Chapter 197: Nothing

  A select strike team. Seven people.

  Destiny. Celestia. Danjo. Briar. Arthur. Aurora.

  And Prota.

  Of course, a few others had been involved in the planning process. Namely, Kit Ninetails, the Elvish King, Haze Windwalker, Lupin Wolfhound, Leora Dawnflame, and Jinae Rumba were all present. They would be the last line of defence, though. Should something go wrong, they’d do their best to deal with things.

  Still, the sheer amount of power in that single tent was absurd.

  Royalty. The head of a prestigious family. Members of Quaesitor Veritatis. Mystics. The hero.

  All to deal with a single potential threat.

  Everyone shared everything they possibly could. Sharing secrets John didn’t want revealed was uncomfortable to those involved, but at this point, they had very few options remaining.

  Destiny went first, explaining everything he knew about John’s powers. Lupin, Leora, and Jinae occasionally interjected, explaining what they had theorized about conceptual energy, but otherwise, everyone slowly began to get a grasp on what they were up against.

  First, what John was capable of. Destiny went first, explaining John’s feats from the Town of Beginnings, explaining how he was fairly certain that John had been the one to defeat Doctor. Lupin and Leora then pitched in, explaining how John had killed an empowered Hikari with an unknown power, who had rivalled the two of them combined. The three also discussed that he’d been involved in Sofya’s defeat, though, once again, no one was sure how.

  Kit then added on, having been the only being to be present at the death of a Mystic. She explained how John had used a strange weapon of unknown origin to kill Chen So, although it had done terrible damage to his body.

  Jinae went last, although she didn’t have much to add on. She knew he had some strange powers they hadn’t discussed, but she didn’t know how they worked. However, she explained Quaesitor Veritatis’ goal and how John was the connection to that truth. She believed his intuition had something to do with that, but could not verify anything.

  “Um… one more thing,” Kit said awkwardly. “He… he mentioned having the ability to regress.”

  For a moment, silence. Then, an outburst of noise.

  “What?!”

  The noise was quickly silenced as Kit opened her mouth, ready to explain further.

  “He… he said he couldn’t do it anymore,” Kit said quietly. “But can we believe that?”

  Again, a moment of silence.

  Then, they all turned to Prota.

  “...Prota,” Destiny said quietly. “I know I said I wouldn’t involve you. But… is there anything you can tell us? At all?”

  In that moment, Prota felt very, very small. Did she answer? Should she lie? Tell the truth?

  In the end, she could at least tell them this much.

  “...he can [Reset].”

  There was visible confusion at that statement. Prota had yet to speak comfortably in such settings, even with familiar faces, so it took some work for the others to understand her. John wasn’t there to translate, so it took a while, but in the end, they understood.

  “So… theoretically, he can just come back to life,” Lupin said quietly. “How do we win?”

  “Prota,” Destiny said. “We… we have Prota. She said she can come back with him, right? So-”

  “No,” Prota said quietly. “That’s… it’s not a good strategy…”

  A heavy weight descended upon the room.

  Their last hope.

  Gone.

  “Well, we just have to whack some sense into him, then, right?” Briar said, trying to lighten the mood. “We… we…”

  Even her optimism was quickly snuffed out by the fear filling the tent. It was so thick it was suffocating.

  No viable strategy. No guiding light

  There was no way to win.

  “I can try to cut it,” Destiny suddenly said. “I… I don’t want to kill him. So we’ll talk first. We can always talk first. But if it comes to it… Surely I can cut him down.”

  That, at least, seemed to reassure some people. In the end, there was nothing they could really do about such an unknown situation.

  “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go.”

  His armour clanked as he prepared to leave the tent, and the others began to follow suit. They were stopped only by a single voice.

  “...Destiny,” Kit suddenly said.

  The hero turned back.

  “A long time ago… John asked me if I’d be willing to sacrifice myself for you. At the time, I said yes. But he made a good point. It’s the living that have to suffer. The dead aren’t the ones who pay the price. So… I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for us.”

  Haze took a step forward as well.

  “...I am ashamed to admit that John was involved in this as well, but… it was he who prepared me for the news of your identity. He… he asked me if I would choose the Royal Family, or you. At the time, I did not know the answer. But… here, in this moment, I am not ashamed to say that you are worth the world to me. It is not worth it if the world is here, but you are gone. So do not die. Do you understand?”

  Suddenly, everyone began sharing their feelings. Their regrets, their desires, their emotions, all of it came spilling out. The fear was quickly replaced by resolve and a sense of peace. Everyone here had people to embrace, to comfort.

  Everyone but Prota.

  The girl, so out of place, so out of time, was sitting quietly in the corner, second guessing herself.

  Should she tell them that this world was nothing but a story? That their existences and fates were not their own, but determined by another?

  What would the [Author] choose in this scenario?

  And did she have a say in it at all?

  She tried to think, but answers eluded her. There was nothing that came to mind, no helpful memory that would soothe her soul.

  “Alright,” she suddenly heard.

  Destiny and the others were already halfway out the tent.

  “It’s all or nothing.”

  Reluctantly, she stood up.

  All in. Everyone was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  If John truly lacked the ability to destroy the world… then she supposed things would go back to normal. What normal was, she wasn’t sure, but it was better than the alternative.

  What was the alternative?

  She knew. But she didn’t want to think about it.

  So for now, she didn’t know.

  ~~~

  “...where the hell am I?”

  John looked around, looking mildly confused.

  He wasn’t in the castle anymore. Instead, he was in the middle of a forest.

  To be exact, a clearing.

  “...this again.”

  Interestingly enough, he wasn’t all doom and gloom, nor was he looking fatigued. His eyes were empty, but his face wasn’t completely neutral. Rather, he was looking around with interest, genuinely analyzing his surroundings and trying to figure out where he should go next.

  He wasn’t quite depressed.

  But he most definitely wasn’t pleased, either.

  “Zero?”

  John called out, somewhat hopeful, but the soul was nowhere to be found. He shook his head.

  Well, that was to be expected. Still, it’d been a while since he used this ability, so there was no harm in trying.

  “Hm… what now?” John muttered, sitting on a rock.

  He had no clue what he was going to do next. If he left this world, it would vanish. That much made sense. To be honest, it was something he should’ve considered to begin with.

  But how did he leave?

  [Tutorial: How to leave a [Story]. Start?]

  John grimaced.

  “...just explain it. You don’t need to keep going with this bullshit. Just get on with it, ok? The whole point of this is to make me as little of a [Character] as possible, anyway. Or am I wrong?”

  [Leaving a [Story] is simple. You must simply collect all the [Deus Ex Machina] energy in a world. Since [Deus Ex Machina] is your power, it is impossible for you to leave it behind. Once you have collected everything, a notification will appear telling you that it is possible to leave.]

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “That’s bullshit,” John muttered. “How am I supposed to know where all the [Deus Ex Machina] is? What happens if I end up in a [Story] with multiple worlds? Galaxies? Dimensions? Am I supposed to search all of them?”

  [It is a [Story]. Of course, a logical path will be followed.]

  For a moment, John hesitated. Was this really a tutorial?

  No, that wasn’t of importance at the moment. There was only one more thing he needed to figure out.

  “...hey. Where is the rest of my energy? I defeated Celeste. So I should have all of it, right? What’s stopping me from leaving?”

  [The query cannot be answered.]

  John paused. The system wasn’t going to just give him a clear-cut answer.

  But it was giving him an answer of sorts. That was enough information to let him know the path he should take next.

  Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. For a moment, his poker face broke, but he quickly recomposed himself, preparing to ask the next question.

  “Do I know where the rest is?”

  [...]

  “Just answer. I don’t care. I think I already know the answer, anyway.”

  [Yes.]

  For a moment, John’s heart twitched, and he felt himself slip. His head went blurry, as if his very consciousness were fading from existence. It wasn’t just a matter of going unconscious; he felt as if he were literally vanishing, as if the definition of “John” were disappearing.

  Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down.

  “Alright. I guess that’s how it is.”

  Standing up, he stretched, letting loose a quick yawn. The sun was still bright in the sky.

  “Has it been six months…?”

  Slowly, he unravelled his scarf, slowly undressing his top half. The symbol faded in on his back as he took his shirt off, but that wasn’t what he was trying to see.

  Carefully, he checked his body over, looking for something, anything, but ultimately, there was nothing.

  “Phew,” he sighed in relief. “That’s good to know. So I’ve got time.”

  This power had to be used carefully. This wasn’t a simple matter of going and claiming the rest of the [Deus Ex Machina] energy for himself. If he wasted his power too carelessly, he would end up dead for good, and all of this would have been for nothing.

  So, while teleportation in this state was possible, he was forced to walk through the forest, wandering aimlessly. His system helped him avoid getting lost, but otherwise, he had no idea where he was. He might’ve been thousands of miles from the nearest village, and he would have no way of knowing.

  An hour passed. Then another. And another. John showed no signs of fatigue or hunger. He just kept walking methodically, one foot after the other, like a robot programmed to reach a certain destination.

  He might’ve been lost for days had there not been others looking for him.

  John looked up, a faint frown on his face as a shadow appeared overhead, blocking out the sun. His scarf fluttered as powerful winds rushed down, flattening the trees as a dragon-like beast descended, landing with a powerful thud.

  He waited patiently as seven figures jumped off. Despite having been stuck in a void for billions of years, he still remembered these figures well.

  A hero.

  A princess.

  A dwarf.

  A blacksmith.

  An alchemist.

  A painter.

  And…

  “John.” Destiny stepped forward, sword still in sheath, but his hand was on the handle. “...you know why we’re here, right?”

  John tilted his head to the side, much as Prota often did when she was confused.

  “No? Why are you here?”

  John’s voice was so incredibly basic that Destiny actually lost his train of thought for a moment.

  In the past, Destiny had heard many tones from John. He’d seen many moods, seen multiple masks, all of which were surprising but not exactly unexpected.

  But now… no one was ready for this. John was perfectly calm, as if nothing had ever happened. Even in the past, he’d expressed something. That small grin of his. A loud laugh. Anger. Frustration. Even when he revealed his empty, hollow self, there was a sense of fatigue present.

  This was entirely different. If the fatigued John were a John with no masks, revealing his true face, then this was a John who didn’t even have a face. It was almost as if something else were controlling John’s body.

  Although, the mannerisms of speech and expression were familiar. Then… it would be more apt to say that John was controlling himself without being present. Or, perhaps some being had created a robot of John based on the experiences he’d had in this world.

  Regardless, it was incredibly concerning.

  “John. I don’t want to fight you,” Destiny said carefully. “I don’t know what this is all about, but…”

  “Great. I don’t want to fight either. What are you talking about?”

  Everyone flinched once more, this time out of fear. What was that supposed to mean? They were all aware that this was a being who’d defeated Hikari, a Mystic more powerful than Lupin and Leora combined.

  Was he trying to claim that they weren’t even a threat? That he could wipe them out in one go?

  Then, to everyone’s surprise, it was Prota who stepped forward.

  “John,” she said simply.

  Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Her heart was pounding. She hadn’t seen John in ages, and for the longest time, she’d been sinking into an abyss of regret and despair.

  But now, even in these circumstances, his presence alone was rejuvenating her.

  And with that newfound energy, she knew what she had to do. It was ironic, but seeing John was what had given her the resolve to follow through on this.

  If it came to it…

  “John,” she said again. “The [Author]... will stop writing this world?”

  Everyone else was confused. They had no clue what Prota was talking about.

  But she didn’t care. The question wasn’t for them.

  It was for John.

  For a moment, there was silence. Everyone waited with bated breath, even if they didn’t know what answer they should desire. Still, they all instinctively understood what Prota was asking.

  Never before had they been so tense. Never had they been so concerned.

  The answer to this single question would determine the fate of the world. It would either be the end of a war…

  Or the start of one.

  “...what?” he said quietly.

  Prota stared into his empty eyes. His innocence act wouldn’t work on her.

  “Answer. Now.”

  “...yeah. That’s right.”

  Nobody knew what that meant. However, they all saw Prota visibly react, and not in a good way.

  Still, Prota had yet to actually take any action. They weren’t sure if this was due to her attachment to John, but based on her posture, that wasn’t the case. She was actually taking a more aggressive stance now, holding her staff out before her, pointing it at her brother.

  “Why are you still here?” she said quietly.

  “Can’t leave,” John shrugged.

  “How do you leave?”

  John didn’t answer that.

  Prota didn’t move, still pointing her staff at John’s face, but he didn’t even react. He stared at it as if it were just another object of mild interest. Destiny stepped forward, sword drawn out, and John reacted to that, too.

  “John,” Destiny said. “Do you really have to leave?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? What about your friends here? Were we just means to an end? Was everything fake?”

  “...yes.”

  “Then what was the point?!” Destiny suddenly roared. “What was your end goal? Were we just tools to exploit? Is that the only reason you got close to us?”

  John didn’t even react. He just shrugged, an almost apologetic expression on his face.

  “I’m sorry. Getting close to you wasn’t actually intended. Although, I suppose that it was optimal for the story... but then again, I was never meant to be here in the first place.”

  All the anger suddenly drained from Destiny’s face.

  “Wh- what? What do you-”

  Suddenly, Prota held her hand out, shaking her head.

  “You can’t listen,” she muttered. “You won’t fight if you listen.”

  “Prota, I-”

  “Trust me.”

  The girl had never offered Destiny advice like this before. It was enough to make him back off, leaving Prota at the front.

  “Prota. You know what’s up with all this,” John said simply. “Ah. I… ok, I get it now. You’re trying to stop me, right? All of you? Is that what’s going on? Sorry, it’s been a bit. My mind’s a little foggy, so I didn’t really get why you guys were here.”

  “What?” Briar suddenly exclaimed. “No duh, that’s what’s going on! Are you stupid? This is our world we’re talking about! How are you so calm? John, you can’t just do that! What is wrong with you?”

  “It’s not your world,” John said, shaking his head. “Well- what am I saying? It doesn’t matter.”

  “What are you even saying?” Briar frowned.

  “Come on. Let’s just get this over with. I suppose it’s one last chapter or something. The grand finale. If the author wants it…”

  John looked up, but there was no response.

  “John,” Prota said, forcing him to look back down. “Stay.”

  “Stay? You know I’m not going to do that.”

  “...take me with you?”

  Everyone froze.

  “Sorry. It looks like that’s not allowed, either. Actually, I need you dead. Come on. Enough dialogue already. The pacing is starting to get horrendous- or maybe it already was. Let’s just fight already.”

  John’s black eye began to glow in its strange fashion, but otherwise, his stance no more aggressive than it’d been a few seconds prior.

  “It’ll be over soon.”

  Surprisingly, it was Briar who rushed forward first. She pulled out the strange material her grandfather had given her, the metallic liquid taking the shape of a giant hammer, threatening to crush John into the ground.

  “We’re not weak anymore, you know?!” she yelled, leaping up.

  “In terms of characters, yes. You’re not weak. That is true.”

  Reaching up, John’s hand turned shadowy, and he simply watched as the hammer came crashing down. The weapon made contact with his hand—

  And vanished.

  The material John had fought for. The material worth a thousand gold coins at the very least, and likely far more, given the troubles he’d been through to get it. A creation handed down from master to pupil, the masterpiece of a grandfather given to his grandaughter, all through a journey…

  Gone. Just like that. As if it had never existed in the first place.

  “What the-” Briar gasped, suddenly falling back. “What? What just happened?”

  “Everyone, fall back!” Destiny yelled, his eyes immediately glowing golden.

  Even Prota fell back, trembling all over. However, she wasn’t nervous about John’s new power. He was doing strange things all the time, and living with him meant you got used to that.

  No, it was the fact that Zero was no longer present within John that scared her, and the consequences thereof.

  The familiar soul was nowhere to be found. John had a unique existence in the sense that he had no mana core, and his soul wasn’t just a blob of energy hovering in his body. Zero often moved, and when he was out of John’s body, John technically contained no soul. Even when Zero was in John’s body, he was occasionally still, moving around, or sometimes gone entirely.

  However, at the moment, Zero simply didn’t exist. It wasn’t that the soul was gone; it was more like John had absorbed the soul, and his entire physical body was also an encompassment of the soul itself. There was nothing to use Soul Steal on, at least, nothing Prota could identify.

  But understanding all this made Prota all the more scared. If Zero had fused with John, her brother was definitely using a power beyond anything he’d shown.

  “Prota,” Destiny said, sweat pouring down his face. “Do you know what’s going on?”

  “...no.”

  “Great,” the hero muttered.

  For a moment, there was silence. John didn’t move. He just continued to stand there, his eye no longer glowing, his hand back to normal.

  Then, suddenly, he vanished, reappearing threateningly close, his hand black once more, the strange glow in his right eye glowing again. He reached out, but everyone leapt back in time, their instincts screaming that John’s strange darkness was incredibly dangerous.

  “Hm.” John sighed, letting his first bit of emotion show.

  However, it wasn’t fear or anger. It wasn’t even interest.

  It was just… annoyance.

  “Need to put in more effort…”

  Quickly, his eyes began to shift back and forth as he muttered to himself incessantly, incoherent words spewing out of his mouth.

  “Destiny,” Prota said suddenly.

  The hero nearly jumped. Prota’s tone was urgent, desperately so. Gone was the usual monotone voice.

  On anybody else, this would’ve been only mildly concerning, a tone to pay attention to but still think about before taking action. Prota, however, never changed her tone. Destiny had occasionally heard her a little upset or concerned, but never before had she expressed such panic. Looking over at her, he found that her eyes were wide with fear, her eyebrows curved downward with stress.

  What in the world was going on?

  “We have to go. Now.”

  “What do you mean?” Destiny frowned. “He’s- I don’t even know what he’s doing, but he’s just standing there. What’s the problem?”

  Prota didn’t know how to explain.

  But she knew what John was doing.

  He was analyzing them as [Characters]. With that, this meant that he was treating them as a genuine problem, a threat that needed to be dealt with. He was using the approach that had won them so many battles against the very friends he’d once helped.

  And if he was doing that, then there was a good chance they were about to lose.

  Prota didn’t fully understand the rules of a [Story], nor did she know how to utilize them, but she was vaguely aware of how things worked. She also understood that only a few people could break those rules, and none of her friends was one of them.

  They were prepared for battle, but that wasn’t enough. If she understood John, and she hoped she did…

  Not once would they ever be playing on the same field.

  But she didn’t have time to explain that. She didn’t have time to warn her friends, to explain that the strategies John used could possibly determine an outcome they would never see.

  All she could do was hope her powers would be enough.

  “I’m done waiting,” Briar growled. “Look, I don’t think we’re gonna kill him even if we try, so let’s just charge, ok?”

  “Briar, wait-” Celestia started, but it was already too late.

  John had yet to move with speed, and he had yet to show any indication of speed. That didn’t matter.

  “Alright. The first target is obvious, then.”

  Nobody could’ve reacted to what was coming next, anyway.

  For a moment, they saw him swipe his hand in the air, his limb once again pitch black. Then, before anyone even understood what had happened, he had appeared before them, slowly reaching out at a human speed.

  Destiny cried out, swinging his sword, but in that brief moment, John’s entire body turned dark, and the blade passed through harmlessly as if he were made out of shadows. Everyone else attacked soon after, but similarly, no results were achieved.

  In the end, nobody could stop John from making contact with the Elven princess.

  “John?” she managed to gasp, before her entire body simply vanished.

  Just like that, she was gone. No battle. No epic fight.

  Another swipe of the arm, and John once again stood at a distance, hands in his pocket as if nothing had ever happened. He looked at the group, exactly where Celestia had been, and nodded with satisfaction.

  “...that’s one down.”

  ? Featured Story ?

  by TMHatter

  cards. Cards that can reshape reality. Cards that can change every element of his life.

  and card dueling

  What to expect

  Epic adventures, compelling characters, and a story that keeps you coming back for more.

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