Chương 49: Chapter 46: I Will See You Die Again

Doom. Impending doom. Unlike every other loop, Nolotl didn't jolt out of his divination, instead he lingered there on the ground. Cold. Empty. He had survived for the first time as no ambush came for him so his awakening was far tamer, yet at the same time, that divination ritual meant nothing because he was already experiencing that doom. There was nothing impending about it. It was present. Awakening back in the past without pain numbing his whole being was the worst thing he had ever experienced.

Because now he felt another kind of numbness, absolute and destructive.

"She died… and there was nothing I could do," Nolotl couldn't even begin to classify the amount of disgust he felt… because he felt nothing.

"Have I been afflicted with apathy?" You have resisted Apathy.

"No? Then how queer," he mouthed emotionless as he continued to peer into the heavens with his body slowly freezing to death. Something told him that the experience should be painful yet couldn't bring himself to care.

"No, this isn't normal. I don't behave this way. What's wrong with me then? Is it your fault?" Nolotl peered into his bifid mind, unsurprised yet disgusted to see that the Ehecatl still lingered inside of him. How repulsive, the eldritch interloper said from the confines of its cradle-prison, still imitating Nolotl's voice, albeit with that deformed motherly tone. To think that you could still trap someone like me even in your weakened state.

"So it isn't you," Nolotl added weakly. He didn't know much of the Ehecatl and he didn't want to, but it didn't strike him as the type of creature that would claim something it didn't do as its merits. There was too much pride in its tone for that.

"Oh, well. I guess I can check the notifications I missed while I ponder on it." The wave of annihilation that assaulted him prior to the regression of the loop had disrupted feeble magic, but his Real-Time Status was sturdy enough that it had resisted, now showing him the following notifications. Void Alignment increased by 1%. Void assimilation progressed by 5%.

For a moment he thought he had read that value incorrectly, that the first notification was saying assimilation instead of Alignment, but by the ninth time he read it, he couldn't fool himself any longer. In a panic, Nolotl opened his status, only focusing on his Alignments. Top Alignments: - Information ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 75. 03542% - Light ▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 12. 80427% - Void ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 3. 78237%"MOTHERFUCKER!" The twiceborn cursed with all his royal vehemence as he stood from the ground in a feral jump.

His body tensing and heating up in one fell swoop, the below zero temperatures of the Mount Empyrean fading into the background. You have resisted Rage. You have resisted Rage. Your Sanity is taking a toll. You are clear of Madness. For the first time in his life, his primal rage had a positive effect as his mind finally shrugged off the effects of madness that he had unfortunately succumbed to at the end of the previous coil.

"That certainly felt more like apathy than madness as I was rather sane and lucid… No, this is not the subject at hand," Nolotl bit his thumb's nail and looked again at the Alignment part of his status.

"Whatever Beta did was enough for my Void Alignment to raise by a whole 1% even when I wasn't the target of the ritual and just a bystander. At least I managed to conserve my 75% Information Alignment, but pulsars, it has come at the cost of lowering it by 0. 1% and also 0. 5% for Light."

Nolotl couldn't care less about his Light Alignment, the one thing that this whole second looper thing depended on was his affinity with Information, and it wasn't like he was using any Light spells beyond the projection of books, so it didn't matter if it went as low as 11%.

"I hate that the other Alignments have remained mostly unchanged, though. I have a couple of Alignments at 2%, but it's not like I can make any use of them. What use has a 2% Life Alignment? Like, honestly? It should all be funneled to my Information except maybe Light. Having it remain above 11% is important if want to cast photomancies in the future with any semblance of actual competence." The terian sluggishly collapsed on the ground, not caring of the brunt of his body.

He felt so utterly defeated with his Information Alignment tethering so close to the edge and Beta's death.

"Fuck, fuck!" He cursed and slammed the ground.

"I really want to help her, but I cannot afford myself to be near her when my Alignment is this precariously low. Another misstep like this and I will go back to being level 4 and losing all of my assimilation progress." Which likely would mean that Enantyum would kill him. Or worse yet, reset him and try again with a new Nolotl. Arguably, that was the best plan of action as a new Nolotl wouldn't be afflicted with the Ehecatl, but it was rather obvious that Nolotl didn't have any plans of dying.

"Pulsars…" He cursed again but far more weakly. Not having the strength to curse again, he brought his whole assimilation progress before his eyes.

Lesser Alignment Assimilation Progress: - Light ▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 22% - Arcane ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 2% - Life ▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 10% - Time ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 5% - Information ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 100% - Space ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 1% - Death ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 2% - Chaos ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 4% - Void ▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 20%"20% assimilation progress with Void, that's so insanely good," and yet his voice was deprived of the joy that it should possess.

"9 loops and 80% remaining, which equates to 0. 16% progress per day or 1. 5% per week. Those are good numbers… If I were to dedicate a whole loop to bringing my Information to a non-critical level and only assimilating Void on my own that would leave me with… 1. 66-periodic% of required progress by week… Pulsars, even the numbers agree with me because that's without taking into account the boost of the total celestial alignment." Nolotl brought his hand to his face and rubbed it as he thought.

His palms were reddened and hot, both from the slams and the low temperatures. At least unlike the previous loop he wasn't bleeding to death, which helped with conserving his body heat.

"I really hate doing this after having left Enala to die on the previous loop, but I need to forgo Beta in this one…" He bit his underlip.

"Or do I? Will Beta even die without my assistance? She mentioned that she might not have followed through it as it was too much of a chore going to the Archives so maybe even leaving her alone like she originally wanted is the right thing to…" And his hopeful thoughts abruptly came to an end as Perfect Recollection decided to wake up and chose violence at the start of this loop, showing him a memory from long ago.

"It is said that our friendly Beta Methasome wants to make a grand spell for the total celestial alignment. A masterwork of Void, if I say. Yet she doesn't seem to quite achieve it, and time is fleeting from her. You yourself know how frustrating it is to not meet deadlines." Those words had been uttered by Paizon, the Empyrean of Chaos, all the way back on Nolotl's first repetition of time. Back then he hadn't cared in the slightest of those words, yet now those sent shivers through his whole being.

"Paizon said that near the start of the first loop, and those were rumors he had already heard… This means Beta has been planning whatever that was for a long time already, far more than two months before the total celestial alignment at the very minimum…" He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"There's no way she will give up that easily then. It was only a figure of speech, even if she doesn't seem to comprehend them herself." It was a horrifying discovery, yet at the same time, one that made him numb because he had been subjected to the same fate for Enantyum knows how long.

"Beta will always die regardless of what I do." You have resisted Apathy. Contrary to the notification's statement, Nolotl felt very much overwhelmed by apathy. The Time Tower remained as lifeless as always. It was a curious sight as it was as big as all of the others but with a fraction of population. There were more chronomancers than akyromancers, yet the brazen tower felt more empty than the cosmic hole that was the Void Tower.

But at least he saw some chronomancers around, something that couldn't be said for the Void Tower. Revising the demographics that he was forced to go through due to his clerical duties as the Empyrean of Information, Nolotl was aware that most inhabitants of the Time Tower weren't actually pure chronomancers but hybrid mage types just like the bibliomancer librarians of the Archives. Using other towers was a nice way to deal with overpopulation, even if that wasn't a choice with the intimidating Void Tower.

Nolotl, however, failed to account for the fact that it was two in the morning and most people weren't nocturnal. This could be blamed on his seamless transition between coils as death worked as a great separation that he hadn't expected. Whilst his biological clock knew it was late, his mind still processed things as if it was little past noon. It didn't take him long to reach the office of the Tower Master of the Time Tower.

"Later than expected," Enantyum commented over the close door, already aware of Nolotl's presence. The diviner hesitated a moment before opening the door as he placed his hand on the doorknob. Could this be an invitation to enter? He asked himself in shapeless thoughts, but at the same time, it made no sense standing around. He had been addressed, so he should address the chronomancer back. Sheepishly as always but with still some underlying composure, Nolotl made it inside the office.

"I got distracted because it felt very weird to not die at the alignment."

"You died in the one which you completed the Second Mind ritual?" The Regressor frowned at him in an inquisitive manner. The terian immediately noticed the issue with his choice of words. Perhaps it was his recent madness—or perhaps the lack of pain of death—but he managed to keep his composure better than before.

"I unfortunately succumbed to my wounds by the end, even if I completed the ritual." Not a lie, even if the result was catastrophic. The last thing Nolotl wanted to talk about with Enantyum was the Second Mind enchantment. It was the one thing that could cast him directly out of the loop. Even if he lost his second looper skills thanks to his high Information Alignment, he had some minimal hope of wording and worming his way out of the situation. Enjoying this book?

Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Not with the Ehecatl, however.

"Has it been a nice experience then?" The eastern mage casually took a swig of his gemmed flask.

"You're the only Interlooper that I've had constantly die in such manner. I blame that on you being the weakest one by far out of all of them." Ouch, the worst part of that sentence was that Enantyum didn't even mean it as a stray towards him, which made the statement itch evermore to the terian. But it was an undeniable fact that Nolotl Xocoyotzin was an acolyte compared to the great empyreans of the academy.

Worming his way to the position without having completed even half of his instruction did hurt a bit his progress and prowess.

"It's been a… weird experience," Nolotl added unsurely.

"Not that I've grown used to dying, but it has been odd to not experience any transition between the end of a loop and the start of another."

"Well, if it wasn't a sudden change, then I would be doing something wrong, wouldn't I?" The Empyrean of Information didn't know how to answer at that.

"Anyhow, how's your progress been?"

"…solid," Nolotl responded conservatively. If the Regressor heard that he was already one fifth of the way done, he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Well, continue being solid. These nine remaining loops are the first and only probation you will have, so you'd better not fail it." His words were nonchalant and combined with a swig or two of alcohol. I barely register in his mind, the gnosiamancer bit his underlip, feeling as inferior as ever.

"Has Beta been a good teacher?"

"She… has…" The diviner's response became even more conservative than before.

"Doesn't sound like it," Enantyum put his swig down on his coffee table and looked at him.

"She…" Nolotl smacked his lips, not knowing how to continue.

"Beta died."

"And?" The chronomancer looked at him in bored confusion.

"And?" The gnosiamancer reiterated with confusion too, but his carried simmering rage.

"Enantyum, one of our peers died!"

"You constantly died before the loop," he stated as a matter of fact.

"This is no different. And considering from your gaze, she literally died at the end, meaning that she hasn't even had time to stay dead. Quite just like you. So what's the issue?" Nolotl couldn't understand what he was hearing.

"Everything? Don't you feel anything upon hearing that? She was bisected right in front of me!" There was simply no emotion in Enantyum's eyes, and as timeless as they were, they just looked… tired.

"How many times I have seen someone—the same person—die? What does it matter if they do or not? I will just undo it all. Just like I will see you die again, little prince." The apathy that assaulted the terian was one so overwhelming that he almost retched. Yet at the same time… a part of Nolotl understood the chronomancer. He himself had already killed the ambushers twice without any regret, and if anything, he looked forward to do it all over again. But that didn't make it any better.

Nolotl hated feeling so apathetic towards death and found it repulsive to see it or experience it. He didn't know if it was because the time loop hadn't had enough time to wore him down like it had done with the chronomancer, but the diviner definitely didn't want to be like him.

"Have you seen her die?" Against his better judgement, Nolotl uttered that question.

"Beta in specific? No, I can't say I have. But I didn't want to interact with akyromancers in general."

"…you're telling me that you've been at it for decades in the loop yet you have barely interacted with your peers?" The amount of effort Nolotl had to do to not curse at the Regressor's face was monumental.

"Nope," the dark-skinned blonde answered nonchalantly. You have resisted Rage. I definitely don't want to be like him. Not at any single point in time or life, Nolotl scowled in the sanctity of his mind. It's only a matter of time before I fall too. You have resisted Rage. His primal urges got harder to control as the Ehecatl tried to pass its voices as his own. I will fucking change your voice somehow, starless wind of lies. The twiceborn cursed in the liminal confines of his Cognition, his mind no longer sacred.

"I see," the Empyrean of Information took a deep breath.

"Regardless of that subject, I have some questions about some other topics, mostly related to the time loop."

"Feel free to ask," Enantyum shrugged, completely unfazed by Beta's ordeal. In a way, he was far more emotionless than the akyromancer, and the diviner found that utterly repulsive.

"I can spare five minutes."

"First, what do you think if I were to go below 75% Alignment in Information?" The Regressor's gaze turned serious and in the next frame of reality, he was no longer sitting leisurely in his armchair, but instead in an authoritative manner as he looked directly at him.

"Are you planning to do that?" Don't be intimidated, Nolotl. If you aren't contrarian and still have usefulness, he will keep you in the loop. He has shown you that much. Though the diviner still needed to convince himself a bit to not act a bit intimidated at the mighty chronomancer's scowl.

"Not at all," he added.

"I just wondered what would happen?" Enantyum judged him for a moment before appearing seated back in a relaxed manner the next instant. There was no transition nor feedback whatsoever, just one jarring movement to the other.

"I see," the chronomancer mouthed.

"Well, your situation is certainly a first as getting past 50% Alignment is already a monumental task, but if I had to guess, I'd say you would lose all of your Alignment progress along with any status changes."

"Any?" The diviner raised a brow in interest.

"Any and every," Enantyum clarified.

"You'd basically be a normal Interlooper in such scenario. But if I were you, I would think twice before getting your Alignment that low. That's the only thing that gives you any worth."

"I'm well aware of that," far too aware of it. Nolotl barely managed to control his scowl. He didn't want to antagonize the chronomancer twice in the same day. This would be my chance to remove the Ehecatl without risking my Information enchantment slot, but it comes at a high risk.

Not only would I risk going against Enantyum's orders, but I also would have to level up again, get the Second Mind enchantment again, and assimilate both Information and Void again in only eight loops because this even won't count towards my progress if I take that route… The risk was so high that Nolotl was even averse to think about it. It felt wrong calling the Ehecatl this way considering he had only been parasitized with it for a single loop, but it was the evil that he knew.

That resetting route was only filled with uncertainty. I still have eight weeks to come to a decision… He told himself, before focusing back on the chronomancer.

"Second question," the diviner continued.

"You've lived for long from the little I got out of you, so would you happen to know if enchantments recreating resistance Boons are possible?"

"Eager to fill your remaining slots?" Enantyum chuckled.

"You're quite the greedy person. Most people who out there with their whole lives without getting an enchantment and yet you've already got two."

"Is it a problem?" Nolotl pursed his under lip with his tongue in the inside of his mouth. It hurt from all of his previous gestures and he had a nasty gash.

"Wouldn't it be better for your second looper to be fully enchanted?"

"Oh, yeah. It would certainly be a capital Boon to have a competent Interlooper, but I was aiming my shots elsewhere." Before the gnosiamancer had time to ask what he was talking about, the chronomancer teleported around several times in a row, too fast for his eyes to keep up as he didn't linger in one spot for long. Nolotl's eyes only settled after Enantyum stood in front of him with several books in his hand.

"Read the fifty…eighth...? That page from the first book," the master of the loop said after dropping all the books on the terian's hands. With difficulties, Nolotl hadn't the books and opened the one on top from the page Enantyum commented. It was neither a enchantment synopsis nor a complete resistance Boon adaptation into spell, but more of a theoretical approach to how they could be done. It was simple to understand what Enantyum had been talking about when he read the whole page.

"So even if I wanted to get resistance enchantments… I wouldn't be able to keep them between loops?" Nolotl voiced out after synthesizing the contents of the page.

"Basically." When the terian looked up from the book, the brazen blonde celestial was already sitting again comfortably in his armchair.

"Enchantments are a curious thing because their main anchor is the body—your tattoos being a clear example of this—but any enchantment related to Alignment, also needs to connect with the soul. Two things that, as you know, aren't getting sent back with you through the loops. Perhaps there would be some workaround considering how your Alignment has worked out, but I wouldn't bank on it."

"Isn't there at least any resistance enchantment that can be applied to the mind?" The diviner asked and he instantly got a knowing grin from the Regressor. No further words were needed to know what the answer would be.

"Okay, so resistance Boons are beyond me," he sighed.

"Does this mean that any enchantment I get will be sorely limited to my mind, right?" Nolotl had already guessed as much, but it would be foolish not to get a confirmation of the master chronomancer beforehand.

"Quite," said chronomancer nodded.

"But there's bound to be at least a handful of already-created mind enchantments for every Alignment. I think there was one for spatial sense in Space, but that's not the best usage of such a precious slot. Common people can afford to waste them for trivial boosts, but you aren't common. Not anymore." Nolotl wanted to add that he was never common to begin with considering he was the head of a faith, royalty of one of the greatest countries of the world—at least landmass-wise—and a twiceborn.

But all of those things sounded common compared to someone who could order time around.

"Oh well, it's not like you have the time to research and test them all," Enantyum shrugged.

"Though if you're about to enchant yourself with anything, go with Void first. If there's something that can kill you for real in the loop, it will be failing a Void enchantment. Better if I can get a new substitute as fast as possible, you see." Is that what happened with Beta? She failed a Void enchantment? A ninth-tier Void enchantment? Nolotl chose to ignore Enantyum's harsh treatment and words and instead focused on whatever happened with Beta. He already had it very clear that he was a disposable pawn.

That was a fact he would never be able to escape.

"My final question and I can leave you free for the rest of this loop," he pursed again his lower lip. I really need to get at least a restoration cantrip at some point.

"You haven't talked about this and I decided to play it safe, but am I allowed to share with people the existence of the loop?"

"Why would you even do that?" Nolotl feared that the Regressor might get defensive at that question, yet he only seemed moderately interested.

"I… don't want everything I do to disappear. I want to share the knowledge that the people I helped obtain in the previous loops. I think that… it might be rather easy to do with Thought Projection." Projecting read books with illusions had certainly been useful, but Thought Projection made it easy to project thoughts as a whole.

No one said where those thoughts needed to be physically projected, and thoughts by nature had their ecosystem in the mind, so perhaps he could telepathically give people the information they had learned already. This was, of course, only a vague idea that he had. Even if Thought Projection worked like that, he would need a lot of practice before making any meaningful transferences of knowledge. And they would all be summarized accounts only limited to information that could be found in books.

"Hmm, that's certainly a way to recruit to people in the loop," Enantyum pondered as he scratched his inexistent beard.

"Once upon a time I would have forbidden you to share with anyone about the loop's existence as that could have jeopardized it as a whole. But now… yeah, considering the latest loops before I picked you up, no one can defeat me now. Not even the headmistress. Well, there were lots of casualties and derelict towers, but I would count it as a victory. So yeah, go with it and share it." That's not scary at all to hear…

Nolotl slightly dug his nails into his forearm, hearing the chronomancer casually talk how unbeatable he was wasn't the best of signs.

"Wait," Nolotl suddenly blurt out as he was forced away from his thoughts.

"What was that you said?"

"What?" Enantyum frowned at him.

"About sharing the loop?"

"No," the terian swayed his head.

"The headmistress. What headmistress are you talking about?"

"The one of the Empyrean Academy?" The celestial looked at him as if he had gone insane.

"But we have a headmaster?"

"Oh!" Enantyum chuckled and slapped his lap.

"I know what's happening here. Yeah, so the founder of the Empyrean Academy has long transcended the limitations of gender, and age for that matter. Truth be told, even after all this time, I don't even know what gender she is. She's super androgynous so I just think of her as a very wrinkly grandma."

"Couldn't you've just asked their gender?" Nolotl asked, unsure of what to make with this news. They weren't world-breaking, but they were certainly a bit surprising.

"The crone never gives a straight answer, no matter how much I trick her," the Regressor tsked.

"So yeah, you're free of doing anything what you want. But for your own safety, I recommend you not mention time looping. You're weak, and if you share that information… well, it would be pretty easy to abuse you as you don't have ways to defend yourself." Nolotl wasn't sure if he was smelling some past story there or Enantyum was just giving a very specific example, but the diviner was certain that was one of the questions that would instantly lead to his death if he were to utter them.

"So, are you finally done?" Enantyum pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes.

"Or are there any more questions?"

"No…" The diviner pondered it for a moment but realized that was the extent of his doubt. Well, the extent of the doubt he thought he could ask without getting killed.

"That was all."

"Alright," and as soon as the chronomancer uttered those words, Nolotl found himself out of the office instead standing in front of the closed doors leading to it. You have resisted Fear. You have resisted Nausea. Nolotl clutched his chest and had to fight against his body to not suffer a cardiac arrest. I got no notifications out of that. He force-teleported me out of the room or stopped time and I was not able to realize it, let alone fight it.

The sheer fright that casual display of power was enough to petrify him on the spot, but he was truly on the brink of a panic attack. A lethal one. I… The terian didn't dare to speak as he stood in a self-imposed stasis, his legs begging him to tremble against his wishes. Fuck… Simply, fuck… It was a monumental task to keep himself moralized as every single display of the chronomancer just brought him to his knees. I… You need to walk away, Nolotl.

His lower lip drew blood as he bit to snap himself out of his stupor, awkwardly managing to walk away from the Time Tower. All these last weeks he was looking forward to meet with the chronomancer, yet now Nolotl was happy that he wouldn't see him for the rest of the loop. He, of course, forgot how the actual first day always went by.