Under the infinitely cerulean sky, dozens of birds gracefully traversed it with grace and pretense. 

Below their mighty figure laid down the immensity of the Capital, glittering with abundant life and never-ending movement. All sorts of anthropomorphic individuals could exchange, sell, and buy goods from other races, even if some discriminations were ultimately at play against demi-humans and similar people. While not completely at peace, after all, some rebellions did happen because of the constant hate they received, it wouldn’t be accurate to describe it as a dangerous place overall. People just learned to live like that, trying their best to not make a ruckus in their everyday life.

That world wasn’t what we could describe as a “typical one”. Despite humans living inside it, it was very clearly a different kind of civilization than a certain Japanese individual was accustomed to. Races were more diverse than the “Earth” he came from, but even if we were to omit that, unbelievable concepts like spirit and magic were common things here.

Additionally, such a world was inclined to house powerful persons, but also terrible dangers around every corner. Being killed by a monster suddenly appearing out of nowhere wasn’t an exaggeration in this type of setting.

One of the most important events that would happen in the foreseeable future was none other than the royal selection. The process was, in fact, profoundly unbiased. Anyone who could light up the dragon tablet would be able to participate and potentially become the new monarch of Lugunica.  Each of those potential candidates will be followed by a knight who pledged to protect them and bring them to the throne no matter what.   

One of the candidates for this position was called Crusch Karsten. She came from a wealthy family and possessed an estate in the nobles’ district within the Capital. Gigantic walls surrounded the territory to dismiss any idea of attacking it, and an immense mansion alongside a beautiful garden was present within… It was more akin to a little fortress prepared in case of war than a place to relax.

Ultimately, Crusch would spend her time inside the mansion whenever she had business to deal with inside the Capital. However, she wasn’t the only one living inside it. Servants, knights, and other helpers were trying their best to serve their future monarch.

Inside that group of individuals, a particular one was to be taken separately. It was a demi-human to be precise, the personal knight of Crusch. Being exceptionally talented in water magic and healing, Felix Argyle was befitting the current position given by the royal candidate.

Yet, there was one crucial detail to not miss, it wasn’t a girl by all means. Despite his effeminate manners and appearance, that person was undoubtedly a “he” and not a “she”.

Amidst a particularly sunny day, a tired Felix Argyle was resting in the middle of the mansion, taking a short break from the work he had to do. Even if it wasn’t glorious, cleaning up the residence of the candidate was sadly one of the jobs he had to get done. If Crusch had an important meeting with an esteemed guest and the first impression of said guest would be “how dirty that house is”, it would inevitably affect the negotiation, showing the failure of Crusch’s followers.

“So hot!” said the demi-human before eagerly removing his feet from the blue flats he was wearing. He brought them to the table in front of him. His black opaque thighs, due to the excessive sweat he produced during his work, became almost see-through. The outline of his toes was more clearly defined than ever before, with every slight movement being visible to any passerby. As for his shoes lying on the floor, the nauseous odor that had been piling up escaped the otherwise closed-off prison, letting it rampage the surrounding air by corroding its intrinsic nature. The inside wasn’t spared either, since the imprint of his foot was deeply embedded into the insole, creating certain deformities filled with grime within the areas he put the most pressure on. It would translate to where his toes and heel were usually located.

Tiny droplets of sweat ran down the tired demi-human face until he wiped them off with his hand in a swift movement.

Parallel to Felix's current predicament, a bigger and unfathomable event was unfolding right before his careless eyes. In another world and for seemingly no apparent reason, gigantic portals appeared in the sky, engulfing the population alongside some man-made structures in the process. However, since a different world meant different laws altogether, the moment they got transported to this fantasy one, a critical change occurred. Their dimensions diminished greatly to barely reach a few centimeters. Those portals weren’t limited to the mansion Felix was currently residing in but extended everywhere in the Capital. Little “specks” appeared out of them and annoyed strangers before getting ridden off with a savage movement.

One such dimensional one-way tunnel ended up just above one of Felix’s pungent flats. For a few seconds, one could see a few debris falling out of nowhere inside it.

During the fall, the citizens of that particular part of the stranded city were screaming in terror before ending up on the soft surface that represented Felix’s insole. A few of them didn’t survive the descent, but it didn’t mean the ones who managed to survive were spared. It was quite the contrary. After the adrenaline disappeared from their body, everyone got hit by the intense odor surrounding their current location. Furthermore, the ground was wet and spongy, making it hard to navigate.

Everyone covers their mouth and nose. The smartest of the bunch even tried to make improvised masks, since the sheer intensity of the atmosphere was burning their nostrils and their eyes. Coughs were the norm after a few minutes spent within the “unknown location”.  “Time to work again!” excitedly said Felix. His unanticipated movement was filled with energy, and his feet shook the ground upon landing on the crimson carpet. Of course, for Felix it couldn’t even be worth mentioning, that was simply a regular-sized being getting up, but for the unlucky trespassers, it was akin to their world being destroyed.

The sky above the minuscule “insects” suddenly became dark the moment Felix moved his foot toward the entrance of his flat. Insignificant droplets of foot sweat fell upon their forgettable existence, effectively drowning some of them in the absolute insouciance of the higher being that incarnated the demi-human for them.

Fearing for their life, everyone began to run away toward the ominous cave behind them. Unbeknownst to those squirming pests, it was simply the hidden part of the knight’s flat. The smell that was already intense became even more unbearable for the tiny organisms, and some ultimately fell on the soaked ground, unable to withstand such a devastating climate.  Meanwhile, Felix, absolutely clueless, simply moved his toes while putting on his shoes. The sweat accumulated on his thighs was felt by with every subtle movement. That unpleasant feeling filled his mind, and he unconsciously grinned as a result. Quickly enough, both his feet returned inside the shoes.

“Hmm? What’s that again…” He couldn’t help but sigh at the weird sensation he was feeling through his right foot. It was like some sort of bug or rock fell inside it. At least, that was his initial assumption, but he was so uninterested in it that he dismissed that premise after lightly stomping the ground several times. Upon confirming that the source of annoyance disappeared, he began to walk toward the rest of the furniture, prepared to clean everything in one swift swoop.

What Felix wasn’t aware of was that inside his shoes, countless inhabitants of another world got crushed by his otherwise natural actions. What eradicated them wasn’t their existence, since it was mostly not perceived by him, but the rumbles that came with them due to the portal. It acted as a “rock inside his shoe” and forced him to act accordingly, destroying every single living form inside.  At first, by some miracle, some survived through the first stomp. They were completely stuck to Felix’s soaked foot because of the layer of sweat acting as glue, but at least life wasn’t snuffed out of them. Groans of pain reverberated through the shoe, but obviously, only the same-size “bugs” could hear them. Those remaining and glued to Felix’s smelly foot instantly got teary eyes due to the potency of the aroma infinitely increasing since it directly came from the source. That’s not all, beads of sweat traversed through the material of the thigh he was wearing to directly assault the survivors’ faces, forcing them to drink the horrendous beverage that had fermented since this morning.

Another stomp was all it took to pulverize every survivor. They got obliterated by a clueless demi-human whose main goal right now was simply to clean everything. Utterly pathetic.

Felix slowly approached a piece of furniture and leaned his head toward it to see if cleaning it was needed or if he could go to another one. His warm breath made some dust fly in the air, confirming his suspicions. However, amidst that aerial spectacle he was witnessing, some sort of unidentified object got dragged inside this whirlpool of transparent gray substance.

After further inspection, Felix leaned closer toward the surface. He instantly jumped a few steps back after noticing that these strange “objects” were miniaturized humans, seemingly waving their hands and screaming out loud for Felix to notice them. It was of course impossible, for him, to hear them due to the sheer size difference, but that was the most probable conjecture he could come up with in the current situation.

Returning to his previous position, he moved his hand toward them, attempting to get a hold of a bunch of them. Upon succeeding, he tried his best not to make any sudden movement that could cause them harm, or worse, fall from his palm.

Out of nowhere, a servant came by and greeted Felix, still pondering about the tiny humans.  The demi-human’s hand, surprised by that unexpected encounter, moved on its own and greeted the servant with a wave of his hand. The moment he realized the mistake he made, it was already too late.

“I-I don’t think Crusch-sama wishes to have insects running around her place…” he began murmuring to himself while looking at the carpeted floor with a complicated gaze. “Yes, yes, I’m sure it’s for the best…”

Felix lifted his blue flat above the ground after calculating where the “bugs” location was the most probable. Insignificant pieces of dirt eventually detach themselves from the sole of his shoe, reaching the ground with impressing speed. As for the tiny humans, it seemed like a meteor crashed down on Earth, landing with a loud thud right before them, freezing everyone in fear.

“I’m sorry, little ones, no hard feelings!” His gaze turned away in an attempt to disconnect himself from the terrible action unfolding. The dark sky was represented by his sole, upon which numerous insects’ remains lay there, constantly being trampled without a care in the world. The heavens, absolutely disregarding their pleas, were about to enact their final judgment on those sinners who dared to infiltrate this mansion. 

A single moment was all it took to plunge their existence into utter darkness. Felix repeatedly stomped to be sure none would survive.

Suddenly, he remembered that more were located on the piece of furniture from earlier and quickly approached it, catching some of them attempting to flee or hide behind the few objects scattered around them.

This time, the knight used his fingers to get rid of the “pest” invading the house. A simple pressure was everything needed to extinguish the flame of their vitality. A small red dot would then appear on his pristine silk-like hand. It didn’t bother him in the slightest, since despite everything, it was all for Crusch’s wellbeing.  “This is useless, let your master end your bothersome life ~” A particular feeling began to ignite within his body. Seeing all those defenseless humans running away, scared of what he could do, it did make him feel like a divinity. He was being influenced heavily as more time passed. “Let it be the highlight of your pathetic existence,” he laughed before killing a few more.

In such a scene, of their companions dying from the gigantic god’s hand, they tried to worship him in an attempt to survive, getting on their knees and screaming out loud their sincere praise for him. Sadly, all they met was the cold eyes of indifference before dying an utterly meaningless life under Felix’s finger.

A few minutes passed and Felix had “cleaned up” this piece of furniture, not forgetting to make the red dots disappear from its surface and continuing with his duty. Sweat continued to build up upon his body, with Felix now and then using his hands as a way to efficiently remove it, to no avail.

Amidst cleaning a table, he couldn’t help but glance at a cup left alone in the kitchen. Looking at his right and left side, he quickly grabbed it and poured some water in it to quench his thirst and hopefully remove some of the strain he was experiencing.

Inside the cup was another clump of individuals no less than the entire population of a city, desperately climbing on top of each other to escape the transparent dungeon. When that powerful stream of blue liquid came crashing on them, the massive ladder that was skillfully constructed with their bodies got destroyed under virtually no effort. They now had to swim if they had any lingering attachment to their life, or else, they would just drown inside a nameless “pit”.

Felix gently brought the cup closer to his lips, slightly opening his mouth to let a part of the glass rest upon the lower part. The liquid gently flowed from the cup to his mouth, smoothly and rapidly. 

The stream of water brought the tiny humans directly inside his mouth. Upon feeling some “hard shapes” bumping against his teeth and tongue, Felix immediately closed his mouth and tried to identify the origin of those annoyances. His tongue swayed to pinpoint the exact location provoking that disturbance, but he was only met with minuscule pieces of “food” that got stuck therein. He proceeded to crush them using his teeth and swallow them.

 They thought they could get his attention, but it was just a distant dream. When they entered the giant’s mouth, all hope was lost and only despair filled their being. At one point they did rekindle that flame, since the titanic entity seemed to have noticed their pleas and stopped his current actions, but when they saw that pinkish organ wiggle around only to send them violently toward the teeth area, they just accepted their fate as mere nutrients.

The most fortunate of the otherworldly entities died under the massive weight of that white wall crashing on them, but the unluckiest ones got swallowed down Felix’s throat and landed in a greenish liquid, slowly melting away inside his stomach.

“Tasty…” A word slipped up from Felix’s mouth unconsciously. When his eyes laid down on the cup of water, he saw the instigators of that “exquisite taste” he was currently enjoying.  Two seconds passed before he took another sip off that cup of water. Now, he was even more appreciative of the additional flavor added to an otherwise bland liquid.

The fatality that fell upon them was truly comical, a twisted sense of humor the universe played against their will. Felix rapidly finished drinking and resumed his work.

Time passed like an ephemeral flower until darkness filled the sky with a black canvas partially tainted by white dots.

Felix relaxed inside his bedroom, completely exhausted by the excessive number of tasks he had to complete today. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth.

He had already taken off his usual attire and was currently wearing a more fitting outfit to go to sleep. However, at that moment, he was merely eating a piece of cake he had taken from the kitchen after today’s dinner. Crusch allowed him to bring it inside his room after seeing the interested look of Felix, seemingly already devouring it with only his gaze.

The demi-human encountered numerous other “tiny civilizations” during the day, sometimes he would destroy them and only realize later on what he did. For example, there was the time he sat on an “empty” chair and tried his best to wiggle into a comfortable position, smothering the insects under his butt until they eventually popped and ruined his perfect clothes.

His personality plunged into a crevice of domination and god-like pretense. Right now, he used a bunch of humans to act as toppings for his cake before eating a large portion of it, purposely making them suffer inside his mouth by using his tongue, until they met their eventual end inside his stomach.

The ones remaining were slowly drowning in a white, creamy mountain, slowly sinking into the abyss until they reached the soft surface of the cake itself, a moment before Felix took another bite. He couldn’t help but be amused at this “spectacle”. Inferior entities, desperately attempting to escape the cream on top of his cake, but utterly incapable of pulling out such a feat, resulting in their disgusting life ending abruptly in between his shiny teeth. Yes, if you were to ask him, there would be nothing more pathetic in this very moment than that…