I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game

Most of the villagers have barely handled anything more dangerous than a kitchen knife.

No matter how good the weapon I hand them, they won't be able to wield it well.

Furthermore, the stronger the weapon, the easier it is to hurt the user.

If they were dolls, I wouldn't care, but I can't let people face such risks.

That's why I made them the most basic weapons.

Swords, axes, spears, and the like.

The clever village chief set up a barricade to block the beings from the deep sea, but no matter how much I thought about it, it seemed difficult to survive two nights.

'Is this why players had to sell weapons in this village?'

Texts like suddenly being unable to request support because all communication networks were cut off, or not being able to sleep because of a strange smell.

I overlooked it, so I wasn't able to prepare in advance.

'What am I supposed to do?'

The only thing I could do now was to create weapons.

A saw-staff that could grind down enemies.

A flamethrower that spits fire specialized for deep-sea creatures.

However, if used incorrectly, these are dangerous weapons that could eat the wielder instead.

As I hesitated, the third barricade fell, and a tentacled monster with dozens of eyes broke through.

There was no turning back now.

I handed them the strongest weapons I had at the moment.

The flamethrower blazed, and the saw-staff spun, cutting down the creatures.

The morale of the villagers gradually rose.

I felt a momentary sense of relief and looked over the people's condition.

They were all exhausted.

They were maintaining tension and fighting well, but the stress and fatigue were clearly at their limit.

I stretched my hand out toward the outside.

However, I was blocked by an invisible wall and could not go any further.

The people were fighting, yet I couldn't help them from here.

No matter how strong the weapons, the users are only human.

At this rate, they'll all die.

"Aaaaaargh!"

'Austin!'

As expected, what I was worried about happened.

He dropped his saw-staff, severing his own foot in the process.

Austin's stomach was then pierced by the monster.

He screamed, but soon his head was crushed, and he died.

I've only seen him twice, but I remember our warm conversation.

Why is human life so easily crushed?

If his body was made of iron, he wouldn't have died.

If I had foreseen this situation, Austin wouldn't have died.

"Kyaaaaaaaahh-!"

'Fram...'

Fram was eaten by the monster.

Her last words were her screams of pain as she was devoured like a crop being harvested.

I didn't like Fram.

Because she was foolish and self-centered.

Despite the men's dissuasion, she mustered up her courage and went into battle.

Even when her slender arms twisted and horrifying scenes unfolded, she still lifted her weapon.

But in the end, her end was so terrible.

If there were such a thing as a god, he couldn't allow this sight to continue.

Those who somehow managed to stop the enemies fell one by one.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

Behind them was a shelter where children and the elderly were hiding.

"...?"

In the distance, someone was running towards us.

A small boy.

It was Tom.

"Hey! Give me a real weapon quickly! Not this wooden sword!"

Tom said as soon as he saw my face.

That was a foolish statement.

A child's body was useless in battle.

The height of inefficiency.

But what if we took off that tiny arm and converted it into a prosthetic arm?

Naturally, I rebuked Tom.

"Stop talking nonsense and just run away!"

"If you won't give me a weapon, I'll fight with this wooden sword anyway!"

"Wait! Stop!"

Tom didn't listen to me and ran straight to where the monsters were.

This wasn't courage, it was recklessness.

At the very least, I didn't want him to die in vain.

Oddly, Tom achieved some surprising results in keeping the enemies at bay with his light wooden sword.

But, regardless, I continued to pound against the invisible wall in the video.

Bang!!

"Run away!"

I shouted as I slammed my fist at the invisible wall.

In the video, I was hitting the wall hard enough to make my hand bleed, looking quite desperate and urgent.

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"Damn it! Everyone run away! I can't hold out anymore!"

"Stop whining! If we don't stay, what will happen to the kids?!"

"The chief is right! Stop whining-"

Crunch.

Just as Tom rebuked someone for whining, he was crushed by a giant tentacle.

"Tom!!"

The village chief screamed.

But even that was a luxury, as an even greater threat approached.

A monster larger than any creature we had ever seen appeared, destroying the bakery building.

People were crushed in an instant without being able to resist.

Some were squeezed to death like fruit.

Others took their own lives with the weapons I had made.

Where is the being who can save this desperate situation?

If angels or gods exist in this world, surely they should save these helpless lambs.

Why is no one saving them?

Even the Devil would be fine.

Someone save them.

...

...I'm stupid. I'm so fucking stupid.

Why am I looking for God now when I've never been interested in religion before?

God may not exist.

But what is certain is that I am useless trash here.

It's not them who should be the first to be trashed, but me, and yet I stand here alone.

I want to get out.

I want to get out. I want to get out. I want to get out.

I'd rather die out there with them.

"..."

The chief is looking at me.

The village chief, who is about to be trampled to death by a monster walking behind him with a loud noise, raises his mouth slightly as if he has given up.

"There's a big hole in your heart... I would've liked to fill it a bit in this village but... I'm sorry."

Don't say that.

I have to get out.

I have to fucking get out.

I have to find a passage... A passage.

Any small hole will do.

"..."

The me in the video, looking like I'm not in my right mind, roll my eyes like crazy and stop at one place.

I found it.

A hole.

A trash can where poorly made equipment and leftover materials are thrown away.

Maybe I can get out through there?

No, I can get out.

I can fucking get out.

I shoved my head into the hole.

I can't get in.

Of course.

This hole wasn't made for people to pass through.

It's a place where cold inorganic things without hearts go in.

It was never meant to be a passage.

"...A machine. That's what the people at the factory called me."

Sometimes, when pushed to the edge, people try to escape the oncoming terror.

One of the ways is to lie.

Just like my relative... No, my father lied when he was at the end of his life.

I kept mumbling.

"I am a machine. I am a tool. I am a doll."

A technique to empty your heart that I learned while working at the factory.

The heart gradually grew colder as I actively utilized it.

The tears for the dead, the tears of joy I might have someday, all erased, I sank deeper into the void in my heart.

'Look at me now. I couldn't save anyone. Not my father, not the chief, not Tom, nor anyone else in the village. In the end, I was useless.'

-So, are you going to stay that way forever?

A voice is heard.

It's a voice I've heard somewhere...

'...I don't know.'

-If you're useless, then just make yourself useful.

The voice was sweet, like the voice of the Devil.

The voice guided me, who was wandering through the depths of my heart.

What the voice showed me were the machines of the factory.

'I see. Machines and tools were always useful. Then, I just have to become a machine, too.'

I ultimately abandoned my heart.

the soul slipped slowly into the hole.

In the pitch-black darkness.

A black seed sprouted.

The body began to be remade anew.

A black seed germinates.

The body is recreated.

I had succeeded in denying my humanity by lying to himself and deceiving reality.

"..."

Twisting reality itself, I, now an imperfect transcendent being, stepped outside the workshop.

There, many monsters spotted me and rushed to stop me as if they sensed something was wrong.

I slowly advanced.

I slaughtered the monsters in front of me one by one and crossed the pool of blood with my cold feet.

As the monsters died, I became more perfect.

And finally, I killed the last monster and stood on the mountain of corpses and looked around the village.

"They're all dead."

The corpses of monsters and humans were all over his feet.

Among them was the corpse of an old man whose name was probably Geppetto.

"..."

I felt nothing.

Surely that man had once been precious to him.

But as a creature now made of iron and wood, I couldn't even guess what expression to make.

Why did I want to protect this person in the first place?

"Hmm..."

Yes, I must have wanted to protect him because he'd been human, like me.

However, I couldn't understand my past actions.

If I had truly wanted to protect these people, I could have modified some of them into living weapons to put up a better fight, if not guarantee victory.

Soft human flesh was inefficient, after all.

"Waaah!"

A girl's scream broke his thoughts.

The child crying in front of the corpses is... Cassie.

Since I had once cared for her, I couldn't help but take an interest.

But why is she crying so sadly?

Ah. It's a simple thing. The death of one's own kind makes a living being feel fear.

She was likely afraid she'd die as well.

There was no guarantee this was the last of the monsters.

The world likely swarmed with even more of them.

Don't cry, Cassie.

I'll go on a trip and come back soon.

I'll modify you.

You're special, so I'll give you a body that will never die!

Oh, and while I'm at it, I might as well modify the rest of the villagers, too.

Actually, no, let's upgrade all of humanity to fight the monsters!

How magnificent.

How useful a machine I am!

Beep.

Suddenly, the Pinocchio in the video froze.

Someone had paused the video.

The immersion shattered, and I realized I was sitting in a movie theater.

"Do you really think so?"

"Alice."

Alice, seated beside me, asked with a sad expression.

She looked as if watching that video reminded her of herself.

Alice continue.

"A goal followed only through cold logic will lead you nowhere in the end. Even if you modify everyone using the power of the Machine God, you won't find happiness in that."

Alice spoke as though my actions were meaningless.

And since she acted like she already knew the answer, I asked her.

"Then... What should I do? Honestly, my heart is still empty. I don't think I'm obligated to agree with you, either."

"The answer to that is here."

Alice held out something.

It was a seed with a rainbow glow.

"I made this with the power of monsters tied to emotions. It's... A bit crude, but... I'm not good at creating things. The thing I planted in you when we first fought was a very small amount of this."

"Hmm..."

"I wish you'd accept it. There were some monsters who didn't want to lend me their power, so I took it by force, and I had a hard time. Even now, most of them don't respond when I talk to them because they're upset."

"I'm not one to get swept up in the atmosphere. I don't know what you've done to this seed, and it doesn't sound particularly appealing to me. So..."

"It's good not to get swept up. It's completely your decision. So you're not going to take it?"

Alice kept holding out the seed to me, urging me to make a choice.

If I was suspicious, I didn't have to accept it.

Or I could take it and throw it away later.

"I..."

Why was I hesitating?

I'm a machine. I saw it in that video.

How useless I was as a person with emotions.

How worthless I was as a human.

Someone who protected nothing and only repeated failures.

"Pinocchio. You in that video. You, a human, are wearing a mask. But that is a mask that only you can see. You cannot read expressions because you have abandoned your own. Aren't you curious about what kind of expression you, who had emotions, would make in front of a mountain of corpses?"

"..."

I don't want to be curious.

It's different from not being curious.

Some kind of incomprehensible rejection is rising.

It must be because of the seed that Alice planted in my body.

"Like the ghost story about a corpse under a cherry tree, face the horror that lies beneath the splendor. Face the fear and regain your will. Don't hesitate because of past failures. Don't let past failures make you hesitate. We can make it... As long as we try."

"Regaining emotions is ultimately nothing more than a downgrade for me."

When I said that, the me in the video, who should have stopped, suddenly started talking.

"But sometimes it's better to use a weaker, more suitable weapon than to just blindly use a strong weapon."

I retorted.

"Maybe you don't have a choice. When you're really cornered, you have to take out a strong weapon."

"You can think about that later. We're not blacksmiths who only make weapons."

"Even if you make tools for everyday life, they won't help you fight."

We talked back and forth as if we were debating.

Arguing with myself makes me realize that finding the truth through conversation is a long and arduous path.

"It helps us understand and communicate with them."

"...We have to protect people."

"That's right, we have to protect them. Arm them with weapons, and protect them yourself. Tools have many uses. Sometimes you can suppress your emotions and take up weapons. However, it's also necessary to understand and communicate with them."

"Who would benefit from me having emotions?"

When I said that, the version of me in the video fell silent.

Was it decided, then?

However, the me in the video only moved slightly to show the mountain of corpses that were covered by his body and the crying girl.

"...Cassie is crying."

This time, it was me who closed his mouth.

-Waaah! Where did everyone go?

My hands were shaking.

Alice gently held my wooden hand.

She handed me a seed.

I took the seed.

"A terrible misfortune has occurred. We can't truly console her. But we can cry with her."

-I miss you...

I planted the seed in myself.

The seed sprouted as if it had been waiting.

-Sister...

POV Switch - Alice

Both the Pinocchio in the video and the one outside the video shed their masks simultaneously.

Pinocchio's wooden face collapsed, revealing a human face.

Her expression was filled with anger and sadness.

Tears fell down her cheeks.

"Ahhh... I wanted to protect them. I couldn't even save my father... I wanted to save them this time! They're all dead! Because I was complacent! Because I was weak!"

She screamed and then lowered her head and cried.

This place was her inner world.

If she tried to fill this space with tears, she could easily do so.

Those tears would become the nutrients that would grow Pinocchio's new heart.

"You are a devil who created weapons (tools) because you wanted to protect people, but when faced with a great disaster, you abandoned your heart and chose to become a tool. Because you abandoned your heart, only your purpose of protecting others remained, and you ended up with a twisted ending. Now, I hope you will go down the right path, even if only a little."

"..."

"It seems you'll need more time."

Leaving Pinocchio's sobbing behind, I exited the theater and headed toward the end of the still-darkened hall.

After a while, the gear that had been hidden away finally revealed itself.

"Now that the plan is ruined, isn't it time for you to show yourself again?"

[...]

"You damn piece of scrap metal."

As I spoke venomously, a face of the Machine God emerged from part of the gear.

It was a ridiculous sight.

[So you insist on ruining everything.]

"Pinocchio was a machine beyond your control. So your plan was to corrupt her and take her power for yourself, right?"

If cockroaches were this tenacious, even Sesco would have given up.¹

But now, it's truly over.

Last time, the core and the clones were separate, but Pinocchio's scale must have compressed everything, including the clones, into this one gear.

[I merely seized an opportunity from a crisis.]

"I see. Now it's the end."

[Indeed. The end, I suppose. But... It was entertaining, I must admit.]

I laughed in disbelief.

"Ha! You did all this grandiose stuff, but in the end, it was all fun? Was tormenting people and making them cry that much fun? Yes, it was fun! Terror is inherently thrilling. But entertainment should never come at the cost of human lives."

In my mind, the Queen of Hearts shouted.

Off with his head!

I slowly grabbed the gear that was small enough to fit in one hand.

And I began to tighten my grip.

[Entertainment... This world is filled with malicious dangers. Do you think it's possible?]

"Of course."

And so, I crushed the gear.

Crunch...!

The fragments fell and I instinctively knew that they had a huge impact on this world.

I muttered as I looked at the fragments.

"...Because that's what I'm going to do."

...

Alice.

Defeated the first ruler.