It's been a week… or at least it feels like one. And this forest has been night time for a long time, I haven't seen the sun in what feels like forever.
I've been eating leaves and random herbs that make my stomach twist in pain. But I kept eating. I'll do anything to survive, even if it means eating my own flesh.
But my legs and arms hurt more than my stomach. I've been fighting monsters—so many of them—nonstop. I've fought so long my hands' skin has started to tear… no, it's almost completely ripped.
Even after all this suffering, I still can't find that damn demon's master.
"If I catch that mother fucker, I will rip his guts off and, shove it up his ass." I said angrily.
Zzz... zzz... zzz...
Then I heard someone or something snoring. I looked around for the source of the sound and finally found it. The snoring was coming from a figure wrapped in a cloak.
I walked toward the figure and reached out with my blood-covered hand.
But before I could touch him, the figure suddenly grabbed my wrist and slammed me to the ground.
The cloak slipped off, revealing a demon—identical to the others I'd fought, yet this one looked old and frail, its skin pale and eyes sunken.
"It's you… you're here," the demon said, its voice trembling.
I shoved him away, glaring. "What do you mean, 'you're here'? Do I know you?" I asked, confused.
"You don't know me… but I know you," he said, his voice weak but certain. "I saw you in my dream, the man who will save me."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, raising my sword. "Get ready to die."
I brought the sword down, stopping inches from his face. "Yes~. Kill me." the demon said.
I lowered my sword and started walking, my boots crunching against the dirt.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" The demon's voice chased me, sharp and pleading.
I spun around, sword dangling lazily at my side. "What do you expect me to do when you say it like that? Pervert."
"Hehe, sorry about that. I was just... excited to die," the demon said with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Ha? Why the hell would you be excited for that?" I asked.
"You see…" He sat on the ground, voice heavy with something between regret and sadness.
Then he started talking. About how he once served the Demon King. How he'd been caught saving innocent children, something no demon was supposed to do. For that, he was imprisoned here. Years passed. He trained, learned to astral project, and one day, when he slipped, outside of the forest, he found his wife in another man's arms. So he killed her.
When he finally stopped, I realized his story didn't end there.
"As for the others that look like me…" he said, eyes dimming. "I created them. Clones. I got lonely, so I made copies of myself to talk to."
"I see… But aren't you sharing your past with someone you just met?" I asked.
"Well, I can trust you," he replied.
"So the reason you're stuck here… it's because of the Demon King?" I said.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"Sigh… honestly, man, demon kings are such assholes," I muttered, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter if it's in Isekai or in this world, they're all the same. Power-hungry, cruel, and somehow always finding new ways to make life miserable." I nodded to myself.
"—The fuck are you talking about?" he said, a weird look on his face.
"Nothing." I stood. "Oh well. I'll kill you, but before I do… how do I get out of here?"
"If I could, wouldn't I have left already?" he said.
"I see." I kicked him to the ground and planted my boot on his chest. "I'm going to kill you now — not to end your misery, but because you eat humans."
"Fair point. Can't argue with that," he said with a smile. "But after you kill me, take the two pieces of paper in my cloak."
"I will… What's your name?" I asked.
"Azrael — Azrael Nightbane," he replied.
I brought the sword down to his neck and sliced his neck, ending his life in a single, clean motion. I stepped back, and dropped my sword, then rifled through his cloak. Between the folds lay two scraps of paper: one scrawled with a cramped cloning spell, the other a crude map, and a small, three ominous bomb.
"A map?" I asked, a smirk tugging at my lips as confusion flickered across my face.
The map was old and poorly drawn, but one structure caught my eye, a building marked with a skull symbol on top, warning of danger.
But I ignored the warning and followed the map, fighting countless monsters along the way.
After getting lost more times than I could count thanks to that miserable excuse for a map, I finally reached the place. The area was strangely open, a quiet clearing with not a single tree in sight.
At its center rose a tall temple, ancient, weathered, and wrapped in thick vines and creeping moss. Time had claimed most of it, yet it still stood with an air of defiance, like a forgotten monument refusing to crumble.
"Awooooo!"
Then I heard it, a familiar sound that sent chills down my spine. I turned around and froze.
In front of me stood six wolves. They were large but gaunt, their jaws dripping with saliva, and their eyes glowed with a desperate hunger.
I spun around and sprinted toward the temple, desperate to escape the wolves. But they were faster. Before I could react, teeth sank into my left leg.
They dragged me down, snarling, and tore into me. Each bite sent a shock of agony through my body, so sharp it stole my breath. I screamed, but it didn't stop them.
The pain was endless—my flesh ripped open, my insides torn and devoured while I was still awake. I could only scream as they pulled me apart, piece by piece.
At last, I stopped screaming—the pain was unbearable. But then thoughts of home pierced through the haze. My family… the ones I had now.
I saw my mother's gentle smile, my sister's warmth, the small moments I had yet to share with my father, the words I hadn't spoken to my little brother. I hadn't even truly talked to him.
With my remaining hand, I felt the bomb the demon had given me. Summoning every ounce of strength, I grabbed it, found the button, and pressed it. Then I threw it into the air.
The bomb soared… and came crashing down.
BOOM!
It landed among the wolves. They leapt away just in time, but the blast slammed into me. Pain ripped through my body, worse than anything before, but I didn't care. I rolled onto my back, gasping for breath.
With what strength I had left, I pushed myself up and pressed another bomb beneath me. The explosion sent me flying toward the temple.
I landed inside the temple with a thud. My vision blurred, but I caught sight of a pillar and dragged myself toward it.
Cold pillar against my back, I tried to catch my breath. Half my face—just gone. Both legs, gone too. Only one arm left, the other ripped away. My guts hung out of my stomach, blood soaking everything, pouring fast. The smell of burnt meat hit me. It was me—I was the meat.
"Well… at least I d-didn't die by a p-piano," I said, trying to laugh — but no sound came out.
But why am I still alive? A normal person would've died the moment those wolves took a bite out of them. So why me? Why am I still breathing when I should've been dead long ago?
I didn't really question it when I first got here—not properly, at least. But now it's hitting me. Who brought me here? And why the hell was I reincarnated into this, a shitty romance novel of all things?
Out of every world, it had to be this one. I could've ended up in Phoenix Doll X, or Caruto, or literally anywhere else.
And who was that person in the dark place? The void I was floating in before all this who were they?
I have too many questions, and barely any answers.
If only I were stronger… if only I were better, I wouldn't be lying here like some useless corpse. If I had power, I could've killed those shitty wolves, torn them apart before they ever touched me. But no. I was weak. Pathetic. And now I'm paying the price for it.
Suddenly, a light burst into existence ahead of me, a blinding, pure light cutting through the darkness.
Then I decided to check it out. I mean, I'm going to die anyway, might as well see what's there.
Light spilled out from behind a broken pillar on the ground. I crawled over, pulled myself onto the cold pillar, and dropped right there—my face just inches from whatever was glowing. I squinted, trying to figure out what it was, but the light was blinding. I couldn't see anything clearly. My eyes started to lose focus. My head swam.
The everything went dark. Total darkness.