Leo stared down at the cobblestones, his breath catching in his ghost-like chest. His physical body lay motionless on the ground, blood pooling quietly beneath his face.
"H-How... how is that even possible?!" Leo stammered, his spectral form trembling. "W-Why... why is my nose bleeding?!"
Michi let out an exasperated sigh, sitting back on his wooden crate. "Seriously? You are literally standing outside your own body as a floating soul, and your primary concern is a bloody nose?"
"Well, yeah! That too!" Leo yelled.
Michi waved a dismissive hand. "Look, I don't possess a spell that simply knocks people out. What I did was flood your nervous system with pure, concentrated pleasure until your brain couldn't process it and shut down. Once you were unconscious, I used my ability, Get Out, to separate your soul from your physical shell."
Leo rubbed his ghostly temples. "I didn't understand half of that... but what now? Are you going to smash my phone, chop my head off, and send me back to my old world?"
"Relax, relax," Michi chuckled, leaning back. "You don't have to worry just yet, Leo. We're just having a little chit-chat."
"A chit-chat?!" Leo glared at him. "Why?"
"Because it's been a long time since I've had a genuine conversation with someone from our original world."
Leo sighed, realizing he had zero leverage in his current state. "Fine. It looks like I don't have much of a choice. How about this: you ask me one question, and then I get to ask you one."
Michi raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Wow. You're sharper than I expected. Fine. My first question: What is your favorite dating sim?"
Leo blinked, his jaw dropping. "Hey! Why are you asking such a weird question out of nowhere?!"
"Nah, nah, that doesn't count as an answer!" Michi warned, wagging his finger.
"I've never played one!" Leo blurted out.
Michi's eyes widened in absolute horror. He leaned forward, looking genuinely concerned. "Please don't tell me you've never played a dating sim... don't tell me you already had five or six girlfriends in your past life?!"
"NO!" Leo barked.
Michi collapsed back onto his crate, letting out a massive breath of relief. "Phew... what a relief. Okay, your turn."
Leo's expression hardened, his ghostly eyes narrowing. "Tell me about your past life. And how did you die?"
Michi smirked. "Straight to the point, huh? But first, tell me your mother's name."
"Hey! It's my turn to ask!" Leo argued.
"Yes, but you asked two questions at once—your past life and your death," Michi countered smoothly, raising two fingers. "So I have the right to ask two as well."
Leo gritted his teeth. "Fine. Her name was Nerina."
The moment the name left Leo's lips, Michi snapped his fingers with a sharp POP!
"Yes! Just as I thought," Michi said, a mysterious smile spreading across his face. "My mother's name was Nerina, too."
Leo froze. "W-What? T-That's impossible! It's just a coincidence!"
"Is it?" Michi chuckled, trailing his fingers through the air. "Her name was Nerina. She hated eating meat, but eggs were her absolute favorite. Her favorite vegetable was cabbage. She was an only child, and she took a specialized university course in pharmacology, focusing on drugs and poisons."
Leo went dead silent. The blood in his physical body might have stopped moving, but his soul felt utterly chilled to the core. Every single detail was 100% accurate.
Nerina was Leo's mother.
A dark, bitter weight settled in Leo's chest. "So... she abandoned me and my father just to go marry someone else?"
Michi raised his hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, Leo. I'm not your biological brother, and she wasn't my biological mother. She was my stepmother."
"Why..." Leo's spectral voice cracked, tears of frustration welling in his ghostly eyes. "Why did she leave me? Was I just a massive headache to her?! Why?!"
"Ah, Leo, don't cry, man! I didn't mean to offend you," Michi said, waving his hands frantically. "There's nothing to cry about. Look, let me answer your questions like I promised."
Michi settled back down, looking up at the sky with distant, vacant eyes.
"In my past life, I was born into an extraordinarily wealthy, noble family. I had everything a person could ever want or need. I excelled at sports, ranked at the top of my classes, and was hugely popular in school. But despite all of that... my heart always felt completely empty. Every single day felt identical. Boring. Meaningless."
Michi shrugged carelessly. "High school flew by before I even noticed. After graduation, I went straight into my father's corporation. Within a year and a half, I expanded our market value beyond the clouds. I had staggering wealth in my bank accounts, but nothing felt interesting. I wasn't living a life—I was just existing on a planet as a husk who didn't know what he wanted."
"How did you die?" Leo asked quietly.
"A sudden traffic accident," Michi said simply. "I was sitting at a red light in my car. Out of nowhere, some idiot slammed into my back bumper, shoving my car directly into an oil tanker truck parked in front of me. And then... BOOM! A massive explosion. I died instantly. I don't even know what happened to my company... or to Nerina."
Leo stared at the ground, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "You had everything... wealth, success, power. Yet you're so strong here. Meanwhile, I had nothing. And the few things I did have, I lost. I'm still suffering in this world... Why? That's not how an isekai story is supposed to work!"
Meanwhile, back on the main battlefield...
BANG!
A loud gunshot shattered the air as Nine pulled a hidden pistol from her coat, firing a magic-infused bullet straight into Lana's head.
"Now I don't need your gross, stubborn eyes," Nine spat coldly.
Nine walked over to Lana's kneeling form, reaching down to reclaim her beloved dagger, James, which was still pinned underneath Lana's heavy, gravity-crushed body. To make it easier to retrieve, Nine instantly reduced the dagger's magical weight back to normal.
That split-second mistake was all Lana needed.
The moment the crushing weight vanished, Lana snapped her hand forward. She gripped the hilt of James and viciously thrust the blade straight into Nine's neck!
STAB!
Nine gasped, her eyes widening in sheer shock. Reacting instantly out of pure malice, Nine grabbed Lana's arm and twisted it with terrifying force.
CRACK!
"AAAGHH!" Lana screamed in agony as her arm shattered. She stumbled backward, clutching her broken limb as blood poured down her clothes.
Nine stood there, holding her throat where the dagger was still embedded. She stared at Lana in disbelief. "How... how are you still alive?!"
Lana forced herself to stand upright, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the cobblestones. She glared back at Nine with pure defiance.
"Same to you..." Lana panted, her eyes burning with resolve.
Nine slowly pulled the dagger out of her own throat with a wet squelch. Remarkably, almost no blood leaked from the wound.
"Because I altered the internal pressure of my blood vessels," Nine said coldly, her wound sealing slightly. "Instead of hemorrhaging out, my blood is flowing normally inside my body. Besides... your aim is terrible."
The two women locked eyes across the ruined street, neither willing to back down an inch as the battle reached its boiling point.