Rise, Shadow

With each step, the presence of the dark wind rushed upwards from his heels and faded to a swift vanish. He continued his slow march until he was in front of his opponent, his head faced towards the ground the entire time.  As he slowly and eerily raised his sullen head to face Jonah, thousands of black particles appeared in the air around them. His soulless face with no emotion behind it, like a mask that had a perpetual, empty appearance brought Jonah to an unnerving state. He reached his hand out and a faint glow appeared from his hand, it's mask, just like the man before it, shattered and the true nature of the light came to be. The man then, with a dead clam voice, spoke to Jonah. 

"Ah... So you're a shadow too, then?" 

The shattered light and the particles surrounding the adversaries then transformed into a fury of black that immediately struck Jonah's eyes, banishing him to an empty abyss of darkness. There was nothing. Jonah reached his hand out in front of him only to meet a grim despair. In front of him was the darkness that accompanied everything else in this place. There wasn't anything to see, feel, or think about. Eventually Jonah's mind began to slip away as it has lost it's reason for existing because of the lack of existence, until he heard something in the seemly infinite darkness. 

A jingle.

Another jingle.

And one more. 

And then what sounded like a little girl began to sing. At first, Jonah couldn't make out what the lyrics were until he reclaimed his senses from the abyss. 

Koi ga umareru kimi no naka de

Koi wo shiyou yo kisu suru mae ni
Koi wo shiyou yo me wo mitsumete
Koi wo dakishimete

Te wo tsunagou machi no shigunaru
Kawaru shunkan yuuki wo dashitara

Koi wo shiyou yo kisu suru mae ni
Koi wo shiyou yo mou hanasanai
Itsumo no sora ga mabushiku naru ne
Dokidoki no mune hora kikoeru
Kaze ga hashiridasu

The darkness began to slowly crack until everything eventually was broken, and he was free. Jonah found himself not back at the arena, but somewhere much different. 

"Posters, a bed, a closet, this just looks like an average room, why am I here?"

Jonah then turned to his side only to find Hollowface staring directly into his soul, shocking him so badly it brought him close to fainting. The idea that at anytime, Hollowface could take him back to that place entered Jonah's mind and he slowly stepped back, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead in the process. He didn't appear to be hostile, though, as he only directed Jonah's attention by pointing his forefinger towards a TV.  Jonah's eyes narrowed has he didn't know what to make of the show on the screen.

"A little girl eating ice cream in a car? What's so important about this I don't get it? Why did you bring me to watch this?"

Jonah's rapid fire questions were largely ignored by Hollowface, as he only answered one. 

"This is where I died."

The only noise left in the room was coming from the TV, as the two simply stared at each other in complete silence for a few seconds until Hollowface turned back to Jonah and faced his bed.

"In this bed, I beat the shit out of my meat so hard while watching this anime that I died from cardiac arrest."

Jonah's mouth dropped.

What?

Is all he could think after hearing the insanity coming from his opponents mouth. Before Jonah could ask one of the several questions he had, Hollowface continued.

"I said my final goodbyes to the loli maid pillows beside me, and I was prepared to move on from this world. That was until...."

"Until what?"

"Until I met a beautiful goddess who offered to isekai me into a OP demon king slaying hero in another world because she felt bad that I was a useless nerd who did absolute jack my entire life and wanted to give me another chance so I agreed. I got a ton of hot waifus drooling at my shoes once they found out how fricking sick and awesome I am, including two twin demon maids at my side and one that makes backhanded comments towards me that I secretly like and a shy one that is easily best girl. I also defeated the demon king and not only did I save the kingdom but I was also revered as a hero and became their ruler."

"I call my journey...

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Badass Isekai MC"

He turned around to face Jonah, and inside the room, an array of elusive glowing circles with divine shapes inside had been revealed, and the color of the light inside had changed to one of a young sunset. This sanctified realm unveiled an entirely different history of what Jonah thought to be true.  

There was ringing silence from the black depths of his eyes as Hollowface stared right at Jonah, the persona inside yet to be separated, until Jonah returned. 

"So now you get it? The hidden bloodshed from the edge of our blades?"

...

"It's time..."

"Rise, Shadow"