Chapter 5: [New Tales] - Call Me Hook~ (End)
Shattering Iron Prison swept through the horde of Raptures.
Some Raptures were split cleanly in two by the downward sweep of a giant scythe.
Others were dragged forward along with the Raptures in front of them, only to be ground apart with severe damage.
Wow, this is serious.
I didn’t know what was going on.
But as I tried to leave the city center, I saw a figure desperately trying to flee, only to be brought down by an attack from a massive Rapture.
A person in a helmet. I didn’t know whether they were a Heretic—a NIKKE on the Rapture side—or just an ordinary NIKKE.
Right before they were about to be pierced by the swarm, I used [Shattering Iron Prison] and saved the mysterious figure.
“Just lie still. If you move the wrong way, you’ll die, okay?”
There was no reply.
Our first meeting had been a disaster, but there was only one reason I still saved this person.
I guess I had a feeling that if I ignored them, something huge would happen later.
Saving someone who had just fired a beam attack that threatened my life was, by any normal standard, insane.
Even though this was clearly a case of karma, and even though I could have just ignored it and walked away.
“If I ignore it, I’m going to feel really gross about it!”
Whoosh! Boom!
A blue fist smashed the charging Rapture to pieces.
Then, unlike the others, a Rapture the size of a four- or five-story building aimed something mounted on both sides at me.
At the same time, the other Raptures also lined up their barrels and opened fire.
“Nope~ Like hell I’m letting you hit me.”
Slash! Crash!
Using the most powerful version of [Shattering Iron Prison] I had used so far, I unleashed a massive, wide-ranging slash. Raptures shattered under the cutting force and the resulting shockwave.
The giant Rapture, perhaps because it was close enough, had one side sliced open, but as proof that it was no ordinary monster, it still tried to rise again.
[Shattering Iron Prison] - [Hwe].
The skill [Shattering Iron Prison] was divided into three forms.
One that deals damage by dragging a target down from the air to the ground.
One that deals damage by pulling distant mobs close.
And finally, one that unleashes a wide slash to wipe out nearby enemies.
[He], [Jeon], [Hwe].
With the power of these three forms, the Raptures were shredded in an instant, and the blue fist that followed smashed them like crackers.
The giant Rapture, perhaps because it had taken on the role of commander, kept its shaky aim on me with what looked like a remaining railgun barrel.
“I’ll finish you with this.”
I used my leap skill and jumped into the horde, which had been reduced far more than before.
As the giant Rapture quickly aimed its railgun at me, I fired off one of my stronger second-tier skills.
A bluish aura appeared over my whole body, including my right arm and hand, where I wore the [Appsolabs Knuckle] and clenched my fist.
The aura instantly grew in size and took on a distinct shape.
Once it was ready, I threw my fist at the giant Rapture.
And then—
A deer-like spirit appeared and drove its fist forward with tremendous force.
Thwoom!
The giant Rapture was pierced through its core and stopped moving entirely, leaving behind nothing but a clean hole.
Unlike the giant Rapture that had been struck by both the spirit’s fist and the shockwave, the other Raptures, whose power had been cut off from their cores by the spreading shockwave, froze in place.
With the area cleared in an instant, I looked around for a moment before slowly approaching the fallen figure.
“Wow, this is bad... And a NIKKE, too.”
I walked up to the helmeted figure and examined them closely.
It wasn’t as horrific as having limbs torn off, but the arms hanging limp while leaking a red liquid like blood were not made of human flesh, muscle, and bone, but of machine wiring and a steel frame.
One leg was bent below the knee at an angle it should never bend, and the body remained motionless, one hand still desperately outstretched.
“Did they pass out? Or... was I too late?”
I carefully tapped the helmet that covered their face, but there was no reaction.
Thinking about it, this was the first time I’d seen a NIKKE like this. I hadn’t been able to keep up with the newer story chapters at all.
“Damn... come to think of it, the second anniversary must have already started. Seriously! If only my combat power weren’t so lacking!”
If I had to sum up NIKKE in one sentence, it was a strange game that pretended to be idle but still required basic enhancement breakthroughs.
And unlike other games that held major updates by the year, this one ran events on the unusual scale of a “half-anniversary.”
For reference, I had started playing during the 1.5 anniversary, and only recently had I finished getting five characters to three-star limit breaks, barely broken through level 200, and completed chapter 26, the so-called Red Hood story. I was still a total newbie.
Thinking back on all the stories I had cleared, I had never seen a NIKKE wearing a helmet and carrying a coffin.
“There was only one... suspicious clue I could think of.”
While pushing through chapter 23, I remembered that NIKKE had a “Lost Relic” system that gave rewards for collecting items on each stage.
Among them was the “Pilgrim Encounter Report,” one of the most interesting and likely clue-filled pieces of lore from a player’s perspective.
No way... could that really match this?
I remembered the part about a NIKKE carrying a coffin.
It said you couldn’t tell whether she was a Rapture or a NIKKE, but that she vanished in a burst of light.
I didn’t know anything about the latest story, or more precisely, anything after chapter 27.
Was this a NIKKE from an event story? I thought that for a moment, but set it aside.
In the second-anniversary broadcast, they mentioned ‘Rapunzel from the Goddess era,’ ‘Cinderella,’ the Pilgrim before Anachiro’s corruption, and... was it ‘Grave’?
Honestly, I hadn’t even properly watched the second-anniversary broadcast.
They said every clue and spoiler imaginable came out there, but I personally didn’t want to hear that kind of spoiler talk, so I skipped it.
And now, because that skipped broadcast had become a problem, regret came flooding in.
“For now, it’d be better to move her and that coffin.”
The first NIKKE I had ever held since being stranded in this world was lighter than I expected.
The coffin was even lighter than that.
=============
[ Abe~ What are you doing~? ]
A beautiful blue sky, a field where the horizon met the land, and the white flowers blooming across that field matched the “her” smiling in front of me.
[ Look at this~ Pretty, right? They’re called chamomile! ]
She was delicate and beautiful like glass, her white hair tied in twin tails and shining as it swayed.
[ They say chamomile means “hidden beauty” or “strength to overcome adversity”! ]
She smiled innocently, beaming at the gently swaying flowers, and she was beautiful.
[ Abe~! What’s wrong? Is something the matter? ]
I wanted to protect her. That clear smile of yours, that bright and happy smile—you didn’t suit a worried expression.
Just as I was about to reach out and fix her hair,
a fierce wind blew, and all the flowers in the field began to wither.
The sky darkened in an instant, and as the flowers wilted, the ground slowly began to dry out.
Thud!
The sound of flesh bursting.
Crack!
The sound of bone and metal breaking.
Boom!
The sound of an explosion tearing up the ground.
And then—
She looked at me with eerie, blood-soaked, glasslike red eyes—
“Everything is for the Queen.”
Ah.
Ahh.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
That’s not it! That isn’t Cinderella!
The false one—she wasn’t defiled!
Give her back. Give her back to me.
Give me Cinderella back, the girl who admired the Goddess more than anyone else!
“Cindere... llaaa...”
I reached out with a heavy hand, but she kept drifting farther away—
“My name is Anachiro. I’m a Heretic who fights for the Queen.”
She ignored me and flew off somewhere.
“Cinderellaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
==========
“Huhhh!”
“Whoa!? You startled me!?”
While I was tending the campfire and keeping the temperature from dropping, the helmeted NIKKE suddenly jerked up with a gasp.
I hurried over at once, but—
“Ci... Cin... Cind... er... lla!”
“W-What!? What’s wrong with you!? Hey! Snap out of it!”
“G... give... her... ba... ck... Cind... er... lla...!”
“W-wait! Don’t move! You’re seriously injured right now—”
“G... give... her... ba... ck!”
Crash!
The mysterious NIKKE, trembling all over despite her condition, lunged at me.
As I quickly dodged away, she flailed at empty air, then collapsed and began twitching.
The grotesque sight gave me the creeps, but if she kept moving like that, something really bad was going to happen, so I stopped her.
“Damn it! You’re seriously hurt right now! Lie still!”
“G... give... her... ba... ck...!”
“No, seriously, what the hell... Calm down! I can’t even repair you, and your arms and legs are all immobilized, so why do you keep—”
The look on her face, as if she were searching for something, full of obsession and madness, sent a chill down my spine.
Her appearance alone was already terrifying, like something out of a space shooter game, which only made it worse.
On top of that, I had already made a makeshift splint out of scrap steel to hold her together, but her unstable arm started dangling again, making her condition even worse.
Just as I was about to force her to calm down somehow, I couldn’t hide my shock at her next words.
“I... I... give... me... ba... ck... Cind... er... lla...”
Now that she was speaking in a voice that sounded close to tears and mentioning the name Cinderella, she stopped dead in place.
Remembering what that name meant from NIKKE, and what kind of NIKKE Cinderella was, I quietly turned my gaze toward the coffin propped against the wall.
And the direction of the twitching NIKKE’s outstretched hand was also toward the coffin.
“......”
“Huff... huff... huff...”
“.....Wait.”
As I approached the coffin, the NIKKE moved even more violently.
Then, after I carefully lifted the coffin and laid it down beside her, she flinched slightly and placed her trembling hand on it.
It was a tremor no one would call normal, and yet that touch held attachment, affection, and relief.
“Ah... ahh... ahhh...”
“...The coffin wasn’t opened. There’s no damage to the outside either. I mean... just so you know, I didn’t open it carelessly, okay? Really.”
“Ah... ugh... uaa... ahh... ahhh...”
“......”
“Huaa... ahhh... ahhhhhh!”
Her voice, filled with relief and worry, slowly turned into a cry of grief.
And soon, despite her battered body, she wrapped both arms around the coffin and wailed as if—
Maternal love...?
She looked like a mother grieving for her child.
As her crying went on, I quietly went outside, checked the surroundings, and kept watch.
Since it was night and her crying could draw Raptures from far away, I needed to prepare in advance.
Scanning the entrance of the ruined building, I used one of my third-tier skills, though I was still clumsy with it.
A blue, mist-like aura rose from the ground and wrapped around the entrance and the ruined building like a curtain.
Soul Curtain.
It was a deployable attack skill, but at the same time, it was also a kind of barrier-type attack skill that blocked enemy intrusion.
As the mysterious blue energy drifted around like mist, I checked things once more and guarded the entrance.
“Cinderella... right? That was the NIKKE’s name before Anachiro fell.”
Anachiro, the Heretic mentioned in the archived first-anniversary story and the Eden story.
The first NIKKE to be corrupted and turn to the Rapture side, a being called a Heretic.
Her combat power and strength were nothing like ordinary Raptures, and she was the direct vanguard of the Rapture Queen, modified by combining only the strengths of NIKKEs and Raptures.
“I don’t know what exactly is going on, but for now, I guess I can relax.”
The strength of the Heretics mentioned in the story was described as truly astonishing.
In fact, in the first-anniversary story, Red Ash, I had seen a glimpse of her power, and it took the participation of one of the Goddess Squad, Red Hood, just to win.
And in the main story, the strength of other Heretics had also been shown. Of course, thanks to protagonist luck and outside help, they could be beaten.
If that coffin really contains the Heretic Anachiro... then this is seriously dangerous.
Unease crept over me.
Right now, I was in no condition to use even my third-tier skill smoothly.
Even the battle earlier that day had been fought using my second-tier skill, but those enemies were just ordinary Raptures, not Heretics.
A Rapture in NIKKE form, and a Heretic at that? That’s genuinely dangerous.
The power was incredible, but the beams Anachiro... no, Cinderella had shown were terrifying even to me as a player.
If she kept firing those beams? Even I might not be able to withstand it and could die.
I was wondering whether I should go in right now and smash that coffin.
The NIKKE’s crying stopped.
==============
The NIKKE carrying the coffin, whose real name was Abe.
Even after waking from a horrific nightmare and being utterly disoriented, she desperately searched for the coffin where Cinderella was sleeping.
“...Thank... goodness...”
Her body, reduced to a wreck, would not move as she wished, and even her vocal organs were badly damaged.
What’s more, the situation included the human she trusted least.
At the very worst possible moment, the human—she wasn’t even sure whether he was helping her—quietly brought the coffin to her.
Relieved that her nightmare was not reality, and that she had safely protected Cinderella from the swarm of Raptures, she shed tears of joy.
Abe had been miserable, wronged, and more afraid of failing to keep her promise to protect Cinderella and write a “new story” than of death itself.
And, overjoyed that she could once again protect Cinderella by some miracle, she clung to the coffin and cried for a long time.
After gradually collecting herself, she carefully stood up, supporting her trembling body with its unstable frame.
She slowly turned her head at the sound of footsteps behind her.
“Are you calm now?”
“......”
A handsome man stood there, wearing a distinctive white coat over a black shirt and pants, with fresh green hair and cool purple eyes.
His face looked soft despite his balanced muscles and tall frame, but it was clear he was an adult man.
“Th... thank... you... for... helping...”
“No need to thank me. It looked like you were trying to protect something precious.”
“I... at... tacked... you. You... may... be... hurt...”
“...Yeah, that was kind of unfair and annoying. I want to ask why you did that, but let’s introduce ourselves first.”
After giving him a slightly cold look, then smiling brightly and suggesting they introduce themselves, Abe hesitated for a moment.
In the distant past, within memories now damaged beyond repair, she had come to distrust humans.
They had dismantled her, pried open her brain, shocked her with electricity, and taken pictures of her.
She had endured what was practically torture, and though she hesitated before the man who had shown her kindness, the man, noticing her reaction, gave a bitter smile and said,
“If it’s hard, should I go first?”
“.......”
“Hmm... actually, it’s a little awkward for me to say my real name, too...”
She watched the man scratch his head in thought.
After a brief silence, he nodded as if he had made up his mind.
“My name is Hook. You can call me Hook.”
He spoke the name that would give her a pencil and notebook for writing a “new story,” and a name that would give her hope.
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