Chapter 224: Mobius (8)

“What the fuck.”

Darkness descended. The stairs turned pitch black, and the sunlight beyond the window cast a pale gray hue on the place where we stood. We scanned our surroundings, our faint eyes gleaming, and heard wails erupting from all directions.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

We couldn’t understand why. Neither Milia nor I could figure out what was going on. We exchanged glances, then looked up, quietly murmuring Taffy’s name.

“What the hell?”

“….Maybe we should head up first?”

The footsteps echoing from the upper floors and the shouts filled with rage helped us grasp the situation.

“Who is it! Who the hell broke the power unit!”

“My data! My research! My work that took all day! Aaaaaaaagh!”

Every word dripped with murderous intent. We exchanged glances, gave awkward smiles, and then quickly rolled our eyes as we ascended the stairs. Because if we ran into those mages right now, we’d really have to prepare for the worst.

******

Hellscape.

Taffy didn’t know the meaning of the word, but everyone here was experiencing its definition firsthand. People were shedding tears for no apparent reason, and as far as she could see, they were kneeling before meaningless lumps of metal and scraps of wood or clutching junk while screaming.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

“Waaaaaaagh!”

Amidst the screams, Taffy was contemplating what to do. Should she run away from here? Or should she head upstairs first and sort out the top floor? While she hid in a shadowy corner, pondering, the mages opened the door to the power room and checked inside.

“Ugh!”

“Cough! Cough!”

As soon as the door opened, black smoke swept through the interior like hunting bats. The core in the middle of the power room had exploded, unable to withstand Taffy’s magic. Looking at the core, which had a round hole punched through it like an egg hunted by its natural predator, a mage said with a regretful voice.

“This is no good, the core is completely shattered. Who did this? Who the hell was it?”

“Wait a second……!”

Another mage blinked and scanned the surroundings. He could sense the lingering residue of magic. Sniffing the air, he followed the dry, eerie scent and turned his head, spotting the dark shadow where Taffy was hiding.

“There!”

The mage’s hand shot forward, and blue electrical currents flashed along his arm. The sparks narrowly missed Taffy, blowing off a corner of the study and causing paper snow to fall from the sky. Old papers, alight and sparkling, fluttered down to the floor, and Taffy quickly moved in the opposite direction, clicking her tongue.

The mage shouted once more.

“There’s the culprit! The one who destroyed the power room is over there!”

“What?”

“Wooooooooo!”

Taffy couldn’t understand why they were so furious. What did those toys rolling on the floor have to do with her, anyway? Even if the power outage rendered them useless, weren’t mages capable of whipping up replacements like that?

“Kill her! Catch her!”

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

But Taffy didn’t have the gift of gab to explain that to them, which, in a way, was quite fortunate. Taffy once again tried to dive low like a shark and escape.

“You pest!”

But as one of the mages slammed his staff onto the floor and chanted a spell, a strong magical wave spread across the entire floor, bouncing her body upwards. Startled, she flapped around like a fish on a line and floated up, and as soon as she revealed herself, energy blasts rained down again.

“Hick!”

Lightning crackled, grazing Taffy’s hair. Blinking, she watched the lightning’s trajectory and rolled her body, searching for another escape route. The mages had already placed their staffs against the walls and floor, waiting to see where she would run.

Breaking through the wall to the outside, or going down, was impossible.

Taffy rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling, which had been full of security devices just moments ago, now had machines, drained of power, hanging down like stalactites, resembling an upside-down aquarium.

Taffy dodged another energy blast heading towards her face and quickly ascended.

None of the mages had their staffs pointed at the ceiling. Taffy’s body slipped through faster than they could block her with waves or projectiles.

“She went upstairs!”

“Block her! Catch her!”

“Give me back my research, you damn bitch!”

*****

“Hmm?”

Mobius felt the magical explosion from upstairs and lifted his head.

He frowned and wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead. The ingredients he almost spilled in surprise from the explosion were, thankfully, still in Mobius’s hand.

Mobius gripped his trembling hands tightly and carefully mixed the ingredients again.

He was busy formulating the magic arrays needed for his experiment, and it was irritating not knowing why such an accident was happening. Mobius took a deep breath, frowned, and reached for his staff. He saw the lights on the devices he had installed flickering.

“Why, why is this happening?”

Since he was unaware of the power room explosion, he couldn’t figure out the cause of the sudden instability in his magical devices. He could only look puzzled, checking if there was an issue with the circuits or connections he had made.

Coincidentally, he was in the middle of experimenting to see if magic flowed smoothly after plugging a new circuit into the power room.

To Mobius, the unstable magic and the flickering of the entire laboratory as if it lacked power were all within the expected range.

“Grrr……!”

But there were things he hadn’t anticipated.

That the lab’s magic was dropping now wasn’t due to his faulty array preparation, but simply because the power room’s magic core had been destroyed.

And, that the chains used to seal his old friend were also connected to the power room’s magic core.

“Mobius……!”

Because of that, an old man burning with vengeance was now rising behind Mobius.

“Wh-what?”

Mobius exclaimed with a bewildered face. He turned around to see an old man, once his friend, glaring at him with eyes blazing with rage. He was already lightly moving his fingers to draw magic circles, and a chill enveloped the mage.

“I will never give you my granddaughter!”

The old man shouted and thrust his hands forward. As Mobius crossed his arms in an X and chanted a spell, a massive shield protecting Mobius and the entire magic circuit formed, deflecting the old man’s ice shards. The ice poured down with terrifying momentum, relentless, and Mobius frowned, saying,

“Behave yourself……! Wait for your revenge!”

*****

A tremor ran through the area along with a loud explosion. People just stared blankly at the sky. The security mages preparing the aerial defense shield, the guards working outside-everyone froze upon hearing the chilling explosions from Mobius’s Tower.

Some among them remembered the great catastrophe that had occurred before.

Because that catastrophe, which led to the current Mobius’s Tower, had claimed the lives of not only mages but civilians as well.

While people were looking at the sky, Petunia Titi picked up small stones from the ground. She rolled them in her palm, gauging the situation, then flicked one lightly with her finger, hitting a distant guard. The fragment, striking his helmet, ricocheted like a billiard ball and hit another guard’s head.

“Oof!”

“Oof!”

With light tak! tak! sounds of impact, the guards clutched their temples and collapsed. Petunia Titi flicked another stone towards the other side and shouted.

“Debris! Debris is falling! Everyone take cover!”

“D-debris?”

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

At the mention of debris, the mages hastily raised their arms to cast defensive spells, and experienced guards retreated with the injured. And, seizing the opportunity created by the scattered vision and ensuing chaos, Petunia Titi began to run.

*****

“Wh-whoa! Wh-who are you guys!”

We encountered two mages while climbing the stairs. They wore slightly worn mage robes and had youthful faces. Without hesitation, I chose one of them and reached out, while at the same moment, Milia grabbed the other.

As I grabbed him, I simultaneously held his head and infused magic into him.

“Nngh-urrrk!”

The mage’s eyes rolled back as he fainted.

I took off his robe and glanced towards Milia. Milia skillfully wrapped her arm around the man’s neck, applying pressure to the carotid artery, rendering him unconscious. The struggling man couldn’t overcome Milia’s arm strength and slumped down, falling limp.

Milia rolled the man down the stairs, then took off his outer robe and put it on.

Watching the clean cleanup, I said to Milia.

“Not using energy absorption?”

“A woman with good technique. Attractive, right?”

Milia stuck out her tongue and joked with me.