During the silence of the journey, Ren had some time to think to himself, even just sitting here is strange. I did actually die didn't I? I remember everything up until I pushed that woman. One of the pipes probably hit me in the head, killing me instantly...hopefully. I hope mum is ok. She's though, so she'll get through it...probably...hopefully. I'll never see anyone from my old life, Japan itself really. If there was anything I regretted about myself, it was that I never experienced romance. I told myself I wasn't in a rush, waiting for the right person, especially since my instincts kept turning me away from the women around me. Even though I'd been confessed to multiple times, I didn't want anything less than a proper romance. It wasn't right to go out with them if I didn't like them....but no more! If a beautiful girl confesses to me, I'll give it a shot. Maybe feelings can develop after we start dating. And since polygamy is legal, I'll go as far as my partner allows, maybe two or three wives in the future. This is a fantasy setting, just like in an anime, but unlike those cliché, dense protagonists, I'll actually make progress in romance and actually do something...maybe have some kids, because this is reality!
A few hours later, the day suddenly turns to dusk in an instant. Ren is quite startled by this, "w-w-what just happened? Mali?". Mali, "come down, dear. It just turned to dusk. It will turn to night soon. For you not to remember something like this...something really awful must have happened to you".
Ren, oi! I mean, it's obvious it became dusk, but the whole sky literally just turned in an instant!, "you're right. Can you tell me a little more about it? Like why it changes so suddenly?". Mali, "I'm not sure what to tell you, dear, it's just the way it is. Some say, like the church, that it's God's doing. Others say it's the work of spirits, but we don't really know". Ren, "…I see, thanks for telling me".
Ren looks at the sky every which way, and realises something, there's...no sun...ok, time to completely ignore this. It's completely outside my realm of comprehension. And spirits? I don't know what to think.
A little while later, it suddenly turns to night. Ren looks over the sky again, there's no moon either...aha, aha, aha...there isn't even any stars...ahahahaha. Completely ignore it. It's a sky that changes similarly to the one I'm used to, so that's good enough.
Some time later, the town comes into view, but black smoke is rising from it and people can be seen fleeing, even though there's no moon or starts, it's not pitch back. I can see like a normal night in a town...this isn't time to be thinking about that! The town's on fire!
Mali, "looks like something's wrong. Brace yourself, I'm gonna pick up speed!". The carriage shakes every which way from rushing, throwing Ren about. The carriage eventually reaches where there are people gathering. A woman about thirty runs up to the carriage, tears in her eyes.
Mali, "MAYLENE, where's Maya?". Maylene, "I got dragged here by a soldier and was separated from her. They won't go back to find her!". Maylene voice is horse, probably from pleading with the solders to no avail. Her tears seem to have no end as they flow down her face with her baby in her arms.
Ren ponders to himself as he looks at the burning town, is she alive?...yes, my instincts say so, but it seems like she's still in town, "don't worry, I'll get her", as he jumps and starts running to the town, time for my isekai debut.
A group of soldiers is trying to hold back people from running back to town. Other soldiers are preoccupied with tending to the wounded and guarding the area. Ren manages to run through a gap while the soldiers are busy. Ren, I glad I was part of the track and field club.
One soldier notices and tries chasing after him, shouting, "A HIGH LEVEL DEMON IS ATTACKING THE TOWN! DO YOU WANT TO DIE? GET BACK HERE!". Ren Ignores him and sprints on. The soldier quickly realised how out paced he is and gives up. As he's running to town, he notices a sputtering light in his peripheral, what is that? A person...ON FIRE?.
A woman is running, leaving trails of fire behind her in the air that disappear shortly afterwards. Fire is coming out of the parts on her body that are exposed to the air, mainly her legs and lower back. The woman is using the fire to help propel herself forward, making great speed running towards the town with a spear in hand, faster than any normal person.
The woman reaches the town and starts to slow down, then uses her fire to jump onto the rooftops. Upon landing on a roof, she sees a huge bodied monster, a mixture of man and bull, a minotaur. It is the tallest thing in the town, if not by much. She immediately grimaces, "this isn't going to be as easy as I hoped".
She runs on the rooftops, shooting some weak fire from her hand that's aiming at the minotaur, look at me you oversized cattle! She successfully gets the minotaur's attention on her, but then it ignores her and returns to smashing buildings.
Woman, damn, it's under orders from Eugene, no wonder I don't see any demons. I can't lead it away, so I have no choice but to fight it here. She immediately moves closer to engage it, I have to defeat it as quick as possible and minimise the damage.
She stops in front of it, but noticing that she was closing in, the minotaur swings at her with its club, caving in the roof. She crisply dodged to atop another house to the side using her fire to enhance her movements. She starts the motion to swing her spear and counter attack, but that's when she notices a small kid crouched down in an alleyway, cowering in fear behind the minotaur, A KID?!?!? Dammit, I can't fire off my fire haphazardly with her there since there's a chance that she will get caught up in it as well. It hasn't noticed her, but me trying to save her will alert it to her, and it will get to her before I can. What should I do? Just as she thinks that, something she never thought of happened.
Ren is running through the streets of the town, SCARY! Who in their right minds runs through streets with houses on fire and not away from them? You better be right instincts! Ren weaves in and out of streets, avoiding both fire and monsters. Ren turns right at a corner, not noticing a goblin that was on the left turn. Luckily, the goblin was facing the other way and was busy bludgeoning a small dog looking creature to notice him.
Upon turning the next corner, Ren sees a big lizard looking monster, about the size of a horse, jumps through a window into a house, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Never mind, my life is more important, I can think about that later.
Eventually, Ren exits a side street and sees a big, towering monster that's bigger than the two-story houses, HOLY SHIT, THAT'S A GENUINE MINOTAUR! Oh hell no!
The minotaur, with its back turned to Ren, takes a swing at something, bashing its axe into the side of a building, causing it collapse, oh, it's fighting someone. Ren lock's eyes with the woman atop a roof.
Woman, ah! Someone came. If he can get the kid then I can deal with this thing easily. Ren, don't know who she is but I leave that thing to you, turning his head towards the alley where the kid is, not that I know if I could do anything about that thing anyway.
Woman, shouting would alert it and so would pointing, how do I let him kno-. Before she could finish her thought, the man turned his head away from her and beelined it towards where the kid was. He didn't even break his stride, and before she knew it, the man had the child in his arms and was running away.
The woman's eyes went wide in surprise, almost causing her to mistime her dodge. She avoided being squished by dodging by the skin of teeth. Once the man was out of sight, it would be the woman's best chance to defeat the minotaur.
Fire stated emitting from the woman's exposed lower back area which then quickly condensed and exploded, propelling her forward at a high speed. Her target destination, between the minotaur's feet. She would crash into the ground at this speed, but she used the exact same technique from the front of her body to decelerate and stop exactly where she wanted.
The fire she used to decelerate spread down the alleyways in front of her in a flash before quickly disappearing. It was so quick that nothing caught fire, but that didn't mean that the girl who used to be in one of the alleyways would come out unharmed.
Now between the minotaur's feet, the woman points her spear directly vertical while keeping her head down, not daring to look up the minotaur's kilt. The minotaur quickly noticed where she was but it was too late. The woman shrouds the tip of her spear in fire and then shoots it up towards the sky in a torrent, enshrouding the minotaur from the waste up.
She stops her attack after a couple of seconds, revealing a minotaur with a charred upper half. It falls forward and collapses into a collapsed house, unmoving. The woman starts patting her breasts, a whole burned into them from her flames, almost exposing her breasts to the air. Her lips curve into an excited smile, he knew! He somehow know the kid was there and he held no fear what so ever if front of a minotaur. He's the finest man I've seen my life, truly a rare display of courage with no hesitation! I have to meet him and become his woman, or this could be the biggest missed opportunity of my life...but before that, moping up the small fry comes first, as she runs further into the town, spear in hand.