"Adjust this here…tweak this here…and done!" I exclaimed with a gleeful smile as I stood back, grinning happily with my hands on my hips while staring at my masterpiece.
"…Eric, did you just adjust the pattern again?" A guy my age with brown hair and blue eyes asked as he scratched the back of his head, his snow white coat with an azure rose logo on the back of it swaying in the wind.
"I think he did, Pete. Are you sure you're not a perfectionist?" A middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown hair and shimmering hazel eyes asked with a smirk, dressed in a silver coat with a black panther logo on the back.
"I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyway, the pattern has been optimised to draw less ethernano from the barrier itself to power up the locking patterns to keep out anyone that don't have their specific key. How far along with we on those?"
"Liol and General Lahar have been busy with that so you'll have to ask from this guy."
"The keys are working most of the time. The only time they don't is because the person is non-compliant and feels like the constant tracking will be an invasion of their privacy."
"And?" I asked and chuckled as Liol smirked.
"They have been sent to different outposts further away from the borders to make sure they aren't spies for another country."
"Good to hear. What of Droppa? She's been absent for the past couple of days?" I spoke and they both sighed and shook their heads.
"She's been locked up in her room. Apparently, she's figured out a way to integrate everyone's specific ethernano patterns directly into the barrier itself and make it recognize them when they get into a set distance of the barrier instead of them needing to sign in every day."
"And I did!" A voice shouted as a woman rushed through the bushes, her dark sunglasses shifted a bit on her face as her black hair was tied up in a bun while her lilac coat with a dark red dancing woman on the back of it whipped in the wind behind her.
"Hey, Droppa. You finally decided to join the rest of us?"
"Go jump off a cliff, Pete. Hey Eric, wanna see what I got?" She asked excitedly as she held out a page and I took it before looking down at the pattern she had drawn.
"…Any of you two make sense of this?" I asked as I handed the page over to Pete and Liol, letting the expert take the reigns since I've only been at this for a little over two weeks.
"Hey, Droppa?"
"Yes, Liol?"
"Why am I staring at an 'Energy Redirection' flowing directly into an 'Empower' that is actively powering an 'Energy Dispersion'?"
"Well, you see, I wanted to make a barrier that would repeatedly scan everyone that comes within a few hundred meters of the barrier, but doing so would require it to drain energy from the barrier's power source itself. Then, I added the 'Energy Redirection' pattern to divert some of the power back to the barrier while using both the 'Empower' and the 'Energy Dispersion' patterns to finally both boost and direct that energy right into the scanning process itself."
"That would overcharge the 'Unique Key Recognition' sequence of the scanning process, though…which is what you want." I just left them all to talk as Liol and Peter looked shocked while Droppa grinned and nodded.
"Precisely. Overcharging the sequence and then using an 'Energy Redirection' to transfer the excess energy over to the 'Scanning' sequence itself will then force it to expand the radius of the entire process, resulting…in a 300 meter scanning radius that will analyse and identify every unique key the moment someone enters it."
"And if they don't have a key or if someone then opens the barrier, the excess energy will also be redirected to the 'Catalog' sequence which would record its usage."
"But then, what's stopping the traitor from just copying someone's key and then using it for themselves?" I chimed in and Liol grinned before shaking his head.
"That's the best part. Because the 'Scanning' process itself memorizes not only your key but also your unique ethernano, we will be able to figure out who has been using someone else's key to unlock the barrier from our side."
"And with that, we have cracked the code, lady and gentlemen!" Pete exclaimed with a grin and I shook my head as I watched the two and Droppa looking relieved before turning my gaze back to the barrier.
In just the two or so weeks that I've been here, I've been studying not only it but also the second barrier a few dozen meters down that was the barrier of Bosco.
I was not only just studying how their Jutsushiki alphabet compared to ours, but also how they differed in using certain sigils and markings compared to how we use them and I have to admit that this entire magical ability itself is far more complicated than I thought it would be.
'I can see now why Fried's barriers were something everyone respected. It's not just the fact that one had to have the power to activate every sigil but also the fact that you had to understand the Jutsushiki alphabet itself down to the last fragment in order to use it to its full potential.'
"I assume with the cheering that you all managed to figure it out?" Lahar's voice drew me from my thoughts and I looked over to see the man walking out with an amused smile while Alya walked besides him.
"Anything happen?" She asked as she walked over and I let the others explaining the process to Lahar as I smiled before shaking my head.
"No incidents whatsoever…apart from us blowing up parts of the forest around us." She simply looked around at the numerous craters and scorched ground along the barrier before looking at me as I grinned.
"…Of course. Well, since you guys finished, that means we can leave now, right?" She spoke before groaning as all five of us shook our heads.
"No. This was simply the planning process. Now, it is time to do the actual engraving work to see if the patterns would actually work."
"And if they don't?"
"It's back to the drawing board." Droppa answered with a shrug and she just looked defeated before looking at me as I patted her back.
"Don't worry. I'm going to be staying out of the way since this process is going to require more delicate hands than my shaky hands." I spoke with a smile as Alya and I took a few steps back, the girl watching anxiously as she wanted this to work.
I, however, was fully focused on each of their four separate movements as vines grew out from the ground and lifted Pete up into the air, Droppa and Liol already busy shifting and twisting parts around.
However, Lahar was the one that surprised me the most as I saw tendrils of ethernano visible to the naked eye growing out from his aura and latching onto numerous parts of the barrier before rewriting all of them at the same speed that it took the others to do their sectors.
By the time they were done and moving onto other sections, I watched in awe as Lahar rewrote numerous parts, the General taking a deep breath as he pulled his ethernano back and nodded.
'…Oh, this…this is pretty insane.'
"We've done all that we've can from here. However, with one tap, it should either show us if it works or not. Eric, if you do not mind?"
"You guys sure?" I asked even as I walked forward, the others snorting as Liol nodded.
"Yeah, you're the one that came up with the entire idea for this so you get to do the honors. Now, just charge a slight bit into this Jutsushiki pattern here and it should work."
"Okay…here's to hoping this works…" I muttered as I placed a hand onto the pattern Liol had pointed out, taking a deep breath as I slowly began to fuel my ethernano into the barrier.
"It's…it's beautiful." I would say Pete was being dramatical, but even I was lost for words as I watched the giant flame-like pattern spreading out all across the barrier section in front of us, each rewritten section lighting up and shifting further.
A moment later, I grunted as a pulse of ethernano sent me stumbling back, giving a thankful nod to Droppa as she caught me before I watched as the barrier lit up and thousands of sigils lit up all over it.
"And with that, we have achieved success. Great job, everyone. Now…let's get back for dinner."
"Man, this was fun~" I spoke with a happy smile as I stood at the western watchtower of the fortress, staring at the beautiful array of Jutsushiki glowing brightly in the dark night sky before snickering at the sight of Alya's disgruntled look.
"You were expecting a fight, weren't you?"
"Kind of. I've heard the stories from the higher-ranks that a small skirmish breaks out on the border every day, but it's been over two weeks since we got here and there was not even a single enemy to be found."
"Oh, don't look at it like that. Think of it as the fact that you got to go on a paid vacation for the past weeks that we've been here."
"Precisely my point! I'm a workaholic and a hunter at that. I need my prey!" She groaned as she flopped dramatically onto the raised walls of the watchtower and I rolled my eyes before looking back at the barrier.
However, as I did so, I swear I saw a flash of something in the distance, raising an eyebrow as I squinted a bit before frowning at the sight of a soldier patrolling the forest near the barrier.
Now, while that would be something to be expected on every other night, no one was on duty tonight since Lahar wanted to hold a small celebration party before we all went back to our divisions.
That was also the reason why Alya and I were on the watchtower as she wanted to get a spot to clear her mind of the wine before she went back in and I just didn't want to be at a party when I could be studying the new Jutsushiki tomes I got from the General.
"Alya, you see that?" I asked while pointing at the shoulder, Alya blinking as she looked in the direction I was pointing before frowning slightly as she picked up one of the magic staves besides us and handed it to me.
"Something ain't right here. I'm going to go tell the General and get him here. You keep an eye on the guy."
"Sure thing." I responded even as I continued to squint to be able to see the soldiers, hearing Alya's footsteps quickly rushing down the stairs before blowing out the lantern's flame besides me and crouching down.
A moment later, I sighed as the soldier stopped right besides the barrier before walking over to it, watching as he placed a hand onto it before twisting his hand.
'Well…I can see why they haven't been attacking.' I thought with wide eyes at the dozens of soldiers rushing in past him, each moving silently and quietly while dressed in the same black cloaks with golden crescent moons on the back as the two guys I fought weeks ago.
'Calling out enemy attack would just draw attention to me and leave me alone to fend off them all…unless…'Looking at the staff in my hand, I wrapped the bottom end of my coat around the orb while rapidly charging ethernano to it and slowly standing up.
The glow was as dim as I could make it when I was fully up, watching as they all neared the fortress before whipping my coat back and aiming an absurdly bright violet orb at them.
"ENEMIES!" I roared as I let the blast fly, the ethernano charged into the orb shooting out in the shape of a giant orb that sliced through the air before impacting some of them with a deafening explosion.
It was also a bit too overcharged as the shockwaves from the blast was enough to rip out a few trees while nearly sending me flying out of the watchtower, but I grinned as the damage was done.
"Enemy Attack!" I heard Lahar exclaim as the man raced through the western gate along with most of the close-quarters fighters, quickly handing over the staves on the walls to the Rune Knights that rushed up the stairs of the watch-tower I was in.
Within the blink of an eye, the world around me was nothing but loud explosions and pained screams as the battle broke out, my ears ringing from every blast and my eyes watering from the dust as I continued firing.
Down at the ground, Lahar, Romoan and Alya were rapidly pushing the enemy back along with the rest of the melee fighters, but I frowned as I quickly ran along the wall from the western watchtower to the south-western one while rapidly firing down upon any that tried to sneak past.
Some of my blasts hit my foes and shaved off chunks from their bodies while others impacted the ground besides the enemy and sent them flying back.
However, as I went to aim at a man at the far back, my eyes widened as the top section of my staff was cut off by a quick slash, my arm reaching out to catch the orb while I leapt back as a person with a hooded cloak landed in front of me.
'Okay, this must be one of the stronger ones. Why isn't he down there fighting the others then?!'I shouted in my mind even as I had a tight grip on both the lacrima orb and my staff, the cloaked person taking their hood off and making me do a double-take as I was sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.
"…You were a spy?!" The words flew from my lips as I stared at the glaring Lyonel Ken, who scoffed as he spun the sabre in his grasp.
"I was not a spy. I was an agent of Bosco sent to cull and take care of any new talent that Fiore may have gotten."
"…So you were an assassin, then?" I asked and watched as the man took a deep breath before spinning his sabre back into a normal grip.
"I was…until you came along and took my position. I was forced to return to Bosco in defeat, but now! I will take your head back and ensure that I return back to the former level of prestige that I had."
"Buddy, it was your fault you underestimated the hell out of me. Why don't you start taking people seriously and you might learn a thing or two?" I spoke before quickly shifting to the side as he sliced down with a grunt.
Ducking under the horizontal slash whilst blocking the kick aimed at my knee with a grunt, the force of it pushed me back slightly as I stood back up, quickly spinning the stick part of my former staff as Lyonel charged in before I rushed forward in kind.
Sliding under his attack while swinging at his leg with a grunt, Lyonel did a spin over my attack before throwing his sabre at me, to which I quickly knocked the blade to the side with the staff while aiming the lacrima orb at him.
The orb sparked before unleashing a rapid barrage of ethernano blasts at him, but I frowned as he pulled his arm back and his sword flew to his grasp within mere moments.
'Telekinesis Magic, huh? That's going to be a weird one to fight.' I thought with a frown as I lunged forward, Lyonel being confused slightly at the ethernano barrage ending abruptly right as I appeared in front of him with the staff pulled back.
Swinging it at his leg, I was already unleashing a blast of ethernano from the lacrima orb right as he ducked down, a wheeze escaping the man's lips as the blast pushed him back before I rushed around in a wide arc while dragging the staff behind me.
Lunging back into the fight with a frown, Lyonel was half-aware as he blocked my quick barrage of stabs, ducking and parrying them while trying to sneak in his own counters.
As he continued to catch his breath, though, I fired at random with the orb in my grasp, the blast sailing past the man and impacting the ground behind him.
However, as I went to slam my staff down, I overextended and coughed as he pushed my attack away while landing a vicious knee to my chest.
Feeling my body be sent flying with that knee, I quickly dug the staff into the floor and rolled over to my feet, coming to a stop a few meters away from him while spitting a mixture of blood and spit to the side.
"I have to admit that this…this does feel lovely, indeed."
"Oh yeah? Then take this!" I exclaimed as I pointed the orb up and unleashed a rapid storm of ethernano blasts upwards.
However, as they neared their apex, the blasts curved back and rained down around us, confusing Lyonel as they all impacted the flooring of the castle walls around us in a circle.
"I'll see you later, buddy." I spoke with a grin as I leapt back while throwing the charged lacrima orb at one of the impact points and Lyonel's eyes widened too late as a Jutsushiki field erupted to life around him.
I didn't give him time to process the events as I rushed forward and brought my foot down upon the edge of the barrier with an axe-kick overflowing with ethernano and lit up the second sequence.
Immediately, numerous sparks appeared in the air as Lyonel leapt back with a horrified look, but as he slammed into the back of the barrier with a grunt, I took a deep breath as the inside area of the barrier was obscured by a continuous burst of powerful explosions.
"Another one bites the dust."
A/N: And Eric Creed has taken his first life as the chapter ends~! However, with this attack on Fiore by even more unknown assailants, something is now brewing in the background.
The only question is…what?
Next chapter, talking, going back home and…a new rank~! Whoo!
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As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!