Ascension: Online

After around an hour or so, Hina-nee woke me up. It took so long that I nearly actually fell asleep. Still, laying on Hina-nee's thighs was pretty relaxing.

The reason why I hid the fact that touching the final tetrahedron didn't actually hurt for me at all was that I couldn't be completely sure whether or not this was a one-time thing or just applies to anyone who has touched a tetrahedron once already, permanently. If I told Hina-nee and Furuwa about this, they would naturally want to test it out as well.

Maybe I would be able to stop Hina-nee, but I couldn't control Furuwa, unfortunately. So, to be safe, I didn't tell them about this. I didn't have a good grasp on Furuwa's personality yet, having only known her for a month, so I decided not taking any risks.

The three of us headed back to the core of the reality rift after that. The journey took about 45 minutes.

When we finally arrived, the core was no longer being protected by the green glow surrounding it from before.

"It seems what we did was the right method to disable the barrier," Hina-nee said, beaming proudly.

"Thankfully," I rolled my eyes. "Otherwise, this could've been bad. If what we did wasn't the right way, I would've been out of ideas."

Furuwa sighed. "We can't be sure yet. The green light may be gone, but it's not like we've won already. Go on, try breaking the core. You're the only one here with hidden arts."

I nodded, then raised my hand up, facing my open palm towards the massive black core.

"Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere."

A blazing projectile of fire shot out of my hand, heading straight for the reality rift's core. This time, it struck true, sending a loud explosion all around us and forming a crater in the core. However, the hole was quickly regenerated.

"Hm… so my attacks are actually connecting now, but the regeneration is a problem…" I muttered.

"Was the power of the attack too low?" Hina-nee wondered. "Kaze-kun, do you have any stronger hidden arts?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I obtained a few back before the preliminaries began, when I was Level 30 still. Let me try them out."

I lifted my arm once more, then chanted a different spell.

"Intermediate Luxomancy Art - Thunder's Calling."

Immediately, a cloud condensed above the core, with two bright yellow magic circles appearing above and below it. Then, suddenly, a blinding beam of lightning shot out of the bottom circle and into the core with a loud crackling noise followed by an enormous explosion.

The core was penetrated instantly by the attack, but it still was not completely destroyed. If the width of the art had been bigger, maybe it would've worked, but…

"That's the most powerful hidden art I have as of right now, unfortunately," I said. "Maybe we're doing this wrong, somehow…"

"Do all three of us have to hit it at the same time?" Hina-nee murmured in thought.

"Let's try it. The pressure is gone, right?"

Furuwa blinked, then cautiously stepped closer to the core. "Wait… yeah, you're right. Now that you mention it… the pressure is gone. We can get close to the core now."

"In that case… I'll do a countdown. On the count of three, all of us attack the core with our weapons - I won't be using hidden arts, since it's hard to get the timing exact on that."

The two girls nodded, signaling that they understood my intentions. I took out Dokujin, stepped as close as I could to the core without touching it directly, then began the countdown.

"Ready? Three… two… one… now!"

The three of us sliced down towards the core at the same time, each with a different weapon. Three massive cuts were made on the surface of the core, without showing any sign of regenerating.

"Did we… do it?" Hina-nee asked, tilting her head.

"It seems so… wait, no!" Furuwa gasped as the core began to regenerate once more. She tried slicing down again to interrupt the process, but since the two of us weren't doing it with her, the attack was futile.

"Ugh, damn it…"

"Hm… it seems we're on the right track though," I noted. "It took longer to regenerate this time."

"Hold on, there was four tetrahedrons, no?" Hina-nee cut in. "Does that mean… four of us need to hit it at the same time?"

"Four of us, but we only have three people. Quite the problem this is," Furuwa muttered in mild annoyance. "I guess Kaze counts as two, since he 'captured' two of those tetrahedrons?"

"… I have an idea," I said after some thought. "This will be difficult though, so listen closely."

I cleared my throats as the two girls listened in.

"Essentially, I will use my Replica: Shadow skill to create a clone of myself, then place it right in front of the core," I explained. "Meanwhile, my real body will be a short distance away, ready to shoot a hidden art. The moment I fire my projectile, I'll instantly switch places with my replica, then all three of us will strike down on the core at the exact same time, right as my hidden art hits as well."

"That… is complex."

"It's the only method we have. Hina-nee, I believe has the Replica skills as well, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "I do, but… I didn't interact with two tetrahedrons, so it probably won't work if it was me."

"Yeah… I honestly don't know if this strategy will work even if it is me, but it's definitely worth a shot."

"The timing has to be real perfect though," Furuwa warned. "There won't be any time for a countdown, so everyone just keep your eyes peeled."

"Okay… everyone, get in position," I commanded, then in my head, activated my art.

'Replica: Shadow.'

I placed my clone directly in front of the core just as planned, then took out Dokujin with one hand and prepared to use a hidden art with my other. My clone mimicked my actions, though it could not actually use any hidden arts.

'Intermediate Luxomancy Art - Thunder's Calling."

A cloud condensed above the core once more, as the two yellow magic circles began to form. My hidden art had finished casting - it would be mere moments before the lightning beam came striking down.

'Replica: Switch.'

I immediately alternated positions with my clone, Dokujin already at the ready.

"And… now!"

Just as the lightning beam came roaring down from above, hitting the core, Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I sliced down with our weapons, plunging them straight into the black sphere emanating ominous energy.

Slowly, cracks began appearing in the black sphere's surface, revealing the lime green energy underneath similar to the color of the barrier we had disabled.

Various rays of light shot out of these cracks, blinding us. We all immediately leaped back a short distance, sensing danger, right before the entire core exploded and all faded to white.

*****

When the light finally diminished, color had returned to the world, and time was passing normally once more.

"We… did it?" Furuwa blinked in surprise, glancing around.

Despite the hours that had passed within the reality rift, it still seemed to only be early afternoon. Apparently, all that had happened within the rift did not register within the long history of time. However… the dark power we had consumed from interacting with those tetrahedrons were as real as ever.

"Seems so," I muttered faintly, glancing down at my own two hands, Dokujin in one of them.

"Well then, seems like we got the mechanics down," Hina-nee giggled. "What do you say? Do we keep going, or return to the inn for the day? Either is fine with me - I'm not particularly tired or anything."

"Let's take care of the other two rifts as well today," I said. "Might as well, since we're on a roll here."

"Sounds good to me," Furuwa shrugged. "Just keep in mind though, the last rift is quite a distance away - it's way off to the west of Qilian City."

"Let's save that one for later then," Hina-nee suggested. "Taking care of the closer one for now is a good choice, I believe. We still have the main tournament to worry about tomorrow, so getting some high-quality rest is pretty important too."

I nodded. "Sure."

And so, the three of us fast traveled back to Qilian City, then immediately set off in the other direction - south.

*****

We returned to Qilian soon after taking care of the second rift. It didn't take long - the mechanic and whatnot was all the same. We spent a good couple of hours inside the rift, but since time was frozen in there, it didn't affect the passage of time outside. Really, only half an hour or so had passed.

Heading straight for the inn, we decided to just take it easy for the rest of the day.

However… when I just happened to do the occasional stat check on myself, my eyes widened in shock.