Chapter 10: The Endless Forest (3)

"What are we going to cut the tree with? We don't have any tools, not even an axe.", I said, following her.

"With nihilism obviously. I might have a talent useless for this, but I can still use nihilism as is, which should be strong enough to cut down trees.", she said, climbing up a tree to try and scout out where the tree was.

"What do I do then? I don't know how to use nihilism. All I know is that it's supposed to make you stronger."

"Yeah, and it also turns you into a superhuman, but it is usually used as fuel for either a talent, or an art. Don't worry, big sister here will teach you how to use it then.", she said nonchalantly, climbing higher and higher up the tree.

"Wait really?", I said, surprised at how considerate she was.

"Yup. After all, if you don't, then it might take up to a month to cut down these trees.", she said, finally at the top of the tree.

"Giant tree located. It seems to be sleeping.", she said, jumping off the top of the tree and landing on the ground unscathed.

"So we just cut down the trees around here?", I asked.

"Before that, we have a few things to do."

"What are they?"

"First is teaching you how to use nihilism. Then we go and see how far we can go into its territory before it wakes up. And third, we cut the trees around it and light it ablaze.", she said, making it sound easy.

"All of that is assuming it will only wake up when we are near it, and that it can't move very far from its place."

"Yup. If it could move far away from its place, we would be tree fertilizer by now. And since it is like a tree, it might also act like one, so we are just assuming it won't wake up unless we go near it."

"Quite risky assumptions to make.", I said.

"Not like we have a choice in that matter.", she snapped back. "Let's go back to the campfire area, I'll teach you nihilism there.", she said heading back to the 'camp' we made.

I sat down near the ashes of the burnt-out campfire, and just looked at her eagerly.

She was slightly taken aback by my seeming eagerness to learn. Either way, she started 'teaching' me.

"You have used nihilism once before right?", she asked.

"Yup.", I replied.

"And what did you feel when you used it the first time?"

"It felt like a surge of power through my body."

She paused. "… That's it?"

"Uh… yeah?", I said.

"I see.", she said, trying not to sound disappointed. "I am assuming you don't know how to summon your nihilism yet."

"Yup."

"It's based on how close you are to a god. Or to a source of nihilism."

"Then how are you able to use it freely?"

"If you use it enough times, it becomes easy to use, without the caveat of a god being near you.", she said.

"I thought you said you were going to teach me how to use nihilism.", I said, slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, I am. Basically you need to be around a person using nihilism for somewhat of a long time to use it consistently"

"Yeah, I got that. But-"

"But you see, did you know that when your life or something similar is threatened, your nihilism starts to come out?", she said, getting up from the floor. "Nihilism makes your body stronger, and more agile, so when your life gets threatened, it's pretty natural for some sort of shield to come out, right or wrong?"

I might be denser than lead, but I am pretty sure this means she will kill me. I got up as fast as I could, and just leaped away from her.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you.", she said, doing some light warmup. "I will just rip your limbs out."

"Yeah because that's supposed to make me feel better.", I said, starting to sweat profusely.

Normally I wouldn't be this hesitant to fight. I would like to think I was pretty good at kendo and stuff. But her talent. The thing that can stop things in their tracks. One touch alone, and I was probably screwed.

Actually, it might just take me being near her for it to be game over. She did stop my hand back then without moving. So now what?

And worse still, was the fact that I knew a person using nihilism was much stronger than a person not using nihilism. I could crush a marble statue like talc with nihilism after all.

She pounced towards me, with her hand about to punch me.

I felt that surge of power again. I guess she was right. Not about the nihilism being activated when your life is in danger. I mean about her trying to kill me.

I stepped as far to the right as I could. The surge of power was definitely showing. I could see the clear aura surrounding me again.

But that's all it did. It just made me go a little bit faster, and made me a little bit stronger. Maria was much faster and stronger than me though. It was either due to practice or talent. Either way, it wasn't a good situation for me.

I noticed the aura surrounding her was red. But what was most important was the fact that I could now see her aura.

I grabbed a twig, and threw it at her.

She didn't even try catching it, she just stood there, and stopped it with her talent. "What are you doing?", she said, sounding pissed at my seeming lack of concern.

Throwing that twig confirmed something. The moment you enter the field of her aura, you will be stopped, as the moment the twig entered her aura, it stopped in its tracks.

Test 1 was a success. I could identify the range of her talent. Now for test 2. How many things can she stop at once?

That question had to wait, as Maria charged towards me again, and this time, didn't miss. She hit me squarely in the abdomen, sending me flying away.

I might not have realized back then, but looking back at it, if I hadn't been using nihilism, there would be a hole straight through me.

I flew straight into a tree. It felt like I landed on my back after jumping from a 2-story building.

"Are you really trying to observe my talent?", she scoffed. "I don't need to use it against you."

"…"

So she is underestimating me. I guess that was good for my current situation, but it did kind of hurt my ego.

She had been attacking me till now. Now it was my turn.

Unfortunately for me, Ms. Maria here had a different idea. It was called beating the ever-living shit out of me relentlessly.

She rushed towards me, even while I was still down on the floor. Then she punched my face.

I basically wrestled her to the ground, but she still had the upper hand in terms of strength. It was nothing but a dogfight. I punched her in the face, she elbowed my jaw and hit my ribs. I kicked her, she stomped on my face.

That being said, I could now feel my nihilism a lot better now. It felt like I was surrounded by a pool of water, not constraining my motion, but enhancing it. It was surprisingly easy to control too, it felt like kneading dough, just mentally.

After a while of exchanging blows, she jumped away from me. She looked like she had barely sustained much injury, with just a few minor bruises. I didn't even need to look in a mirror to know how badly I was beaten up.

"Well…", she said, sounding tired. "I… huph… did it…"

"You mean I did.", I said, still lying on the floor after I got beaten up.

"Don't worry none of the injuries you got are permanent. Nihilism can also heal you slowly. You will be back to normal by tomorrow.", she said, collapsing on the ground.

"I hope you are right…", I said, just lying there. Nihilism was still surrounding me. Just being near it made me feel good, like being in a warm house in the middle of winter.

"Just lay there and rest. You can now use nihilism somewhat consistently.", she said. "I'll go pick up some firewood."

"What if it disappears?", I asked.

"It won't disappear. It will stay around you forever from now on. It will not be as powerful as it is now. You can always just make it stronger yourself, the same way you flex your muscles.", she said, heading out.

I wanted to get up and do something but I felt tired as hell, so I just dozed off.

.

.

.

God damn that felt good. Just punching a punching bag like that, really relieved some of my stress, I thought to myself as I was picking up firewood.