[Interference.]

In my darkest moment, laying on the ground, wheezing and surrounded by a pool of my own blood, that word came to my mind.

'Haha...'

I was barely holding onto my life, but here I was, thinking useless, random thoughts like always. It was true that some things never changed no matter where you go, I guess.

I didn't think about why the boss room was coming apart at the seams, or why Echidna's divine glow looked like it was dimming as that destruction went on. I just focused single-handedly on that one word, along with the scene of this endless, beautiful sky being decayed by nothingness.

Yes, behind each layer of the sky that was destroyed, was nothing but a black void. There was absolutely nothing.

[Interference.]

Staring at that evoking scenery, thinking those thoughts, I felt a burst of inspiration.

I wasn't suddenly invigorated, and the pain all over my body didn't go away. It was just like an otherworldly sensation invaded my mind.

My own thoughts were feeling foreign to me, as I suddenly began to comprehend more and more of Echidna's words. Through the lens of the word - the concept of [Interference] itself, it was possible for me to land a blow after all, wasn't it? If I was right, I could survive just a little longer. I could pass this ridiculous 'test' she seemed to have for me.

When she said those things about me, Echidna wasn't insulting me. She said it matter-of-factly, like she was talking about the weather. However, if I really wanted to do this, I had to dig deep within myself.

I was an anomaly. 

I wasn't meant to exist in this world.

Just like what this space would soon become, I was empty.

I knew all of that. In my last life and this one, I was still fated to be an Extra. Even if I worked hard, I'd have nothing to show for it but some semi-impressive skills, compared to others. The body that I possessed here wasn't even mine, just stolen from a young boy I didn't even understand the story or past of.

But what I wanted wasn't to impress others alone. I didn't shallowly desire being understood, and I didn't want to become the heroic protagonist of the world. That didn't mean I wanted to become an asshole or a two-bit villain, either.

I've always just wanted to be someone who could matter - someone that could do things that mattered. Even if I was an Extra, that alone didn't matter. There should still be something I can do, even with that role forced on me. I should have something alone only I could do, not as an Extra, not as Thomas...but me.

I wanted to effect something - anything. And if I was nothingness - an anomaly to the world - couldn't I extract that out of myself?

To become a true player on this world's stage...I first had to accept the fact that I wasn't even supposed to exist here. And then...I had to accept that, just like a child, I once again wanted to chase that dream that I had let go of, so many years ago. 

Right here and now, I had to change. More than accepting friends into my heart, more than enjoying a new life, I needed to make my true, first step.

"Alright..." I forced myself to my feet, struggling not to fall right back over. "Let's go, Echidna. This fight...isn't over yet."

Echidna smiled in the distance, pleased. There wasn't a lot of time to guess her thoughts, like always. She really was an enigma.

By the time I started trying to decipher the meaning behind her smile, she had already kicked me in the face.

It was painful. Her attack this time was especially vicious. The force behind this attack was uncomparable to the beatdown she had been giving me - if this single kick hit cleanly, I would definitely die. 

But I didn't.

"Oh? You just did something, didn't you?"

She hummed, while lowering her foot. Her kick had sent me flying across the surface of the water again, but this time, it didn't end with me tumbling over. I had simply skidded across the clear surface, leaving a rippling trail of water in the wake of my footprints. I coughed, more blood coming past my lips.

I had managed to slightly raise my arms, only barely reducing the shock of the hit by a small amount. And against all odds, I was alive, and still standing.

"Interesting...you're really very interesting." 

Echidna stared down at her palms, opening and closing a fist as if to test her own grip. She returned her gaze to me, and even without being able to see her eyes, I could tell that she had narrowed her gaze in interest.

"So that's how you chose to implement it. Yes...that's the sort of ability I was hoping for from you. Something that nobody in this world could possibly replicate."

I found myself smiling, laughing a little bit. My laughter sounded more like coughs now, dry and raspy.

"It's nothing much...I had to do something, especially if you kept trying to kill me like that..." I returned, spitting out some blood that had pooled in my mouth. 

To an uninformed observer, it might have just looked like both of us were raising a sorry commotion over my simply managing to somewhat block Echidna's vicious, divinely-powered attack. 

However, in this world, the eyes of your System sees all.

For a brief second, I felt it. I managed to take hold of it, and use it - the emptiness that I had - and turned it against Echidna's attack. At the very edge of death, I had grasped it, and now that I knew that feeling - I wouldn't let it go.

This fight was far from even. If Echidna used actual Divine magic of any kind, I'd be screwed. Not to mention, her skills, level, and stats were probably hundreds, if not thousands of times higher than me. I couldn't fathom how strong a god was compared to a human - the fact that I was alive was probably only due to the heavy stat and skill restrictions placed on her by whatever being had bound her to her far weaker, F-Rank demonic form.

Not to mention the fact that...she seemed to be waiting for this. She really did expect this from me from the start.

She chuckled, that warm smile coming to her face again. It was incredibly bright, moreso than the slowly fading, crumbling blue sky above us. Her halo cracked, and the magic energy behind her flickered - none of it my doing.

Echidna mentioned that she had 'staked her life' on appearing to me like this. I wondered if this was what she meant. But that didn't matter. Standing here in this slowly crumbling room, staring at Echidna as her lifeforce itself seemed to weaken alongside the room's, something felt different.

After reaching into the depths of my soul, depths that Echidna seemed to be sacrificing her life to help me reach into...I felt like I understood her a little better.

"To think I'd assist in awakening such an ability...I feel honored. However," She stared at me, slowly walking forward. "I'd very much like to see it, just once more. After all...I won't be around for much longer to watch over you like this. I'd at least like to see how you've grown, my child. Show me that it wasn't a fluke. That I won't be mistaken, giving up everything to choose you."

"You have a messed up definition of 'watching over' someone..." I slowly lowered my arms, getting into a fist-fighting pose again. "But I don't think I mind it that much, after all. "

For a moment, I forget about what might be happening outside. I forgot about the fact that I was barely clinging onto life, and I forgot all those things about the messed-up implications of the hidden lore behind Echidna. 

Echidna risked her soul against me, and now, I was using the essence of my soul that she had helped me to see, to defeat her. 

'A battle is a conversation for the warriors involved.' 

I had heard that somewhere before. Here and now, the two of us were proving it true.

Echidna ran at me, and, feeling a second wind brought on by this new ability, I managed to dash in return. Her speed had considerably dropped, to the point that she was just slightly faster than me.

'Interference.'

For a moment - I could feel it. Echidna's soul, damaged beyond repair. I could barely comprehend it for a moment...before I interfered with the very energy that coursed through her body. Far beyond a debuff, or any form of magic, I intervened in the very existence of her Divine Mana, surging around and within her.

I wasn't fully proficient in it. Nor would I be for a while, probably. What I was doing was like forcibly trying to press the pause button on a small piece of reality, just for a second.

Still, in this kind of battle, where both of us were risking everything on the line with every attack...? Just one second was more than enough.

Even then, my body started slipping. I was losing control.

If I lost an ounce of willpower or focus here, I bet I'd pass out. Just using that ability a second time had worn me out to the point that darkness was slipping across my vision, even with all the focus I had.

Then I thought of it all.

This world of Treasure Quest, that meant so much to me in both my old life and this one.

Aurum, who despite knowing my memories were probably never going to be the same, still deeply cared for and looked after me. She was a little dependent on me...but at the same time, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for her.

Pearl, who braved her own weakness, doing anything to make herself stronger and more capable alongside Aurum and I. The one who really kept us safe during those monster hunts, and never hesitated to step in herself when she had to, filled with more bravery and hidden power than she knew yet.

Even Arianwen, who was filled with a motherly love she could probably never express, a woman filled with emotions that she never properly showed on her face...yet who still bothered looking after me and making me a proper, hot breakfast every morning.

Thomas, who for all I knew, was somewhere still inside of my mind.

I had made so many connections, I had finally found so much meaning in life, even when I had once thought life would never have any meaning. 

That was just the tip of the iceberg. It was just the beginning of my journey in this new world. There would be so much more fun things to do, so much more interesting people to meet, so many more problems to solve, people to help, and questlines to complete...

Why the hell would I give up here?

"GRAAAAAH-!"

With every fiber of my being I yelled. I forced each ounce of spirit and willpower I had into my voice, and it became more of a monstrous roar.

Echidna's attack missed by mere inches. Her speed had gone down for a moment - just a single moment, and this time, it was enough for me to dodge. I drove my fist forward, punching with everything I had. Every cell in my body, every ounce of strength behind me went into my punch.

'Interference.'

Again, I summoned the power of Interference, feeling my body pushed to it's absolute limits as I did. I interfered with the space around my punch for just an instant, temporarily ridding it of any force that slowed my fist down - nothing but pure power and strength surged through that punch, aimed directly at Echidna's chest. 

Her Divine Mana was still in a mess from being suddenly disrupted. The punch was practically already about to hit her. She didn't bother with putting up any mana defenses...none of those things mattered. If she really wanted to, with years of battle experience and training, I'm sure Echidna could easily come up with a reaction to this fist.

I hadn't seen any Treasure on her. It probably meant that she lived a life similar to what I was now - endlessly honing her own abilities...she didn't feel like an untouchable goddess, the way Tenebi came off in the story. She felt human. All too human.

This punch was thrown not with the ferocity of vengeance, and it wasn't out of being drunk off of my own power. This punch was filled with nothing but pure respect for Echidna.

In that last second, before my punch landed on her, I swore that I could've seen her smile, one last time.

"...well done, my child. I only ask that you please...remember me."

She didn't dodge.

The full power of a counterpunch, impeded by no law of reality, slammed into Echidna's gut. Finally, sadly, happily...

My first boss fight was over. Echidna, and the world she had forced together just for this battle, this conversation between the both of us, faded into nothingness.

I wouldn't even know what her true name was, up to the very end. There was likely nobody who would remember her but me. Right now though, none of that mattered. With the last of my energy, I spoke a congratulations for myself.

"...Boss...over."

I fell down face-first, and passed out on the crumbling floor of the boss room.

---

overclockedw

Sorry for not posting for two days in a row guys. I just have not had a chance to sit down and write in the last two days, quite literally. I start working from 7 in the morning to 11 pm on most days, so it's a bit hard to find time to write outside of going to university for my classes. I hope this chapter's quality makes up for it. And thank you guys as always for reading, see you in the next chapter!