Chapter 165: Theoretically
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 165: Theoretically
After observing that both the deployed army and the strategic weapons were being utterly decimated, Makina Type 3 immediately contacted its main body in the Empire.
“This is Type 3, this is Type 3. We’re completely fucked here.”
[─What in the world are you doing that you still haven’t broken through and are just floundering?]
“There are six witches—they could be pulling some trick we don’t know about.”
Variables—they were bound to become more complex as the number of conditions increased. Not one witch, but six—what could six witches, each with different abilities, accomplish when gathered together? Even Makina couldn’t have predicted it.
The magic nullification equipped on the Gigant was certainly an excellent tool, but the witches already had Yohan by their side, who was capable of nullifying magic himself. This meant they had already given some thought to how to deal with an opponent immune to their spells.
An enemy that neither armies nor weapons could stop. In the end, Makina let out a sigh and made a final decision.
[Have all units retreat.]
“Huh? Don’t tell me—you’re going to use that?”
[Yes. Let’s see just how much they can withstand. Time for an experiment.]
Hearing the command from the main body, Type 3 let out a low groan. However, the main body’s order was essentially the same as its own opinion.
After a moment of rational thought, Type 3 reconfirmed that the main body wasn’t wrong and began to withdraw the army.
The witches, who had been fiercely fighting the army, tilted their heads in confusion as the soldiers suddenly pulled back.
“……Where are they going all of a sudden?”
“─Something’s wrong. We have to stop them—.”
The witches belatedly sensed that something was amiss and tried to take action, but by then, it was too late. Makina had issued the launch order to the missile silo at the same time it had ordered the army to retreat.
The missile silo immediately launched its payload, and the missile struck above the cabin almost at the exact moment the army completed its withdrawal.
To exert the greatest force, the missile detonated one kilometer above the cabin. It contained radioactive isotopes, which began nuclear fission from the immense heat and pressure of the explosion.
Flash—!
A ray of light like the sun itself and a sound so immense it was almost silent spread far and wide.
The strategic-grade nuclear weapon that had exploded above the cabin began to engulf the mountain range in a fireball.
A sun reaching 150 million degrees descended upon the earth.
It was a god of destruction, manifested through the power of science, and nothing could remain whole before a god.
A moment later, the fireball vanished. The Empire’s observers surveyed the mountain range where the cabin had been.
Indeed, where the cabin once stood, nothing remained.
Nothing at all.
After a long session of sex and magic replenishment, Yohan activated his magic and instinctively knew he had returned to the past.
“……Did it work?”
The Regina who had been shamelessly spreading her legs and moaning was gone, as were the other witches who had been hovering around, offering to replenish his magic.
Yohan cautiously left the room and realized that the sunlight streaming through the living room window was strangely bright.
In the future world, the sun was never this clear, always obscured by clouds due to environmental pollution from technological advancement.
‘Then?’
Slipping out of the cabin, Yohan let out a hot breath as he took in the lush forest growing outside. In the early morning, the cold mountain air met his breath and turned to vapor.
Looking around, Yohan once again realized that this was the past where they had lived. He grinned and stepped back inside the cabin.
By then, Regina had come out into the living room.
“You’ve returned.”
“Yes. What about the others?”
“They’re sleeping. …Not that they’ll remember what happened, even when they wake up.”
Regina whispered cautiously. As she said, the only ones who had noticed the reversal in the flow of time were the Witch of Time and Yohan, who was completely unaffected by such magic.
The other witches were asleep, completely unaware of what had happened to him and to them.
“Yeah, well. It’s probably a relief they don’t know.”
“Why is that?”
“Imagine if Teacher remembered what Makina did to us. She’d probably fly off right now, saying she has to nip it in the bud.”
Hearing Yohan’s words, Regina nodded, acknowledging that the possibility was quite high. Although the existence of a person in the present didn’t necessarily guarantee their existence in the distant future, there was no doubt that the potential was there.
Yohan brewed some morning tea and leisurely enjoyed his teatime while contemplating what to do next. Now that he was back in the past, there were two priorities.
First, save Margaret. He had made a promise to her in the future, so he had to devise a way to save both the future Margaret and the present Margaret simultaneously.
The current timeline was extremely unstable—as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.
What if an enraged Margaret, furious that he had broken his promise, gave the timeline a little nudge? The group might not just be flung back to the future they came from; they could be sent to a place from which they could never return.
“First things first—let’s go save Margaret.”
“Yes. So… what are you planning to do?”
“Huh?”
“A way to save Miss Margaret… You do have one, right?”
“Nope.”
“……Pardon?”
At his words, Regina stared at Yohan, bewildered. But Yohan just shrugged and replied.
“I’ll have to figure it out now.”
In truth, he did have a method in mind.
The problem was that he had no idea if it would succeed or fail.
“Bring me Linna and Linne.”
Yohan summoned the twin witches. They were the key to solving this problem.
“What the hell is that bullshit?”
Linna, who had been forcibly roused from a deep sleep early in the morning, scowled, not even having wiped the crust from her eyes.
The reason was that Yohan, who had summoned her, was spouting words that could only be dismissed as utter nonsense.
“I need your help.”
“Yeah, I get that, but… what? Two Margarets? What the hell is that…?”
“Haven’t you noticed anything strange about Margaret?”
“That she cut her hair short? Isn’t that just because you keep fooling around with other women, so she cut it for a change of image?”
Yohan flinched for a moment at Linna’s sharp remark, but he quickly shook his head as if to deny it.
“Margaret cut her hair because the Margaret we have now isn’t Margaret.”
“What, are you saying some other witch is disguised as Margaret?”
“No, the current Margaret is Margaret herself.”
“……What kind of nonsense are you spouting— Hey, Linne. Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”
Watching her sister shake her head, Linna conveyed that she felt the same. The only person here who understood what Yohan was saying was Regina.
But Regina kept her lips sealed and said nothing, so the task of persuading and making the two understand fell entirely on Yohan.
‘Fuck, how am I supposed to explain this?’
Yohan was just as frustrated. That Margaret had awakened and evolved into the Witch of Time, and then the future Margaret had taken over the present Margaret’s body.
Then, realizing she couldn’t monopolize him, Margaret had gone berserk, and through various deals in the future, he had agreed to save her.
How.
The hell.
“Don’t try to understand! Just sympathize!”
Finally, Yohan exploded. Their understanding wasn’t what was important. It was their help and sympathy.
He’d heard that women were creatures of sympathy, but why did these witches so often try to understand first…? Yohan explained what they needed to do.
“Anyway… you two just need to make Margaret like you.”
“Like us?”
“What… does that mean…”
Yohan pointed alternately at Linna and Linne as he spoke.
“The Witch of Creation and the Witch of Annihilation. Twins. Like two witches with similar looks, magic power, and spells.”
What if they split Margaret in two?
Into Margaret, the Witch of Space, and Margaret, the Witch of Time.
Theoretically, it wasn’t a strange idea.
“Split Margaret into two.”
Use the magic of Annihilation to divide their two identities.
Then—Linne would create another Margaret from the divided part.
Theoretically, it wasn’t wrong. The present Margaret and the future Margaret. If they could annihilate the plausibility that bound the two into a single being, and then use the magic of Creation to make a body for the future Margaret…
Both the present and future Margarets could survive. Everyone could be happy.
Yes, at least in theory.
“Alright, I heard you. That’s a good idea.”
After listening to Yohan, Linna grinned and nodded. To her, his idea seemed quite logical and plausible.
“But hey—how do we do that?”
“Huh?”
“Divide an identity? Erase plausibility? I don’t know how to do any of that.”
Yes, that was the problem.
It was something they had never done before.
And—it was something they couldn’t experiment on anyone else with.
The biggest problem with theory was that it wasn’t practical.