Lala was surprised by the sudden change in Luke's expression and demeanor.
Luke started examining his surroundings, also taking note of the current time.
'22:32… The shadow elementalist showed up in this room just before midnight in the last loop. I should hurry up.'
He made sure to constantly check his watch in the last loop, just in case something went wrong, and good thing too, because otherwise he would only have a rough approximation of the time he had left to prepare.
"A change of plans? What do you mean?"
"I don't have enough time to explain right now. All I can say is that the current plan will end in failure."
"But how can you be so sure?"
Luke ignored her question and started thinking.
'We do need a different plan, but I don't currently have anything in mind… Think, Luke, think!!'
He sat down on his bed.
Lala was still looking at him, full of concern.
"Luke, I know that my plan isn't perfect, but you can't say that it will fail for sure without even trying!"
As she was saying that, she walked towards Luke's bed.
And of course, Luke couldn't fully concentrate due to Lala pestering him.
He wasn't even looking at her as he opened his mouth:
"Lala, I'll explain all of the how's and why's later, but for now, please keep quiet."
Lala sighed, and sat down on her bed, across the room from Luke.
"You better keep your word!"
Luke nodded while still looking at the wooden floor of the room.
He sat like this for another 15 minutes, before suddenly standing up and shouting out:
"Eureka!"
Lala flinched as she also stood up, half-excited and half-surprised.
"Yes! Eu… Eu-what-was-it?"
Luke just waved his hand, and shook his head.
"Doesn't matter! I need to start with the preparations right away!"
Luke dashed towards the room's door, and just as he was about to open it, a thin layer of water blocked the door off.
The layer of water that had appeared was not any thicker than a single sheet of paper, but it was as hard as a solid block of steel.
Luke then turned his head and made eye-contact with Lala.
She was pointing one of her hands at the door, as if it wasn't already obvious who the culprit was.
"How about we talk first?"
Luke closed his eyes for a few moments.
'Let's hope she'll believe me.'
"Fine."
He opened his eyes after saying that.
"As I was nailing the window shut, I started thinking. You said that we'd be using an artifact that would grant us sight in complete darkness. The shadow elementalist would be able to see in the dark as well, because of the nature of his elemental, but would be unable to merge with shadows due to the lack of a source of light."
Lala nodded.
"That's when I realized a massive oversight on our part. Why were we assuming that the shadow elementalist wouldn't have artifacts of his own as well? Possibly ones that counter the very situation that we're trying to create?"
Lala lowered her head in realization.
She just stood still for a while, as if thinking something through.
The thin layer of water dispersed soon afterwards.
"I'm sorry, Luke."
"No need."
"No, there is certainly a need for me to apologize. I have doubted your intentions more than once. The truth is, I didn't come with you simply to help, but also to keep an eye on you."
Luke's eyes widened in surprise.
'She was keeping an eye on me? Her?'
He was disappointed.
Not only in Lala, but in himself.
'I let myself be had again.'
"But, Luke, my intentions weren't bad! I was doing this for my family! I wasn't even supposed to tell you anything about this…"
Luke was taken aback once more.
"Your family? Why would your family be interested in me?"
"I'm not sure… I was talking with them earlier today, in the morning, via a telecomm artifact, when they suddenly mentioned that I was to return a favor to a family friend in their stead while I was still in Millef."
Lala sounded very bitter as she talked about her family, but Luke paid no heed to that.
'A family friend? Don't tell me…'
Luke had one person in mind.
The person that had arranged Luke and Lala's meeting.
'Joseph…'
Luke narrowed his eyes.
'He is abnormally interested in me, and is trying to set me up at every turn. He's even ready to call favors in. I need to figure out why that's the case.
Also, could it be that his influence can reach even the foreign Temples? I was puzzled by why a Water Temple priestess would bother with teaching me, who's basically a nobody, how to read, but the pieces of the puzzle seem to be slowly coming together.'
Lala spoke up while Luke was still in thought.
"It isn't my first time being someone's tutor, but I just couldn't bear to continue lying to your face, especially not when I saw your determination!"
Lala had a bittersweet expression as she pleaded.
"As you said, you can explain the how's and why's later! But, at least tell me what the new plan is…"
Luke felt relieved by her words.
'It actually seems like I haven't been completely had…'
Luke stepped away from the door and sat back down on his bed while still looking at Lala.
"Fine, I will explain the new plan to you. We will have a long talk after all of this is over."
Lala nodded.
"As for the plan…"
And so, Luke started explaining the new plan to Lala, the latter paying full attention to the former's words.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Luke didn't have enough time for a brand new plan, opting to instead revise Lala's original plan by a bit, having high hopes that it would work.
If the worst came to pass, he could try again, as painful as it may be.
The window was fully boarded up, preventing any light from penetrating the pitch darkness of the room.
This time, Luke switched his bed with Lala.
'He came to my bed first in the last loop, so if everything plays out as it previously did, I should be able to land a single surprise "attack" on him, but that's all I need.'
*Creak…*
The door slowly creaked open, prompting both Luke and Lala to crush the small artifact they had previously prepared.
'Night vision – done.'
Luke peeked through his barely opened eyelids.
The shadow elementalist was just a few short steps away from Lala's bed.
'So I was thinking… If we don't have enough time to devise a new plan, what about adjusting the current one by just a bit?'
Luke had thought of a new way to use his wind elemental, inspired by the countless wild west movies he had watched back on Earth.
He started gathering wind with both of his hands while still lying down.
On one end, what appeared was but a simple stick, while on the other, a ring of wind.
Even though it looked very rigid, the wind had the flexibility of a rope.
'A wind lasso! Although this one doesn't require any skill to use…'
The lasso would move as Luke willed it, meaning he didn't need to be a professional at lasso throwing to use it.
The reason he rushed to the door as soon as he had the idea to use a wind lasso was so that he could actually practice forming it and using it, as well as making any needed adjustments, with the little time he had left before the shadow elementalist was bound to show up.
He scanned the shadow elementalist from head to toe, taking note of a small pouch that was attached to his belt.
Luke threw the lasso towards the shadow elementalist, causing him to stop walking towards Lala's bed, instead turning towards Luke.
But it was too late.
The lasso perfectly tightened around the shadow elementalist's pouch, and just as he was about to grab a hold of it, the pouch was pulled off of his belt, and towards Luke's hands.
Luke was no longer lying in his bed.
He was already up on his feet and dangling the pouch in front of the shadow elementalist, attempting to infuriate him.
The shadow elementalist, seeing Luke's glowing orange eyes and the boarded up window, immediately understood what was going on.
He had precautions for such traps in the form of artifacts, but they were all in the pouch that Luke had just taken away from him.
Not wanting to deal with this, the shadow elementalist lounged towards the door.
*Slice!*
The shadow elementalist stopped a few meters away from the door, now tightly holding onto his right shoulder with his left hand.
A scarlet liquid was escaping from in between his fingers, dripping onto the wooden floor.
Luke could see the shadow elementalist gritting his teeth.
His wind blade was aiming for the shadow elementalist's chest, but instead only ended up grazing his right shoulder.
The door was to the shadow elementalist's left, and to Luke's right side.
'His speed should have decreased with this injury, but I can't be completely sure. I also have to be careful not to hit Lala who's behind him, so I can only aim at his upper body.'
Luke started rapidly shooting out wind blades at the shadow elementalist, causing him to slowly, but surely retreat from the door, towards the inner side of the room.
'The only difference between now and the last loop is that I've stolen his artifacts, and that I managed to slightly injure him, but that should be enough to tip the odds in our favor. I could force him to move away from the door in the last loop, so doing it once more shouldn't prove problematic.'
And so Luke continued his onslaught.
Taking the revised plan into consideration, Lala couldn't just form a giant water cage right next to the shadow elementalist, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have prepared its base while Luke was busy forcing him away from her bed, and from the door.
Luke was now standing next to the door, and was relatively close to Lala's bed, prompting her to stand up and start forming the actual water cage in earnest.
"Luke! Buy me a bit more time!"
Lala had previously told Luke about the differences between forming the water cage with a base, and forming it without one.
The main ones being the mana and the time required.
Forming the water cage with a base meant that the base had to be formed over a period of at least 10 minutes, consuming three times as much mana than if you did it without a base, but shortening the casting time of the cage itself by 40 seconds.
The process of forming the base couldn't be sensed even by an elementalist with an above average mana perception, because it would take place inside of one's soul.
Forming the water cage without a base was as previously described: 60 seconds of casting time with regular mana expenditure.
The shadow elementalist may or may not know about what the water cage could do, but Luke and Lala couldn't know that, so they had to be careful.
Luke kept assaulting him with wind blades, and he kept nimbly twisting his body, avoiding them all.
The range of the wind blades had to be controlled, else Luke would unintentionally open up gaps in the wooden wall of the room, allowing the moonlight in, thus ruining his plan.
All of this required a huge amount of control and focus, which Luke was barely able to deliver.
He was slowly improving with every fight.
The shadow elementalist couldn't do much else at this point.
He was robbed of his artifacts, trapped in a dark room, and had no way out.
He could not let this happen.
But there was nothing he could do except for dodging Luke's wind blades.
He wasn't carrying any conventional weapons with him, instead relying completely on his elemental, that currently proved no more useful than the artifact that Luke and Lala had been using as night vision.
"It's ready!"
70 seconds have passed since the shadow elementalist entered the room.
The water cage was now completed.
'It looks like a giant fishbowl…'
This was the only description that Luke could currently come up with.
Lala launched the cage at the shadow elementalist, causing him to attempt to dodge it.
It was futile. The cage followed after him, making the shadow elementalist chase himself into a corner.
"Shit."
It was the first time the shadow elementalist spoke since entering the room.