An Arcanist in Karakura Town 48 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town

Chapter 48

-VB-

Making an interdimensional portal was not that hard.

Making an interdimensional portal that led to the local cluster - aka Bleach Hell, Soul Society, Dangai, Garganta, and Hueco Mundo - was hard. Part of this had to do with the predilection of local dimensional travel; it was predisposed to traveling between those five and the sixth, living world. It did not like to deviate from that path and more often than not, when I thought I succeeded, I ended up just connecting to dangai.

Considering that the Dangai was the closest thing to an “alien dimension” out of the six, I supposed that it was some sort of a success? Kind of?

No, no, it wasn’t.

I hated the thought that I would be stuck in this verse.

Come on, Haywire! Do your thing!

“Experimental Device HW08,” I spoke after starting the recording. “In light of the previous device’s failure to modulate the dimensional strings to my liking, I have modified a copy of ED-HW07 just enough to reject the local dimensional strings. On a side note, I’d like to note that the local dimensional strings do not look like they are connected but rather that they are intertwined with each other into a knot that cannot be separated without ‘cutting,’ however that may be achieved. This also explains why travel is possible between these dimensions without a significant source of energy, because I highly doubt a single soul or a soul butterfly has the energy to break through the multiverse. Because the strings are so close to each other, the energy requirement is more or less nil compared to Haywire’s original calculations. Or rather, my calculations using Haywire’s shard. “

I paused and took a deep breath in before continuing.

“The variables haven’t changed much. What has changed is the power source. Instead of using my own spiritual and magical reserves for this, because I believe I may die if I try to do so, I have created a … pseudo fusion plant, if you will. The power plant is not the subject of this experiment, however. Refer to False Hollow Essence Decay. The point of using that power source is that by using a power source that vastly outstrips what a single individual should be able to produce, I can punch a hole through the dimensions to reach anywhere but here.”

Again, I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

“I don’t need to create an actual door or the like. All I need to do with this specific experiment is to reach a new dimension and sustain that portal for at least five minutes. Even if the hole is only the size of a pinprick, I can use my own magic or whatever to look through the portal. Exploration like that should also be safer, especially if the atmosphere is toxic or nonexistent. I am also performing this experiment within a space partitioned off from Hidemasa’s Great Wall. If something drastic does happen, then it will be contained with it, and the energy reserve will eventually run out and thus closing the portal. Hopefully. If it doesn’t, then I have one of Bakuda-bombs - wait, doesn’t that make such bombs “boom boom boom?” Whatever. The bomb in question will stabilize the dimension and make it so that the portal will close. Speaking of which… Setting the timer on the bomb for six minutes.”

I walked over to the side and looked down at the switch.

“Alright. Turning it on.”

I flicked it up and watched as the energy flowed out of a repurposed water tank into a number of cables each thick as my own arm. The atmosphere inside the room swayed and crackled with pressure and electricity (I hope). The energy flowing into the cables all then slammed into a device on the other side of the room that looked like a thin Stargate from the Stargate TV series.

Green light crackled as it began flowing out of the five locked chevrons on the gate and energy began to whine as it built up.

Without taking my eyes off of the gate, I reached to my right and held the shutdown lever. If it looked like it was even halfway close to failing, I was just going to shut it down.

There was more than a gigajoule of energy trying to tear apart space right there.

Hollow essence was a wonderful source of energy, and if I couldn’t leave this dimension, then I was going to become an energy mogul. Just watch me! I’ll make myself everyone’s problem!

The green degenerate essence found the point I’ve made in space and attacked it like a pack of angry wolves. A black light crackled out from the center of the gateway and then -.

BBBEEEEPPPP!!!!

I looked down and saw one of my monitors alerting me to success.

My lips stretc-.

And then turned into a horrified grimace as sulfur dioxide began to leak through.

“Fuck!” I hissed as I slammed d-.

The lever.

I stared at it.

It wouldn’t pull.

I looked up at the portal.

It was growing bigger, and the sulfur dioxide on the other side was leaking through even more. Its yellow fumes began to cover the entire floor of the room.

“Fuck!” I shouted.

It was one thing to have contingencies for unstable gates! It was another to die by sulfur dioxide!

I ran over to the power generator and turned that off.

It worked.

… But there was still enough power to run the gate for half a minute.

I didn’t have a choice. I tore a large strip from my t-shirt and wrapped it around my lower face and the back of the head. Once I had that secure, I jumped back over to the console and tried again to shut it down.

‘I swear, if this is rust, I’m going to get pissed!’

The lever creaked.

And then slammed down.

It shut down the flow of energy from the cables and redirected it to a battery I had just in case.

I let out a sigh of relief.

And then paused when the battery sparked.

“Oh, you have got to be-.”

BBOOOOMMMM!

-VB-

The partition ended when I opened a door from the room back into the warehouse and walked out with smoke waffing off of my body.

“Experimental Device HY08… is a failure.”

And then keeled forward.

I ended up lightly burnt even though I had put up a shield between myself and the exploding battery.

‘Well…’ I thought as Tatsuki saw me and ran over. ‘At least I know I can open a portal to another dimension.’