"…W…W-what the fuck are you talking about?!" – said Akrema.
"What do you meant that the monster that attacked me is part of me?!"
"Explain yourself!"
"Calm your tits down… Jeez." – said Shuten while sitting on the debris.
"Anyway, as I said, the monster became part of you."
"That monster that attacked you had an ability to turn into animals."
"And your ability you had shown wasn't there before, right? This is first time you seen something like this happening to you?"
"Unless you are an mage or something."
"No… I never saw anything…. Wait, what was that part about an mage?!" – asked Akrema as she suddenly changed her expression upon hearing word mage.
"What? Does "Mage" really surprise you that much?" – asked Shuten.
"For fuck sake, you are in this fucked up world and I'm an oni from the legends that did not came from this world but the same world as you."
"If "Oni" was real, then wouldn't all sort of things be also real like demons, angels and specifically mages?"
"But that small test confirmed that you were not an mage and that you had never dealt with anything mystic related."
"So with that ruled out, it leaves few options, but then again, you said that you had complete destroyed body and you should had died. So how do you explain your body somehow miraculously getting all better out of a blue? There is also you getting an ability to transform."
"And since you are still "You", it would suggest that instead of being turned into Autos you had instead took the Tale power and made its own."
"You became the Story Bearer."
"?"
"Story bearer? Wait, stop." – said Akrema.
"Am I "Akrema" or not?!"
"Oh? Is that what you want to know?" – asked Shuten.
"Of fuking course! Am I myself "REALLY" Or am I fake?!" – said angry Akrema.
"…"
"You are yourself. You are not Autos. However, you are not exactly the same person from before." – said Shuten.
"Remember how I was often comparing the Tales and Autos to the mirrors? Well, they are mirrors in more than one way."
"When Tale is destroyed and not via the fusion that gives birth to the Autos but instead just destroyed, it will cause the mirror known as Tale to shatter, straight up breaking apart."
"However, these shattered pieces are not dead yet. They can still be "Alive" and they can still be reforged, but not as Tale, but instead as something else, as an mirror."
"These mirrors are called "Reflections Tales". These reflections are hollow, but they are also living without being alive."
"When an Tale kill the Tale and combine it gives birth to the Autos."
"When the Tale kills humans and combines with it, it also gives birth to the Autos, but an one that is an hybrid between the story and an person."
"But what about when the human kills the Tale? What do you think happens?"
"The Tale will shatter as I said but it can also be made into Reflection Tale."
"And now what do you think you can do with those things?"
"What do you think if somebody stands in front of that said mirror that holds the reflection of a tale and allow that tale to become its reflection, part of it?"
"Making that reflection THEIR OWN?"
"This is what the Tale Bearer are."
"Here is the situation."
"You were chased by the Tale and pretty much murdered by it, however before you truly died and fusion had happened, somebody came and killed the Tale, resulting it is shattering and then becoming your mirror, resulting in your rebirth as the Tale Bearer."
"The power of your story of the Tale you had acquired had managed to patch you up, reviving you in an sense."
"…"
"Are you fallowing?" – asked Shuten.
"…. Yes…. Kind of…. But I do understand the situation." – replied Akrema.
"So that monster didn't fused with me but instead became part of me, with ended up with me getting revived."
"However there is one thing I don't understand."
"Who saved me? Who killed the Tale that tried to fuse with me?"
"Based on what you said, it doesn't look like you were the one that killed that Tale."
"Nope. It wasn't me." – replied Shuten while getting off an debris and starting to walk again with Akrema fallowing behind.
"However, I do know who DID killed it. I saw the kind of damage only one person I know can do. She was probably the one that killed the Tale that tried to use you to give birth."
"?"
"She?" – said Akrema.
"Yeb." – replied Shuten before then kicking an debris in front of her, smashing them with ease and opening path to the outside.
"However, she should be the one rescuing you, but instead I found you all on your own."
"She can be lazy ass like me, but I don't think she would leave you alone there. I guess some situation must had popped up where she needed to leave you alone. Maybe some bigger monster that forced her to leave you for your own safety." – said Shuten before the two left the building and began walking down an slope.
(But I know that bitch. I know she would use "that" regardless of her opponent since it would be an easy win…. But the question is on why she abandoned Akrema?) – though Shuten as she put her vodka back into the unknown space.
"…."
"What about the creatures from before? These wolf men things? Are they what you call werewolves?" – asked Akrema.
"Nope. They are nobodies." – said Akrema.
"They are called Shattered."
"Tell me, what do you think happens if the Tales shatters and their remains are not used ant they are scattered? Over and over again, countless mirror fragments are everywhere, the shards that were lost and were not made into Reflection Tale or the Autos."
"These fragments are scattered, destroyed and abandoned, but they are still active. They will still seek out the "completion", however in their current state the small fragments without solid image will end up fusing together not as Autos, but instead as Shattered, they are just random shattered remains. They are not Tales and they do not have anything with them."
"They are just animals that are just wild."
"That is why you saw that these three creatures were similar to each other, they were made from the same remains that were just there."
"However unlike Tales or Autos they are nothing compare to them, they are neither of these things."
"But even so, that doesn't meant that they are "peaceful" per say. You saw how they attacked us for no reason."
"…."
"Okay. So let me get this straight." – said Akrema.
"First are the Tales."
"These things are legends, histories and some stories given form, be it fictionally or historical one, yes?"
"Their primally instinct and need is to complete themselves by any means necessary and become "themselves", be it by fusing and giving birth with another Tale or be it an human."
"The fusion of these beings be it with Tale and Tale or Tale with an human will result in the birth of a being known as Autos."
"However, there is an also an option of killing an Tale and having the human being make the Tale its own reflection, resulting in the being known as the Tale Bearer, with is me."
"But if the Tales are shattered and abandoned, they will fuse with random ones nearby, not resulting in the proper creation with ends up giving birth to the creatures known as Shattered."
"Is this all?"
"Yeb. This is it in the nutshell…..Anyway, may you go there for an moment?" – saiad Shuten while potting at the giant tree that had an store building on top of it.
"?"
"Why?" – asked Akrema.
"Oh, well the enemies are coming, so its better if you just get out of the way. They are already running this way." – said Shuten.
"?!"
"Shit!" – said Akrema as she quickly run towards the tree and hit behind it.
"…."
"There they are." – said Shuten as moments later several human slash wolf hybrid monsters with weapons jumped out of a trees and began rushing towards.
"You see those things? Those are the Shattered. They are the same things that attacked us before."
"Usually these guys are small flies compare to either Tales or Autos, but even so, these guys can pose an threat if some strong ones or if an horde of these things show up." – said Shuten as one the creatures leaped at her with its mouth open and spear in hand.
However, Shuten punched the creature, completely decimating its body.
"However, these guys are what you call "Low level mobs from starting areas"."
"While I on the other hand is something like an high level player!" – said Shuten as more Shattered began leaping at her, but she just kicked and swinged her fist around, crushing and smashing creatures without any real effort, committing an mass genocide with ease as Akrema observed.
It couldn't be even called an fight.
Shuten was just playing with them, ripping them apart.
One tried stabbing her with an sword, on for the sword and the entire arm creature to get completely snapped before then creature chest was pierced with the oni claws.
Two Shattered tried attacking from the side, but Shuten extended her nails, transforming them into the claws, before then swinging them around and decapitating the creatures.
The third Shattered tried rushing in from the front, but it was just kicked and send flying while its entire body was also twisted from the force of the kick.
"…"
(Okay… She is slaughtering them.) – though Akrema.
(There was like what? 15? 20? Now there is only fuking 5!)
(Jezus Christ! I mean I did saw her one shot all 3 of them before in the spawn of few seconds, but this is even more crazy...Yeb. I ain't making enemy out of her. It would be instant GAME OVER.)
*ROAR*
"?!"
"Oh. Big one coming." – said Shuten with an smile before moments later an giant like monsters leaped down.
The creature had an gorilla like body build, but it was not it, instead it was an similar but completely different mix of an human and wolf like creatures, however beside being build like gorilla, the creature also had an second additional head alongside long beastly claws.
"Okay. Listen up kiddo. This one is also Shattered One and its also same thing as these other ones, but this one seems to be more messed up, meaning that its not made out of one or two fragments, but a little bit more, with resulted in this wierdo being born." – said Shuten.
"So, think of it as something like an mini boss or an elite enemy from the game."
The giant rushed in and swinged its claws at the Shuten who stepped back, dodging the claw attack. The creature then tried to do an fallow up attack with its other hand, but as it was in middle of swinging it, Shuten rushed in and kicked the creature right in its claw, breaking its claw and causing to scream.
"!"
"Oh fuck. That was brutal." – said Akrema as she felt bad for the creature.
Shuten grabbed the creature by its fingers and then ripped them off.
"…Ah. I tried to grab an hand. Let me try again." – said Shuten before then grabbing the creature by its arm and then ripping the entire thing in one go, causing the creature to scream.
Shuten then thrusted the ripped off arm into the creature chest, stabbing it right through, before then smashing both of its heads with her fist, killing the creature.
After killing the last creature, Shuten rushed in and began stabbing and ripping apart all 5 remaining monsters, killing them in the matter of moments.
"…"
"Okay. I'm not sensing anything else. You come out now kiddo." – said Shuten.
"…. Do you always fight like this?" – said Akrema as she walked out of her hiding spot and seeing an remains of an massacre.
"Well, I'm ONI. We all are about brutality and stuff when it comes to fighting." – replied Shuten.
"Besides, I wasn't even going all out. Hell, I could just one shoted all of these bastards with one attack, but that would be bothersome in an way."
"Not only that, these small flies weren't worth my alcohol."
"…"
"What? Why are you staring at me like this?" – asked Shuten that noticed Akrema weird gaze.
"…No…. Well. Okay, fuck it. I'm going to say it." – said Akrema.
"In a way you are acting some tutorial character."
"….."
"The fuck you just said?" – said Shuten.
"No! I mean it! You act like an tutorial character!"
"Let me show you how to fight."
"Explanation."
"Enemies."
"What next? Some sort of gacha mechanical? Like there is some sort of special resource you can only get here and….. Wait a fuking moment."
"Are those fuking mirror shards an gacha currency?"
"…."
"I….. Wait…. Huh….. Holy shit. Yea, you are right. It does look like I'm some tutorial guide character." – said Shuten.
"…. Okay. I'm tossing you into an fight."
"?!"
"WAIT?! WHY?!" – shouted Akrema.
"BECOUSE I'M TUTORIAL CHARACTER BITCH!" – shouted Shuten.
"SO GO FARM ME THOSE MIRROR FRAGMENTS SO I CAN GET GAMBLING ADDICTION FROM PLAYING GACHA GAMES!"
"…"
"Tell me you ain't serios?" – asked Akrema.
"Yea, I was messing with you." – said Shuten.
"Honestly, I doubt you would even survive encounter with these things at your current state, you are pretty much newly born Tale Bearer and considering how things went, I doubt you would be able to even fight."
"First thing first is the fact that you don't know what sort of abilities you have yet? Right? Nor you know the origin of the Tale that attacked you."
"From what you told me the creature that attacked its probably an shape shifter, but the problem is what kind of shape shifter was it really?"
"For example, was it an shape shifter that can change its appearance?"
"Or maybe an shapeshifter that possess an ability to "become" something."
"?"
"What is the difference?" – said Akrema as the duo started walking again.
"Well, lets say there are two shape shifters."
"Shape shifter A can turn into any animal in terms of appearance, while the shapeshifter B can "become" a gorilla."
"Lets have both of the shapeshifters turns into gorillas."
"And lets have them pick up an small boulder, enough for the gorilla to lift up."
"However, even though they are now in gorilla form, only shapeshifter B is able to pick up the boulder, since he has the gorilla strength while the shapeshifter A only looks like gorilla and its not an real one."
"That is the difference."
"Having an appearance and being an actual changed being."
"The shapeshifter A ability could be called "pretend", while the shapeshifter B ability would be called "transformation"."
"We are talking about that kind of difference."
"Considering that Tale used dog and bear form would suggest that it was an transformation type shapeshifter."
"The same goes about your arms, they shapeshifted, transformed into something for the defense."
"Still, considering that the transformation was…. Well, it failed. You only grown bit of hair and your nails transformed only a bit, with its an proof that your body isn't used to the transformations."
"However, is the transformation your real power?"
"Let me tell you something. Tales can be many things. This isn't just tied to the key characters like the main characters like an hero and villains, it could also be monsters or some less important people."
"For example, oni like me, you could see an oni Tale that isn't related or based on any onies, just an oni monster."
"Lamias. Archana. Giants. Titans. Sirens. All sort of creatures could be made into Tale, this is how they work."
"This makes things complicated."
"Still, we do know your ability is Shapeshift – Transformation, so it does narrow things somewhat."
"However, this isn't an ideal location to mess around and I really just want to get you out of here."
"…"
"Okay…. Still, I have now more questions." – said Akrema.
"One of the question is why? Why are you trying to rescue me? Why are you helping me and telling me all this?"
"And there are also the other questions from before, like what is this place? You told me what beings live in this weird world, but what the hell is the deal with this place? Why this place looks like an Tokyo fused with an forest?"
"Well, I will explain why I'm helping you, but not now since it will take too long and complicate things." – said Shuten.
"However, let me tell you this."
"I don't want the Autos to be born."
"They are maybe new beings, but the possibility of them becoming something like "evil mad beings" are quiet good and they can make some problems."
"You may think that combining Tale with human would result in something weaker compare to the regular Autos, but trust me, it won't this way."
"Not only that, sometimes Autos may end up becoming something extremely powerful and dangerous, so it's better to destroy any and all Tales that are encountered before they have chance to hunt other Tales or humans in order to give birth to Autos."
"Honestly speaking, having you get the fuck out of here is beneficial for everybody."
"…."
"Fine…. But then again, you said that "get the fuck out of here", you said that as if there is an way out of this world." – said Akrema.
"There is." – said Shuten.
"The thing that swallowed you into this world is called "Crack", since its… Well, it's an crack between the worlds."
"But if you want to use more specific name call it "Twist Crack". An crack that twist and cracks the reality, creating portal."
"Anyway, these Twist Cracks sometimes manifested in areas at random, mostly in the areas where there are not many people, an places out of people sight, however there are few exceptions."
"Considering what had happened to you, you must had encounter the some newly made crack."
"You got extremely shitty luck by the look of things kiddo."
"Shut it." – said Akrema.
"Hmph…. Anyway." – said Shuten.
"There are things called "Stable Twist Crack". Unlike regular cracks that are unstable, these ones are open all the time."
"They can act like an gateway between the two worlds, meaning that if we reach that place, you will have an 100% chance of returning to the original world."
"So don't lose hope kiddo."
"…"
"Well, I'm glad that there IS an way home at least." – said Akrema.
"…"
"Still, there is question regarding this place. What is it?"
"That…. Well, truth to be told nobody has an proper answer about this world." – said Shuten.
"One day it just…. Well, it just suddenly popped up out of a blue without anybody realizing."
"By the way, its not just Japan that is affected by this, it's an entire world."
"This world is both an mirror world of an real world, while also being something else."
"Countless mirrors from the stories and fantasies alongside the unstable natures, all of these mirrors cracked and fused together, creating this giant world."
"Honestly, this entire place is like what? 2 or maybe 3 times the size of an earth?"
"This place its own thing."
"This the truth of this place. Many different mirrors reflecting many different places from stories and our world as well, with also caused the life in this place to mutate and change, this is why this place is like an giant forest, this place gained its own nature."
"But as I said before, this place is also an mirror of our world and is also an place where places from the stories are here."
"This is the truth of this place."
"So, what do you think?"
"Interested, kiddo?"