Chapter 489 Lost Projection
"What?!" Bruce exclaimed while Lucy remained wide-eyed. They had no idea what just happened to the entity that approached them. It just disappeared in an instant as soon as the blue flames touched a part of its body.
"You said your power's related to beast taming, but why did you make the entity vanish?" Bruce asked since he was wildly confused about what just happened. Lucy couldn't make heads or tails of it either.
"Just wait," Satoshi told them while he eagerly waited for the entity to reappear. The moment it does, he was confident that it would turn into his tamed beast the moment it reappeared.
There was no response. A couple of seconds passed but the entity didn't reappear.
"That's weird," Satoshi scratched his head in bewilderment. He had no idea why the entity just wouldn't appear. Usually, it would appear a couple of seconds later as his tamed beast but right now it couldn't even be seen anywhere. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"What's supposed to happen?" Bruce asked since he too couldn't tell what should happen next.
"It should reappear right now, but it just won't appear," Satoshi said.
Apparently, the moment he shot the blue flames at the entity, he immediately felt his connection with his newfound tamed beast. But right now, it just won't come out. Either something went wrong with the beast taming or there was just a great delay. Satoshi was led to believe that something really went wrong since this was the first time such an absurd delay happened.
"Anyways, I'll show it to you next time, my superpower doesn't seem to work on these entities... even though it was supposed to work on anything," Satoshi muttered to himself.
Since there really was something wrong with his superpower, he decided to put it at the back of his mind as they continued subjugating the entities. Still, Satoshi couldn't quite put his finger around the waning connection of the entity in his mind. It's as if someone or something was preventing him from making the entity his tamed beast.
...
Meanwhile,
It had been so long since Magnus got to see his fellow Managers so he decided to spend time with them albeit with his tight schedule. He still had three days to go before he returned to his usual duties but right now, he decided to use this precious vacation time while guiding the other Managers' Disciples.
"Cheers!" Magnus called out while they enjoyed barbecue and beer together. Even though they were still Managers and have no need to eat, they still couldn't help but indulge themselves with food.
After all, they were humans before and they still haven't gotten used to their life as a Manager. In fact, ask any Manager out there and they would say the same thing— that they still do eat and drink, just not regularly.
"Now that we're gathered here, let's monitor all your Disciples, shall we?" Magnus offered after raising his glass. Actually, he had been carefully monitoring them every step of the way, just in case something unforeseen happens. In fact, he had an intricate camera system set up on the portion of the planet where the Disciples were currently taking the test.
Some of the Managers started nodding their heads in agreement so Magnus created a huge screen in front of them, putting up a live stream of the test which was happening right now.
"Whoa, are those your summons, Magnus?" One of the Managers asked after seeing the entities running around, pestering the Disciples in an attempt to defeat them.
Some of the Disciples did have an easy time engaging them in combat while a select few were having a hard time even defending themselves. It was understandable though, considering that some of the Disciples were offensive and defensive in nature. There were bound to be Disciples who wouldn't be able to pass the test.
"No, they aren't my summons, more like projections. They are mere manifestations of my energy and they aren't separate from me. That's why as long as I have the energy, I could summon an endless wave of them." Magnus explained and everyone understood what he was saying in an instant. All of them were Managers after all so they could somewhat get the gist of what Magnus meant.
"Still, summoning thousands upon thousands of them while keeping their energy levels consistent, you have crazy control over your innate energy." Dumble Dore commented. He knew that if he were to try practicing Magnus's sophisticated technique, he would have a hard time mastering it.
As the group watched the live stream, they were surprised at how coordinated the entities were. Adding to that, the number of entities suddenly doubled when they reached the thirty-minute mark. It was insane, they could barely keep up with Magnus's insane control over his projections.
When Bucky Barnes reentered the dining area, he was surprised to see that all the Managers were gathered there. He had to leave for a bit to get some fresh air and he didn't expect all the Managers to gather at one place.
"Well, this is quite a rare sight indeed." He commented quietly approaching the group so he could take a seat from a short distance without disturbing anyone.
Suddenly, he saw Magnus's face shift in expression. Since everyone was too engrossed in watching the live stream, they didn't notice the sudden change in Magnus's demeanor.
"Is he all right? What's going on?" Bucky Barnes asked himself when he realized that all the color drained from Magnus's face. Judging from his reaction, Bucky Barnes assumed that something went absolutely wrong with the test and he had to take action.
When he looked at the live stream, he noticed that it was quickly changing channels. It was too fast that no one could even watch what was going on. The blur continued on before it stopped on a channel— the one where Bruce, Lucy, and Satoshi were.
"That's, Satoshi, right?" Bucky Barnes asked himself. There was no doubt the person on the other side of the live stream was Satoshi. "What's going on? Are they in trouble?"
Thanks to the blurred live stream, the other Managers lost their concentration and instead focused on Magnus who was already tapping his foot like crazy. Obviously, he was panicking, but he acted ass if nothing was wrong.
"Magnus, is everything all right?" Dumble Dore spoke up since one of the Disciples in the live stream was his. "Is something wrong?"
"Ah, uh, yeah~ everything's all right." Magnus nervously answered while he pushed on his leg so it would stop tapping itself. "I just uh, I just had to check something." He continued.
"Oh, all right," Dumble Dore brushed it off since he believed that Magnus was telling the truth. Then again, an anxious feeling started eating away at him while they continued watching the live stream.
For a couple of minutes, Magnus didn't change the channel they were watching. The other Managers were already curious as to how the other Disicples were doing but Magnus didn't bother changing the view live stream. He was keen on observing Satoshi's group like his life depended on it.
Heaving a sigh, Bucky Barnes stood up from his chair and approached the group. This was when they realized that Bucky Barnes was actually there with them. He suspiciously eyed Magnus as he sauntered forward.
Meanwhile, Magnus had no idea that Bucky Barnes was actually approaching him. He keenly watched the live stream, trying to figure out what happened to one of his entities.
As mentioned before, his entities were actually projections made from his energy. It would even be accurate to call the entities his energy since that's what they were composed of.
A couple of moments ago, Magnus was as relaxed as ever since he could freely control all his projections. In a way, all his projections were alive, but they were only projections of his energy so they couldn't think rationally like humans. All they could do was blindly follow orders.
And yet, despite that being the case, one of the entities went rogue. Magnus completely lost control over that entity and to top it all off, he couldn't feel its connection towards him. It's as if his energy was right there and then it was spent in a snap of a finger. His energy literally vanished into thin air and he didn't even sense where it had gone off to.
"I have to reel it in," Magnus muttered to himself. he could still feel the faint trace of the entity so he tried calling out to it— a poor attempt at bringing back his lost energy.
No matter how hard he tried, it just won't come back to him. His energy was lost, gone, and it took the imprint of his projection along with it.
"Hey, Magnus, tell us what's going on or we're going to pull out our Disciples from there." Bucky Barnes mildly threatened as he grabbed Magnus by the shoulders, causing him to flinch.