jdhmnovel Chapter 240: God Slayer
Chapter 240: God Slayer
Prota’s eyes snapped open, only to find herself in a large box with no apparent exit. Despite a lack of a light source, it was brightly lit.“Looking for a place to run to?” Hikari laughed. “Don’t worry. That magic circle I gave you will work. Although I doubt you’ll be able to use it in the first place.”
Although that was of some reassurance, Hikari gave Prota the image of a perfect liar. She wasn’t sure just how much she could trust the Mystic. Of course, on one hand, it was likely they were underestimating her so much that the magic circle really did work. On the other hand, the exact same logic applied: they were so confident in their victory that whether or not the circle worked didn’t matter.
Well, it didn’t matter. At the moment, Prota just needed to win.
“Well? Come on. I’ll even let you have the first move,” Hikari taunted. “One hit. For free. Go on, then.”
Prota just stared. A single hit, for free? There were a lot of magics she could use. A lot of spells, a lot of techniques.
But she was aware of just how durable Mystics were. And at the end of the day, if she needed that kind of power, there was really only one spell she could use.
“Prota,” Anta said quietly, snapping her out of her thoughts. “That cat is taking it easy on us. It’s not like last time. We haven’t really done anything to aggravate them yet.”
It was a good point, but Prota didn’t really see what the point was. How did that help her? As soon as she started using real power, Hikari would definitely realize something was off.
“The point is… maybe I was wrong,” Anta said quietly. “Maybe we can get through this without using [DEM].”
“But saving friends-”
“We saved them by interfering early. We knew that was going to happen because that was the whole point. Figuring out what Hikari was trying to do was supposed to go first. The problem is that our early intervention is supposed to make something go wrong. That-”
Anta froze. She suddenly had an inkling as to what it was that had gone wrong.
“Prota,” she said slowly. “Play this safe. Very, very safe. Or use [DEM] now.”
“...why?” Prota thought back.
“The penalty. Hikari… Mystics aren’t supposed to interfere with mortals, right? We don’t know how this rule works, but we know Mystics teaching at Scholaris are granted special exceptions to this rule. However, even Lupin and Leora were hesitant to help us for fear of breaking the rule. That means… Hikari has already crossed a line. They can go all out, whenever they want.”
Prota suddenly understood.
The Mystics she’d fought so far had typically held back so as not to incur the penalty for interfering with mortal matters. However, if Hikari no longer cared about that, it was very possible they could kill her before she could even react.
“We… we were always supposed to have Sofya with us,” Anta muttered. “Is that how the [Story] was supposed to go? Using a god to beat another god? No, but it doesn’t make sense, the variables, the-”
“Anta,” Prota thought. “Doesn’t matter now. We use [DEM]. Or we don’t. Easy.”
“You… right. Right, that’s how it is. It doesn’t matter how we got ourselves into this situation. We just have to deal with it.”
“Nn.”
“Alright. Let’s go. I’m using [DEM] as soon as we’re in danger, though, alright?”
“Nn.”
Prota’s eyes narrowed as her conversation finished, staring at Hikari intently.
“Finally resolved yourself? Are there any words you’d like to leave to everynyan? You know. Since you’re going to die.”
There was no response. Just a gathering of mana, slowly folding over itself.
“Han.”
The Tenth Seda. In a sense, this had been the finishing blow to Sofya in her past life. If it could hurt a dragon, then it could surely hurt a Mystic.
“Tool. Set. Net.”
Hikari still wasn’t reacting. For a moment, Prota grew nervous. Were they just confident? Or did they not know what Prota was doing?
“Tas. Yas.”
No. Hikari had definitely reacted. While they still looked carefree, their muscles were tense, their eyes narrowed on the space before Prota, where the mana was accumulating. This was good and bad.
“Il. Yod.”
Good because it meant this would be a threat.
“Ao.”
Bad because it meant Hikari would know Prota was capable of something like this from here on out.
But that was just a risk Prota would have to take.
“Yol.”
A single, small ball of light had formed before Prota, not as a spell, but simply as a visual representation of how much mana had accumulated.
“Go.”
Instead of pouring out the power as a geyser of energy that could obliterate an island, though, Prota managed to keep it as a dense, small line of light, piercing forward. Blood gushed out of her nose as the mental effort to keep the spell up overtook her mind, but she pushed through it.
The spell made contact with Hikari. The walls and floor around them shattered from the pressure emanated by the spell, tiles of unknown material scattering and nearly cutting Prota to shreds.
Amidst the chaos, there was a sharp, loud cracking sound.
And when the dust cleared, Hikari remained relatively unharmed. There was a thin line of blood pouring from their chest, but nothing more.
“...you hurt me.”
Hikari slowly reached up, brushing the wound and staring at the shimmering dark red liquid on their fingers.
“You actually hurt me.”
Prota’s eyes went wide, and she immediately merged with Anta. They were united in thought, not by objective, but by fear.
Their attack had barely pierced the Mystic.
Already, the problem with this situation was rearing its head. They had no means of actually harming their opponent. If their most powerful spell could only leave a scratch, how were they meant to prepare it while defending against an opponent like this?
From the very start, this had never been an opponent Prota could take on her own. Even with everyone present, it would be nearly impossible. The only one who even stood a chance of doing a substantial amount of damage was Destiny, whose blade could cut through any defense.
For the first time in this life, this was a scenario her powers could not keep up with.
“I see. There was a reason for your arrogance. For you to reach the realm of the gods… perhaps I should applaud you.”
Hikari’s tone was suddenly dark. Prota felt a shiver run down her spine.
“Did you know? This whole time? Did you come to this school hoping to stop me? An individual of your calibre should not be a student. What are you, an envoy sent by the goddess?”
They didn’t bother to wait for an answer.
Anta gasped as the cat shot forward, claws out, tearing through her arm. A huge chunk of flesh was immediately ripped off, sending jolts of pain even through Prota’s strange immunity to it. Immediately, a charm of healing was used, quickly recovering the wound, but there were only so many she could use before it was over.
“This is the realm of the gods, girl,” Hikari hissed. “You should be grateful you even managed to scratch it!”
Immediately, all mana went into defending the body. It coursed through the nervous system, slowing down time a hundredfold, allowing Anta to just barely see Hikari’s movements. Ice coated their entire body, hoping to slow down the enemy for even a second. Mana pumped through the muscles, almost forcing the body to move against its will, just to avoid a singular attack.
Even though she managed to avoid a lethal hit, the pressure from the wind knocked Prota back. She slammed into a wall, falling down. Just in time, she twisted her head, narrowly avoiding death.
“Come on! Where’s that confidence from before?” Hikari roared, their claws slamming into the wall yet again. “You said you wanted it, right? That you didn’t care about my motives? Then prove it!”
An array of upgraded Frozen Flames formed as an Ice Palace domain was created, all immediately shooting toward Hikari’s last known location. Prota immediately scrambled to her feet, sprinting away as the spells kicked up dust, using the frictionless floor to her advantage.
Using her ability to sense souls, she checked her surroundings, but doing so nearly caused her heart to leap out of her chest.
“Good, good. It should be at least that much!” Hikari exclaimed as Prota narrowly avoided being decapitated. “You’ll defeat me, won’t you? You’ll save your friends?”
For a moment, Prota considered just using [Deus Ex Machina]. She was using everything she had to barely stay alive. The powers that had absolutely dominated every other opponent she’d faced were useless in the face of a Mystic. While Doctor was technically more powerful, his powers only came from [Deus Ex Machina]. He was, in short, weaker than Hikari otherwise.
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The same applied to Prota.
But she had hope. She wasn’t sure where that hope was coming from, but something told her to hang on. Just a little more.
Just a little longer.
“Are you crazy?!” Anta yelled, ending the merging of the two. “Just use it! Now!”
“...you wanted to save it,” Prota pointed out.
That moment of distraction was fatal. Prota managed to move, and while that movement saved her life, her entire leg came off. The momentum of the blow that had taken her limb was so strong it sent her flying into the ceiling despite being a slicing motion, creating a massive indent that shook the entire room.
Immediately, a second healing charm was used, but this one didn’t regenerate everything instantly. Her leg was beginning to grow back, something she hadn’t known the charm could do, but it was slow.
She wouldn’t be able to dodge like this.
In a desperate act, she summoned a pillar of ice to push her away. It wasn’t really the best course of action to take. After all, the force needed to push her fast enough was also a force strong enough to shatter her bones. There was a crunch as her arm broke, but at the very least, she was alive.
“An insect! A mere stain! That’s what you are!” Hikari yelled, pulling their claws out of the ceiling. “You know what else survives the way you do? A cockroach! That’s all you are!”
Prota clenched her teeth, waiting for her leg to recover. This was an experience she’d never really had: fighting with a body this impaired. All her instincts were suddenly useless. Her body wasn’t moving the way she wanted it to, perhaps because her body wasn’t all there.
More and more, Anta’s suggestion was becoming the only way out.
But she wanted to hold on. She wanted to believe.
“You can’t do anything!” Hikari yelled, their claws piercing through Prota’s stomach.
Believe that maybe, there was someone who would help her. That the actions she’d taken so far weren’t hopeless.
“Run! Struggle! In the end, there is no one to help you!” Hikari laughed as Prota healed once more. “Nothing to save you!”
She’d been prepared to sacrifice [Deus Ex Machina] going into this fight. But she wanted to wait until the very end to use it.
“Pray to your goddess! See if she answers you this time!” Hikari gloated, leaping forward and grabbing Prota by the head.
They slammed her into the ground, dragging her face along the dirt as they sprinted forward, burning her skin off. Her bones shattered as the Mystic slammed her into the wall.
Blood poured from her wounds, staining her cloak a crimson red. Her body felt cold. Numb. Stiff. She couldn’t move. She could still circulate a little mana, but what would that even do? Her vision was hazy.
It was unfortunate. Hikari, as a Mystic, was just so physically strong that they didn’t even need to use magic. There were no spells to absorb, which was the one potential win condition Prota might have had. She’d been a little foolish to think that she could challenge Hikari just because of her previous life’s experience.
There was skill.
And then there was overwhelming power.
“Ready to give up?” Hikari taunted. “Really, did you think anything would happen? Did nyou really think a mortal challenging a Mystic would work nyout in your favour? There are rules to this world. A natural order to things. You may as well try and stop a tsunami with your bare hands.”
They were gloating. Prota clenched her teeth, trying to struggle, but realistically, what could she do?
Hikari was right.
There were rules to this world.
“Prota,” Anta said urgently.
While there were rules, Prota had the power of a rulebreaker. No, more than that. She had the power to rewrite the rules themselves.
“Prota!”
But rewriting the rules was costly.
“Prota, we need to act, now!”
Prota was stubborn. Incredibly so. And she was, in a sense, selfish.
She knew the costs. She knew the risks. She understood that, by all means, she should use [Deus Ex Machina] and clean this fight up. That was supposed to be the penalty. That was the punishment she should face for trying to save her friends.
She couldn’t have everything. That was ridiculous. It was stupid to even assume she could have the world to herself.
But she didn’t care.
This was a [Story].
This world wasn’t real.
But instead of cursing it, she would use it to her advantage. Unlike John, the knowledge didn’t bring her despair. Perhaps it was because she didn’t understand it. Perhaps it was because she was too stupid to understand the existential crisis it should be giving her.
That didn’t matter.
All she knew was that she would bring John back. She’d gone through too much. Risked too much. The pain of her previous life, the suffering, the effort, it had to go somewhere, right? It couldn’t just end with her death. There was too much left unresolved. Too many regrets left untouched.
If this were a [Story], then there was surely a happy ending. Perhaps she hadn’t lost anybody. But one doesn’t need death to suffer.
She had yet to reach a conclusion that satisfied her.
And so if there really was an [Author], someone writing her [Story], then she would challenge them. She didn’t know if that individual cared for her or not. She didn’t know if she would die by risking it all.
Perhaps her way of thinking was illogical. It might not make sense. Some might criticize her for thinking that way, or call her stupid.
But stupidity wasn’t what she was worried about. From the moment she’d stepped into this strange world known as the [Story], she’d been living in something that couldn’t be called logical.
And surely, if a [Deus Ex Machina] existed in the [Story] she was living in…
Then one could come from outside, as well.
“Prota!”
Hikari spun around as a flash of light blinded the room. When Prota’s vision recovered, four figures were present.
“Lupin, now!”
The wolf Mystic dashed forward, his thin blade leaping around as if alive. Hikari hissed, immediately pulling out several magic circles and ripping them, summoning several barriers. They were immediately shattered as dozens of fireballs struck them, the room shaking as the forces collided.
“Prota,” Destiny gasped, rushing over.
He picked her up and quickly pulled out a potion, dousing its contents over her. Combined with the Charms of Healing she’d used, her once fatal wounds were slowly beginning to recover.
“How… did you know…” Prota gasped.
“The headmaster came looking for me. Asked where you were. I didn’t know, so I gave her Danjo’s device.”
“You… here?”
“I told her I knew what was going on,” Destiny sighed. “Sorry.”
“It’s… it’s ok.”
Behind them, Sofya had also joined in on the fight. It seemed Hikari’s strength was already weakening, likely a result of Sofya using Soul Steal. Prota had tried to use it on the Mystic, but to no avail. It was expected, anyway. Still, it didn’t seem to be accomplishing much. Due to the nature of magic circles, it wasn’t like the cat was using mana for anything other than drawing and activating the things.
But the ones in charge were here. Prota could rest easy.
Slowly, she sat up, forming a barrier of ice that protected both her and Destiny from the shockwaves that were being created as a result of the fight. It seemed Leora had put up a barrier around the room to prevent it from caving in, because while the dirt around the place was shaking, it wasn’t falling down on them.
It was over. Prota was glad she’d managed to escape unscathed.
“Hikari!” she heard Sofya yell. “Surrender and give yourself up!”
“Give up? Why should I?” Hikari yelled back. “Did you really I think I wasn’t prepared for you?”
Suddenly, Prota flinched.
In her past life, Hikari had easily defeated Lupin and Leora. Of course, they hadn’t been fighting as fiercely as they were now.
But the point remained. The addition of Sofya shouldn’t have made this fight so one sided.
“Wait-” she started, but it was too late.
She watched as a purple pill appeared in Hikari’s claws, vanishing into their throat without a single word.
Suddenly, their mana flared. Even Destiny could feel it. The power was so tangible it physically knocked everyone back, sending them crashing into the walls.
“I lost everything,” Hikari said, their voice distorting. “I used to respect our life. Our ways. But what does it matter? What is our power worth when it accomplishes nothing?!”
Prota flinched.
This was the worst possible scenario.
She didn’t know if the others here would die. She didn’t know how powerful Hikari currently was, because she hadn’t actually seen them fight. She didn’t know how powerful her allies were, because she’d never had the chance to see the full extent of their abilities.
But at this point, if they were being pushed back, it was too late.
Before, she’d been holding on to the hope that someone would help her.
But at the moment, there wasn’t anyone left. If these people failed, they would die, and there would be no one left to save them.
In the end, it had just been an elaborate trap.
“Prota,” Anta said quietly.
At this point, she already knew what she had to do.
The [Author] never planned to let her get away with it to begin with.
In the end, she was going to pay the price for her consequences. But that was fine.
She had just hoped that maybe, perhaps the [Author] would take pity on her.
But that was a foolish hope.
“Ok.”
“Wait, Prota?” Destiny frowned. “Hey, hold on. What are you thinking? I know you’re strong, but you can’t possibly hope to get involved in that!”
She looked beyond her shield of ice. Beings moving faster than the eye could see, spells containing oceans of mana pouring out over the field, all without a single drop of blood being spilled. She couldn’t even hope to step into that as she was. To push beyond her barrier was death.
That was a fact.
So it would take a power beyond facts to survive.
“What do I do?” Prota said quietly, ignoring Destiny.
It was alright to show him this power.
Because he would need to get used to something like this.
“Um… this is going to exhaust all the [DEM] we got from Doctor,” Anta said nervously. “So we’ll end up with the amount we started with. The rest is with Diaboli or at the lab… that’s not a lot.”
“I know.”
“Well, the good news is that this is going to use less than what we used against Doctor.”
“...not the same power?”
“No, no. That power used up a lot of energy. The idea of freezing concepts is ridiculous, you know? No, this isn’t going to use much, actually. As it turns out, Hikari really isn’t using [DEM], so killing a [Character] should be child’s play. We really should be using this against other [DEM] users, you know… or reality manipulators, or something like that, not someone like-”
“Do it.”
Anta sighed.
“All right, then.”
Prota took a step forward, despite Destiny’s cries.
And then the world went dark.
But this time, she was prepared. It was the same sensation as when she absorbed spells as mana, but infinitely more sensitive.
Everything was moving in slow motion. She herself couldn’t move, but at the same time, she could feel everything around her.
[Magic] and [Spells] flying through the air. [Hikari], [Sofya], [Lupin] and [Leora], all engaged in combat. [Magic Circles] being used. A [Sword] in Lupin’s hands. [Mana] travelling from Hikari to Sofya.
“Alright, Prota. Lesson two in [Deus Ex Machina]: the ability to make shit up.”
“...what?”
“See the soul? You know what a soul is made of in this world? Mana.”
Suddenly, Prota saw [Magic] flying toward her, and instinctively, immediately turned it to mana and erased it. The [Mana] went into her core, immediately replenishing it.
“I think you get what to do. This [DEM] didn’t do much. Just a little boost to your powers. But I think that’s enough of an explanation.”
Prota understood. She looked at the battlefield, reaching out with her senses.
First, the threats. Immediately, [Magic Circles] turned into [Mana Formations], and then [Mana].
Prota didn’t even know if that was how magic circles worked. But as long as she could visualize the connection, make a guess as to how something could be reduced to mana, then conceptually, it could be done.
The magic circles were broken, one by one. They vanished. Reduced to an incredibly basic level of energy.
Next, the spells.
This was easy. She’d done it before. Of course, these spells were usually too complicated for her to handle. Too large, too complex, and she had such a hard time seeing them as “spells” instead of accumulations of mana.
But now, in this state, she could just see them as [Spells]. It was as if the [Deus Ex Machina] was simplifying things for her. Reducing them to mere concepts, forcing her to see them as nothing more than what they effectively were.
And now, they were just [Mana] for the taking.
The words in her “vision” were just moving around, being manipulated to her will. The mana gathering before her was getting to be a little too much, but that was fine.
She could just let it disperse.
Finally.
The last one.
This ending was rather anticlimactic. But using [Deus Ex Machina] on a character who had none was like dropping a bomb on a baby.
It was time to end things.
Perhaps she would regret this decision later.
But she would regret losing her allies more.
She didn’t want to save a world built on sacrifice.
“The [Soul].”
The [Soul] was made of [Mana].
And with that, the mental barrier had been removed. Prota no longer needed to care about Hikari’s mental resistance, or their ability to fight back against her Soul Steal. At this point, this wasn’t Soul Steal in the traditional sense.
This was just the power of god.
There are rules to the world.
A mortal cannot beat a god. No matter how much one tries, the laws of the world dictate that it is simply not possible. One might as well try to stop a natural disaster with their hands.
But to an [Author], a god is no more than an idea. A thoughts.
And so there are rules to the world.
Just as a mortal cannot beat a god.
A god is nothing before its creator.
Prota reached out. And in an instant, the mana in Hikari’s soul vanished.
Suddenly, time rushed back to normal. Colours flooded into Prota’s vision, revealing the battlefield once more.
Only, this time, Hikari’s body was on the floor, completely still.
No noise. No chaos. Every single spell had vanished. Every trace of offensive mana was gone. No one spoke a word. No one dared to make a single move.
In an instant, the battle had been brought to a close. Before anyone had even realized it, a Mystic had died silently. Instantly.
There was no struggle. No final fight, no fierce words.
Just death.
“...Prota?” Destiny’s voice quietly echoed. “What… what did you just do?”