Chapter 287: Talking in Darkness
———Lynda———
<9: 39 pm>
I waited in the empty park that is barely visible in the darkness of night, standing next to the unlit light pole with nothing but the ambience to accompany my thoughts.
Even with all the crazy stuff happening today, if it can even be counted as a single day, this place is still the same as always. No idea if they’re ever gonna fix this place up so at night it’s not so dark that it feels like someone could just jump at you at any opportunity.
Soon enough I could hear footsteps getting clearer and clearer as someone approached me from within the darkness.
As always, her dress that seemed to have a subtle shine to it whenever it emerged out of the darkness is quite a sight. Without really doing anything you can tell she is far from normal, even if hypothetically this is the first time you saw her.
I can’t even be sure when or where she arrived from. Her very presence screams enigma and something that no one could really grasp the full story of.
“So, what answer do you seek today?” Her tone and choice of vocabulary certainly don’t make that perception harder to break. She has the tendency to speak more like a character in a high fantasy novel, weirdly posh and aggrandizing.
“A good rundown on what in the fresh hell happened would be nice. I also didn’t expect you to keep that ability a secret all this time.” To think there is still so much that she is still hiding. I bet that weird aura around her at the end has its own story as well, that wasn’t normal, it ain’t no aesthetic choice, there is a reason that aura appeared and her power seems to skyrocketed to the moon, the power on that scale was completely out of my scope.
“It wasn’t intentional. I simply had no need to use it, and also no need to disclose it.” She said in her usual dry tone. I guess she was never the type to gloat anyway, at least without being provoked. While Kenni leaves out information mostly because it would’ve been funny, Emmie seems to leave them out because she genuinely doesn't think it’s important even if it certainly feels like it. “In what world would disclosing my abilities bring benefits?”
“I mean… Nevermind then.” I don’t wanna press her on that front. It’s gonna sound like I’m trying something suspicious if I keep trying to dig into her. “So… Uhhh… What did you even do before everyone started jumping you?”
“Mostly killing any stragglers causing a mess. They clearly have no regard for their life fighting in the open like that, so I came in to show them the door.” That was the answer she gave out. So nothing too special from what I’m hearing. I can sorta infer what she was doing in the metropolis with the special announcement she did on the fourth day.
…Doesn’t look like there’s anything else she wants to add with the silence. It really is awkward to talk to someone who both doesn’t like to talk and is also as intimidating as her. I know her appearance as a somewhat delicate girl in a dress makes her disarming, but knowing her more than a surface-level and she is more akin to… I dunno, a military commander? Probably something way more dangerous than that. A guy with the nuke launch code, maybe?
“...Did you do nothing else during that time? Maybe explore secret areas or something?” I asked after a long period of uncomfortable silence.
“I did do that, but it’s pretty boring.” She bluntly answered. For a combat nut like her obviously such a thing wouldn’t provide much entertainment.
Speaking of a combat nut, while there is an exhilarating feeling that comes from pushing your body to the limit and risking your life, which isn’t exactly a new thing, something that could easily end up with one side dying seems like something that maybe shouldn’t be your main source of entertainment? Maybe that’s just me.
“…By the way, did you know anything about the… involuntary competition?” Had to say, regardless of how we would ultimately come out of it unharmed, it was kind of a dick move to roped us into it without consent.
“I thought something was off with the lack of assignments needing to be submitted by Friday, but outside of that, nothing.” She answered. Was that seriously the case? Even then that’s way too subtle of a hint and probably unintentional. “And even if I did, I doubt it would’ve led anywhere.”
“Can’t really be too sure about that, can we?” Who really knows what else she had hiding up her sleeves. “…How much strength do you even actually have? I don’t even know if that last attack was your strongest.”
“I wouldn’t call that last attack my absolute strongest. If it was, I'm afraid I wouldn’t have the room to get out of its way.” …What the hell? Is she really saying that the attack that wiped out the entire playing area wasn’t her strongest? That shit looked comparable to a nuke or three! That walled city was probably comparable to some of the largest cities of all time, I bet. Who really knows how much impact she can cause to the real world with that, and all the ugly consequences that came with it.
“...Do I even want to know?” I rhetorically asked. With that kind of power she can demand all sorts of things and who is gonna… “And if you’re this strong with strength left to spare, what can someone like Wiina do?”
“Glass the planet’s surface.” She said without a hint of irony… How can she be so sure about that? Hello?
“That’s a joke, right?” No way in hell that makes any sense. I feel like if someone is capable of that, be it right now or in the past, it would’ve already happened and we’d probably not even reach this point, right?
“Jokes are meant to be humorous, was that funny to you?” She deflected the question back at me. What the hell is that response for?
“Of course not!” Who in their right mind would find something like that funny anyway? It’s terrifying to even think about. People talking about it in the context of fiction is whatever, but in real life? Joking about that is the last thing you should ever do.
“There you have it. She can do that, and probably a lot more.” She said with full confidence. “My current strength is nowhere even near a fraction of a percent of hers, so naturally someone of her level can cause an apocalyptic event easily.”
“Okay then? And aren’t you afraid of that at all?” I asked, since she probably knew about that for a good while already, I’d imagine.
“Not really. In case you haven’t noticed by now with my previous statement, there exists a realm of power that could render this planet nothing more than a tiny sandcastle, and she is naturally not the only one with that kind of strength. Have you heard of MAD?” She began explaining before posing me a question.
“Of course I do. Not that it mattered with most of the nukes being disarmed or missing. We still have no idea what that was about.” That incident roughly five years ago? Or was it six? Either way, that sorta topic hadn’t come up when most superpowers only had around a dozen left. Sure, even that is terrifying, but compared to the tens of thousands that collectively exist in the past, it felt like way less of a problem.
“Same concept, but trade out those weapons of mass destruction with individuals. There is no way for any of them to fight at full strength without literally causing the planet to shatter into a million pieces, and so they simply stay idle. Even if they tried to localize the force behind their attack to a single being of similar strength it would’ve still caused collateral damage on an apocalyptic level anyway.” She elaborated. That’s just absolutely insane, ain’t it? “They all still call this place their home, or perhaps as a source of entertainment, and they’re not just gonna break it because they got ticked off a few times.”
“That’s just insane.” I can’t help but to say that. There’s no other way around it.
“Perhaps. Mind you, that doesn’t mean provoking them won’t cause an issue, they’ll simply switch from using their full strength to simply just enough to turn you into paste. I’m talking about when it comes to those planetary threats against each other.” She gave me a warning that probably doesn't even need to be said out loud. No way in hell I’m trying anything that stupid. “But on a personal note about Wiina, she never acts like she’s a threat regardless, so you should never even consider such an apocalyptic event coming from her. I would’ve been more wary of that devil in human skin.”
“...Who?” What person is she talking about now?
“It should be noted that I am trying to not say anything that is speculative at the moment, so my explanations and examples are limited.” She doesn’t seem willing to actually answer that question as she quickly moved on away from it.
“…Said the person that we can only speculate about.” I bitterly pointed out. Should someone with such a murky past that is borderline on some supernatural shenanigans say that? “...But back on topic, is there really nothing we need to worry about?”
“Not in the immediate future. As things stand you could simply continue on the path you’ve made for yourself.” She answered. “Especially in this small town, our lives are much more secure, so let’s not take that for granted.”
“I think we have said that plenty of times at this point.” This place is still one of the safest on Earth, and will stay that way for a long while, I’d imagine. “...So how did you even figure out what your Innate Ability even does?”
“Instinct, just as you have probably read about. There might be some type of Innate Ability or Trait that would spell it out for you, but as a norm it is not something that can be easily understood even by its owner.” There just seems to be an exception to just about everything magic-related it feels like, making it way harder to follow than it should be.
“So how did you even figure out how to turn those silks into such dangerous weapons?” I probably wouldn’t figure that out for… I don’t know, a year or two, maybe.
“Semantics, mostly. Even an Innate Ability that is supposed to give someone a specialization can be exploited. [Weaving] allows me to create something I can weave, so as long as it starts off as those thin wobbly lines, it could be made of anything I want. Silks, strings, yarns, flames, light, electricity, pure energy. There is no real limit outside of fitting its namesake.” Like a loophole in the fine print.
“That’s crazy… You’d think… whatever mystical force out there would’ve stopped something like that?” Does something like that even exist? Something must’ve mandated the power system in the first place, right?
“It doesn’t matter. There is no such foresight, so I took advantage of it. It’s that simple. Besides, those Special Traits are meant to be valuable in some way, breaking the very rule of the extremely simple and malleable power system.” She replied. Now that just makes it sound like the power system is extremely flimsy. I know magic is called magic for a reason, it doesn’t exactly follow logic one-to-one, but there are still some mechanics to it last I checked, and… You know what, maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about that.
“Must be nice to be able to figure it all out so easily.” I said while shrugging my shoulders. Every time I talk to her it feels like I’m gonna get a headache, but I guess I learn something new, I guess? The ambience certainly doesn’t help, it’s like being trapped in a room with a crazy person.