BEEP BEEP BEEP
Within the intensive care unit of the general hospital, a boy was confined to the hospital bed, battered and bruised, with an oxygen mask attached to his nose. The monitor beeped steadily besides him, each sound in sync with his heartbeat.
His eyes wavered slightly, as if desperately trying to cling to the last threads of consciousness his body had left.
Kazuki Matasuragi.
An average 18-year-old boy. He has a lean but muscular build, blue eyes, and soft white hair. His looks and intelligence were nothing special, but he still stood out a little because of his hair.
Years ago, he lost both his father and older brother in a tragic car accident, leaving only his mother by his side. Since that day, the once joyful and respected Matasuragi family fell into silence and sorrow, their home filled no longer with laughter but with grief and struggle.
They became a struggling family, often surviving on just one meal a day. His mother worked tirelessly, barely managing to keep Kazuki in school.
But just when life seemed like it was starting to improve, tragedy struck again—his mother was attacked by a group of thugs. The trauma of the assault left her hospitalized, both mentally and physically shattered.
Now, she couldn't receive treatment until the bills were paid. Despite struggling to raise the required amount of money, Kazuki also faced several hardships in school as he became a constant target for the bullies in school.
Eventually, his mother passed away, and in his grief, ignited the very thing that brought him here in the intensive care unit. Organ failure, or more accurately, heart failure.
Now here he was, strapped in the same bed his mother died in.
He was a victim of a cruel fate so to speak.
The door creaked open, and a nurse stepped in, carrying a tray of food. She wore the standard white nurse gown, neat and pressed, paired with thigh-high socks that clung snugly to her spotless thighs, the fabric stretching smooth against her skin with each step.
She had blonde hair, a pair of sharp black eyes, and blood-red lipstick that made her appearance even more striking.
"It's time for your breakfast Mr Matasuragi." She set the tray on the table beside the bed and paused for a moment, watching him as he stared up at the flickering light bulb above.
"Sir please, you haven't eaten in almost three days, you need food in your system in your treatment are going to be effective." She pleaded softly, she was his personal nurse, assigned to care for him. Despite his stubbornness, she remained patient and gentle, the very depiction of kindness, a literal angel in disguise.
Silence.
There was no answer, it had been that way since the day he was admitted into the hospital.
Her face fell with disappointment, once again, she couldn't reach him. But even so, she wasn't ready to give up on him just yet.
With a soft sigh, she turned around and prepared to leave.
"Why are you helping me?" As Kazuki's voice reached her ears, her face lit up with hope. It had been six long days since he was admitted and she'd been by his side ever since. At last, all her efforts to get through to him had finally paid off.
"Because it's my job." She turned around immediately and approached his bed. "And I also know when someone's hurting, keeping quiet in isolation only makes things worse. It's a tough world, but you're not alone."
Her words almost made him chuckle, almost. It felt like she was mocking his current state.
"You know, one of my favorite things about this world is the novels, mangas, and it's not just because of I love reading stories."
"Then what makes it your favorite?"
"It's the truth behind every story, behind every crafted storyline, behind every plot is the truth about this world told in a fictional way, the truth that stares back at us even when we're ignorant." As he spoke, his eyes were fixed at hers, barely open.
"What truth are you talking about?"
Kazuki paused for a moment as his gaze returned back to the shaky bulb above him.
"That this world is cruel, unfair and unforgiving." He said weakly, his voice barely audible as he spoke.
"Mr Matasuragi, I might understand what you're going through, but you just need to have faith that everything will be alright again."
"Faith?" His voice cut through the air, bold and alarming. "Fuck faith. Tell me nurse, why did my mom have to die? Why did my brother have to die? Why did my father have to die?Why should I have any fucking faith when I have nothing more to live for?"
The nurse remained silent, she had absolutely no way to reply to him.
"That word you speak of is a privilege only the strong are allowed to have. Humanity's worst enemy isn't themselves, no it is something beyond that. Humanity's worst enemy is their own fate, because no matter how hard you try to fight or escape it, you can't escape your fate."
His gaze drifted back to the ceiling as a sudden tightness gripped his chest, pulling and twisting like invisible hands squeezing his heart from the inside out.
"Sir?"
She noticed his discomfort and placed a sethoscope on his heart in order to measure his heartbeat.
"You bastard... So it seems, living is also a privilege huh?" As he spoke, his body suddenly began to convulse, trembling violently. Foam gathered at the corners of his mouth, and the monitor beside him erupted in rapid, frantic beeping—each second louder and faster than the last.
"Sir!" The nurse sprang into action, trying to hold him down as his body thrashed. She reached for the oxygen mask, adjusting it quickly, but when it had no effect, panic flickered in her eyes. Without wasting a second, she hit the emergency button and called out for help.
"Doctor! Doctor!!"
The next minute, a team of three nurses and one doctor rushed into the room. "What happened!?"
"I don't know, he just started convulsing and thr ER machine lost track of his heart beat!" As the nurses and doctor rushed to save him, everything around Kazuki slowed down. The sounds faded, his vision blurred, and slowly, everything went dark.
"It's finally my turn huh?" He mumbled faintly within his fading mind. As his consciousness slipped into darkness, he could swear his eyes caught a shadow at the edge of the room—a figure in a black, hooded cloak, holding a large scythe in its hands.
That's when he realized, that it had come for him. What many at the point of their death referred to as the Grim reaper, Kazuki referred to it as the true fate that awaited everyone.
As the hooded figure turned its gaze toward him, Kazuki managed a faint, knowing chuckle within. Then, with a final breath, he raised his middle finger at it just as his eyes closed forever.
"Fuck you...."
Just as every went dark, his eyes shot open immediately.
"W-what..."
Kazuki's spatial body drifted in a boundless void—brilliant and immeasurable in scale. It resembled a bottomless pit, not in darkness or descent, but in the overwhelming sense of endlessness. Yet instead of falling, Rai floated weightlessly, suspended in that infinite space.
"Where am I?" His eyes scanned through every corner of the endless expanse, yet he couldn't grasp its nature. In truth, he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Is this..the after life?" He murmured to himself, his voice echoing softly through the boundless void.
[System Activate]
"Huh?" His attention quickly shifted to a translucent panel that blinked into existence before him, a notification pulsing gently in his line of sight.
"What is this?"
[Searching...]
[Devil System.....0% error]
[Aen System...2% error]
[Demon System....1% error]
[Neurolink System.....20% error]
[Vampire System.....30% error]
[Werewolf System.....40% error]
[Martial System....50%error]
[Assassins System....60%error]
[Dragonic System.... 100% success]
[Reincar-]
[Reincarn-]
The panel flickered and glitched, its symbols and lines warping and shifting erratically—almost as if it had been corrupted by some kind of virus.
Till.
WHOOSH!
Kazuki was pulled into a sudden surge of energy, as if he'd been hurled into the heart of a spinning vortex. By the time he realized what was happening, his eyes snapped open wide.
"Huh." He found himself floating in another bottomless space, but this time it was completely different. From a distance, a radiant light bathed the entire space in brilliance.
Through the glow, Kazuki could make out two boys—and beside them, a silhouette that shimmered with an almost angelic presence.
The glowing light around the angelic figure faded, and in its place stood a woman so beautiful it was hard to believe she was real.
Her skin looked smooth and pale, almost shining. Long white hair fell down her back, and her golden eyes seemed to glow gently.
"I am Virelia, the goddess of fate." She said with a calm and gentle voice, each word flowing like a soft melody through the vast space.
Her tone carried warmth, yet an unshakable firmness, exuding the brilliance of the title she had attained.
"And I-" eyes widened slightly—something felt off, deeply off. A chill ran through her as she turned to glance over her shoulder… and there he was. Kazuki, floating silently at a distance, watching.
"Who are you?"