Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 151: Arc 3, - 61: Insanity’s Reflection
"Looks like they’re all surrendering," Hotaru walked up next to Jotou, surveying the army and the Hartamat soldiers beginning to move forward.
Jotou sheathed her blade, "This night isn’t over yet."
Asobi put her wand down, ending the glorious fireworks show with a gigantic butterfly that fluttered before bursting. "What do we do with him?" Asobi shied away from the corpse of Frye.
"Nothing; he’s dead. He’ll be lucky to get a grave in Hartamat," Fumeko’s eyes trailed the ground and paused before Hotaru’s enchanted skirt, "Why’s there blood going down your legs?"
Jotou peered immediately to Hotaru’s legs as Hotaru checked them, "Oh, uh, I... may have gotten shot once or twice while invisible..." she chuckled nervously.
"You got shot!? Did you heal them all the way?" Jotou’s eyes bubbled.
"It’s okay, it’s okay, this is the reaction I didn’t want," Hotaru put her hands out in a smile. She held Jotou’s cheek, "Looks like it didn’t scar."
"Yeah... Thanks for the healing," Jotou smiled.
"Ahem. The night isn’t over?" Fumeko’s eyes glazed over.
"Right, before the defence force gets here and we have to go through the legal system," Jotou glanced to the tent, "The main culprit behind all of this."
Hotaru nodded, Fumeko got her dagger ready and Asobi held her wand up. Jotou drew her sword again and used it to part the flaps of the tent.
The professor turned from his pipette and the metal dagger beneath it; the silver on the metal shifted hue with each drop he released on it, "HA! Finished! Wait, you’re not Frye..." he squinted.
"Professor Alano if I recall correctly," Jotou walked in and checked her surroundings, set with tables and various lab equipment; no different than before—the other three walked in behind her.
The professor slouched, squinting harder before he took off his large goggles, "Noble face, golden sword, blonde hair, yellow jacket, white dress- OH SHIT!"
The professor stumbled across, knocking over the glass and fluids into the sand; he was already panting as he grabbed onto the tables to run away.
Fumeko blinked in front of him, dagger at the ready, "You’re not escaping this."
"I WILL!" the professor exclaimed, halting himself. "GYAH!" Jotou had rushed forward to grab him by the back of his lab coat. She pulled him to the side of the tent.
The documents that were spread across the top, all rumbled alongside the table that Jotou threw the professor into. At the side of the tent, Jotou held her sword to his neck.
Irritation was present in the old man’s face, bits of grey hair atop his head, lost from either stress or pulling them out himself—wrinkles and liver spots all over his pale tan skin.
Teeth as bright as the Moon, but a few missing—one brown eye and one eye cloudy upon a closer inspection. "You’re going to answer a few questions, understand?" Jotou glared.
"What!? I would never!" the professor sneered.
Jotou glared to the professor as she grabbed his left hand and squeezed it. The professor tried to recoil as he felt more pressure on the blade against his neck. "You think you can torture it out of me!? HA!"
Jotou narrowed her gaze even more, holding onto his ring finger with her entire hand, "Listen, professor," Jotou’s eyes widened and her voice nearly growled.
The professor gulped, furrowing his barely present eyebrows. Fumeko felt the corners of her lips rise—Hotaru sighed. "I need some very important answers, for all the shit that’s going on.
Your buddy Frye’s turning into a tumbleweed as we speak, your entire operation’s been foiled. Now, my lightning would love—love-love-love—to fry your blood into chalk.
And as much as I would love seeing your body spasm as you lose control of all the muscles in your body, I’m not gonna do that—because you don’t deserve that little.
Instead, I’m going to break your bones, one by one, rip the skin off your face in little puzzle pieces," the grip Jotou had tightened— the blade about to draw blood from the professor’s neck.
She seethed, not blinking, "I’m going to tear off your nails, slowly, nerve by nerve while I twist my sword in your gut like a rotisserie chicken," Jotou bent his finger backwards.
The professor gritted his teeth. "And I’m going to make sure, you’re wide awake for all of it. Because I have a friend who can heal you right back up and I can do all these fun experiments again, and again, and again, just like your little time egg."
Jotou bent it harder, coming to the point of snapping, "And it’s only sad, that I get so little time before they come and arrest you. Guess I’ll just have to be a little harsher," pushing and pushing.
Hotaru put her hands over Asobi’s eyes from behind. The professor began giggling, laughing as the pain began setting in, "Hehe, HAA- I’ll answer! I’ll answer!"
Jotou blinked a few times, his finger still fine all things considered... Her sadistic expression turned into confusion, "Well... that was easier than I expected."
Fumeko appeared in shadow beside Jotou, "How did the device make us travel through time?" the brunette interrogated.
Jotou refocused onto the professor, pressing her blade further, "Exactly, time travel is a paradox."
The professor was about to laugh, but stopped as he felt the edge of the blade, "Because we weren’t time travelling, IDIOTS!"
Hotaru’s ears bristled, "Then how does it work?"
The professor began chuckling, then laughing, before he winced in pain as Jotou bent his finger back again. He stopped; then took a breath.
"Mana flows through everything, EVERYTHING! The device records by recording the mana in the area, as far as the device can reach. When that button is pressed, it reverts all the mana and everything is forcefully pushed back.
Any living entity’s memory is reverted back to the point of first recording; hence, erasing any memory. The living entity will also be reverted; the same case for any non-living entities.
The effect is constantly ongoing till the device is destroyed. Anything that steps out of the radius is no longer affected by the device. Any living entity that enters the radius after the first recording, is not affected by the device either.
That’s why we knew about you! We brought in backup from outside the radius of the device and they remember seeing you and could relay us about everything the next reset. Their deaths couldn’t be reverted."
"So that’s how you knew to bring better firepower like tanks. That’s why the numbers you had kept changing.
The only soldiers you constantly had were the first two hundred; the rest are from outside the time loop. Those soldiers from the outside must be the sluggish ones..." Fumeko pondered.
"I suppose mana pushing and pulling through them without being affected by the device had worse effects. Bleh, weaklings couldn’t handle the side-effects. ’Oh, we feel fatigued, like we’re dying’. Walk it off-! GACXK!"
Jotou kicked him with her knee, "Continue, with, the answer."
The professor groaned, "Any non-living entity entering after the experiment had started, would not be affected, such as reports and documents.
However, once the said non-living entity interacted with someone or something affected by the device those non-living entities seemingly vanish after the device is used again, as if they never existed."
"Anything brought in would disappear? Where’d they go?" Fumeko squinted. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
The professor shrugged with a groan, "I didn’t want any interferences from the outside in the first place! That’s why there were soldiers in disguise blocking anyone coming in or going out of that damned town.
Then some woman swinging a sword became an UNCHANGEABLE variable! And we were forced to try and bring things into the radius! Those idiots in command meddled with MY experiment!"
Asobi tilted her head, still covered by Hotaru’s hands, "I’m a little confused... But the shiny egg that makes us all forget; it’s like a spell?" she scratched her head with her wand.
"NO! IT USES SCIENCE YOU TWIT- GAOUGH!!"
Jotou held his entire arm and pressed her sword down into his collarbone.
"So, the device is used and everything within its radius is moved back in time by using mana. In other words, the device casts a spell?" Jotou smirked a little.
"Doesn’t sound like science," Fumeko snarked.
"HOW DARE YOU- GAH!"
Jotou bent his arm backwards against the table, "Then explain to me, exactly how you made it work."
"Mana-Dust! Mana-dust!"
"What’s that?" Jotou glanced to Fumeko.
"Never heard of it," she shrugged.
"I’ve heard of it somewhere before..." Hotaru’s ears folded for a moment.
"It’s a dust, used by people without affinities, to do magic," the professor uttered.
Fumeko connected the dots in her head, "Like in Baregout’s shop when we tested for our affinities. The dark purple one that he used."
"That stuff’s that powerful?" Jotou cocked a brow.
"NO!"
Jotou winced an eye and slowly turned her head back to the professor, "If you scream one more time, I swear..."
"The dust is extremely weak; it needs so many precise instructions, runes and specific materials. But it’s my genius that dared to experiment!
My scientific method of trying it again and again, trying to make the dust do something complex! They called me mad; every experiment they shut down and called it a ’failure’.
WELL WHO’S LAUGHING NOW!! AHA HAHAHAHAHA HAAOOOWWOWOW!!!"
Jotou twisted his entire arm while shaking her head, "So the device, used the mana-dust to make a very complex spell, from lots of simple instructions?"
"Ooo, you mean like me!?" Asobi put her hands on Hotaru’s hands.
"You still deny my brilliance!?"
"You’re the one in denial. You used magic with extra steps and you’re calling it science," Fumeko crossed her arms.
"Not to mention, caused severe consequences and would’ve done much worse if it wasn’t stopped sooner. I wouldn’t call it brilliance if you weaken your own forces and can’t remember yourself," Hotaru furrowed her brows.
"All of this rogue battalion crap... All for this one experiment...." Jotou closed her eyes, her breath getting heavier.
"I wanted to test it right away! And those idiots in command threw me out! Gave me this shit story of a rogue battalion so that I wouldn’t ’bother’ them. Well now, who has the greatest weapon the world has ever seen!?"
"Yeah, till Jotou destroyed it," Fumeko glared.
"Yup! And Jotou still remembers everything so Jotou can always stop you," Asobi stated.
The professor smiled, "I can make another one! I just, I just need to remember to look at the number on the device every time, so that I can have the element of surprise! And not have some anomaly like this be present! Yes, yes!"
"All of this... all of the times I saw them dead... All because of some narcissistic madman who wanted to prove himself right!?" the blade shook in Jotou’s grasp, one thrust away from slicing his head off.
Oh, to sink her sword into him for all the pain she had to endure... ...
Jotou took a breath and held her sword steady, moving it away, "This is over. You’re getting arrested with the rest of them."
Hotaru sighed in relief, before she smiled, "Good decision."
Fumeko glanced at the tables and the experiments, "What else is magical in here?" Fumeko blinked to them and picked up the dagger on the table.
The metal curved slightly, a thin edge to a comfy black handle. The metal of the dagger had turned into a glossy magenta, reflecting the light in the tent.
"Fumeko! Don’t just touch things like that!" Hotaru removed her hands from Asobi’s eyes.
"She’s right," Jotou muttered, moving away from the professor.
"Is it something cool?" Asobi still covered her own eyes.
Jotou grabbed his arm and started twisting again, "Answer her then."
"Only! -The rifle that kept jamming; it had a little bit of mana-dust in the black powder I had to fix after a reinforcement soldier witnessed it clog up after the first shot.
And that dagger... My latest creation. It can pierce through anything... EVEN THE HEARTS OF GODS! GAH-!"
Jotou punched the professor in the head, making him shut up and spurt blood from his lips. Jotou sighed, wiggling her knuckles.
"Can I keep it?"
"Fumeko!" both Hotaru and Jotou synced.
"Ah, this little girl appreciates my work!" the professor still managed to talk.
"What... did you call me...?" Fumeko tightened her lips, gripping the handle of the dagger firmer.
"Uh oh, Meko sounds mad!" Asobi still closed her own eyes.
"Oh no, Fumeko put the dagger down..." Hotaru’s ears folded back as she tried to defuse the brunette.
Fumeko stomped forward. "Alright, detective, detective! You can keep the dagger if you restrain yourself right now," Jotou put an arm out.
"I don’t think I can actually do all that torture stuff; the defence force and the police will be better at interrogating him, so we’ll keep him alive," Jotou reasoned.
Fumeko groaned, looking to Jotou and then to the dagger. She hid it behind her hands, "Fine." She hid away her excitement of the fresh, shiny new dagger.
