Let's Have an Honest Conversation

Why was there a subway train here? Was this even Earth?

The instant I laid eyes on that thousand-ton slab of scrap metal barreling toward me at a catastrophic speed, every hair on my body stood on end.

"You've got to be kidding me. Seriously!"

It took ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠five seconds to force my barely cooperating thighs into motion and flee the other way—and another two to realize the effort was completely pointless.

Right. No matter how hard I ran, how was I supposed to outrun a monster charging at a hundred kilometers an hour?

I stopped dead, legs gone limp, and used Nature Realm to survey the tunnel's structure one more time—clinging to the faint hope that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if I pressed myself flat against the wall, the train might simply miss me.

"Wow. Not a chance."

Impossible. The gap was far too narrow. Flatten myself against the wall and I'd be ground into paste between the stone and the train's flank for my trouble.

With Tao Power… yeah, no. That wasn't going to work either.

This was nothing like stopping a bullet with Tao Power. A bullet was fast, but it was light—light enough that I could nudge its path aside. The subway hurtling toward me was not only fast; it was roughly two hundred and fifty million times heavier than a bullet.

In short, even if I threw Tao Power across the tracks, it wouldn't make the slightest difference.

Was this really the ending? Bye-bye, life? If I'd known it would come to this, I would have confessed I was from Earth the moment I met Charlotte.

…Is this how it ends?

Regret welled up inside me, rising in lockstep with the train's approach, dredging up memories of days gone by—

"No."

…I refuse.

I will not let this newly granted life end so meaninglessly.

I will not say goodbye to the bonds I've only just formed.

I want to survive. By any means necessary.

"I am not going out like this!"

I steadied my breathing and stoked the will to live until it burned white-hot.

The train was close enough now that I could make out its shape with the naked eye. Facing down the oncoming catastrophe, I set my stance and wrapped my body in as much Tao Power as I could muster.

Through Nature Realm, I locked onto the train's exact velocity and calculated the precise moment it would slam into me.

For reasons I couldn't begin to guess, there wasn't a single passenger aboard. Honestly, that was for the best.

Sweat slicked my palms; I tightened my grip so I wouldn't lose the sword. I clung to the slightly dulled hilt as if it were a lifeline.

—Clack-clack!!

I could hear it. Louder and louder came that familiar racket I'd only ever heard from station platforms and train cars back on Earth.

Air shoved aside by the train slammed into me, whipping my sweat and hair. The gale made it nearly impossible to keep my eyes open, but I endured.

I held my breath.

—BAAAAAANG!!

When fewer than twenty meters remained between us, the horn blared through the tunnel.

Just a little more.

Just a little more.

Just a little more…!

In the split second before impact—

"Now!"

—I activated Power Strike and swung.

—CRAAASH!!

My steel blade met the train, and ink-black sword energy swept over it. Doused in a blade-force that briefly robbed its target of the ability to act, the train froze for a fraction of a second—as if it had simply decided to ignore the laws of physics.

Then the true effect of Power Strike kicked in: a counter dealing twice the power of the opponent's attack.

The kinetic energy of a thousand-ton train screaming along at a hundred kilometers an hour.

A sword carrying twice that colossal force crumpled the train like paper.

. . . . . . . . . . . .......!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd heard that a sound loud enough stops being merely loud and starts splitting your eardrums. Turns out that was true.

With a hideous, world-cracking roar, the train's front end caved in violently, derailed, and was hurled backward. Car after car tore free of its couplings; one section couldn't take the shock and leapt upward, smashed into the tunnel ceiling, then crashed into another car. The chain reaction kept cascading until the train was literally pulverized.

Shards of shattered glass and twisted fragments of metal came screaming toward me—only to be filtered out by the Tao Power I'd already wrapped around myself.

A piercing EEEEEEE—— filled my ears as a gale far beyond anything before tore over my body, but I didn't so much as sway. That was entirely thanks to Power Strike's damage-negation effect. Without it, my entire body would have been crushed past all recognition by now.

My breath came short and ragged. Too much adrenaline flooding my system? Fair enough. Moments ago I'd been standing in front of an oncoming train.

And now… I had completely wrecked it.

A little time passed, and the train's seemingly endless collapse finally came to an end.

"Haaah…"

Cloaked in billowing clouds of dust, I felt my legs give out and dropped hard onto the ground before I could stop myself. I sucked in a breath, realized it was nothing but grit, and couldn't keep from coughing.

My heart hammered madly, screaming for oxygen, while my windpipe ordered me to stop breathing entirely. I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do.

—Click.

Then a cold, hard pressure touched the back of my skull. A gun barrel.

"…You. You really were a monster, weren't you?"

Ah. Charlotte. She must have slipped through the dimensional rift while I was collapsing.

I had Nature Realm up—so why hadn't I noticed her?

The answer was pounding behind my eyes like a splitting headache. My mind had well and truly hit its limit.

Power Strike's cooldown was fifty seconds. My head was already maxed out.

Any further resistance was impossible.

I dropped Nature Realm and spoke through a faint laugh.

"Ha, ha. Being called a monster by Lady Cervantes does sting a little, you know."

"…I don't understand. If you had this kind of power, why didn't you attack me? You could have killed me easily if you'd wanted to."

Charlotte's voice trembled like a candle flame in the wind—choked full of questions. I answered her quietly.

"Didn't I tell you from the very beginning? I simply wanted to talk."

"Talk…"

A brief silence followed. Even without Nature Realm, I could tell she was wrestling with whether or not to pull the trigger.

"…Fine. Let's try it, then. Talking."

"I'm glad my sincerity seems to have gotten through. Although… aren't you going to take that away from my head?"

"What, you can't hold a conversation with a gun to your skull?"

"Not at all. Keeps me nice and sharp, actually."

And so began our honest conversation—Charlotte with a gun to my head, and me with a gun to my head.

"You've kept saying you're not a demon, right?"

"That's correct. I am not a demon."

"Then I'll change the question. What the hell are you? The Shion I knew didn't have the power to half-destroy a charging subway train."

So it comes to this after all. Sooner than I'd planned—but I supposed there was no helping it.

"Heh heh. This might come as a shock. Are you sure you're ready?"

"You're still messing around at a time like this? Don't test my patience."

"I only dare because I know Lady Cervantes's patience is as vast as the heavens. In that case, brace yourself."

Ahem. I cleared my throat and delivered a lie that wore the face of truth.

"Lady Cervantes—would you believe me if I said I don't belong to this world?"

"……What?"

"I'm not from here. Through a twist of fate, I—an utterly ordinary Earthling—possessed the body of a boy named Shion Frelia. I fell into a novel called Grand Chronicle."

A lie. Unlike Charlotte, I hadn't possessed a novel called Grand Chronicle. I had possessed a game called Grand Fantasia, in which she existed as a character.

But casually saying, "You're a game character, and I possessed that game," would have been harder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for both of us than simply claiming we shared the same circumstances—that I'd fallen into Grand Chronicle the same way she had. Call it ninety percent truth, ten percent fabrication.

"In other words, this world is the inside of a novel called Grand Chronicle… Though I don't expect you to believe that. Haha. If someone told me this world was a novel, I'd write them off as a lunatic myself. I understand. But please believe me on this one point, at least. I am absolutely not lyin—"

The muzzle pressed against my head jerked. Was she about to shoot? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I flinched.

The gun barrel trembled harder and harder—until at last she lowered it.

And not long after came a sound that twisted something deep in the chest of anyone who heard it.

"…Khk! Hhk…!"

A sob she couldn't quite swallow. I turned slowly, and saw tears spilling from the lovely corners of Charlotte's eyes.

I didn't even bother wondering why she was crying. I was human too; I could guess that much.

The terror of being dropped alone into a distant world. Nothing but strangers on every side, while the memories of the people you loved grew fainter with every passing day.

Time kept moving, and before she knew it, six months had gone by since she'd been stranded inside a novel.

In a situation that bleak, what kind of feeling would surge up the moment you met someone in the same boat?

I honestly couldn't begin to measure it.

"Kh-hhhk… Hwaaaaah!!"

She crumpled where she stood and wept as if she meant to bring the sky down. I simply watched her grief-soaked crying in silence.

She looked like she needed time.