CHAPTER 123: IT’S A BOMB

It’s a Bomb

It didn’t take long for the group to find Emma’s sisters. Ana was sobbing pretty loudly, with Olivia not being much better.

It was quite wholesome watching the sisters reunite, despite their separation only lasting about 10 minutes.

They didn’t linger, though, and quickly skedaddled out of there as Gale sensed a large group of beasts coming.

After that, the group set out to find more students. The triplets explained that they weren’t the only students from their school within the group that got attacked and that there were four more.

They remembered the other going south from where they had split up, so that’s where the group was currently headed.

As they walked, Ellie came up to Osho and whispered.

"What’s on your mind?" He glanced at her. She looked calm, but he could still see through the facade as he knew she was worried deep down.

He pondered for a moment before responding.

"I’m 90% sure this thing is on a timer." His words made her eyes widen slightly.

"Huh? What makes you say that?" She asked, her worry being replaced with genuine curiosity and something else Osho wanted to see. Hope.

"I was just thinking," He started with a smile. "The corrupt Mana is steadily increasing in density as time passes, which will naturally make it harder for beings that use normal Mana—us—to survive. However, we have Gale, meaning we can endure for far longer than what should make any sense." Ellie tilted her head, not quite understanding where he was going, but he continued.

"Anyway, I’ve been speaking with Gale a lot, and I thought of something. This dome was hijacked and is now being used to ensure the corrupt Mana has a place to exist while keeping us in, right?" Ellie nodded, and Osho caught sight of the others listening.

"Well, think about it like this. The space within this dome is obviously limited. So, think of it as a sort of... container, with the corrupt Mana being the ’water’," He paused. "If the ’water’ continues to increase without the ’container’ getting larger, what do you think will happen?" His words made Ellie pause, then her eyes lit up.

"The pressure will make it burst." She snapped her fingers, and Osho nodded.

"Wait, aren’t you taking that far too literally? Mana Mana and ordinary bottles are extremely different from each other. Moreover, I’m pretty sure the Expert Rank Beast Tamers didn’t hold back in their attempts to destroy the dome. If it can withstand even that, then I’m pretty sure it can endure some ’Internal pressure’. Kurt retorted, but the look on his face indicated that he probably knew that Osho knew this as well, and just wanted to. Understand his full reasoning.

Indeed, Osho just nodded and spoke.

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But that’s where another analogy comes in." Osho stared up at the dark body of the dome, his eyes calm but sharp.

"You’re right to question if it’s so simple, especially with how durable the dome is believed to be," He nodded at Kurt. "But strength doesn’t make something unbreakable. Durable, yes, but not unbreakable. Nothing is truly unbreakable, especially when it’s under stress from multiple angles."

He lingered, allowing his words to sink in.

"Think about how submarines work," He gestured with his hand. "They are made of thick metal, and yet, they can still implode and be crushed if the water pressure outside crosses a certain threshold, which is why they have depth limits. That’s external pressure. Now imagine what would happen if the pressure inside the submarine is also rising, like trying to inflate a balloon deep underwater." Everyone’s eyes widened as they started to make some sense of what Osho was saying.

"That’s the dome," He said simply. "A sealed space surrounded by pure Mana from the atmosphere, but being filled with denser and denser corrupt Mana. With the pure Mana acting as the ’external pressure’ and the corrupt Mana acting as the ’Internal pressure’. Two opposing forces are building up over time. The equilibrium is tipping."

"The pressure is both inward and outward..." Sam mumbled, beginning to understand.

"Exactly," Osho nodded. "Mana—for how weird it is—is still a tangible energy source with weight, density, and interactionability (I know that’s not a word, fight me.). Think of corrupt Mana as toxic gas. Heavier, volatile, and constantly seeking to displace. Within a sealed environment, that volatility becomes dangerous. And on the outside, there’s the pure Mana in its clean state, pressing down on the corrupt Mana, on the bubble, like a submarine deep under water."

"Huh," Ellie rubbed her chin, a hint of a frown creeping on her face. "So the dome isn’t just keeping us in, it’s keeping something out too." She mused aloud.

"Spot on," Osho pursed his lips. "The longer this goes on, the closer we get to a critical point. If the Internal density surpasses the threshold of tolerance the dome has..."

"It’ll rupture," Kurt finished, his expression empty. "Leaving a hole in the dome."

Osho nodded once, before shaking his head.

"Yes to the first part, it’ll indeed rupture, but it won’t just leave a hole, it’ll be like popping a pressure cooker filled with poison. That burst won’t just break the dome, it’ll flood the surrounding area with corrupt Mana, along with anything in the vicinity. Tamer, Beast, or otherwise."

Silence fell over the group.

"In other words, this entire place is actually just a large-scale chemical weapon," Irene said dryly.

"For all intents and purposes, yeah." Osho smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time.

"... So even if we survive, once the pressure reaches its boiling point and this thing pops, the number of people that’ll be exposed to the corrupt Mana..." Ellie trailed off.

"The children, elders, and practically everyone who lacks adequate Mana control or protective measures will be caught up in it," Sam growled.

"There are over 50,000 people in attendance though!" Nicolas blurted out. Osho would be lying if he said he remembered the guy was still there.

"Yeah, and the perpetrator knows this," Osho said darkly. "Even if it fails to kill all of us within the dome, it’ll cause a large number of casualties to the people outside." He shook his head.

"Death, chaos, and trust in the higher-ups of the Citadel dropping. It’ll throw the entire Citadel into disarray. Even more so, considering that things are still tense after the Beast Tide." Ellie started biting her fingernails, something Osho noticed she did only when she was extremely nervous.

This wasn’t by the wall where things could still be relatively controlled. No, this right was in their backyard. The implications of such an event would be catastrophic.

"Is there anything we can do?" Irene asked, clearly worried.

Osho took a breath before smiling confidently.

"Well, I don’t think we can stop the dome from popping in general. However, I believe we can make it pop prematurely, reducing the damage significantly." This, once more, caught the attention of everyone.

"How?" Ellie asked the question.

"It should be pretty simple," Osho shrugged. "Kill the thing that caused all of this." Everyone blinked, then frowned.

"Simple doesn’t mean easy," Sam grumbled.

"Wait, how do you even intend to find the thing that caused all this in the first place?" Emma asked a question that was on everyone’s minds.

"Well, that is simple as well." Osho’s smile turned lopsided.

"You see, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’m 90% sure that this thing is after me." Everyone was taken aback, but he continued.

"So, I was thinking about using myself as bait." As soon as the words left his mouth, Ellie cut him off firmly.

"Absolutely not." She looked at Osho with a scary intensity in her eyes.

"None of that. You aren’t sacrificing yourself again." She said firmly.

"I— Wait what? Sacrificing myself?" Osho was confused and waved his hands, ignoring the even more confused looks from everyone else, no doubt wondering when he’d sacrificed himself.

"I have no intentions of sacrificing myself for anything. I said I’d use myself as bait. I don’t intend to die." He said quickly. His words made Ellie’s shoulders drop a little, but she didn’t seem wholly convinced.

He sighed.

"Like I said, I’m certain I’m what the perpetrator is after. While I won’t say they are desperate to get me, I’m certain that they would cross many lines to get to me, as they already have. So..." He gestured with his hands. "Why not use that to our advantage? Do some reverse plays, so to speak." When he finished, Ellie’s frown had receded significantly, but she still seemed hesitant.

"... What do you propose, then?" She finally asked, and Osho let out a relieved sigh before smiling again.

"Well, for starters, how good are your acting skills?" As he said this, he turned his head in a certain direction.

"We should have a ’visitor’ coming shortly, so I advise we make it quick.