In the dimly lit room, where only the sound of the monitor's speaker was running, a young man was sitting in front of it, slurping the instant noodles. Rix was watching his 148th isekai anime, 'Reincarnated as a Supreme Dragon God Who Accidentally Invented Harem Cultivation.' He looked down at his food, almost empty, and let out a loud sigh. "Ahh... it finished this fast?" he muttered. He got up from his seat, grumbling some words under his breath, and walked toward the refrigerator.
The room was kinda messy—to be honest, calling it messy would be an understatement. It looked more like a war zone. Half-eaten chips packets were lying on the floor, empty cold drink cans were kept on the shelf like some sort of trophy, and a pair of socks was hanging on the ceiling fan.
Reaching the kitchen, he grabbed the handle and pulled. It broke instantly. "Huh?" Rix mumbled. He didn't overreact or probably didn't care. He threw the handle to the washbasin and carried on pulling the door of the refrigerator. Finally, the door opened. Looking at the inside, his face became grim—there was nothing left in the fridge either.
"Shitt," he cursed, shutting the door and walking over to the main door. He opened it, and before stepping outside, he took his black coat. The coat really smelled like it hadn't been washed for weeks. He then stepped out of his apartment.
It was night, loomed with complete silence except for the few vehicles. Looking at the night sky, he sighed again. Rix was an orphan; he had grown up drifting from place to place. After his long struggle and hard work, he managed to secure a well and good job, at least enough to fill his stomach. He didn't have any friends to begin with, so he lived all alone. After reaching a certain point in life, he started finding solace, happiness, and pleasure in watching drama and anime. In those wild and colourful stories, he found the reflection of the person he wished he could be, heroes starting from nothingness and becoming strong. Obviously HAREM TOOO!!
Rix slowly climbed down his apartment stairs—it was a five-story building. After reaching the compound, he walked to the nearby store to buy something to eat. Reaching the store, he brought his favorite ramen and walked back to his apartment. While waiting to cross the road, his movements stopped. He heard some noise coming from the side, in a dark alley.
"Graaahhh... arrhhggg." Suddenly, a shiver ran down through his spine. This kind of creepy sound was not something that he had ever heard. But before he could check what it was, a fast-moving truck hit him, making him fly dozens of meters away.
He didn't even get to properly process what had happened. Just now, he heard some creepy voice in that dark alley—he was damn sure that it was something very creepy, but before he could turn his head, he was hit by a truck. What was this, a coincidence! His body now lay sprawled across the cold pavement like a broken doll; his one shoe was missing, and his limbs were twisted at unnatural angles. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into his coat, his eyes were wide like they were trying to understand what had just happened.
The truck driver looked at the poor man lying on the floor, and he sped up his truck and escaped before anyone could see him. "Bastard," Rix cursed under his breath before he closed his eyes.
After a few minutes--------
Rix suddenly opened his eyes, looking at his surroundings. He was confused—not because of what happened to him, but because things didn't go as he expected. He was very sure that he would get transmigrated after getting hit by a truck, but why? Because he had watched a lot of anime with these typical tropes, so you could say that it was his natural instinct. At that split moment where he got hit by a truck, he had already imagined the entire story of his journey in a very beautiful fantasy world, where he became slowly powerful and built his harem.
He was expecting all of these, but all he saw was pure darkness as he opened his eyes. He was lying in this dark space, looking at his surroundings. All he could see was pure darkness, at least that's what he thought. Lifting his head up, his eyes widened in disbelief. His body was fully healed!! There were no wounds or twisted angles; he was as normal as he was before.
Not knowing what to do, he slowly stood up. The ground beneath him didn't feel like a floor—it was made up of darkness itself. He felt like somebody had given shape to this thing. Looking around, all he could see was endless darkness. Somehow, he could feel his body, which made him relax a bit.
Rix didn't know where to go, as there was nothing he could do to navigate his direction. After a few minutes of standing there, he conjured many possibilities with his years of watching isekai, but nothing matched. He then sighed and decided to take a step forward.
The moment he took a step forward, an arrow out of nowhere came and thrust into his left shoulder, making him scream in pain and stumble backwards. "AAHHHAHHHGGRAGGH!" he screamed, feeling the pain in his shoulder. But before he could check his wound, another arrow came and pierced his right shoulder.
"ARGHH!" he felt immense pain on his shoulder as they dislocated. Whoever or whatever was doing this to him, they didn't give him enough time as a series of arrows shot out from the dark space.
"SWISSHH!!"
"SWISSHH!!"
One arrow pierced his right hand.
The other pierced his left.
Then came numerous arrows directed at his torso and legs.
Blood oozed out of his body like a flood. His throat convulsed as a jagged scream tore free. His balance shook as his body fell backward to the dark ground with a loud thud!! His vision became blurry as he lost his consciousness.
After some time, Rix jolted awake. He opened his eyes, looking around—he couldn't believe what had just happened. He touched his body, feeling no pain, and there were no signs of any wounds either. He groaned; even though he was healed by some unknown power, he still clearly felt the immense amount of pain surging all over his body.
He slowly tried to stand up again. After a bit of struggle, he stood there in that dark space. He wanted to know who shot at him, though he looked at the dark space, he couldn't find anyone. There was not even a single sound.
He tried to take a step forward, but then, suddenly recalling the previous experience, he froze for a bit. He conjured a small theory in his absolute mastermind who has watched hundreds of anime, "So if I were to take a step now there is a chance again that I will get hit by the same arrow ag.....!!!??" But before he could even finish his sentence, an arrow seemingly came out of nowhere and pierced his neck.
THUDDD!!
His body lay flat on the ground again.
He didn't even understand what had actually happened now.
"Haaa... haa," he woke again, gasping for air to breathe. "What just happened now?" He didn't even give himself any time to think much as he now understood that thinking was futile. He abruptly stood up and started running to the front space, but before he could cover a few meters, hundreds of arrows thrust at every part of his body, making him impossible to move. Blood spurted from his eyes as one arrow struck his eyeball directly, making him scream in pain.
"AAAHHHHRRRGAGG!"
The arrows came endlessly, piercing each and every part of his body.
His neck. Face. Skull. Chest. Stomach. Legs. Even his little brother.
He stood there like a statue for a few seconds before falling backward.
THUDDD!!
"AAAAHHHHHH!" He woke up screaming this time. He didn't check his wounds; rather, he suddenly clenched his little brother, as if hugging, he relaxed a bit knowing that his little brother didn't leave him alone. His calm and overthinking personality was now gone, he blurted out, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU BASTARD COME OUT IF YOU DAR..."
'SWISHHHH'
THUDDD!!!!
He fell to the ground with an arrow in his forehead.
He woke again, but this time he was not able to move his body even an inch from where he was lying. Then he felt it—a sudden pressure bore down on him. He felt like someone kept stacking tons of weight over his body, and it kept increasing every second. He tried his maximum to stand up, but he couldn't even move his legs or hands; it was as if they were tied.
Slowly, the pressure increased, his knees shattered to the ground. "Arrrrrrhhhhhhgg," he screamed in extreme pain, but no one heard his futile screams. Then his ribs buckled inwards, spine creaked like it was about to snap. Slowly, his pain and anger started to change into the form of pleading.
"P.....PLE.....ES"
But still, no one heard him, or they didn't care.
He felt like the world was trying to squeeze him into a paste. After a few seconds, the weight increased many folds. This time, he felt the crushing weight slamming onto him from all directions. His body caved, blood bursting from his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. He screamed, but no sound came from him. His body was crushed layer by layer, muscles tore, organs ruptured, and his bones twisted and cracked like soft tree branches under the weight of the colossal pressure.
After a few seconds, there was complete silence in the dark void. The pressure vanished as quickly as it came. All that remained was an unrecognizable mass of flesh smeared into the ground, his limbs were mangled into a pulp, his face was flattened beyond recognition, pressed into a grotesque mask of red ruin. There was no body now, just a complete bloody mess.