(How did it turn out like this…? I just wanted to be happy in this world…!)
Isaac used up the last of his strength to escape from Marcos and the others, and he ran around the city, unable to understand his situation.
He suffered from the wounds he received in the previous battle, and the after effects of his body being reworked into a monster armor beast. That combined with the strain from using magic swords, meant his mind and body were in tatters.
He leaned against a wall, and asked himself how that happened… Continuously asking it to himself with tears in his eyes.
What passed through his mind were not memories of Isaac, but instead painful memories of his time as Usaou Aritou.
‘What are you doing!? We need to work together!!’
He remembered a boy his age yelling angrily when he was in grade school.
The boy was angry at him, because he showed no motivation when their class was training for a relay race.
He heard similar things in middle school.
Cooperate, let’s join forces, let’s do our best together… He always rejected the outstretched hands that came with those words, until there was no one left around Usaou.
Being alone was easy, and he was fine with being isolated… Was the front he put on, but no one knew better than him that this was just for show.
He was just scared. He was scared of people knowing he was not talented, and put distance between himself and others to prevent that from happening.
It was like that in the relay race. He thought people would just find it funny if he tried his best, because he was unathletic. And since he hated the idea of being laughed at, he made sure to not try from the start, pretending he was just not taking it seriously.
If he actually tried, he would be faster, but he could not be bothered… That was the front he put on.
And so, he had no friends. Any time someone reached out to him, he could not show any weakness.
This went on and on, deepening his solitude, until eventually, no one tried anymore… But even then, he refused to let that front fall.
He was a solitary solo player. He chose that isolation, and created that situation himself. And he was never lonely, he continued to tell himself.
Any time he lost in a game he liked, he put the blame on his team, so he only played games where he could be alone. Eventually, he came across Luminous History, and got into playing it with one character… And he kept doing that until he lost his life in a mundane way.
Being reincarnated in this world was Usaou’s last chance.
It was his chance to change how he lived… His final chance to go in the opposite direction, to take someone’s hand and walk down that path.
But… He discarded that.
He was not trying to take himself to the limit, or sticking to the supremacy of solo play out of respect for himself.
He was just… Scared. If he changed his way of life at this point, it would be like accepting that the life he led as Usaou Aritou was wrong.
Even after being reborn as Isaac Elia, with the high stats and nice appearance typical of someone reincarnated, he stuck to his way of life. It was all he could do.
But this was the result. He was supposed to be striving to become the solitary hero that saved the world, but instead became a criminal when he stole a magic sword, and eventually turned into a monster.
He actually understood it all. His weakness, foolishness, mistakes, all of it. But he could not accept it. He kept going despite knowing it was wrong… And this was where it led him.
(Someone… Help. I don’t care who, save me…)
It was fine if he was weak and pathetic. And he knew how cheeky it was to be saying this after all he did.
But… Now that he tasted true loneliness, he felt it to his core how foolish he had been. A feeling of wanting to connect with someone, despite how much shame it could bring him, welled up inside him.
He wanted someone to reach out to him. This time, he would accept it, and he could change.
And as he thought that, someone appeared in front of him.
Isaac faintly saw someone slowly approach him, and smiled a little after seeing a hand reaching out to him. But then…
“…Eh?”
He heard the piercing sound in his body, and his expression turned to surprise, as something red gushed out of his chest.
An unpleasant feeling swelled up, and when he coughed, almost like he was vomiting, blood the same color of the magic energy of the magic sword came out.
His eyes opened wide when he realized he was stabbed, and the boy in front of him had a big smile on his face as he spoke to Isaac.
“Hey Isaac…! You’ve really turned into something pitiful.”
“Yo… U… Are… Gafuh!”
“Don’t stain my uniform with your blood. It’s filthy.”
He remembered the student that stabbed him with a sword. It was the reincarnated student that tried to stop him by dueling him when Isaac was running around doing whatever he wanted.
Isaac looked at him, remembering his name was Shian. He had a smile on his face, and his voice turned more wicked as he continued.
“It feels nice. That takes care of the humiliation from losing to you. You went too far, Isaac. To the point where we all wanted to eliminate you.”
“…!?”
There were others around Shian.
Isaac noticed they were all reincarnated students, and when he realized they were here to take advantage of this situation to eliminate him, he crumpled to the ground.
There was no sign that blood would stop gushing from his mouth and chest.
Isaac cried as he faced his certain death, but Shian crouched with a smile on his face, and continued to speak with disdain.
“Don’t worry, Isaac, we’ll take the materials you gathered. And we’re going to use your death too. Taking down the guy that went crazy because he used magic swords too much will help give more importance to our names. Isn’t that nice, Isaac? You’ll help your friends right to the end.”
The reincarnated students cackled, as the blood pooled under his body.
Isaac felt his body grow colder, and was assaulted by the despair and regret that came with realizing he was the same as these people. At the same time, words appeared in his mind, that were the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.
‘GAME OVER’
――――――――――
A few minutes later, Marcos and the others rushed onto the scene, and found Isaac’s still corpse in a pool of his blood.
He looked pitiful with his still open eyes filled with deep regret. No one spoke, as they simply mourned his death.
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