Chapter 1: Is he going to be killed by the reborn female lead right from the start?

Inside the ruins, a black-haired boy braced himself against a stone wall, a wand raised in his right hand as he limped toward the exit.

The blue glow at the tip of the staff flickered in the darkness, barely illuminating the path ahead.

Not long ago, he had fallen from the first level of the ruins, and at the moment he hit the ground, memories of his past life on Blue Star suddenly resurfaced, revealing that he was now inside a game he had once played.

According to those memories, this was a story-driven yuri game, featuring the classic tale of a Hero and a Demon King, where the chosen heroine fought monsters, leveled up, and casually turned a bunch of beautiful girls to her side while getting all lovey-dovey with them.

As a veteran player who had cleared countless playthroughs, he was intimately familiar with every plotline and mechanic.

So now that he knew the script, surely he could escape death at the hands of monsters, right?

Wrong!

He was Xia, a nameless cannon-fodder male NPC who died in the prologue, so weak that he barely had any presence, appearing only briefly in the first chapter.

After being tempted by the Demon God sealed within the ruins, he attempted to ambush the heroine, only to be discovered, fall into a trap, and die inside the ruins.

And after that, he would even turn into a monster, crawl out of the ruins, and deliver a nice chunk of experience points to the heroine—a perfect walking EXP pack.

So why was Xia still alive now?

That would have to do with what happened at the bottom of the ruins.

In the deepest cave, Xia had found a sword embedded in a fissure, but before he could recall which sword it was from the game, he was surrounded by monsters.

In desperation, he pulled the sword out to defend himself—only to transform into a girl, with a flood of swordsmanship knowledge appearing in his mind out of nowhere.

After carving his way up in a chaotic slaughter, Xia finally remembered—it was this very sword that had been used to seal the Demon God.

However, the expected scenario of being possessed by the Demon God never happened, leaving him utterly confused.

Logically speaking, pulling out the sword should have lifted the seal and resulted in immediate possession, shouldn’t it?

Yet not only had he not been possessed or lost consciousness, he had turned into a girl instead—how did that make any sense?

Even more bizarre was that during his fight with those monsters, wielding that sword had felt completely natural, as if he had always been a master swordsman.

Monsters that should have easily killed him were dispatched with a few casual swings, like chopping vegetables.

Compared to his current useless body that could barely cast a couple of spells before exhausting all his mana, that version of her had overwhelmingly surpassed this body in both stamina and magic.

‘Is this the kind of cheat ability from those novels, where you transform into a beautiful girl and slaughter everything?’

‘Well, I guess I got to experience it today.’

Fortunately, he could change back, or he wouldn’t even know how to deal with life going forward.

In any case, he had survived—for now.

After who knew how long, Xia could finally see sunlight shining in from the exit ahead.

“Cough, cough…”

A sharp pain stabbed his lungs, and he couldn’t help but cough twice.

Though he had escaped the monsters, his condition was still terrible.

His mana was depleted, his stamina exhausted, and his entire body was covered in wounds.

He wasn’t even sure if he could make it to the exit—if another monster showed up now, he would definitely die here.

Just a little more…

“Shh—shh—”

A sound echoed from deep within the cave, like something dragging itself across the ground, and Xia’s heart skipped a beat.

Damn it, talk about bad luck.

He didn’t dare look back, his steps instinctively quickening.

It was said that the monsters here were creations of dark magic and feared sunlight.

As long as he could reach that spot…

Just as he was about to step into the light, a mass of purple liquid shot out from the darkness with a piercing screech.

Xia immediately pushed off the wall and twisted his body, barely dodging it, but lost his balance and crashed heavily onto the ground.

A sizzling sound came from in front of him.

Looking up, he saw that a large section of the wall had been corroded away where the liquid struck, its charred edges still emitting white smoke.

Cold sweat instantly drenched his back—if that thing had hit him, he would have been reduced to bones on the spot.

“Shh~~”

The sound was now right beside him.

Xia stiffly turned his head.

A massive demonic serpent loomed behind him.

Its body was as thick as the stone pillars in the ruins, its pitch-black scales gleaming faintly in the dim cave.

Its gaping maw was already open, and from its two sharp fangs, purple liquid dripped steadily.

There was no escape.

Xia lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly.

It’s over.

Was he really doomed to die in the ruins after all…?

【Sword Skill · Gale】

A blade of wind sliced past above Xia’s head, striking the serpent’s neck with precision.

The serpent’s head was severed cleanly, and its headless body collapsed instantly, dissolving into black smoke along with the severed head.

Xia opened his eyes and found the serpent gone.

“You really made me wait, Xia.”

A clear female voice came from the exit.

Xia quickly turned around.

At the entrance of the ruins, a girl was leaning casually against a stone pillar.

She held a sword in one hand, the other resting on her hip, her amber eyes fixed on him with a hint of surprise.

She wore a dark red academy uniform trimmed with silver, one leg slightly bent, the toe of her short boot lightly touching the ground, while her white thigh-high stockings formed a faint crease behind her knee.

Under the setting sun, her elongated shadow made her figure appear even more slender, her long pink hair tinged with a rosy glow, and the ahoge atop her head curved like a crescent moon.

“Philly?”

Xia immediately recognized the pink-haired girl—she was Philly Granwell, the heroine controlled by the player in the game.

The lighting was dim, making it hard to clearly see her face, but that distinctive ahoge on her head was unmistakable.

And the modest rise of her chest—on Blue Star it would be considered normal, but in this game, where most female characters were far more endowed, hers could practically be called flat.

A faint smile rested on Philly’s lips as she let go of her hip and slowly walked toward Xia with her sword in hand.

“What do you want?”

Xia clutched the wound on his leg that had split open again, staring at her warily.

Though she had just killed the serpent, he didn’t believe she had come to save him.

From his understanding of Philly as the game’s protagonist, she always repaid grudges without fail—anyone she considered an enemy would inevitably be dealt with.

Just that morning, he had tried to harm her under the Demon God’s influence.

From that moment on, he had become her enemy.

And now, she would definitely want to personally execute him.

“A student whose magic power barely passes the threshold, who nearly failed to defeat even a low-level golem in the entrance exam—how did you manage to climb up alone from the depths of the ruins, Xia…?”

Halfway through her sentence, the smile on Philly’s face gradually disappeared.

“Oh no, my mistake~ I should be calling you… the Blood Demon God, Melody, right?”

The Blood Demon God?

How did she know about that now?

According to the game’s plot, Philly wouldn’t even learn of the Blood Demon God’s existence until at least the second chapter, and the news of its escape from these ruins came even later.

Right now, this was only the first chapter—she shouldn’t even know he had been tempted by a Demon God, and would instead think he had been manipulated by some noble to frame her.

So how did she know…?

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.

But with memories from his past life, Xia arrived at one possibility—Philly had been reborn.

If that were true, then she must already know that in the original storyline, he would become a monster in the ruins and later attack the town.

Had she come here in advance to eliminate him as a future threat?

If so, no matter how he tried to explain, she would only see him as the Demon God in disguise and show absolutely no mercy.

“Demon God? What Melody?”

Xia still tried to struggle.

He hadn’t been possessed by the Blood Demon God, and he didn’t want to die unjustly like this.

“Philly, what are you talking about? Stop making fun of my entrance exam results—I need treatment right now…”

“Heh, drop the act.”

Philly’s voice suddenly changed, turning eerie and chilling.

She raised her sword, and golden holy light ignited along its blade.

It was sacred magic—the blessing of the Supreme Goddess Venus—capable of dealing fatal damage to demons and even Demon Gods.

The golden light illuminated the stone walls and half of her face, but there was no warmth left in her expression.

“You think that can fool me?”

She tilted her head slightly, her voice softening into something almost like a whisper.

“Don’t worry, Xia… I’ll avenge you properly.”

A breeze swept through the ruins, lifting her pink hair.

Though it was gentle, it sent a chill down Xia’s spine.

“Philly, wait, I’m not—”

“Goodbye, Demon God.”

The sword fell.

“Philly, don’t!”

From outside the ruins, a shout rang out, stopping her.