John glared at the approaching god.

"If you're going to kill us, you can at least answer a few questions, right?"

Hikari stopped. "Fine. You're nyot going anywhere, anyway."

John hid his sigh of relief. This was the same method he'd used on Emotor. Of course, bowing and acting the fool wouldn't work here, but the point remained.

If there were answers to be had, John needed them. And if he could stall for time while getting them… well, everything worked out.

"What was your role with the base in the Town of Beginnings?"

Hikari frowned. "...I don't knyo what you're talking about."

"No, really. Come on. I'm not falling for your bait. Look, you're going to kill me, right? Then it doesn't matter what you tell me."

Hikari shook their head. "No, I really don't know what you're talking about. We Mystics cannot interfere much with the matters of mortals. There are rules that govern our existence."

John clenched his teeth. Shit. Still no ties to Doctor. Hikari could be lying, but there was no good reason for them to do so. They had John exactly where they wanted him.

But if Hikari had no connections to Doctor, then why were they here? Like Elfin being the spy, this was an event that John had never expected. It was something that had no precursor, no buildup. Hikari had simply appeared for seemingly no reason at all.

Things like that happened all the time in real life. But not in [Stories]. There was meant to be a purpose to everything. It was bad form to mention something that wouldn't be brought up again.

Then what was the purpose of this?

"And the Wynton household?" John continued, pressing through his confusion.

"They were our money bags. That's all."

John frowned. "But if Emotor dies, won't they stop? There has to be other Wyntons, other branches of the family-"

Hikari laughed. "Those fools? I killed them all. Replaced them with cultists. Emotor was the last one, and he was too stupid to realize what was happening. Now that he's gone, I suppose we'll take the rest of his treasury and leave."

"Damn. Bro was mister moneybags," John muttered.

"He was nothing special. The title of noble was all he really had," Hikari shrugged. "Does it bother you?"

"No," John said, shaking his head. "Then, another question. The pill. Draco. Was that you?"

"...yes. I needed to be sure of its effects. Of course, such demonic energy won't overtake me," Hikari said smugly. "The Draco boy's mana pool was too small to resist corruption.

"Was it you who sent Aiden after me?"

At that, Hikari's eyes shot up. "Oh? What makes you ask that?"

At this point, John was just rambling, but he was good at that.

"I've seen reincarnation magic circles before," John explained. "Worked on trolls or something. We killed Aiden, I know. There should've been nothing to reconstruct. So… what was it? Did you summon the spirit of someone with a grudge against me or something?"

The Mystic actually smiled. "Very clever. I suppose you weren't all show. Your attitude was backed up by true intelligence."

Shoot. A closed-ended statement. That was never a good sign. Hikari could be getting bored.

John looked at Prota, who was still shaking. He had to think of something, and quickly. Their situation was still dire. He wouldn't be getting any useful information at this point. He just had to go. He glanced at Leora and Lupin. If he could just break those magic circles…

That was it. Make a distraction, then bolt for the friendly Mystics. It was his only chance. It was risky, but what other choice did he have?

"Why?" John asked, trying to divert the conversation.

"Why, what?"

"Why did you join the Demon King?"

Hikari's face turned dark. "...my child."

John frowned. "What? That's it? Your child? What kind of lame ass-"

"Do not question me!" Hikari hissed.

John was taken aback, but he'd hit a nerve. Good. That was exactly what he was looking for.

"Hm," he shrugged. "I don't know. Sounds like a stupid ass reason to me."

He couldn't allow Hikari to stay rational. Even if it was a slim chance, one in a billion odds, he had to take it. Any advantage he could get, he'd take.

"You know nothing," Hikari said in a low, dangerous tone. "Don't tell me something you know nothing about."

"Nuh uh," John said, wagging his finger at the Mystic. "It's a skill issue."

"That's it."

Hikari dashed forward faster than John had ever expected, grabbing both him and Prota by the neck. A magic circle began to glow, and then they vanished.

~~~

John blinked as they reappeared in some kind of enclosed room. Unlike the room with the cultist, it was well-lit and bright, but most importantly, there was no door.

"I was just going to kill you. You were getting in the way. But now, I think I'll take my time with you."

The cat threw John into the air, leaping up to catch him, and then threw him back down to the ground. John gasped as his bones were shattered for the second time that day, the ground beneath him cracking from the force of the impact. He gasped, not from pain, but from the sheer force of the impact.

"Nobody will find your body. You will rot away, cold and alone, never to be found again."

The Mystic wound up for another attack. John flinched, bracing himself, when a single icicle hit the cat in the head. Hikari slowly turned their head to see Prota, trembling but defiant, hands outstretched.

"You." Hikari began to walk toward Prota, their steps completely quiet. "I heard you were valuable. You know Soul Steal, apparently. You must, if the headmaster herself is teaching you."

Prota flinched. She wasn't sure why she'd done that. She only knew that she was trying to protect John. But now that the Mystic was staring at her, she almost regretted the decision.

"That power… I want it. I want it for myself."

Prota began to shake. She couldn't run. Her legs wouldn't listen to her. But she had to stay strong.

For John.

"I don't need your body. Just your abilities."

Hikari picked Prota up by the neck, peering at her face as if she were a special specimen.

"Maybe we need to get it out of you."

Hikari slammed Prota into the ground, shattering her bones. She bounced a few times, landing next to John, who could barely move.

"Look at the two of you," Hikari smiled, stepping back. "Maybe I'll be nice and let you die together."

"Wh… why?" John wheezed. "Why are you getting so…."

Hikari's smile faded. "...you pissed me off. No reason."

"We must've… done something…"

John cursed inwardly. He'd taken it too far. Technically, he'd achieved his goal of stalling for time, but he'd pushed the Mystic over the edge back into the realm of violence. Now what? He couldn't even move.

"No, not really," Hikari said, shaking their head. "Well, I suppose you've been a thorn in my side now. Constantly ruining my plans. The first exam. Then the midterms. You kept getting in the way. But you're right. I'll be nice. The girl has one charm left, I see."

John managed to tilt his head. Prota did, in fact, have one charm left.

"I'll give you one more chance. Try it. Heal someone."

Prota looked at John, a strange light in her eyes.

"No," John wheezed, but it was too late.

The green light was cast over him, and his body began to repair itself. Soon, he was back on his feet, hands trembling.

John began to shake. He stared at Prota's broken body. She'd sacrificed herself. Bad memories began to flood his mind. Not again.

Not again.

If only he hadn't told her to save Grey. She'd have one charm left for herself. Why had he told her to do that? Why had he saved someone who'd once tried to kill him?

Grey was a [Character]. He wasn't someone who needed to be saved. He'd done something that was actively harming them. What a foolish mistake. In the end, [Characters]—

"John," Prota said weakly. "Go."

Just that alone snapped John back into focus. His past mistake didn't matter. What he'd done was what he'd done. Whether or not it was a mistake didn't matter.

Right now, there was a threat before him. If he lived… he could think about that later.

"So, I've heard you have some medicine you take," Hikari said casually.

John flinched.

"But you're healthy now, aren't you?"

Hikari pulled out a scroll, and John felt something tug at his body. A fine mist moved out of it, slowly forming into a pill that flew to Hikari's hand. The pills in John's pocket flew toward Hikari as well.

John cursed. He didn't have any in his pocket dimension. There were a few in his room back at Scholaris, but that wouldn't help him in this situation.

"So you don't need anything like that," the cat smirked.

Shit. His last hope, down the drain. A multiplier of x10000 wouldn't do anything here. Nor would x100000.

Now, he was just an ordinary human against what was effectively a god.

There was nothing left.

"You fool! Didn't you think I'd be ready for you?" Hikari laughed. "That Draco boy found out about your medicine long before you even imagined! Did you really think I wouldn't prepare?"

"You can't," John muttered, trying one last time. "Mystics can't get involved with humans-"

"Ah, but I'm not a Mystic anymore," Hikari grinned. "I'm part demon. That restriction no longer applies to me."

John cursed. There were no outs left. He had nowhere to turn.

"...why?" John said, finally giving up. "What's the point? Why torture us?"

[Determination increases! New limit: x5000]

"You've been a thorn in my side. It's annoying," Hikari grumbled. "And, to be honest, this is fun. It's in my nature, you know? I'm a cat. It's what we do. We toy with our prey."

John couldn't resist one last taunt. "I touched a nerve up there, didn't I?"

"Shut up! You don't understand. I'll tell you what I'm going to do, you understand?"

Hikari took a step forward, claws extending from their hands.

"I'm going to kill you, nice and slow. Then I'll take your sister, and I'll take her powers. I don't care what it takes. They'll be mine. Do you know what that means, boy? What it means to extract the powers, no matter what? It means she'll go through a lot."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I-"

"And it's all your fault! She wasted the healing on you! You! A manaless, powerless boy, and you were hoping… what? Were you praying that the mana pills would give you a chance? News flash! You're nothing! Nothing! Do you understand? You'll never be able to beat me!"

[Determination increases! New limit: x10000]

Hikari's true nature was beginning to show. John had triggered a villain he shouldn't have.

"You know what? I'll deal with her first. You can't do anything, anyway," Hikari taunted, stepping forward.

John couldn't move. He was paralyzed, not by fear, but from the sheer amount of power coming from the Mystic's body. Closing his eyes, he tried to think. There had to be something, anything, to get out of this—

"Look at her."

His eyes snapped open at Hikari's voice. Only, it wasn't Hikari's voice anymore. It was Prota's. But… what was going on? John squinted. It looked like… Prota was holding Prota?

Ah. What had happened made sense.

Hikari had turned into Prota.

"John! Please, save me!" they taunted in his sister's voice. "Oh, wait. You can't! You're too weak! You're just a manaless, foolish brother. You can't save me. I guess I'll just suffer at the hands of this mean old cat!"

[Determination increases! New limit: x100000]

"Why?" John demanded, his clenched fists beginning to shake. "What's the point?! What did we ever do to you?! If you're mad that I taunted you, then I'm sorry! Is that what you wanted to hear? What could we possibly have done that you're taking your rage out on us this much?!"

Hikari's sadistic smirk faded, their expression turning dark. "You brought up my child."

John's eyes widened. "There's no way! Are we deadass? Your child? Your fucking child?! That's it?!"

"Don't take me lightly!" Hikari roared. "My child could've lived! Celeste could've saved her! But she didn't! And now my daughter is dead! The demons came to me. Said they could've healed her. But I turned them down, because I thought Celeste would've done something. But what now?! What has my faith gained me? A dead child! Her mother, gone from this world by her own hands!"

"And you're taking that out on us?!" John yelled. "Two kids! Are we for real?! What the fuck does this accomplish?"

[Determination increases! New limit: x1000000]

"Why can't I? I am a Mystic! I can do whatever I want! If ants mocked you, taunted you for the loss of your loved ones, would you leave them alive? No! You would step on them for even daring to speak up to you! You do not know your place!"

John stared helplessly as Hikari threw Prota to the floor, still taking her form. It was strange to hear Prota's monotonic soft voice yell in such a way, but it served to ground John. To remind him that this was not his sister.

"I'll do what I please to your sister. Then, I'll do the same to you. Just wait."

"You're a narcissistic bitch," John growled. "We have nothing to do with this. You think you can get away with this because you're strong?"

"Of course."

"Fuck you," John snarled.

[Determination increases! New limit: 10^10]

He didn't have an argument, not because he was afraid, but because in his mind, Hikari was right. This was a [Story]. Ultimately, if Hikari was stronger, and if the [Author] wanted Hikari to win, the Mystic would win. He couldn't argue something so fundamental to his belief system.

Hikari just smiled, turning back into a dwarf.

"Oh, I'll enjoy this. I'll show you what it means to suffer. You should thank me."

John glared, but still, there was nothing he could do about it.

"After all, you don't understand what it is to suffer. What it means to treasure something. What it means to lose it. You don't deserve love. You don't have the ability to appreciate it."

"You-"

"You're a mortal! You don't deserve this sister of yours! You will never get to watch and see what life is truly like. What the world truly is outside of that sheltered little bubble of yours. You will never, never know what true suffering is like. Do you hear me?!"

As soon as the words came out of Hikari's mouth, the sound of something snapping could be heard echoing throughout the room.

John felt blood rushing to his head, his face growing hot with rage. He could feel his heart pumping, hear the shallow breaths going in and out of his nose, the quivering of his hands as he barely contained his anger. His pulse roared in his ears, thumping rhythmically, slowly growing faster.

[Determination activates! New limit: 10^20]

[You've been putting up with a lot. Go nuts.]

John barely saw the message, but he did see the new limit that had been placed on him.

[Determination activates! New limit: Infinity]

"...say that again."

"What was that?" Hikari frowned.

Their smile faded. Something felt different now.

John's quiet voice came out once more. "Say that again."

"...you don't understand what it is to suffer?" Hikari frowned. "But you don't. You're a mortal child. You cannot possibly understand the pain I- no, any Mystic has-"

They could barely react before John shot forward, grabbing them by the neck. Hikari hadn't been able to react. They just gasped, choking for air, clawing at John, but to no avail.

"I… I don't understand pain? I don't understand suffering?"

John was well aware that he wasn't very mature. He was lazy. Hypocritical. He often didn't make sense, and he was slow to admit his mistakes. He had pride, had a superiority complex, complained all the time, and placed the blame on everyone but himself.

He, as a [Character], wasn't amazing. There were others in this [Story] that could be considered shallow. Draco. Some of his friends. An elf named Elfin. A hero named Fate.

But John was on another level. He was almost like a self-insert. Powerful. Lazily written. His moods constantly switched, his motivations were all over the place, he interfered constantly and had very little that made him enjoyable.

In short, he was poorly written.

And he didn't care. Especially not in this moment, where the only ones who were here to observe him were Hikari and the [Readers].

The [Readers] had never mattered to him in the first place.

And there was a fat, juicy target just waiting to be annihilated before him.

A single, logical thought passed through his brain before it was once again completely swamped with rage. He snapped his fingers, teleporting Prota back to the main hall where Leora and Lupin were.

"Never open your mouth again."

John looked up, his left eye glowing like the sun, red light flooding out. His entire body began to glow as if he were turning into energy. It wasn't bright.

But John no longer looked human.

"I am a god!" Hikari roared. "An immortal being! A child such as yourself could never understand the pain of losing someone, then carrying on for hundreds of years! Knowing you could've done nothing, nothing at all, and yet suffering anyway! For something that isn't your fault!"

John didn't respond. He simply tightened his grip, his hand quivering with rage as Hikari's neck began to snap. In a panic, the cat teleported away, but it wasn't fast enough. John had already caught up, grabbing Hikari like a sack of rice and slamming them into a wall, a giant crater forming from the impact.

There was no time to rest. John was back on the enemy in an instant, his fists pumelling away like a jackhammer, each blow ringing out like thunder.

Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster—

Suddenly, Hikari struck back, a giant fireball engulfing the entire room, but with a single slice of his sword, John cancelled the attack with even greater force, drawing a giant line from ceiling to floor.

The two backed off, preparing to clash once more.

"You don't know what it means to lose your family! To lose everything you cared for! To know someone who could fix it all, yet refuses to!" Hikari yelled, using magic circle after magic circle.

Hikari was wrong. But they would never know just how wrong they were.

John reached out, grabbing Hikari by the neck. He slammed the cat down to the floor, the same way Hikari had done it to him, then teleported back up, crashing down like a meteor, carving the room a good ten meters deeper than it'd been before.

Suddenly, he stopped, floating back up into the room. To Hikari's credit, they took the momentary pause in attacks to leap up, sensing a moment of weakness.

There was no such moment.

John reached out, holding the god at a distance, watching as they struggled to break free from their invisible bindings. A god in the palm of his hands. How amusing.

[Infinity]. A broken, stupid ability. A power much like that of a child, creating an unbeatable hero. An imaginary character meant to beat everything and everyone. An ability with no thought or creativity behind it.

John wasn't complaining about the lack of quality now.

"Answer me!" Hikari yelled, seeing that they couldn't get out of their predicament. "Or are you admitting that I'm right?"

That was the last straw.

"Me?!" John yelled, finally responding to Hikari's taunts. "You're saying I don't know what it means? You don't know what real power is! You don't know what true omnipotence is! You think Celeste is this almighty being, but you're wrong! You don't know shit!"

"You are but a child!" Hikari roared back. "What would you know?!"

"I know everything! I know fucking everything you don't! You're the one who doesn't know shit!"

"What could you possibly know that I do not?"

Suddenly, John stepped back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. There was one easy solution to this. It would break Hikari, but at this point, he didn't care.

The cat was already dead to him.

"You said you've lost everything?" he said quietly.

"Yes! More than you could ever know!"

John's eyes snapped open.

"I've lost more than you've ever gained. You don't know shit. Look at me. Look at me! Do you see me?! Do I look like someone who has anything left? Read my mind. I know you can do it. Read my mind! And tell me what you see!"

"I-"

"Do it!" John yelled, the force of his voice shaking the very room itself.

Hikari, trembling, pulled out another scroll. Their eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed back down as their trip through John's mind finished.

John let go of the Mystic, but Hikari didn't try to fight back. They just fell down, trembling as they stared at the being before them. This wasn't a human. This wasn't a mortal. This wasn't even a Mystic.

This was something beyond even Celeste.

"I- what- just who are you?" Hikari whispered, trembling.

The will to fight had vanished from their body. They didn't know what to think anymore. A horrible, terrible truth had just been imprinted onto their mind, and they couldn't get rid of it anymore.

"You still have something left!" John yelled, ignoring all of that. "You know how I know? You have someone to take revenge on. You have someone to blame, and that someone is someone you can hurt. You can't touch Celeste, but you're doing everything in your power to hurt her people, aren't you?!"

Hikari trembled. "I-"

"You get satisfaction! You get to feel! You get to experience the emotions of fighting for your loved ones! Even if you feel despair, anger, pain, at least you get to feel that! You get something!"

"But-"

"You know what I get? Nothing! I get to leave my loved ones behind in a world I can never revisit, and for what? For what?! Nothing! Fucking! Nothing! I get a power that only works when I feel something, and guess what, bastard? I don't feel! I get no prize, no reward, because the person doing this to me cannot be touched! I don't know pain?! Try again!"

"You-"

"I don't get anything! I'm useless! Do you know what it's like to know you're a puppet, but to be unable to do anything about it anyway? To have the potential to do whatever you want, but be the weakest link in the chain? There is never a happy ending for me! There is no sad ending for me! In the end, all that waits for me is just more strings, more dancing, all for people I'll never even meet!"

Despite their newfound despair, despite their fear, the insanity slowly creeping into their mind, Hikari managed to squeak out one last sentence.

"You lie. There is one thing you fight for."

John paused. In those few words, something else inside John had snapped.

"...maybe," John muttered.

Suddenly, the Mystic leapt up, pulling dozens of magic circles out of some kind of magic storage. Shields upon shields began to stack in front of the cat until it was almost as if it were a prison made for Hikari rather than a barrier to protect them.

"You fool!" Hikari taunted, but their voice sounded weak. "I didn't think I'd have to use this, but I see you are someone I have to respect. Even the headmaster herself cannot break through this! There is not a-"

"Do you know what infinity is?"

Hikari went silent. John's voice carried a hint of danger, more than he'd ever displayed. Their fur began to stand on end.

"The concept of a number greater than any countable number. Limitless. Endless."

John's body began to glow until it appeared as if it were made of pure light. His voice echoed throughout the chamber, even though there was nothing to echo off of, just dirt and stone.

He raised his arm, hand forming a finger gun. At the tip of his finger, a small orb of light began to form, no brighter than a candle, just sitting there harmlessly.

"I was letting out a lot of steam on you. But you kinda ruined all that by bringing up Prota. So I'm just gonna end this now."

Hikari's eyes widened.

"Do you know what this power is called? [Infinity]."

"You-" Hikari started, but they were shaking too much to finish their sentence.

John wasn't bluffing. Hikari's shields were already breaking, just from the sheer aura the force before him was emitting. Thousands of shields, each of which could survive a mountain decimating blow, were cracking from this tiny orb of light.

It wasn't right to call this a human. It wouldn't be right to call this a mortal, nor would it even be right to call it a god.

"Limitless. Endless."

This was a force, not of nature, but of something far greater.

"Your verbal tick really pissed me off, by the way. Look, it sucks that your daughter died. Unfortunately, I've never met her, so I don't care." John laughed. "Guess I really am a [Reader]. Oh, well."

John closed an eye, aiming right at the Mystic. His expression was that of pure boredom.

Hikari's eyes widened as they realized something.

There had never been a fight in the first place. Had John wanted to finish things immediately, he could have.

Hikari had never stood a chance.

"Bang."

A thin beam of light, much like a cheap laser pointer, pierced through the shields, shattering them instantly. There was no entry wound as it passed through Hikari's body, but the sheer force of the attack blew the Mystic's body to bits, immediately evaporating it as if there had never been anything there in the first place. The tiles surrounding the room immediately shattered, the ceiling threatening to cave in.

Such a force should've destroyed the planet itself, but somehow, no further damage was suffered. [Infinity] was truly an illogical force.

John sighed, [Infinity] deactivating as [Determination] slowly disappeared.

Now drenched in despair, he fell onto his back. What was the point of this? Of all of this? Hikari had brought up some bad memories. When the cat had gone through his mind, he'd been forced to go back as well.

And a locked book had suddenly been unlocked. For Hikari to see John's memories, John needed to have them as well. This meant he now remembered why he'd locked his memories away. He did care for people. He didn't want to admit it, but he did.

And so losing them made that all the worse.

"John," Zero said quietly.

"Not now."

"Just thought I'd let you know. You can put some energy into the magic circle next to where Hikari died. It'll take you back out."

The soul vanished in an instant. That was for the better. John's head was already occupied with thoughts that he didn't want.

"Why?" he muttered, stretching his hand up, reaching for a sky he couldn't see.

He stared at the back of his hand.

"Why does this shit keep happening…?"

He just didn't get it. If it'd ended with Emotor, he would've understood. It would've been an arc well concluded. But then Hikari just had to interfere. Why? What was the [Author] trying to tell him?

That he was suffering? That he deserved it?

"Fuck you, too," John muttered, sitting up.

He shook the debris out of his hair and looked around.

The place he was in was really just a box deep beneath the surface of the planet. Well, Zero had already told him how to leave. He couldn't leave just yet, though. He wanted his mind to be clear before heading back out.

This was a side he didn't want to show to anybody.

John truly felt empty inside now. It was a feeling he hadn't had in a while. Prota and the others had been distracting him well, but now that he was alone with his thoughts, he realized that he wasn't too far off from the Mystic.

Treating others how he wanted because he could. Lashing out because nobody understood his curse, his suffering. It was cringeworthy to put it that way, but it was true.

John's existence could be summed up as pathetic.

"Why did you make me do this?" he muttered, kicking at a rock.

"You lie. There is one thing you fight for."

Somehow, those words continued to echo in John's head. Well, that was right. There was something to fight for.

All of this. Meeting Grey again. Forgiving him. Saving him. He still didn't regret it. Even though Prota had suffered for it, he couldn't regret it. If he did, the action would have been for nothing.

Then, there was the image of Prota, standing over Emotor, blood coating her body, flashed through his mind. She wanted revenge on that man for what he'd done to her. Even though the end result was better, he still wasn't sure if he liked what'd happened.

She shouldn't need to feel that way. She shouldn't have such rage.

He often failed to pay attention to her needs, her feelings. He pushed through in the name of being "stronger." Sure, he admitted his mistakes and noticed things once they were obvious, but how much did he really care for her as a person?

He didn't get it. This whole "relationship" business was just too messy.

But it wasn't. He'd had friends and family just one world ago. He'd loved and been loved.

How had he turned into whatever this was?

"It's too late," John muttered. "You can't take everything and then expect me to trust you again. This is all your fault, you know?"

He sighed. There was no point in getting wrapped up about this. It seemed Hikari's existence had served its purpose, and it was now being used to teach him a lesson.

This whole extra bit had been for John, and for John alone. This area of the [Story] was probably rushed, seeing as it had relatively little connection to his end goal, but then again, nothing surrounding his existence was guaranteed to make sense.

"You weren't ready for this either. You slapped together some life lesson and hoped I'd learn, huh?"

He started laughing. Of course. That was how it was. He'd said he couldn't take revenge on the one who'd cursed him, but in the end, wasn't something like this acceptable?

Neither a curse nor a blessing.

It simply was.

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