A power to destroy the whole world

I wake up looking at an unfamiliar ceiling.

So unfamiliar that it's not even a ceiling, and mind you, I never woke up without an actual ceiling above my head. Well aside, from the first time I got up in this world, given that my reincarnation happened inside a field.

Still, what's above me is a bed of rocks. It seems like I'm in some sort of cave.

Last thing I remember was being inside the dancing hall in the mansion, but now…where am I? What happened exactly?

"Princess got up finally."

"HUH?!?"

"Scared? You should be more grateful with the guy who saved your life."

Deeper in the cavern was the man dressed like an astronaut which I met in day of my reincarnation. He sat in front of a bonfire, the only thing making light inside this dark hole.

"w….w…what are we doing here?"

"Hiding."

"W….what do you want to do w…with m…me? I…I'll have to t…tell you. I….c…can explode if you t….try something f….funny."

"Please don't"

"I….t's up to you."

"Relax. For one, you cannot "explode"….i think at least. After your little show at the mansion, there's bound to be a couple days before your energy is restored. Second, do you remember how it went up there?"

"W…what do you mean?"

"Question heavy girl I see."

"What am I supposed to say!?"

"And stutter disappears when angry, good to know."

This one's a scumbag. Not just a weirdo like I thought. And the fact his face is hidden behind the helmet only makes me want to punch him in the face more. It's harder to understand if he's sarcastic or not, so I'll just thing he is and that he deserves violence.

"What happen, cat's got your tongue?"

"Please, can you tell me what happened and why we're here?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

It's him hugging me. Which actually made me feel a lot better than it should. Simply the fact another human being was there to calm me was nice, not something I was ever used to in my previous life. Can't tell him that though, can't give him the satisfaction.

"You freezing me."

"Great, then you remember that I'm your perfect counter, so you should understand any threats will be useless."

"Perfect counter?"

"I don't know exactly what your power is little girl."

"Your mom's a little girl."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense."

"Neither do you!"

"That makes even less sense, so I'll ignore it. Whatever the calamity you've been linked with is, mine is the opposite, or at least a counter. From what I saw beforehand, we can say your power is unlimited energy, mine is the event in which all entropy ends. Or to simplify in an incorrect but simple manner, you are fire, but I'm an indissoluble ice. Normally, you'd be stronger, but my calamity acts on a conceptual level. It's impossible to start a fire without entropy, I stop that."

"… so you're the freezer to my microwave."

"Your universe had those too?"

"Yes."

"The you should understand how stupid that comparison is, but for the sake of brevity, yes, you could see it like that."

If the comparison works, how am I stupid? The time I'm going to punch him is drawing near, I'm sure.

Wait, though, we're leaving out something very important. Focus, Kaede, don't let this idiot distract you with random topics.

“Never mind, what are we doing here?”

“I told you, we're hiding. Are you slow, girl?”

“But from what?”

“...right, exactly how long have you been in this world?”

“Don't change the subject.”

“How long?”

“...”

“If I have to explain why we're hiding, I guess it's been a short time. I need to figure out exactly how to explain it to you.”

“When we met last time, I had just arrived... I think I even told you that. You advised me to abandon Arthesya's mission.”

“Ah... I didn't remember.”

I approach him and punch him in the helmet. It's cold and hard, it hurt my knuckles, and looking at them I can see slight signs of burns... what is this asshole made of? My moment of revenge was not satisfying, so I'll pretend it didn't happen and reserve the right to beat him up again in the future.

“Hey, watch out, I have a head inside too. You're shaking me around like that.”

“Fuck you.”

“That's vulgar, young lady. Watch your language.”

“Let's get back to the point... why are we hiding?”

“Do you have any idea how much chaos there is in the city of the first chain?”

“The situation wasn't great... but that's all the more reason we can't leave that statue to do as it pleases!”

“[MYHTO] is the least of your problems. In fact, it's the least of anyone's problems right now...”

“But what if he attacked the chain? He wanted to destroy it, didn't he?”

"Honestly, I doubt it. He wasn't there to carry out any mission for Arthesya. No one would be stupid enough to attack the first chain, everyone knows it's too strong and the power of that thing... it's so unsuitable for attacking chains that he probably gave up the Goddess's mission the moment he became a Fateless.“

”...so what was he doing there?“

”We'll probably never know the exact reason."

“Do I need to punch you again?”

“I'd rather not.”

“Good, fear me.”

“I don't want to see you cry because you hurt yourself.”

I punch him again. It hurts like hell, but I exceed all expectations and don't cry. Serves you right, idiot, don't you ever underestimate me!

“There, I see a tear.”

“Shut up and continue.”

“[MYTHO] was probably lured there...probably to create the conditions for the birth of the new Fateless.”

“You mean...”

“You.”

“And who would ever want something like that?”

“[ECHOES]. The reason I'm here too, another one like us, I've been hunting her for years...probably that thing was chasing her too, or had been led to that mansion by her.”

“[ECHOES]?”

“The fox woman.”

“Oh...”

Of course, in the midst of all the confusion, I had forgotten an important event. I died. The statue killed me. No, I mustn't think about that moment, those suction cups... the nerves that... no.... NO. I said I mustn't think about it. But the reason that thing was able to attack me... I must remember that.

It was the fox maid.

She pushed me into corruption.

“You mean Tama?”

“Was that her name?”

“If we're talking about the same person...”

“What an idiot!”

This time it was [TRAVELER] who hit his helmet, by himself, with much more force than I could ever have mustered.

“Ouch... why didn't you stop me?” he has the nerve to ask me.

“You did it all by yourself!”

“Yes, but I saved you, you could at least return the favor a little.”

“If you stop interrupting me, maybe you'll even explain what you mean by saving me!”

“You were about to explode, weren't you? I shut you down.”

“I'm with you so far... But why? And what does Tama have to do with it?”

“Tama... that bitch was using an abbreviation of her real name, and I still couldn't find her. How many fucking powers does she have?”

“Concentration!”

“Right. Anyway, that whole charade was most likely organized by [ECHOES]. I managed to exchange a few words with her before she got away, so I'm sure of what her goal was. It was you.”

"...but why me? She knew me, so she knows how useless I am!

Ouch, I know I said it myself, but that didn't stop the insult from hurting me. Probably because it was true. I'm such an idiot...

“It didn't choose you because of who you are. The person is never the important thing when creating a Fateless.”

“Then what...”

“Your world. The creature in the void explained it to you, didn't it?”

“Yes... it said something about seeing my reality through the story of my life.”

“It does the same with everyone. It asks you to tell it about your life and uses that to connect to the reality your soul comes from... then it uses its power. It takes the element that led to the end of the world and recreates it inside the body of the reincarnated person. That's how a Fateless is created.”

“So... Tama was interested in me because of the world I come from?”

"She must have known that you had everything it took to become a Fateless. You had to be reincarnated and you had to have rejected your destiny once before. All she had to do was push you just slightly off your destiny line in this world too... and then kill you. In this reality, souls who betray their destiny enter a cycle of reincarnation... However, this cycle was designed by the goddess Arthesya, who rules this world, and was made for souls connected to her.“

”Eh? I'm a little lost.“

”You weren't born in this world."

“My body was rebuilt from scratch, but... originally, my appearance was different.”

"That's normal. Your original body will still be in your world, dead. Usually, Arthesya rebuilds an identical body, but even if you are different, the substance remains the same. The body is matter; what matters for the cycle of reincarnation is the soul. Reincarnated beings have a destiny set at the moment of their pact with the Goddess: to give their lives to destroy the chains. It doesn't matter whether you succeed or not, as long as you fight for the cause, you will follow your destiny. This means that upon death, your soul will return to the Creator. Paradise."

“So...does that mean that when I decided not to participate in Arthesya's mission...I betrayed my destiny?”

“Exactly.”

“But...”

"Those who betray their destiny again find themselves with a soul that does not know where to go...so they fall into limbo between life and death... and in this world, that is the domain of the creature that creates the Fateless. Tama brought you to the first chain because he knew you would become a Fateless.“

”But...“

”And the reason is clear if we look at your power. The chain is...“

”THEN IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.“

”Pardon?"

“You're the one who told me to abandon the mission in the first place!”

“Oh...”

[TRAVELER] fell silent for several seconds, then hit his helmet hard again.

“SHIT, I'M STUCK IN THAT WOMAN'S PLAN AGAIN! EVEN EARLIER THAN I HAD IMAGINED.”

The helmet shook violently; his head inside it couldn't be having much fun. Not that the situation would have been any better if he hadn't been wearing something to protect it, but this time he hadn't held back at all. This guy is definitely stupider than I thought... and it's not like I had a high opinion of his intelligence to begin with.

“You could have stopped me...” he repeated again.

“You did it all yourself...”

“Yes, but I saved your life... you could try to repay me a little.”

“I'll hit you again.”

“No, please, it's too much for my poor little head.”

[TRAVELER] lay down on the rocky ground, it couldn't be comfortable... but he's not done yet!

“Hey!”

“What... let me rest a few more hours. It's not worth going out right now, there will be patrols for months.”

“You're not done.”

“What?”

“Why are we here? And why did Tama want to make me a Fateless?”

“Right. I thought you'd figure it out on your own, but apparently not.”

“You're not convincing me not to punch you by doing this, you know?”

“The power that creature gave you... can you tell me exactly what it is?”

"I think... it's called nuclear. What you said earlier about driving an element crazy isn't totally wrong. Basically, by splitting an atom, you can create an explosion of immense power. I don't know much about it, but in my world it's so dangerous that its use is taboo and everyone is terrified of it. There have been entire wars based on the mere threat of using bombs that harness this power. I think that's what's been put into my body."

“Terrifying, doesn't really answer my question, though.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“You don't seem to understand the dynamics of power exactly. You've probably never come into direct contact with it.”

“No, otherwise my world would already be over.”

“It isn't?”

“No, it's not doing too well for a variety of reasons, but it's still there.”

“Oh, that's rare. Such frightening powers usually come from realities that have ended. Anyway, that's what [ECHOES] wanted to get out of you, the reason for all this drama.”

“Okay, but what does it gain by giving me this power?”

“That power of yours is very frightening, you know, [IRIDESCENT].”

“Huh? How do you know that name?”

“When a Fateless is born, their name is imprinted on the minds of everyone who sees them.”

“Convenient...”

“The reason [ECHOES] wanted you to be born... is also partly why we're hiding. There was a holy knight in the mansion, and he seemed pretty strong to me. So it's impossible that he didn't notice.”

“Stop beating around the bush! What's going on?”

“Your power can break the chain. In fact, if left unchecked, it could burn up the atmosphere of the entire planet.”