The afternoon light continued to filter through the grand, stained-glass windows of the cathedral, casting long, fractured shadows of deep ruby and sapphire across the pristine marble floor. Although the sun was technically beginning its descent, the high-noon shift had officially triggered a state of emergency throughout the upper districts. Under the strict mandates of the capital's newly declared martial law, squads of armored Knights were currently conducting aggressive, house-to-house tactical inspections to locate the "blood-sucking winged demon" reported near the border.
Knowing my own home in the 3rd District… where my translucent blood wings had already been twitching from the morning light… would likely be subjected to these invasive sweeps, I chose to remain hidden within the divine sanctuary of the 7th District. The Holy Church's sovereign ground was the one place the secular Knight vanguards wouldn't dare disrupt without supreme administrative clearance.
To pass the time and maintain our cover, Bishop Carnaby, Tae-man, and I pulled three wooden chairs into a tight, secure circle near the shadow of the rear columns. The bishop adjusted his vestments, his eyes carrying the profound, ancient weight of a man who had looked into the void of death before crossing over into Andromeda.
"So, Tae-man, how exactly did you leave our old world? In my previous life, I passed away after willingly donating my heart to save a dying orphan in the Vatican medical wards. And Roxanne here... her soul was ripped away from Earth when she threw herself in front of a speeding van to save her high school crush back in Manila."
I sat perfectly still beneath the shadow of my canvas mask, my single jade-green eye locked onto the teenager. My right hand, heavy with the consolidated power of my level 8 mana pool, level 6 magic enhancement, and level 5 healing rings, rested quietly on the armrest of my fire-resistant crimson trench coat. Hearing the bishop mention my past life as Roxanne Albatross always brought a cold, phantom ache to my chest, but I remained entirely mute, letting the silence emphasize the weight of our shared displacement.
Tae-man shifted in his seat, his crimson eyes tracking the flickering candles on the altar as a rare, serious expression crossed his face.
"Well, it's honestly pretty simple compared to the typical Isekai tropes, I was at a crowded train station in Seoul, waiting for a high-speed KTX line heading down to Busan. Out of nowhere, this fragile old man lost his balance and collapsed right off the platform, landing face-down directly onto the train tracks. At that exact moment, the alarms started blaring… a bullet train was already barreling into the station zone at over 300 kilometers per hour."
He let out a short, self-deprecating sigh.
"Back then, I was just a total shut-in. A gamer who spent twenty hours a day staring at fantasy light novels and digital interface screens. When I saw him fall, my brain didn't calculate the actual kinetic impact of a train; I honestly thought, 'This is it. This is the exact prompt where some divine goddess or cosmic system steps in to help me.' So, my body just moved on gaming instinct. I leaped down onto the tracks, used every bit of my real-world strength to heft the old man up, and threw him safely back onto the concrete platform."
Tae-man's voice trailed off, his fingers tightening against his knees.
"The very next second, the headlights hit me. My vision just went completely blank… no pain, no noise, just instant static. The next thing I knew, the respawn cycle triggered, and I woke up crying as a newborn baby in a dirt-floor countryside cottage in this broken world."
Bishop Carnaby closed his eyes, slowly tracing the sign of the cross over his chest with a look of deep, spiritual solidarity.
"Well... that was truly unexpected, Tae-man, yet, look at the underlying truth of our gathering. No matter how different our backgrounds or our digital delusions were, the three of us share the exact same soul marker: we all willingly sacrificed our lives to secure the safety of another human being."
I adjusted my deep hood, keeping my remaining money secure in my purse. The martial law inspections were continuing outside, but inside the sanctuary, the bond between the three Earth souls was officially cemented. The gamer had his street experience, the bishop had his tracking matrix, and I possessed the S-rank evolutionary violence needed to protect this operation.
Bishop Carnaby smiled softly, the warm light of the sanctuary catching the silver threads of his vestments.
"Okay, let's start a new conversation to take our minds off the martial law outside, what about your previous lives on Earth? Your hobbies, your passions before we were brought to Andromeda?"
I reached into the pocket of my crimson trench coat, pulling out my lead pencil to sketch my response across a fresh notepad sheet. But before the tip could even touch the paper, Tae-man leaned forward with absolute, unshakeable confidence, beating me to the punch.
"Well, like I said, I was a total NEET in Korea, a complete shut-in, but I wasn't just a regular loser. Last year, right before I died on those train tracks, I actually won the grand championship tournament for a massive, globally popular MOBA game! I was literally on top of the esports world." Tae-man declared, a proud, cocky grin spreading across his face.
I froze, my pencil hovering half a millimeter above the paper, and stared at him in utter shock from beneath the deep shadow of my canvas mask. It was genuinely stunning… and slightly baffling… to see him boast about video game achievements with such absolute, deadpan confidence while standing inside a holy cathedral in a brutal fantasy world. To him, being a professional cyber-athlete in Seoul was a badge of supreme honor, even if those micro-mechanics meant absolutely nothing against a horde of flesh-tearing goblins.
Bishop Carnaby simply chuckled, offering a polite, paternal nod of praise.
"A champion of digital strategy, then. Fascinating. As for me, my life was quite singular. I was a fully ordained Bishop serving within the historic walls of the Vatican City, dedicating every waking hour to theology, charity, and the spiritual guidance of the global diocese."
When the two of them finally turned their attention back to me, I finished scribbling on my notepad and turned it around, letting them read the neat handwriting:
I was a faithful altar server. I practiced Kendo for years. And I was deeply, hopelessly in love with my high school crush, Marcel.
Tae-man blinked, his eyes darting between the note and my heavily geared, ring-adorned hand.
"An altar server who knows how to swing a real sword? Damn, Roxanne. No wonder you turned into an S-rank vanguard with a terrifying animal laugh. And... Marcel? Is that the guy you died saving from the van?"
I gave a slow, solemn nod, my single jade-green eye clouding over for a brief second as the phantom memory of Marcel's face flashed through my mind. The discipline of Kendo had forged my early reflexes, my time at the altar had anchored my understanding of the church, and my love for Marcel had ultimately cost me my first life. Now, those Earthly fragments were completely warped… my swordplay was replaced by twin black-market Death Chant Tommy guns, my devotion was tangled in a ninety-day cosmic countdown, and my frail human heart was beating inside a sixth-evolution demonic body.
"God moves in mysterious ways, a gamer, a priest, and a warrior-appraiser. Our past lives were so different, yet here we sit." Bishop Carnaby murmured softly, looking at the three of us.
I slid the notepad back into my trench coat, my newly merged rings pulsing against my fingers. The house-to-house inspections were still raging outside the 7th District gates, but inside the sanctuary, the truth of our identities was entirely laid bare.
An hour had slipped away in the quiet safety of the circle, our voices echoing softly against the towering stone pillars until the cathedral's grand pendulum clock struck 1:00 PM. The distant, metallic clanging of the 7th District gates signaled that the Knights' house-to-house inspections were finally complete. The martial law perimeter was relaxing. It was time for me to move.
I rose from the wooden chair, the heavy canvas of my fire-resistant crimson trench coat settling around my frame, hiding my twitching blood wings. I bowed my head respectfully toward Bishop Carnaby. Remaining perfectly mute, I offered a simple, silent gesture of gratitude.
"Goodbye, Roxanne, may God shield your path out there in the wilds. I truly hope you visit our sanctuary again." the bishop said, offering a warm, paternal blessing with a gentle wave of his hand.
Tae-man and I walked side by side down the massive marble aisle, pushing open the heavy oak doors to step back into the bright, crisp afternoon air of the 7th District. The streets were beginning to fill with citizens again as the armored vanguards marched back to their central barracks.
We had only walked a few feet away from the grand church facade when Tae-man suddenly stepped directly in front of me, cutting off my path. His crimson eyes looked up at my deeply hooded silhouette, a sudden wave of frantic adolescent energy rolling off him.
"Wait, you're leaving already, Roxanne? Man, I... I still have so much to talk about with you. You're the first person from Earth I've met who actually understands what it's like to grind out here."
I stared at him from behind the pitch-black void of my mask, my single jade-green eye unblinking. My analytical mind was already calculating the travel time to the 5th District gates, the weightless payload of my ten tear gas flasks, and the trajectory toward the Lulu Mountains. I shifted my weight, preparing to step past him, but his voice cracked as he rushed to speak.
"Look, Roxanne... in my previous life in Seoul, I was just a hardcore NEET shut-in. I never had a girlfriend. Not even once. And honestly, it's been the exact same story since I dropped into this brutal fantasy world,"
Tae-man blurted out, his face turning an incredibly bright, vivid red. He squeezed his eyes shut, unleashing his absolute, unabashed gamer delusions.
"My number one bucket list goal… the literal main quest of my life… was to become a legendary protagonist and build a massive harem of beautiful girls! So... if we manage to survive all of this and meet up again... could we... maybe go on a date?"
Beneath my canvas mask, a sudden, burning heat flushed across my cheeks. I felt myself blush intensely. It was completely, utterly unnecessary for him to say something so incredibly cringe-inducing in the middle of a high-security administrative sector. Seeing a seventeen-year-old boy stand there, boasting about an impossible "harem goal" that had absolutely zero percent chance of succeeding in a world as violent and evolutionary as Andromeda, was genuinely unbelievable. He was still looking at this world through the lens of a cheap light novel, entirely blind to the fact that he was asking a sixth-evolution, tongue-less demonic phantom out for pastries.
I didn't pull out a notepad to reject him. Instead, I stepped forward, reaching out with my single right hand.
My fingers, heavily adorned with my newly forged level 8 mana pool and level 6 magic enhancement rings, brushed gently against the small, cloth-wrapped wound on his palm… the cut I had made earlier to gather his tracking blood. I channeled a precise, microscopic thread of my Pain Manipulation, weaving a soothing, long-lasting layer of absolute numbness across his nerve endings to completely eliminate the lingering sting of the blade. It was a silent, parting gift of practical care from one Earth soul to another.
Before the blush could completely fade from my face or he could process the sudden, cooling relief in his hand, I turned on my heel. The hem of my crimson coat snapped in the wind as I melted directly into the bustling crowds of the capital, leaving the gamer boy standing dumbfounded on the marble steps. My purse was down to 40 silver pieces, my inventory ring was fully loaded, and the countdown to my midnight execution of Vanessa Katt and the Immoral Knights had officially begun.