Little Ripples IV — Ambrosya

When my own vision went dark, a dull, golden glow erupted from my eyes. The world before me changed, and I saw things from an observer's point of view.

Though I was still within the room I had set things up in, it was already an immense sight.

Every reflective surface soon became available to my sight. I peered into reality through steel spoons, glasses, and even a few liquids within a certain radius.

I saw my vulnerable state as well as everything around me. My body which was lying on the cold stone floor, leaning upon a wall and breathing softly. The effigies that glowed with a slight tinge of blue on their backs. The pot of gold in the centre of the room.

I adored what I had created for a moment, and it was blissful.

Until one of the doors to the room creaked open, and a group of humanoid figures walked in. There were traces of battle on each of their bodies. Singed clothes and hair, bandaged cuts, and blackening bruises.

The fairies, who were usually so elegant, so beautiful, and so filled with life, now looked like beggars. Their expressions were a mix of exhaustion and satisfaction. Their wings looked shrivelled and dull.

On their backs, though, were sparkling treasures. Different from earlier, they now wielded brand-new weapons that gleamed with lethality.

In this regard, they looked like the rich sons and daughters of large, booming conglomerates.

Even my living reflection had a few treasures gifted to him temporarily. It had saved his life quite a few times, allowing him to continue supplying them with information and making sure that my plan could be continued.

Little did these fairies know, they were walking straight into my trap.

"Wait," Galad's footsteps halted in an instant.

Her ragged breaths turned into a sharp inhale as her eyes darted across the room. The effigies were all gazing back at her.

"Prepare for battle!" She roared, hefting her shiny new staff as three spells were queued up for launch.

[ Mana Swiftness ].

[ Barrier of Entropy ].

[ Wave of Radiation ].

The battle thus began with an invisible wave of energy. It swept across the horde of effigies, stopping just short of my slumbering body before sweeping back towards Galad.

It slammed into her barrier after dealing a hefty amount of damage to many of the ghostly beings. However, no screams nor wails could be heard. There was only an intimidating silence as the effigies emotionlessly charged forward.

"Buy me time!" Galad commanded, and Faeldrin's figure suddenly blurred.

He broke the sound barrier with a single step and slammed his mana-coated gauntlets into the nearest effigy.

I watched as the previously ghostly being turned into stone in an instant. Cracks then spread across its body before it slowly crumbled into dust.

But Faeldrin had already moved to the next target, sending his fists straight into the heads of whatever he encountered. What he did not notice, however, were the little ripples of mana that erupted with every effigy's death.

Even Galad, whose vision was surely blurring given the amount of mana she had been expending, could not spot such a subtlety. As for the remaining fairy... Aeloria's specialities appeared elsewhere, so it was practically a given that she wouldn't spot it.

Even if she did sense it through that intuition she likely cultivated, she would only attribute it to some kind of uniqueness that the effigies had.

It amused me to see these exhausted fairies be incapable of piecing together the large puzzle-like set of enchantments that I had created. They clearly learned nothing from the many rooms and halls that they passed through.

They had relied on another being's intelligence the entire journey.

They had grown complacent.

The sound of crumbling stone statues continued for a few minutes. Faeldrin and Aeloria flitted in and out of Galad's barrier, slowly consuming every last bit of mana they had left.

They were unaware of the shining set of mana programs that I had engraved upon the doorway behind them.

[ Suggestion ].

It was a spell best used in the midst of chaos. Although the one I created was weak, it was enough to influence a tired and preoccupied mind.

They had no desire to flee. My living reflection had already assured them of their victory. So what if they exhausted themselves now? They could just rest after they completed their informant's assigned tasks.

Galad had already grown to trust my reflection, and that small bit was pivotal. Without that seed, the spell wouldn't have the same effects.

This was thus the best moment when a lie could be made use of. The minuteness of a simple miscalculation was going to be their end.

Ripple after ripple erupted from the dying effigies. Slowly, but surely, the formation that I desired was being formed and supplemented with power that I originally did not have.

Furthermore, to any bystander, it would seem like I had been manipulating probability.

The battle should have been random, but I had calculated every beforehand. With the information I had from watching them battle again and again, I had memorised all that I could about their habits and tendencies.

The spells they preferred, the likelihood that they would cast it, the speed of their reaction times, their preferred hand, and even the timing of their breathing.

I also knew their treasures like the back of my hand.

There was nothing for them to hide. I had pre-moved this entire chess game according to my own whims.

Dong—!

The last effigy was shattered with a lethal exertion of pulsating mana. A significantly more powerful ripple of energy spread out with it as its centre.

Aeloria heaved deep breaths as she collapsed onto the stone floor.

"Yet another perfect prediction," She grumbled as her eyes landed on her 'human' companion.

My carefree demeanour had already seared itself into her mind. All that would sprout from my reflection's lips always ended up as the truth. No matter what mystery they faced, for some reason, Reflection Ambrosya was already informed of it.

"Hm?" I watched as my reflection tilted his head, "Is there a problem, Aeloria?"

"Tsk, you've already dropped all pretence with me, have you? Go get the treasure. I need to rest." The fairy replied.

"I was just about to do that." Reflection Ambrosya replied, "Miss Galad, I will get to collecting our loot for this room. I also suggest that we stop here for now. All of our next encounters are only going to grow more problematic. This is our 40th item, after all."

Galad nodded, her eyes scanning the gravel-filled room. It wandered, finally taking note of all the tables and benches.

It then landed on my unconscious body.