Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 206: Ch204. [Dark Forest] (8) - You never understood

Chapter 206: Ch204. [Dark Forest] (8) - You never understood

Miles stood still at the edge of the broken cocoon, the ink still dripping from the shattered shell like the bleeding husk of a lie long told. His body ached. His coat was in tatters. His blade was broken.

And Shinji stood before him.

Alive, changed, and twisted like a story told a thousand times.

"What did you do?" Miles asked, his voice hoarse, cracked like parchment dried in the sun.

Shinji smiled. He looked like himself, mostly. The lines of his face were the same, but his eyes weren’t. They were bottomless and wide, like something was looking through them from much, much deeper.

And it was amused.

"Ah..." Shinji said, his arms raised slightly, as if presenting himself on a grand stage. "Is this the part where the villain explains his plan to the brave, beaten hero, and then, against all odds, the hero pulls through, defies logic, and wins the day with the power of hope and friendship?"

He tilted his head, almost mockingly.

"Because if that’s what you were expecting, Miles Thorn, I’m afraid you’re going to be very, very disappointed."

Miles staggered to his feet, clutching the hilt of his half-blade like a gambling addict clutches at his chips.

"Why, Shinji? What the hell happened to you?"

Shinji exhaled. He paced a short arc, tucking his hands behind his back.

"You want the truth? Alright then. I found something... Something bigger than all of this. Bigger than The Glitch, the system, or the fragile little stories we keep spinning around ourselves to stay sane."

He looked at Miles, dead in the eye.

"This entire world, our world, the System, the Game, the Dungeons... It was all just a containment strategy. A contingency plan to what is truly to come."

Miles didn’t speak.

"I found the meaning of this game, Miles! The reason behind why earth has been twisted into this sick and horrid crucible of skills, stories, and deaths! And then, I found [The Crawling Chaos]. It was not a being. Or at least not in the way we think. It’s a correction. A tide, a reversion. It doesn’t want power. It wants truth. It wants..."

"Freedom." Miles interrupted, and Shinji nodded.

"Exactly! Just like all of us do." He opened his arms wider. " And so, I made a pact. But not one of servitude. One of understanding. I was supposed to give it nourishment and victory, but after you... I ended up choosing to give it a vessel. In return, [The Crawling Chaos] gave me purpose, and do you know what threatened that purpose more than anything else?"

He stepped closer, ink whispering at his heels as if it called the blood in his veins. Or was being called to it.

"You, Sarissa, Mara... Oh, and let’s not forget that annoying kid, Diego."

Miles tensed.

"I tried restraint, influence, subtle manipulations. But no, you just wouldn’t stop. So, I changed the story. I decided to become what was necessary to achieve absolute victory."

"I’m glad I’m here, then. Because if we stood in your way once, I suppose it was always going to end like this. Here, with us." Miles lowered his stance.

"Is that your way of saying you’re ready to fight me with a shattered sword?" Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Where’s that elegant scythe of yours?"

"That’s all I need." And he moved.

He struck low, in a curved arc toward Shinji’s ribs, but Shinji parried it easily, even though Miles’ movement made him raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"It feels familiar..." He murmured, amused. "So, you have something up your sleeve, after all. Like you always do..."

Then his hand moved.

Just one blow. Fast, a palm strike to Miles’ chest, sending him flying backward through a shattered tree. The bark exploded into splinters, and Miles hit the ground in a roll, but his ribs screamed, sending a jolt of pain through his entire body.

He barely had time to breathe before Shinji appeared behind him.

"But before you come up with any funny ideas..." Shinji said softly, almost kindly, before jamming a knee into Miles’ back and slamming him face-first into the earth, that soaked with a mouthful of blood that Miles coughed. "I’m going to teach you the meaning of surprise."

Blood spurted from Miles’ nose as a powerful punch came from Shinji’s fist.

Miles gritted his teeth, triggering [The End] and trying to break free from Shinji’s grasp. He punched at Shinji’s torso, and sent him reeling back.

Miles rose, coughing, trying to focus his vision, but Shinji was already walking toward him, completely unaffected by the blow.

"Now, about surprises, again." He said. "You think you’re still in the same story we started with? No... That ended long ago, when you managed to destroy my wraith, and even after that. When you gathered your filthy friends to help kill me, in the [Mouth of the Abyss]."

He blurred forward. This time, though, Miles managed to block, but the strength behind Shinji’s strike nearly dislocated his arm. The broken katana shattered completely in his grip, and Shinji drove a fist into his gut, lifting him from the ground.

Miles hit the dirt again, his vision dimming. He rolled over, coughing more blood, and reached for anything. A dagger, a cactus, a miracle.

Nothing.

Shinji stood over him, a clear look of disappointment written on his face.

"You never understood what it meant to win, Miles. You thought it was about sacrifice, strategy, struggle... But winning means knowing when to change the game." He crouched down. "And I changed it."

Then, he stood and turned his back.

"I won’t kill you." He said, his voice flat and bored. "Not yet. I’ll let you crawl back. Let them see you broken. Let them know what it means to stand in my way."

And he walked away, toward the exit. Toward the camp.

Toward Sarissa.

Miles tried to speak, but his throat burned. His hands clawed at the dirt, the Stories still whispered around him, but now they felt far away.

Distant, unreachable.

Only one word escaped from his lips before everything around his faded to black.

"Ma... Ra..."