A New World?!

When the only thing left in his perception was himself, Yoshi felt a sudden chill run through his entire body.
The isolation made him feel dizzy, the bright light hurt his eyes, and the never-ending chiming reverberated in his head.

But, it was a pleasant feeling.

At least compared to the sense of numbness that he felt back in 「Heaven」.

The light soon broke off, and the sudden change in lighting hurt his eyes even more, as they struggled to adjust.

The same happened with the rest of his senses as they struggled to keep up with the sudden flux in sensory information.
It was as if he had changed dimensions altogether, stepping into a new realm.

-Wait. That is what happened, though.

Slowly, the chill in his body reduced to a tingle, and he could feel the blood beginning to flow through his body again.

Feeling a little better, Yoshi breathed in.
The air was sweet. And why wouldn't it be?
It had been quite a few minutes since he had last taken it inside him.

He put his hand to his heart.
The sensation of touch, along with the periodic thumps in his chest assured him of one thing.

Defying death itself, Yoshiharu Takamori had gained the right to live one more time.

After getting used to the sensation of being alive once more, he scanned his surroundings.
The sky was pure teal all over, with only a few clouds visible, their darker green silhouettes acting as patches on the empty sky.

It was a beautiful sight that Yoshi rarely got to witness in his previous life.
It was the kind of atmosphere that would make you anticipate rain anytime soon.

But, the air was not humid, nor did it carry the scent of rain.

As Yoshi admired what was above him, he turned his eyes downwards expectantly.
Seemingly an answer to his expectations, he found the floor to be made entirely out of stone pieces, like a rugged pavement.

The buildings were vivid and made almost entirely out of bricks, except it didn't seem like any paint was used.
Just plain, colored bricks joined by some plain old concrete.

Every single building had a color, and the resulting sight was very eye-catching.
It looked like a medieval setting from his world literally copy-pasted over here, except more impressive.
All of it was beyond his expectations... and in a good way.

However, when he was looking at the sights dumbfoundedly, his eyes fell on the people.
Yoshi had somehow managed to ignore their existence completely as he was completely absorbed by his surroundings.

And the moment he became aware of their existence, all color washed away from his face as it was seemingly absorbed by the buildings and the sky.

This wasn't what he was expecting.
This wasn't what he was hoping for.

He was expecting a life where he got to live hiding his true identity as a superhuman, among other normal humans.

But this... this was different.

Nausea overwhelmed his internal organs as his vision began to dizzy.
His legs started trembling almost instantly.

For what was in front of his eyes, looked very much like those 「things」 that had taken his life once before.

It was like they were different, yet they were similar.
Their resemblance to those 「things」 was uncanny to a fault.

It did not just end with a striking resemblance.
It was much, much more terrifying than that.

Something that made him feel like he had stepped into another world.

Truly, his world could not contain such monstrosities.
At least, not on such a large scale.

They were everywhere, moving around like it was their turf.

What was absurd was that they were moving around... somehow.
They were terrifying, no doubt about it, but what kind of being... only had a top?

As in, none of them had legs. Just two arms, a torso, and a head.
Their bodies ended with just that much.

As for how they were moving, they were just... floating.
It was a ludicrous sight, on top of being... unsettling, like he had just met some alien species.

They, however, moved on with their lives like everything was normal.

Yoshi looked down at his own legs once more, trying to make sure that they hadn't accidentally disappeared as well.
Seeing them still attached to his body, he felt a momentary relief.

Another look at the people blew that away faster than the speed of sound itself.

However, it was soon replaced with a sense of worry.
What should he do now? He could do nothing.

His starting gear consisted of only his clothes, and nothing more.

He had no money.

No food.

No water.

No shelter.

No identity.

No similarity to the common folk.

With each realization, his heart would sink deeper into terror.

There was no doubt that he would soon be noticed.
And if humans did not exist in this world, he was in for a really rough seven years.

It was as if the world couldn't get any crueler even if it tried.

-Just where did you send me off to, you damn 「Goddess」?!

As fear and worry took over him, he was left with a numb body once more.
That is, until he got noticed.

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Murmurs spread throughout the street, ringing like static noise in his brain.

The eyes on him only kept on increasing.
A few emotions he caught on their faces were surprise and apprehension.

Although, that was to be expected.
You can't just walk over to unknown territory and expect to be recognized, especially by another species altogether.

The situation was taking a turn for the worse very quickly.

Yoshi felt an unusual amount of pressure from the stares, as if they could bore a hole into him right then and there.
His mind spiraled into confusion as he tried to get out of this situation.

Should he say something?
Should he do something?

Of course, he should do something.
But, what was that something he should do?

He was convinced he could not come clean, say "Sorry for intruding!", and get away with it.
The fear would not allow him to do so, anyway.

Not having any better choice, Yoshi decided that the best possible option to be...

-Run for your life!

He hid his face and started to run.

Yoshi had been running for far longer than what he was used to.
His legs were still weak as a side effect of the reincarnation process.

So, why was it that he was still faster?

He almost felt like he was running on air, as if gravity did not exist.
However, that wasn't possible, because he would start floating if gravity really ceased to exist.

But, it was lower than what he was used to.
Only now that it was different, was he able to notice the subtle difference.

Deciding not to think too hard on that matter, Yoshi tried to plan his course.
He managed to slip past the crowd, which had surprisingly made way for him to make his escape easier.

However, based on his experience with those 「things」, he did not find that behavior... consistent.

It may just be his lucky day. But he could not rely on luck forever.
That is what Yoshi would have done before.

But not now.
Not anymore.

Not when his life was on the line.

He could not go on without exercising utmost caution.
His instincts would not allow him to.

Yoshi kept running, without any idea where he was heading and nor did he have a planned destination in mind.
It would be fair to say he was running around helplessly and aimlessly.

He knew that he could not run forever. Literally.
His legs would not allow him to run forever.
Yoshi was a human, a being that in the end, requires energy to survive and function.

He had to build some sort of plan right then and there.
However, nothing good came to his mind. He knew too little of this world.
He had to gather information to actually make a plan.
Without it, he was as good as doomed.

So, to gather said information, he would have to get away from the sights of any lurking predators and ensure his safety, after which he could figure something out.

Yoshi decided to head for the alleys, hoping to shake off the eyes on him, along with anyone who had decided to chase him.

He turned his eyes to his back for a split second. No one was chasing him so far.
The same was the case on his front.

-It looks like I have lost the pursuers, if any...

It was quite an ideal condition for him.

Spotting an alley after a few seconds, Yoshi dashed towards it at his full speed.
The place was quite dark, and combined with the dark atmosphere of this world, he was left unable to see much.

All he could make out were the walls surrounding him, and it was just enough for him to keep his cool.

He was feeling a little safer, and looked around to confirm.
Thankfully, there was not a single soul in the surrounding area... hopefully.

Relieved, Yoshi sat down in the middle of the alley to rest his legs.

He didn't really have a need to rest them, because he felt like his legs could go on for another 15 minutes at top speed.

Anyway, was this going to be his way of life now?
The life of an alley rat who hides from the rest of the world?

It was like being a hikikomori, except you don't get to have a roof over your head.
With no way of securing food, wouldn't he starve to death in a few days?

-Anyway, the first priority is to get my hands on some food...

His stomach rumbled in agreement.
He felt a craving for some rice with curry and chicken, as he unconsciously drooled.
However, such worldly desires had to be suppressed in this situation, because beggars would never be allowed to be choosers.

As Yoshi was thinking about his next move, he heard a deep, masculine voice.

"Hey... huff... Over there, you! You're a human, aren't... huff... you?"

It was the voice of someone who had run quite a long way, as it was constantly panting.

The statement made him more surprised than scared.
He heard a keyword. 「Human」.

-So, the concept of humans does exist in this world...

That was a source of relief.
It gave him a purpose. The purpose of finding people of the same species as him.

But, where could he go to find them?
Everyone he had seen so far in this world had the same 「thing」-like appearance.

But that was not what he was supposed to be thinking about.

He got found out.
He had already turned his head towards where the voice had come from.

And, what awaited him was exactly what he was expecting, although this fulfillment of his expectations did not please him one bit.

The same pointy ears, the same sharp fangs, the same muscular build, all of them were invading his eyes relentlessly.
He could not help but overlap their existence with the existence of those 「things」.

But this time, he would not freeze. He would not stop.
There were zero factors that would slow him down this time around.

He turned around in the opposite direction and started running once more.

"You spy! You aren't... huff... getting away!"

The voice rang in his head.

He was being mistaken for a spy?

They could not be more wrong even if they tried.
There was no chance Yoshi could ever be a spy.

He had no abilities for stealth and covert operations.
On the contrary, Yoshi was known for being a very overt person.
Then, why was his clumsy self being regarded as a spy?

It was his appearance that made them think that, wasn't it?

That must be it. There was no other viable basis.
It was all his appearance's fault.

How he wished that he could change it at that moment!

Wait. Wish?
When he remembered that word, Yoshi also realized that he did have one way to fix this.

『I wish I looked like them so they wouldn't attack me.』

He would have preferred to save his wishes for later.
But if he could lose his life if he didn't use them right now, the situation would qualify as an emergency.

The moment he addressed his wish with the 「Goddess」 who had thrown him into this mess in mind, a cape appeared in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere.

He put it on without a second thought, hoping it would fulfill his wish.

When he looked at his body after putting on the cape, Yoshi did not find any visible changes, nor did he feel anything weird in his body.

Did his appearance actually even get altered?
It seemed like he would never get to know.

"You may be able to disguise yourself... huff... but you won't be able to get away!"

Or he would the very next instant.
The voice of the 「thing」 following him got louder, angrier, and scarier.
And the use of the word 「disguise」 told him that the cape worked.

Now that he looked at it carefully, it wasn't just a cape.
It was a cape with a hood attached to it. It's more cooler than that way, he thought.

As he ran through the narrow corridors, Yoshi felt something getting closer and closer.
This was bad, and it couldn't possibly get any worse.
The 「thing」 was catching up to him, and it was catching up fast.

It hadn't even been two minutes since the chase had started.
He would soon be caught.

What would happen to him then?
He didn't even want to think about it, because he had already arrived at a conclusion, the one which had prompted him to run from that 「thing」 in the first place.

He would be killed brutally.

That was the only viable possibility that entered his mind when it came to that 「thing」, which only possessed murderous instincts.

No matter how much he would try, Yoshi couldn't hope to get ahead and get out of there safe and sound.

As if to affirm his realization, he was met with a sudden impact on his back.
The force behind the impact was a little weaker than what he had felt back then.
But, it threw him off his balance all the same, and his own momentum sent him rolling on the dirty, hard pavement.

He rolled for a while before he collided with the hard sturdy wall, which was there to stop him.
It did not help because of the speed with which he crashed into it, though.

Yoshi was hurt all over his body, and although they weren't fatal, they hurt a lot.
His knees were scraped, there were uncountable bruises on his back and front all the same, and his forehead and lip had burst open, blood pouring out slowly.

The low damage to his body was actually quite favorable, considering how hard he had been hit.
And thankfully, there were no broken bones or flesh wounds.

However, it weakened him enough to the point that he no longer had any chance to escape.
Not that he could pull it off earlier, anyways.

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Yoshi got up, one of his eyes closed, one of his knees hurting more than the other, as a show of his denial to be captured and killed.

There was no particular meaning to this action of his.
But, he wouldn't accept that it was going to end then and there.

Because if that were to come true, there would be no point in being given another life.

It would become a total waste.
A short, chaotic, hectic, and most importantly, another regretful waste.

Having wasted his previous life shamelessly, he would do anything to not repeat the same mistake ever again.

Honestly, he was scared to death.
But, his desire to survive burned brighter than his fear and hopelessness.

Yoshi wracked his brain for options, until one popped up into his mind.
He could not defeat the 「thing」 physically. That was certain.
Running away was also no longer an option.

Wasn't this the perfect time to employ the gift given to him by the 「Goddess」?

The moment that idea struck his mind, he lousily stood up, and tilted his body backwards, making a clumsy battle stance.
It was just a visual element, as it had nothing to do with what he was about to do.

Yoshi closed his eyes, and opened the eyes of his mind.
And then, he started visualizing.

A flame burning passionately, brighter than any other fire ever seen.
It was modelled after the beautiful eyes of the 「Goddess」, eyes he could never forget the radiance of.
And then, he turned up its intensity.

When fire burns in abundance of oxygen, it becomes blue.
And in the process, becomes effectively stronger, brighter, and hotter.

When the image was complete, he imagined the flow of the flames in the palms of his hands, as he tried to contain it within them.
The moment when he felt his hands getting warmer, he thrust them forward.

"「Inferno of Passion」!"

That was the best name he could come up with in the heat of the moment.
It was of course named after the first thought he had when he had met the 「Goddess」's eyes.

But that didn't matter too much at the moment.

Flames formed in his hand. Flames of the highest purity. Flames of the highest degree of power. Flames the color of the brightest hues of blue. Flames that would scorch any and every being to death if they came even remotely close to it.

At least, that is what Yoshi had wished for.

A miracle that he had never seen before.
A miracle which could save him from this life threatening situation.

However, the flames never appeared.
At least, not in the form he wished for.

He had felt tingling in his body as he shouted out the embarrassing incantation he made up on the spot.

A small flame appeared in his hand.
And then, it suddenly grew in volume, before it blew up completely.

It was a big explosion.

Yoshi was pushed back by the extreme amount of force, falling on his back.
The impact felt the same as it did when he had crashed into the wall before.

It was a miracle he had not gotten burnt, as he was at the very source of the explosion.
As the dust cleared up, a dry scoff escaped his lips.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

Behind it stood the 「thing」, completely unscathed.

The explosion Yoshi had caused was by no means small.
But that was from his own perspective.

In reality, the explosion had a very small blast radius, barely the size of 3 or 4 Yoshis put together.
All you had to do in order to avoid it was to lightly jump backwards, which is exactly what the 「thing」 had done.

Not hit by the explosion, it stood there, slowly approaching him.
And then, the gravity of the situation hit him.

Yoshi was left with only one card he could play, and this was probably another reckless time to use it.
Now that he thought about it, any number of 「wishes」 were only going to elongate his life by a little amount.

His compatibility with this world was zero.

He was going to die... no, be killed someday, even if he were given an infinite number of wishes.
But, delaying his death than embracing it early was what Yoshi wanted to do.

Something that painful, something even scarier than those 「things」, something that only brought an inexplicable sense of loss, he never wanted to experience it ever again, even though he couldn't avoid it, even though he would only postpone the inevitable.

So, here, at this moment, he would use another one of the wishes provided to him by the grace of the 「Goddess」.

『I don't want to be killed here. At least, not by this 「thing」.』

Something activated in his body that very instant.
What that feeling was, Yoshi couldn't quite put his finger on it.

But, his body went stiff, unmoving.

No matter how much he wished for his body to move, it refused to obey his commands.
The situation was looking grim already, and somehow, it actually had gotten worse.

If he could not move, it was all the easier to get a hold of him.

As Yoshi struggled to move his body in vain, what he was fearing had arrived, and was standing in front of him.

It had bloodshot eyes, which weren't there before the last time Yoshi had checked.
Ans the rest was all noisy static.
It truly resembled those 「things」 in the earnest now that they were there.

"Now... huff... I've got you... huff..."

The voice was angry.

Yoshi started saying his prayers, as he could do nothing but wait for something to happen.
The very next instant, the 「thing」 raised its fist and slammed it into the ground, crushing him in the process...

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That somehow did not happen.
Its fist ran through the air as it crashed into the hard floor, coming in contact with nothing in between.

The floor cracked at the might of the punch, and the 「thing」 started looking around to find where Yoshi went.

Then it realized.
Yoshi had stepped back from the punch that had come toward him at inhuman speeds.

The movement was so elegant and graceful, it was like he was expecting that very action from the 「thing」.

It was very unnatural.
Yoshi himself was very surprised.

How had his body reacted to something he could barely see coming like it was the easiest thing in the world?

He wracked his brain and reached the answer rather quickly.
It was the effect of the second wish he had made.

-However, for it to have such an effect...

Did it decide for itself what was necessary for him to survive?

If so, that was really convenient.
Yoshi would have loved to save it for later use, though.

But even so, he could never have imagined that he would be thrown into another world altogether, and that it would be so dangerous to live in, considering it had been only 10 minutes or so since he was reincarnated.

This truly was a little too much, no, actually too much for someone as inexperienced in combat as Yoshi.

Thankfully, he had the leeway to think about such things, since his body was doing its thing without him having any control over it and all that.
The feeling was a little uncanny, though. Not to say, it felt a little intrusive too.

It was as if his body was suddenly not his own body, but of someone else, who was controlling it like a puppeteer controls his puppets.
Only the fact that he would be dead if not for that puppeteer, kept him from thinking ill of it.

The 「thing」 continued with its attacks, with Yoshi dodging every single one of them without fail.

Suddenly, a punch came his way, and he shifted a little to his right with minimal movement.
It was the perfect opportunity for a counterattack.
If he could just strike it on its head hard enough, he might be able to knock it out.

But unfortunately, his body refused to listen to him.
It just kept dodging, and Yoshi wondered if counterattacking was a bad idea, which would explain why his body was still not responding.

Although, at times, it felt like his body was making weird movements.
When the 「thing」 had twisted his body to look the other way for no particular reason, Yoshi's body suddenly ducked out of nowhere, even though there was no visible threat.

No matter how he looked at it, he could not explain why that happened.

And that didn't stop at one occurrence.
It happened at least half of the time, that there was no attack but his body still reacted.

His eyes were slowly getting used to seeing the punches coming, but he for the life of him could not see for half of the time what his body was even dodging.

Even though he wasn't in control of his body, Yoshi could still feel.
All the sensations were still connected to his mind.
And as he dodged attacks that were way beyond his own level, the fatigue was building up slowly, but surely.

It was constantly trying to rob him of his consciousness, but he held on with everything he had.
And it was a little easier than usual, since he had fewer things to worry about, with his body out of his control.

Although, Yoshi wanted it to end fast, because he was aware that he was on a time limit.
If he fell unconscious, there would be no guarantee that his body would still dodge the 「things」 attacks, which were getting faster and more desperate by the second.

So, he hoped that the 「thing」 got tired to the point of collapse before he did, which would open a door for escape.

And, that might be likely considering that the 「thing」 was more and more frustrated, due to it attacking more and more aggressively.
One could easily tell that it was not expecting Yoshi to pull off such stunts.

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As he slowly got used to the feeling of being a puppet and a sense of relief started to creep into his mind, he felt something poking his back.
The feeling remained even after a few moments, and Yoshi was confused- rather curious, as to what that feeling was.

He thought about whether someone or something was poking his back, but he was not near the wall, so the only plausible option was that it was somebody.

The thought horrified him, as his body did not react to it.
Did that mean that it wasn't a threat, or did that mean... something else?

There was a high possibility that backup might have arrived.
That would increase the difficulty level of this situation exponentially.

Unfortunately, Yoshi could not turn his head to his back to check.
Then, by some miracle, his head automatically turned to his back, as he continued to maneuver around the 「thing」's attacks.

This was even more outrageous, as it felt like his body had eyes of its own.
And to anyone else, it looked like the 「thing」 was being toyed around with.

The anger in its attacks ramped up to the extreme, and some of the attacks actually started breaking through his seemingly perfect evasion, scratching him lightly in the process.

They were no longer attacks to subdue.
There were lethal attacks filled with the pure intent to kill.

Although, it still wasn't enough for Yoshi's puppet of a body to falter.
The scratches did sting a little, but it was no big deal.

In fact, it was a big help, as the pain kept Yoshi from falling into the depths of his consciousness.

Anyway, with his head turned, he could see his back.
And there was something from where the feeling of being poked originated from.

That something was metallic, a little rusted with a leather handle.
It was also stained with a little bit of dark red.
And it was being held by... nobody.

The metallic object was just there, somehow sticking to his back, like food on a non-stick pan.

It was a weird feeling, one that he had never felt before.
Suddenly, the poking sensation transformed into an irresistible urge to itch.

As he saw the object get more red-stained by the second, Yoshi recognized the source of the itch instantly.
It was a knife gouging his insides, staining his clothes with a viscous red liquid.

And the moment he made that realization, his back screamed with pain.

A wave of heat followed, attacking his back and causing a burning sensation.

It was a fatal wound... he thought.
Yoshi wasn't really sure about where the knife had to be stabbed for the resulting wound to be labeled as fatal, but the idea of a knife inside his body was something he would classify as fatal without a second thought.

By now, his movements had slowed down quite a bit.

He turned his head back towards the 「thing」, whose existence he had forgotten about because of the intense pain assaulting his back, only to be calmly greeted by outrageously dangerous attacks, and he was unable to see at least 90% of what his body was dodging by this point.

The bleeding of the wound was slowly increasing thanks to his excessive maneuvering.
The time limit he was already dreading had been reduced even further.

It was only thanks to the blessing of the wish that Yoshi was still alive, as he recklessly walked a tightrope of which both the ends were burning.
Although, walking on that tightrope was thanks to the one who had blessed him with the wish, but that was another matter altogether.

Yoshi would think about it later, if he somehow got out of this situation safely.
At this point, getting out safely had become an unobtainable goal, so he would have to make do with getting out of here alive.

When all hope seemed lost, as Yoshi was nearing his limit of being able to stay conscious, the ground itself suddenly started to move.

Earthquake? It very well seemed like it.

It seemed as if the earth itself disapproved of the senseless act of violence that was taking place there.
The bricks which had been lain poorly on the ground suddenly jumped up, and the idea of the phenomenon being an earthquake was instantly thrown out the window.

As Yoshi was astonished by this unnatural happening, he happened to sneak a glance at the 「thing」.
Its eyes were filled with terror, and its face reeked of shock.

It got Yoshi wondering what that 「thing」 could possibly have to fear, when he noticed something.

The bricks that had started flying were not aiming for Yoshi, but for that 「thing」.
You could say that it had incurred the wrath of the earth.

The angry bricks surrounded it, leaving no escape, and started closing in.
In mere moments, the 「thing」 had literally been buried alive.

This phenomenon, which Yoshi had believed to be the earth's wrath, was not possible within his reasoning.
It was beyond reason, some phenomena that could not be explained by his common sense and rationale.

"「Magic」..."

Yoshi arrived at an answer, his eyes wide open at the sight of this bewildering spectacle.
To be precise, it was 「Earth」 magic, the power to bend the earth to your own will.

But, magic was not something that occurred on its own.
It had to be activated by someone.

That meant that there was someone else present in that alley, someone other than the 「thing」, because what reason could it possibly have to bury itself in the ground?
That would be beyond insanity.

-Wait, if that's the case, it is plausible...

No, that was a joke, because it was the insanity of a different kind than what that 「thing」 possessed.

Although, if the one who activated the magic was targeting the 「thing」 mercilessly attacking him, wouldn't that mean that they wanted to save him?
Then, could they possibly be a human, by any chance?

When the thought crossed his mind, Yoshi saw a slight glimmer of hope.

When the 「thing」 was buried alive, hopefully never to get out of there ever again, Yoshi's control over his body was restored instantly.
So that meant the only threat his body was reacting to was the threat posed by the 「thing」.

That was the only explanation for the knife actually managing to hit Yoshi over his intense dodging, and for the control to be handed back to him when the threat was eliminated.

However, Yoshi had no time to celebrate.

He was exhausted to his absolute limit, his brain almost stopped functioning, and blood was flowing steadily out of his back, albeit a little slower than before.
All of these factors weighing on Yoshi additively, he was unable to support his body with his legs or his hands, and fell flat on his face almost instantly.

The cold bricks awaited him on the ground, and a direct impact made him spit out blood from his mouth.
Every movement sent a stinging feeling through his back, and after a few seconds of struggling, he decided it was best to stop moving if he wanted to stay alive.

If he could not move, what else could he do?

Yoshi tried to speak, but his voice was drowned in bubbles.
The source of those bubbles was the puddle of the blood he was lying in.

His life had started to flicker.
The time he had left before he would reach the afterlife was rapidly shrinking.

The pain was slow, but constant.

It was nowhere near the torture he had to experience last time, yet it was torture all the same.
In fact, it was a more realistic death when he thought about it.

Killed by being stabbed with a knife lethally.

For a moment, he got wondering.
Who had stabbed him?

But, the answer didn't seem like it had any intention to show up.
Yoshi hadn't seen anyone other than that one 「thing」 the entire time, even after his head had turned to his back, and so, the identity of the culprit would remain a mystery forever.

He was going to die. Once more.

The life provided to him just a few minutes ago had been wasted.
He couldn't even accomplish what he had been reincarnated for.

As he lay on the ground, struggling to breathe, he imagined what the 「Goddess」 would think of this.

Would she comfort him?
Would she apologize?
Would she make a sad face?
Or would she show disappointment?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to.
For right now, he couldn't care less, and her sad face was the least of his problems.

His vision was slowly dimming, and everything in his line of sight was meshing together to form one giant blur.
All he could hear was a beautiful silence, except for the bubbles that were occasionally formed by his slow and heavy breathing.

His body was slowly growing numb, as his consciousness was slowly growing distant from reality.

The only feeling he could feel was the hard ground, which was a little cold because no natural light was able to reach the alley.
Or maybe, that was just his imagination.

However, that feeling too diminished as it got covered in a warm, thick liquid.

"... you..."

He thought he heard someone's voice, but it was such a mess that he was sure it was just in his head.

That very moment, the string of his consciousness finally broke, and the light of life disappeared from his eyes as Yoshi stood at the doors of death once again.

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Author's Corner:

Another thing I dislike about isekai stories is that the protagonists are way too overpowered right from the beginning.
There might be a few which actually seem interesting despite this (like Eminence in Shadow. I love just how cringey Cid is. Besides, he trained to death for his powers), but it really doesn't make sense.

Which brings me to Yoshi.
His path will be one of endless struggles, as he tries to find his own happiness in this hellish world where survival in itself seems too daunting a task.