On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

'Isolate this place.'

'Understood, Master.'

After receiving Teanosvera's confirmation, a black beam is shot up into the air. It then spreads in the air and then forms a black dome that covers, at least, 300 square feet of area, bringing darkness to the covered area.

Although not as dark, the isolated area feels like Amizanima Forest. The forest—a part of it—has become Teanosvera's domain, so his Mana overwhelms the entire area.

Mike widens his eyes as he looks around frantically. It is apparent that he is panicking; I think it is his first time finding himself in a situation where he can tell only a miracle can save his life.

"As amusing as it is, let me ask you what makes you surprised. Is it the fact that I am also here or the fact that I am a Demon?" I faintly sneer.

"You… what do you want from me?" Mike asks after gulping his saliva.

"I am just here to settle an old grudge—nothing much."

"What wrong have I done to you, Layland?"

"To be honest, you didn't do anything to me." I tilt my head. "But, more often than not, people who do nothing are hated the most, no?"

Mike fixes the way he holds his sword; his hands are no longer trembling. "Look, man, I have nothing against you. I am sorry if I somehow hurt you in the past. This is shameless of me, but will you let it go?"

Quirking my eyebrow, I reply, "If you do feel sorry, why don't you hand me one of your hands?" Acting as if I realized something, I exclaim, "Oh, you see what I did there?"

"You have lost your mind, man. Don't blame me if I kill you!"

Mike dashes at me. Looking at that, I merely sneer at how slow he is.

"Laughable!"

Clank!

As I block Mike's sword with Rexorem, I measure the power he is using and the power that he may be hiding. The current strength he exerts is very disappointing honestly, so I gradually add more strength to Rexorem to force his real strength out.

In the end, he pulls back; he redirects Rexorem to the side and jumps back to make a distance. I don't know whether he still has some power hidden or that was his full power but, whichever it is, I believe I can defeat him without much problem.

"Oorya! Eat this, bitch!"

Mike's sword is steaming for some reason and it is coming at me. I casually but readily put Rexorem above my head and block it splendidly.

Nothing happens afterwards and I am very disappointed since I was hoping the steam wasn't just for show. Swinging Rexorem powerfully, I throw Mike away and then look at him with judgmental eyes.

"Are you joking me? That didn't even hurt," I say like an offended person.

"F-Fuck! How did that not work? What the heck made your sword?" Mike shouted in utter bemusement. "How could it withstand my acid?"

'Oh, so that is the case,' I mutter inwardly. I am pretty sure, though, that no matter how strong the acid is, my sword didn't survive the acid because of the metal it is made out of but because it has Rexorem residing in it.

Flicking Rexorem, just in case, the remaining acid on the blade is thrown to the ground. The soil that it touches immediately steams, letting out an extremely pungent smell.

Without a doubt, the acid will hurt my skin if it makes contact with my skin.

"Let's get real, buddy. Don't make me feel like playing with a kid."

Mike doesn't take my provocation; he is too frightened to even care about it. I sigh lightly in disappointment at the lack of fight he gives but then got an idea of how to make the game more interesting.

"Hey, don't you miss Earth? Why don't we talk about our time at school to relive the memory when we were still there?"

"I did nothing wrong, Layland. I never participated in the bullying!" Mike exclaims.

"Where has the bravery from earlier gone to?" I ask as I let out a suppressed chuckle. "Anyway, relax, buddy. I just want us to feel nostalgia for our school days—don't act like that."

Kicking the ground, I dash at him. He tries to run away, but I am moving too fast for him to have the time to.

Clank!

He blocks Rexorem with gritted teeth. His veins are popping out of his hands, showing just how much power he puts into his sword.

His Mana fluctuates briefly and fire engulfs his sword in the next moment. I am not sure what he expected, but it doesn't change the situation at all.

Boom!

The answer comes not long after. It turns out, he just wants to push me back with the explosion his Skill causes.

I am not pushed back—jokes on him—but it is still enough to distract my attention; which, in turn, allows him to escape. Well, it doesn't matter. He can't go anywhere anyway. He can only explore the area that Teanosvera's dome covers.

Brandishing Rexorem once, I spread the petals of the cherry blossoms [Senbonzakura] made in the air. There are ten thousand of them—it is not much, but they will do more than enough damage to Mike if they touch him.

Since I have another trusty Spiritual Partner who is good at Earth Magic, I don't bother to chase after Mike. He is bound to encounter a dead end anyway, so it is better to let Luxia do the job for me.

"Can you kill him?"

"Hard but not impossible," Luxia replies.

"Then don't do it."

"Are you doubting my capability?"

"Nah, I just don't want you to end the party too soon," I wave off her assumption.

Luxia says nothing and then does her job. The trees in the surrounding rustle, meanwhile, the ground shakes as her Earth Energy invades the land.

Previously, I could only feel the tiny amount of Mana Luxia used whenever she did something to the environment; I couldn't detect the Earth Energy she used. Now that I can, which I think is a great achievement for a Demon, I am amazed by how much the tiny Forest Spirit has.

"Don't kill him, okay?" I remind her.

Mike is a disappointing target. He is weaker than me, so I will get nothing out of killing him other than slightly loosening the knot in my heart.

It is indeed my goal, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it really means anything if I don't get a single Power-up out of him. 'Does Mike being less annoying have something to do with how well he fights?' I even wonder.

If that is really the case, I expect Mark to put up a very good fight.

Swish!

"AAAHHHH! What is this?!"

I stop musing when the game (Mike) is delivered to me. He seems very flustered by the roots wrapping around his body; he can't stop wiggling his body as if thinking that it might make the roots suddenly let go of him.

… Well, he is right.

"Aaah!"

Thud!

"Fuck!"

Mike fell to the ground head first. Nothing, of course, happened to him, but he makes a great fuss about it.

After rubbing his head where it hurts ferociously, he turns to me. The look of fear has disappeared from his eyes and it makes me wonder what he is planning.

"Did you sleep with Brianna?" I ask out of the blue, slightly flustering him.

No answer comes out for a while. "… Dude, all of us have slept with her."

"Wow. Didn't expect her to become sluttier upon coming to this world," I remark, not that surprised. I had smelled the scents of a couple of different men on her when I met her.

"It was your biggest mistake to ever agree to date her," Mike mumbles. "I am disgusted at myself for sleeping with her, but I wasn't able to think right at that time. The disfigured bodies of my classmates—only by doing it with her could I somehow forget it."

"Have you forgotten it now?"

Mike stops looking down and raises his head slowly. His face gradually turns hateful; with hatred, he says, "That day gives me nightmares up to this day. I can't forget it and because of that, I hate Demons!"

As he shouts the latter words of his last sentence, he swings a dagger at me. He missed, of course, but it does something upon hitting the ground.

Hiss!

Green smoke comes out of the ground, almost hitting me right in the face. It quickly spreads to the entirety of the isolated area, forcing me to call my ten thousand petals to surround my body.

They spin around me, creating some space that is free from any of the green smoke. I walk toward Mike, thinking that it is hilarious how he thinks it will be enough to kill me.

"Keuk… Keuk…"

When I find him, he is already choking on the ground. Blood is oozing out from every hole his body has.

The scene makes me turn solemn since I never considered this to be a possibility. "This shithead dares to commit suicide before I have my fun!"

He is still alive, actually, but he can barely breathe. Killing him can't even settle down my irritation.

Clicking my tongue, in the end, I stomp on his head. It immediately turns to mush; brain matters fly to the surroundings.

"Hm… this heat…" I frown. "Heh, clever motherfucker."

Boom!

A second after I feel the heat—just as I smirk, the green smoke combusts.