Agnisotra: Origin Tails

Another root was destroyed. This one went better than the first one. I do have a suggestion though. Hmm?

Let Agnis destroy the next one, he has more self-restraint so is less likely to blow us all up. Can do, I don't know if I can without blowing us all up but I can try. But Ted asked me to vaporize the mountain!

Yes, and nobody in their right mind would do that! Anyways we need a plan for the next root, Agnis? I showed a hologram of Boshi town and the area again and showed the crossed-out locations of the roots together with the 4 other roots. So, there are 5 roots left but I still can't find the last one so here are the 4 I could find. Oooh, can we go to that one?! Raishin pointed to the root closest to Boshi town, It was below Boshi town on the eastern side. Of all the roots this was the only one that was right under Boshi town.

Hmm, it doesn't seem like this one is hard to get to, why didn't we do this one first? This is not a game so we don't need to do the easiest one first, at least it's easy to get to, maybe it has some stupid strong guardian. The last one was problematic but not very strong, those spirit sisters were way stronger, so maybe we get a really weak one.

Alright, let’s go for that one then. I need to make more wires and maybe some more daggers and a sword. Do you guys need anything? Nope. Nope. Besides frost marbles not really.

Ah right, I’ll make some more of those. Can you make some more anti-nausea potions Greg? If I remember correctly, we ran out of them during that obnoxious puzzle. I will get to it. Hey, do we still need to try and do the same stuff as the original timeline? We didn't really do that the last time and nothing really happened.

Hmm, I don't know. I would say still try but don't go out of your way to try and imitate the original timeline, I can't remember much of it anyways. Well in movies and other media related to time travel they do mention things like this but never is there given a good reason for it. Events will still go according to the original timeline so I would suggest at least not missing those. Aight. Should be no problem!

Easy! Gregory looked at me.

What? Do you still have that note I gave you the last time?

Note? Oh, what we did the original timeline, Yeah, I have it archived! I will try to follow it. Good, let's go investigate that root tomorrow afternoon. I don't know how much time Agnis needs for all his stuff but I need at least a whole morning, maybe a bit more. Right, let's take it easy till it is time for the investigation. We headed home. I thought of the stuff I needed to make. I need at least some wires. I have enough daggers but I want to also make a sword that can handle multiple wavelengths. I also want to practice more with daggers and wires but I don't think I will get any practice in. I will have to start now if I want to make a decent sword. I arrived home and had to explain again where I was yesterday. I almost slipped up and told them what happened yesterday from my perspective but for them yesterday was when I got caught by Charlize and found the dungeon. I have to pay attention to these details because one of these time loops, I will slip up.

I was supposed to talk to Guyani around this time but there might not be much to say since it will be similar to the last time. I wonder how much time has passed over there. I head over to the workshop but I'm not feeling it today. Making the metal wires that I used up is quite a pain to make. If I start with the sword, it will eat all of my time. I use some illusion layers to make sure nobody can disturb me and go full cheat mode again and use time magic to make and speed up crafting the wires. I left a clone to deal with post-processing like braiding and testing it for durability and magic conductivity, while I took 2 other clones and went to make a sword that could match multiple wavelengths. Since I have done this before on a dagger it should go faster than before but I'm still looking at a crafting time of 14 hours or more. Halfway I remember I'm also supposed to make frost marbles so I let a clone handle that too.

Day 1: I finally finished. Skipping sleep might have been a bad idea but it is finally finished. I managed to have a wide range of wavelengths purified in this sword. Its quality is also high. I familiarize myself with its weight I decided to make this the predecessor of my potato peeler which would make it Potato peeler 3.0. I have about 9 swords stashed in my dimensional pocket now but this one is the best by a long shot. The other swords would shatter anyways, I hope this one doesn't shatter.

I looked at the wires my clones rolled up. As long as I don't melt these, they should be good enough. I remembered the cloth ribbons my mom passed on to me. I reverted to normal and took it out. It was quite heavy. It looked like a very long scarf but it was twice the width of one. If I folded it in half in its width, I could use it as a scarf. It was about 10m long though so It would be impractical. The cloth smelled like my mother and it was dark blue with flame patterns. I put the long scarf over my neck and tried to move it as I did with my wires. It could multiply and stretch but it did none of that. I could swing it with my arms but since it was heavy, I wouldn't be able to hold this out for long. I couldn't figure out how this works so I folded it and returned it to my dimensional pocket. I took some wires and ran lightning through them. It worked as it did before, I could control it like it was a limb. Weird. A clone handed me a mountain of frost marbles with its tails. I sucked them up into my pocket dimension too. The preparations were complete. It was about 10 am. Maybe I should go for a quick nap. I then remembered I was supposed to do something with Raishin today. Let's see, oh I have to meet Donkey for the first time, for the third time. I know it doesn't make any sense but we’re not supposed to know about him until then. I can’t remember at what time that was though.

-Yoo, Raishin, when were we supposed to go to the town square?- -In about 2 hours-ish, why?-

-I'm going to take a short nap, can you wake me up when you arrive?--Another all-nighter eh? Sure as long as you're not hiding behind some illusion layers I can wake you up.- Whoops, good that he said that else I would have forgotten to cancel these illusion layers. I canceled the layers and went to lie down on a small bed I had in a corner. Pulling all-nighters while blacksmithing wasn't new to me so I had everything which was needed for a good nap.

Day 1: Wakey, wakey! Ugh, 10 more minutes.

You said that before, time to get up! Raishin pulled the pillow from under my head. I'm going to kick your ass!

Haha! That is if you can catch me! Easy! I chased after Raishin. He was throwing lightning at me while running causing me to waste energy dodging it. This jerk still had my pillow in his hand.

Can you at least leave my pillow out of it?! You would've put in less effort if I didn't kidnap your pillow! And I don't want to turn into an ice cube or get charred so this pillow is also for my protection!

So sly! I try to make him slip but he keeps using [Voltaic step] to try and shake me off while evading the slippery floor. This jerk is using the skill I taught him against me! I managed to make him slip when we arrived at the town square. Ok ok! You win! Here is your pillow. I stored my pillow and looked around.

So, Donkey is going to be here somewhere soon, right? Hmm, we’re a bit early though.

And whose fault is that? You pillow kidnapper! Hey, don't you think it more quiet than normal?

We’re not that much earlier than normal right? Maybe 10 to 15 minutes. It wasn't crowded the last 2 times but there were quite some people, there is nobody here now. Raishin walked over to Uraya’s shop.

Ok, now I'm beginning to get scared. What's wrong? Raishin was looking inside so I walked over and looked inside too. All I saw was an empty store. Not Uraya’s store with nobody in it, no the space was empty, no shelves no items nothing on the counter just nothing. What! I activated Elgards eyes and looked around. Most shops and stores are supposed to be open at this time so they should have people in them or at least the shop owners. Every shop and building in the town square was empty like Uraya’s shop. Raishin and I were the only living beings in this town square. I tried to look beyond but for some reason, my vision got blocked.

Raishin, I think we’re in deep shit, every store is empty like this and there are no people here, moreover, I can't look beyond this town square. It is as if we’re stuck in an illusion or separate dimension. The problem is if that was the case, I could see that but my eyes are telling me that this town square is all that is left of this world. Ok, don't Panic Raishin, don't panic! So, what do we do now?

I don't know but I do have some ideas. I can try to open up a dimensional portal like I do to get stuff out of my dimensional pockets. Since the first-time loop, I kept track of the timeline and dimensional information so I should be able to put us back there, that is if it isn't gone… But what could just wipe out everything like that and why is this town square saved?

I don't know, I should know as a nine-tailed spirit fox but I just don't know, I'm sorry. I tried looking for the dimension we just came from but it matched what we were currently in. I checked to see if we were stuck in an illusion. I couldn't find any indication; this was either reality or we were stuck in an illusion made by an illusionist who was way more skilled than I am. At that point, it might as well be reality. There were probably multiple other possibilities but I wasn't knowledgeable enough to come up with any that were plausible or made sense. Raishin was blasting lightning and fire at the edges of this isolated space. I could move to the previous time loop we came from but I don't know what effects that might cause. I could get stuck there without my buddies unable to join up with them because they are stuck in a destroyed timeline. I tried expanding the space but expanding it a bit took a lot of energy.

Yoo Raishin, can you feed energy into this frost wall I just made? I can expand this space but it's draining a lot of mana. I started to circulate nature magic. I instantly felt boosted. For some reason, my proficiency with nature magic was increasing at a terrifying rate. A shame that the only thing I use it for is to not get nauseous. Will this help us escape?

I don't know but this is the only thing I can do now to possibly find out what's going on, Raishin fed energy into the frost wall I made and I went to increase the size of the space. It seemed to work and as the space got bigger the buildings that were supposed to be there started to appear. Is it me or does it seem like this is diluting the colors?

It seems so but there is nothing I can do about that. It seems whatever is in this space gets spread out. We might need to stop soon else we will make the air too thin in here. I stopped expanding the space. Ugh is this where it ends for us?

I surely hope not. And then just like that, 15 minutes after we got stuck here the world turned back to normal and people just appeared as if they were walking there the whole time.

Wha? I'm happy that we’re back but this is still concerning. I hope that this never happens again.

The colors are back to normal too. People didn't seem to notice that we appeared from thin air, Or were we here the whole time? What even just happened? I checked the area for any abnormalities and used some filters related to spatial and temporal stuff. I couldn't find anything; it seemed the same as inside that space. Raishin! You’re bleeding!

Huh, what? There is a scratch mark on your arm!

Whoa! You didn't feel when that happened?

I didn't, I don't even feel it even right now. I took some bandages out and gave them to Raishin. I inspected myself. I had no wounds. I inspected Raishin’s wound. I didn't see anything. I went through some filters. And this one showed some purple-pink energy oozing out of the wound. Not only that there was quite a bit of that energy covering Raishin and me. The people around me didn't have any. I'm sorry Raishin, I think that just now was an attack of some kind, I didn't have the correct filter on, we’re covered by some purple-pink energy, and some of it is oozing out of that wound you have.

That is fine, we got out and I didn't have a clue what was going on either. It is interesting though since we’ve been trying to escape there have been a lot of situations that are pointing out the weaknesses of the things that we think make you overpowered. Do you think I'm just making unnecessary connections or is this something that was bound to happen? Hmm, it's not just me, Gregory’s lack of attack power and speed got highlighted in our first fight against the sisters as well as Ted’s lack of ranged skills and uselessness if the opponents are heavy on the magic and ranged attacks. I guess you’re the only one who doesn't have glaring weaknesses. Or so I think, maybe something will point those out later. I tried to manipulate the energy and get it out of Raishin’s wound and off of us but I couldn't manage to. I can't get this off, we’ll have to visit Greg.

Ok, We started heading towards Gregory’s house.

“Hey, watch it, twerps!” Oh, right I forgot this was supposed to happen. A chunky guy and his friends were standing in front of us. We bumped into them but I'm sure they saw us coming but didn't move out of the way. Who in the donkey balls are you?

“Ha! Me? I'm Dunkey Hurado! The greatest magic caster in Boshi!” Wow, Agnis! I didn't expect you to get his name before he introduced himself! I put up a smug face. Hehe, that's just what I do, being awesome!

“His name is Dunkey! Not donkey!” Tomato Tomato, it's the same. So, what do you guys want? You're not by any chance responsible for trapping us in a small dimension and attacking us with some weird energy, are you? Raishin said in an intimidating tone.

“I have no idea what you're talking about!” I think he’s right Raishin, do you think these noobs could pull something off like that? Hmm, you have a point, I bet he’s even worse at lightning magic than I am!

“Wha! I won't stand for these insults! I will show you why they call me the upcoming Beatrice Manarune!” Hmm, is she by any chance a comedian?

“Alright, guys! Let's beat the shit out of these guys!” Wanna see some new skills I learned last time loop but couldn't show off? Sure, I’ll get to show off some of my moves too. I froze a spear in my hand and dashed at Donkey, I launched him in the air and used [Vanishing Footsteps].

Whoa! That is cool, he makes for an easy target now! Half of Donkey’s friends charged at Raishin and the other half tried to pin down my location. Is it me or did he bring way more friends this time loop than the last one? Raishin pulled Donkey's friends in with wind and then sent them flying by heating up and expelling air as I taught him, He kept repeating this causing those friends to get sucked in, blown away then sucked in back again. In the meantime, he was chucking lightning bolts at them. He didn't miss as often as he normally does because Donkey’s friends couldn't move a lot, only get sucked in and knocked back. In the meantime, I launched Donkey’s friends that were approaching me and I was using [Vanishing Footsteps] on them and slowly freezing them into iceballs in the process.

Oh, right we might wanna get out of here coz Charlize will arrive soon. Oh right. At the same moment, Charlize and her daughter arrived.

Shit!

“Oooh, what do we have here!” Catch! I sent the Donkey ball at Charlize but she sent it back with wind magic.

Oh, so you want to play it like that! I turned my spear into a frost bat and batted the Donkey ball back at her. Ooh, Ooh! I want to play too! Hey, troll it's you and your mother against me and Agnis!

“Who are you calling a troll!” Woops! Because I chuckled, I slipped a bit and the Donkey ball was heading toward Charlize’s daughter and hit her head. As usual, her makeup cracked and revealed her true face.

“Aaah A troll!” The friends of the Donkey ball screamed. Half of his friends got frozen by me so I assume those were the ones Raishin was knocking around

“I'm not a troll!” The troll made quick work of those side characters and headed toward us. Charlize also approached us with great speed. Hey, isn't this supposed to be a Donkey ball game? I thought so too. I made a bubble and swapped the Donkey ball with it and hit the Donkey ball with the bat. It flew at Charlize who dodged it. Raishin short-range teleported and kicked the Donkey ball back.

“Mom watch out!” The troll punched the ball and sent it back to Raishin. Meanwhile, I had to deal with Charlize approaching me who seemed quite pissed off.

“I see you learned some cool new tricks!” I remember that I was supposed to throw a ruby at her face somewhere in this fight so that's what I did. At least that was what I was supposed to do but I accidentally took out a frost marble which exploded and blew Charlize away with a strong gust.

“Ow!” Woops I used this moment to move away.

“So, what did Dunkey do that you are treating him like this? I can't imagine you doing this for no reason.” He’s a bully.

“I see, there have been rumors about Dunkey bullying other kids but those kids are mostly too afraid to speak up. I think they are afraid of him.” I smacked the Donkey ball at Charlize. I'm not afraid of this clown. Charlize blocked it with a wind barrier and leaned on the Donkey ball.

“Ooh, this is really cold. I can see that you’re not afraid of him. Even adults have difficulty against him and if they don't then they will have to deal with his father so nobody is really taking action.” Surely, you are strong enough to deal with this clown and his father.

“Well, I don't have a problem with him nor does Kanna. But if he was trying to bully you, I can use this chance to make sure this doesn't happen again. Can you at least go on a date with Kanna in exchange?” I tilt my head and look over to Raishin who is violently shaking his head. Uhm that isn't necessary I can give you this in exchange. I made sure I took out the ruby and threw it at Charlize. Also, as an apology for busting your house, now cya! I dashed at Raishin, grabbed him, and escaped toward Gregory’s house. Raishin kicked in the door.

Greg! Help me! I'm wounded! Raishin made a dramatic pose and dramatically collapsed on the floor. Gregory rushed down. What’s going on? And what is this weird feeling you guys give off? He is being overly dramatic but he is hurt and about the vibe… I explained to Gregory what happened.

Hmm, I can't say I recognize this energy but it does feel uncomfortable to be around, let me move it off, you guys. Gregory moved the energy off us with ease and also out of Raishin’s wound.

Hmm, it instantly disappeared, guess I can't even research it. Any idea what that energy was? I'm sorry I don't have a clue, not even suspicions. That was scary, nothing happened to you?

Nope, I was just crafting potions. Although I did feel a weird energy wave matching this energy at around the time you described that everything went back to normal. It was small and short so I didn't bother to investigate. I got the filter on now so whenever something funky like that happens again, I might be able to see what is going on. Ooh, Greg apparently Donkey is a big shot in Boshi town!

The guy Agnis turned into a pinball? I still need to beat that high score! Wait when did you guys play pinball?! Gregory explained what happened. Raishin got a bit upset but then calmed down.

So what game are we going to turn him into next time he pisses you off? And call me when it's about time for them to gang up on you I want to be there too! Yeah, I was supposed to be there so I'm planning to be there this time. Let’s get Ted too and show them that insulting our parents is going to cost them dearly.

You sound like a villain. Heroes are overrated.

Not wrong. What do you mean? Heroes are cool! They get all the money and the chicks! So materialistic…

You are the worst. So, what were we supposed to do? I assume we’re not going to beat the PB again?

I don't see a reason to, I don't think that was an important event. It’s not like it’s going to taste well, so there is no point… Is food all you can think of?

Whoa! Says you! I wasn't drooling just at the thought of eating a PB! Sure, you were! All right, stop arguing. Since you guys have a lot of energy we might just go and look for that root now. Let's call Ted over.

Ted arrived at Gregory’s house about half an hour later. Agnis, I met Paul and Paula on my way here, they want to talk to you. Hmm, maybe it's related to the sword I sold old man Paul. Let's hop by before we go on an adventure! I ran off in the direction of their house. I knocked on the door and old man Paul opened the door.

“Ohoho! You’re fast as usual.” My buddies arrived shortly afterward. “Oh, your friends can come in too.” We sat down in the living room and Paula offered us some tea. You needed to speak to me, right? Does the sword need more maintenance?

“Oh, the sword is fine! I still have it here since I haven't been able to give it to my grandson yet. But I have tested it and it is a fine sword, I called you over to ask if you could make another one like the one, I bought but a bit longer, about 10 centimeters longer.” Hmm, I can yes, I will have to check when I can start on it though.

“My dear was quite the skilled swordsman in his youth.” Granny Paula said. “He was so dashing! Sadly, he can't be too active in sword fighting due to his age.”

“Paula! They're not interested in this boring ancient story! By the way, Agnis is way more skilled with the sword than I ever was!”

“Oh really! Now I'm curious. Why didn't you tell me that we had a prodigy swordsman in town dear?”

“Well, I only discovered that the day before yesterday on the market.”

“Hmm, and why haven't you told me anything that happened that day? Don't tell me you went drinking again afterward!” Old man Paul started to look uncomfortable and Granny Paula seemed to see that as a confirmation. Right, I don't want to disturb your dynamic for too long! I will make the sword for you old man Paul but I don't know when I will get to it, It could be done as soon as in 2 days or at the latest ehhm well undetermined. “That is fine young lad, here let me walk you guys home, strange things have been happening lately.” “Hey,

"Paul! don't try to escape!” Thank you for the tea and don't worry Paul, I think your wife needs you so we will let ourselves out! Bye, Paul! Good luck old man Paul! We left the house and Raishin closed the door.

Someone is going to sleep on the couch tonight! Ted smacked him. Coincidentally we were relatively close to the entrance of the cave that would lead toward the root. The house of Paul and Paula was a bit at the edge of the town and there was a forest behind the hill their house was on. After walking for about 15 minutes, we found the cave that would bring us to our destination. Well, that was inaccurate, it wasn't a cave but just a hole in the forest floor.

So uhm we just fall down here? How will we get back up? Uhm, with magic?

Hmm makes sense yeah, let's go! Raishin jumped in the hole. Guess we’re not checking first what's on the bottom then! I jumped in too. Hey! Wait! How can you just… Ugh fine! I hope there isn't any water down there. The drop wasn't very long. I did see that Raishin went light bulb mode which made it easier for the others to land safely.

Good no water. And no monsters. Yeah, that's odd there is nothin… Watch out! I shot out wires and pulled Raishin and Ted away. What the...!

Why did you do that? It might be related to this weird feeling I get, it's similar to that energy I removed from you and Raishin. You see something right? It seems my buddies couldn't see this half-transparent pink uhh shade. It looked a bit like the broccoli monsters we fought. It might be made out of that weird energy we encountered and I can see it now because I have the correct filter on. I linked my vision with my buddies.

My assumption is that something like this attacked Raishin and me on the town square. Wait you guys got attacked? Raishin explained to Ted what happened while Gregory and I were trying to analyze the pink shade.

Any clues on what this is now you can see it, Greg? Hmm sorry, I have no idea but I don't think it's a stretch to assume this is somehow related to the big pink broccoli.

Yeah, I was thinking that too, but why now? Why does it appear only now, we didn't get any weird injuries or something, I also assume you didn't feel this presence before did you, Greg? If something like this appeared I would have been sure to feel it, this hasn't happened before. It still seems incomplete.

Maybe it is related to the time loops. Or maybe the pink broccoli is getting more active and sending monsters after us now. Hmm both are plausible but the first one gives me an uncomfortable feeling; It might be correct but if that's the case it will only get stronger.

Yeah, that separate dimension or whatever that was makes me think it's related to time getting reset or something like that. The pink shade was slow, we could walk away from it and it would never catch us. I assume it was relying on being otherwise invisible to land its attacks.

So, what do we do with this, we can't just let it walk around here. Why not? It's not like anyone comes down here.

Someone might fall into this hole and get attacked by it. That's good and all but how do you suggest we attack it?

Just punch it! Ted punched the shade but his fist went right through it.

I guess that was to be expected. Let me try. Gregory manipulated the energy and managed to condense the energy of the pink shade, then form it into a ball and poof it out of existence.

Phew, that was harder than I thought. Gregory wiped his forehead. Wow, talk about anticlimactic!

Well, if there's a horde of them then I can't do that so let's hope we won't encounter any more of them. Right, let's check out this root then. We continued to follow the cave and headed toward where the root was located.