jdhmnovel Chapter 241: One More Step
Chapter 241: One More Step
Everyone stared at the little girl, who was standing calmly in the center of the room. She was perfectly healthy, not a single scratch on her body.In fact, she seemed even healthier than before. Her body was pristine, as if she had never fought to begin with. Her expression was as blank as always, not a single hint of emotion showing from what should have been the most intense fight of her life.
“Prota,” Destiny said again. “What… was that you? Did you… just kill Hikari?”
“Nn.”
She nodded so matter-of-factly that everyone momentarily felt as if everything was fine. Then reality came crashing back, and a sense of dread once again nestled deep within their souls.
“How… how did you do that?”
Prota shrugged. “Soul Steal.”
Sofya flinched. “Prota, I don’t mean to question you, but Soul Steal doesn’t work like that. Even if you can take the mana from spells, defeating a Mystics like that is…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. For a moment, the dragon considered her words. If Prota had defied logic once, what was to stop her from doing it again? Now that she thought about it, was there really anything stopping her from taking the soul of a Mystic? Once the rules had been broken, there was no recovering them. There was no point in questioning someone who could ignore what was meant to be law.
“If you could do that, then why were you suffering so much?” Lupin said cautiously. “You shouldn’t have needed our help if it was that easy to kill them. Why… why did you take so long?”
Prota froze. She didn’t really know what to say.
“Ugh. You people are so annoying with all your questions. You can’t just pretend things are fine?”
Anta floated out of Prota’s body, yawning loudly. She glanced at everyone present, taking an especially long look at Hikari’s corpse.
“Alright. Let’s answer some questions while we’re here. It’s not like anyone’s going to show up uninvited. It’s too late. I told her she should’ve done it earlier, but… well, if she showed you that, then I might as well explain everything.”
Prota sat down, resting for a bit while Anta began her explanation. Gradually, everyone else took a seat as well. It was going to take a while.
Effectively, Anta told their story from the start. Aside from details of personal growth, everything important was laid out in full.
Of course, the fact that this world was a [Story] was left out, but that was simply covered by explaining that the force of “concepts” was involved. Instead of [Deus Ex Machina], the term “conceptual power” was used, and that was that.
She explained how she’d met John, how they’d been attacked by the Demon King and then resurrected. Their adventures in the Town of Beginnings, their encounters with Destiny and Kit, their meeting with Danjo, the fight with Doctor, the things he’d done.
“How fascinating,” Sofya muttered. “The power of control… what a terrifying thought.”
Destiny, too, seemed interested in his own feats.
“Wasn’t I… a lot weaker back then?” he said slowly. “That’s…”
“We made you stronger,” Anta sighed. “Because we kept you out of a lot of fights you should’ve taken.”
“That’s…”
“I’m sorry. But at the time, we were under a lot more pressure, in a way,” Anta apologized. “Do you want something from us in return?”
“...no.”
They continued. Anta explained how their fight had removed John’s ability to use his regression powers, and how they’d made a deal with the Demon King. From there, they’d made their way to Scholaris, where the events had largely been the same.
In the past, however, Sofya had been the one to rescue Prota from the cultists, which in turn had led to her tutorship. They two had bonded over their student master relationship, while John largely remained the same, generally doing what he pleased.
“You’re saying I admitted this fellow?” Lupin frowned. “Truly?”
“His fighting style is… unique,” Anta admitted. “I think you liked him, deep down.”
“Wait, but you never explained… where is this John now?” Leora said. “If he was so important, then why isn’t he here, with you?”
“...I’m getting to that.”
In their second year, Anta explained the whole deal with Draco and his shenanigans. The fight with the Yakuza had been drastically different, but ultimately, the outcome had been the same. However, the fight with Hikari had been completely different. The circumstances, the reason, and the outcome, they’d all been drastically different, primarily because it seemed the cat was the final boss instead of Sofya.
Sofya, of course, already knew this, but the others were mildly stunned by the revelation that two god-like beings had been defeated in the span of a year.
“So this power… is what’s so capable of defeating a god?” Leora said quietly. “Is that why you’re capable of absorbing spells? Because of this strange energy?”
Anta nodded. “Something like that. We’ll explain it a little more later. Let me finish the point of all this.”
She quickly breezed over the incident with the Mystics and the lab, partially because they were personal to Destiny and Prota, and partially because they really didn’t matter. Ultimately, however, the important part of this entire journey was reached.
“John… he was taken by the Demon King,” Anta said quietly. “Kidnapped.”
“What?!” multiple voices exclaimed. “But- with that power-”
“Because the Demon King wields the same power. It was an even fight.”
“Then… aren’t we doomed?” Destiny said. “Even if I’m the hero, even if you’re here, what are we supposed to do?”
He paused, suddenly realizing.
“Wait. Didn’t you… didn’t you say John was a threat?”
“A threat?” Lupin frowned. “What do you mean?”
Anta hesitated. She looked at Prota, who looked back. Both of them were reluctant to say anything, but the tension in the room was high. Everyone was waiting with bated breath.
In the end, they had to explain. That was the whole point of this.
“We don’t need to do anything to the Demon King… because the Demon King is the goddess. Celeste.”
Immediately chaos broke out. Yelling, protesting, arguing, and yet neither girl reacted to any of it. Such a reaction was expected. They just needed to wait until everyone calmed down.
“You don’t understand,” Anta sighed when the squabble fizzled out. “This conceptual power… its source is John. To put it simply, his existence is the existence of concepts. His existence is… it is.”
Instinctively, even without understanding why, everyone understood the implications. They might have understood the part about concepts, or existence, or anything, but the message was clear enough.
Anta was implying that the world rested on his existence.
“...then what are we supposed to do?” Destiny said quietly. “Roll over and die?”
“Are you stupid? What do you think we’ve been doing this whole time?” Anta yelled. “Why do you think we came back, fought all this way, did all this, and met with all you people? Do you know how easy we could have had life? We have the power to rule an entire continent! In just a few years, we’ll have the power to fight Mystics! Do you see what we did to Hikari? Do you understand that this is entirely about our survival?! Use your brain! If it was that helpless, would Prota and I be fighting this hard?!”
Her outburst ended in panting, followed by silence. Not a sound was made.
“I’m sorry,” Anta muttered. “Look. This point is, John is someone we will eventually need to deal with. And in order to do that, you need to understand the nature of his power.”
Of course, understanding it wasn’t very easy to do, mainly because there wasn’t anything to understand. John’s powers were the ability to do anything you wanted. At the end of the day, there were no rules. Still, it was good to have an understanding of what it could vaguely do.
“See, Soul Steal has an established rule that the stronger the mental barrier, the harder it is to use Soul Steal on someone, right?” Anta said, looking at Sofya.
“Indeed,” the dragon nodded.
“Cool. But if we just rearrange the concepts, just a little, then we can say that Soul Steal is the ability to take mana. Not specifically from a core, but to take mana. Just a single bit of the rule removed. Then, the soul is just a condensation of mana, right?”
Everyone’s eyes were wide. The direction of this explanation was obvious.
“If we just reconvert [Spells] and [Souls] to [Mana]... it’s pretty easy to take.”
“I… I see,” Sofya said timidly. “That… a terrifying ability.”
“The downside is that it uses this conceptual energy as a basis, and there’s a very limited amount of it,” Anta sighed. “As beings created from this energy, both Prota and I are really strong enough as it is. Essentially everything we’ve done so far at this school has been without using that power.”
“I- I see,” Leora stammered.
“Using it on someone like Hikari, who didn’t have that power, was overkill. And that’s a bad thing.”
“You were planning on saving it for a fight with this John boy,” Lupin said quietly. “And you’ve used it on an opponent who may not have needed such measures.”
Anta nodded. “Exactly.”
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“And what made you do this?” he questioned. “It seems, from what I know, that you could have avoided this situation. You could have waited things out and completed this ordeal without the use of your powers, if I understand correctly. So, for what reason did you choose this path?”
“...to save our friends.”
“Then why did you not act sooner?” Lupin growled. “Is there something we’re missing?”
“What kind of question is that?” Anta challenged. “What does that even mean?”
“Lupin-” Leora started, but he shrugged her off, standing up to face the soul.
“No. It is our lives at stake here, too. If this girl is hiding something, then I will sniff it out. If our world is at stake, then can we just sit idly and watch it burn? It does not make sense for you to know that the fate of the world is at stake, and for them to risk such a fate on a whim! Do you mean to sacrifice the world for a few? They would die in the end if you were to do something so reckless! Do you understand what is on the line here? You-”
Lupin’s speech was interrupted as Prota walked up and slapped him. Not Anta. But Prota. Of her own will, her small hand reached up and struck Lupin’s cheek.
“...shut up.”
“What did you-”
“Shut up!”
Her voice was weak, but the anger was present. Her voice, which normally was so soft and quiet, had risen in rage.
“You don’t know,” Prota said, trembling. “Everything I did. Everything I lost. World… never did anything for me. Always attacked. Always losing. And everything… for what? Why? What was the point?”
Lupin remained silent.
“Why… why do I have to save the world?” Prota said, her voice cracking. “I don’t want to. Saving the world is hard. Saving everyone… is hard. I just want my friends. I just want to live. Everyone keeps asking me for something I didn’t ask for. I’m not the hero.”
Prota’s speech didn’t make much sense. Her thoughts were too scattered, too disoriented, but the message was getting through anyway.
At the end of the day, this was a child. Someone who’d barely learned to live, someone who’d grown up fighting for her life, only to lose everything she’s held. Resurrected in a world where nobody remembered her sacrifice, her pain, her effort, and where nobody ever would.
Her efforts weren’t rewarded. Her struggles went unacknowledged. The sins committed against her were never repaid, her injuries never truly healed. And now, she was being asked to do it all over again.
And for what? What reward would she gain?
Her only prize would be to lose the one person who had picked her up in her lowest point in life.
“Tired,” Prota said quietly. “If you want to save the world, you save it. Go find John. Beat him. Bring him to me. And I can fix it.”
“...I can’t fight someone like that-”
“Then what?”
Prota looked up, her usually tired eyes open and glaring, brimming with tears.
“What are you going to do? Kill me? Take the power? Take it. Kill me. Do it. Kill me! I don’t want this anymore! It’s… too much…”
Her words sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
Everyone knew Prota as quiet. Friendly. Shy. Always standing to the side, always mildly interested but never enthusiastic. She was someone who was simply happy to be around, someone who didn’t get involved but enjoyed the company of others regardless.
Lupin immediately backed off. He seemed to realize that what he was doing was ridiculous, because a look of guilt passed over his face.
“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“It’s… I want to say it’s fine,” Anta said quietly. “But honestly, it’s not. But I understand why you acted that way. It’s your life, too. It’s all of our lives. But you’re putting pressure on us. You are attacking someone who doesn’t know what she wants. Someone who just wants to live. Do you understand?”
“...I understand,” Lupin nodded, bowing deeply.
Such an action was incredible. A god, bowing down to a child in apology, over mere words.
But this wasn’t just a child. They’d all seen what had happened.
Perhaps this wasn’t a god. But in practice, she may as well be one.
“Here,” Anta sighed.
She took over the body without much resistance. Prota had nearly broken down. Of course, she’d learned to be confident in herself over the course of this second life.
But to immediately be questioned when she was already questioning herself, when she was already struggling with the implications of her questions, was too much. She’d already done so much work without a deserved reward, and now, more was being demanded of her.
Still, Lupin wasn’t entirely to blame. For him, who didn’t understand the core of the world, he was truly acting in everyone’s best interest. It was easy to forget how to be sympathetic when such an important problem was at stake. To anyone who didn’t know what was going on, Prota’s actions were selfish and reckless. She had, in a sense, taken the wrong course of action.
But she’d known that going in. And, in essence, it was something she had to do, because to do otherwise would break her inside. This journey wasn’t about doing everything right or wrong.
It was about making it to the finish line.
“This is a teleportation circle. It has the coordinates to where the students were kidnapped,” Anta said quietly. “You should know what to do with this.”
Leora took it hesitantly, scanning it before nodding.
“It’s Hikari’s work, alright. Perfectly implemented. This circle… it takes you back to Scholaris, but the work behind it… well, no matter. Thank you, Prota, Anta. You’ve once again done something incredible.”
It was apparent there were questions that still needed asking, but nobody wanted to approach, not in the current state of things.
“...I hope, for all our sakes, that we don’t need to do this again,” Anta said, her voice frigid. “I don’t mean for this to be a threat, but Destiny had a point. There isn’t anything we can do. There isn’t anything I can do. If Prota’s choice is to roll over and die, then we’re all dead. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Destiny’s head rose. “We can fight-”
“Fight what?” Anta’s tone was slightly softer. “Destiny. I know you have a strong will, but that’s just not going to cut it. This isn’t something you can simply power through with. If John manages to leave this world, there is no fight. He’s gone. And that’s it. His goal isn’t to kill everyone. It’s to leave. The death of existence is just a side effect.”
Destiny opened his mouth, only to close it again.
“I…”
“I’m sorry. Life shouldn’t be like this,” Anta said apologetically. “We really should have the opportunity to fight for what we want. But things… this entire situation isn’t exactly normal.”
With that, she put some mana into the magic circle and teleported away in a flash of light.
~~~
Anta lugged Prota’s body back to their room, where she promptly moved out.
It wasn’t like she was physically drained. In fact, she was healthier than ever. Her core had grown again as a result of using Soul Steal on an actual soul, and a Mystic’s soul at that, and her body had circulated the mana rather quickly with mana recovery. Her muscles were reconstructed to be stronger than ever, her health in a near perfect state.
And yet, despite all that, Prota remained on the bed, lying down like a broken doll.
“Prota,” Anta said quietly. “You need to get up.”
There was no response.
“Prota, I know Lupin was being an asshole, but you’ve gotta forget that, alright? Are you really just gonna give up now?”
Silence.
“Hey! Snap out of it, will you? We didn’t do all that for nothing! Get your ass up!”
Prota raised her head slightly, looking at Anta’s hovering figure.
“Anta. Did… did I mess up?”
“...what?”
“[DEM]. I used… I used it. This world. Did I…”
“Wha- no! Are you stupid?”
Prota lifted her head a little more, only to see Anta’s angry expression in full.
“If something like that would have screwed the world over, I wouldn’t have told you to do it! No, I’m not that stupid, Prota! Look at me. Are you telling me you would have rather sacrificed your friends just to save your [DEM]?”
“But the world-”
“Screw the world! Screw everyone!” Anta yelled, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Prota! We said we were making a choice! You made me do all that, go through all that, and for what? Just for you to get shaken up just because Lupin questioned your actions? You’re smarter than this, idiot!”
Prota opened her mouth, but before she could even speak, Anta slapped her.
There was an audible smack as Anta’s ghostly hand hit Prota’s cheek, physically turning her head. In shock, Prota slowly raised her hand, feeling the sting on her skin.
“You were going to say something stupid. I know it. That look on your face proves it. Prota. What did you promise to do?”
“...save John.”
“And do you need all the [DEM] in the world to do that? Do you remember what our new plan is?”
“...give him his memories back. And then fight.”
“Right! So why is that plan suddenly out the window?”
Prota’s eyes widened. “But- using memories-”
“No! We didn’t use his memories! Wha- you still have them! They’re still there! You wanna see ‘em?”
Anta pulled out Zero’s scarf, waving it in front of Prota’s face.
“Just because we used the energy doesn’t mean we lost the memories! Prota. Think back. John used [DEM]. Multiple times, on multiple people. That guy might’ve been an idiot, but you know what he never did? He never regretted choosing to save someone. He never regretted when he used his powers, even though he knew what it was worth. Maybe he questioned himself. But he never hated the ones he saved. He never hated himself for saving them. You know why? Because…”
Anta’s voice trailed off. Prota’s eyes widened as she slowly sat up.
“Anta,” Prota said, her voice barely a whisper. “John… never regretted saving someone.”
“Even though he could have used the [DEM] elsewhere.”
“Olivia. Sofya… he tried. He saved Kit. He saved Lilith. He tried to stop Henry.”
Every individual they’d helped, everyone they’d saved, John had always done so begrudgingly, but at the end of the day, he’d done it. He had never needed to. He’d always expressed his displeasure upon doing so.
But he’d done it.
From his perspective, it must’ve been a pointless act. An illogical, reckless move. And yet he’d done it.
“John used [DEM] all the time,” Prota muttered, slowly regaining strength. “He saved me… even though I did nothing. I was just… burden.”
“I wanna say no, but yeah, we definitely were,” Anta laughed, life slowly returning to her eyes. “John, honestly, never needed us. Not if his goal was to just escape. Even after he met us, was there really a reason for him to keep us around? He could have just thrown us away after the first [Reset].”
“But he didn’t.”
“He didn’t.”
For a moment, they were silent. Prota was the first to break the quiet.
“He cares.”
“Of course he cares, idiot!” Anta exclaimed, patting Prota on the back with a bright grin. “If he didn’t care, do you think he would’ve erased his memories? Told Zero to stop us from meeting? He knows. Would you ever think a guy like John had a weakness?”
“Um…”
“We’re his weakness, idiot! He can’t stand the thought of losing what could be a companion. For all his stupid talk about [Characters], he can’t deny what he actually feels. And that’s why we’re going to win.”
Prota’s eyes widened.
John cared.
And in the end, that was all that mattered. For the longest time, she had thought that it would be either her or John; his life or this world. But maybe… maybe something else could work out.
This was a [Story], after all. Wasn’t the whole point of this world to make the impossible possible? If there was no such thing as an [Author], no such thing as [Deus Ex Machina], then maybe such a thing would be impossible. But logic had been thrown out the window more than once.
Prota had learned her lesson. Relying on the [Author] to bail her out was a mistake. Holding out hope for an external force that didn’t care for her immediate joy wouldn’t happen again.
But John wasn’t an external force. He was someone who was right next to her.
And he was someone who’d defied the [Author] in the past.
Maybe Prota didn’t have that ability. Maybe Prota couldn’t change the [Plot]. But the [Author] clearly cared about John. Maybe not enough to take care of him. But for some reason, John’s actions mattered to the [Author].
So if John chose something out of the ordinary, then maybe.
Maybe they’d get their happily ever after.
Something that would be incredibly impossible if this were “reality.”
But entirely possible.
Because this was a [Story].
Prota wasn’t the hero. She wasn’t someone who had the world’s interests at stake. She was someone who, at the end of the day, was selfish. Someone who just wanted those she cared about to be safe, and nothing else. She didn’t have grand desires. She didn’t have dreams of power, of fame, of immortality.
First, she just wanted to live.
“Prota. When we met John, do you remember what I asked him?”
Prota nodded.
“I should have asked him something different. Maybe it would have exposed our identity. But that doesn’t matter.”
“...what?”
“I should have asked him if he would be willing to sacrifice himself for someone else. And we already know the answer to that, don’t we?”
“He… already gave up his memories. To save people he can’t see,” Prota suddenly realized. “His dreams… Cave of Beginnings… Amber. His dream. The one he didn’t wake up from. He wants to go back.”
“That’s right. He can’t fool us anymore,” Anta grinned. “We have his memories. We’re going to force them back into him, and we’re going to force him to make a choice.”
“Nn. John’s turn,” Prota nodded, a small smile forming on her face. “No more work for us. John has to choose, now.”
For a moment, though, Anta’s smile dropped.
“...Prota. If John chooses himself… what then?”
Prota froze.
What then?
“...I have to repay John,” Prota said quietly. “If he leaves… well… that’s ok. Because we are just [Characters], right?”
“But-”
“John isn’t just a [Character]. If we give him memories, and he chooses that… what would we do?”
“This world-”
“Anta. Do you think… [Author] would continue writing? [Author]... wants John. Everything… to punish John. This is Destiny’s world. But this [Story], not Destiny’s world. Do you really think [Author] will keep writing?”
This, in turn, caused Anta to freeze up.
“Seriously… you weren’t supposed to realize that,” Anta sighed. “I didn’t…”
“Anta. It’s ok,” Prota said, putting her hand on the soul’s shoulder.
Strangely, she made contact. It was similar to when she’d been slapped. Normally, she would pass right through, but now…
“I was going to die. No John, no Prota. So if John leaves, John leaves. And if John stays… then we win. Only John can change [Author’s] mind. So we make John choose.”
“Ha… yeah. Right.”
Anta embraced Prota, wrapping her in a tight hug. It was a strange feeling. Prota was, in essence, hugging herself.
But she’d now permanently resolved her will. She knew what she wanted. There was no question of saving the world or doing the right thing. There was no question whether it would be John or her.
Her goal was to reach John. The [Author] might make that hard. They might try to stop her entirely.
But that was what a [Deus Ex Machina] was for. To change how the [Story] should logically play out.
“Let’s do it.”
“Nn.”