Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

Chapter 234: Quick Alliance

Anta frowned. She hadn’t expected this situation at all. In the moment, she nearly froze up, but managed to try for an excuse just in time.“You could get in trouble for this,” she said slowly. “Are you sure?”

“Am I sure? You look like you can’t be older than nine. Whether I’m sure or not shouldn’t matter to you,” John laughed. “I’m offering you some help. You’re here for the cultists, right?”

Anta didn’t say anything.

Even though she knew more than John did at the moment, she couldn’t deny that his ability to read into things was far greater than hers. His method of dealing with things was to treat it as a [Story], meaning his means of interrogation and communication was based on the fact that these were [Characters] and not people.

Even though Anta was aware of this fact, that didn’t mean it was any easier to deal with.

“What cultists?” Anta shrugged. “I’m just here to take revenge for my friend’s family.”

“Right, right,” John nodded. “That would be good and all, except people don’t freeze up unless they have something to hide.”

“What? What are you saying? I just got confused.”

On the surface, it looked like John was just talking about psychology, but Anta knew better. The confident expression and blank look in his eyes meant he was definitely [Reading] the situation. He wasn’t guessing based on how people acted.

He was guessing based on how [Characters] acted.

Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure what it was that told John this. But, if he was so confident about something so obscure, it was definitely a bit of knowledge he had based on his external knowledge of the world.

She was tempted to play dumb and act like a “normal person,” but since John was already so convinced that she was someone related to the [Protagonist], if not the actual [Protagonist], he wouldn’t buy it.

There were too many factors to consider, and Anta didn’t have enough time to consider them.

Aside from just acting calm in front of John, she wasn’t used to thinking like a [Reader] or a [Writer]. Being aware of facts did not necessarily allow one to put themselves in the mindset of one who saw the world as fiction.

She could usually outmaneuver others, but doing so to a John who already knew too much was going to be incredibly hard.

“Yeah, ok. What size is your mana core?”

“...B-rank?”

“What are you?”

“A Fighter.”

“What magic do you specialize in?”

“Ice and fire.”

“Can you use anything else?”

“What? Of course not,” Anta laughed. “What do you think I am?”

“You’re a kid who beat up a whole gang,” John muttered. “That’s something.”

“...I’m top of my class, if that means anything.”

John sighed. “You’re being really annoying, you know that?”

“What?!” Anta exclaimed. “Huh? What did I do?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Look, there’s cultists here, ok? It’s not sunshine and rainbows. It’s why I quit the job the old man gave me. You should back out while you’re ahead.”

“What?”

“I’m just saying, fighting an entire organization is not it. You can take on one fighter, sure. But even if you’re capable, it’s just a pain in the ass you don’t wanna deal with, alright?”

“...coward.”

Anta wasn’t sure why she felt like aggravating him. But she did know that the taunt would work.

Because, despite all his flaws, John wasn’t a coward. He was stupid. He was headstrong, and often made decisions before really thinking them through.

But that also meant he didn’t back out because he was a coward. If he wanted out, it was because he really thought it wasn’t worth it.

And if he was saying that fighting an organization wasn’t worth it, that also meant he couldn’t afford to use his strength against numbers.

The plan was still going strong.

“Yeah?” John said casually, but he’d clenched his fist just a little. “Wanna fight and find out?”

“I thought I was just a kid, mister,” Anta grinned. “Don’t you think you’ll look like an idiot if you fight me?”

It was a provocation befitting of a [Character] that was more than just an [Extra], but at the same time, it was also an ambiguous answer that didn’t necessarily define her as the [Protagonist].

More than that, though, they’d given the impression that they thought John was potentially dangerous. At the moment, that was the greatest card they held. If John was acting the same as he had in the past, then he’d likely be relying on the potential of his abilities rather than his actual abilities themselves. While he often acted weak in order for enemies to lower their guard, he was the type of guy to take advantage of appearing strong should the opportunity arise.

But an act was only useful if it was believable. To someone who knew the truth, it was pointless to lie.

Then again, a liar would continue to lie unless there was reason to do otherwise.

And John still believed he had the upper hand.

“A kid usually doesn’t piss people off the way you do,” John said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Look, do you want help, or not? I don’t know why we got so off track.”

Anta cursed in her mind.

There was that, too.

Avoiding the conversation entirely.

While Anta could evade the worst possible outcome through speech, hiding their powers was a different matter entirely.

It didn’t matter that they weren’t the [Protagonist]. Too much strength would risk gaining too much of John’s interest. It was clear that, at this point, even a [Side Character] would be useful to John. He had nothing to lose by following Prota, and if he continued to do so…

Well, what? As long as she never revealed that she was someone who knew what this world truly was, and acted like another ignorant [Character], what could he do?

Come to think of it, they’d been treating John like Diaboli, but John wasn’t someone who attacked on sight. He had no reason to fight, and he never fought without reason. Of course, what constituted as a reason was rather liberal, but still, at the moment, he had no reason to tangle with someone who would burn up his resources and time.

“What if you’re a cultist?” Anta finally said.

It’d taken her a good minute to respond, but she really didn’t know what else to say.

“Me? A cultist?” John laughed. “I’m bored, man. I just want something fun to do.”

“Uh… ok.”

That was hard to counter, mostly because it was true. John probably didn’t have much of a motivation other than the fact that he was, in fact, bored. Of course, his interest in Anta/Prota stemmed from the fact that he was bored, but he probably didn’t have many ulterior motives other than that.

It was hard to try and bring in the whole [Story] aspect without spilling all her secrets, so in the moment, Anta was at a stalemate.

No.

She was at a loss.

Because showing her full extent of power would only raise John’s suspicions further.

Suddenly, this mission was far harder than it’d been before.

“Great!” John nodded, taking Anta’s lack of response for agreement. “I’ll follow along, then.”

With that, the matter was settled. Anta bolted up to the second floor, with John trailing behind. She snuck a glance, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Still, she had a strange sense of deja vu. A sort of feeling that she’d been through this ordeal before. Perhaps it was simply the feeling of their previous life. Fighting a group of Yakuza wasn’t something they’d really done, but then again, deja vu wasn’t an entirely logical feeling.

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Regardless, now wasn’t the time to get distracted.

“Anta,” Prota said quietly. “Not using [Infinity] or [Zero].”

“Yeah… I don’t think he can really use [Infinity],” Anta thought back.

“But- last time-”

“Last time, he had you,” Anta replied.

A crowd of dwarves were beginning to form. These ones looked a lot more armed and dangerous than the last group, and they seemed to be a lot more organized, too. A sword and shield materialized in Anta’s hands as she immediately dashed in, swinging away. Still, the group wasn’t enough of a threat that Anta couldn’t continue the conversation.

“You remember how [Determination] works, right?”

“Nn.”

“Remember. His emotions woke up because of you. There’s a reason he never used [Zero] until the end of his life. They’re opposites, remember? He cared too much to permanently remove a [Character] from the [Story]. That’s why he broke.”

Her concentration was interrupted as she barely managed to block a heavy blow from a mace. The shield began to form cracks, but not before Anta drove her sword into the opponent’s weapon, denting the metal shaft.

“Unfortunately for him, he no longer has you,” Anta continued, not even remotely phased by the attack. “Which means, while he now has access to a limited amount of [Zero], he no longer has access to a useful level of [Infinity]. A multiplier of a hundred is maybe the most he can do, and even then, his head will probably hurt. A lot.”

“...I see.”

Just then, he made his way to the second floor, and immediately began shooting his gun. Anta winced as the loud sounds burst into her ears, and without hearing protection, it was rather loud. Nothing she couldn’t handle, of course, but it was annoying.

Interestingly, no dwarves died. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they already had mana reinforcement active, but no lethal wounds were caused.

Even then, though, the bullets had been aimed at the chest. John had fully intended to kill.

“Hey, jackass!” Anta yelled. “You’re not supposed to kill them!”

“Huh? Why not?” John frowned.

“Wha- didn’t you take on a request?”

“Yeah, that request is finished.”

He barely dodged a blow from a dwarf, not out of skill, but out of necessity. He was moving slowly. Way too slowly. It was only because most of the Yakuza’s focus was on Anta that he was alive at all.

“Ok, new request! If you’re gonna follow me, keep these guys alive!”

Anta spared him a glance. The man seemed troubled.

Good.

“Fine,” he sighed. “We’ll do it your way.”

He fired off a few more shots, but these were aimed in more non-lethal areas. Anta was surprised. She’d expected him to leave.

Then, again, he could just—

“[Reset],” Anta cursed in her mind. “That idiot’s died so many times already.”

That sense of deja vu wasn’t just because of her previous life. She should’ve known.

Diaboli had expressed a sense of discomfort every time John had [Reset], and had only figured out what was going on after John had [Reset] over thousands of times in one go. Thus, it made sense that Prota and Anta, who harbored arguably less [Deus Ex Machina] than Diaboli, wouldn’t be able to sense it as well.

In fact, Anta had only realized it due to a suspiciously convenient set of circumstances.

It was possible he’d argued with her multiple times in a previous run, and had learned that she wouldn’t give up. Thus, in this run, he’d likely decided it was optimal to simply accept the condition set. Additionally, it was possible he’d aimed for the chest knowing he wouldn’t kill.

That was all fine.

The problem was not knowing what she’d said in the past.

He’d never shown this capability before, but logically speaking, [Resets] were an amazing method of interrogation. All you needed were for circumstances to be slightly different, and you just asked the same question as you had in the previous life. If the answer was different, they were lying.

It was as simple as that.

Anta couldn’t remember what she’d said in the past. She had no way of remembering what lies she might have given.

In fact, she might already be exposed.

But given how John was still sticking around, it was more likely she hadn’t.

Then, the best answer…

“Hey, kid,” John called out as he parried an attack with his new sword.

His arms nearly buckled under the weight of the blow, but he was skilled enough to deflect most of the attack to the side.

“Why are you doing this? If you’re not trying to kill anyone, what is it? Revenge? Justice?”

“People don’t talk this much when fighting!” Anta yelled, swinging a giant hammer, taking out two more dwarves.

“You’re doing most of the work, so I thought I’d just keep you company, you know?”

“I won’t be doing most of the work if I get distracted!”

“Fine, fine.”

Anta spared a glance. He seemed strangely fine with that answer.

That wasn’t good.

John was someone who got either tired or annoyed when repeating [Resets] with little to no success. If he was strangely fine with Anta’s answer, that meant she’d said something new. That wasn’t unexpected. This was likely the first [Reset] she’d come to this realization, and she hadn’t had a sense of deja vu since the other one, so he hadn’t died.

Yet.

Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw a dwarf with two knives sneaking up on John.

“Shoot,” she muttered.

Pushing off the ground with explosive force, she tackled him as Prota summoned a shield in her hands, barely blocking the attack.

“Are you stupid?!” Anta yelled, pushing the dwarf away. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“Why is that a problem?” John said with a small smile.

“Wha- because you’d be dead, dumbass! In what world is that not a problem?!”

“Hm… that’s a pretty normal response,” John said, nodding as he got up. “Not bad.”

“...what?”

“Ignore me.”

Anta turned back to the fight, but she couldn’t help but feel a chill run down her spine.

John was actively testing her, now. Looking for specific responses. Looking for hints to questions he could now clearly define.

He was trying to see if she knew he could [Reset]. If she knew he could fight.

Thankfully, that was something someone else might’ve fallen for, but Anta had been prepared. She couldn’t completely outmaneuver the situation.

But she could minimize the risk.

Before she’d realized it, the fight was over. A group of dwarves were once again sprawled out on the ground, some of them bleeding, all of them unconscious.

“Seriously, you’d think some mafia group would be able to beat up some kid,” John muttered. “Stupid ass [Story]...”

Somehow, the words calmed Anta down a little. The Prota in her recognized those words. That familiar manner of speech. While his face no longer held a genuine smile, while his tone no longer had genuine passion to it, some things never changed.

“Hey,” Anta called out. “Do you know where the boss’s office is?”

“No?” John frowned. “Why would I know that?”

“I thought you worked here.”

John shrugged. “Never got all that high up in the ranks. Maybe you don’t know how the world works, but it’s not like you just rise up the corporate ladder in a few days.”

“Uh… Ok?”

Anta shook her head, climbing up to the third floor. There, the same process took place. Greet a group of dwarves. Beat them up. Get momentarily distracted by John, answer a few of his questions, and then clear the floor out.

This time, she was forced to use one of her Charms of Healing, simply to recover some stamina. She’d been diligently using Soul Steal on the enemies throughout the fights, ensuring mana recovery could be cast multiple times over, but it wasn’t enough.

If Prota’s weakness was that her mind tired out too quickly from casting spells, Anta’s weakness was that the body could really only take so much abuse. Unlike John, her body actually responded to hitting people and swinging heavy weapons around, and while mana recovery and mana reinforcement were helping, they weren’t going to make her perfect.

“Hey, but really. What’s the point of all this?” John said as Anta stepped over the various bodies.

She didn’t answer, looking around. There was an elevator that seemed somewhat inconspicuous. Without a word, she headed toward it, pressed a button, and waited. John followed, also remaining silent.

“Hey,” he finally said.

It seemed he’d gotten too impatient.

“Are you going to answer?”

“Answer what?”

“My question.”

“Does there have to be a reason? I just want to help my friend.”

“...clever kid,” John sighed.

Anta nodded, riding the rest of the way up in silence.

John wasn’t one to hide secrets that much, but he couldn’t feasibly explain why he was following Anta without explaining the whole [Story] thing. It was something he was reluctant to do, even before he’d met Prota, so Anta had banked on that fact.

His initial excuse had been that he was just trying to help. If he didn’t accept the same excuse from Anta, she would push him further, and he’d also be forced to give an explanation if he wanted one in return. Since that wasn’t something he could do, he could only lose the argument.

This did have the downside of making her more suspicious in John’s eyes, but at this point, that was unavoidable.

There was a soft ding as the elevator reached the top floor.

“Hey, I’ve been helpful, though, no?” John said as the doors slid open.

“No. You keep trying to get yourself killed,” Anta grumbled.

The Prota in her was being influenced.

It was just too easy to banter with him. This man had been a companion. A friend. A guardian. Someone to protect. Someone who protected.

A [Writer]. A [Reader]. A [Character].

A brother.

They both knew John was now an enemy. He was someone who could never be underestimated, because he was someone who thrived on such assumptions. He was someone to be feared, because to do anything else could result in the annihilation of an entire world and all the people who lived in it.

But it was hard to see him as that.

Even if his eyes were once again dead. Even if he no longer cared for others the way he once did.

It was just too easy to see him as something else.

“I won’t deny that,” John shrugged. “Come on, let’s finish things up.”

Anta charged through the doors, dragging a massive hammer behind her. With a spin, she chucked it forward, sending it ploughing through the crowd of dwarves that had formed. Even with mana reinforcement, they were knocked down like bowling pins, falling one after the other. It was only after at least ten of them had gone down that someone stopped the attack, shattering the ice to pieces, but it wasn’t like that was Anta’s only attack.

Her hands had lit up with blue flames, and she charged into the ground, immediately slamming both fists into a dwarf, knocking back as a massive explosion flared up. She used the propulsion to leap out of the way of danger, then landed on the wall, kicking off once more to launch herself into the fight. Ice coated her arms just in time to block two blades, and the ice continued to spread, trapping the weapons and forcing their wielders to let go of them.

“You’re getting pretty good at this,” Anta thought as she smashed in the face of yet another Yakuza member.

“Nn. Mana… getting easier to control. Trying to see mana in air as concept, but… too hard, still.”

“I don’t know that we’ll ever get to that level. Maybe with [Infinity] or [DEM], maybe,” Anta thought back. “It’s fine. As long as our mana control is top notch, we’ll be fine.”

“...Anta is Fighter, right?” Prota suddenly realized. “Why… where is magic?”

“Ah. No, I suck with magic. That’s all you. I actually can’t really use it at all.”

“But- in the illusion-”

“Ignore that. It was an illusion for a reason. Hm… it’s a little hard to explain, but I’m sort of an opposite of you. Or a mirror version, maybe? Regardless, I don’t have much of a talent in controlling magic. Mana reinforcement and fighting? Sure. I’m just as talented in that as you are in magic. Your versatility in spells translates to my skill with weapons. But that comes at a cost.”

“...no magic.”

“Right. But it’s fine, right? Or is it too hard for you?”

The answer to that question was obvious.

“Come on!” Anta laughed out loud. “You can’t take down one kid?!”

The taunt was incredibly effective. There was a large cry of anger as the enemies picked themselves up, preparing the charge in once more. Anta grinned, gauntlets of ice forming around her fists.

One more exchange.

“Silence!”

The doors to the boss’s office swung open with a loud slam, revealing Ryu Hi, leader of the Yakuza.

“Everyone, leave!”

“But-”

“Now!”

The dwarves reluctantly cleared out, most of them shooting dirty glances at Anta. Still, they left without a noise.

As they left, Prota couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were cultists.

“Well. You’ve caused quite the stir,” Ryu said dryly. “I presume you have something to say?”

“Sure,” Anta said confidently. “Let’s go into your office.”

“Very well.”

They eventually took their seats, with John standing by the door like a bodyguard.

“...you,” Ryu said slowly. “So you were a traitor.”

“Me?” John said, pointing to himself in surprise. “No, no. I just followed her.”

“...the child?”

“She’s pretty interesting if you get to know her,” John shrugged. “Pretend I’m a piece of furniture or something. Ignore me.”

Anta almost laughed. It seemed that, even without his emotions, John was as aggravating as always. Perhaps it was in his nature, emotions or not. Well, he hadn’t acted all that cold to begin with.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t like he’d ever need emotions to act certain ways. It was more about what he cared for. If he didn’t care for it, he would act as nonchalant and flippant as always.

The observation wasn’t of any use, but it was interesting to think about.

“Well, you’ve caused a mess of my casino, interrupted my operations, all without announcing your intentions. What are your demands?”

Anta crossed her arms, a smug grin on her face.

“Well. Let’s talk.”