After defeating the remaining members of the Ebon Shroud Eron rushed down to the 1st floor. Once there he was met with a larger group of hooded figures standing guard for the barricaded entrance. Despite his growing fatigue, the white-haired man was able to make quick work of the figures. In a near instant, all of them had been defeated, leaving Eron slightly panting.
Now was not the time for breaks though. He removed the barricade on the doors and swung them open. A flood of police officers poured into the Helix Centre. They began making their way to the stairs and elevators while the police commissioner approached Eron.
"It's good to see you're fine Mr. Walker," The commissioner said. "How much time do we have left?"
"I am not sure," Eron replied. "How did you find out about the terrorist attack?"
"They let everyone in Shandel know about it,"
The commissioner took out his phone and played a video. Umbra began to speak on his phone announcing his plans to eradicate the government and instate a new political system where everyone is of equal social standing.
"He live-streamed this city-wide a few minutes ago," The commissioner explained. "We already have a bomb squad present and making their way to the explosives. Any idea of where they might be?"
"Sadly, I do not," Eron sighed regretably. "But I have faith that those two have found them,"
Sword and fist flew from one direction to another as the Umbra and Folorunsho's clash went on. Though the hooded man had a clear advantage before, the freelancer's second wind had come with some form of enlightenment as well. Folorunsho was no longer funnelling all of his Revel into his hands but dispersing it all over his body, giving him a faint fiery glow. Despite this, his energy blade was unable to cut through the protection. Though the Revel appeared to be barely visible, whenever the blade came close to hurting Folorunsho, it seemingly hardened in an instant.
Without him fully realising, Folorunsho had received more than a reinforcement of his will from the black dragon. In it, he had observed something about the use of Revel that he had never realised until now. Revel Arts were a means of manifesting the universe into miracles in the physical world. How that miracle manifested had no restriction in it. Instead of reinforcing his body to strengthen himself and withstand the cuts of Umbra, he was surrounding himself with it and manifesting a hardened aura whenever an attack approached. Ordinarily, Umbra's movements were faster than his, but that did not mean his reaction time was any slower. Therefore, by using something less restricted by his physicality than his body, he would be able to defend himself.
Attacking this aura felt like striking a non-Newtonian fluid. Due to the Revel hardening in response to Umbra's attacks, the cutting effect that took away the target's Revel and absorbed it was no longer able to work. His hazel eyes looked towards the bomb's timer. It had 7 minutes left on the clock. It no longer mattered whether he won or not. As long as that bomb went off and every person of influence in the Helix Centre was killed, then he would have won the war. It did not matter if he died here as well. He already planned to, and so did every other member of the Ebon Shroud present. There were already others waiting to proceed as planned once this was over.
His glance at the bomb however proved to be more fatal than Umbra had anticipated it to be. Folorunsho seized the opportunity and swept the hooded man off his feet. As Umbra approached the ground, the freelancer channelled all his remaining Revel into his leg and landed a kick on his chest. The energy immediately poured into his body and flooded his nervous system. Umbra could feel the sensation in his body go numb, as though he was paralysed. He laid on the ground, struggling to move but being only able to do so sluggishly.
"I can't believe I was able to pull it off," Folorunsho gasped as he leaned in his kneecaps.
He had mimicked Diane's Revel Art, Quinquem Overload. It was a technique that deprived the target control over their body by overloading it the user's Revel. When used to the extreme, a target would have a stroke and die. Even if he was not tired, Folorunsho was unable to completely immobilise someone with the technique. As for the current circumstance, slowing Umbra down was more than an advantage.
The freelancer turned his attention to the bomb. It still had 4 minutes left on the clock. However, all the time in the world would be useless without a means to disarm it. Umbra had already destroyed the remote leaving the only way to turn the device off was to do it manually. Folorunsho pried off the cover of the bomb, revealing a series of wires and other mechanisms he did not fully understand.
Had he not been so drained he would have tried short-circuiting the bomb with his Revel or figuring out which wire was the one to cut to deactivate it. Even if he was not out of energy he would not have tried something like that. Pulling off such a feat would require such precise Revel Control, one that he could not even dream of having how little time he had spent cultivating his ability. Aside from that, Revel hardly mixed well with technology that was not designed to interact with it, like the devices from Blue Mercury. The risks were just too high for Revel to be a feasible option.
The timer was down to 2 minutes. Folorunsho had only one practical option. He was going to have to cut a wire in hopes of deactivating the bomb. The problem was all the wires were the same colour. Had they not been, he still would not have known which was the right one to cut. That hardly mattered now. The seconds ran by quickly, leaving Folorunsho with even less time to make a choice. He had made it this far by luck. The fair lady would surely protect him again. Right?
Folorunsho held his breath as he picked a random wire. As the final 30 seconds counted down, he pulled the wire apart.