Hans opened his eyes and immediately choked on air so hard his whole body jerked forward, gasping like he just came up from drowning.
His skin was soaked in sweat, making his clothes stick to him everywhere. His hair was plastered across his face, but none of that mattered because the second he tried to move, the pain overwhelmed him all at once and made his vision go white.
'Ugh! W-What the hell, I feel like I'm dying right now.'
Everything inside him felt wrong, like his bones got taken apart and shoved back in crooked and his muscles were locked up so tight that even twitching made something flare up. His chest was the worst part, every breath sent a spike through his ribs that made him wish he could just stop breathing altogether.
He tried moving his arm and his whole body seized up, sending a wave of nausea through him so strong he almost blacked out from it.
'I can't- why can't I move, what is going on with my body right now?'
He forced his eyes open a bit wider and tried to figure out where he was, but nothing made sense. The ceiling was unlike anything he ever saw, matter of fact, the whole room look like it was ripped out of a medieval, even the smell was strange.
'Just where the hell am I? Did I get kidnapped or something?'
He knew that was impossible, there was no way he could have been kidnapped. The reason was because he his room not long ago, kneeling on the floor next to his bed with his hands together and his head down, praying like he always did before sleep.
The last thing he remembered was lying down and going to sleep, anything after that he was drawing a blank.
'This is so strange, no matter what way I cut it... none of this makes any sense.'
He head was starting to hurt from lying down too much, so he tried sitting up and only made it about halfway before his arms gave out and he dropped back down hard enough for his teeth to click together.
'Something is really wrong with me and I don't mean the pain.' He could not explain it but he felt something off, like there was something that should be flowing but isn't.
'God, please... what is happening to me.'
God didn't answer, but something else did.
A translucent window popped up right in front of his face.
[System online — Host detected]
[Status: Critical]
He stared at it and his heart genuinely stopped for a few seconds.
'Hold on... isn't this a system?' His brain completely froze up. He read enough manga and webnovels to know what a floating window in front of your face meant.
'N-No way, don't tell me I actually got-'
[Yes, that is exactly what happened.]
'IT CAN READ MY THOUGHTS?!'
[I can, and please stop screaming, you are in critical condition and the stress is not helping.]
He went silent with his mouth open, staring at the system window. A part of him, a big part, wanted to freak out and start celebrating, getting isekai'd was literally something he used to daydream about during class.
But another part of him, the part that was slowly catching up to what this actually meant, felt something tighten in his chest.
'Wait... if I got sent to another world, then what about my family? Do they know I'm gone? Are they looking for me right now?'
[I understand your concern, but I need to explain your current situation first. You were summoned to this world through a ritual. The process did not go as intended and your body sustained severe damage during the transfer.]
'Summoned? Someone brought me here on purpose? Ahh, so it's like one of those hero summoning stuff.'
[Yes and no... it seems you were summoned by a demon.]
'Hahaha, you almost had me there, I thought I heard you say I was summoned by demons.' His smiled slowly disappeared and real panic took over.
"D-Demons!!" He finally spoke with his voice but he regretted it instantly as he coughed up blood.
[I just told you not to scream and you went and did it anyway.]
"I-" He stopped himself, pressing his lips together and breathing through his nose instead. His whole chest was on fire but he refused to open his mouth again until he was sure nothing was going to come out of it.
'Demons,' he thought, going very still. 'I got summoned by demons? As in, the enemies of God, the ones pastors always told us to pray against, those demons?'
[Seems demons also have a bad reputation in you world, but yes, it's those demons.]
'Don't read my thoughts right now.'
[I can't help it, not right now at least.]
He stared at the ceiling, breathing carefully. 'Calm down, I need to think about this then make a rational decision.'
'If they summoned a hero, that means they need help right? Demons or not, if they went through the trouble of pulling me here, they probably need my strength for something important.'
He felt a little better thinking about it that way. 'Yeah, that makes sense. Even if they're evil, they wouldn't summon someone just to kill them. I have value as a hero.'
[Correction: A healthy hero has value.]
[Current Status:]
[Body: Broken]
[Mana Core: Non-existent]
[Combat Power: None]
[Utility: None]
Hans narrowed his eyes at the window. '...Thanks for the confidence boost.'
[I am just stating facts. To the demons who summoned you expecting a powerful weapon, you are currently equivalent to a broken sword. Actually, a broken sword can still stab someone. You can barely lift your head.]
'Okay, I get it! I'm weak right now. But they can heal me, right? They have magic.'
[They have already healed you as much as possible. This is the result, you are permanently damaged.]
He did not like those words at all. What is up with all this bad luck, permanently damaged when he just got here.
'Man... this is some bs.'
[Basically, you are useless to them.]
'Stop saying that!'
[And since demons are known for being pragmatic...]
'Don't say it.'
[...and you have no combat value...]
'Shut up.'
[...but your body still contains high amounts of residual mana from the summoning...]
'System, I swear to God-'
[Analysis suggests: If you cannot fight, you might be delicious.]
His eyes widened so much they almost hurt. 'What?!'
[Think about it. Why waste resources feeding a useless hero when they could just eat him and recoup some of the mana spent on the ritual? What do earthlings say, simple math?]
'That's not math! That's literally murder! Are you serious right now?'
[I am a System, I deal in probabilities. The probability of you being eaten is currently... calculating...]
It paused for a second, just long enough for him to start sweating again.
[...High.]
'You sound like you are enjoying this.'
Before the System could respond with another smart remark, the heavy wooden door to his room creaked open.
'Dammit, the system messed up, now I am scared of what will happen.'
He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself to be dragged off to a kitchen or a dungeon. He held his breath, listening to the footsteps approaching the bed. They were light, almost hesitant, not the heavy stomping of an executioner.
"You're awake?"
'Hm, this voice?' He opened his eyes, the voice was soft and pleasant, this was not how he pictured demons sounding.
Seeing her made his brain freeze, 'w-what the hell, this a demon? N-No way, she's... she's'
She noticed him shaking, "Are you still unable to talk? I can come back some other time."
'OMG, she is fucking beautiful!!!!'