I Died and Was Reincarnated as a Goth Femboy

With the crocodile-infested chamber behind them, the party ventured deeper into the pyramid's oppressive silence. The only sounds were their footsteps and the incessant, grating monologue of Matsui, who had somehow managed to sneak past the merchants and follow them in. He trailed behind them all, offering a bizarre running commentary.

"Oh, Bombom-sama, your every step is a testament to perfection!" he'd say, before turning his nose up at the others. "Unlike that useless knight, who just hides behind a shield. Or that tacky fox, whose tail is so obviously fake. And don't get me started on the angry blonde one..."

"That's it!" DragonSlayer roared, spinning around and pointing his sword at Matsui's throat. "One more word about my hair, or about anyone else in this party, and I'll give you a closer look at the pyramid's ceiling!"

"You dare threaten a loyal devotee of the great Bombom?!" Matsui shrieked. "My love for him gives me the strength of a thousand suns!"

"Guys, stop," Kenjiro sighed, too tired to deal with the infighting. "Let's just keep moving."

They entered a long, straight corridor lined with unlit torches. At the very end, on a simple stone pedestal, sat a small, perfectly smooth black cube. It seemed to absorb the light around it, an object of strange, silent power.

Matsui's eyes lit up with a feverish glee. This was his chance. A gift. The ultimate offering to prove his devotion.

"A treasure for my waifu!" he screamed.

He broke into a full sprint, dashing past the party toward the pedestal.

"NO, YOU IDIOT, DON'T TOUCH IT!" Kenjiro yelled.

Kaito zipped forward, trying to intercept him, but it was too late. Matsui's hands closed around the cube.

For a single, silent moment, nothing happened. Then, with a sickening pop, Matsui exploded. There was no fire, no grand magical effect. Just a shower of blood and shimmering blue particles that painted the ancient stone walls crimson. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. The only things left were his ridiculous action figure, which clattered to the floor, and a spreading red stain.

The hover-drone had captured everything. The livestream chat, which had been making fun of Matsui moments before, went silent, then erupted into a stream of shocked and grossed-out emojis.

Kenjiro's legs gave out from under him. He dropped to his knees, staring at the spot where his most annoying, most persistent, and most pathetic fan had just ceased to exist.

"He didn't deserve that," he whispered, his voice hollow. "Did he, chat?"

The chat's response was a somber, confused mix.

He was kind of a nuisance...

I heard he got in the girls' bathroom to take pics.

Still... nobody deserves to just... pop.

That was... a lot.

There was no more time for mourning or reflection. The ground began to shake violently. At the end of the corridor, a towering statue of a jackal-headed man began to move, stone grinding against stone. It stepped down from its dais, its eyes glowing with a malevolent, ancient light. It was huge. Anubis, the guardian, had awakened.

It let out a deafening roar, a sound that was not a language but a pure expression of divine wrath, and began to slowly advance toward them.

"Shields up!" Gluteus roared, planting his feet and raising his massive shield to taunt the beast.

DragonSlayer shook off his shock and vanished into the shadows of the corridor, looking for an opening to flank the guardian. Kaito began weaving hand signs, launching bolts of slowing magic at the creature's legs, while Lyrielle's hands glowed with a soft green light as she cast powerful defensive buffs on Gluteus.

The party moved like a well-oiled machine. But Kenjiro was still on his knees, frozen, staring at the bloodstain on the floor, the horrifying, instantaneous violence of the trap having short-circuited his brain completely.

"Bombom, wake up!" DragonSlayer yelled, his voice sharp, but Kenjiro didn't hear him. He was still on his knees, his red eyes fixed on the dark stain that was all that remained of Matsui. The nerd was annoying. He was a creep. He was one of the first people Kenjiro had talked to in this world, and for all his grating obsession, this shouldn't have been his end.

Suddenly, the world went silent. The deafening roar of Anubis, the frantic shouts of his party, the whirring of the drone camera—it all faded into nothing. The air grew thick and heavy, and the slow, menacing advance of the jackal-headed guardian froze mid-stride. Time had stopped.

A familiar, dark power erupted from Kenjiro's back. The muscular shadow of his former self peeled away from his slender frame, solidifying into a phantom of pure, unadulterated rage. It looked down at the kneeling Kenjiro, then at the bloodstain on the floor.

"Funny, uh?" the shadow's voice boomed in Kenjiro's mind, a deep, cruel laugh echoing with it. "One moment he was 'I love you, Bombom,' and the next... gone." The shadow chuckled again. "You should revenge him. But that dog?" it said, pointing a massive, phantom thumb at the frozen Anubis. "It's just a mere servant."

Kenjiro, still unable to move, stared up at his other self, his mind reeling. He didn't understand why time had stopped, or why his shadow was talking to him with such clarity.

"No time for answers," the shadow declared, cracking its knuckles. It struck a powerful pose, its muscles bulging grotesquely. "BIRL!" it roared. "COME ON, I WANT MORE! THE MONSTER IS GETTING OUT OF THE CELL!"

With that final declaration, the world snapped back into motion. The sounds of battle returned, but Anubis never took another step. Bombom's shadow blurred, appearing instantly before the towering guardian. The first punch landed with the force of a meteor, shattering the magical runes that glowed on the creature's stone hide. Its face began to crumble. The shadow didn't stop, unleashing a relentless torrent of blows, each one powerful enough to level a building. It was a savage, one-sided beatdown. The shadow kept punching, not stopping until the massive stone guardian was reduced to nothing more than a pile of gravel and dust.

The shadow turned, its work done. It looked at Kenjiro, flexed a bicep with a triumphant smirk, and then dissolved, melting back into Kenjiro's body.

The sudden influx of power and rage left Kenjiro completely drained. He collapsed forward, his body screaming with fatigue. Lyrielle immediately rushed to his side, her hands glowing with a soft, healing light. "Bombom, are you alright?" she asked, her cheeks flushing as she knelt beside him, her magic easing his exhaustion. Gluteus let out a sigh of relief, happy that the battle was over, while Kaito and DragonSlayer just stared, their faces a mixture of awe and raw jealousy.

As Kenjiro slowly pushed himself to his feet, DragonSlayer scoffed. "Always on time with your Persona thing, huh?"

"Kinda..." Kenjiro replied, his voice quiet. There was no teasing comeback, no tsundere outburst. He walked past his party, his gaze fixed on the pile of rubble that was once Anubis. Amidst the pebbles and dust, a single object glinted: a small, ornate key made of black obsidian.

He picked it up and walked back to the pedestal at the end of the corridor. As he approached, the key in his hand began to glow. It flew from his grasp and magically infused itself into the blood-stained pedestal where the cube had been. The dark stone of the pedestal shimmered, and from it, the black cube reformed, now glowing with an intense, pulsating blue light.

Hesitantly, Kenjiro reached out and touched it.

A shock of pure, untamed magic coursed through him. It was an agonizing, overwhelming torrent of power that made every nerve in his body feel like it was on fire. He cried out, snatching his hand back as the cube's blue light faded to black. Then, with a final, sharp crack, it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

He stood there, panting, his hand tingling with residual energy. His party gathered around the shattered remains, their faces full of questions as they tried to understand what had just happened to their leader.

The tingling energy from the shattered cube faded, leaving an unnerving silence in the corridor. Kenjiro stood there, his red eyes wide and unfocused, staring at nothing.

"Bombom? Are you okay?" Kaito asked, cautiously stepping closer.

Kenjiro looked around at his party, his expression dazed and horrified. "W-what happened?" he whispered. "I had a vision... I saw... the world turning black and a being of cosmic terror, so powerful that it destroyed the whole galaxy... w-while I was..."

"Come on, Bombom, don't leave us hanging," DragonSlayer urged, his impatience overriding his concern. "Tell us the rest."

"Yes, Bombom, tell us~" Kaito purred, his curiosity piqued.

"P-please, Bombom," Lyrielle added softly. Gluteus just gave a firm, encouraging nod.

Kenjiro took a shaky breath, his face turning a pale shade of white. He looked at his party, the words catching in his throat.

"...his wife..."

For a moment, there was dead silence. Then, DragonSlayer let out a choked snort, which turned into a full-blown cackle. He dropped to the floor, howling with laughter.

"W-WHAT?" he wheezed, tears streaming down his face. "WE HAD THIS LONG, DANGEROUS TRAVEL FOR US TO DISCOVER YOU'RE BECOMING A... A WIFE?!" He slapped his hand on the dusty stone floor, his laughter echoing through the pyramid. "T-that's hilarious! At least I'm getting paid for all of this!"

"I'm serious!" Bombom insisted, his face now flushing with a mixture of fear and embarrassment. "T-that's what I saw!"

"I trust your word, Bombom," Gluteus said, his expression unwavering.

"M-me too," Lyrielle added, blushing as she looked at him.

"Me too," Kaito said with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "But what does it mean? Being a wife is super cool~"

"W-what, cool?" Kenjiro yelped. "I-I don't want to have babies!"

DragonSlayer's laughter intensified into a wheezing fit.

"B-Bombom..." Lyrielle said gently. "Guys can't have babies."

Kenjiro's face went from red to crimson. "I'M NOT STUPID!" he yelled. "BUT YOU KNOW, MAGIC AND ALL!"

"But in that vision, you had a baby?" Gluteus asked, genuinely curious.

"Nope," Kenjiro admitted. "But what if—"

DragonSlayer was almost dying of laughter. He finally managed to compose himself, wiping tears from his eyes as he got to his feet. "Alright, alright, let's say I trust you. Does that mean only you will survive?"

"I don't know," Bombom said, his voice small.

"Describe the powerful man's appearance," Kaito prompted, his playful demeanor gone, replaced by a sharp focus.

"I don't know, it was so fast," Bombom replied, trying to recall the fleeting images. "He was shadowed... had red eyes... and wings, but only one. Also, he had a katana."

A collective realization dawned on the party.

"I-it's 03, right?" Bombom finally acknowledged, the name barely a whisper.

The party nodded grimly.

The full implication of his vision hit Kenjiro like a physical blow. His face went pale, then red, then pale again. He let out a small, terrified squeak.

"W-what? N-no way! We need to change this! G-guys," he said, his voice filled with a new, desperate urgency. "We need to get stronger. Fast."

Without another word, he began frantically gathering the shattered pieces of the cube. The rest of the party, spurred by their leader's panic, began to search the chamber, grabbing any ancient relics and valuable artifacts they could find. Their quest had changed. It was no longer about finding a lost soul; it was about preventing a terrible, and deeply humiliating, future. They looted what they could and fled the pyramid, heading back toward the relative safety of the Oasis city.