Chapter 6

  The shadow figure's smile was wider than ever as he stood in the ruins of what was once my castle, my home.

  "Did you enjoy your little fantasy, Takashi?" His voice no longer held that benevolent tone from our first meeting.

  "Why?" I could barely form words through my grief. The blood of my wives, my children it was everywhere. "WHY?!"

  He tilted his head, that smile never fading. "Because that's entertainment, Takashi. All those light novels you read? Those anime you watched? Did you really think they were just stories?"

  I gripped my knife tighter, the weapon that had never failed me. Until now.

  "Every isekai protagonist generates energy. Hope, despair, love, hatred it's all the same to beings like me. We feed on it." He gestured around at the carnage. "And nothing produces more raw emotion than building someone up to unimaginable heights... before taking everything away."

  My infinite mana pool swirled violently around me, cracking the ground beneath my feet. "I'll erase you from existence."

  "You can try." He ughed. "But haven't you figured it out yet? That knife, those powers they were never meant to work on me. I wrote the rules of this little game."

  I charged at him anyway, sshing with the knife that had deleted entities from reality. It passed through him like he was mist.

  "There have been thousands before you, Takashi. Lonely souls, plucked from their mundane existences, given everything they ever dreamed of." His form seemed to expand, darkness bleeding out from his edges. "And then, just when they believe they've found happiness..."

  Images fshed in the air around us other worlds, other heroes, other tragedies. All ending in blood.

  "You're a monster" I whispered.

  "No, Takashi. I'm a reader. The reader of all those stories you loved so much." He reached toward me. "And now that we've finished the comedy portion of our tale, it's time for something more intresting."

  My powers they were fading. I could feel them draining away like water through fingers.

  "What's happening to me?"

  "Bance, Takashi. For every gift, a price. For every power, a weakness. Did you think those skills came free? Your 'Instant Mastery' was powered by your ability to learn naturally. Your 'Infinite Mana' came from your lifespan. Your 'Divine Perception' cost you the ability to see what was right in front of you."

  I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling so ordinary.

  "Now comes the interesting part" said the shadow. "You're weak now, broken, grieving. But you're not dead. I want to see what you'll do."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I've harvested what I needed from your rise. Now I'll feast on your fall." He gestured at the ruined castle, the bodies of my loved ones. "You have nothing left but revenge against me, against this world that betrayed you, against the very concept of fantasy itself."

  The shadow began to fade. "Find me if you can, hero."