Chapter 6: Mana Death

Izumi screamed.

Not at me, though.

Don't get the wrong idea.

it just so happens that when you're trying to force open a barrier that was never really meant for that sort of thing, screaming kinda comes with the territory.

Reality was rapidly beginning to cave in.

Our 6-step plan to get through the barrier was greenlit.

And it scared the hell out of her.

As much as her resolve and her self-assurance was strong, she knew that breaking through that barrier would drastically alter her life from here on out.

Normally I'd do a quip right about now but it'd be incredibly out of place.

The current moment required me to hold it all together—for her.

Izumi again, was right.

I gotta start listening to her more. Our tether ballooned massively. I was her conduit. A vessel and external force she could tap into.

That's why this spell chain worked.

That's why was currently drowning in different flares and energies and practically bouncing off walls from all directions.

I had to keep her alive.

She had to make it.

Izumi had just screamed the last syllable of Aura Schism—a spell that scans barriers for weak points.

She volleyed it to me, naturally, I felt her world's magic enter and course through me.

Step two: Rupture expansion.

My palms burned like hell, but no matter what, I couldn't let go.

Not this early.

I chanted the words loud and fiercely.

"Rift Dilation! Stasis Loop!"

That was it right?

Izumi laughed maniacally as she held up her end of the connection.

The barrier lurched and I saw a small crack in the mirror, it spiderwebbed out rapidly.

Crap.

It's crunch time Keizo, let's do this.

This is just like Fate of War, fighting against the clock. Just like the game right?

Who am I kidding?

My hands are burning me. This is agony.

Izumi forced a surge of energy through the hole in the barrier.

The floor rumbled and shook beneath me.

Earth’s energy matrix—Izumi explained it like a self-healing wound—was already trying to reject us.

This whole operation? One giant anomaly.

So if we weren’t careful, we’d lose control.

Even worse, kill ourselves.

The room around us began to shake violently.

"Hold on," I shouted.

Izumi let out another scream.

That's about all you can do really.

So far so good. If good was even possible anymore. It seemed as if everything was warping.

Everything.

From the ground to the ceiling to our surroundings, everything was shaking.

Another crack.

The barrier couldn’t take much more.

Earth’s energy matrix was moving fast. Izumi had to move faster.

"Breaking point, the mirror's about to shatter! It's now or never! Jump Izumi! Do it! NOW!"

Izumi nodded. No hesitation.

The sound was indescribable.

Let me try anyway.

The mirror cracked in two. It shattered and exploded in a thousand shards. It sent pieces flying everywhere. They flew straight to my arms, cutting and ripping them.

I landed face down on my bathroom floor, winded.

I blinked, struggling to breathe. My hands still burned. My lungs felt horribly wrong.

I heard Izumi scream as she fell too.

Wait? Izumi?

I turned my head.

And she was there.

Izumi.

No longer inside the mirror.

No longer trapped behind the glass.

I crawled toward her.

I felt the cuts in my knees, the sting in my palms. But none of those were important.

Her mana—or whatever the hell that aura thing was—was so faint now I could barely sense it through the tether we shared. But there. Just faintly. A trace. I reached my hand out towards her.

“Hey,” I croaked. “Hey… you did it. You made it out.”

No response.

“Izumi…” I said again, softer this time. “You made it.”

Still nothing.

Was she—

No. No.

Impossible.

I reached out to touch her wrist. A pulse. Barely.

Her fingers twitched once. Her lips moved just a little.

“…Kei…zo…” her voice cracked.

I felt like crying.

She was here.

But at what cost?

Everything it seems. Or, nearly.

She had burned right through her whole self. Like taking a blowtorch to a birthday candle.

The only reason she was even still alive was—

The tether. I think?

Somehow, our connection hadn’t snapped, at least it didn't feel like it.

I placed a hand on her stomach.

A small smile played at the corner of her mouth.

What did we just do?

⊹˚₊‧──────────────‧₊˚⊹ ⟡ ✧ a temporal jump ✧ ⟡ ⊹˚₊‧──────────────‧₊˚⊹

It’s been a week since Izumi broke free.

She doesn’t move. Just lies there on my bed under wraps. Every now and then, she’ll whisper something under her breath—something about how she can’t feel things anymore, because her magic is nearly depleted; about how she has to concentrate very hard and try to heal herself; about how she feels like she has no choice but to sleep.

I haven’t been to school. I’ve ghosted everyone. Group chats? Left on read. Notifications? Muted.

Because you can't just pretend like everything's normal, go to class and just leave a catatonically comatose interdimensional magical girl on the brink of what she calls mana death—is upstairs in your room.

That’d be… a dick move.

And while I may technically qualify as a card-carrying member of the guy community, I’d prefer not to be one.

Not right now anyway.

The bajillion band-aids on my fingers, the pain in my back, the huge ass blisters on both of my palms—all of them are very insistent daily reminders that things are undoubtedly not okay.

I shake my head as I peel open a cup of instant ramen.

Beef flavour.

Izumi's favourite so far.

I used to say that it boosted my manhood, but now its boosting her magical girlhood.

She doesn't eat much of it, usually goes for the broth only and leaves the wet noodles for me.

It's not much but it's the best I can offer, especially when I can barely afford anything else.

It's enough to fill me up, gives me a boost when I'm down. That's better than nothing.

I'm just thankful it's there.

As it once helped me, so it helps her.

She said she’d get better.

She looked me in the eyes—right before her body gave out—and she said it.

But a week… a week’s not enough to make that kind of promise.

It’s not that I doubt her.

It’s just that…

Everything feels grim right about now.

My gut tells me it's far from over though.