I Died and Was Reincarnated as a Goth Femboy

The threat of a potential kiss from his S-Tier Lily leader was apparently a more powerful motivator for DragonSlayer than any mortal danger. He stood up straight, his exhaustion and injuries completely forgotten, a look of grim, terrified resolve on his face. "O-on second thought," he stammered, "I'm feeling great! Ready to go! Let's save that little guy!"

Bombom, satisfied with the result, led his somewhat battered, deeply confused, but now fully motivated party through the castle's grand ballroom. They found themselves in a long, cavernous corridor, lined with dozens of identical, imposing wooden doors. The air was still and heavy, the only sound the faint, distant echo of their own footsteps on the cold, stone floor.

"Alright," Bombom said, his voice a low whisper. "She has to be in one of these rooms. We split up, check every door. Be careful."

They began their search, a slow, tense process of kicking open heavy doors to reveal empty, dust-filled chambers. There were abandoned barracks, forgotten libraries, and decaying dining halls, but no sign of the witch or her captive. They continued down the seemingly endless corridor, the repetition and the silence grating on their already frayed nerves. Finally, they reached the very last door at the far end of the hall. It was slightly ajar, a sliver of soft, pink light spilling out into the dark corridor.

With a shared, determined look, Gluteus pushed the door open. The room beyond was a lavish, circular chamber, clearly a private study or lounge. And in the center of it, the pink-haired witch, Karima, was sitting comfortably on SynchroNoice's back, using him as a human sofa, a bored expression on her face as she filed her nails.

The party's jaws dropped in unison.

"Oh," she said, looking up, a slow, lazy smile spreading across her face. "You guys finally managed to get here. I was getting so bored, listening to all that fighting~" She gracefully got to her feet, stretching like a cat. She looked down at the still-mindless SynchroNoice. "You," she commanded, her voice sharp. "Attack."

SynchroNoice, his eyes still a dull, empty pink, scrambled to his feet and, with a blank expression, rushed at his friends.

"Don't do it! Resist it!" Bombom yelled, but it was no use. The witch just laughed, a high, tinkling sound that was full of a cruel, condescending amusement.

"I must obey Karima," SynchroNoice droned, his voice a flat, robotic monotone.

He was fast, but Gluteus was faster. The giant brawler, with a movement so quick it was almost impossible to track, simply stepped in front of the charging SynchroNoice and held him in place with one massive, gentle hand.

DragonSlayer, seeing the main threat was now free, smirked, his usual arrogant confidence returning. "Leave her to me," he growled, stepping forward.

Karima just laughed. "You? You're a joke. You're clearly getting carried by your team." She pulled a small, shimmering crystal globe from a pouch on her belt. An image appeared within it, a highlight reel of DragonSlayer's most embarrassing moments. It showed him getting swatted away by the ogre, getting slammed against the ceiling by the masked man, and cowering behind Gluteus during the crocodile attack.

"Oi, oi, oi! That's not true!" DragonSlayer protested, his face flushing a deep, embarrassed red. "Bombom is the useless one!" he declared, pointing an accusatory finger at his leader.

"She's trying to weaken your mind," Lyrielle warned, her voice sharp with concern. "So she can do the same thing to you that she did to Synchro..."

"She won't succeed in that!" DragonSlayer laughed, puffing out his chest.

"I already did," Karima said with a sweet, venomous smile.

"W-what?!" he asked, instinctively touching his own face, his arms, his chest, a look of pure, unadulterated panic in his eyes. He couldn't feel any charm effect, but the seed of doubt had been planted. Was he in control? Was he thinking his own thoughts?

Karima just laughed, a wild, triumphant sound. "I'm clearly outnumbered, and you guys have defeated most of my allies, so..." She waved her hand, and a small, pink smoke bomb exploded at her feet. When the smoke cleared, she was gone.

SynchroNoice, his strings suddenly cut, collapsed to the floor. He shook his head, his eyes blinking as the dull, pink glow faded, replaced by his own familiar, brown irises. "H-hey," he said, his voice groggy. "I'm back. What happened? I had a really bad dream that I was a sofa and..." He paused, a look of pure, dawning horror on his face as a fragmented, deeply disturbing memory surfaced. "...and I was kissing someone's feet." A shiver of pure, unadulterated revulsion ran down his spine.

DragonSlayer, still reeling from the psychological assault, collapsed onto a nearby chaise lounge. "So, that's dealt with," he said, his voice weary. "Let's get out of here."

"No," Bombom said, his expression serious. "What about the time thing?"

"It's not even happening right now," DragonSlayer shrugged. But as he finished speaking, the world flickered. The opulent chamber vanished, replaced for a single, terrifying second by the dark, crumbling ruins of the future. DragonSlayer, who had been lying on a plush chaise lounge, found himself hugging a dusty, cobweb-covered skeleton. He let out a high-pitched, terrified shriek. "Aaaah!"

The rest of the party, who had seen the flicker but were not in physical contact with any of the furniture, just burst out laughing. "O-okay!" DragonSlayer stammered as the illusion snapped back, the skeleton once again a comfortable piece of furniture. "We need to do something about this..."

"Crybaby~" Bombom teased, a wicked smirk on his face.

A donation with a synthesized voice came through the hover-drone, loud and clear in the silent room.

"How does it feel to be Bombom's simp?"

DragonSlayer looked at the drone, his face a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and a strange, reluctant honesty. "It looks bad," he admitted, his voice a low grumble. "He always treats me bad and..." He paused, rethinking what he was about to say as Bombom's laughter filled the room. The world flickered again, back to the pristine past, and DragonSlayer, not wanting to risk another skeletal embrace, was the first one to walk out of the room.

They made their way to the castle's main throne room. The King, a handsome, blonde man with sad green eyes, was sitting on his throne, his head in his hands, his royal sword resting against the floor beside him.

"Ren told me about this..." he whispered to the empty room. "I should have listened..." He looked up as the party entered, his eyes full of a weary, defeated resignation. He pointed a trembling finger at a small, unassuming door behind his throne. "The rooftop," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "The ritual is taking place on the rooftop."

The party began to file towards the door. But Bombom paused, looking back at the broken King.

The King lifted his head, a single, desperate spark of hope in his eyes as he looked at the S-Tier Lily. "You're the only hope now," he said.

Bombom turned his back, a new, heavy weight of responsibility settling on his shoulders, and followed his team.

They emerged onto the castle's highest rooftop. The sky above was a churning, unnatural vortex of purple and black clouds. A man, his face completely obscured by shadows, stood in the center of the roof, his black cape billowing in the magical wind. At his side stood another man, a figure of strange, unsettling beauty, with hair that was half-dark and half-white, pale skin, and eyes that were half-orange and half-red. A single, broken black wing protruded from his back. In front of them, two figures that looked like mindless, beautiful puppets—a man and a woman—were standing on either side of a large, crystalline cube. They were channeling streams of pure light and dark magic into the cube, which was flickering violently, phasing in and out of existence with every passing second.

As the party approached, the man in the black robes turned. He didn't speak. He simply opened a black, ornate coffin that appeared out of nowhere, stepped inside, and vanished as the lid slammed shut.

At the same instant, a swirling portal of pure darkness opened on the other side of the roof, and 03 stepped out. He had arrived just in time to see the robed man disappear. He looked at the remaining figures, then at Bombom, a look of pure, unadulterated annoyance on his perfect face. "You deal with this," he said, as if ordering a servant to take out the trash. He turned his back, opened another dark portal, and vanished, leaving Bombom standing there, embarrassed, blushing, and completely out of his depth.

"W-what are they...?" he stammered to the empty air.

The man with the broken wing let out a high, melodic, and deeply unsettling laugh. "Oooh~" he purred, his mismatched eyes gleaming with a manic, predatory light. "So he is here, too~ Simply delicious."

"W-what a weirdo," DragonSlayer muttered from behind Bombom.

And for once, the entire party, including Bombom, nodded in silent, wholehearted agreement.