I fell, wind whipping my hair into a frenzy, the crimson sky a vast blur above as gothic spires raced upward in my periphery.
Towers twisted like massive thorns, their stone surfaces etched with snarls and hollow eyes, vanishing into the haze as gravity claimed me.
Down and down, the drop endless, my stomach lurching with each plummeting second.
Roughly twelve thousand people perish each year from accidents alone, another five thousand weekly in villain assaults, and countless more in petty clashes between Ego-wielders who underestimate their own destructive force.
Out of every grim end imaginable, mine would come at the hands of a Hero—the very guardians I once idolized.
A chuckle escaped my lips, bitter and fleeting amid the roar of air.
Would those demons even bother with their torments?
By the time my body smashed into the ground at this velocity, there would be nothing left to carve or break—just a smear for them to ponder.
But the fall began to ease, air resistance shifting as if an invisible hand tempered my descent.
"What…?"
There, diving from the heights, a humanoid silhouette with wings for arms, feathers mottled in shades of ash and ember.
She muttered aloud, voice carrying on the wind.
"A human?"
Another form materialized, hulking and stone-hewn, resembling a gargoyle perched on some forgotten cathedral.
"Hmm, is this what I suspect it is?" he rumbled, his voice grinding like gravel underfoot.
A third joined, red-skinned with bat-like wings unfurling from her back, her smile curious and sharp as she licked her lips.
"Unprecedented. A morsel delivered straight to our domain~"
Alarm surged through me, every instinct screaming flight as my pulse hammered.
These were Demons—villains incarnate, humanity's eternal foes.
No records spoke of them snatching hostages or dragging souls to their realm, but tales overflowed with their savagery.
From feasting on human flesh with relish, inflicting agonies that shattered minds to those who dare stand before them, and reveling in depravities that stained the earth during incursions.
My heart plummeted deeper than my body, breath halting as if I were already a lifeless husk, though my senses clung sharp—sights vivid, sounds piercing.
The harpy tilted her head, pointing a talon. "She's gravely injured. Look at the blood!"
The gargoyle shrugged massive shoulders. "She'll mend, unless she's one of those Ego-less wretches."
"Since it has been a while that a human is sighted here, don't you think that this cutie will fetch quite the price?"
I yearned to fight, to claw for survival with every scrap of will.
But blood loss dragged me under, vision blurring to black as consciousness slipped away.
But something felt amiss, as if it was less of falling unconscious and more of—being dragged away from the monitor in the middle of playing a video game.
Didn't change the fact that I went unconscious.
After all of that willpower of trying to stay awake to fight my fate, my motivation to live had feel deep into the abyss
And somewhere deep down, I hoped that I would never wake up, freed from the torments Caligula promised me of them.
"Huh, looks like they didn't lie about how you receive some sort of vision of the past before you die."
In the haze of this white world I found myself in, I watched my younger self on the floor of a cramped room, arranging figurines in epic standoffs—heroes poised against villains, plastic capes fluttering in imaginary winds.
"Tis' I! Red Stark!" she declared with a sparkle in her eyes, holding the crimson figurine and puppeteering it like a sword. "Here to vanquish villainous scums like you!"
"Muahaha! You're too late, Red Stark, I already took over the entire District under my reign! You can't defeat me if you wish for them to stay unharmed!"
"Then I shall defeat you before you can do anything to those hostages!"
"Is that so? Then I shall hurt them before you can do anything to me!"
"Then I shall defeat you first before you can hurt them before I can do anything to you!"
"Fufufu, I see how resolute you are, Red Stark. Now that it comes to this, have a taste of my ultimate move!"
"Hah! Too bad, I already used my Ego on you. You're already dead, Villain!"
"What, no way. Argh!"
What the hell am I watching?
Regardless of how goofy I was in this vision, it didn't change the fact that my infatuation with Heroes was more than paramount.
Even now, that childish lens lingered, coloring my world in stark alliances.
The small me paused, as if addressing an unseen questioner about her devotion to those shining idols.
I couldn't hear nor see the one asked, but I knew that my younger self was being asked by someone, the same with the content of the question provided.
Why do you like Heroes so much?"
"Because they protect us all," she chirped, eyes alight with unshakeable faith. "And someday, I want to be like them, so that I can protect all of you too!"
My breath tightened in a quick gasp.
I jolted awake, bolting upright to stare at a ceiling of rough-hewn stone, veins of quartz glinting faintly in dim light.
Panic flooded back. I flung aside the blanket draping me, then tugged at unfamiliar clothes—simple tunic and trousers in muted gray, nothing I recalled donning.
The room blended odd luxury with austerity, like an ornate furniture carved from dark wood, a plush bed beneath me, yet walls and floor bore the jagged texture of a prison cell.
Suited for someone that was neither ally nor foe, it seemed?
A vase on the bedside table held a demonic bloom, petals curling like flames in hues of violet and obsidian.
The scent calmed me down, until I remembered that I was supposed to be near death.
My hand flew to my stomach, probing for the puncture that should have ended me, but skin met skin—smooth, unmarred, no trace of blood or scar.
Fingers also drifted to my right eye.
The socket was empty as ever.
I sighed, a wry smile tugging my lips.
"Well, I expected that my right eye will still lost."
After all, it was not a normal wound by any means.
My thoughts then raced, piecing the fragments.
So I was fainting mid-air amid three flying demons.
Most likely, I got captured, then. Tended in this peculiar prison.
But this much hospitality was surprising. I thought that I would woke up in a torture room or something.
"Well, glad that was not the case."
I rose, and looked to the sole window of this room.
My body felt heavy, then I walked toward the seeping light, pushing it open to reveal the world outside,
There, a garden sprawled—vines twisting in unnatural spirals, blossoms pulsing with inner glows with flora alien to any earthly soil.
The opening gaped wide, no bars or wards apparent.
This meant that I could escape!
But to what end?
This was the Demonic Realm, a foreign expanse where my knowledge of it ran thin, with barely any of its information removed from the public by the Heroic Oversight Bureau.
Venturing blind would doom me faster than staying put.
Before resolve could form, a glance back caught the door yawning ajar.
A woman stood there, bringing a tray laden with steaming porridge and unfamiliar fruits.
Long silver hair cascaded straight to her waist, purple eyes wide and luminous, her form accentuated by a maid's attire that exposed a generous expanse of cleavage through a deliberate window in the fabric.
Natural beauty radiated from her, surpassing any I'd encountered back on Earth, even in that provocative ensemble.
Most importantly, she looked like a normal human!
Our gazes locked, mutual stun holding us frozen for heartbeats.
Then she quickly placed the tray at the bedside table in a blur of superhuman grace, before rushing toward me.
"GAAAAAAA!"
I screamed.