Capítulo 46: 44th Adversary: Hina’s Demons
This is something that happened nearly a decade ago. This is a story of the gifted and the curse that they must carry from time to time.
While Gael is considered an outlaw country within the Dragna Empire, that didn't mean everywhere was plagued with crimes and there wasn't a place where one could live in peace. It all depended on where you lived in Gael. In the first place, there was nothing like a truly lawless country. Despite how chaotic humans can be, there has to be some form of order wherever they settle. There are no questions asked, it was just a part of their nature. So Gael had to have places that had orders. The town of Coufal was such a place.
This town was like an ordinary town no matter how you looked at it. Inside this normal town, there was a bookstore called "Insight". This was a bookstore that was famous across the entire kingdom. There were two reasons why this bookstore was famous. The first reason was because of the immense variety of books it sold. It had everything from magic books for beginners to cookbooks dating back to 2000 years ago. No matter what kind of book you wanted, this store will probably have it. The other reason was because of its beautiful owner and her cute and talented assistant.
"Nami, where's Hina? I haven't seen her all day."
One of the store's regulars was scanning through the comic book section. The one he asked the question was the store owner.
She had a face that could only be described as enchanting and a perfect figure to match. She had long brown hair, which she wore in a ponytail, and glossy pink eyes that makes you want to just sit and look at them all day. She was dressed in black jeans and a pink top, and also had on an apron with the store's name on it.
Her name was Nami Akume, Hina's grandmother.
"Who knows? That girl is too hyper for me to keep track of her all the time."
Nami puffed her Kiseru pipe that had a bird design on it.
"Grandma!"
"Speaking of the little devil."
Nami smiled when she heard the familiar voice.
At that moment, a little girl that resembles Nami came running through the store's entrance. It was a young Hinami Akume, who was 9 years old at the time. She ran up to the counter where Nami was with a notepad in her hand.
"Look! I saw this cute bird and drew it."
"Wow. This is good."
Nami took the notepad to get a better look.
"I know right? I must be a genius! Ow!"
"Learn to be humble."
She gently hit Hina's head with the notepad.
"Well, I'll admit that it's better than anything I can do. I only draw stickmen, the ugly type."
She chuckled a bit.
"…Comparing my drawing with yours doesn't make me happy at all."
"You cheeky brat!"
Nami pinched Hina's cheeks and started to pull them.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
"Hahahaha! You two are as close as always."
That's when a man walked in laughing.
"Uncle Darry! Help me!"
Hina cried out for help from the man, Darry.
"Sorry, Hina. But if I do that I'll be the one to be bullied by your granny…..Hmm, now that I think about it that doesn't sound all that bad."
"Who are you calling Granny?"
Nami glared at Darry.
"Sorry, my tongue slipped."
"Hmph."
Nami let go of Hina's cheek. Hina immediately ran behind Darry and stuck out her tongue at Nami.
"That little…."
Nami gripped her fist angrily.
"Now, now. She's just a child, Nami. Let her be."
Darry stood between them.
"It's because you keep sticking up for her that she's so spoiled."
"What's wrong with being spoiled? Being spoiled is proof that you were loved after all."
Darry approached the counter.
"Speaking of, when are you going to let me spoil you, Nami? I want to show you my love."
"Not while you continue to spit those corny lines."
"Grandma, why don't you just marry Uncle Darry already? He's a great catch."
Hina intervened.
"What would a brat like you know what's a great catch? Besides, he's jobless, a playboy, shady, and way younger than my son. Which part of him is a good catch?"
"You know, when you put it like that, I can see your point."
Darry nodded in agreement.
"So it's a no?"
"It's a hell no."
"I see. That's too bad, but I won't force you."
Darry took out a comic book from the inside of his coat and gave it to Hina.
"Here, this is the latest issue of that comic you wanted."
"Wow! Thanks, Uncle Darry!"
Hina took the comic and immediately started to read it.
"Once you're done, I'll bring you to that new pastry shop across town."
"Really?! Uncle Darry, I love you!"
Hina hugged him and then ran off somewhere.
"Why do I feel like you put more effort into wooing Hina than you do me?"
Nami said, with her pipe in her mouth.
"What? Are you jealous? Do you want to go out too?"
"Hmph. I'm fine."
"I see. How unfortunate."
"Yet, you still have a smile on your face."
"Well, of course. I'm with the woman I love. How could I not smile?"
"Even when I don't love you back?"
"That's right. I love you, but I won't force you to love me. I respect your freedom to love whomever you want. While I respect your freedom to not love me, I have the freedom to love you regardless."
"How can you say something that creepy with a straight face?"
"I'm thickskinned I guess."
Darry started laughing. Nami only sighed in response.
"By the way, Nami. How's the situation with Hina's abilities coming along?"
"Did Layla tell you?"
"No, Hina showed me them herself."
"I see. I forgot that she trusts you like a father."
"I will rather be her grandfather though."
"Can't you be serious for a second?"
Nami sighed.
"Well, as you should already know, she unlocked four powers all at once."
"Manifestation, Creation, Genome Shift, and Fantasy Maker, right?"
Nami nodded.
"They all are incredible powers if I say so myself."
Darry spotted Hina happily reading the comic he gave her over in a corner.
"Too incredible. She inherited Genome Shift from me, and I can't count the number of times I was almost killed for it. If the news that she possesses it along with the other three abilities reaches certain ears, she'll be targeted."
"Manifestation was your previous husband's and son's Inborn Ability, while Creation was Hina's mother's, and Fantasy Maker is her own, right?"
"She sure told you a lot."
Nami looked at him with a sharp glare.
"There's no need to worry. I love Hina too much to endanger her."
He replied calmly.
"Well, I believe you."
"Because you love me?"
"Because you know that I can easily kill you."
"And my shot was blocked again."
Darry smiled wryly.
"Focus on the conversation, Idiot."
"I know, I know. I won't talk, don't worry."
He looked at Hina laughing at a joke in the comic and smiled.
"Robbing the two of you of your smiles is the last thing I would ever do."
Later that night, Hina and Nami were at their home. Hina had a stack of pictures in front of her. These were pictures of random objects with no similarity among them. Hina was placing her hand in the pictures to draw out the objects captured in them. She did this repeatedly with Nami watching her.
"Good, you're doing great. You can now use Manifestation as easily as breathing. Alright, you can stop now."
Nami picked up a knife Hina manifested with her powers.
"Now we're going to practice using Creation. I want you to create a replica of everything you've manifested today. But first, recite what is Creation and the conditions that you can use Creation in."
"Creation is the ability to create anything I want. I can only create something if I know what it looks like, what it's made of, and how it's made."
"Now do the same for Manifestation."
"Manifestation is like 3D projection that you can touch. Meaning, that you take a 2D image and recreate it into reality. For example, what I did with that knife. I turned the 2D picture into a 3D object. It doesn't need to be a picture. It can be a drawing, a painting, or even words in a book. For the book one, I just need to have an idea of how it looks in real life."
Nami nodded in satisfaction.
"Listen, Hina. I make you explain these abilities over and over again so that you can know your abilities by heart. That way you won't get flustered and mess up when you try to use them. I want them to become one with you."
"But why just Manifestation and Creation? What about Genome Shift and Fantasy Maker?"
"Because those two are the most dangerous in my eyes. I don't want you to use them until you've completely mastered the previous two."
"In my eyes, Creation is the most dangerous though. I mean, you can create life with it, right? That's extremely dangerous in my eyes."
"That's why I forbid you from using it to create life. That way it's not that dangerous. However, Genome Shift is the ability to rewrite your DNA as you please. That means that you can change your race or even species if you want. That's extremely dangerous."
Nami said.
"As for Fantasy Maker, it's dangerous because I don't know what kind of ability it truly is. So far it looks like the fusion of Manifestation and Creation since you were able to create magic items. Neither Manifestation nor Creation can do that. There's no telling what it can do."
"....."
Hina didn't say anything and only sat around the table with a frown.
After practicing a little longer, Nami ended Hina's training and the two went to bed. Hina, however, didn't go to sleep right away and was reading a book with a huge smile on her face.
"Since I've awakened my powers, grandma has been making me read a lot of boring books so that I can gain enough knowledge to effectively use Creation, but I really prefer light novels like this."
She mumbled to herself.
"But I gotta say, the main antagonist in this story is really interesting. He makes the protagonist look pale in comparison. His ideals are twisted, but I find it hard to reject them. Also, I don't think he's a bad person, he's probably just on the wrong side of Justice. I would really like to meet him."
She suddenly put down the book.
"Wait, isn't it possible that I can?"
She sat up.
"I just need to bring him out of the book. Ah, I forgot that Manifestation can't manifest life. I can't use Creation to create him either. He won't be the same after all."
She started wracking her brain.
"….Maybe I can use Fantasy Maker? It's a combination of Manifestation and Creation right? Then shouldn't I be able to manifest life by recreating it into reality? After all, Fantasy Maker can do things the other two can't."
A dangerous idea popped up in her mind, but to the 9-year-old Hina, it was a flawless plan. She didn't think any longer and placed her hands on the book. The book lit up and illuminated the entire room. Soon Hina saw a pair of hands emerging from the book.
"It's working!"
She shouted excitedly.
Someone then climbed out of the book and stood in front of her.
"It's him! It's really him!"
Hina got really excited. The character looked at her in silence before having a look of contempt.
"You, what have you done?"
"Huh? He can talk too?"
"I was about to finally complete my life mission. Why did you get in my way?"
Hina opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, she noticed that the book was still glowing and the magic in her body was still being poured into it.
"What's happening? I can't stop my ability!"
She then saw countless hands emerging from the book.
*BAM!*
The book exploded and she was blown back and slammed into a wall. She looked and saw the book floating in the air with its pages falling out and dancing in the wind. Countless figures could be seen emerging from the pages.
A frightening thought appeared in her mind.
"C-Could it be that I'm bringing the entire story world into reality?"
That's when her body was assaulted by an intense pain with caused her body to twist and bend.
"Ahhhhhh!"
She screamed out in agony.
*Bam!*
Suddenly her door was kicked in.
"Hina, what's wrong?!"
Nami ran inside her room and shouted.
"What the hell?"
She immediately saw the scene of countless beings emerging from the pages in the air.
"What did you do?!"
"Ahhhh!"
Hina only responded with screams of agony. She grabbed onto Nami's clothes for dear life.
"G-Grandma, help me….It hurts! It feels like I'm dying!"
Nami saw Hina's hair whiten before her eyes.
"This is…Magic Exhaustion! This is bad! She ran out of mana and now her life force is being taken instead!"
She looked at the book and the pages and immediately knew that they were sucking out Hina's life in exchange for manifesting into reality.
(She must've used Fantasy Maker. This is why I warned her not to use it. To think it could actually bring a book to life.)
She placed her hand on Hina's hand and started pouring her own magic into Hina.
"Listen to me, Hina. You've already activated your ability, and I can no longer stop it unless I kill you, who's supplying the magic."
"Gra-Grandma, please don't kill me…."
"Of course. You're my pride. I would never kill you. That's why I have to help you finish using your ability. I have to let those fictional beings manifest into reality."
She lifted Hina.
"However, we'll do it from a safe distance. Your magic is linked with those pages so while I can't destroy them without killing you, your mana should be sucked out even if you're not nearby. You don't possess the power to do it, especially now that your power has gone out of control, but I'll supply you with my magic until everything is over."
"A-Alright."
Hina said weakly. Nami nodded and they shot out of their house. White wings grew from her back, which she used to take flight. She flew until she was a considerable distance away from their home.
"We should be safe here."
*BOOM!*
A deafening explosion resounded in the area. The ground shook and the night was chased away by the light caused by waves of flames.
"This isn't good."
She looked at Hina in her arms. She was out cold and Nami could no longer feel magic being sucked out of her. That meant the Beings from the book had successfully manifested in this world. Although she was unfamiliar with what Hina was reading, she knew that Hina had the tendency to be drawn to tragic stories.
"If that's the case…"
She gulped when she imagined the outcome.
The next couple of days, the town of Coufal was quarantined from the rest of Gael. This was because of the sudden appearance of powerful and violent beings in the town. Some of these beings were unknown monsters, powerful gods, and cruel demons. The Empire forces entered the town and engaged in a bloody battle with these beings. This battle went on for a week, with the death total being tens of thousands on the Empire's side. As for the beings whose numbers were uncountable, they were all destroyed without a trace.
As for the citizens of Coufal…..They were killed by the beings before the empire's forces could save them.
"...…"
In another town in Gael, Hina sat lifelessly in a chair with a newspaper reporting what happened before her. There were tear stains on the side of her face, and her eyes looked completely unfocused.
"Hina, I told you not to pay attention to the news."
Nami took the newspaper from her while scolding her.
"Grandma…kill me."
"What?"
"I've caused the death of everyone I know, I killed everyone in Coufal. I don't deserve to live."
"But you still want to live right? If you didn't you would've committed suicide already, not that I would let you. You asking me to kill you is more like a plea for help than an honest request."
Nami started to wipe Hina's face with a cloth.
"Listen, Hina. What happened is your fault, but it's also mine. Despite knowing that you're a kid, I left you alone with dangerous abilities. I failed to guide you properly. For that I'm sorry."
Hearing Nami apologize for what happened only made Hina feel even worse.
"Also, it's not like everyone died. That bastard Darry is alive."
"Uncle Darry is?"
Life started appearing in her eyes again.
"Yeah, I met him in town. Well, he's not the type to be killed that easily."
Nami stepped back and looked at Hina.
"That white hair looks good on you, but I miss your brown one. How about I teach you a simple spell that will change it back temporarily?"
"…Okay."
For Hina, this white hair was disgusting to look at. It reminded her of her sins. That however wasn't the reason why Nami wanted to change her hair color back. She didn't know who, but someone had found out Hina was behind the tragedy of Coufal and spread around that a girl with white hair was the culprit. This caused public outrage and Hina was labeled as the White-Haired Devil. Someone who played god and brought unwanted life into the world, and had them slaughter the innocent. Hina of course heard this name on the tv or radio before, and even read it in the newspaper. So she had a good idea of how much people despised her and was really afraid of the world.
"Don't worry."
Nami placed her hand on her shoulder.
"I'll always be by your side."
Hina would never forget the smile Nami showed her that day, as to her that was the biggest lie anyone has ever told her.
Only a few days after that, Hina found Nami's dead body at the doorway of their apartment. Apparently she fought with someone in the middle of Gael, which led to widespread destruction and chaos. Even when severely injured she tried to make her way back to Hina, but in the end, life wasn't that forgiving. Hina soon learned the name of the one who killed the most important person to her.
Nebulous.
This all happened before she met Ace and Sora.
"....."
Hina woke up and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Hina, you're awake."
She saw Ace and Sora looking down at her.
"How do you feel?"
Ace asked.
"Like shit. I remembered some stuff I really didn't want to remember."
She sat up and looked around. They were currently in a room that she didn't recognize.
"Where's Nebulous? Where's Layla Song?"
She asked after remembering what happened before she passed out.
"She went to deal with Miko. He's apparently in Gael causing hell."
"What?!"
Hina jumped up.
"We need to help him!"
"That's the plan. Since Miko has already stained his own reputation, there's nothing left to hold us back."
Sora's eyes sharpened.
"It's time to fight back."
At the same time, Sora thought the whole situation seemed off. Like, even after seeing Nebulous face to face, he still couldn't see the person herself. Not to mention the fact that Nebulous left them unguarded.
(Something's not right, but what?)
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