The next day, John reluctantly dragged himself to Sofya's office. He was still feeling a little strange from the previous day's events, but business was business. He couldn't allow his memories to slip by just because he was feeling a little down. If he were the kind of person to do that, he would've never made it this far.

Besides, burying his emotions was one of his best skills.

Opening the door, he found Destiny and the two Mystics waiting inside.

"You're late," Destiny pointed out.

"Sorry. Slept in," John said, trying to excuse himself.

"I get it," Destiny sighed, putting his hand on John's shoulder. "I was hoping a bit of normality would help you, but… take your time, man."

"I'm fine. Really. Let's just get this over with, all right?"

John looked around. Lupin and Leora were already sitting on a sofa, and Destiny was leaning against a wall. Sofya's seat looked inviting, but… well, even John had some tact. In the end, he opted to stand in front of the desk, where everybody would be able to easily hear him.

"All right. First order of business. Sofya is dead. You can confirm this for yourself, if you want."

He snapped his fingers, and Sofya fell out of the pocket dimension. To John's surprise, it was now wrapped and preserved, making it look like she was simply asleep. Maybe a little gift from the [Author].

"...she's dead," Leora confirmed. "Were you the ones who-"

"No. We didn't kill her," John said, shaking his head. "I think the rebound of using that energy was too much for her, and that drained whatever life force she had left. She died… peacefully, I think."

"What… what caused this?" Lupin said quietly. "Was she a cultist? Were your suspicions correct?"

"They weren't. We're gonna need to figure that out. Let's sort some things out first, though."

John cleared his throat, feeling a little tense. He wasn't sure why he was doing this. It felt right. That was all. But still, for him to be going out of his way for a corpse…

"This is the story, all right? The headmaster was investigating the disappearances of the students. She found a secret base of cultists who were preparing to use the students for a sacrifice, one that would summon an especially powerful demon. Rushing off to battle, she left behind hints, one we deciphered just barely too late. Leora used a teleportation spell, one that took time, and when we got there, we found her dying but victorious. In the end, she was a hero who sacrificed her life for the students."

The room went silent.

"I thought you didn't know anything about demons," Lupin said, raising an eye.

"I don't? Why are you bringing that up?"

"You don't-" Lupin cut himself off with a short laugh. "I see. I suppose it's that strange intuition of yours, or so I've heard. Sacrificing young children is something cultists have done in the past. Your story… is quite believable. The only unbelievable aspect is that someone such as Sofya could be defeated."

"The demon orbs," John said, crossing his arms. "The things Hikari used. Additionally, they harnessed souls, allowing them to use Final Stands. A combination of that would allow an army of cultists to take Sofya down, no? Especially if she was protecting a group of students."

Destiny reacted to that excuse, somewhat violently. "John, you're not saying-"

"Doctor's research, yeah. I'm not saying that actually happened, but it makes for a plausible excuse." John looked at everyone. "The best lies have a little truth in them. If anybody with enough clearance is suspicious enough, they'll find that it was plausible for Sofya to have been theoretically defeated. Of course, that won't be happening because our Mystics will be making the announcement. Anyone who doesn't have qualifications to hear our fake answer won't need any answers at all. And those who do… well, this should work."

"The school… will have to shut down for a while," Leora said quietly. "For the headmaster to die…"

"Yeah, yeah," John muttered. "That much was obvious. Next. Sofya asked me for a favour. She asked if, um… who was it… Yelena something could be the next headmaster. You guys know who that is?"

"John," Destiny said, exasperated. "That's the healing professor."

Lupin and Leora looked at each other before nodding. "This makes sense. Yelena was Sofya's close friend, as well as one of the older Mystics in this school. If anyone were to be the next headmaster… it would be her."

"Good to know. Someone's gonna have to let her know Sofya's dead, though. While we're at it, we should probably let Yelena decide what to do with the body."

"I will take care of that," Lupin said, his expression dark.

It seemed reality was sinking in for everybody. A dragon had died. Such a fact was monumental. They'd all just lost a mentor, a comrade, a friend.

Such an action could not be reversed.

Destiny was especially surprised at how respectful John was being. For him to respect the wishes of the dead like this was something that didn't suit his character. Someone who was so quick to kill and extort… well, people changed.

"Alright, now that all that junk's dealt with, onto the next stuff. Anybody recognize this?"

John unfolded the letter Sofya had given him. It was a little dirty and crumpled, but otherwise, it was intact. He passed it around, but to his disappointment, nobody said anything.

"There is the faint aura of a Mystic," Leora said upon analyzing it further. "But I cannot tell which clan it belongs to. I'm sorry, John."

"No worries. I was gonna look into this, but if there are no leads, it can wait."

He looked at Destiny, who seemed to be frowning. A clue. Destiny looked up, shooting John a quick "talk to me later" kind of look. Well, at least he knew the letter was from a Mystic. That in itself was huge.

Amazing. There was a lead after all.

"All right. Now, in return for how patient you've all been with me… let's have a little questioning session."

"A questionnaire?" Lupin frowned. "What do you-"

"I mean, ask away. I'll answer as much as I can."

The room went silent once more, but this time, there was an unmistakable air of excitement. Answers from John. This time, it truly seemed like he was going to answer.

"Ah, but… only two questions from each of you. And I reserve the right to remain silent," John explained. "But if I don't answer a question, I'll let you ask another one, ok?"

Everybody nodded. It was incredible how much control John had over these people at the moment, but then again, anybody would jump at the chance to unveil the mysteries they'd been chasing for so long.

However, a question still remained.

"How will we know if you're telling the truth?" Lupin growled.

"Destiny over there has a lie detector," John shrugged. "He'll let you know."

"...I do," Destiny said, although he didn't seem pleased at being outed like this.

"A lie detector? That's hard to-"

"Believe me or not, doesn't matter," John said. "I'm not giving you more than this. You'll just have to trust him, ok? Although, I don't plan on lying, either."

Everyone waited in anticipation, racking their minds for questions that would matter. Two questions. Two questions to ask whatever they wanted, almost no holds barred. No payment, no conditions, just answers.

"John."

To everyone's surprise, Destiny was the first to speak up.

"What is conceptual power?"

A good starting question. Unfortunately, the answer wasn't what anyone was hoping for.

John shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't…" Destiny sighed. "I don't want this to be my second question, but… what does that mean?"

"Fine, I'll give this one for free," John grumbled. "I was definitely gonna count that as your second question if you hadn't added that at the end. I don't know what conceptual energy is because that's not what my powers are based on. I use something else. I'll give you this: if you wanted to ask a question like that, you should've made sure it was actually the power I use."

"But Sofya-"

"I've answered your question properly. Next?"

The anticipation in the room quickly changed to fear. There were still things they didn't know, still things they didn't understand. Asking questions based on assumptions could lead to dead ends, but at the same time, being too conservative would get you nowhere.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Slowly, they were beginning to realize that this was what John had had in mind from the start. They watched as a grin slowly formed on his face.

What a fun game to play.

"I suppose this is worth a shot," Lupin said gruffily. "John. What is the truth of this world?"

"Won't say."

"I understand. Still, I had to try."

John crossed his arms, thinking for a moment. "Mm… I'll give you this, since you were nice to me. Look. This whole truth business isn't something you want to understand. Trust me. Sticking to understanding that there are powers that can control concepts is as far as you should go. There are some things that just aren't worth learning. As a bonus, I won't count that as a question, either."

The room went silent once more.

Suddenly, Lupin raised his head. There was something they hadn't thought of, something they had yet to confirm. If the answer was what he thought, then everything else might be infinitely easier to understand.

"The power Sofya wielded. Is that a power you understand or is that power… yours?"

John looked uncomfortable at that. There was no good reason to deny an answer, but at the same time, it would be revealing a lot that he didn't feel like giving up. Well, it wasn't like he was going to be able to hide this forever.

He sighed, closing his eyes as he mentally prepared himself. Once he answered this, there was no going back.

"Those are my powers."

There was a collective gasp. It was quiet, but everyone in the room immediately understood the implications of what that meant.

"Your powers," Leora said finally. "Can you explain how they work?"

"I can try," John nodded. "I don't fully understand them myself, but I've done some theory crafting. Of course, you already understand conceptual energy. That's something I can't personally wield."

Destiny frowned. "That's a lie."

"It's a partial lie," John sighed. "It's… it's a little complicated. Yes, I suppose part of my abilities are conceptual in nature, but that's not how I understand them. You'll notice I wasn't lying when I said my powers aren't based on conceptual energy. That may be the core of what they are, but that's not what my power is. Does that make sense?"

Destiny grimaced, but John was indeed telling the truth.

"...you implied other powers," Lupin frowned. "Are you going to finish the-"

He cut himself off. Right, John wasn't the type to let things go for free. Lupin took a deep breath, trying to word the question right.

Both he and Leora had one question left. If John wouldn't tell them the truth of the world, they could at least try and figure out how he'd defeated Hikari. They looked at each other, then spoke in hushed tones. John tried to listen in, but his base power wasn't enough to pick up any words, and he didn't feel like using [Infinity] at the moment.

"Very well," Leora said, clearing her throat. "John. How do your other powers work?"

"...you guys are tricky bastards, you know that?" John grimaced.

"You're one to talk," Destiny called out. "You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"Fine," John said, throwing up his hands in surrender. "To compensate, I'll only explain part of it, ok? Since you don't know what my powers are and all."

Lupin looked a little upset at that, but it was better than having John refuse to answer the question.

"My power is called [Infinity]," John explained.

This was the easiest of his abilities to explain. [Deus Ex Machina] would lead to complications, and so would [Reset]. [Determination] would be an easy out, but the problem was that it was too easy. There were still too many questions if he used that as his answer, and while he didn't want to give too much, he also didn't want to cheat them too much.

Besides, he was being pretty honest about this. [Infinity] was the ability he'd used the most in this world. If anything, it was definitely the power that he could claim the most as his own.

"Simply put, it's a multiplier."

"A multiplier in power?" Leora frowned.

"Like, it makes me stronger, faster. The only thing it doesn't do is make me more durable."

"But the shock of moving faster than your body can handle-"

"And that's why I don't understand it." John shook his head. "The problem with this ability is that it's not rooted in rules. It doesn't obey the laws of physics or logic. Think of it like… an ability a kid would give to an imaginary character, saying something like "they got stronger because they did!" That's the kind of ability I have."

Destiny frowned. "Hold on, if you have that, then-"

"What, did you really think I was fighting as an ordinary human? Think, dude. That's not possible. I would've immediately eaten shit and died if I were trying to do that."

"Is this how you managed to get by without using mana?" Lupin frowned. "Using this ability of yours?"

"Yeah. It doesn't make me that strong, which is why I was struggling so much," John nodded. "I'm still weaker than the students here. But it was enough to keep me alive."

"So you really are weak?" Destiny said.

He was hesitant, but his lie detector had yet to go off. John was telling the truth.

"Sorry, dude. It looks like you were hoping for more, but that's really it. The things I did in the Town of Beginnings… I really was trying to do the best I could."

Destiny just sighed. John was telling the truth, so Destiny wouldn't have a reason to complain. He looked back at the Mystics to see Lupin looking at Leora and nodding. They hadn't expected any specific answer, but this was enough to let them ask their next question.

"John…" Leora started, thinking about her next question. "Where does your experience come from?"

"Me?" John laughed. "Combat. Hundreds and hundreds of years of combat. Look, I'll give you a freebie, alright? I don't really have a good reason to hide this anyway."

He took a deep breath, sitting on the edge of the desk and crossing his legs.

"I'll put it simply. I'm from another world."

Everybody's eyes went wide, Destiny's included. Was it really alright to drop such an insane statement like that?

"And before that, I came from another world. And another world before that. And another world before that. I've been to thousands of worlds, lived millions of years, and naturally, fought billions of battles as well. Lupin, you know how you were saying my fighting style is sloppy?"

"...yes," the wolf nodded slowly.

"It is sloppy. I've never trained a day in my life. But anybody who's fought that many battles would be somewhat decent at fighting, right?"

Lupin's eyes widened. The analogy he'd thought of when he saw John fight during the exams. He was like a cockroach. Always just barely surviving, throwing out whatever was needed to survive.

That analogy made a lot more sense now.

"I won't be telling you how I travel worlds, or what I'm doing it for. The point is, that's who I am, ok?"

"...I see," Lupin said, closing his eyes. "Then there truly was never a need for you to enter this school."

John frowned. "What, you thought I was lying? I told you, I came here to look after my sister. That's all."

The tension in the room slowly dissipated. They now had more questions than answers, but that was ok. The most pressing things had been taken care of.

"John," Destiny called out.

Ah. Right. There was still one question left.

"Something… this world," he said quietly. "If it comes to it, will you help defend this world?"

"Oh, come on, Destiny," John grumbled. "You really wanna use this as your last question?"

"Answer, John."

John sighed. "You know I'm on your side. That much is-"

"Not my side, John. This world. Are you… will you help defend this world?"

There was a moment of silence. For a brief moment, John's face was unreadable, but then his usual smile came back once more.

"Obviously. What kind of question is that?"

~~~

"Hah… that was kinda stressful."

John fell onto his bed for what might be the last time. Scholaris had been fun, but it was about time they moved on.

They couldn't stay in this place forever.

"John…"

Prota crawled onto his bed and put her face on his chest, arms and legs spread wide as she did her best impression of a corpse. John gave a short laugh as he put his hand on her head.

"I know. This one was… it was a little unusual. Still, we got a lot out of it, don't you think?"

Despite the chaos of everything, John had managed to figure out a few important things.

The first was that Prota was important. John wasn't sure how important, but she was more than just a powerful companion. Diaboli wanted her. Or, more specifically, she wanted whatever attribute Prota's body had. She'd set up a whole scheme just to take her back. Skirting the rules by turning Prota into Sofya's daughter had been clever, John had to admit, but now that it had failed, it was a card in his hand.

The problem was, he couldn't see what that card was. What could be so important about Prota that the Demon King would give a non-ally [Deus Ex Machina] energy?

At this point, he truly could no longer [Reset]. Doing so would mean losing everything.

Less important, but still interesting, was that Mystics were defeatable entities. John wasn't sure what kind of [Story] this was going to scale to, but if the [Author] had allowed him to defeat Hikari, then that meant Destiny would reach such a level as well. That level might not be soon, but it would happen eventually. The hero was pretty strong at this point anyway, having reached the level of Master.

That, however, raised some cause for concern. Only one level remained above that: Grandmaster. Granted, it'd been almost five years since John's journey had begun, but if only one level was left to attain, how much more of the [Story] could there possibly be?

"No, no," John muttered. "No need to think about that right now."

The last thing to keep note of was the fact that Prota could absorb [Infinity] as an energy.

That was incredibly surprising. This whole time, John had been under the impression that Soul Steal absorbed mana. After all, that was what the ability was supposed to do. It could also absorb souls, but that was effectively the same thing.

He'd been putting this off for a while, but it might be time to start looking into what a "soul" really was. The problem was that he was aware of too many definitions.

Certain traits differed from [Story] to [Story]. As he'd explained to Sofya, things like time travel often followed different rules depending on the type of multiverse you were in. Souls were one of these things. As a being from no story at all, his soul, Zero, followed a set of rules completely unique from any world he could remember visiting.

However, this world was a little different. It seemed souls housed consciousness, or one's identity, and this was also made up of mana. Zero's explanation came to mind.

"In a way. Let me explain her ability again. I said she can take "mana." However, mana is a concept that exists only in worlds like this one. If we were to move to another world without mana, it would be more apt to say she can take a person's "energy." What happens if they don't have any energy left, though? The soul is a source of energy. So she takes that. And so far, she's been taking it without restraint."

John frowned as he looked at his sister, who was still oblivious to the things going on in his mind.

Why had the [Author] made a clause to this ability? Why specify that Prota could take "energy" and not just mana? After all, if she were of this world, mana would be all she ever knew. It would be the only energy she could ever take.

But then why did her abilities work on Zero, who wasn't made of mana? Why could she absorb [Infinity], even though it wasn't a finite power source the way mana was?

Why had the [Author] made so many exceptions? Just because she followed him around?

Or… was [Soul Steal] even her ability to begin with?

Everybody, himself included, had assumed Soul Steal was the same ability dragons wielded. Even Sofya, a dragon, had confirmed this. But what if that wasn't true? What if her ability was something else entirely? Just because two things had similar traits did not make them identical.

John knew her backstory, but something else Zero had said came to mind.

"John. I am going to tell you Prota's story. This is a story she would have told you eventually, but I've gone and taken the liberty of telling it for her. Remember that. I am telling it for her. This story will be told in the third person. This does not mean it is omniscient."

Prota's backstory had been told from her perspective. Not from the [Author's] perspective. Neither he nor Prota knew the whole truth.

Prota had fallen asleep, her body slowly rising and falling as she took slow, regular breaths. She looked so calm. So peaceful.

But in the little bundle of peace remained a huge question.

Just who was she?

~~~

Destiny sat on his bed, troubled.

"Destiny?" Danjo said. "Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? Oh, no, don't worry about it," Destiny said, his frown turning into a smile. "Just thinking about something."

"Is it about those missing students? That was definitely strange."

"...yeah, it was," Destiny said slowly.

Danjo went back to his work, reminding Destiny once again that this whole incident had been covered up quite cleanly. He wasn't sure what the Mystics would do from here on out, but he trusted they would handle it well.

That wasn't what he was troubled about. No, he was still thinking about the last question he'd asked John.

"Not my side, John. This world. Are you… will you help defend this world?"

"Obviously. What kind of question is that?"

His lie detector hadn't confirmed that to be a lie.

But John's statement wasn't the truth, either.

The words that rang in his head. The response his ability gave him. In his whole time of using this strange and unique ability, never once had he heard this message. Nor had he ever thought he would.

After all, what was this supposed to mean?

[Statement does not have a value.]

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