Chapter 7: The price of a soul

The boy could only shiver in place as his hands raced over the car’s controls. What should he do? Should he just turn around and try to escape? But even so… Wherever he tried to go, she’d catch up to him in no time…

The girl in the motorcycle was still in the same place smiling at him from ear to ear, as if she’d just told the greatest joke in the world. As if the world stood with her, laughing at what had just happened.

(I have to get out of here…)

Breaking the silence, she asked him a question. Or at least, he assumed it to be a question from the way she seemed to move. He couldn’t hear anything she said, whether it be from panic, the sound of the explosions taking a delayed toll on him or simply his own ears failing him by themselves. Despite that, she gladly repeated herself two more times, the second of which he was barely able to catch.

“Like I said… You really were beginners, weren’t you?”

“Be… Beginners…?”

“Yup. Grasshoppers! And what’s more… New arrivals, perhaps? From the looks of it, you don’t even have a wheel-name yet. That’s a big no-no, if you want any respect around here. Well, maybe getting something other than that pathetic starting vehicle would help too…” she remarked in an oddly jovial tone.

Wobbling weakly, Haruto got out of the car. It terrified him to even exist next to that person. However, he knew well that no number of car windows could keep him safe from her. Well, his own were all broken already, anyway. Even if he used his ability to try and escape while freezing her, he knew it was no use. He couldn’t go far with it, anyway.

And yet, he was unable to accept the predicament he was in, still. It did not feel real to him, even though so much had happened already. Resigned, he would merely stand next to his car in resignation, as the smug highschool girl gave him a curious glance.

Another deafening announcement reached their ears just then.

“Jacky Nohara’s vehicle has been destroyed. Jacky Nohara down. Winner by default: Haruto Maekawa.”

“...Wha…?”

Before the boy could say anything else, a new screen suddenly popped up before him.

‘Results’, it read at the top.

Below that, several more pieces of information appeared, one line after the other.

‘1st place: Haruto Maekawa’.

‘2nd place: Jackie Nohara.’

‘New achievement: Faster than a geriatric-killer!’

After that, the same empty bar from his status menu took form, still with the level 0 indicator next to it.

The black bar was then filled out with a blue tint, completely covering from its left end to the right one. The ‘0’ number then changed into a 1, and the blue bar instantly returned to black, only to promptly start filling out again, this time stopping around its middle. That left him with a half-black, half-blue bar, signaling him ‘340 out of 700 points for next level.’

‘On-site crafting combo limit increased.’

‘On-site crafting timer increased.’

‘On-site crafting searching bounds increased.’

‘Impact absorption increased.’

‘Damage resistance increased.’

‘Added credits: +400’.

‘Total credits: 400’.

“It really is like an RPG…” muttered Haruto, unsure whether he should be impressed or horrified.

The girl shrugged.

“Don’t sweat the bureaucracy. You get used to it. More importantly, it seems you finally understand what all of that back there was, huh?”

Turning back to her, Haruto suddenly recalled what had gone on just a while prior. Or rather, what was still happening. His eyes veered just slightly to the left, catching sight of the lumbering wall of fire and smoke standing just to the two teens’ side. It towered over them, grumbling weakly every once in a while, yet never reaching near.

The girl noticed his stare and gave a small nod.

“Looks pretty grand, doesn’t it?”

There was the smug grin again. Just a moment ago, the girl had approached them with some formal talk about ‘not getting in her way’ or something like that, and then all of a sudden she’d dropped the rich-girl mannerisms and just started to throw ‘grand’ and ‘yup’ at him. Meaning she felt at ease, perhaps. None of the two opponents she had just faced represented the slightest threat to her, even though her ability had been fully expended.

“I didn’t think I’d manage to pull off something like that just running on fumes, but I was able to make one tiny last flame and end that for good. Pretty impressive right~?”

“You just… just now…”

Haruto’s mind raced back to the past few instants. The burly man’s last moments. How was that possible? Didn’t she feel the slightest bit of remorse? How could someone…

He stared straight into her eyes, unable to process the sheer thought.

“How… I mean… You killed that guy… just like that… How could you just…?”

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His hands trembled, closed into fists despite him having no will to fight.

He could barely talk, such was his terror. It was true he had chosen himself to go head to head against him. Inevitably, one of them would end up dying, but…

To just take him out the way she had… Even though she should have no stake in that conflict… She was merely passing by, yet decided it would be fun to blow up another person like that.

The motorcycle girl, however, did not look in the least bit guilty. She simply shrugged at him and started to laugh, as though he’d just told her the funniest joke she’d ever heard.

“How could I, you ask?” she chuckled.

Lazily lifting her left arm up, she pointed her index finger directly at him, as if trying to aim for a good shooting target.

“Shouldn’t the relevant question for one to ask in this situation be… ‘Can you?’ ”

The boy fell out from his train of thought for a second.

“... Can I? What does that even –”

“New soul acquired.” the voice rang in his ears again.

With it, another surge of blinding light flashed in front of him. Amid it, a vaguely human silhouette started to take form, slumped down on its knees. The light disappeared, leaving a dumbfoundingly alive Jacky Nohara right before Haruto. He looked just the same he had looked but a few moments prior, not a single scratch on him.

The man seemed just as confused as him, but this confusion soon turned to rage as the man got up from the floor, averting his eyes to the fiery mess still brewing to his right, then sending a chilling glare towards his former opponent.

“You piece of shit! My car was blown to pieces because of you!!”

The burly man closed the distance between them with a single step, tightening his fist beside him.

“Not this again…” Haruto moved back, weary of what was to come.

Nohara sprang forward, throwing his first straight at the boy. However, before he could manage to touch him, he was suddenly stopped in place, his hand still in the air.

“I’ll… fucking… kill… you…!!”

No matter how much force he put into his arms and legs, Nohara couldn’t reach any closer. It was as if he had something locking him onto his current position, some sort of invisible chain binding his arms and legs in place.

“Let go… I’ll kill you…!!”

Blinded by fury, however, he did not seem to give much regard to that fact, still attempting to fight against the unknown force that now bound him.

Now more lost than ever, Haruto turned to the girl again.

“What is this!?”

She simply gave him the usual smile.

“Your reward, of course~! You just survived your first duel race. Exactly 50% of the people first arriving here do not, obviously, so I’d say it’s a pretty high achievement for an extra such as yourself. Even if I did carry you most of the race…”

“Reward?”

Another announcement came about.

“Choose now, grasshopper. The fate of Jacky Nohara lies in your hands.”

Partly blocking his view of the man, a new menu screen showed up.

‘Final Judgment’ read at its top.

Then, there were once again two selectable choices below, sitting side by side. On the left:

‘Liquidate Soul.’

‘+5 000 credits.’

And to the right:

‘Convert to Servant.’

‘-10 000 credits.’

The boy’s finger hovered over the window.

“So…” he heard the girl’s voice past it, and past the burly man as well. “What do you choose, Maekawa?”

He understood, however, there was really no choice at all.

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