Aurora Over a Dead World

"...Maybe I went a little overboard... how frustrating..." I walk the streets with my lollipop after reaching the residential blocks. I’m not sleepy, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what Tanya said. Maybe slapping her wasn’t the right move in that context.

Of course, between a commander and a difficult person like her, that would count as a disciplinary action, but she’s a student and I’m her teacher. I don’t fully regret what I did—it was the "right" thing, just done in the wrong situation.

"I was taken out of the army, but the army wasn’t taken out of me." Old habits die hard. It’s not like I hit people randomly, but I really did hit some rebellious soldiers as military discipline, which is totally legal, so it ends up being a pretty bad habit.

’At least I held back enough force, or I could’ve broken her teeth...’ I can’t just apologize, because she went too far too, but I should work on my attitude a little more.

"Sometimes I forget I’m not in a war anymore... maybe my job is messing everything up." I don’t have time to disconnect from the war because I’m always mentioning and citing things about it, which is terrible for my social adaptation.

"...Guess I’ll go hunt some monster. It’s what’s available right now... there’s gotta be something at least halfway decent..." I know I shouldn’t abuse the powers I have. If I can avoid fighting, I should, to keep the Chip from causing me problems. But I think it’s like an addiction—even knowing the consequences, you can’t just stop.

"It’s been a while since I used this..." I amplify my spatial perception, letting it slowly expand. This lets me sense any displacement in space. The last time I used it was against a monster faster than any reaction time I had and faster than my eyes could track.

With this, I can feel even the movement of insects crawling and things even smaller, like dust. Closing my eyes, a "map" of the space forms around me.

’The island is so... peaceful...’ If I used this outside the island, I’d detect a lot of monsters hiding or underground, but here, at most, I find one or two that are extremely weak.

"...Wait. That... what?" I find something strange. A "person," but the way she moves through space is bizarre. My power works by calculating the distortion that mass movement causes in space.

Naturally, that means the more "massive" something is, the more the space around it shifts, generating stronger reactions on the spatial "map" of the place.

Since I weigh a little over half a ton when I move, the displacement is naturally greater than other people’s. But I just noticed someone who displaces space more than I do.

"Impossible? This thing weighs at least 20 tons to displace space like that! Not even an armored truck displaces space that much!" This is abnormal. The Chip or the Cores wouldn’t let someone that heavy in, and if it were a power, it wouldn’t be used this way.

"Looks like I hit the jackpot." I quickly run toward this person before she gets away. I leap, using the walls to propel myself onto the houses, and run between them until I realize that whoever it is just turned and looked in my direction through all the structures, as if she knew I’d found her.

’...That’s some terrifying perception. Is this really a human? Or a monster? But humanoid like this?’ The shape seems too human. And although there are some monsters capable of that, I haven’t found any this anomalous.

I slide down the roof of a house, grabbing a steel bar and spinning against the ground, landing in an alley where the person in question is holding a device.

"Who are you?" I ask the person wearing a hood and clothes that hide almost everything. I know she’s a woman because, underneath the clothes, the spatial figure has raised breasts hidden under the cloak and all the other proportions of a woman.

"Well, well, well. How about this? We meet by accident. Fate really is interesting..." She speaks to me as if this isn’t a problem while crouching down and placing the device in her hands on the ground.

"Aren’t you going to answer? More importantly, what the hell are you?"

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"As far as I know, humans don’t weigh as many tons as you do, especially a girl who looks relatively thin."

"How rude to talk about a lady’s weight like that. Maybe it’s my power, right?"

"If it were, you wouldn’t be using it so carelessly."

"Clever." She presses some buttons on the machine, which starts beeping before extending an antenna.

"..." I draw my pistol. I brought it because I was in a place full of veterans and might need a weapon.

"Ho... how scary. Please don’t shoot, Ex-Commander Zenith... don’t worry, this isn’t a bomb," she says in a mocking tone.

"And you know me?!" I question, glancing around. There are more of these devices scattered all over the block, according to my power.

"..."

CRACK.

"...?" I grab my phone and see it’s completely shattered. That genuinely catches me off guard.

"I don’t think it’s appropriate for Nexus to hear us. He must have already called for backup... what a shame... Well, Zenith, I’m going to have to leave. You know how it is, right? You can keep this old junk. It already sent me the signal I needed."

"You think I’ll let someone so suspicious just walk away?"

’Too clever for a mere monster, and way too humanoid too... this is getting weird...’

"I suppose not. But do you think you can beat me?"

"Easily." She’s suddenly right in front of me—an absurd speed—but since I’m still using my power, I noticed the movement through space even if my eyes couldn’t follow. I grab her hand and twist, throwing her onto her back against the ground while trying to shoot her in the face.

She spins, using her supporting leg, and unbelievably manages to lift me into the air and throw me.

’What monstrous physical strength.’ I spin in the air, landing on the ground and using my tail as a counterweight to slide smoothly.

"Not bad. But I really don’t have time to waste... You tried to shoot me in the face. What a cold woman. Your first attempt was attempted murder. You really are a veteran. Most rookies try to immobilize." She adjusts her hood, still keeping her face hidden. Unfortunately, the spatial map isn’t precise enough for me to know what her face looks like.

To me, the Spatial Map is like a completely black sheet of paper, and everything that moves is a white blur on the paper. Basically, I mostly see silhouettes and points.

"...Unfortunately, I really don’t have time to waste, believe it or not. So I’ll leave you shocked, surprised, and uncertain."

"Think you can?"

"Zenith, I know who you were before you split into two people."

"..." When she says that, my whole body locks up. Not because of a bluff about knowing who I was before, but because she stated that I split into two people—something practically only Nadir and I know.

"You—" She tries to run, but I drag space itself, pulling her toward me. I drop the weapon and grab her arms, pinning both of them against my body.

"You underestimated me badly." I step on her back while pulling her arms, trying to break both of them completely. I only need her alive, not fully intact.

"You better tell me everything you know. I’m not taking you to my superiors. I’ll torture the information out of you myself." I slam her against the ground, but she twists and manages to throw me against a wall.

"Wow, your physical strength is really noteworthy, even if it comes from tech parts and isn’t entirely yours." She clenches and opens her hands repeatedly, as if checking for dislocations.

"Haa... this is why I hate veterans. You don’t freeze when you’re shocked..." She throws a disc at me extremely fast. I dodge, but when it hits the wall, it beeps and explodes, throwing me violently against another wall while spreading a dense, completely red fog. The smoke completely scrambles my spatial map because of the dust displacement and the smoke itself.

"NO!!" I look around but can no longer detect her. The smoke doesn’t seem toxic, but the total chaos forces me to deactivate the power, losing her completely.

"DAMN IT!" I punch the wall, frustrated. I can’t believe I lost such a good opportunity.

"Who the hell is this hooded woman? She clearly knows how to fight, and not like an amateur. She’s also strong... and smart..." I look around as the smoke begins to dissipate.

’I feel like I’ve heard her voice before... and how could she know about Nadir and me... could she... be from the outside?’ I’ve deduced many times that Nadir and I came from outside Aurora Island. I wonder if this hooded woman is also someone from outside.

"...So frustrating... she got away... did she know?" I noticed she had several pieces of equipment in her hood. I don’t think she prepared that specifically for me, but I think she was already prepared to escape from anyone in various scenarios, given the amount of gear hidden in her clothes.

"...She got rid of Nexus so he couldn’t record... that woman..." I grow more frustrated by the second thinking about the good opportunity I missed. I couldn’t even find out what she was doing.

"I... should report this..." I look at the device she used initially. She abandoned it. If someone like her left it behind, it must be just nearly useless junk.

"...I don’t recognize the parts... it must be something she made, or something really from outside the island..." I touch my back and see blood. I ended up wounded by some shrapnel—nothing severe. A cleaning and some proper sanitization and it’ll be fine.

"I’ve never met anyone who could compete with me physically so easily..." I intended to dislocate her arms. The very fact that I couldn’t after applying pressure for seconds shows an abnormal resistance.

"Seems like Aurora Island still holds a lot of secrets..." I should investigate on my own and talk to Nadir about this.