I Became A Zompirewolf

"Nah, my name is Itsumi Mario... of course, it's me you fucking idiot." Astaroth scoffed with his arms crossed in front of his bare chest, "Mind telling me what the hell were you doing there?"

Ashton did not say anything. His gaze was tracing the green pastures around them. They weren't standing in his cell like before. The fields weren't cold, or full of misery and pain. It was warm... if heaven existed, it had to be this place... nothing else.

Ashton snapped back to the 'reality' and patted his body in every place, expecting to be in pain and his body filled with holes. But a pleasant breeze was the only thing he could feel as he finished checking his woundless body.

His eyes then landed on the Xyran once again. After seeing how full of beautiful features Beelzebub was, Ashton had more or less expected Astaroth to be quite good-looking as well. But Astaroth's handsomeness far exceeded his expectations.

From his black hair to his chiselled jaw, everything about him was perfect. Thanks to those gigantic wings on his back, he truly looked like an angel. Even the angry expression on his face gave Ashton a weird sort of peace.

"What's going on? Where are we?" Ashton finally spoke up, "Don't tell me we're dead... because this place looks a lot like how heaven would."

"You seriously expect to go to heaven? Bitch, we'll be lucky if hell accepts us." Astaroth sternly replied, "As for being dead, we're not. No thanks to you though. You were about to stab yourself to death, if I had not used Raphael to interrupt you then we'll probably be arguing in hell right now."

"What happened?"

"Psychic attack. One of the strongest I have ever seen. Even Xyrans would have a hard time evading it. So it's no surprise you got caught in the illusion." Astaroth stated, "As for where we are... it's my personal space, the place where I have been living all this time. A small home in your collective conscience. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Ashton silently nodded. The place was indeed beautiful, too beautiful for him to believe this place was somewhere inside his head. If anything, he had expected his mind to craft up a place of chaos as that was the only thing he had ever known.

"Ok, so you saved me from the attack. Then what am I still doing here?" Ashton asked.

"I didn't save you. I lack the means for it. I just stopped you from doing something you shouldn't have. To make you realise what you were living through was a made-up scenario that wasn't real." Astaroth corrected him, "Think of it as a break. The moment you go out of here, you'll end up in the same place you were before. But this time, you'll know it's all fake."

"I see... Thanks for saving my sorry ass." Ashton smiled and shook his head, "I still can't believe I was about to kill myself... after coming this far. I'm gonna teach those bastards a lesson for doing what they did to me-"

"Do you even know who they are?" Astaroth cut him off.

"..."

"Chak 'Mandai and Olk Yoga. The Siiglina aliens you read about in the report."

"Those 7'10 tall bastards with multiple jaws?"

Astaroth nodded, "I don't blame you if you're having a hard time stomaching it. After looking at their figure, even I would have thought they were warriors and not some sort of psychic mages, but it is what it is."

"So what do I do now?" Ashton looked around, "Mind giving me a hint?"

To this, Astaroth gave him his hand, wanting Ashton to grab onto it. Ashton took Astaroth's hand, thinking since he invited him to his domain, he would escort him out as well. Instead, Astaroth grabbed Ashton's hand with both of his arms and began swinging him like an axe.

The momentum lifted Ashton's feet off the ground and after reaching a certain escape velocity, Astaroth let go of him.

"Have a safe flight... and give them hell for me! YEET!"

***

I felt like an eternity had passed when Ashton finally woke up. He was back in his room... still soaked in his blood. The nightmare had begun all over again. But this time, Ashton remembered who he was and what was he capable of. No mere mental trick was going to mess him up again.

A dagger was in his hands, the same one he had been tormented with as his reflection kept mumbling the same thing over and over.

"End your... despair. End your... suffering. End your pain... end your life."

"Bitch, shut the fuck up." Ashton barked and sat back up straight.

For the first time since this nightmare began, his reflection was a bit taken aback. From the look on his face, it was clear Ashton was not supposed to be able to refuse him. But what Ashton did next shocked the bastard even more.

"Man, that confused expression on my face really makes me look ugly." Ashton made some weirdly fake puking sounds before stabbing the mirror with the knife, "Let's get rid of that ugly face, shall I?"

The mirror shattered the moment the knife touched it. The fake world around Ashton collapsed with the mirror as his consciousness returned to the real world. He felt a bit of pain and looked down to see something was off.

Ashton's chest had been punctured. Blood was gushing out of the wound like a broken faucet. Judging by the mess around him, he had been bleeding for some time now.

But the moment he regained consciousness, [Haemorrhage resistance], [Pain Resistance] and [Shock Resistance], all three of them simultaneously kicked in to protect him. The pain slowly faded away and took his calmness along with it.

Richard fell hard on his butt the moment Ashton was back. But he wasn't alone. In front of Ashton stood two huge aliens. Both of them were just as confused as a baby who had just taken birth.

Breaking out of their spell wasn't something a mid-grade being Ashton should have been able to accomplish. Yet the truth was in front of their eyes.

"Welcome to the house of pain, eh?" Ashton smiled through the pain, "What was your plan? You wanted me to die from cringing?"

There was no reply.

'A kind of skill on me which trapped my conscious in an alternate dimension or some shit. It's quite similar to Raphael's skill. But instead of teleporting attacking my physical body, this skill attacks mentally.'

Ashton thought to himself. Maybe the similarity of the skills was the reason Astaroth was able to help him out when Ashton needed him the most. Had it not been for Astaroth, he would have bitten the dust by now.

"You... how did you get out-"

Chak finally opened his disgusting jaws to ask, but Ashton grabbed the lower half of his half and cleanly ripped it apart. The black blood of the aliens mixed with his own.  Chak covered his half-open mouth, unable to even yell properly.

Watching his comrade in pain, Olk Yoga drew his energy sword. But no sooner he did that than Ashton snapped his hand in half using [Disassociation].

"House of pain... that won't be enough for the likes of you. Let me show you a world of pain instead."

Ashton grabbed onto their necks and dragged them along with him to the secluded spot away from the surveillance cameras. But not before giving Richard a warning.

"Stay where you are, while I deal with these bastards. If you try to run... their world of pain would be nothing compared to what I'll do to you."