I Died and Was Reincarnated as a Goth Femboy

"No time to lose with that guy," DragonSlayer said, kicking the bound mage lightly with the toe of his boot. "Let's go. The witch is still up there."

The party nodded in agreement, their faces grim. They began to climb the now-finite staircase, their footsteps echoing in the oppressive silence of the castle spire. But as they walked, Kenjiro couldn't shake the feeling of unease. The man hadn't been afraid of his muscular shadow; he had seen something else in his mind, something that had terrified him to his very core. What could possibly be more frightening than the monster he kept locked inside?

They finally reached the top of the long, winding staircase. A single, massive door made of dark, polished wood stood before them, adorned with a single, silver handle shaped like a sleeping serpent. With a shared, determined look, Gluteus pushed it open.

The room beyond was not the dark, gothic throne room of a demonic master they had expected. It was a vast, circular bedchamber, exquisitely decorated with plush carpets, rich tapestries depicting ancient battles, and shelves filled with thousands of leather-bound books. In the center of the room, on a large, four-poster bed, a man was sitting, casually reading a book. He had long, fiery red hair that cascaded over his shoulders and eyes the color of a brilliant autumn sunset. He looked up as they entered, a flicker of annoyance crossing his handsome features as he closed the book, a finger marking his page.

"What do we have here?" he asked, his voice a calm, melodic baritone that held no trace of alarm. "Intruders? Or allies?"

"Uh, I don't know," Bombom said, taken aback by the man's casual demeanor. "We kinda just want to stop this whole time-thing you've got going on."

The man sighed, a sound of pure, weary boredom, and got up from the bed. "So, enemies then." He stretched his arms over his head, his movements slow and deliberate. "I'm not in a good mood. I was at the best part of the story. The hero was just about to tell the woman he saved that he loves her." He crossed his arms, a petulant look on his face.

"And I thought SynchroNoice was weird..." DragonSlayer muttered under his breath. He then smirked, his usual arrogant confidence returning. "Alright, I'll fight him." He rushed forward, his sword a blur of motion, and plunged it directly into the red-haired man's chest, right up to the hilt.

But nothing happened. There was no spray of blood, no cry of pain. The man just looked down at the sword sticking out of his sternum with a look of mild annoyance. "Is that all you've got?"

DragonSlayer stared, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated shock. "W-what's going on?"

"This," the man said. He delivered a single, devastating headbutt. The sound of DragonSlayer's helmet cracking echoed through the room as the warrior was sent flying backward, where he collapsed in a heap, screaming in pain. "W-what the hell?!" he groaned from the floor. "Why is he so strong?"

The man casually gripped the hilt of the sword embedded in his chest and pulled it out, tossing it across the room where it clattered against the stone wall. "I'm immortal," he explained, as if discussing the weather. "You cannot pass through me. Victory is already mine."

"Let's see about that," Gluteus Maximus boomed. He pulled his own massive sword and looked back at Lyrielle. She nodded, her hands already glowing as she focused her powerful buffing magic on the giant knight. Gluteus's sword grew in size, its blade beginning to glow with an intense, inner light. "Fire," he whispered, and the blade erupted in roaring, magical flames. He then unslung his shield and threw it like a discus. The man, seeing the approaching shield, didn't even bother to dodge. A big mistake. As the shield reached him, its flat, steel surface morphed, the central boss transforming into a roaring lion's mouth lined with sharp, metallic teeth. It clamped down on the immortal man's arm, holding him in place.

His eyes widened in genuine surprise, not expecting the attack. He grabbed the shield with his free hand, prying the lion's jaws open and throwing it aside. But the momentary distraction was all Gluteus needed. The giant knight charged, his flaming sword held high, and pierced the immortal man clean through, the magical flames engulfing his body. But he still wasn't taking any damage. He just stood there, burning, a look of profound boredom on his face.

The immortal man, his clothes now smoldering, pulled the small book from his pocket. He opened it to the page he had marked and began to read aloud. "Then the flaming man, who was supposed to be burnt, swirled fast, making the flame on his body go to everyone in the room." He closed the book, and a faint, magical glow pulsed from its cover. He began to spin, faster and faster, a vortex of fire. The flames that had been clinging to his body shot outwards in a massive, fiery explosion.

The wave of fire washed over the room. It slammed into Gluteus, setting his armor ablaze. It hit DragonSlayer, who was still on the floor, his draconic armor mitigating some, but not all, of the damage. Lyrielle managed to conjure a shimmering, green shield just in time, the flames washing over it harmlessly. Some of the fire shot towards Bombom. But before it could reach him, without him even thinking about it, his second shadow, the ethereal blue boy, emerged from his back. He just laughed, a silent, melodic sound, and waved a hand. The approaching flames were instantly frozen, turning into delicate, beautiful sculptures of ice that shattered on the floor. The blue shadow pointed at the immortal man, still laughing as if he were the biggest joke in the world, and then vanished back into Bombom.

The immortal man, Jōmitsu Ren, stopped spinning. The fire was gone. He looked at Bombom, his tired, orange eyes now filled with a new, intense interest. He had finally found a worthy challenge.

And then, a new figure phased through the stone wall of the chamber, his form flickering like a ghost. He wore a strange, porcelain mask, and his voice was a distorted, electronic whisper. "Mind if I take some of them?" he asked Ren.

The immortal man just nodded. The masked figure raised a hand, and a swirling tornado of dark energy erupted from his sleeve. It shot across the room, engulfing the surprised Gluteus, the wounded DragonSlayer, and the terrified Lyrielle, pulling them off their feet and into its vortex. And then, as quickly as it had appeared, the tornado and the masked man vanished, phasing back through the wall, leaving Bombom completely alone with the immortal.

"W-what? My team!" he cried out, staring at the spot where his friends had been.

The livestream chat, which had been in a state of absolute pandemonium, went into overdrive.

"This will show why Bombom is the strongest!"

"Go, Bombom! Show him who's best!"

"Just saw this stream on the news and came to check it out."

"All of HozyHoo is cheering for you, Bombom!"

The words, the support, the sheer, overwhelming belief of thousands of people, washed over him. He felt a surge of inspiration, of a responsibility he had never felt before. He turned to face the immortal man, his expression no longer one of fear, but of grim determination.

"I am Jōmitsu Ren," the immortal man said, his voice quiet. "The last guardian of this kingdom. Since I was a child, I was born with this blessing. But right now..." He turned his back on Bombom, looking out the large, arched window at the pristine, sunlit city below. "...I just want to see her again."

"Who's 'her'?" Bombom asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"What are your real motives for being here?" Ren asked, ignoring the question.

Bombom sighed. "We got hired to discover why ogres were attacking people. So we got here."

Ren smiled, a sad, bitter sound. "So... you just got caught in the crossfire..." He crossed his arms. "Our leader, our King, grew tired of the magical creatures that plagued our borders, that came to our kingdom and devoured our people. I fought in so many battles, so many wars... but he decided it was enough. A man, a being from another world, contacted him. He told our King he knew a way, a powerful spell that could make our kingdom vanish, shift it forward in time, to an age when the magical creatures were more controlled, or had died out completely..."

Ren kept talking, his voice a low, rambling monotone. He spoke of ancient politics, of magical theory, of the hopes and dreams of a long-dead kingdom. Bombom tried to comprehend what he was saying, but his language was strange and intellectual, full of words and concepts that made his head spin. He was, without a doubt, a professional yapper.

"So," Bombom finally cut him off, his patience wearing thin. "Are we going to fight, or are you going to keep talk—"

Before he could finish, the world flickered. The opulent, sunlit bedchamber vanished. He was back in the future. The room was a crumbling ruin, the rich tapestries rotted away, the walls covered in a thick, black fungus. But the man, Ren, was still there, sitting on the tattered remains of the bed, his expression even more weary than before.

"So," Bombom said, his voice a low whisper. "After all this time, you're still here..."

The man smiled, a sad, broken thing. "Just like the book showed..." Ren stood up. "The plan... it did not go as we had intended. The time-shift was... unstable. It was mortal to our kingdom. Everyone... everything... turned to dust. I delayed you long enough in the past, but... you emerged as the hero. But me... after everyone died, I was the only one left..." He kept talking, his voice a rambling, disjointed monologue of a man who had been alone with his grief for over a thousand years.

But then, some words cut through Bombom's confusion, sharp and clear.

"...I want you to kill me," Ren whispered, his orange eyes pleading. "I want to see her again. And the only way to kill me... is to freeze my heart, and then shatter my brain and my heart at the exact same time..." He pulled his book from his pocket and read the final, faded passage. "So the goth Lily destroyed the immortal man, and in doing so, allowed him to finally meet the one he truly wanted." The book glowed with a final, faint magical light.

"So... how am I—" Bombom began, but in a blink of an eye, the world flickered again. He was back in the past.

He was face to face with the younger, still-powerful Jōmitsu Ren. And now, he knew for sure what he needed to do to make his suffering end.