Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 158: Phase Shift Magic

"Well? Are you picking anything up?" Inquired Jules hopefully.

"Hm...sorry, but it’s pretty tough to use my nose effectively in this place, Commander. This place has so much dust, and there’s also the stench of mold, they kinda overpower any other scents. I am picking up traces of human scents, particularly the smell of sweat, but not enough to track them. There’s a fairly strong smell of burnt dust too, that’s blanketing the other scents quite a bit," Raven shook his head.

"That was probably from my attacks. Perhaps I should’ve had Siele fight him instead..."

It was the next day, the 25th of June, 1919. After alerting the rest of the Knight Order to keep an eye out for Alphonse and Akila, along with detailed physical descriptions of both, Jules contacted Raven and brought him to the abandoned mansion, in the hopes that he’d be able to track the pair by their scents.

"If you can’t track them from their scents in here, I don’t think we’ll have much luck outside either. It rained pretty heavily last night, almost immediately after they escaped, that probably washed away their scents from the forest," Chimed in Tilda.

"Yeah, it’s hard to track any scents in areas where it rained, doubly so in a windy area like this forest. I’ll go outside and give it a try, but I wouldn’t expect too much, if I were you," Raven informed Jules.

"Damn it...because of his Detection Magic, I thought it would be best if we attacked with a small group, especially since we wouldn’t have had enough Detection Jamming Spells for a larger group. That was a mistake...in hindsight, I should’ve held off a bit longer, asked Tacitus to make us more Detection Jamming Spells, and then surrounded the building with Knights and Inquisitors, to intercept them if they did manage to escape," Sighed Jules wistfully.

"I mean, if this Plore guy had been alone like you’d assumed, then your plan almost definitely would’ve worked once you cast Teleportation Jamming. It’s not like you had any way of knowing he’d summoned someone from a different world using an Ancient Magic Ritual," Pointed out Raven, patting her arm with a wry smile.

"They couldn’t have gotten that far, since we wrecked their Teleport Spells. Well, unless Plore had more in his Storage Ring, of course, I did notice that he was wearing one," Mused Tilda thoughtfully.

"Considering how long he’s been on the run from us, that certainly wouldn’t surprise me," Replied Jules with a grimace, before adding, "Okay, we’ve covered the entire mansion, looks like it’s a dead end in here. I know you said you probably won’t be able to pick up any scents outside thanks to the rain last night, but would you mind trying anyway?"

"Sure. Since there were traces of their scents in here, I’ll be able to recognize them if I come across any scent trails outside. The chances are low, but it’s worth a try, at least," Nodded Raven, before they headed outside the mansion.

They circled the perimeter, before Raven picked up slight whiffs of the two scents. But they were hard to follow, the wind and rain having washed away most of their scent trail.

They began making their way through the forest, Raven trying to pick up more traces of their scents, managing to zero in on a few, but nothing significant. And after some time...

"I haven’t picked anything up in a while, the trail’s gone cold. They must have used a Teleport Spell sometime after the last trace of their scents I detected. Honestly, I’m surprised I came any scents at all, I’m guessing they must have been sweating a lot while running away," Surmised Raven, sniffing around but to no avail.

He was right about that last part. The pain from the hits that Jules had landed, coupled with the sheer heat from her attacks, had resulted in Akila sweating quite profusely by the time he retreated, not to mention that he’d just taken a break from an intense training session before she and the other Knights with her showed up.

The heat had also affected Alphonse, along with the nervousness and panic, so he’d been perspiring too.

"I see, that’s too bad...if only we had a clue as to where they went next, they could be anywhere," Sighed Jules.

"Hm...if I had to guess, I’d say Plore wants to train up this summoned Hero and make him as strong as possible before we locate them again," Deduced Raven, after mulling it over.

"Yes, I’d say that’s likely. Alphonse Plore has proven to be fairly sharp and cunning, this would’ve been a lot easier if he were just another blindly arrogant and baselessly prideful Noble, but he’s quite intelligent. The fact that he chose to deceive the summoned Hero instead of forcing him into submission using an Enslavement Collar or something is proof of that," Remarked Tilda with a frown.

"Yes, we would have been able to easily destroy an Enslavement Collar if that were the case, which would have left Plore defenseless. The longer we take to find them again, the more time he’ll have to convince the summoned Hero that we’re the enemy. We need to locate them as soon as possible," Added Jules with a grimace.

"That’s going to be a lot easier said than done, we don’t have any leads to go off of. Even if it hadn’t rained, this area is pretty windy, so scents won’t linger for long either way. And even assuming that wasn’t the case, following their scents would be pointless if they teleported somewhere else," Reasoned Raven objectively.

"Probably so, we’ve likely hit a dead end here. But it’s too soon to give us, we should comb through the rest of this forest before we move on, just in case. We can’t completely rule out the possibility that they’re hiding something here," Responded Jules, even though she herself wasn’t particularly convinced by that.

Meanwhile, deep in the Pearl Forest...

"I...I did it! I took down a Monster!" Exclaimed Akila triumphantly, as he cut down a Cyclops.

"Hm, considering that that was only a Mid Level Monster, he struggled a bit more than I would have liked to see. He also seemed a bit shaken after he landed a few strikes, I wonder why?" Frowned Alphonse, before responding as Akila walked over, "Well done, you’ve cleared the first step in this leg of your training. Are you alright, though? You seem tense."

"Well, besides bugs, I’ve never actually killed anything before. And even though this thing was a Monster, it has a humanoid appearance, so it did feel a bit like I was fighting a person. The feeling of cutting into flesh was pretty unsettling and disconcerting, it made me feel kinda sick," Akila admitted sheepishly.

"Ah, so that’s what it was. Well, this won’t do at all, I’m going to need him to get over that," Alphonse thought to himself, before replying, "I’m sure you’ll get used to it with more experience, but you don’t need to push yourself if it bothers you too much, we can take it slow and steady."

"That’s kind of you to say, Al, but I can’t do that. We don’t have the luxury of taking it slow, what with those evil Knights hunting us down. I’ll just have to suck it up and get used to it ASAP!" Declared Akila with a determined look on his face.

"Excellent, just the response I was hoping for," Smirked Alphonse, before responding, "Still, don’t overdo it. You seem worn out, you should take a break."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I won’t accomplish anything if I run myself ragged. I think understanding my abilities is where I have to start, I gave it a lot of thought after my fight yesterday. With my physical combat, I need to be able to move during fights the same way I do while training, hopefully I can fix that by fighting more Monsters. And as for my Magic, I need to figure out my limits with it. I experimented with it after we woke up this morning, and I have a better idea of how it works now," Remarked Akila, taking a seat on the grass, before opening a portal into his storage space and taking out a bottle of water.

"Oh? Tell me what you’ve figured out, it could help to get a second perspective on it," Replied Alphonse curiously.

"Well, I did what you said and named my Spells, and you were right, that really did help me visualize them better. And I broke it down into four Spells, which I named Partial Phase, Full Phase, Object Phase and Subject Phase. Partial Phase is when I turn a specific part of my body intangible, while Full Phase is that applied onto my entire body.

Object Phase is turning objects and materials intangible, like my clothes and weapons. That one’s kinda tricky, turning my clothes intangible isn’t too hard, but it’s pretty tough with my blades. And as for Subject Phase, that’s turning another person intangible, like I did to you when we escaped yesterday. But when it comes to turning myself intangible, I can’t do it indefinitely."

"Hm? You mean there’s a limit to how long you can dematerialize?"

"Yeah, exactly. It’s fine for about five seconds, but then I start feeling this increasing sense of discomfort around the spot I’ve turned intangible. And after about ten seconds, that discomfort turns into pain, which steadily gets more and more difficult to bear. And then, around the fifteen second mark, the spot that I’ve turned intangible starts to sustain damage, like the skin ruptures and it begins to bleed. Nothing the Healing Spell you gave me couldn’t fix, but the damage likely gets more and more severe the longer I keep that spot intangible," Sighed Akila.

"I see, so that’s how it works. What if you turn tangible after a few seconds and then go intangible again?" Alphonse asked him.

"No, that won’t work, it takes a while to cooldown, I think it’s about twice as long as the time I spent intangible. For example, if I turn a section of my stomach intangible for, say, ten seconds, it’ll take twenty seconds to cooldown that spot. In other words, if I turn that spot intangible again after five seconds, the backlash won’t be reset, it’ll pick up from around seven point five seconds and continue to stack up," Explained Akila, as took a gulp of water from his bottle.

"Hm, admittedly, math isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I think I understand. Then, the best way to use your Magic is to just turn the spot where you’re about to be struck intangible, and only for the instant that your opponent’s attack passes through," Surmised Alphonse.

"Yeah, exactly. But that’s pretty tricky, my timing has to be spot on, and I need to get faster at activating it, my activation speed is far from instantaneous. And turning my entire body intangible is something I should avoid, unless there’s a massive attack too big to dodge launched at me, or if I need to phase through the ground or walls. Of course, I do leave the soles of my feet and the bottom of my shoes tangible, otherwise I’d just fall right into the earth and probably end up buried alive...that’s definitely something I want to avoid," Shuddered Akila warily.

"Oh, I didn’t even consider that. We’re lucky that hasn’t happened," Remarked Alphonse nervously.

"Well, that’s mainly because there’s this sort of mental block when I activate Full Phase, it prevents me from turning the bottom of my feet and whatever’s touching under it from turning intangible. I need to make a deliberate effort to override that block to turn the soles of my feet intangible, which I did one foot at a time when I phased us through the floor and into the basement.

I’m guessing it’s a sort of in-built safety mechanism. Oh, it also prevents me from turning myself tangible while I’m passing through something. Like, when I was training with my Magic at the mansion and passing through walls, I noticed that I couldn’t turn myself tangible while passing through. That was also when I noticed that the bottom of my feet weren’t intangible, I had to consciously focus on turning them intangible to get them through the wall."

"I see...hm, does it work the same for your weapons? For instance, if you phased one of your blades into someone’s body, would you then be able to turn the blade tangible while it’s inside them?" Inquired Alphonse.

"Huh, I haven’t tried that. I’ll test it out," Replied Akila, Alphonse pausing warily for a moment as he drew out one of his blades...before phasing it through the trunk of a nearby tree.

"O-oh, that’s what you meant...for a moment, I thought you were going to test it out by stabbing me," Laughed Alphonse nervously, right as a sharp splintering noise echoed out, as Akila turned the blade tangible while it was phased into the tree.

"What? No, of course I wasn’t going to do that!" Responded Akila indignantly, before adding as he pulled the blade back out, "And looks like this works, I can materialize my blades while they’re phased through something."

"That’s quite useful...it was disappointing to hear the limitations of his Magic, I’d previously assumed he was able to use it freely, without any restrictions. Still, though, it certainly is powerful. If he can properly utilize it to its full potential, he’ll be effectively untouchable...I need to get him to that level, before the Knights can catch up to us again," Alphonse thought to himself with a slight smirk...