Aurora Over a Dead World

Chapter 35: Ashlyn

A few hours have passed with the copies of me coming in waves and getting stronger each time, but as expected, they turned into glass cannons — they became incredibly strong and fast.

But so unbalanced in their attributes that many die on their own, slamming into walls, debris, or each other, their bodies torn apart. Ashlyn seems afraid of me now.

Since at this point, the copies are literally stronger and faster than I am, but with zero experience or endurance to maintain stability.

’I didn’t expect the copies could become stronger than me. The image Ashlyn has of me seems to be pure fear if she’s reached the point of making them this strong.’ I leap onto a building, looking around.

The further I go, the more unstable this world becomes. It seems like "processing" this massive scenario is really draining Ashlyn’s strength, to the point where the debris has diminished significantly while the scenery has started to become somewhat flat.

"You know, Ashlyn, the vision you have of me is starting to get deified. I’m really not that strong." I watch a copy running so fast it’s at least five times faster than me.

If she hadn’t crashed into a steel beam, she would have caught me up here. While their strength increases, their average intelligence seems to have stayed exactly the same.

’The monsters Ashlyn creates aren’t intelligent?’ They just keep advancing with no plan, to the point where staying up here will keep me safe since they can’t climb — they keep shattering the stone with their bare hands when they try to scale it.

"Come on, girl, we’ve been at this for over five hours now. How about you give up? I’m not like the failures you must have trapped in the [Nightmare Realm] before. I’m not going to cry, fall into despair, or die." By simple logic, five hours here don’t mean five hours outside.

That’s because Ashlyn is also here, meaning she’s also trapped in the same flow of time. So time inside the mind must be much faster, meant to create that desperate sensation of days and days passing while your body lies unconscious out there, exposed to danger.

But as long as Ashlyn is here watching me through her powers, I know no more than a few minutes to an hour or two of real time could have passed outside.

’Has she given up?’ The copies stop being created, leaving only the ones still dying on their own. But soon, what I assume is the final "challenge" appears — a copy of me, only giant, easily a hundred meters tall.

"...!" She strikes downward with extreme speed, nearly hitting me as I leap impossibly high, using an antenna to propel myself further up and dodge the shockwave.

’What brute strength... is this how she sees me now?...’ I swallow hard. This has started to get dangerous. I’m really not that strong, just experienced. The image she’s starting to have of me is dangerous.

"..." I land in the debris, looking around. If I kill this thing without any difficulty, would Ashlyn give up? Or would she just create something stronger? Depending on the answer, killing this thing isn’t worth the effort.

’...’ That thing tries to step on me. I quickly glance around, then grab a metal beam from the building and rip it completely out of the structure. I hurl it upward with force, and it pierces the monster’s foot, making it let out a loud scream.

’Still fragile...’ I start tearing metal beams from the building and hurling them at the monster’s legs to bring it down. Since Aurora’s structures have a lot of metal support beams — because she’s in constant motion and nothing should shake — I have easy "ammunition."

The monster staggers backward, then trips, falling onto a building. Its body is impaled by the exposed metal structure as the monster flails in pain.

"..." When the giant [Shadow] dies, I notice the flaws in the environment have increased.

’Got it... makes sense now...’ It seems I got a few deductions wrong. Ashlyn doesn’t spend much energy creating the shadows — she spends it when she loses them. That’s why she creates massive quantities of them.

To hide that fact. All the energy she uses to maintain the Nightmare Realm is a constant drain. The scenery wasn’t getting simpler because I was moving away and she was being forced to expand it.

It was because the monsters were dying constantly trying to chase me. With me standing still now and the scenery having become even more fragile after the death of a giant monster, the answer was handed to me.

"Ashlyn, if you keep losing so many [Shadows], you’re going to start feeling sick. No matter how stable a Vector Axis Core is, it’s still a weapon implanted in your brain or your heart."

"If you keep using it irresponsibly, you could suffer cardiac arrest if it’s in your heart, or you could fall into a coma if it’s in your brain." Weapons are still weapons, no matter how stable.

It’s true that the Core is far better and much more stable than the chips, but it’s still something implanted in vital areas that drains a lot from the user. Even those with a Core can suffer lasting damage if they abuse its powers.

"..." The scenery suddenly cracks, and then I bolt up from the chair with a jump, realizing I’ve just woken up. I look around, seeing I’m in the academy while Ashlyn is sitting on the floor with her eyes closed.

I look at Ashlyn, who slowly opens her eyes and bites her lips. I don’t know what she wanted by doing that, but I can’t just let this slide, can I?

"Why did you do that?" I question her, but she stands up and tries to run. My tail quickly grabs her hand and pulls her close.

"I asked you a question. Don’t think you can run, little ghost. Not after you tried to do what you did." I could have actually died if I had been using my powers.

"..." She stays silent while I notice papers on the table. Taking a brief glance, I see she’s already finished the task I assigned to everyone, and just looking at it superficially, I can tell it’s perfect.

’She’s smart... talented too...’

"Come on, say something. Don’t stay silent. Be honest. If you lie, I’ll know. Lying to me isn’t easy at all." She looks into my eyes, almost defiant.

"It’s... v-very wrong for a teacher to sleep in c-class..." When she says this, I stare into her eyes for a few moments.

’So that’s it...’

"Envying what others can do while you can’t will only drag you down." I understand better why she did this, and honestly, for someone incapable of truly sleeping and resting, seeing a teacher sleeping during class time must be frustrating.

"I-I didn’t e-envy you—"

"You did envy me. If it weren’t envy, you wouldn’t have done what you did and used that excuse. Is that why, in your records, you do this to other people? Does seeing someone sleeping make you that envious?"

"..." She looks hurt by what I said, far more fragile than Tanya, who overcomes her hurt by being spoiled, or Eirwen, who tries to be stoic.

"Do you know what a T-Sellya Model 12 is?" I ask her something completely off-topic as I release her hand. She looks confused for a moment, then steps back a little.

"N-No."

"I figured you wouldn’t. They’re Nuclear Weapons — machines powered by nuclear energy, ranging from three to five meters tall... They’re quite strong, and when I first started in the military, I felt a certain envy of those who could pilot a T-Sellya, regardless of whether it was an older model."

"You know what the irony is? Each T-Sellya pilot has an average lifespan of ten years before dying from serious health complications, often dying much sooner than that. They’re absurdly demanding machines on the body and the mind. Just moving one is enough to cause exhaustion from weeks without sleep or food."

"Of course, newer models reduced that cost to the pilot, but piloting those things is still absolute hell. The pilots who manage to last years using them are truly incredible."

"And you know what a T-Sellya Model 7 pilot once told me? That he envied my life — my life, which is pretty shit, practically having a bomb in my brain."

"That’s when I realized we all envy others for what we don’t have, without knowing how shit the other person’s situation really is. The truth is, no one truly has a good situation."

"Whether civilians, soldiers, Kairas — the world is shit. So everyone’s life is full of problems, and envying others is just envying the benefit without knowing the cost."

"Sleeping isn’t as great as you think. Trust me, plenty of soldiers would envy your ability to stay awake no matter what happens." When I say this, she seems offended.

"H-How could anyone l-like that? Th-That’s awful!! There’s nothing good about it..."

"Funny you say that. There are many cases where sleeping for a single second can get you killed. But humans can’t override biological impulses — if you’re too tired, you’ll pass out. You don’t."

"That’s an advantage, even if it’s exhausting for you. But I understand it must be terrible not being able to rest, especially at night." It must be horrible to spend the whole night staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep even when you desperately want to.

"..." I look around for a moment.

"I know a way to make you sleep, to overcome that advantage you have. But it won’t be pleasant. It’ll be risky. And it could fry your brain. Do you want to experience what it’s like to sleep again?" When I say this, her eyes widen, but I’m not lying.

Since she turned in the assignment so quickly and, from what I can see, with incredible excellence, I think rewarding her with something like this is fair. Besides, I liked seeing her power in action.

She has a potential that genuinely interested me. She interests me more than Eirwen, Tanya, or even Charlotte, who has a power similar to mine.