated.
"A-Alright!"
"●□■□●□□!!!"
—Rumble!
Despite being faster than before and still accelerating, the Eldia wasn't going to back down.
We need to go faster, fast enough to outrun the Eldia completely.
"Noah! I need your help!"
"W-What is it again…! Bluerrgh…"
"Don't you dare vomit on me! Can you prepare wind magic!? As strong as possible!"
"I, I think I can… urgh…"
Noah conjured a magic circle without a second thought and decided to trust himself to me.
His nose bled during the incantation because he used a lot of mana, but that didn't stop him.
"Whenever you're ready, inject it directly on the hoverboard! I'll do the rest!" I kept dodging the falling debris in the meantime.
The Eldia, on the other hand, didn't need to evade and brushed it aside as if it was nothing.
"■□●○●□■!!!" The Eldia opened its giant maw, a passage straight to hell.
"The incantation is ready…! I have to put my hand on the board, right?"
"Yeah! Don't think about it, just do it!"
—Vrooom…!
Noah infused the hoverboard with wind magic, turning it so bright we looked like a green comet.
"Good job…! W-Whoa!" I avoided the debris on the right. It would've killed us if I weren't careful.
"■□□○●□■!!"
Attracting too much attention, even more Eldias appeared from every direction, each with grotesque appearances that if someone other than me told me we were in hell, I wouldn't be surprised.
'Tch, there's more of them…!' I scoffed, unsettled by the seemingly endless wave approaching us.
'Now all we have to do is wait until the moment is right…'
…
…
"Uhh, Kuro…?! Aren't we getting too close to the ground?!" Noah exclaimed, his voice tinged with panic.
"..."
…
…
In response to Noah, I eased off the throttle of the hoverboard, intentionally allowing the Eldias to close the gap.
"■□○●□■□●○!!" The Eldias spotted their opportunity and lunged forward with a frenzied roar.
"K-KUROOO!!!"
'NOW!!!'
—Clank…! NYOOM!!!
With a thunderous burst of acceleration, the hoverboard shot into the sky, leaving the Eldias plunging into the abyss below.
'That… that was too close…' I wiped the sweat off my head and kept driving until we reached a safe point.
"I thought… I thought we were going to die…" Noah wheezed for air, so nervous that he collapsed on my leg.
“…”
I looked at Noah, all amused. I didn't expect him to react that way when we lifted off.
Am I the odd one out for remaining calm in a situation like this?
It'd be better if I didn't think about it too much.
—Vrooom…!
"We aren't done yet." I revved up the engine and kept moving.
"No, no, no, not again!" Noah protested; he wasn't used to it yet.
Now that we escaped, we need to go to the portal and leave this dimension for good.
I heard countless Eldias rushing to the tower from a distance, so I seized a detour and headed to an empty river, devoid of water.
It'll be safe as long as I don't hit a wall, thanks to the hoverboard's safety mechanisms.
"I can't do this anymore… hmgh!"
"Oh shut up for a second!" I ignored Noah and focused on getting us out of here.
—Rumble Rumble… BOOM!!!
'The sky is crumbling...!' I gazed up at the city from above, like a surreal dream teetering on the brink of chaos.
As I said before, the Ichor is the only remaining energy source of Eclecia. If two idiots stole the artifact, then the entire capital is going to collapse soon.
"There it is, the portal!"
In front of us was a house emitting a blue glow, similar to the portal from Middle Alephs.
—Criiiik…!
"Hup!"
"Guek!"
I dismounted the hoverboard and quickly transformed the Ichor back into its original form, a shimmering golden sphere.
Because I did it in a hurry, I landed awkwardly, causing Noah, who was clinging to my leg after our unauthorized hoverboard adventure, to tumble to the ground face first.
"Ugh... is it finally over…?"
"Get your ass up! We're running!"
I dragged Noah and ran into the house where the portal is.
"I might actually die at this rate…" Noah accepted his fate and didn't care about being yanked by the collar.
"□□●○□■¤○●■¤■!!!"
All the Eldias from a distance wailed in unison.
Noah and I knew that this was a bad omen, a call for its brethren to wreak havoc.
"There, I see it over there!" Noah pointed at the portal and stood up to open the door.
—Rattle Rattle!
"Come on, open up!"
Noah tried to go inside, but it didn't open by itself. This must be due to the power having shut down after we took the Ichor.
—Bang Bang Bang!
"Step aside!"
—Kachick! Boom!
I loaded my firearm and pierced through the window without delay.
The two of us quickly hopped into the house and ran as fast as we could.
"○●□¤■●○¤■!!"
“Haah… haah…!”
"Haah– ack!!"
Wounded by something, Noah tumbled to the ground and held onto his right ankle.
"Are you alright?!"
"I'm… I'm fine!"
I wanted to know why he had fallen, but now wasn't the time to ask.
"Up… you go!"
"K-Kuro?! Put me down!"
My only choice was—indeed, to shove him into the portal.
"And in, you… GO…!!"
"Hey, hey, hey, wai-AAAAH!!!"
Unwillingly, I flung him into the portal with all my strength and followed after him.
I cast one final gaze over Eclacia, whispering a quiet prayer for those who have lost their lives.
"Rest in peace, everyone."
Even though this world had been my creation, I couldn't shake the feeling of mistreatment.
"And I'm sorry."
—Shaa…!
With that, I closed my eyes and jumped into the portal, bidding a heartfelt farewell to a kingdom that once thrived.
…
…
'Ah, it's finally over…'
After a long and treacherous journey, the two of us escaped Eclecia, the Lower Stratum of Aleph.
"This is… no. It can't be!" My eyes were filled with despair.
What lay in my eyes wasn't Earth— but pure, unhinged darkness.
Highest Aleph. A hellscape that must be avoided at all costs.
We were transported to a place more sinister than hell.
A layer where death was the only mercy.
