Aurora Over a Dead World

"...Zenith, so good to see you again." Someone appears on my porch, and by reflex I grab a knife from the kitchen and point it toward the voice until I see who it is, which sends a slight shiver through me for an instant.

"...Maya... what are you doing at my house, and did you know doors exist? Why did you come in through my window?" I say, somewhat frustrated that she’s always like this, as I place the knife back in its holder.

"You know how I am, right?" She says with a smug little smile on her face. Maya, the current Top 1 among all the Kaira, is so strong that she’s being considered the strongest Kaira in history — meaning stronger than all generations of Kaira up to now, which isn’t that many, but isn’t exactly few people either.

She’s a girl with long hair of an extremely unnatural white, with eyes also of an extremely unnatural white. She has a small physique, almost like that of a fifteen-year-old teenager, with an overall appearance that’s almost cute.

And she’s dressed in a military suit that’s also white, though I know she wears white clothes just to irritate others. It hurts the eyes a little to keep looking at her because of that strange shade of white she emits.

’I know that white is her power’s fault... a terrifying power, as always...’ She has a power called Molecular Manipulation, and it basically allows the user to manipulate atoms, molecules, and matter within a radius of one meter.

Which seems ridiculous when you look only at the description — it’s an extremely limited power that only works within a one-meter radius. Many people don’t even believe she’s Top 1 when they hear that’s her power.

But those are the ones who don’t know how absurd a power like that is, both for offense and defense. Maya is a natural-born genius, a talent like no other. Not even my students come close to this woman, who’s only thirty-four years old and even so is considered invincible.

Getting near her is instant death. She dismantles your body before even a fraction of a second passes — you turn to atomic dust so fast that to anyone’s eyes it would look like you just vanished.

She can calculate vectors so quickly that she can do it even against enemy attacks. Everything within one meter of her is dismantled too fast to even touch her.

And worse — if anyone thinks she can only attack within that one-meter radius, they’ll be brutally killed, because she manipulates the matter within that area to generate attacks that she fires outward.

Whether it’s small spheres she fires like bullets that easily break the sound barrier, going supersonic within the first millimeters of movement, or generating weapons that she launches as attacks.

She molds matter and rearranges the atoms and molecules of things to generate weapons so dangerous they can pierce even the shells of extremely dangerous and resilient monsters.

Unfortunately, she’s extremely dependent on that power, and after she "creates" an object it carries vector energy, so she can’t even come close to beating Nemesis because nothing of hers is a "physical attack" — everything she does hits right against Nemesis’s vector resistance.

’I’ve heard she can fire a blade from one end of Aurora Island to the other... a terrifyingly massive range... greater than my range, which is already considered immense...’ I honestly feel some discomfort around Maya. She’s someone with a somewhat rebellious attitude, and she has the power to back up that rebellion.

"What do you want here?"

"Came to deliver a message. The ship changed direction, so I came to warn you. And since I already did that, I came to fulfill a request from Nadir to see you." She speaks with a familiarity that irritates me.

’This damn woman...’

"Oh, your eyebrows just furrowed. Jealous?"

"Nadir has no interest in eighth-grade brats who want to spread their legs for him." When I say that, a vein pops in her forehead.

"I’m a legal adult."

"Oh, really? With that body, it’s hard to tell." Despite the discomfort she gives me, I’m not afraid of her. And she’s not crazy enough to try anything against me. Even though I can’t beat her, I could still wound her since my power is spatial, and she can’t attack and defend at the same time when the attack against her is complex like spatial manipulation — which forces her to defend first and only then attempt to attack.

After all, she needs to calculate every vector that comes into contact with her. She may be a genius, but she’s not a machine. Her brain still has to calculate everything without frying in the process.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you’re so arrogant. Don’t you want the message? By the way, I discovered something interesting. You know the ship’s route? It headed toward some strange ruins, and ironically, Aurora Island is also heading in that direction, from what I can sense." When she says that, my body tenses.

’...’

"What’s with that reaction? You know something." She seems more serious at my reaction.

’The Hooded Woman... she even managed to manipulate where the ship was going? So Nadir will be there too?...’ Things just got more complicated.

"I do know... and things aren’t as... good as I’d like..."

"Then how about telling me?" She walks into my house uninvited and throws herself onto the couch.

"Don’t touch my things."

"As you wish, Zenith." She says it with the confidence of someone who knows I couldn’t do anything if she decided to alter the structure of the couch.

’Tsk... either way, it’s good that she came. I already wanted to talk to her...’ She’s the person I wanted to talk to instead of Astrid. Maya has terrifying political authority and access to documents that only the top brass have.

"I feel like you just thought something offensive."

"Just that you’re kind of easy."

"...Ha! Me, easy? I’m still a virgin."

"Of course you are. No one wants to get arrested if someone gets the wrong idea."

"...It’s not my fault I look so young."

"It really isn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that you look too young for a relationship without it seeming very strange." I grab my phone, open a folder, and toss it to her. She catches it without looking.

"What’s this?"

"Read it. It has everything you need to know. I’m going to want your help — are you willing to help? It’ll be interesting for you."

"...I’ll see first..."

’If Aurora Island is heading to the same place Nadir is, it means the Hooded Woman probably wants something she can only obtain if Aurora Island and these ruins are in the same place... she also said there are things about my past there...’ That’s what she implied — that my past might be uncovered in that place.

"Ooh, what nice photos of Nadir you have." I quickly go over and snatch the phone from her hand.

"Why the hell are you going through other people’s galleries?"

"Just looking at photos of your man. It’s a shame he doesn’t give me the time of day."

"You just want to use him." With Nadir’s help, the range of her power could increase a lot. That’s where her interest came from, though later some feelings emerged, and I recognize that. But a big part of it is still just wanting to use his power.

"Not entirely. He’s hot — those well-defined muscles combined with his physique and handsome face. He’s a real stallion. He balanced muscle and beauty well, and he even looks kind of cute in formal wear."

"..." I nearly crushed the phone.

"Did you already read—"

"Of course I did. Did you forget who I am? I read every part of your device’s memory."

"!!!"

"I told you not to alter anything!"

"I didn’t alter anything. I just viewed the organization of all the matter in the phone’s memory — or rather, the relevant parts of the memory that were concrete data. By the way, you’re way more active than I imagined. What’s with those photos?"

"..." I grow embarrassed and regret letting her see my phone.

"Shut up. The photos I send to Nadir aren’t something you should be seeing..."

"Hahaha, would you look at that. So even you know how to be a woman? And what spicy photos. I don’t think I’ll ever forget them. And what greedy poses — you really know how to tempt a man. You’re always so stiff that it ends up overshadowing that more feminine side of you."

"And what a big ass. Your clothes normally don’t make it so obvious, but when you tilt your hips you can tell you’re quite gifted. Does Nadir like to smack it?"

"...Shut up. I get it — you’re mad because I mentioned your size."

"Hehehe... exceptional work locking the Nexus so he can’t see the images, though it’s a waste of intelligence to use that just so Nexus doesn’t see photos."

"Seriously, what is your problem? Can you shut your mouth? At least talk about what matters."

"...The Hooded Woman, huh? Fine... what to say about this so-called Hooded Woman... from what I saw on your phone, she’s just some strange woman. I could easily kill her. Just because that failure Astrid lost doesn’t mean I would."

"Your confidence is out of this world... even if you can back it up."

"I don’t help others without gaining something, but considering this involves Nadir, I’ll keep an eye on it... besides, from the recording I saw on your phone... I feel like I’ve seen that atomic structure before... that woman has definitely appeared in front of me before."

’She can perceive that just from reading the memory data of a video she didn’t even open?... what a terrifying application of that power...’

"More importantly!! Zenith, what the hell are these new prosthetics! I can’t read anything about their structure!!!" She speaks in a very serious tone.

’Of course she can’t...’ That’s a "unique part." The cube isn’t something that has a "structure" to be seen.

"Ask Astrid. She should explain it later."

"You’re lucky that trying to read someone’s mind is extremely complex and I can’t do it without getting sick." She says it with a slightly threatening tone.

"..." The worst part is I don’t doubt she could "read" someone’s mind, because in the end, thoughts and memories still depend on things that physically exist in the brain.

But realistically speaking, she would never even come close to reading someone’s mind with just her power without immense overload. It would be like asking a computer to try to read someone’s mind — even the most powerful computers can’t do it.

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