Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Eya took a seat and grabbed her head in her hands. Hitori was leaning against a wall with Akira and Kakashi was sitting on the bed.

They stayed like that, forgetting about their hunger and fatigue, till Eya sighed and decided it was enough of grieving.

"Any idea, anyone, how this happened and what really happened?"

Hitori was ready to blame Kakashi's enchantment and Kakashi was ready to defend against his enchantment. But Akira had an explanation.

So he jumped in before anyone would start arguing. "Maybe Kakashi was right, the visit to the house was a red herring after all. He knew we were keeping a scientist with us, but he knew we were—"

"Oh, shut up." Hitori leaned off the wall. "They sent a hitwoman, Tengoku could come himself if he wanted to. He is a savage, he does not care about slipping safely, he will destroy everything and take what he wants. I know that."

"Like Onogi," Eya said, nodding, "he is the same. They can not plan, so yeah, Akira, it is out of the question."

But he was determined to share his side of view, so he nodded, and continued, "But what if, they planned this time? Tengoku did disappear, but you did cast a spell," he pointed at Kakashi, "so how did he get it?"

"The hitwoman? Maybe she… uh… no, she can't do anything. She was just a good actor, but a dumb woman," Kakashi said, shaking his head.

"One thing is sure," Hitori sighed, "they did not break in through the enchantment, they found or created a second way. Do you not have the things called CCTVs?" he asked.

Although Kakashi was satisfied now that Hitori agreed with him, he was offended when he said CCTV. "Do you really think we would use cameras? A device created by scientists?"

Hitori shrugged. "Why not, as long as it helps you catch crimes?"

"Hitori-san…" Eya shook her head. "We do not talk about that, so please."

He shrugged again. "Then work some shitty spells and find what happened! I want to find her before that bastard does anything to her."

"Do not worry. He kidnapped her, so he wants her alive for some reason."

Hitori turned to Akira. "Some reason? Do you want to know that reason? Because he wants me. So when I go, he will kill her, I will feel like a failure, he will grab that chance and kill me too!"

Akira took a step back when Hitori shouted. "Now just…" he sighed, "only if I could use telepathy, I would have—"

"Telepathy? Do it then!"

"Unfortunately, no one witnessed what happened to her, so no, I can't. It works like a camera, you see."

"So it is useless unless a witness was at the crime scene? Now that is amazing." Hitori turned around and clicked his neck.

Kakashi glanced at Eya, but she was busy looking out for Hitori. "How about us," he said, "use the help from lords?"

Eya spun her head, and Hitori turned his eyes to Kakashi. "The lords? Like the last time? Why the heck not?"

"No." Eya shook her head and opened her arms to grab Kakashi. "No. No."

"Y-Yeah," Akira said from behind, "I think you should leave that out of option, Kakashi." He gulped, looking fearful.

But Hitori was confused and triggered. "Why not? Why the heck not? What is wrong with you? If we use it like we did the last time, we can find out what happened here. As easy as—"

"Because it is not as easy as it looks, Hitori-san!"

He felt a hand over his shoulder from behind. It was Akira. "If we used it, then it would make things easy, right?"

"Easy? It will solve everything! Who did it, what was she doing when they did it, and how did they do it, how did he escape and all."

"Would not that be too easy?" he said. "To just get everything like that, by just closing eyes and mumbling some weird words, that would be cheating."

"We are not playing some little kids' game. Who cares about cheating? Are you, are you out of your mind?"

"A cheat does not come at a price of nothing!" Eya shouted from the other corner of the room. "A cheat costs you its worth."

His mouth dropped open. "You mean… this spell has consequences? Like, a curse or something?"

"Well, not really a curse, but yes." She nodded, sitting beside Kakashi. "Every time you use that spell for a new crime scene, it costs you your mana capacity. The most important thing for us, mages."

"But you… used it the last time…"

"Yes, we did. And it did cost a little portion of our mana capacity, which mages strive to improve, but can't even after spending their whole life behind it."

"Then you showed me too! What about that? You used it twice, like—"

"We had already watched what had happened there, so it cost you your mana capacity, not ours. Makes sense?"

He dropped his arms and scoffed. "Damn… whoa, that is…" He closed his mouth and turned around. He went to the washroom at the end of the room.

Akira sighed and looked at Eya. "What do we do now?"

She looked at Kakashi, no way he could think of anything better, but still.

But Kakashi opened his mouth and said, "We should do it."

They both gasped. "Kakashi, no, how can you even think that?"

"Listen. To. Me." He turned to Eya and looked into her eyes. "You, me, and him, we are powerful, and so is that boy, at some level. If we four perform the ritual at once, we will lose only, what, three to four percent of our mana capacity, nothing more than fifty."

She lifted her shoulders. "I still don't know…"

But Akira seemed convinced. "I have never done it, so I wanted to give it a try. A chance better than this will never come. We lose nothing more than forty of our mana capacity, which is agreeable for our case."

She dropped her shoulders and looked at Akira. "You, too?"

The door opened and Hitori stepped out. When she looked at him, she knew he would force her, or go without her, if Kakashi tells him the deal.

So she said it herself, "Hitori-san, we are doing it."