His fire made direct contact creating a meld of searing orange throughout his tar encrusted armor. The king hoped the heat would create a furnace of flames burning his son alive; like putting a thieving commoner in an iron maiden.

  What happened instead was the armor was completely orange from the fire before falling off showing light green with speckled white spots. The king continued to spew fire in a conjoined attack–hands ‘n’ mouth–but the longer he tried burning him the more he noticed his attacks become more insignificant. His flames no longer eroded the color off the exoskeleton leaving it as green as a cricket.

  He kept trying; running away wasn’t in his mindset. His decision led to him sneaking up on him before flicking a finger into his ripple between his breasts. Such an insignificant way of hitting someone but the force behind it sent him flying backwards like a stone from a slingshot. He crashed into his backwall, crashed through and was plummeting head first towards the ground. He felt too much crushing pain and the need to writhe around to do anything before his imminent death.

  Fortunately a massive wad of cobwebs were fired from the mouths of chameleon spiders entangling his body in webs slowing him down to the point he was falling less than two inches from the ground. He could see the hound shaped spiders with black irises rotating around like a pool ball with red scleras and fangs with reptile skin glaring down from the walls of a spire they were visible on until they became translucent before camouflaging entirely into their surroundings.

  Despite the predatory nature of Chameleon Spiders known for sneaking up on adventurers when their setting up camp unsuspecting the lurking arachnids, these ones saved his life. He didn’t know why–all he knew was another creature was dragging him away by the bottom of his web: a humanoid Violet Beetle. It was bipedal with the head of a beetle, small red eyes, an exoskeleton in its lower human body, armored violet exoskeleton skin for legs, and a long slit where it opened up its wings.

  It kept pulling him. First it took him away from his castle into the forest venturing/dragged through the swampy marsh where the Dragonfly Toads sing, through the dark enclosure where the Basilisk Praying Mantis dwelled, finally taken to the road that let to the forest. The violet beetle lifted him up without mercy, slowly pulling the legs out swathed around him like a protective cocoon, and tossed him onto the road. This was utterly humiliating–a king with the class Dragon Bloodline tossed on the dirt from his own kingdom by his son whom he was going to banish.

  He gritted his teeth as the blood boiled in his forehead. He would take back his throne and have his son executed for treason. But first…he would have to meet with some old allies.

  Cooro 3’s POV

  For the next five weeks I was the unchallenged leader ensconced in my fathers’ kingdom with only a fringe of regret in my head. I scared away all the servants as well my mother who never cared about me as well my younger brother I had no qualms with but didn’t want to take my chances letting him stay.

  My Mosquito Hawk’s soared above keeping an eye on my estrange noble father; no doubt his trek was for the neighboring kingdoms for his allies, stables where he kept his dragons including Belial, and to pay a visit to his children born out of wedlock to see which ones had the greatest potential. While he was doing that I was turning the castle into a home for my creep crawlies, scythe-esque quadruples, stick/leaf camouflagers and tunnel movers.

  All the tapestries and furniture were gone, the floors turned into a mound of dirt, a multitude of little bugs swarmed the mote, and the training grounds turned into an entrance to a tunnel they started digging. We released all of the horses but one–the one I was forced to ride as a child. When my father returned with an army of over ten thousand soldiers, mages, beast riders, dragon riders and golems I wanted him to see me on the highest peak of his former castle looking as heroic as possible. It was a day where a screen of misty clouds showed the sun illuminating from it but mildly cold.

  I was talking to one of the high ranking bug generals–a 6’4 foot tall moth man with black arrows etched around its body–when I heard a sound in my head.

  “Number 3. Can you hear me? Number 3?”

  Next thing I knew everyone was frozen in place with the colors completely turned gray. And then–someone gripped my shoulder. I turned ready to karate chop the person; at the time I assumed it was my father who got the jump on me. But I was stopped by a man with a black outline and stars with galaxies shown throughout his body. This wasn’t like any celestial being I’ve heard about in manga ‘n’ anime, and even though I was at max level it had a presence that made me tremble. Despite how its face was just a mannequin with stars animated around it I could tell from its voice it was trying to sound soothing.

  “Relax. I’m not here to hurt you. I have come to take you back the world you once were. A war is coming and I think a nice refreshing beverage is a good relaxer before a big battle.”

  This was unbelievable. No…I’m not just going to say why–this man deserved to know it outloud.

  “For thirteen years you’ve trapped me in this world with that tyrant of a father and now that I’ve unleashed a catalyst for war you decide to help me? Well you can turn to your ass and look back ahead because I’ll have you there before I accept any of your help.”

  A moment of silence with me glaring at an entity without a face before hearing that soothing voice. “I wasn’t asking.”

  I remember him making a very strange hand gesture like making four triangles into a square before I woke up looking at rheumy hazel eyes staring back at me. It took a moment before I realized I was staring at my reflection back at me–and a moment after that to realize the loud, angry voices were the store manager coming out to rant about how I was scaring his customers through the window and keeping potential customers away.

  I took a right turn and kept walking down a long chain of strip malls until a green haired girl with curls and red eyes adorned in a maid outfit held out a paper cup with a plastic lid.

  “Please try our Pomegranate Kiwi Refresher free of charge!” She shouted a little too excitedly at me.

  I was about to take the drink from her when a voice echoed in my head. “A war is coming and I think a nice refreshing beverage is a good relaxer before a big battle.”

  My instincts were telling me she might know something about the being in that world. For the first time I got here I tried activating my Insect Control skill on the nearest fly’s or ladybugs. I now had one eye on the beverage on the left side and a birds’ eye view of myself and the maid girl on my right eye. Even while turning a corner and bringing the cup up to my face, my right eye still had the maid in my sights.

  By the time I finished my drink–zesty beverage like blueberries with the feeling of tendrils gripping the walls of my throat–she was putting on a face mask and grabbing cleaning supplies. It was when I turned to the left putting my cup in a trash bin did I find a guy who looked like me before my reincarnation killing the serial killer who killed me the way I would kill him if I was doing it myself.

  He was initially shocked to realize I was watching him, but after telling him the exact same story I told you all he did was stare in processing it. His eyes finally flitted from my legs to my face stating the obvious.

  “You don’t even look like me.”

  “Tch,” I replied back. “C’mon man, all isekai protagonist look the same. But now that you know I’m you, why do you think I was brought back to the time and place where I died?”

  He took a moment to ponder an answer; it was like having a conversation with that cousin you don’t see more than once a year. But he wasn’t the one with the answer, the voice in my head was.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I said you could take a break; now you are ready for this big battle of yours.”

  Being maximum level didn’t mean I was invincible nor did it mean I recovered very fast. I needed a minute to lie against a rock and look out at the aftermath of the battle. Hundreds of dead insect soldiers, humans, dragons and beastman were all from this bedlam. Despite all the looses it all amounted to nothing with my father being nowhere insight. But through it all what I really needed was a drink. I took a sip of blueberries roiling around before a zap of pomegranate filled my mouth followed by the tendrils of…kiwi.

  To my shock the same paper cup with a plastic straw was in my hand. Although it was nice having a cool drink after a big battle this wasn’t normal even for an isekai world. My head simultaneously looked left and right like a manga character–standing before me with her finger in her mouth was the maid from the world I was Cooro Rippel in.

  When I saw her it was like meeting someone who stood you up on a date only for her to walk by with another guy, with his hand over her shoulder. I did what any person would do if it weren’t for her muscular new flame in my way; I rushed in and grabbed her by the collar.

  “Who are you?! What’s your game?! Why…how are you here?!”

  What happened next made me feel like a jerk…waterfall of tears streamed down her face with a red mouth and trembling eyes. She looked so scared it made me ashamed of myself. With a deep breath I sighed hoping the next words that come out didn’t seem so harsh to her.

  “I guess let’s start with your name.”

  Took awhile before she simmered down, a lot of nasal congestion sounds and her wiping her eyes with a cloth in her uniform. She finally stood up but quaked like she was giving a presentation being afraid it wasn’t good enough to pass.

  “Saare, my name is Saare.” She said still holding the cloth before using it to blow her nose.

  “Okay, Saare, and how are you here in another world with me?”

  “It is the strangest thing: just yesterday I was an ordinary cafe worker saving to travel the world and the next a person with stars and constellations all over his body told me to serve a boy matching your description a refreshing beverage. I felt like I spaced out the rest of the day because I made the drink before I knew it and was standing outside.”

  “By the time I finally realized what was happening to me you showed up and I was handing you your drink. I thought I was just having a weird day and would work a quarter of an hour more to make back that money. It was when doing that extra work cleaning the toilet that I met the man again. He said my role in this world world was to keep you hydrated with drinks…” Her was was burning red in that RomCom anime way as she twiddled her fingers together. Whatever it was clearly embarrassed her.

  “And to be your romantic partner–said I was your type and if I stayed with you my dreams would come true.”

  Sounded to me like some chauvinist bullcrap. Well even if this guy isn’t as omnipotent as he appears he was right about a bunch of other things. Now that the castle officially belonged to me I might as well enjoy his will in this land of opportunity.

  Cooro 2’s Pov

  Finding my other self was more feasible than finding a dog in a park. All I had to do was walk out with Ares and he was there. He seemed lost in thought staring at the street even though there was nobody there. By now he’s probably tapped Alvin on the shoulder to get his attention so I would pay him the same courtesy I was denied because everyone at school knows Cooro Rippel is an only child and I had to find a new way of getting stronger because of that loathsome writer.

  With just one tap he turned his head with a stone face. With a hand gesture I introduced Ares to him and in turn he controlled a few ants to crawl over his hand giving a thumbs-up picture.

  “ The stone worked?” I asked in a rhetorical way.

  He nodded holding it up. The color was lacking the emanation you’d expect from a valuable item even if it's in a box but it was still there.

  “Since you have Ares as your guardian I take it your done trial running for the day?” I nodded. “Good. Want to come with me to the slave dimension to meet some old friends?”

  “I’d rather take your place going to Alvin’s house to meet Ms. Benecal but okay.”

  He touched my shoulder with the same vicegrip I gave him tapping his shoulder. Next thing I knew we went from an empty street of a modern city to the medieval city teeming with girls in collars wearing tattered tunics or wearing maid outfits. Their hair was glossy ‘n’ clean instead of disheveled so I guess they had that going for them. So many sex slaves we couldn’t get our hands on…until the end of the day.

  My copy and I were going to get at least three beautiful, S-tier girls by clearing out many floors taking rare materials for ourselves. First thing he did was approach the receptionist's counter with the intention of registering me as an adventurer under the guise I was his twin brother. He used his MP taking us here so we had to wait in line first. Boy what a wait; forty minutes with lots of bickering. Most were forty something men with girls wearing collars on both side of them. They weren’t ugly men but they didn’t seem to care for their slaves enough to wash them or property treat them which is more abhorrent than if they were just ugly.

  Finally it was our turn at the counter meaning we didn’t have to witness their abuse any longer. The receptionist greeted us twisting her head left and right as if comparing if she was really seeing double. Cooro 1 answered what she was probably wondering internally.

  “He’s my twin brother. After hearing how I became an adventurer he wants to try being one also. Would you do us the favor of registering him as one?”

  The words seemed to go in but get glued halfway before she asked me questions and placed my hand on an orb. Before I knew it I was an adventurer just like Cooro 1. With that we stepped through the portal being teleported to a swamp area. It sorta reminded me of the hydra area I went through when I went through that maerd trial but with swamp water that looked like toad skins skinned off and congealed to a tree branch.

  Cooro 1 wandered a little off through it making a trilling sound like crickets on a full moon. By doing so the trees started shaking followed by twigs snapping. Out of the forest came big creepy spiders with beady red eyes and bluish grey exoskeletons. Most would freak out seeing spiders like these, but Cooro 1 petted the head areas above their eyes as if they were dogs. They seemed calm and relaxed as he petted them–when he finally gave them an order they crashed through the trees as if they were little sticks.

  After they left he calmly sat down putting his legs in the lotus position. He looked at me in an inviting way to do the same which I did.

  “So here’s my plan: we go to different floors for me to control a bunch of insects with my new King of Insects skill while you use your guardian’s strength to clear away floors up to the 30th. Since you and I are basically the same person I’ll be able to follow you wherever you go and control the insects to do my bidding. Once we’re finished I guarantee we’ll have enough for three S-tier girls.”

  After explaining his plan he conjured his fox companion O-Ha. She flitted her attention from me to him looking agitated with the two of us until Cooro 1 threw a plastic bag full of chicken tenders and dog treat paste to me.

  “You know the way to the shortcuts; take O-Ha with you. If you hurry I’ll be able to join you soon.”

  Funny, he was supposed to be me and I don’t recall ever trying to act like a leader. I did follow his advice picking up the fox to go to the quick routes. Even though O-Ha was technically my companion too she didn’t stop biting my arm like it was her own paw trapped in a bear trap. It seemed like we weren’t going to get along, but all that changed when we reached the spot.

  Remembering the first time we came here and all the food I gave her, she stopped biting my arm and started licking it. She was sorry until I stopped walking, that’s when she leaped from my hands and made her way to the digging spot. Following the same routine we fell right into Sloth’s boss room. I expected to find an empty room–instead Sloth was there crouched down just like he was when I first entered.

  Either this room respawned him or since I went back a day the system didn’t treat me as someone who defeated the boss. Either way I couldn’t leave this room until I defeated him once again; O-Ha already beginning the digging process.

  I didn’t have a shovel but I had Ares. He/she raised an Astral Greatsword with one hand and swung it down creating a big laceration in the ground. We dug holes until all the spots Sloth could jump were replaced with them. And then I initiated the fight making Ares slash away at his health. O-Ha joined the fray gnawing on his ankles. He was confused trying to find a spot to jump he didn’t know how low his health was until he exploded into pixels.

  These pixels floated over my head before being vacuumed into my wrist creating the Sloth tattoo. I awarded O-Ha with a drumstick of met in the bag–next thing I knew Ares was in front of me with his/her cheeks puffed.

  “Where’s my reward?”

  I blinked looking with a stupefied face at her. “What do you want?”

  She kept that face until it shifted into a smile. She was now lying on her knees with brown floppy dog ears sprouting from her head.

  “I want you to pat me on the head.”

  Out of all the rewards he/she could ask for it had to be a head pat. What’s more, it was in a part that looked the most normal. I did what she/he asked patting him/her on the head. The woman side of him/her made a big enthusiastic purring sound before touching my hands to rub against his/her face. I should be very aroused seeing a cute girl act this affectionate towards me, however, we both had the same reproductive organs.

  It was one thing letting Lucita peg it–its another thing to feel some pulsating skin in my very tight butthole.

  O-Ha’s dewclaws saved me from this going any further when she started scratching on my leg. I saw her in a sumac tangle; an aura of yellow light in the shape of a birch tree branch. This was very strange to me. Despite how unsettling this whole thing was I grasped my hand tightly on the branch.

  Without warning I was taken to a dark space where the only thing insight was complete darkness. All of a sudden a multitude of different colored pentagrams appeared around me. All around there were pentagrams with chiseled pictures on the surface. Without thinking I held my hands out towards an amber pentagram with a treasure chest chiseled on it.

  It was then the pentagrams exploded into tiny shards of light leaving only darkness except the glowing pentagram. The words ‘Auto-Looting’ appeared in my head. This reminded me of the story of how my other self was killed by a serial killer and was brought back thanks to his Reawakening Heart. Problem was he already used its daily power to revive himself and I didn’t have it.

  Sure enough…I was still floating in this dark space with no chance of being revived.