Green light enveloped Sho, as if eating him.
He gritted his teeth.
His will power to survive pushed him beyond his limits.
*No. I'm not gonna die here. Not after going this far. This is nothing. I need to hold on. I can see the end to this. We're almost there.*
Even when he thought of that, the green light didn't stop eating his skin. Soon, tiny scratches became visible. The heroic lady and the middle school boy became worried for Sho.
Heroic lady stopped singing and started to reach out to Sho. She wanted to pull him against the green light, so that he would be free of the pain. But the middle school boy stopped her.
"Big sis, don't. We don't know what would happen if you touched him! You might experience what he is experiencing now!"
"But we can't just let him die!"
The middle school boy frowned. "We can't do anything but believe he knows what he is doing. He seemed knowledgeable about these things."
The heroic lady also frowned and looked at the boy. She felt complicated at how the boy was reacting in the situation, but she agreed with him on one thing. They should believe in this young man who had saved them twice already. Even though she doesn't know what he was doing, he had been doing well since earlier. She had many questions for him, but for now, she would believe that he would pass this hurdle.
He was their savior. The least she could do is believe in the young man.
"Maybe, you should continue singing. That's the only way you can help him." said the middle school boy.
The heroic lady nodded before started singing once more.
Sho, who was the topic of the two, wasn't aware of what was happening outside. While he knows that the heroic lady stopped singing for a while, he couldn't hear the two talk. Because he was pulled into a world of green. In there, everything seemed separated from the real world. It was a world where contradiction seems to be the norm. It is a place where the sea was green, where breathing in the sea came across as breathing in the air and slaughtering was colorful instead of a bloody red sight. Even Sho thought that slaughtering there was beautiful.
It appeared as though it was a world of consciousness. And he was the invader.
Upon noticing Sho's arrival, the green world of consciousness started attacking him. It wanted him out. And so, that's when the scratches and wounds started to appear. If Sho thought about it, it was really scary. The world of consciousness was affecting reality!
But Sho didn't think about that at the moment. He only has one in mind, his thoughts were full of what was happening right now. And he knew his survival would depend on this.
*I said I'm not giving up! You're the one who's going to give up! I didn't arrive here just to die!*
Sho might be going crazy because of the pain, but he felt he needed to voice this even if it is only in his mind.
Sho was shocked about the deep voice. It has an accent of unknown origin, but it was enough for him to realize it was the murloc. He shouldn't have understood any of what the murloc said. It was a language different from what the original Sho knew. But even so, he understood it. It might have to do with how he was holding the core of the murloc right now. That's the only thing he could think of why he could understand the murloc.
But one thing was certain after hearing the voice of the murloc. They were really intelligent beings.
*No can do, boss.* He even had the courage to smile despite his disadvantageous situation. *If I give up, I'll die. Who in their right mind would just give up.*
Any living being feared their kind. They were brutal. They don't listen to "reasons" the other dictates. They only listen to their own kind. They were outcast for their love for massacre and slaughter.
*Hah! It's better to try until the end!* The tiny wounds Sho had opened up even more, it can't be considered tiny anymore. He started bleeding profusely. If others were in his situation, they would surely faint already.
But Sho didn't faint. He didn't know if it was his will, or maybe it was because of the real him. However, despite the blood all over him, he remained calm. It was as if bleeding was a normal thing for him.
His mind could only think of one thing.
Bleeding won't kill you.
*Helping us?! Who are you kidding! You are just doing this for fun!*
Because of his intense emotion, he felt the green light slightly weakened.
He was confused at first. What was the reason for the green light to weaken? He focused on his surroundings, he felt that the green world of consciousness was slightly trembling, as if in fear of what he would discover.
*What are you afraid of?* He taunted the murloc.
Sho laughed out loud in his mind. He didn't know why, but he was feeling freer the more he talked with the murloc. It felt like all restraint he had was being removed.
In here, he wasn't assuming anyone's identity.
In here, he was just purely him.
In here, he wasn't Sho.
And once more, the green light slightly weakened. This time, the green world of consciousness tremble was more visible too.
*Oh-ho. So, my emotions could fight with this, huh?*
Weirdly enough, Sho wasn't scared. Instead he observed how he heard the underlying fear in the voice of the murloc. It was like the murloc was hiding his fear with false bravado. It was a sight to behold.
All his complicated mood started to move in a single direction. Now, he could only feel lightness.
Light and free.
*Well, this seems to work just fine. Let's see who would win!*
He grinned. Making those who couldn't hear his voice look at him like he had lost his mind. The two who were with him in the murloc's body even backed off.
For the two, Sho looked like he had lost his mind while being enveloped in the green light.
The middle school boy who didn't have anything to do started to be alert. If worse comes, he would do his best to protect the lady beside him. For him, she doesn't look like a bad person at all.
The heroic lady who backed off didn't stop singing. Although she was surprised by the sudden smirk, she still firmly believed in the young man. And like what her father said: "If you believe in someone, you have to give your full trust and support to them." That's why even though the scenario was scary and hair standing, she continued singing. She believed that was her only way to help in this bizarre situation.
Sho was silently thankful that the heroic lady didn't stop singing.
From the start of his conversation with the murloc, he realized that there were two things preventing the murloc to unleash its true potential. First, it was knocked out. Second, the singing made it sluggish. Even if it tried to make its voice sound fine, being observant, he immediately noticed those things.
It might have been already regretting how he thought Sho was amusing at their first conversation. It thought that Sho was an easy target so it decided to play around with him. It was the only time it had the chance to counter Sho with full power since the heroic lady stopped singing at that time.
But now, the heroic lady is not stopping anymore.
*Just give up!* Sho urged as he intensely raised his emotions to fight off the murloc.
Since emotion was the way to fight in the consciousness, he had to push his emotions as high as possible! Being a human, he can easily manipulate the emotion he wants to enhance. And this time, he is using his happy and free will to survive to battle the murloc.
It was the best way to fight the murloc!
His emotions had been intense ever since the flickering of the train started. His will to survive was all time high! And now, the intense feeling of being alive coupled with the feeling of being free made everything too much for the murloc to handle.
*No? Then let's see who would have the final laugh.* He laughed madly. It was do or die for him, while the murloc doesn't seem to be in the same predicament.
Since they were fighting in the green world of the consciousness of murloc, Sho noticed something peculiar. The murloc wasn't afraid of death, unlike him. It only means that even after defeating this murloc, it won't die. And because it didn't know the fear of death, it already lost in a battle of will with Sho!
Those who know fear of death have stronger will to survive!
*Sure. Crazy to survive.* He poured his will intensely, making him start to bleed considerably. The bleeding was too much for humans. But he didn't care. He didn't want to see anymore deaths. Hundreds of deaths in just some minutes?
*Too much! Too much!* He laughed madly again. Well, the truth is, he was half-acting. Maybe, he was half-insane at the moment, but he still has his sanity intact. He was just scaring the murloc. Judging on how this murloc reacted, it wasn't used to this kind of scenario. And an unknown scenario brought fear towards the murloc.
In the battle of consciousness, fear is something one should discarded or used to become a stronger will. Whoever has fear in their consciousness would lose no matter how strong they are.
Sho just chuckled.
It was not attacking him anymore. Instead, it seems to recognize him as a neutral entity.
For a moment, Sho was in awe. Although the same light was enveloping him, it now felt the light was warm enough to remove any chill he was experiencing from the breeze of the wind in the vast ocean. Even when his clothes were still wet, he didn't feel any chill anymore.
It was an amazing light. And it was a power from consciousness!
*Take us to the nearest land.*
He shook his head. He grinned once more. In the murloc's eyes, he looked like a villain. It even shivered even though Sho hadn't said anything yet.
*Trying to trick me, huh? If you wake up, then it's over for us. Lead the other murlocs to take your body to the shore. We might not know how to kill you now, but thirty minutes is enough time to experiment on you.* He laughed again, trying to scare the murloc.
Seemed to be effective. As he felt the core shaking.
It wasn't scared of death! But being experimented on was another matter! It became scared that it would experience excruciating pain and what's worse is it won't be able to escape because it couldn't die! As a murloc who loved hunting, they had experimented with their prey to gain more fun. But thinking that kind of experiment would happen to it, it was damned scared out of its wits! Heck! Would he be tortured all throughout? He won't die! And if he would suffer continuous pain… he just shuddered and stopped thinking about it.
*Thank you. Now, decide.* Sho sounded confident, but he was so nervous he could even hear his heartbeat.
***
The four heaved a sigh of relief as they reached the sand.
They felt exhausted even when they had ten minutes to catch their breath.
"We're finally here." The man in suit broke the silence as he stared weirdly at Sho.
Sho smiled sheepishly. He knew why the man was looking at him like he was crazy.
Sho ignored the man for now and waved to the water where the murlocs were swimming away.
"See you!" he grinned.
The murloc made an incomprehensible sound. Sho laughed evilly. Even though he couldn't hear the murloc who he "defeated," he could imagine it cursing him vigorously. It might even say it didn't want to see him anymore after the shameful result of the battle.
*Well, now I can feel lucky. Really, everything that happened depended on luck. If the murloc that man brought has a higher mental state, then I would've surely lost because of my bluffs. Also, if the heroic lady stopped singing at the most crucial moment, I would've died fast. And not to add that if the other murlocs saw what I was doing, then they would've attacked me instead of the strong dude. I was really lucky. Thirty-seven luck is not a joke.*
"Weirdo." the middle school boy uttered seeing his smile.
"Hey, we're alive, aren't we?"
They all fell in silence.
Sho realized his mistake. All of them discerned reality. Hundreds of people who didn't survive the murloc's attack. Thousands of people drowned inside the train.
His smile immediately disappeared. The feeling he was suppressing because of the danger they were in all came back in one go. He felt extremely dizzy. His knees gave up. He fell to the sand curled as he tried to squeeze his aching head.
*"Help!"*
*"Mom!"*
*"I-I don't wanna die!"*
Countless voices, screams and cries entered his head as images of the bloodied water with countless bodies surfaced in his mind, replaying all the scenes in a loop.
"Ahhhh!"
"L-little bro…?" The heroic lady came beside him, but she wasn't sure how she could help. The heroic lady looked at Sho with concern. She understood that everything that happened for a young man who didn't look like he was out of teens was too much to take.
*Damn. Damn. Damn. If only I was stronger. If only I was faster. If only I didn't sleep, I would've discovered the strange things happening. If only I said those words earlier. If only I had used my skill earlier. Damn! So many deaths. Those kids should've bright future. They're all gone. It's all my fault!*
Sho felt his real memory wanting to break out. But then, the thin wall was still there, firmly stopping his memory from coming back.
*Lucky?! Why can't I be lucky with everyone else? This isn't something I want! I just want the peace to come back! But what peace is there left? This ominous feeling I've felt since I've activated the character info. I know, there's no peace anymore.*
And soon, the countless deaths replaying in Sho's mind was replaced with countless fun anime, novels, games and dramas the original Sho had watched, read and played. The pain he was feeling slowly got lifted as the new scenes popping in his mind blocked the bitter truth they just experienced.
*Sho's hobbies, huh? They are coming to save me at the most crucial time.*
Sho realized as he let go of everything and continued looking at the fun scenes that saved original Sho countless times. It felt like the original Sho wanted to save him too that's why it was showing him such a scene.
Sho tried to open his eyes hearing two voices, one was the usual voice he heard in his head and another unfamiliar voice, he saw the blurry image of pure whiteness in the air.
*Angel? Maybe I've already died.* He commented as a smile weakly showed in his lips as he finally descended to unconsciousness.