The Embodiment of the Scarlet Adventuress

The lightbulb was hanging right above him. It was the afternoon, but since the sun was on the other side of the building, he needed the artificial light to read.

He was very excited. There was a reason why the line in the bookshop had been so long: the 14th volume was special. The 13th one ended with a cliffhanger, revealing for the first time the main villain, the Witch of Barriers. Actually, she was in the cover of the book alongside Mirena, facing each other, both ready to fight.

The witch dressed like the typical image of western which, but with purple clothes. She had a long and waving green hair. A wooden rod was her weapon.

On the other side was Mirena. She also had a long hair, but more straight and red. Her eyes were also bright scarlet. She used a golden sword as weapon, and a silver armor, all decorated with jewels and beautiful designs. Below the armor, she was wearing red clothes of soft silk.

He started reading. The first chapter was a flashback, generating more hype to keep reading. It was the story of one of the secondary characters.

—Wow, you are so dead —said Ken. It is a common cliché in fiction, show the sad backstory of a character right before killing him. However, in Sekaunmei the characters don’t usually to die, so it was unlikely. But since the volume 14th was special, then maybe, just maybe, that would be the first death in the story.

Then, the second chapter started, continuing the main timeline.

“—I´m invincible —stated the Witch—. Give up, mere humans. I have the power to control every kind of barrier. I can create a magical barrier to defend myself from anything you got, and I can destroy all your defense. Armors, walls, magic, everything count as a barrier, and I can destroy it. Even the distance between you and me count as a barrier, so I can just teleport right behind you and kill everyone, one by one.”

—Yeah, sure, just explain all your power to the heroes, idiot —said Ken out loud. Create an overpowered character, and then nerf her by making her stupid. He hated that kind of writing.

“—Who are you calling idiot? —responded the Witch.”

—Eh? —Ken was very confused. For a second, it even seemed like the Witch responded to him. But of course that was completely impossible—. But that line doesn’t fit at all. Maybe it’s just a translation mistake.

The Witch declared that she wasn’t going to kill anyone. Instead, she was planning to kidnap everyone and use their vital forces as combustible for her newest machine: a portal-generating machine that could invoke an army of fierce monster from another dimensions.

And then, the battle started.

That was something very interesting about Sekaunmei. Even if it was a light novel, it didn’t skimp in battles. The author managed to create epic fights just with words. But as for that battle in specific, it was disappointing. The Witch was so strong that the battle was basically all the main characters throwing their best powers just for the Witch to avoid it without even trying. And in just a couple of pages, everyone was defeated.

—That’s it?

“—Yes, that’s it —proclaimed the Witch of the Barriers—. As I said, nobody can match my powers. The only one left is you —said pointing to Mirena.

She was barely standing still. Seeing all her friends defeated like that made her feel angry and powerless. The golden sword was shaking because of how hard she was holding it. All the muscles of her body were in pain, but she managed to endure it.

The Witch suddenly appeared in front of her and attacked Mirena with the rod right in her stomach. She was sent flying a few meter, but landed on her feet. Then she raised the divine golden sword.

—Gods of Darmasia, heed my call! Help me to defeat the Witch and return the order to this universe!

Mirena waved the sword with all her remaining strength. The Witch defended herself creating a magical barrier, but it was futile. An imperceptible force hit her and sent her flying with an unbelieving face.

—How is it possible?! —screamed in panic.

—My sword has been blessed by the God of the Void. Your barriers can´t defend yourself from the power of Nothingness!

Power-up. Another common cliché in this kind of light novel. It happens when a character gains a new power out a nowhere, usually in the most convenient time.

As for Sekaunmei in general, there wasn’t too much power-ups. But when it comes to Mirena, then yes. She had a lot of power-ups, basically an average of one per volume. That was the reason for her popularity to fall down over time.

But Ken wasn’t annoyed by this. Actually, that was one of the reason why he loved Mirena. People saw her as an overpowered character, but that wasn’t the case at all. Her powers were just thanks to her divine sword. Without it, she was a simple human with weak fire magic. That’s what made Mirena his favorite character in all the fiction, his waifu. She was a girl that had to deal with the fact that she’s only useful because of a tool, not for what she actually was. In the real world, Ken felt the same way. The people were kind to him just because all the time he wasn’t being himself. If they knew him true self, they wouldn’t be so nice. But Mirena, instead of him, was happy anyways. She was always giving her best, no matter what.

—And that’s why I love you Mirena! Kill that Bitch of Barriers!

“The Witch repeated her attack. Mirena couldn’t stop the rod, and was sent flying again, even further this time.

—If you love her so hard, then you can keep her —said the Witch.”

Again, another incredible and very weird timing. It was the third time. Ken passed the page, still a bit confused.

The next two were a drawing. The Witch was flying in the dark sky. Her eyes were seeing right towards him, and he felt a little uncomfortable. It was like if the Witch was alive and aware of everything.

After all, she was the Witch of the Barriers. What if she could also destroy the fourth wall, the barrier between reality and fiction?

The drawing also showed Mirena, flying after the impact. If the drawing were a picture, she would be about to hit the camera.

And when Ken was turning the page again, the book shined. It was so sudden that he was frightened, so he dropped it and ran away like if it were a cockroach. But since the apartment was so small, he couldn’t run very far. The book shined more and more, until something came out of it.

Because of the white glow, he couldn’t see very well. Something silver blocked his sight. There was a little of red also. For one second he even thought it was fire, but no. It was something more soft and beautiful.

He felt those seconds in slow motion. As suddenly as it came, the shining disappeared. But the red and silver thing was still there. She was falling slowly, right in front of his eyes that couldn’t believe what was happening. The girl opened her eyes and looked to Ken while falling. The red eyes of her and his black ones came into contact, for a second that was prolonged to an eternity.

But then she fell to the ground, and the back of her head hit the floor with a loud sound, making her fall unconscious.

There was a silence during some time, while Ken was reorganizing his ideas. There was an unconscious girl on his floor... There was an unconscious girl on his floor!

The logical explanations didn’t matter. He had a great trouble. The sound of the hit was easily audible in the other apartments. What if a neighbor called the police? What excuse could he say?

He came closer to the girl and raised her head gently, trying to wake her up. There was no use.

Then he looked at her. She was Mirena. Ken laughed out loud. It was so ridiculous. How could she be Mirena? He couldn’t believe it.

But he had to believe it. He was feeling the warmth of her head and the softness of her hair. He could smell her. It wasn’t a good smell though. It smelled like sweat and dirt.

—Well, I guess that’s how an adventurer that just had a fight with a Witch smells. Makes sense.

But the most undoubtedly probe that she was Mirena was the appearance. She looked exactly like you would expect an anime character to be in real life. Big, beautiful and colorful eyes, silky hair, white skin without any imperfection, thin lips, a voluptuous body and a gently expression. Her beauty was the biggest evidence that she wasn’t from this world.

—The other option is that the sun reflected suddenly in my apartment, making me believe the book was shining, at the exact moment when the most perfect cosplayer in the world jumped into my apartment through the window. Somehow, the “fictional character incarnates in real world” sounds more credible. But still amazes me how easy I’m accepting this.

—Maybe is because you spent so much time watching anime that your perception of reality is completely messed up —said a random voice in his head.

—Yeah, I guess so.

With so many evidence in front of him, there was no other choice rather than believe in the magical option. Then, he had another problem.

—What am I supposed to say in a moment like this?! “Hello, I’m a big fan.” “Quick, get up, the you need to defeat the Witch!” “Welcome to a new world, you are going to live with me.” None is good!

As a person with sociability deficiencies, talk with another people was a complex game of strategy. You have to foresee what the other one is going to say, and have a deck of different possible answers. Without that, he panics and ends up saying stupid things, empty phrases or monosyllabic words that kills the conversation.

“What can I say?” wasn’t the right question. “What is she going to say?”, that was the real issue.

His mind worked at the hundred percent of its capability, imaging thousands of different outcomes.

“Who are you?”

“Don’t touch me, gross!”

“I think I love you.” (The most unrealistic one, but also a possibility).

“Where am I.”

“My head hurts.”

“Where are my friends?”

Millions of possibilities. No human could bear so much information. But Ken, used to do this process for every single conversation he had in his life, had reached a mental state able to imagine a lot of fantasy scenarios at the same time and find the best outcome for all of them. That was the “superpower” he developed after so many years of being pathetic at talking with people. The only thing left was to discard the most obviously impossible options, having in count Mirena’s personality.

But if he had that superpower, why was he pathetic to begin with? Simple. Because the human language is a finite system with infinites possibilities. It didn’t matter how hard he tried, always the reality ends up being unpredictable. So when Mirena opened her eyes, she suddenly yelled:

—Why you kept looking at me and didn’t do anything to stop me from falling?!