It was the finale and the crescendo. It was Haru's last hurrah. There would be no victory though. No riding towards the sunset. This was more akin to the euthanasia of an old horse, after serving long and hard. A final act of resistance in this miserable grueling war.
She stopped first before entering the Library, tension crawling all over her body. Her hands and knees were shaking, her chest pounding more and more powerfully. Her head was filled with indecisiveness, telling her to get out now, proceed further, maybe think more of this through, or just lay down on the ground and sob like a baby. Anything for this dilemma to stop. Anything for the hurting to cease.
Her fear was not because she had not prepared. She had some plans at least – some tactics and strategies. She's got those nifty backup plans too just in case. That being said, she was no soldier or trained warrior. She had little fight IQ. All of her achievements were done on the fly. Hell, her victory over DudeAssassin was an absurd one. She didn't even think it would work.
Still, it was too late to back out now. And what was she going to do? Stay here and languish like what the Nihilion did? This was going to be her last rodeo, so she should at least find her confidence, and block her insecurities. It was now or never; it was the time to toughen up.
"You?" The Nihilion asked uninterestingly the moment she finally went in the Library, not even giving her a look. He was laying on a wooden bench in the street. His hands were below his head, his legs displayed all over the rail, his eyes staring at the sky. He still sported that tan trench coat, but now a cigarette hung on his mouth, and black shades covered his eyes. His costume now fitted his personality more – the deuciest of the deuce. "Where's Charlie?"
"F-Forget about him," Haru stuttered. "I-I'm you enem–"
"So this bitch has more balls, lad. I should have known. You're a coward and a loser," The Nihilion laughed as if he was speaking to Charlie. "It doesn't matter, after I kill this bitch, I'm going after you. You may have trapped me here in the Library when you said I'm not going anywhere. But I will find a way."
Haru clenched her fists and glared at the Nihilion. "You will do no such thing!" she yelled with more confidence and rage, finally losing her stutter. "I'm not scared of you anymore."
This sudden defiance surprised the Nihilion, making him smile. He then sat up on his bench and put one foot over the other, continuing his smug appearance. "Why is that? Care to tell?"
"You're not scary. In fact, you're pathetic," Haru continued. "At first, I thought you were something. Like a mystery? Like Gigyas? But no. You're just an asshole. And what kind of villain stays up there and lets his minions do the torturing? If you're going to torture us at least get off your lazy butt and face us! Kuso kurae! Deku!"
"Ouch…" replied the Nihilion with a giggle. Haru didn't think those words would get him to reply. They were all just a bunch of lousy insults and comebacks that came out of her head. But what she did was something. It was the geeks this time who managed to dish out the pain.
"You've taken everything away from me. The world that made me happy. My family. The friends I made. You killed many, took and brainwashed some–"
"You mean Amp? I wasn't going to help him. I was also just pulling his strings. After killing you all, I was planning to murder him too. But... yes... things didn't go according to plan. I always knew Charlie would come up with one final surprise."
"And we will continue to surprise you still. We will continue fighting as long as we breathe."
"Didn't you get what I said? Amp couldn't escape. Charlie couldn't beat me. While I did say that you were impressive back then, what are you going to do now, Great Idiot? You know you are going to fail."
The two then fell silent; their eyes locked on to each other. Haru had said all she had to say. The pain, the loss, and even the little disses for the Nihilion.
"Well then. Enough with the clichéd chit-chat and corny speeches. Come at me, luv. Show me what you got."
The time for speaking was over. There was no other reason to delay. Haru wasn't there to converse with a friend. She was there to die.
Haru started with something simple. She put her palms forward and shot a pink beam sprinkled with red hearts at the Nihilion. But the monster only yawned and the beam was automatically redirected. That was a bad move, Haru thought. She had all the powers in this virtual reality world so she should have done something grander.
"Nah-ah-ah!" the Nihilion waved his finger at Haru. "I know what you're doing. You're trying to erase me the same way Charlie did with those bosses. Well, I have seen what he is capable of and I see that his item is with you. So I've prepared for it and that shite isn't going to work on me."
Huge vines, as thick as cedar trees, sprouted out of the street, throwing old bricks and pavement away. The vines lashed at Haru, who in turn, tried to flip and dodge away. One of them, unfortunately, tagged her, slapping her away through one of the houses.
"You didn't see that one coming, luv? The Nihilion teased. Haru quickly got up and went back to the street. She was fine although a small trickle of blood came out of her mouth. One drop of blood wouldn't be enough to make her give up though, as she stood up and summoned hundreds of burning shooting stars from space, flying towards the Nihilion.
The bastard, still unimpressed, simply and jokingly summoned hundreds of large tennis rackets in the sky, which sent those shooting stars back into space. Before Haru could retaliate, she then felt sick. Swelling and bleeding sores appeared throughout her body. She then began vomiting and her temperature burned up like a whistling kettle.
"Thought I'd try to teach you something about creativity, you talentless imbecile. That's anthrax right there and it's been a while since I used it on someone. That's how you do an attack, luv," added the Nihilion. "It's so easy to hurt you physically, so now I want to try hurting you psychologically instead."
Haru's eyes widen as the Nihilion summoned new minions into the fray. These were not any grunts or bosses she had ever faced. Even so, she wished he had summoned the bosses, because what was in front of her right now, were the people she loved. There was her brother, Ryūji, rushing towards her with his black katana. There was Capt. Mulholland shooting his carbine. On the sky flew Catherine in her armor with arsenals ready. Calamum Nomen was there too preparing to jot something down. And then there was Charlie. Her beloved Charlie, looking at her with murderous intent.
The group ganged up on her, slashing and shooting, punching and stomping. She could feel the steel of her brother's sword slicing her flesh open, as well as the bullets and lasers the captain and Catherine were sending to her. Cal was having fun too, chanting, "Twist me so, twist me so. Make me bleed. Or please very please!" which made her limbs twist in ways they were not supposed to. Charlie's lightsaber also carved up many pounds of flesh, slowly dicing her up piece by piece.
The damages Haru took from them were real, but these would never come from the people she loved. As she put this into her mind, she summoned a green card into her hand. That card was a magic card from Yu-Gi-Oh, specifically the card named "Dark Hole". The moment she unleashed it, a giant hole appeared in the sky which began to devour everything. Buildings and infrastructure went straight inside, and the Nihilion's summons were swallowed as well. When the hole disappeared, only the Nihilion and Haru remained on what was left of the Library. Haru had also removed the sickness the Nihilion had put in her.
"Bravo," the Nihilion smirked. "But to be honest, this is boring me, little bird. Let's try something more fun. You read Western comics? Have you read Neil Gaiman's The Sandman? It's a wonderful comic which you should read. But anyways, in that comic, the protagonist, Morpheus, dueled with a demon in a game called the 'Game of Reality'. The objective of this game is for players to take turns in coming up with things that is more powerful than the other. You want to try it?"
"Do it," replied Haru. "I'm not going anywhere and neither will you."
"That's the spirit! I'll start!" the Nihilion said, before clearing his throat. "I summon… a large wolf. The stuff of fairy tale nightmares. One which could gobble your head in one bite."
A large wolf then appeared and attacked Haru. But before it could get close, it was Haru's turn to summon. "I summon a samurai, riding on death's horse, carrying a yumi with poisoned arrows. He hunted your wolf like game, and wore its skin as a trophy."
As she said this, a samurai was indeed summoned, who shot the wolf on the lung with an arrow, before picking it up, skinning it with a knife, and wearing its bloody skin on his armor. "Impressive! Now it's my turn," the Nihilion said. "I summon an American marine in a frog pattern helmet and a Thompson machine gun. He ripped your samurai into shreds with his tommy gun the same way America destroyed your country in WW2."
A marine was then summoned, who filled both the samurai and his horse with lead, turning both into a bloody paste.
That was how this fight was done. They would each be given a chance to say something, and everything they said, became real. They didn't only have the power to summon something. This game allowed them to basically warp the whole world. There were no rules in this game, it was all about who could be the most creative. Nonetheless, it was like chess, involving wits, hoping not to get stuck and checkmated.
"I summon a Vietcong sniper, who hid in the trees and shot the marine in the head."
"Oh! I didn't see that one coming. Alright. I summon the Vietcong's wife, who got irritated and lonely that her husband had not been coming home. So she divorced his arse, took his kids, and ran away with an officer from the North Vietnamese Army. The Vietcong sniper then got depressed and shot himself with his own rifle."
"Huh? Okay… Well! I summon a mighty typhoon common in many southeast Asian countries. It devastated her village and killed her."
"Good. Now I summon an anti-global warming advocate, who believes that global warming is fake and that typhoon is fake and thus doesn't anymore exist."
Haru paused. The Nihilion was treating this battle as a joke, which was not surprising. It was obvious the Nihilion had the edge. She was no threat to him and he was confident this battle would end with him victorious.
"Kuso! I summon a lion who then eats your stupid defenseless activist in one gory fashion!"
"I summon an African poacher who shot your lion, skinned it, and sold his fur to a fat capitalistic old businessman with sepsis."
"I summon velociraptors who proceed to eat both your poacher and the businessman! The poacher tries to fight back with his gun but his little knowledge of prehistoric animals has–"
"I summon a triceratops who skewered your raptors in its horns."
"I summon a family of t-rex who surrounded and ripped your triceratops into pieces!"
"I summon a volcano which then exploded, covering the world in thick dark clouds, resulting in the extinction of your t-rexes."
"I summon a meteor from the sky which then flattened your volcano!"
"Nope, it didn't. I summon the superhero Saitama who, with his unlimited strength, punched that meteor into hundreds of tiny little rocks."
"Oh, fuck you!"
Haru was beginning to get tired, both physically and mentally, while the Nihilion just sat there laughing. She had never hated the Nihilion more than this. Killing and maiming her and her loved ones were bad enough. But now, seeing him sitting there, insulting and underestimating her, fuelled even more hatred in her.
"You're making Saitama break character! He would never fight for you because you're a villain. So your volcano still got destroyed!"
"Noice! Well, I summon a moon, bigger than the meteor, making it ineffective the moment it crashed."
"I summon a planet, bigger than the moon, making it a slave of its gravitational field. Millions of years went by and the moon was finally thrown aside, a destiny that all moons had to face."
"I summon a sun, making your planet a slave of mine. The sun is worshiped by all celestial bodies who have no choice but for their existence to revolve around it. Life and meaning only exist on your planet because of my sun. Soon, the sun would become a dwarf star, destroying your planet."
"I am a whole galaxy, an infinite field where all celestial bodies exist. Your sun is nothing but a cog in my galaxy, which itself is filled with millions of other stars."
"Well then, it won't be long before I finally get you checked, for I summon the universe, encompassing billions of galaxies, including yours. Your galaxy is nothing more than a speck in my universe."
"Well then. I am the big rip, the end of the universe. It is a fate your universe must face in the end. From a bang it once came, to an equally big crunch would it perish."
"I am existence itself. Your hypothetical big rip exists because I allow it so. Universes, galaxies, planets, and stars, exist because there is existence. I am all-encompassing and the embodiment of everything, physical and metaphysical."
Haru stopped, and the Nihilion smirked once again. This was it – the end of the road. The girl had fought well. Kudos to her for stepping into the ring to tango with the Nihilion. But she had lost this fight as she could not possibly think of anything to counter existence. His answer symbolized his power. He was indeed the alpha and the omega. Life and death itself. Everything was possible in this virtual reality world because he wanted to. Because he designed everything. No socially awkward anxious little otaku girl could beat someone like him. There was just no way.
"Life is a constant bitch," the Nihilion jeered. "And I enjoy making it an even bigger bitch. I thought I was doing it all for vengeance and spite, but there's something about you geeks that make torturing you all so fun!"
It was not the end for Haru, even as the Nihilion jested. She continued the game, saying, "I summon the opposite of existence. De-existence. Decadence. Deconstruction. Nothingness. For nothing in this world can exist forever. Everything born will die. Everything built will break. Every pain inflicted will heal. Every sadness and grief has a silver lining. It took a while for me to believe in that. But now I know and I want to believe."
"Luv, I don't think–"
"I'm not yet finished, baka! As I said, I summon the opposite of existence. Everything that is will be was. This does not only include the universe, galaxies, planets, and stars. This also includes the virtual reality worlds. This includes the Escapist Dream and those who reside in it!"
Suddenly, the world began to change. The earth shook and the breeze stopped blowing. In the distance, right on the horizon, a thin white line emerged. Everything around the two started to disintegrate – dissolving into tinier and tinier pieces until they were gone.
The Nihilion's grin disappeared as he watched the great reckoning. From the houses, the ground, to the sky; the whole lot fading away and swallowed by nothingness. And it too, he knew, would be gone as well. Soaking in the climax of it all, the Nihilion once again smiled, which he then followed up with a slow insulting clap.
"You've been planning this haven't you?" the Nihilion asked.
"Kind of," replied Haru. "I was waiting for the right opportunity while you were acting so confidently. I had to wait to make sure you would be caught off guard, so that it would be too late for you to stop it. That game of yours gave me the perfect opportunity. While we were talking about planets and suns, I had already started doing my plan."
It wasn't long before only their small patch of land remained untouched. But the two combatants knew the end was near. They themselves had begun to disintegrate, every fiber and molecule being nipped away into the abyss.
"Let me get this straight," the Nihilion continued. "You knew there was no way you can beat me or kill me. So you decided to kill the virtual reality world – of which I belong – to kill me."
"Yes," replied Haru. "And don't even bother getting away. Charlie made sure you will not be escaping the Library and your fate. So let it sink the person you've been calling a loser, helped in killing you."
"Bloody hell. But this means you are going to die with me. Charlie too."
"It doesn't matter."
The Nihilion gave one final snicker. "Well played, luv. Well played..."
His compliments were nothing to her. She stopped paying him mind even. All that was in her head were the memories she had with Ryūji, Catherine, Captain Mulholland, and all the other geeks. The great achievements and fun times – the happiest moments in her life.
Anyways, yeah, I would love to be able to talk to you again. You're a cool girl, GI.
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Charlie sat on the floor of his bedroom, his back now leaning against the wall. The sombreness on his face remained; the events of the previous weeks were still in his head. The bad memories were hard to get rid of.
The doorknob turned and the entrance started to open. Charlie looked and tried to guess who it could be. It could be the Nihilion who had come to finish the job. Charlie, however, didn't care. He had stopped caring for a long time.
But it wasn't the Nihilion who entered. It was Haru, wearing a cute magical girl outfit, appearing battered, bruised, and exhausted beyond the average limit. "Haru..." Charlie muttered, but before he could say more, Haru turned to him and gave him the most beautiful smile in the world. Its beauty didn't come from red lips or rosy cheeks. Said beauty came from it being given by someone who had gone through so much pain.
"We did it, Charlie-kun... the Nihilion is gone. We won..."
"Really? How?"
"I used your power to destroy the Escapist Dream and destroy the Nihilion. But I kept you alive. I wanted you to be alive. So I spared this dimension of yours."
"How about you? Are you okay?"
Haru closed her eyes but continued to smile. She took a deep breath before walking towards Charlie. The American geek stood up just in time to catch her embrace.
"I was going to die," Haru said, as the last drops of dread left her, leaving only warmth. She had never felt so relieved in her whole life. She had avenged her loved ones, defeated the big bad, and got to hug Charlie one more time. "I was ready for it too. But I remembered you, Charlie-kun. I remembered you. So I got out just in time so I could see you again."
"Damn, Haru. You are the baddest person I've ever met."
"I didn't do it only for me. I did it also for you."
Charlie closed his eyes and smiled. He tightened his hug on Haru, running his cheeks on her hair, sharing in her warmth. Haru closed her eyes as well and she could hear the fast thumping of his heart. It was a familiar beating to her; the beating of sweetness in the company of someone special.
"T-Thank you. But still... are things goin' to be alright now?"
"Maybe... currently... it's not going to last forever. But if there's one thing I learned. If we hold on... if we fight... we'll get through this... together. So let's get out of here."
Haru used the item, and in a flash, they were gone.