[James's Pov]
The pale, leathery skin, decorated with unkempt patches of hair, of the rat, wasn't a very pleasant sight for the eyes.
Although I was convinced I could probably take down the [F]-ranked monster with only one body, I didn't want to take any risks. Thus, my two bodies were currently standing side by side with my scythes in hand.
The kobold had already seen us approach him, but he had yet to take any actions with the exception of raising his pickaxe toward me.
My hearts were racing, making sweat start to pour down my foreheads. Even though this would be my first time doing battle, the fear of getting injured wasn't the cause of my insanely increased heart rate.
"Giiik!"
The monster in front of me finally had enough as he started running towards us, his pickaxe ready to take my life.
Yet, I couldn't move. In my eyes, the kobold wasn't especially fast, in fact, right now it was like I watched it run in slow motion. Neither of my bodies raised their weapon to defend themselves, giving way for the pickaxe to swing down to the head of my main body.
*Wake up!*
'Fuck! [Swap]!'
"AAAAH!"
Just in time, I had managed to switch out my bodies, letting me see and, unfortunately, feel the pain of dying as sub-me's head got cracked open like a melon, before disappearing with a *Puff!*
The pain was immense, but I still gritted my teeth and invoked my mana in order to create a cloud of mist around me.
Confused by the sudden phenomena enveloping its body, the monster just let out another shrill scream, "Giiik!", as I steadied my mind.
Inside the mist, I could see everything. Not with my eyes, but with my other senses. Inherently, I knew what kind of expression the rat was making, how its muscles clenched as it prepared itself for an attack
It was not a clever monster, though, as it stayed in my mist just because he thought he had the upper hand after killing my clone.
Not letting myself retreat, even though my mind was screaming at me to run away, I fixed my grip on my black scythe.
It wasn't hard to get behind the stupid creature, the mist silencing my slow steps. When I took my position, I let my body remember the movement I had already repeated thousands of times in my practice room.*Slash!*
"Gii?!"
A sound still managed to escape the decapitated head as it fell to the ground, before, a moment later, its body erupted like a fountain, with the only difference being that the liquid spraying out was a dark red.
The next couple of minutes were a blur and, before I knew it, I was back at the entrance portal vomiting my guts out with tears in my eyes. There was not a bone in my body that cared about the monster I had slain, this was the reaction of my body remembering the sensation of taking a life.
As the memories flooded my mind, I didn't stop puking until every single ounce of the disgusting liquid had left my body.
"Huff...Huff..."
The worst part of all of this? As soon as I recovered, I would force myself to do it again. Over and over, until my 'unsightly' mind had gotten used to it.
*****
[Theia's Pov]
I couldn't stop my tears from running down my face, seeing the man on the screen continuing the never-ending torment of his own mind. At this point, he didn't even stop after slaying a kobold, just enduring the pain as his eyes flowed like a waterfall and his lips bleeding because of how hard he had been biting them. He didn't even care about getting injured anymore, his body filled with gashes as a result of his recklessness.
This was the man I had decided to give a second chance at life, an obvious decision after Gaia had shown me what his life on Earth had looked like. Now, my decision felt a lot less correct, seeing the man forcefully ripping apart the hesitation that I had wanted him to bring to my world.
Although I had been wanting him to grow, I still wanted his view on the human mind to persist and spread to his surroundings. Though Tella was in many ways just as developed as Earth, thanks to a certain mortal that had used his Manual to create the modern wonders, there was still a very tangible lack of understanding of the human mind.
James Jackson, albeit too cynical at the time I made Gaia transfer him, had that understanding. His thesis wasn't completely accurate, but by experiencing the warmth and love of the people around him, it would be, in time.
As I felt the salty taste on my lips, I finally understood the words of Loki; James hadn't been corrupted by the god at all. Loki had merely guided the young man to make sure that he wouldn't get a chance to heal his scars before forcefully getting rid of what made him the most human a mortal had ever been.
Loki had somehow known that James was already damaged enough that this would be his answer, a very disgusting answer to make him take a step forward and, in his mind, make progress as a human. The god of mischief had made his move, and somehow, his first move had already put me in checkmate.
There was nothing I could do about it. The only reason that the threads of fate had allowed my decision to bring in otherwordlers was because of a need in order to allow Tella to gain a future, but I still had to promise not to be involved with them when they arrived in our world.
So there was nothing else for me to do but bite my tongue while continuing to see the result of my thoughtlessness. There was no doubt in my mind that James wouldn't become completely insane just because of this, but there was also no doubt in my mind that the ball had been set in motion.
Loki had won.
****
[Sophie's Pov]
Unable to sleep, I was currently walking around the academy grounds in the middle of the night, trying to figure out why I was having such an intensely bad feeling eating away at my body. Even the skies seemed unable to bear the pain of whatever was happening, letting its tears gently soak my body. In the end, I walked to one of the parks and stood in front of the pond illuminated by the elusive moon.
This was one of the first times that my inner self seemed to resonate in a much more calm manner, as if the artificially constructed dragon inside of me knew something that my brain did not. It wasn't a secret to me that the more I used my Skills, the more the thing inside of me seemed to merge with my soul, not corrupting it but giving my already established features more prominence.
Although my pride was the most obvious emotion that had been reinforced, there was also an intensification of my feelings of care for my friends. And right now, it appeared that nature itself was communicating with me, as if my body could feel the sadness in the wind as it caressed my cheek.
Yet, there was no way for me to hear or know what it wanted to tell me. Thus, I only stood still, feeling the tears that were hiding amongst the rain fall down my face.
==========
Waking up, there was still a lingering sense of sorrow inside of me, but it was nowhere as distinguished as last night, though the night itself was a weird sort of blur in my mind. Although I could remember it clearly, when I tried to recollect the emotions I had been filled with, they slipped through the grasp of my mind.
Getting to the bathroom, I bent down to get a look at my reflection in the mirror over the basin. The artificially colored pink hair that had followed me into this world was disheveled and unruly, my eyes red and sore. All in all, I looked like a complete mess.
"Let's fix this before I meet Arthur..."
Spending a lot longer than usual fixing myself, with no need for makeup as everyone's skin in this world was to a large degree free of blemishes, I was a bit late for my first lesson. As the first class was hand-to-hand combat with Mr. Brown, and I knew how hard he would force me to train if I was late, I tried my best to get there in time.
Alas, I did not.
"Ho? So you think it's okay to just stumble in like this was a pub or something, not caring about the time at all?"
It was a bit harsh as I was only five minutes late, but I held my tongue, knowing that whatever I said would only make my punishment worse. Holding five fingers, he opened his mouth with a sinister smile, "As you were five minutes late, I will knock you out five times during our sparring session. Do make sure to work hard, Red!"
'Fuck me...'