A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 5:

I was a bit giddy at my newfound toy. The red gauntlet, my Boosted Gear appeared on my arm. I flexed my muscles, wiggled my fingers and made sure to go through the full range of motions to get an idea of how it would feel.

I have to admit, this thing felt great. On the surface, it looked rather bulky, but it moved almost like a skin-tight glove. Its weight wasn't anything worth mentioning, yet I knew it was unbelievably durable. If nothing else, it would make a great shield.

A part of me dearly wanted to test out its more esoteric abilities, but I was still keeping a low profile. I didn't know if throwing around dragon-based powers would draw any attention I didn't want.

Once the initial excitement ran out, I did put it away back into my soul. A comforting feeling knowing that it would be hard for most people to disarm me.....hehe.

[That was bad, and you should feel bad]

"Go to sleep, you stupid dragon." My joke was great.

Anyways, I still had things I needed to take care of before I started doing anything of importance. I still haven't finished my calculations for my Magic.

Glancing at the walls filled up with my scribbles and formulas, I was thankful that most of this would only have to be done once. Sure, I would have to do some more calculations when I went to different world-lines, but at that point I could basically cut and paste the majority of this to fit me needs. Atleast until I can overcome this problem with sufficient equipment.

Still though, I just couldn't help but groan at the work I still needed done. It's not like I enjoyed sitting here for hours and hours doing math.

I could still do some other stuff while I focused on my annoying formulas.

I still had some left-over ink mixed with my blood; I could 'recycle' it so to speak. I withdrew my cane-blade from my hat and once again reminded myself to find a better storage method. There wasn't much I go do with this thing; the materials of its crafting only made it slightly better than to use nothing as a magical foci. I could do a primitive method of soaking the weapon in my mana-infused blood. It would somewhat increase the competency of my casting through the sword.

The ink actually came in handy here, I would need to make a note of this for the future. The method was a bit simple, if not stupid, but it was a good for an emergency or if someone is severely lacking in resources.

10 tricks and tips for a stranded magus.

Well, most competent magi knew the power of blood. It didn't have much 'staying power' as other materials, but what it lacked in continued use and throughput, it made up for in availability and ease of application.

I just made a make-shift container out of paper and tinfoil and let my blade soak for a few hours.

There was the idea to maybe carve some more runes onto the weapon...but I scrapped that for now. I didn't feel the need to invest anymore into something that was clearly temporary. Not just that, it already had been enchanted with an effect many years ago, there's no telling what reactions would occur if I tried to tamper with that. And finding another real weapon in this place was unlikely unless I venture into the more supernatural parts of the world.

I looked at the time on my phone and saw it was getting late again, after another few moments of grumbling, I decided to get to work. I couldn't just procrastinate for the entire night.

***

I lifted my head with a yawn, realizing I had fallen asleep on the table. I felt my back pop a few times as I stretched, sleeping in such a position made me feel all stiff.

My mind immediately traced where I left off last night in my calculations, with an exasperated sigh I threw the nearby marker at the wall. Stupid math wasn't being cooperative, I hit a bit of a mental wall with my formulas, and I was starting to get aggravated.

Maybe I just needed to get away from it for a while? I lost track of how many hours I had actually being working through it, probably about fourteen when all was said and done. I wanted to make something for breakfast....but I remembered I didn't have much left and I haven't gone to the store in several days. I do have some shitty stuff like some quick microwave ramens for an emergency—

The sound of someone knocking on my door drew my attention away from my cupboards.

Who the devil could be knocking at my door so early in the morning?

"Shimoda-san" A familiar voice greeted me as I open the door.

I blink at her for a moment. "No soliciting." I go to shut the door, but a foot catches it. I just sighed as I opened it again. "What do you want, Shitori?"

I thought I would have a couple more days before I got bothered. Was I caught in the act yesterday, or is this just coincidence?

"You've been absent from school for several days now. I'm authorized by your guardian to check up on you in case of emergency." She explains.

Ah, more babysitting duties, I should have expected this.

"Well, as you can seen I'm in perfect health, Goodbye."

Take a hint.

I was about to close the door again, but I felt something tingle at the back of my head, did this bitch just try to fucking hypnotize me? Well, I was going to be nice....

"Shimoda-san, why haven't you been to class the past few days?" She pushed up her glasses, staring at my expectantly.

Call me skeptical, but I don't think she'll take a 'because, fuck you' as an answer.

"You've caught me, I've seemed to develop an odd ailment and it makes it awkward to attend class. You see, whenever I see a girl with glasses, my pants just get really tight...." I saw her eyes widen and her mouth slightly open. I guess this came out of left field for her, I've always been rather soft spoken and mostly polite. "I have decided to live the life of a hermit for now on, goodbye Shitori." I slammed the door and locked it.

I snickered as I went for my stuff, not even bothering to give her my full attention as she apparently opened my door even though it was locked.

"Oh my, breaking and entering, what would the rest of the school say?"

"What's gotten into you Shimoda." She eyed me with a bit of skepticism, and she dropped some of the formalities, hmm. "W-what is all of this?" She took a few steps inside and looked at my scribbles covering the walls.

"I have taken the drugs." I answered simply.

I wonder how long until she puts two and two together, no matter it's time for me to bounce.

"Hey Sitri, wanna see a magic trick?"

"What are you—"

I reached into my hat and pulled out one of the pieces of jewelry in plain view. It was a shame I would have to waste this; it was a pretty nice little bracelet.

"Now for my next trick, I'm going to make an asshole devil disappear." I pulled on the kaleidoscope and pumped everything I could into one of the jewels encased in the bracelet. Specifically, a topaz, and while I wasn't as experienced at jewelcraft like my previous-self, I still retained enough knowledge to make certain minerals 'explosive' at a whim.

"SHIMODA." The devil heiress shouted as I tossed the trinket in her direction.

It looked beautiful for a moment, its iridescent glow illuminating the house before the magical energies inside the jewel cracked the surface and spilled out causing a reaction.

*BOOOM*

I had reinforced my body a moment before and jumped behind the table. It wasn't a strong explosion, and it wouldn't harm Sona in any meaningful capacity, but I saw her body get blown out the door.

The satisfaction of seeing her get the magical equivalent of a slap in the face.

My ears were ringing slightly as I gathered everything else I needed, shakily moving towards a back wall where I had a single picture of me and my mother. With one last goodbye, I put the picture into my storage space and tossed a couple talismans into the kitchen. They ignited, starting a fire as all evidence of my magic started to be consumed.

Magical fire burns hot and fast. It wouldn't last long, time to leg it.

I pulled on the kaleidoscope once more, having memorized all the calculations to this point. They weren't perfect and there were some holes in my equations.... but I had a good feeling. I was aiming for the world-line my previous-self came from, let's see how close I get.

The multi-colored portal opened up before me and I jumped in without hesitation.

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