I'M TIRED!!!!
I wiped down the last table in the cafe, tossing the dirty rag into the sink behind the counter. My arms felt heavy, and my head felt stuffy. Cooking at superhuman speed sounds like a fun superpower until you actually have to do it for eight hours straight. The smell of fried pork, roasted coffee, and sweet syrup was practically baked into my skin.
"Okay, that's everything," I groaned, stretching my back until it gave a satisfying, loud pop. "If I see one more dirty plate today, I'm going to throw it out the window."
I looked over to the end of the counter. Eucliwood was sitting in her usual spot. She had already finished her dinner and was quietly watching me complain, her hands resting softly in her lap. The silver plating of her armor caught the dim light of the closed cafe.
"I'm going to go crazy if I stay in this kitchen for another minute," I told her, untying my apron and hanging it on its hook. "My brain feels like mashed potatoes. I think I need to get some fresh air. Go for a little late-night stroll, you know?"
She tilted her head, her pale blue eyes blinking slowly. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her white notepad, scribbled a few words, and held it up.
Be careful. It is dark.
I let out a soft chuckle. It was a simple message, but coming from a stoic necromancer who barely interacted with anyone, it meant a lot. I walked around the counter and stopped right in front of her. Without really thinking about it, I reached out and gently placed my hand on top of her head. Her hair was incredibly soft.
I gave her a gentle pet. She stiffened for half a second, her eyes going a little wide, but then she relaxed, letting me pat her head.
"I'll be fine, Eu," I smiled at her, keeping my voice soft. "It's just a walk around the block. I need to clear my head before I go to sleep. You head on upstairs and get some rest. I won't be long."
I pulled my hand back, grabbed my tough leather jacket off the chair, and headed for the front door. I unlocked it, stepped outside into the night, and locked it behind me.
The moment the cool night air hit my face, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.
I took a massive, deep breath. The air was cold, crisp, and completely free of the smell of cooking oil. It was comforting. It instantly put me at ease. I put my hands in my jacket pockets and started walking down the empty sidewalk.
The streetlights cast long, orange shadows across the concrete. Kuoh Town was surprisingly quiet at night. After all the crazy stuff that had happened—fighting Fallen Angels, unlocking a game system, dragging a magical girl home—it felt really, really good to just take a break. Just to be a normal guy going for a walk.
I turned the corner, my boots clicking softly against the pavement. My mind wandered. I thought about the cafe's profits. I thought about the Forest of Death. I thought about Eucliwood, and how nice it was to have someone waiting for me at home.
"Maybe I'll just go over to the park," I muttered to myself. "Sit on a bench. Look at the stars. Forget about magic and stats for ten minutes."
The park wasn't too far from here. Just a couple of blocks down. I picked up my pace, feeling the tension slowly leaving my shoulders.
And then, it happened.
A scream ripped through the quiet night air.
It wasn't a playful shout. It wasn't a teenager messing around. It was a raw, terrified scream of pure agony.
"SOMEBODY HELP!!!!"
I froze. The chill in the air suddenly felt a lot colder. My heart hammered in my chest.
What the hell is going on?! my brain screamed. My anime knowledge started firing off like a machine gun. Is it Freed Sellzen? Is he butchering some innocent person like he did in the first season of DxD?! Wait, maybe it's Mio Naruse getting chased by a rogue hero?! What is happening right now?!
I didn't have time to stand around and think. My body moved before my brain could stop it. I bolted. With my Speed stat at 16, I was moving faster than an Olympic sprinter. The wind roared in my ears as I dashed down the street, following the echo of the scream.
I rounded another corner and skidded to a halt.
There was a house at the end of the block. A normal, two-story house. But the front door was slightly open, and the porch light was flickering. The smell hit me before I even reached the steps. The sharp, metallic scent of copper. Blood.
I didn't knock. I barged right in, shoving the door open with enough force to crack the wood around the hinges.
I rushed into the hallway and stopped dead in my tracks.
My entire body went numb. I was completely frozen in shock and absolute horror.
Lying on his stomach in the middle of the living room floor was a teenage boy. Blood was pooling beneath him, seeping out of a massive wound in his chest and staining the hardwood floor a dark, horrifying red.
It was Ayumu.
My stomach dropped into my shoes. Ayumu. I was too late to prevent this from happening, he never met Eu which means she wont turn him into a zombie !
And now he was bleeding out on the floor. He was just a dying kid.
Standing directly above him was a girl. She was wearing a strange, frilly magical girl outfit that looked completely out of place in a bloody living room. She was holding a long, wicked-looking katana.
It was Kyoko. The Masou Shoujo. The serial killer from the series.
She turned her head to look at me. Her face was twisted into a crazed, psychotic smile. Her eyes were wide, completely completely detached from reality.
"AYUMU!" I shouted, my voice cracking with panic.
Kyoko tilted her head, her smile somehow growing even wider. "Oh? A visitor? I've never seen you before... but I'm glad you're here anyway! More for me to play with!"
Without another word of warning, she lunged at me. She was incredibly fast, her katana raised high, aiming right for my neck.
I tried to dodge. I tried to step back. But my feet wouldn't move.
What the...?! It felt like my entire body was wrapped in thick, invisible chains. Megalo magic. She had cast some kind of binding spell on the room. I was completely stuck, and the blade was coming down fast.
"ENHANCED LEG STRENGTH, ENHANCED ARM STRENGTH!!!!!" I roared in my head.
[-4 MP]
Power flooded my legs. My muscles bulged against my jeans. I gritted my teeth, roaring in effort as I forced my body to move. The invisible chains shattered like cheap glass. I threw myself to the left, tumbling across the floor just a split second before Kyoko's katana sliced through the empty air where my head had been.
The blade cut deep into the wooden floorboards, sending splinters flying.
"You crazy bitch!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet.
I dashed straight at her. To a normal person, I would have looked like a blur.
Kyoko's psychotic smile vanished, replaced by a look of pure shock. She ripped her sword out of the floor just in time to block my incoming punch.
I kept attacking. I threw a left hook, a right cross, a sweeping kick. She danced backward, dodging and weaving, her katana acting as a shield. She was fast, and her technique was scary.
"Who are you?!" she demanded, dodging another punch that shattered a nearby vase. "Why are you so fast?! Normal humans can't break my bindings! Normal humans don't move like that!"
"I'm the guy who's going to break your jaw!" I yelled back, stepping inside her guard.
But I let my anger make me sloppy. She was a trained magical warrior, and I was just a guy with high stats. She parried my next punch, spun around, and brought her katana down in a brutal, sweeping arc.
I tried to pull back, but the blade caught me.
SLASH!
A blinding flash of pain erupted on my right arm. Blood sprayed through the air as her sword cut deep into my bicep, nearly severing the muscle down to the bone.
I screamed, stumbling backward, clutching my arm.
Kyoko laughed, a high, crazy sound. She stepped forward, raising her sword for the killing blow. "Too bad! You were almost interesting!"
"System!" I screamed mentally, ignoring the burning pain in my arm. "Activate [Weapon Summon: Iron Sword]!"
[-5 MP]
A flash of gray light burst from my empty right hand. A heavy, solid iron broadsword materialized out of nowhere, right into my grip. I ignored the screaming pain in my bicep, gripped the hilt tightly, and swung it upward with all my strength.
CLANG!
Sparks showered the living room as my iron sword clashed violently against her katana. The force of my block sent a shockwave through the room, shattering the windows.
Kyoko's eyes went wide as saucers. She was completely shocked.
"You... you summoned a sword out of nowhere?!" she gasped, pushing against my blade. "You use magic?!"
"I use whatever it takes!" I growled.
I pushed hard, shoving her blade away, and flicked my wrist. The tip of my iron sword lashed out, catching her right on the cheek. It wasn't a deep cut, just a thin red line, but it was enough.
Kyoko stumbled back, touching her face. She looked at the blood on her fingers.
Her shock vanished. Her crazy smile vanished. Her face twisted into a mask of absolute, psychotic rage. Her magical aura flared, making the air in the room feel heavy and suffocating.
"You... you cut me..." she whispered, her voice trembling with anger. Then she roared, "I'll kill you! You hear me?! I'll make you pay! I'll cut you into a million tiny pieces and—"
"System!" I interrupted mentally, my own rage boiling over.
I dropped the iron sword. I didn't need it. I reached deep into the skills I had created during those first, brutal ten days in the sub-dimensional world. The skills I used to survive when everything was trying to kill me.
"Activate [Hard Fist]! Activate [Critical Hit]!"
[-3 MP]
My right fist suddenly glowed with a dense, white-hot aura. The muscles in my arm locked into place. I didn't let her finish her psychotic villain speech. I stepped forward, putting every single ounce of my 19 Strength into my arm, and threw a straight punch.
I smashed my glowing fist directly into the center of her face.
CRUNCH!!!!!!!!
The sound was sickening. It was the sound of bone giving way completely. My fist connected with so much kinetic force that her nose completely crushed inward, disfiguring her face instantly. Blood spurted out in a massive arc.
The impact lifted her entirely off her feet. She didn't just fall backward; she was sent flying like a cannonball. She smashed through the living room wall, tearing right through the plaster and wood. She flew through the next room, blasted through the exterior wall of the house, and crashed out into the darkness of the street.
The house shook, dust and debris raining down from the ceiling.
I stood there, panting heavily, my right fist still smoking slightly, my other arm bleeding.
"Bad guys," I spat, glaring at the massive hole in the wall, "should really learn to talk less during their fights."
But the victory meant nothing.
"Ayumu!"
I spun around and dropped to my knees beside him. The pool of blood had grown terrifyingly large. His skin was pale, his breathing shallow and rattling.
"Hey! Hey, man, stay with me!" I yelled, pressing my hands against the wound on his chest, trying to stop the bleeding. My hands were instantly covered in hot, sticky blood.
Ayumu groaned. His eyelids fluttered open. He looked up at me, his vision clearly blurry. He coughed, a weak trickle of blood running down his chin.
"A-Ard...?" he whispered weakly.
I completely froze. I stared down at him, my heart breaking. "How... how do you know it's me? I look completely different. I'm..."
Ayumu managed a tiny, weak smile. "Come on, man... I'm your best friend... of course I'd know it's you..." He coughed again, his breath wheezing. "Whatever... whatever you took... to get that handsome... I want some..."
"Shut up! Stop kidding around!" I yelled, tears stinging the corners of my eyes. "Heal! Heal! Heal!"
[-1mp]
[-1mp]
[-1mp]
I pushed my hands harder against his chest, trying to force my mana into him, trying to use my [Vitality Buffer], trying anything. But the wound wouldn't close. The blood wouldn't stop. I checked my interface. My MP was dropping.
"Come on, come on! Work! Work, damn it!" I pleaded, my voice breaking.
Nothing happened. He was fading fast.
"System!" I screamed in my head, sheer panic taking over. "Create Skill! I need a powerful healing skill! Something that heals severe, lethal damage! Do it now! Take all my points!"
The blue screen flashed in front of my face, cold and indifferent.
[Error.]
[Request Denied.]
[Skills capable of healing lethal/fatal damage are classified as 'Extra Skills'.]
[Host currently lacks 'Extra Skill' points. Common Skill points are insufficient for this request.]
"No! No, you stupid piece of garbage!" I cursed out loud, hitting the floor with my bloody fist. "Give it to me! He's dying!"
Ayumu weakly reached up. His bloody hand grabbed my shirt.
I looked down at him.
"Don't... don't worry about it..." Ayumu whispered, his voice incredibly soft now. His eyes were losing their focus. "I'm... I'm just glad... I'm not alone..."
His hand slipped from my shirt and hit the floor.
He let out one final, quiet breath. His eyes fluttered shut, and his chest stopped moving.
"Ayumu?" I whispered.
Silence.
"Ayumu!" I screamed his name, shaking his shoulders. "Ayumu, wake up! Hey! Don't do this!"
He didn't reply. He was gone.
I sat there on the bloody floor, my friend dead in front of me, completely overwhelmed by grief and helplessness. I couldn't save him. Even with all my stats, all my sub-dimensional skills, I couldn't do a single thing.
And then, it hit me like a lightning bolt.
Eu.
Eucliwood Hellscythe.
She was a Necromancer. In the original story, she was the one who brought him back to life! She could revive him! She could fix this! Even if she never met him in this universe, she would for sure bring him back !!!!!
"Hold on, Ayumu," I muttered, moving incredibly fast. "I've got you. I'm going to fix this."
I reached down and scooped his lifeless body into my arms. He was heavy, but with my Strength stat, it didn't slow me down.
"[Enhanced Leg Strength]!!!!!!!"
[-2 MP]
I didn't care that my MP was dangerously low. I didn't care about the pain in my cut arm. I kicked off the floor and bolted out the front door, carrying Ayumu's body.
I moved so fast, so entirely focused on getting back to the cafe, that I completely missed what happened the exact second I left the house.
Right where I had been kneeling, the blood on the floor began to glow. A brilliant, crimson-red magic circle flared to life on the wooden boards, casting a demonic light over the room. From the center of the circle, stepping out to investigate the massive surge of magical energy Kyoko and I had released, was Rias Gremory.
Her crimson hair flowed behind her as she looked around the destroyed living room, her eyes narrowing at the pool of blood and the massive hole in the wall.
But I didn't see her. And she didn't see me.
I was already blocks away, running like a madman through the dark streets.
You'll be alright, I kept repeating in my head, holding Ayumu tight against my chest as the wind whipped past us. You're going to be alright, man. Just hang on.
My lungs burned. My legs ached. My arm was bleeding all over Ayumu's clothes. But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.
I finally saw the sign for Café Sunrise down the street.
I didn't bother using my keys. I hit the front doors with my shoulder, slamming them open with a loud, violent CRASH that echoed through the empty restaurant.
"EU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice raw and desperate.
I didn't wait for an answer. I ran straight for the stairs behind the counter, my heavy boots thudding loudly against the wooden steps. I took them three at a time, bursting onto the second-floor landing.
Eucliwood's bedroom door was open. She was standing in the hallway.
She had clearly heard the doors smash open. She looked at me, her blue eyes wide, her notepad already in her hand. She raised her pen to ask what was wrong.
But then she stopped.
Her eyes dropped from my panicked, sweat-covered face. She saw the massive slash on my arm. She saw the blood soaking my clothes.
And then, she saw the lifeless, bleeding body of Ayumu Aikawa in my arms.
The pen slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly against the wooden floor.