The demon's breath was already on my neck when time stopped.
Not slowed down.
Not distorted.
Stopped.
I could see every disgusting detail frozen inches from my face—the twisted grin carved into its mouth, the saliva hanging from its tongue, its claws ready to tear into me.
I wasn't the hero.
I wasn't important.
So why was I about to die first?
In the absolute silence, my eyes moved on their own. Across the ruined plaza, I saw Hiroshi. Calm. Unmoving. He met my gaze and gave a slight nod, as if he already knew how this would end.
Before I could think anything else—
Three hours earlier…
My name is Alex, and I never asked to be a hero. In fact, I had absolutely no intention of getting involved in all this madness.
It all started like any other day at school. Well, except for the part where my friends and I were suddenly summoned to another world, as if we were in some kind of role-playing game.
Honestly, I couldn't care less. Saving a world in crisis? No, thank you. I just wanted my normal life back—my room, my video games, and peace and quiet.
My plan was simple: stay with my friends, keep a low profile, and wait for everything to end.
That plan failed immediately.
When we arrived in this new world, a woman who was clearly the queen greeted us and explained that our mission was to save her kingdom. I wasn't really listening. I was more concerned about finding something to eat.
What surprised me was how easy it was to stay unnoticed. While my friends stepped forward with dramatic speeches, I stayed in the back, as always. Drawing attention wasn't my thing.
Emi disagreed.
"Alex, come on!" she shouted, dragging me forward. "This is our chance to do something amazing!"
"I told you, Emi," I sighed. "I'm not the hero of this story."
She ignored me, as usual.
Later that day, we faced our first threat of the day—a shadow demon rampaging through a nearby town. Emi was at the front, fighting without hesitation. I stayed behind, hiding near a broken fountain, waiting for everything to be over.
The chaos was deafening. Magic lit up the plaza, stone shattered, and shadows twisted unnaturally.
Then everything went wrong.
The noise faded.
The air turned cold.
A primal instinct made the hairs on my neck stand up.
"Alex, look out!" Emi screamed.
I turned.
Inches from my face, something born from pure darkness smiled at me.