Capítulo 16: Chapter 16
"Velvet," Accelerator called out, breaking the silence that had settled over them.
The older girl turned back to look at him, her eyes reflecting the soft glow of her mana-infused paper. "What's up?"
Accelerator hesitated for a moment, as if searching for the right words. His usual confident demeanor seemed to falter slightly. "Back then… you said that magicians conducted experiments on… the issue of dimensions," he began, his voice carefully even. "How far have these experiments gone?"
Velvet considered his question thoughtfully, her pace never slowing. "Not very far, really," she admitted, her tone honest. "Experiments involving spacial magic or temporal magic are… to say the least, highly regulated." She glanced at him, noting his hidden interest. "Certain spells are even considered forbidden and are kept under heavy lock and key."
As they continued walking through the dimly lit passage, Velvet's light revealing more of the ancient runes and moss-covered walls, she added, "There might even be books on similar subjects inside Eri."
Accelerator's curiosity was piqued. "On spacial magic… or dimensions?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of genuine interest.
"Both, I think," Velvet replied, glancing at him with curiosity of her own. "Why so interested?"
Accelerator smoothly shifted his gaze away from her, his expression guarded. "No particular reason," he answered, his tone casual. "Just thought it'd be a good idea to learn a bit more about magic myself."
In truth, Asphalt and Velvet were good people, but he didn't trust them enough to reveal that he wasn't even from this dimension. The complexities of his origins, the strange journey that had brought him here, were secrets he wasn't ready to share. Revealing that he had somehow crossed into this dimension from another would raise too many questions, questions he wasn't prepared to answer. It could also attract unwanted attention and suspicion, complicating an already precarious situation... and he also had Eri to think about.
"You want to learn magic?" Velvet asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Accelerator stated plainly. "I just want to know enough so that I'm not left in the dark every time something like this happens." Velvet smirked.
"Must suck being in the dark for a know-it-all like you," she teased.
"Like I want to hear that from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
A sudden rumble silenced them both as the walls around them began to tremble. "What the hell," Accelerator cursed lightly, looking left and right with a dazed expression on his face. "There's no source."
"What?" Velvet looked at him in confusion, her brows furrowing.
Accelerator was silent for a moment before answering, "With my—quirk," he almost accidentally said Esper power, "I should have been able to sense this…" He gestured to the trembling walls. "...before it even came."
"Even the slightest movement I would have noticed… but," Accelerator looked perfectly befuddled despite his widening grin. "It was like it just appeared…"
Velvet's confusion deepened, her eyes searching his for clarity. "What do you mean it 'just appeared'?"
"I'm saying I know where the tremble came from, but not how it started," he answered, his mind racing. "And there are only two reasons for that." He raised a hand with two fingers outstretched. "One: it's magic-caused, which means I have no idea what the fuck to do," he closed one finger. "Two: the space in which the two dimensions meet is somehow connected and—"
"And the tremble started from our dimension and ended up reaching over to this pocket dimension," Velvet finished, excitement coloring her tone as she realized that they could have potentially found their way home. But a hesitant expression soon appeared. "But… how is that even possible?"
Accelerator's eyes narrowed, his mind working furiously. "What if... rather than completely removing the targeted space and teleporting it to a pocket dimension," he began, pacing as he spoke, "they instead covered it up in a pocket dimension?"
"What?" Velvet echoed, her confusion evident.
"Think of a snake, a really long snake," Accelerator started, his movements becoming more animated. "Right now, we're inside the snake—"
"Ew!"
"—we're somewhere in the middle of it," he continued, ignoring her interjection. "From both our sides, the snake was cut vertically, leaving us stranded from reaching either end."
"That's disgusting."
"It's a fucking analogy! Get with it already!"
"Okay! Okay! Fine," she raised her hands in mock surrender. "We're stranded in the snake."
"Not quite," he said with a smirk. "The portion of the snake that had been cut wasn't removed from the rest of the snake."
Velvet was quiet before her eyes widened as recognition gleamed in her eyes. "Wait! You're saying—"
"A tremor from one side of the snake ends up reaching the disconnected side and continues on from there to the top."
"Then that means—"
"We follow that tremor, we find our way out of here," Accelerator concluded, his eyes shining with determination.
Velvet's mind raced, the implications of their discovery hitting her like a tidal wave. "If the tremors are from our dimension," she mused aloud, "then there must be a breach point where the two dimensions are connected. We need to find that point."
Accelerator nodded, his focus unwavering. "Keep an eye out for any anomalies or disturbances in the runes. They might show a weak spot in the dimensional barrier."
They continued to move quickly, their senses heightened and alert. The passageways twisted and turned.
"Asphalt… should we really be leaving him behind like this?" Velvet let out, soft and uncertain. It was clear that despite having said nothing about separating their ways she truly was worried about the older man.
"Don't worry", Accelerator assured her, nonchalance in his tone, "I haven't known him for as long as you but even I can tell, that geezer's more stubborn than he looks", before muttering, "he can be a badass when it counts"
Velvet glanced back at him in surprise before softly smiling, "yeah… he'll be fine".
"Fuck," Asphalt cursed, his voice low and rough as he leaned in closer to the wall, tracing the intricate runes with his calloused fingers. Each symbol was a mystery, a puzzle that teased his mind with its complexity. He studied the ancient markings with a furrowed brow, frustration mounting with every passing second. The runes were layered with delicate precision, interwoven with a complexity that boggled the mind. "How the fuck do you even do this to a spell and find a way to keep it stable?" he growled, his irritation clear in the tightness of his jaw. He clenched his fists, the knuckles turning white as he resisted the urge to punch the wall.
"Damn Jason and his self-proclaimed, fucking genius bullshit," Asphalt continued, his voice rising with exasperation. The man had always prided himself on his cleverness, but this—this was something else entirely. It was as if the spell had been twisted, its very essence manipulated to create an effect that defied all logic. Asphalt's frustration boiled over, and he found himself pouting like a sulky child, the weight of his inability to decipher the runes pressing heavily on him.
He felt the anger and helplessness simmering inside him, the emotions threatening to overwhelm him. With a heavy sigh, Asphalt slumped against the cold stone wall, the rough surface digging into his back. He let his head fall forward, his eyes staring blankly at the ground. His thoughts drifted, a self-deprecating smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he muttered, "Agatha's right… I'm getting old."
The admission hung in the air, a bitter truth that he had been avoiding for too long. The years of experience that had once been his greatest asset now felt like a burden, weighing him down with the knowledge that his mind wasn't as sharp as it used to be. He felt the familiar tug of despair pulling him deeper, threatening to drag him down into a pit of self-doubt. But before he could sink any further into his thoughts, something caught his eye.
"…the hell?"
A flash of red peeked out from beneath a loose tile, barely visible in the dim light. Asphalt's eyes narrowed as he focused on the small marking, his mind racing to make sense of it. It was out of place, different from the other runes—almost as if it had been hidden intentionally. A spark of recognition flickered in his mind, and his heart rate quickened as he realized what it could be.
With renewed determination, Asphalt dropped to his knees, his hands scrabbling at the edges of the tile. He clawed at it, his fingers digging into the cold stone as he lifted it with as much care as he could muster. The tile was heavier than he expected, and his muscles strained as he pried it free. He held his breath, his eyes fixed on the space beneath the tile, and when it finally came loose, he let out a small, triumphant gasp.
His breath hitched as he took in the sight before him—a complex web of runes etched into the stone floor, each one pulsing with a faint, otherworldly light. The markings were unlike anything he had seen before, intricate and precise, their lines so fine they seemed almost delicate. But there was power here—raw, untamed power that thrummed beneath his fingertips.
"So that's how that works," he muttered under his breath, his voice filled with awe and a touch of disbelief. The red marking he had noticed earlier was part of a larger array, a key component in the spell that had trapped them in this forsaken place. It was a failsafe, a hidden mechanism designed to keep the spell stable, to prevent it from collapsing under its own complexity.
Asphalt's mind raced as he pieced together the puzzle, his earlier frustration melting away in the face of this new discovery. He could see it now—how the runes interlocked, how they fed into each other to create a self-sustaining loop of energy. It was genius, in its own twisted way, and for the first time since they had entered this cursed dimension, he felt a glimmer of hope.
He traced the red rune with a steady hand, careful not to disturb the delicate lines. "If I can disrupt this… it might just be enough to break the seal," he thought aloud, his voice barely above a whisper.
Accelerator focused all his power on locating the distortion, his senses attuned to the slightest irregularity in the space around them. "It's somewhere around here!" he declared, his voice filled with determination. The hallway stretched out before them, dim and uninviting, its stone walls covered in patches of moss that seemed to have grown thicker and more abundant with every step they took. The air was damp and heavy, carrying the faint scent of earth and decay, as if the very walls themselves were alive and breathing.
Velvet's glowing orb cast an eerie light over the scene, but it did little to dispel the shadows that clung to the corners and crevices. She squinted into the darkness, her brow furrowed in concentration, but everything looked the same—ancient, worn, and unsettlingly silent. "So what exactly are we looking for?" she voiced her thoughts, her tone tinged with frustration. The endless expanse of the hallway seemed to stretch on forever, each step taking them deeper into the unknown.
Accelerator shot her a quick glance, his eyes narrowed in thought. "I have no idea," he admitted, his voice betraying a hint of irritation. He scanned their surroundings with a critical eye, trying to make sense of the anomaly that he knew was there, just beyond their perception. "Since it's a spatial distortion, it shouldn't really be visible to the naked eye. It should more or less look like an invisible ripple or something… maybe."
"Maybe?" Velvet echoed, her skepticism clear. She wasn't used to dealing with uncertainties, especially in situations as precarious as this. The very idea of searching for something that might not even be visible was daunting, and it left her feeling uncharacteristically helpless.
Accelerator groaned, the sound carrying a mixture of frustration and resignation. "Look, I'm just about as new to this as you are, so cut me some slack, will ya?" His usually confident demeanor never wavered yet revealed a hint of the pressure he felt to navigate a situation that was so far outside his realm of expertise.
Velvet let out a long breath, shaking her head as she tried to push aside her frustration. She knew Accelerator was doing his best, but the uncertainty of their predicament was gnawing at her nerves. She turned her attention back to the hallway, her eyes sweeping over the moss-covered stones and the shadows that seemed to move just out of the corner of her vision. Every inch of the space felt oppressive, as if the very air was thick with the weight of centuries-old magic.
The silence between them stretched on as they continued their search, each of them grappling with their own thoughts. Velvet's mind raced, trying to piece together what she knew about spatial distortions and pocket dimensions. Theories and fragments of information floated to the surface of her memory, but none of it seemed to offer a clear solution.
As they walked, Velvet began to notice small, almost imperceptible changes in the environment. The air felt denser, as if it was pressing down on her from all sides. The moss on the walls seemed to pulse with a faint, rhythmic energy, almost like a heartbeat. It was subtle, but it was there—an underlying current of magic that thrummed just beneath the surface.
"Do you feel that?" she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but the sensation was growing stronger with each step.
Accelerator nodded, his eyes narrowing as he honed in on the subtle shift in the atmosphere. "Yeah… something's off. The distortion's getting stronger." His tone was serious, his earlier irritation replaced by a focused intensity. He reached out with his power, trying to grasp onto the elusive energy that he could feel but not quite see.
Velvet's orb flickered for a moment, casting long shadows that danced across the walls. The faint pulsing of the moss seemed to quicken, as if responding to the proximity of the distortion. She stopped walking, her senses tingling with the awareness that they were close—closer than they had been before.
"Stay alert," Accelerator warned, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes scanned the dimly lit corridor, every sense heightened as they edged closer to the source of the distortion. "We're right on top of it."
Velvet's expression was tense, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to sense the magical energy surrounding them. "The distortion might be here," she began in a hushed, contemplative tone, "but that doesn't necessarily mean we can break through it easily."
The hallway around them was unnervingly still, the air heavy with the scent of damp stone and ancient magic.
Accelerator nodded silently, his face a mask of concentration as he listened to her. "The spell used on this place was designed to keep us trapped in a never-ending loop of sorts," he said, his voice steady but laced with a hint of frustration.
Velvet bit her lip, her mind racing as she tried to piece together what little they knew. "Right," she answered, her voice firm despite the unease that settled in her chest. "But even the most intricate loops have loopholes. There has to be a way out—some small flaw in the spell's design that connects this space to an already existing one".
Her words hung in the air, a fragile hope that seemed to flicker in the darkness around them. She knew the kind of magic they were dealing with was far beyond anything she had encountered before, the work of a mind twisted by years of study and obsession. Something Jason would have easily come up with.
Accelerator's gaze shifted to the walls around them, his mind working furiously to analyze the situation. "We just have to figure out this one's loophole," he said, his voice tinged with determination.
Velvet's thoughts echoed his own. She could feel the magic pulsing around them, a complex web of energy that shifted and twisted with every step they took. It was like being caught in a maze where the walls constantly moved, making it impossible to find a clear path. But there was something else, too—something subtle, almost imperceptible, that told her they were close. The distortion they had detected wasn't just a random anomaly; it was a clue, a sign that the spell was faltering in some way.
"Look," Velvet whispered, her voice barely audible as she pointed toward a section of the wall. The light from her glowing orb wavered slightly, casting eerie, shifting shadows that danced across the damp stone. "Do you see that?"
Accelerator's sharp eyes locked onto the spot she indicated. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a patch of moss, its deep green tendrils clinging stubbornly to the ancient wall. But something about it caught his attention, something off. He squinted, focusing intently on the patch, and as he did, the irregularity became more apparent.
The moss itself wasn't what was unusual—it was the way it was growing. There was a subtle distortion in the air around it, a faint shimmer that seemed to warp the space just enough to be noticeable. The moss appeared to be doubling over itself, as if two layers of reality were overlapping at that precise point. It was like looking at a glitch in a video game, where the textures didn't quite align, creating a visual anomaly that defied natural logic.
"What the hell…" Accelerator muttered under his breath, stepping closer to get a better look. The effect was strange, almost unsettling, as if the fabric of reality was thinning out, revealing the cracks in the illusion that kept them trapped in this dimension. The moss wasn't just growing—it was duplicating itself in an impossible loop, a visual manifestation of the pocket dimension's instability.
He reached out cautiously, his hand hovering just above the distorted patch. The air felt different here, charged with a faint energy that tingled against his skin. It was as if the space itself was vibrating at a frequency just out of sync with the rest of the dimension, creating a ripple effect that was visible only if you knew what to look for. The glitch, as he now thought of it, was the first tangible sign that the loop could be disrupted.
"It's like… a tear in the fabric of this place," Velvet whispered, her voice laced with awe and a hint of fear. She took a step closer, her eyes wide as she examined the strange anomaly. "This is it, Accelerator. This is the loophole we've been looking for."
Accelerator nodded, his mind racing as he considered their next move. The glitch was proof that the pocket dimension wasn't as airtight as it seemed. The spell that had trapped them here was beginning to fray at the edges, and this small tear could be their ticket out.
But it wouldn't be easy. If this distortion was connected to the spell's instability, then tampering with it could either weaken the loop further or cause it to collapse entirely. The risk was enormous, but they were running out of options. Every moment they stayed in this twisted reality increased the danger of being trapped permanently.
"It's fragile," he said, his voice low and thoughtful. "If we can amplify this distortion, we might be able to tear a hole in the loop and escape."
Velvet nodded, though her expression remained serious. "But we have to be careful. If we push too hard, we could trigger a collapse, and we have no idea what happens if this dimension collapses with us still inside."
The weight of her words hung in the air, but Accelerator's resolve only hardened. He could feel the pulse of the glitch, a subtle but persistent beat that resonated with the rhythm of the pocket dimension. The distortion was their way out, but they had to act quickly and precisely, or they could end up sealing their fate instead of escaping it.
"Alright", Velvet began, a look of determination setting on her face "I've got an idea".
"Load her up!" Jason's voice rang out coldly, echoing through the sterile, dimly lit chamber. The two burly men, faces hardened with years of unquestioned obedience, carefully lifted Yuki's limp, unconscious body and placed her into a large, cylindrical tank filled with a thick, viscous liquid. The glass of the tank shimmered under the dim overhead lights, reflecting the eerie green hue of the liquid inside. Yuki's delicate frame floated lifelessly, her long hair fanning out around her head like a dark halo.
Jason's expression was one of cold satisfaction as he placed a gloved hand on the glass, his fingertips tracing the outline of Yuki's form. His eyes, wide and unblinking, bore into her unconscious figure with a mixture of obsession and triumph. Her capture was the final piece of a puzzle he had spent years meticulously assembling. She was the key, the catalyst that would propel him to the next stage of his grand, twisted plan.
A slow, twisted smile crept across Jason's face as he watched Yuki's chest rise and fall in the forced rhythm of the machine that kept her alive. "Finally," he whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of reverence and madness. "I'm so close… so close to unlocking the ultimate power."
His thoughts were abruptly shattered by a deafening bang that reverberated through the building, shaking the walls and causing the lights to flicker wildly. The floor beneath him swayed violently, throwing him off balance. Jason gritted his teeth, fury flashing in his eyes as he spun around, just in time to see one of his nameless lackeys hurtling through the air like a ragdoll, crashing into a wall with a sickening thud.
"Yo! Jace!" a voice, dripping with mockery and an almost casual tone, echoed through the chaos. "Long time no see!" The one voice Jason could have gone his whole life without hearing again. It was a voice that had haunted him, taunted him, and now, it stood before him once more.
Jason's gaze snapped to the source of the voice, his eyes narrowing into venomous slits as he locked onto the figure standing in the wrecked doorway. There, amidst the rubble and flickering lights, stood Asphalt, his hands casually shoved into the pockets of his long coat, a careless smirk plastered on his face. Asphalt's appearance hadn't changed much in the years since they last clashed—he still exuded that same arrogant, devil-may-care attitude that grated on Jason's nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
Jason's fists clenched at his sides, his knuckles turning white with the force of his grip. The hatred and contempt that had simmered in his heart for over two decades now boiled over, filling his voice with venom. "Asphalt," he spat, his words laced with loathing. "Twenty-three years… and you still haven't learned your place."
Asphalt merely shrugged, his smirk widening as he took a lazy step forward, surveying the chaos he had just caused. "Twenty-three years, and you're still running around like a rat in a maze," he shot back, his tone light, almost amused. "You know, Jace, it's almost sad how predictable you've become."
Jason's eyes blazed with anger. "If I recall correctly," he hissed, his voice low and dangerous, "the last time we fought, you were the one forced to retreat with your tail between your legs."
Asphalt's eyes sparkled with amusement as he let out a scoff, waving his hand dismissively. "Retreat? Is that what you're telling yourself to help you sleep at night?" He chuckled, the sound grating against Jason's frayed nerves. "If you want to call that a retreat, then by all means, go ahead. But let's be honest here, Jace. What happened back then… that wasn't even a fight."
Jason's body tensed, his muscles coiled like a spring ready to snap. The air between them grew thick with tension, almost suffocating. Asphalt's casual demeanor contrasted sharply with the undercurrent of violence that pulsed between them.
Asphalt tilted his head slightly, his smirk fading as his expression grew more serious, his eyes locking onto Jason's with a piercing intensity. "Because, frankly," he continued, his voice dropping an octave, "I didn't even put my back into it."
Jason's jaw clenched so hard it ached. The taunt hit its mark, the implication that Asphalt hadn't even considered their last encounter worth his full effort stinging more than any physical blow ever could. But Jason wasn't about to let that slide. Not now. Not when he was on the verge of achieving everything he had ever dreamed of.
The atmosphere in the room became almost electric as the two men stood facing each other, the past two decades of animosity and unresolved conflict hanging in the air like a storm cloud ready to burst. Yuki floated in the tank behind them, oblivious to the clash of wills that was about to unfold. Jason's grand plan teetered on the brink of realization, but so too did the possibility of its complete unraveling at the hands of the one man who had always stood in his way.
This time, there would be no retreat. Not for either of them.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Safia_Sabry
Safia_Sabry Sorry for the late update but I'm in the middle of doing a final project for my course so I haven't been able to post as often as I would like but I'm still going to continue this fic.
Again, I'm just super busy and will continue at least until next month.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder