The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 19: Breakthrough

"Pull out your sword."

Her phone rang out through the now chaotic laboratory, broken glass and liquid all over the previously clean white-tiled floor.

Heeding her instructions, I unsheathed my saber, which was just a bit shorter than her rapier, and held it diagonally in front of me.

Then, without any warning, she slashed her rapier, hitting the edge of my saber’s blade.

*BANG*

The saber instantly flew out of my grip and hit a nearby wall, dropping down to the floor.

"Pick it up."

With a sigh, I leaned downward and grabbed the sword.

I knew what she was doing.

After all, she had done it to Ren, and someone had done it to her.

She was trying to break me, make me quit being a hero, destroy me mentally, and make me lose all confidence in myself.

As if reading my mind, she raised her rapier and said while I began absorbing mana.

"If you use that ability again, I’ll make the call to have you expelled, now."

Her rapier sliced downward through the air, hitting the middle of my sword’s blade and knocking it straight down, right out of my hands.

*CLANG*

"You can’t even hold your sword? What the hell are you doing here?"

To be fair... I had basically just held this sword for the first time, not even seven hours ago.

Her eyes locked onto me, I leaned down and picked up the sword again, clicking my tongue.

This was what I got in return for trying to help her break through in her science experiments?

As she knocked the sword out of my hands one more time, spitting out various curses, I finally took a step forward.

"Where do you think you’re going? Do you want to be expelled?"

Not minding her stringent tone, I sat down on one of the stools and clicked my smartwatch, the 3D model of her mechanical armband appearing.

Fix it and get out of here.

That’s all I wanted.

Even if she didn’t appreciate it, even if the world didn’t care. I had decided to do it, and that was all that mattered.

Grabbing a soldering iron and a few pieces of metal, I easily made a mini-replica of the armband, perhaps fitting a dwarf.

Feeling a sharp sensation on my neck, I awkwardly glanced upward and touched the blade of Lily’s rapier, which was less than a centimeter from my neck, and asked.

"Do you mind?"

"I do, in fact, mind."

Clicking my tongue as I began working inside the mini metal armband, I answered.

"What? Do you want some sort of reaction out of me? Is that it? Do you want to see me screaming in pain?"

After briefly thinking for a moment, Lily smiled and answered.

"Yes, that does sound pretty nice."

The tip of her rapier now touching my neck, sending a chilling sensation through my entire body, Lily continued.

"You barge in here, disturb me while not even knowing your place, call my experiments ’wrong,’ and then attempt to steal my family?"

"...your family?"

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, perhaps at my lack of emotional response, she corrected.

"My experiments."

Removing the pins in the metal armband that were meant to harm your underband, I muttered under my breath.

"Your family is a bunch of pieces of metal scrap, and you called me a loser?"

Not even a moment later, Lily’s hand rushes through the air and slaps my face like a wrecking ball destroying a brick wall, leaving a red imprint behind on my cheek.

Almost falling off my stool at the force, I bite my tongue to endure the pain as she says.

"Say that louder."

Inserting a red wire into the mini metal armband, I held my breath.

I had chosen to do this, knowing something like this would probably happen due to Lily’s personality.

There was no one to be mad at besides myself for going through with this.

Successfully connecting the red wire into the armband’s system of wires, I let out the air in my mouth.

Clicking my tongue as she gazed at me, I said.

"I mean, you have the world’s strongest hero as your father, and you call this metal armband your family?"

As I felt a stinging sensation surge through my entire body, her rapier drawing my blood, I continued.

"Look, I’ll drink whatever potion you want after this; just let me do this first."

I had no intention of drinking any potions: straight into wraith mode it was after this.

But, perhaps convinced by my external conviction, Lily finally lowered her rapier and glanced downward, saying.

"Are you really trying to look at my invention? You did all of this just to mess with my armband!?"

"..."

After a few moments of silence, immediatly understanding what I was trying to do, she said.

"That won’t work."

Ignoring her hovering over my shoulder like a teacher, I answered.

"It will."

"I’ve already tried attracting mana multiple times. The intent vanishes after less than three seconds every time. Intent is impossible to contain."

Putting aside the metal armband for a moment, I grabbed two wires and welded them together, creating a loop.

Reaching behind my back, I touched the wound on my neck from Lily’s rapier, feeling a sticky sensation.

Holding up my fingers tainted with blood, I watched as a drop of my blood entered the wire loop.

Then, I clenched the wire loop and focused on my goal, infusing the wire with intent.

Without even waiting for me to put down the wire loop, Lily immediatly grasped it out of my hands and gazed at it intently.

The exterior of the wire loop shone a light-blue for about ten seconds before vanishing.

Of course, the mana particles didn’t actually enter the wire loop and strengthen its structure: they were simply attracted to the wire loop.

"Y-you used blood to maintain the intent?"