Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

—I have almost no memory of the incident itself.

All I remember is that my parents were stabbed while trying to protect my sister and me from a robber who suddenly burst into our family gathering, and that in the end, I was stabbed in the back as I shielded my sister—the only one I wanted to protect.

It seems we were targeted purely by chance.

According to what I later heard from the police, the perpetrator had ruined his life through drinking and gambling and had simply broken into the first house that caught his eye.

Just bad luck… For a reason I could never accept, something precious was unjustly taken from me.

When I next woke up, I couldn’t move my lower body. Apparently, the blade had damaged my spine.

And ever since that day, whenever I saw a stranger, I’d be overcome with anxiety that I might be attacked the next moment—until eventually, I couldn’t even go to school anymore.

Still, I was fine inside the game.

*—But the land of dreams has now turned into reality.*

.

“Hey there. Sleeping Beauty, you’re finally awake, eh?”
“…Eek!?”

The filthy face right in front of me and the choking stench of alcohol on his breath snapped me back to consciousness in an instant.
Instinctively, I tried to kick out to push the man away, but my leg was stopped by the sensation of a metal ring around my ankle, accompanied by a jingling sound.
For some reason, only my legs were restrained. I tried to push the man away with my free hands, but my slender arms couldn’t budge him an inch.

“Dude, you think you’re a Prince Charming?”
“So, a thief, then? ‘Princess, I’ve come to steal you away’—something like that?”
“You idiot, that doesn’t suit you either. Look at her—the princess is completely terrified.”

I was completely surrounded by the men’s voices, cackling like fools at their own ridiculous banter.
With my mind in a daze and my field of vision restricted because I was lying on my back, I scanned my surroundings and realized I’d been dragged into what looked like some shabby room—a truly awful situation.
The smell of dust, mold, caked-on grime and sweat, and the pungent scent of men made my nose wrinkle. To make matters worse, I’d been laid on my back on what looked like a low table—covered in mysterious stains I’d rather not even touch—and was surrounded by men who all looked filthy, caked in grime and dirt. No matter how I looked at them, they couldn’t be anything but bandits, and they were all staring at me with lustful, lecherous eyes.
Before I could stop myself, a gasp escaped my throat. “Heh, she gasped! How cute, hey?” they teased, using it as a joke to get even more excited.
My coat—which must have been stripped off while I was unconscious—was already gone, and my legs were slightly spread apart, seemingly secured by chains around my ankles. Even so, seeing that my clothes were still neatly in place, I felt a momentary sense of relief, but—

“Well then… shall we get started, huh, guys?”
“We’ve been waiting for this!”
“I can’t wait any longer! Look at this—she’s the best catch I’ve ever seen!”

The crowd surged with excitement at the words of the man who appeared to be the leader.

“S-start…? Start what…?”

Before I knew it, those foolish words slipped out.
I regretted it the moment I said them. It was obvious, wasn’t it? Right now, I was in the form of a delicate young girl—completely different from my original world.
But those words came out of an unlikely desire for things not to be that way.

“Hahahaha, ‘what’?! How naive can you be?”
“What else, eh?”
“Come on, cut her some slack. She’s just a naive little princess who wouldn’t have a clue.”

Amid the men’s raucous chatter, the leader ran his hand over my cheek in a lecherous manner. The sensation sent shivers down my spine, and the disgust made me feel sick to my stomach.

“Actually, I was planning to sell you off somewhere.”

At the word “sell off,” my shoulders jerked with a start.
The phrase “slave trade”—something I’d likely never encountered back in Japan—flashed through my mind.

The leader began to explain, meticulously and persistently tracing my trembling lips with his fingers. Of course, this wasn’t out of kindness—his eyes told me he was just trying to stoke my fear.
Around my stomach, I felt his other hand slowly unbuttoning my jacket, one button at a time, with a soft “pop, pop.”

“Admittedly, a young lady like you would fetch a good price… but you’re a high-ranking healer, aren’t you? Cause of that… after a few talks, we decided it’d be more profitable to just have our fun with you, turn you into our slave, keep you close at hand, and *sell* you in all sorts of other ways… so that’s why.”

With all the buttons undone, the front of my jacket was pulled open, revealing the blouse and skirt I wore underneath. Amid the cheers of the bandits, who were suddenly getting excited, the man’s hands gripped the collar of my blouse tightly…

.

Had several hours passed, or was it only a few minutes?
It didn’t take long for what had initially been punishment for my defiant attitude to evolve into an opportunity for them to inflict harm as they pleased on a treasure they would otherwise never be allowed to touch—using the excuse that “she can heal herself anyway”—all for the sole purpose of watching me cry out in agony in the palms of their hands. They were inflicting deep, deep wounds on my frail body and my already shattered heart.

.

Even with my already frail constitution, my body, thrashed about in a frenzy, was now completely exhausted. Lying limp, I could barely move except for the occasional involuntary twitch of my limbs, and I stared vacantly at the ceiling.

My once-beautiful, innocent white skin was now covered in gruesome, painfully swollen wounds; my hair, which had once shone, was tangled and matted in places; and in some spots, I’d even been punched just for fun, leaving me with deep, blue bruises.

Even the last line of defense to my barely intact purity had been torn away from me just moments ago. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before they took my chastity away… but I no longer cared. I was tired. My exhausted body had crushed all will to resist.

*Isn’t all this just painful, agonizing, disgusting, and miserable? Wouldn’t it be easier to just let go of consciousness, abandon everything, and become a doll? Yes, that’s what I’ll do. This can’t be how isekai actually is—surely, if I fall asleep here and wake up, I’ll be in my usual room, back to my usual daily life…*

*—Come to think of it, I wonder how Ayame and Reiji are doing…*

*—I wonder if they’ve both ended up coming here too…*

*―I hope they aren’t hurt. Even if they were injured in this world, I can’t be near them anymore, so I wouldn’t be able to heal them…*

.

*I… can’t… be… with them… anymore……?*

.

……I don’t want that.

No no no no no no no no I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that I don’t want that…!!

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

Tears streamed down my face, and my throat—which I thought had gone dry—let out another scream.

The thought had been plaguing me.
The thought that I was holding them back.

Both Ayame and Reiji are incredibly talented young people, and somewhere deep down, I’d always thought that if they could break free from the shackle known as me, they’d be able to soar even higher.

But now that things have turned out this badly, I’ve finally realized deep down that I’ve never truly given up on them.

I want to go back. I still want to be with them.

I didn’t care what it took—I just wanted to escape this situation.
In response to that resolve, a dazzling light burst from my back, almost as if I’d lost control of it. That light, born of the defiance I’d regained at the very last moment, instantly bathed the room in white, blinding the eyes of those around me who had been grinning and staring at me with complete complacency. The feathers of light that danced through the room touched my utterly exhausted body, seeping into me in an instant and restoring a tiny bit of strength—though I was still far from my usual self.

As if in a final act of resistance, I shoved the man who was just about to pounce on me. My hand happened to push against the leader’s face, which had been resting near my chest. Blinded by the sudden light and completely caught off guard, the leader was unable to dodge… and with a squelch, my fingertips pierced and crushed something soft and wet.

“GYAAAHH!! My eye, my eye!!”

It seemed my finger had accidentally slipped into his eye socket and crushed one of the boss’s eyes. Before I even realized what had happened, I reflexively yanked my hand back. A disgusting sensation clung to my finger, but as the boss’s body recoiled from the pain and the men around him froze in shock at the sudden turn of events, a brief opening appeared.

“AAAAHHHH!!”

Whatever happened, happened. It was impossible for me to aim for anything. Skill levels or maximum ammo be damned. Driven by sheer terror, I poured all my magic into 【Divine Spear】 as if to let everything wither away.
My head was pounding, the nausea was intense, and my strength was draining away like water from a bucket with a hole in it, but knowing that if I didn’t act now, there would be nothing but despair, I unleashed the spell with every ounce of strength I had left.
Fired blindly in all directions—no, forcibly unleashed, completely ignoring the game’s restrictions—countless spears of light shot out, some of which pierced the men. One by one, they collapsed around me, foaming at the mouth, but…

“…F̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g s̲l̲u̲t̲!!”

Unfortunately, it didn’t hit the leader, who was standing closest to me.
I was punched in the face with all his might. My head was shaken violently, and I tasted blood—probably from a deep cut inside my mouth. The pain and impact threatened to knock me unconscious, but I clenched my teeth tightly and endured it.

.

……This world had already become reality.

I was, for better or worse, a girl now, and if I gave up here, it would surely lead to something irreversible.

Above all……those two would surely regret not staying by my side.
Especially Ayame……even though she usually acts brave, she’s deeply distressed that I got hurt. I don’t want to put her through any more pain.

Besides, even if I were to vanish right here, those two would surely search for me with all their might. I can believe without a doubt that we’ve built a relationship strong enough for that.
That’s exactly why—if they were to get hurt in this harsh, real world… if their lives were to be in danger… Just thinking about it sends a chill down my spine. If I were with them, I could save them.

――Remember who I am. What was the most important thing for a healer? Wasn’t it to never give up—more than anyone else, right up until the very last moment!!

“You’ve got something interesting there, eh? You know what, we’re gonna turn you into a slave who keeps birthing out *merchandise* until you die. We’re gonna mess you up real….ouch?!

The man lunged at me, seemingly determined to show no mercy this time, but his hand was blocked by a small wall formed by interlocking regular hexagons—the “Solid Ray”—manifested purely by my will.

“Impossible… without any wind-up!?”

The leader, who’d injured his arm by punching the unexpected hard wall, widened his eyes in shock.

“I won’t lose… I won’t let myself lose…!”

I felt the fire of determination ignite within my body, which was on the verge of exhaustion.

I felt like there was always a part of me, tucked away in a corner of my heart, that had wanted to quietly fade away so as not to get in the way. But right now…

“We promised… we’d go on adventures together again…!!”

It was just a trivial verbal promise.
Yet, fueled by those words, a powerful desire flared up inside me. I was scared—my wounded heart continued to scream endlessly. But more than that…

I wanted to go back. To that place. Back to the two people I loved most.

My back felt as hot as if it were on fire. Something was grinding together inside my body, and knowledge cascaded into my brain.

“Open… Open, O’ Sanctuary!!”

In an instant, fluttering wings swirled around me in a rhythmic pattern, each weaving light together to form a dome-shaped geometric pattern. It broke down the impurity surrounding me, enveloping me in pure air and flinging the men nearby out of the dome.

“Damn it, what the hell is this!? You guys, surround her and take her down!!”
“It’s no use—it won’t budge an inch!”

Even as they tried to launch attacks from all sides, every strike was deflected at the outer edge, preventing them from closing in.

But still, this wasn’t a means of attack; even as I bought time like this, my dwindling magical power continued to deplete with every passing moment. I couldn’t keep this up much longer. Once it ran out, my defenseless body would finally…
.

*—It’s okay. Just keep it going until it reaches its limit.*

.

As my consciousness began to fade, I thought I heard something. I thought I saw something white flit across the edge of my vision, but it took everything I had just to stay conscious—I had no energy to spare for that.
One minute… two minutes. But this was as far as I could go. I had no energy left to launch an attack, and my body—which I’d been forcing to hold on despite my mana finally running out—reached its limit. The feathers on my back lost their glow as if melting away, dissolving into particles and vanishing, and the “Sanctuary” faded away like a fleeting illusion.

“H-heh heh, that’s too bad, eh? Is your resistance finally over this time, huh?”

My defenseless body was pinned down onto the platform once more. Though I cringed at the intensified hatred burning in the single remaining eye—the other having become a hollow socket—I glared back, refusing to give up until the very end. Just then—

—Right where my gaze fell, the door to the room’s exit behind the bandit leader… no, the very wall containing the exit itself, blew apart with a deafening roar, as if a landslide had occurred right before my eyes.

“…Right on time… well, I guess I should’ve come much earlier.”

Emerging from the cloud of dust was a tall young man with fiery red hair… a figure I knew all too well.

“Who the hell are you?!”

He dodged the attack of one of the bandits—who had shouted angrily and lunged at him—by shifting his body slightly to the side, he casually grabbed the man by the head and slammed it into the ground with a wet *squish*, silencing him.

After a strange groan, there was no further sign of movement. Lying on the platform, I couldn’t see what had happened to the man, but at the sight, the remaining men in the room recoiled in fear.

“That’s my best friend there. I suggest you stop whatever you’re doing. This kind of savagery is an absolute no-no…that’s why I’m repaying that debt, with as much interest as possible.”

That voice—so familiar, so nonchalant, yet filled with a fury I’d never heard before. And that figure—even though we’d parted ways just a short while ago, it felt strangely nostalgic, as if so much had happened in the meantime.

“Sorry I’m late… It’s okay now. Don’t worry, just rest.”
“…Yeah… You really… took your time… You idiot… Sorry, I’ll leave it to you…”

The comrade I’d shared countless adventures with in the game—the one I relied on more than anyone else… Hearing Rage’s voice, my tension melted away into relief, and with the sensation of a single tear rolling down my cheek, my consciousness sank into darkness.

***

“Sanctuary”

The so-called ace in the sleeve skill of the Lightwing Race, boasting a cooldown of several days.
The pinnacle of protective magic, it creates a barrier spanning a 3-meter square around the user that completely blocks out hostile opponents and heals the injuries and restores the mana of others within it at a tremendous rate. However, the amount of mana the user must expend to maintain it is terrifyingly high.