“That was my little princess at work, wasn’t it? Has she finally hanged her mind and decided to open her sweet little heart for my boundless love~?”

Cherro put his right hand to his chest as if touched by the action he was clearly misinterpreting to fit his twisted vision of the world.

The young man’s hair and eyes changed from white to black even though he wasn’t using magic as if he chose the darkness to be the default attribute of his just as it was in his original life.

…although, truth be told, he did that only to gain access to the night vision available for all darkness magicians…

“Just you and me, Zoemi. A supposed protector versus me, the only person who can set the little princess free and save her. Now I see. My lovely Miriette~! It was that evil toy that has bound you to this terrible fate! You were always waiting for me to save you, didn’t you~?”

Cherro gasped and his face lighted up in an elated smile as he reached his hands to the heavens up above.

The location they were in wasn’t particularly special it didn’t seem to carry any other property except or fit the description of a desolate.

A lonely beach off the shore of a stormy ocean.

Not even a nice sandy beach – it was composed mostly of gravel and whatever decomposing and broken things the ocean mercifully let go of.

𝓞𝗏𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

There was no sight of a human settlement, although, behind the slight elevation in the terrain, there seemed to be a rarely used road there.

“Although I would prefer a more grandiose location to finish off the demon lord holding my lovely princess hostage, I can appreciate the intention put into picking up this place.”

Cherro continued to talk towards the cloudy sky, completely ignoring the silent black-haired boy within an earshot.

“My little Miriette, you want me to finish off that villain in such a desolate place because of how lonely he made you feel through the endless stream of time! Fear not! I will get rid of him and leave him in this nowhere place, right where he belo…”

*thump*

“…ngs…?”

The young man cheered out triumphantly when a sudden noise made him hesitate and pause his self-indulgent monologue that had o basis in reality.

As Cherro turned around and looked at Zoemi for the first time after they both got transported to the shore, he found the black-haired boy to have fallen to the rocky ground, trembling in a fetal position as he was clenching his stomach.

“…what are you doing? I merely thought about starting our one-sided fight, I haven’t actually done anything just yet…”

Cherro raised his brows and tilted his head before deciding to walk toward the incapacitated opponent.

Despite the words used, and the sound of the footsteps getting closer and closer to his head, Zoemi did not utter even a single word, gritting his teeth so hard that his gums began to bleed.

“My, my… My, my, my! Could it be? The teleportation spell had caused this outcome? AH! I see! I understand!”

Cherro crouched by the trembling Zoemi and whistled in amazement as the smile on his face grew more and more, only to then raise up pumping his fist in a gleeful cheer.

“You are a demon and my little princess is an angel! She has used the spell to teleport us to this location, but her holy powers were too much to handle for a creature of evil like yourself! Ahaha~! Do I need any more proof of my heroism? Truly a chosen hero handpicked by the loveliest of flowers in this world~! No, this universe! My beloved Miriette Aperaete Bellcephora~!”

“…t up…”

Cherro put both of his hands to his heart and boasted as if doing a heartfelt prayer upon the heavens, and yet, the only answer he got was a pained, barely recognizable murmur.

“…what was that…?”

The self-proclaimed hero tensed up and crouched back down, glaring at the top of the head of the black-haired youth defeated without a fight at his feet.

“…the original personality… in my head…”

“Hmm…? The original… personality…?”

Zoemi groaned causing Cherro to raise his brow in confusion and ask, leaning slightly closer.

“…it screams so god damn loud… it wants to kill you so bad… to rip you to shreds… and… I know it. I want it too… but… I.. can’t… my body… I… I am falling apart…!”

The fallen young man breathed out through his clenched teeth straight into the gravel he was pressing his face in even the slightest bit of comfort.

“Now, what are you talking about? I’m a hero, at least speak clearly to me.”

Cherro rolled his eyes and scoffed, grabbing Zoemi’s hair and lighting his head up to have a good look at his face.

Zoemi honestly looked terrible.

His usual devilishly handsome face was stained in blood, sweat, and tears on top of a grimace of unimaginable pain.

Even the light in his eyes was dimmed.

“That should make things better. Now. Say it again, and say it the way you should address a hero such as myself.”

Cherro, completely spoiled and drunk on the position of power that he gained without as much as lifting his finger spoke, lightly shaking his head around, pulling more than just a few of hair from Zoemi’s head.

“I… I…”

The black-haired boy spoke, gulping down his saliva mixed with blood while trying to focus his eyes on Cherro’s face.

“I… GHU-GH!”

*splurt*

“What in the?!”

Zoemi breathed in and suddenly his eyes turned perfect black, completely devoid of any light whatsoever and blood gushed out of his mouth, nose, and corner of his now lifeless eyes prompting Cherro to flinch and let go of his head in shock.

“!!!”

With a disgusting, gurgling sound foul darkness erupted from underneath Zoemi and swallowed him whole as Cherro jumped away to safety as a part of his hair turned brown, and armor made out of rock grew around his body thanks to the eath attribute mana.

“…you… FILTH!”

The foul darkness twitched and moved, raising up with a roar coming straight from its beastly jaws.

The creature of darkness that showed up had no similarities to the black-haired boy that was swallowed by it.

It looked kind of like a bear but not quite, a half-real-life animal and half-stuffed-toy that someone added the most terrifying twist to.

“Wha…?! Ah…! AH! I RECOGNIZE THAT FORM!”

At first surprise, Cherro gasped as his eyes widened and a smile returned to his face.

“WELL, IF IT ISN’T THE SAME CREATURE THAT DARED TO CUT MY ORIGINAL LIFE SHORT! I RECOGNIZE YOU, ORIGINAL ZOEMI~!”

The young man roared in elation and as he did, one of his eyes turned gold, the hair on the back of his head became green and blue, while the part that still was black turned red.

The change wasn’t just in the added colors – his stone armor increased in size, gaining a flaming right fist as his left hand turned into a lance, the helmet appeared on his head but instead of being fit for the human head, it resembled the mandibles of a spider opened to swallow its prey.

“Thank you for doing your duty, former protector, and giving me this chance! It’s time for the hero – TO SLAY THE MONSTER~!”

Cherro, with his body shining green from the wind enchantments, as a water bubble form-fitted on top of the stone armor for added protection, laughed and the stone lance shone with golden light, creating a blade of light changing the lance into a gigantic sword one-sided longsword.

When Cherro grabbed the hilt of his sword, another blade formed right next to the golden one – the new one being the complete opposite of the first, a pitch black edge that no light could disperse – to make it even more over the top, both the blade of light and darkness were set aflame moments later.

“Going back to the basic and honing them into the most destructive of ways – just as my father taught me – although I added the little twist that my mother would approve of with basic being the six basic attributes instead of just one.”

Cherro laughed as the beast stood up gruesomely in a twisted parody of a humanoid silhouette.

“GHRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…”

The whirr similar to the sound of a started engine escaped the creature’s jaws as each and every fang in its mouth turned into a different attribute – some known, and some created on the spot by taking inspiration from the memories of the different world’s knowledge.

Same with the claws, bare claws that were already massive without enchantments all extended towards the ground as the eyes were so black they made the eyesockets look hollow and glared with pure hatred and the urge to kill straight at the shining hero.

“Hmph~! You can copy me however much you want. Justice will always prevail – and I. AM. THE. JUSTICE!”

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Cherro scoffed, took a stance with the sword, and launched himself forward, adding the power of the earth spell to the boost of the wind enchantments.

Despite the might at his hand he wasn’t going for the kill – instead, he wanted to toy with Zoemi, to make him feel sorrow and anguish that he never imagined possible as payback for killing him.

Therefore, the hit wasn’t aimed at the beast’s head or torso – but just one of its clawed paws.

What could be better than slowly and surely getting rid of the vile beast’s means of attack before finishing it off and laughing at its suffering?

*SHIN-* *THUNK*

“HUH?!”

The moment such thoughts were passing through Cherro’s head, his sword reached a bear-like beast’s paw, it was even making a good sound – just to be interrupted by the monster moving its claws up and deflecting the blade with enough power to stop all the momentum and almost knock the self-proclaimed hero off balance.