Chapter 196: Decisions

  ze·ro

  /?zirō,?zērō/

  number

  cardinal number: zero; noun: zero; plural noun: zeros

  1.

  no quantity or number; naught; the figure 0.

  ~~~

  John, too, seemed incredibly confused.

  “I don’t get it. If you’re the goddess… why? What was the point in all of this? Did you just suddenly decide to turn evil?”

  “Evil?” Celeste laughed. “Far from it. Well… I do regret some of the choices I made. But I believe they were necessary evils, to prevent an even greater evil.”

  “What, let me guess. Me?” John laughed. “Yeah, right-”

  “Yes. You.”

  John froze.

  “Normally, I would not have objected to your existence. You did no harm. You aided the one I summoned. You were his ally, his friend, and for that, I am thankful. Really.”

  “Then- but- Doctor! Sofya! The Ninetails clan! All of that!” John exclaimed, his voice on the verge of a breakdown. “That was you?! And Prota! Do you even know what you did to her?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

  “Me?” Celeste shook her head. “Do you know what is wrong with you?”

  “...me?”

  “Yes. Your personality is not the issue. It is your existence in itself.”

  John opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again, only for no words to come out. Everyone watched with bated breath, unsure of how to proceed.

  “Do you know what happens once you leave this world?” Celeste continued. “It disappears. I am well aware that this is one of many versions. I am but a copy of an infinite number of Celestes. That does not diminish my will to exist. That does not snuff my desire for my people to survive.”

  “...huh?”

  “I see. John. If you leave this world, your [Author] will no longer continue to write this [Story]. They will no longer breathe life into this world. It will vanish. Disappear. It seems you do not understand. Perhaps your role is not that of the [Protagonist], but you are a protagonist. You are this world’s core.”

  “Me… I… what?”

  “But if I take your memories… If I force part of you to remain here… your [Author] will continue this world. If I inject your powers into someone capable of maintaining them, even if the [Author] sends another version of you to retrieve them, at least this world continues for a little longer. I knew you would find the [Protagonist]. I knew you would do the things you did. So I prepared. I regret the decisions I made, but if all went well, I could simply use your powers and reset this world, cleaning up all the mistakes I made. John. You do not understand. You can live no longer.”

  “I… that’s…”

  John looked incredibly lost. His eyes were glazed over, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly. In that moment, Celeste vanished, reappearing with John’s neck in her hands.

  “Everyone!” she cried out. “You may believe me. You may not. But I leave this up to you. I will seal this man away for six months of your time. Prepare. If I cannot defeat him… it will be up to you. Please. Believe me when I say that everything I did was for the sake of this world. Be ready!”

  With that, there was a bright flash, blinding everyone present. No one had been prepared for it, making it all the more effective, and when their vision recovered, John was no longer there.

  Neither was Celeste.

  For a moment, everyone was silent. The one to break that silence was Destiny.

  “...she was telling the truth.”

  ~~~

  “When we came back, the demons had stopped invading,” Destiny explained. “No more war. No more… nothing. All of us are pretty tired, and only a few people know what’s going to happen next. Otherwise, everyone thinks the war is over.”

  “Over?”

  “Well… it makes sense,” Destiny sighed. “We came back, and the demons are all gone. It would follow that we succeeded, right? We explained what happened to the people who knew John, though, and… well, we’re preparing.”

  “Preparing?” Prota nearly yelled. “John… John wouldn’t…”

  She wanted to say that John wouldn’t do something like that, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Part of her instinctively understood that the being they’d encountered really was Celeste. If John had failed to refute her statement, there was a good chance he believed it was true.

  Was this world really tied to his existence? Had he known? No, if he had known, he would have told her. Right?

  “I’m sorry, Prota,” Destiny said quietly. “I didn’t want to pull you into this. Not like this. But… if John does come back, and he really is meant to destroy the world, then I can’t let that happen. I might not understand what Celeste was talking about, but I’ll just ask John directly. He’ll come back. I’m sure. And I really hope that we don’t have to do all this. But… if I have to kill him, then I will.”

  Prota remained silent.

  “I won’t ask you to join me. I know you two care for each other. I just… I think you deserved to know. That’s all.”

  “...thank you.”

  The rest of the trip home was silent.

  ~~~

  “Zero.”

  John had fallen victim to his own trap.

  At this point, he had lost track of how many times he’d [Reset]. All that was surrounding him was a white void, which was infinitely worse than the black void he’d been stuck in prior to this world. There, at least, his eyes didn’t hurt. Here, the constant brightness was painful in a mental sort of way, which, for John, was the worst kind of pain.

  “How much longer?”

  “You already know the answer to that question.”

  Diaboli—or, rather, Celeste, John wasn’t quite sure anymore, although the being had taken her celestial form rather than a demonic form—had already long since given up.

  She’d said six months, but she’d used [Deus Ex Machina] power to extend that length infinitely. In a sort of ironic twist, she had intended to use the very method John had used to trap him into defeat. She knew he couldn’t die. However, she planned on torturing him into giving up of his own volition, something both of them knew he could do.

  Unfortunately, a mix of [Determination] and the ability to remove one’s memories made that strategy impossible.

  Then, in a second ironic twist, her lack of effort was actually driving John more insane than any action she’d taken. He could continue to remove his memories, but that only had the effect of keeping him sane. It didn’t change the fact that he was stuck here until Celeste let him out.

  “Come on,” John groaned, falling onto his back. “Just let us out. I don’t know about destroying your world or whatever, but that’s not something I want to do. Are you really fine with trapping me here forever?”

  For a moment, Celeste didn’t answer. John thought she wouldn’t say anything at all, but then she lifted her head.

  “Yes,” she said, her voice incredibly weak. “Because keeping you here, in my private realm, means the [Author] will continue to write about my world.”

  “Yeah? How do you know that?” John challenged.

  Celeste actually laughed at that. “I suppose you are unaware. Your memories do not just contain fragments of your life. They allow me to learn what this world truly is. I’ve heard you avoid telling my people the truth, and I thank you for that. It would, in fact, break them. However, I am different. My existence has always been one of mystery, and my being has always been one of order and creation. I have no purpose other than maintaining this world.”

  “...what the hell does that have to do with anything?” John frowned.

  “It follows that I have a creator. That my existence is merely a convenience, a tool. I was not entirely surprised to find out what my being is.”

  John remained silent at that.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “However, I cannot deny my nature. I do not want this world to perish, even if it means I must sacrifice myself. So I will keep you here, John Quarta. For I understand the logic of a [Story]. You make your own choices. The [Author] cannot control you. So if you choose to remain here, they will write about Prota instead.”

  “Oh, so you suddenly care about her?” John suddenly shouted. “After everything you did?”

  “You do it as well, do you not?” Celeste said simply, not moving an inch at John’s outburst. “You make mistakes. Then you [Reset]. And you fix them. To you, your mistakes do not matter because you can make it as if they never happened. Or am I wrong?”

  Once again, John remained silent.

  “The same goes for me. I merely meant to change the world for the better once you were gone. I didn’t intend to try to make a utopia, either. I just… I just want this world to live.”

  John moved away once Celeste was finished speaking. He didn’t know what else to say.

  She made some incredibly good points, and while he didn’t like them, he was finding it hard to disagree with them.

  Some time passed. John didn’t know how much. His clock wasn’t working in here. Whenever he got bored, he’d toss his memories into his library, making it as if he’d just entered this realm, but it wasn’t a permanent solution. He retained the memory of removing his memory. This was just slapping a bandage on to keep him alive.

  At some point, he’d have to make some kind of decision.

  “...hey, Zero,” John said quietly.

  The soul didn’t respond, but John knew he was listening.

  “Is that person telling the truth? Am I really stuck here?”

  “...yes.”

  “And there’s no way to get out?”

  “...no. There is a way.”

  John felt a shiver run down his spine. He’d known there was a way since the start.

  Killing Celeste.

  If he did so, he could take what [Deus Ex Machina] power she had left, and then use it to break out. But… what then? What was left for him out there?

  And there was still one thing that was bothering him.

  “Zero.”

  Once again, the soul remained quiet.

  “...was she telling the truth?”

  “I don’t know what you’re-”

  “Stop being a sarcastic prick for once and just answer the question.”

  “...I’m sorry, John.”

  For a moment, there was silence. John didn’t move. Didn’t speak.

  Then, suddenly, there was a loud crack.

  In Celeste’s pure white world, a black crack began to form. A single thin line, splitting the world in two, barely visible, but present.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?!” John yelled, rushing to his feet. “You led me on?! This entire time, you led me on, telling me shit about curses and blessings, telling me shit about companions, feeling things, all that, hiding the fact that I would destroy this world the whole time?”

  “...you already know the answer to that.”

  “Dammit!” John yelled, punching the ground.

  Despite all the force he put into his blow, the only thing that happened was that he broke his knuckles.

  John did know the answer. Zero wouldn’t have been able to tell him. For all the soul’s faults, he truly did have John’s best interests at heart. Zero never did anything that might harm John. He always tried to give the best advice he could. Then, this circumstance wasn’t Zero’s fault.

  It was the [Author’s].

  “You knew,” John growled. “You knew, this whole time, didn’t you! Giving me friends, giving me companions, giving me… giving me family, all to rip it away! That’s all you do! You just fuck with me! Is this what you decided?! Is this your form of entertainment?! You can’t control me, so you control everything around me, making sure it leads to the worst path possible?! That’s it, isn’t it? That’s all you do! You fucker!”

  John finished his rant, panting, cursing at a being he could never touch. There was silence. Celeste hadn’t reacted to John’s outburst.

  But the black line in the world had grown slightly larger.

  “So that’s it?” John said, his voice but a hollow husk of what it had once been. “This is how it ends? The [Author] gives up on me, or they give up on this world. That’s how it goes. Is that it?”

  “...John,” Zero said quietly.

  He appeared this time, floating in front of John. His face had an incredibly pained look upon it, as if he felt truly sorry for his physical self.

  “I never said this was a curse.”

  “Oh, sure,” John said, letting out a hollow laugh.

  It wasn’t an amusing situation, but what else was he supposed to do? Cry? There was no point in that anymore. There was no one to take pity. No one to console him. All that was left was to see the comedy in the situation, for whatever little that was worth.

  “Sure. This might help in the future. The far, far, future. But how about now? Why does it always have to hurt so much?” John said, his voice slowly growing louder. “Why is trauma and pain always what happens?! Why can’t I learn lessons through small mistakes, through partial success, through joy, through normal means?! Why the fuck am I going through the whims of some fuckass bitch?! For entertainment? To please others?! Why is that my existence?!”

  “...I’m sorry, John,” Zero said quietly. “I… I’ll stop talking. Whatever your decision is… I’ll be there for you. And just know… you don’t have a wrong choice. Choose what you feel is right, and let it keep going.”

  Zero vanished. For a moment, John just stood there, unsure of what to do.

  Slowly, the smile on his face vanished. The light in his eyes faded, slowly growing dark. His body went limp, as if he no longer had the effort to try and appear energetic.

  The truth was coming back to him once more. This was a [Story]. Not reality. Bad luck wasn’t possible. If something bad happened, it was the [Author’s] doing. He tried not to think about this fact too much, but at the moment, it was undeniable.

  He had never been able to forge his own path. In the end, he was still a puppet on a stage. All he could do was choose which path he would take, but ultimately, he was still being led on like a dog with a leash. There was no free will; only the illusion of free choice.

  Then, if that was the case, all he could do was choose the option that would piss the [Author] off the most. He would use the ability that held the least amount of logic. Choose the path that held the least amount of satisfaction.

  He would burn it all down, not through the [Author’s] sadism, but by his own hands.

  If this were truly a [Story], he would end it with his own hands.

  These were [Characters]. If they disappeared, then it was of no concern to him.

  John sat down, then laid on his back. For a long time, he did nothing. He just laid there, remaining motionless and silent.

  Then, after what could have been an eternity, he spoke.

  “Zero,” John said quietly. “I’m doing it.”

  There was no reply. However, the screen in his system confirmed that it had worked.

  [Determination deactivates! Current limit: x0]

  A multiplier of zero. Normally, this wasn’t possible. John’s base as a [Character] was a multiplier of one.

  But what if he stopped being entirely a [Character]? What if something else took priority?

  An editor. Someone who overlooks manuscripts, fixing grammar and prose, but also one who reviews the plots and gives their opinion. Through an editor’s suggestions, it is possible entire storylines and characters are cut from a story. Of course, this doesn’t happen very often.

  But it can. Occasionally, when decisions need to be made…

  With a sigh, he sat up. Now, his face was as emotionless as Prota’s if not more. There was no mask anymore.

  Just an expression that matched his eyes.

  Standing up, he moved smoothly but silently, walking with direction but no purpose. With each step, he left behind a black footprint, leaving blemishes in Celeste’s pure white realm.

  “...have you made your mind?” the goddess said as John approached.

  Before, John might have answered honestly, or left some sarcastic remark. This time, however, no words came out of his mouth. He simply looked down, and his right eye began to glow.

  Such an act should have been impossible. After all, black light cannot shine. So, it would be more apt to say that darkness was being emitted. Instead of giving off a faint glow, it made the area before his eye slightly darker.

  “I see,” Celeste said. “Then, I can only hope they will stop you.”

  Once again, John didn’t respond. He reached down, his hand turning black like ink, and he touched the celestial body.

  In an instant, it vanished, leaving only a red orb behind. John looked at it for a moment, his hand returning to normal, then picked it up, shoving it into his head.

  Looking around, he shook his head.

  “Well. That was a waste of time. I should’ve done this earlier.”

  A familiar wooden pen appeared in his hands, and with a single swipe, a portal opened up, leading back into the world of the [Story].

  ~~~

  Prota had arrived back at the camp, safe and sound. While seeing her friends all grown up was heartwarming, Destiny’s story continued to bother her. She just couldn’t get it out of her head.

  She desperately hoped that John wouldn’t destroy the world. But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t help but believe that something drastic might happen.

  A month passed. She tried training with a few familiar faces. As it turned out, none of them were really a match for her. Her new powers were simply too strong. She had always been a formidable caster, and her limits were typically related to a lack of output rather than a lack of skill. However, with a mana core comparable to Destiny’s, that problem had been solved.

  Additionally, her body felt good. Really good. She didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t get tired as often, and her mind could keep up with the barrage of spells she could now cast.

  Briar was among the first to fall to Prota’s new powers. Danjo followed, then Aurora and Arthur.

  Surprisingly, the Rose twins had heard of Prota’s return and had come to congratulate her. They didn’t quite know the circumstances, but they knew not to pry anymore.

  They, too, were no match against Prota. Still, their reactions warmed Prota’s heart a little.

  “Just like old days, huh?” Lilith grinned. “I suppose we still have some catching up to do.”

  Still, even after all this, she continued to think about John.

  Ultimately, she resorted to something she thought she’d never do again: think like a [Reader].

  Well, not entirely. She wasn’t sure how she should see this world as a [Story], but she did know a few things. Namely, the [Author] didn’t like letting things end nice and clean. This [Author] loved their twists, their surprises, their painful endings, and this time would definitely be no different.

  Prota wasn’t sure if John would get a happy ending or not. Given his last world, the answer was probably a bad one.

  Well, wasn’t this already a bad ending? The [Author] had turned John into a bad guy.

  She couldn’t help but feel that Celeste was telling the truth. There was no need for her to lie. If she was lying, even if she believed the truth, John was more than capable of clearing his name. To begin with, he could just let himself be questioned by Destiny, and to top things off, it wasn’t hard to just explain his circumstances.

  But that didn’t follow the flow of the [Story] Prota was expecting. It couldn’t end that cleanly.

  Then, she had no choice to believe that John would start doing something drastic. If his departure truly ended this world… well, she hated to admit it, but he would always choose himself over the others. He’d made it clear multiple times that he wouldn’t let the sacrifice of his old world be in vain.

  Another month later, Prota had made up her mind. She didn’t know if she would kill John, but she would stop him. Try to talk to him. Try to reason things out. If that didn’t work… well, she didn’t know.

  But she, too, wouldn’t let the [Author] just have their way.

  Then, for a month, she trained. She trained with all her might, finding Jinae, finding Kit, finding Lupin, Leora, any powerful being she could, and sparred. She knew how strong John was. No one she’d ever met in this would could compare to his peak.

  But maybe, just maybe, she could help. And if she could do something, anything, she would.

  Because she was John’s protector. That fact would not change. She’d find John and force him to answer her.

  Finally, the third month passed. Prota had reverted to her shell during this time. Others tried to coax some emotions out of her, but to no avail. Without John, she had a hard time feeling anything but fear.

  But that feeling was better than nothing.

  She was eating a simple meal in her tent when Destiny rushed in.

  “Prota,” he said, panting. “We just got a report… in the place we came back, a strange phenomenon occurred. The mana there… it just disappeared.”

  “...disappeared?” Prota repeated, confused.

  “Yeah. It vanished, as if it’d never existed in the first place. The Mystics say Celeste can’t destroy mana, so…”

  Prota felt her heartbeat quicken.

  “...John.”

  Destiny nodded, a grim expression on his face.

  Well, that was that.

  Prota stood up, grabbing her staff. Her face remained as expressionless as ever, but a fire had entered her eyes once more.

  “Let’s go.”