Prologe: The end of the first and second ti
The ship that the students of Yasaka High School were on for their field trip sank due to a bomb planted by terrorists.
In this tragic incident one hundred and two casualties crewn and passengers lost their lives, not counting the terrorists.
「Ah, seeing that the cold, salty water has disappeared, I guess I’ve died as well.」
Amamiya Hiroto felt a deep numbness as he beca aware of his own death.
He was in a faintly lit place and there were a lot of other people gathered here as well. It wasn’t as simple as floating in the Sanzu River* with beautiful fields of flowers awaiting them on the other side. But this was likely sothing like the entrance to the afterlife.
The other people were showing a variety of reactions to being dead - so were crying, so consoling each other and others were showing relief that their friends or loved ones weren’t here with them.
Hiroto, too, wanted to cry out that he didn’t want to die, that he wanted to keep living, but he couldn’t muster the energy to do so.
「Haah… In the end, I died in vain, huh.」(Hiroto)
The reason he said that was that he had spotted a female classmate sitting in a spot a short distance away from him.
She was Naruse Narumi. She was the mood-maker of the class, known by her nickna, Naru. Hiroto had died to save her.
When the ship lurched and began to capsize, Narumi had failed to grab hold of a handrail and looked like she was going to fall. Hiroto had seized her hand imdiately and helped her grab the handrail… And then he had rolled down the diagonally-inclined floor in her place, landed on his back against the wall and fallen into the sea to drown.
It had happened in an instant; it was not been sothing that he had thought about and decided on doing. Thinking about it now, it seed like a reckless thing to do. Even so, if she had been saved by his actions, he would at least have been able to console himself, but…
「No, I think I acted like a good person before I died.」(Hiroto)
Even if Hiroto died, nobody would mourn for him anyway. He had lost his parents when he was young and he had no blood-related siblings. He had a poor relationship with his uncle’s family on his father’s side, who had adopted him. He had even been told,「get out after you graduate high school.」He didn’t have any friends or a girlfriend. His uncle would be receiving the remainders of Hiroto’s inheritance from his parents and condolence money* for this incident, so he could consider the favor of adopting him as having been repaid. In fact, it was more than enough repaynt considering his uncle’s abuse… The clear discrimination from his own biological children, the way Hiroto had been treated until now.
His dreams of the future had only consisted of sothing vague like「beco happy.」It would be fine if that dream would be granted in heaven. At the very least, his uncle and that family wouldn’t be here.
However, reality was irrational and not so lenient.
「You souls who have lost your lives once already, you have been chosen. I will now grant you special power, a new destiny and new fortune. Using these, I wish for you to live new lives in a world separate from the『Earth』you lived on.」(God)
Gods were probably those kinds of beings. A mysterious person with a halo over his head appeared and made this declaration to the people here.
It seed that instead of heaven, what awaited them was the endless circle of transmigration*. They were further surprised at the news that they would be reborn into another world.
「Of course, you may refuse my request. If you choose to do so, you will lose all mories of your previous life and be reborn sowhere else on『Earth』, as is normal. Those of you hope for this, I would like you to co forward now.」(God)
Hiroto wondered who would refuse in this situation, but there was one boy who refused. Hiroto was a little far away from that boy, so he was unable to hear what the boy said to the god. But the god said,「Well then, you may return to the normal circle of transmigration.」and the boy disappeared, so he knew that the boy had refused the god’s offer.
Of course, Hiroto, like the rest of the people here, were intending to accept the god’s offer. They would receive so special power, be born in a new world to a new family and be happy. No other scenario could offer more hope than this.
「Well then, as I call your na, please co and stand in front of . Endou Kouya.」(God)
「Shihouin Mari.」(God)
「Naruse Narumi.」(God)
「Mifuji Kanata.」(God)
「Minami Asagi.」(God)
One after another, they had their nas called out and received their special powers, destinies and fortunes from the god before leaving the room. Narumi’s na was called out, too.
But now about half of the people had already left, and Hiroto’s na was still not being called.
「Amamiya…? Amiya Hiroto.」(God)
For a mont, Hiroto thought that he had been called, but it seed that wasn’t the case. Soone with a very similar na stepped forward to stand in front of the god.
「Amiya…?」(Hiroto)
It was a na that Hiroto had never heard before. Even if they were in different classes, they were in the sa school, so it seed unlikely that he didn’t know soone with such a similar na.
Was it a passenger who happened to be riding on the ship at the sa ti as them, or was it one of the crew? He looked like he was in his late teenage years… Even their physiques were similar. If even their faces were similar, surely he must be Hiroto’s doppelg?nger or so long-lost sibling.
The others had received one or two, at most three special powers from the god. As Hiroto observed, Amiya Hiroto received no fewer than eight special powers. They were quite large powers, too. There were even two destinies and two fortunes, but the god combined them into one before handing them to him.
To receive not just two, but eight special powers! The god must truly love this person. As this thought occurred to Hiroto, the god continued, calling out the next person. And soon, Hiroto was the only one left.
「Hmm? You are?」(God)
Finally, the god noticed Hiroto.
「I’m Amamiya Hiroto.」(Hiroto)
The god sounded puzzled, so Hiroto told him his na. However, this only seed to surprise the god further.
「Amamiya Hiroto? Not Amiya? Your surna is Amamiya, written as “shrine of heaven”, and your given na is Hiroto, written as “knowledgeable person”?」(God)
「That’s right.」(Hiroto)
With a bad feeling, Hiroto gave this answer to the god, confirming the spelling of his na. And then the god gave a groan.
「Oh dear… Your nas are similar, so I made a mistake. I thought you and Amiya Hiroto were the sa person. All of the special powers that were supposed to be given to you, I unfortunately gave them to Amiya Hiroto. And even the destiny that was supposed to be given to you and the good fortune that was to keep you safe, I have given to him.」(God)
It was an honest mistake that had occurred through pure coincidence. The ti that Hiroto had first thought his na had been called, it seed to have occurred then.
「But Amiya Hiroto is no longer here, so I cannot have him return your share. Nor can I prepare new powers for you. The sa goes for your destiny and fortune.」(God)
「So in other words, I’m the only one who has to start from zero with nothing?」(Hiroto)
「No; you will be starting from a negative position. You will never be saved by destiny or coincidence, nor will you ever be blessed with good fortune.」(God)
Not even a start from zero, but a negative start. Wasn’t this a little too much?
「In that case, I’ll give up on this. Please return to the normal circle of transmigration, like that other person earlier.」(Hiroto)
Even if he were to be reborn in a new world, it seed now that he would face only hardships, so Hiroto was ready to completely give up on this rebirth. But the god shook his head.
「The ti of confirming your intentions has already passed.」(God)
「… Are you serious?」(Hiroto)
Hiroto no longer had the ability to refuse. He was ready to raise his objections, to say that these kinds of rules couldn’t exist, but his body began to be surrounded in light and his consciousness started fading away.
「It seems the ti for your rebirth has co.」(God)
No way! Isn’t it too much for to be the only one to start with nothing?!
「In exchange, your soul has a large『empty fra』that is different from the others that are being reborn. In place of special powers, this『empty fra』will likely contain a trendous amount of Mana within your body. Though since you have no aptitude for magic, you will not be able to learn any of the magical attributes that exist in the world you are about to be reborn into,『Origin.』Therefore, it will be quite wasted on you.」(God)
Are those supposed to be words of comfort?! To have Mana and not be able to use magic, it really is a complete waste!
「I do feel terrible for you. Without special powers, a destiny or fortune, I am sure you will experience many hardships. You will be unable to grow up in a happy environnt. Your future prospects will also be limited because you cannot use magic. You will be tornted by an even greater sense of loneliness than you experienced in your previous life; in your hopelessness, you will struggle to breathe and suffer greatly. But I want you to look forward and live on without giving up or resenting anyone.」(God)
You make it sound so easy!
Without even being able to shout his protests, Amamiya Hiroto began his second life.
The god… Rodcorte. The new world he had sent Hiroto and the others was called『Origin.』It was similar to Earth, but it was a world where science and magic blended into each other.
The hundred people reborn in『Origin』were in wonder at the differences between this world and Earth. They were born to new parents, saved by various monts of good fortune, made use of the special powers they had been granted and reunited with each other and recognized one another through their destinies.
They kept their rebirth a secret amongst themselves, but before they knew it, they were known as the hundred heroes.
Excluding the 101st person.
Rodcorte was the god who ruled over the circle of transmigration for the souls of many worlds, including Earth and Origin. He was not directly worshipped by the people, and he didn’t entrust anything to clergyn. Nor was he able to directly intervene by descending onto a world to perform miracles.
What he was capable of doing was controlling the circle of transmigration of souls and, very occasionally, altering it. However, he had almost never made any alterations to the circle before.
This was because the system of the circle of transmigration was very well-made; there were almost no situations that required Rodcorte to adjust it.
However, a problem had occurred recently.
The circle of transmigration for one of the worlds that he managed was slower than those of the other worlds.
While the other worlds were proceeding as normal, this problematic world had co to a standstill for quite so ti.
Magic, martial arts, literature, science, engineering, art, cuisine. A repetitive pattern was occurring in a wide variety of fields where developnt would happen, but then be lost soon after.
The countries repeatedly went to war with one another; a thousand years passed with no progress to show for it. From ti to ti a hero would appear and one of two smaller countries that had been at war would win and absorb the loser to form a single, larger country. But such larger countries were unable to unify properly and eventually divided, giving rise to conflict once again.
Even when countries were able to maintain peace between each other, incidents like the appearance of powerful demons caused even greater casualties than war.
There existed gods who directly controlled that world and led its people. However, to protect the world from a Demon King who had previously appeared in another world, they had to summon heroes from other worlds and fight the Demon King together with them. Ever since then, they had been unable to regain their forr power.
It was necessary for this world’s advancent to continue through any ans necessary. It was currently in a state of stagnation, but one event could trigger a sudden decline in developnt.
As the world declined, fewer souls passed through the circle of transmigration, posing a danger even for Rodcorte.
As Rodcorte wondered what to do, he heard rumors from gods who managed other worlds.
The rumor was that if you took a soul from another world that retained all of their forr mories, bestowed cheat-like powers upon them and had them reborn into a world, that world would develop in a good direction at an alarming pace.
It was a rumor that he wanted to believe in. It seed absurd think that a single person with mories of their past life and cheat-like powers could have such a large influence on an entire world.
Even so, it was worth testing. In the problematic world, the gods had summoned several heroes from other worlds to battle the Demon King. It was a direct summoning of living inhabitants of other worlds, so they had not received divine gifts such as cheat-like abilities. Even so, they were victorious against the Demon King.
Furthermore, most of the heroes lost their lives in the battle, but even in their short ti on this world, they had made a lasting impact.
And there would be no better ti to test this rumor than now, when there were no Demon Kings or evil gods. With no events like battles between gods and abnormal beings that could challenge them, if heroes were granted cheat-like powers, they would surely have an even more profound impact on the world’s developnt.
Fortunately, using his position, Rodcorte could feed the souls of the dead back into the problematic world, causing their rebirth into that world as many tis as he desired. It wasn’t a difficult task to have them retain mories of their previous lives, either.
As for the cheat-like abilities, he could prepare them by using his ordinary god-powers that he had been saving.
However, he was uneasy with the idea of reincarnating only one person. Just in case, he should use a hundred people.
And with good timing, just as Rodcorte had finished his preparations, around a hundred Japanese people died. According to what he’d heard, they were inhabitants of an island country with advanced knowledge of science and economics, as well as a peculiar culture.
With nobody around to object, Rodcorte decided to exclude the souls of the evil people from among those of the Japanese people who had died on the ferry and reincarnate the rest.
However, they would be reincarnated not on the problematic world, but in『Origin.』
For the purpose of executing his plan perfectly, Rodcorte chose Origin as a place where the souls could live through a practice run so that they could accumulate knowledge and experience.
Once these souls completed their second lives in Origin, he would grant them new powers and destinies once more and have them reincarnated again on the problematic world.
With this much ti and effort spent on this plan, it would surely go well.
However, not being used to having to do such tasks, Rodcorte had made one small error. Even a god could not predict that this error would cause his expectations to co crashing down one day.
As if foreshadowing such events, a soul appeared before Rodcorte, having finished its second life.
Rodcorte had expected so differences in their timings depending on the order in which he had reincarnated them. But given the expected lifespan of a human, this was far too quick a reunion. However, he had predicted that this soul would be the first to appear.
「As I expected, you were unable to complete your entire lifespan, Amamiya Hiroto.」(Rodcorte)
The one that had appeared was the 101st reincarnated soul, without any power, destiny or fortune. It was the soul of Amamiya Hiroto.
The soul of Amamiya Hiroto that had appeared before Rodcorte was pitifully wounded, and covered in sinister Mana.
「I’ll kill them, I’ll kill those guys, even if I’m reborn I’ll never forgive them! That goes for you as well!」(Hiroto)
With no care for the fact that Rodcorte was a god, Hiroto threw a punch at him.
Amamiya Hiroto was born in a military state in Origin.
Rodcorte had told him that he would never live a blessed life. Those words beca reality; he experienced nothing but misfortune from the mont he was born.
His mother was a prostitute and his real father had abandoned her before he was born. His mother found a new lover who made the decision to sell the baby Hiroto to buy alcohol, to which she didn’t object.
The ones who bought Hiroto was a laboratory that carried out illegal research. As he was examined there, it beca clear that he was more inept at magic than any ordinary person in Origin.
In Origin, there were seven attributes of magic that could be used - the four elents of earth, water, fire and air as well as the additional attributes of light, life and spatial magic. It was common knowledge that everyone had at least one attribute out of those seven that they had an affinity for.
However, Hiroto demonstrated no aptitude for any attribute whatsoever, let alone any affinity. In other words, he was an existence that defied logic, inferior to even an ordinary person.
But the people of the laboratory realized that Hiroto owned a vast Mana pool that was far greater than that of an ordinary person.
He had incredible amounts of Mana even though he had no aptitude for any attribute. This was a bizarre contradiction in the eyes of the researchers. And among them, one suddenly ca up with an idea.
「It’s not that this experintal subject has no affinity for any attribute. Rather, there’s another attribute that we’ve not discovered that this subject has an affinity for. Isn’t that possible?」(Researcher)
From that point, their research began. It was around then that Hiroto’s mories of his previous life returned.
After several years of research with Hiroto as a human subject, they discovered the eighth attribute - the attribute of death. The researchers had Hiroto learn the death-attribute magic that they had discovered and reconstructed his entire body, including his brain, to continue their research and experints.
「DIE!」(Hiroto)
However, the circumstances that Hiroto was in ended with one word.
When he had regained his mories of his previous life, his body was filled with explosives; his life had been taken hostage. And around him were the researchers that viewed him not as a human being, but as an experintal animal.
Hiroto no longer needed basic education such as language or how to read and write, but he had no freedom whatsoever.
Not only that; if he showed any signs of rebellion, he would receive an electrical shock and be left convulsing on the floor.
He spent his days eating food that was nutritious, yet more plain than food fed to prisoners, and doing exactly as the researchers instructed him to in whatever experints they desired to carry out.
Even though he had awakened his ability to use death-attribute magic, he couldn’t leave the laboratory.
Hiroto covered his body in death-attribute magic and desperately gathered power in his hand. Completely inept with any other attribute of magic, through sheer effort, he covered himself in death-attribute magic.
He developed many different uses for his magic, contributing towards the laboratory, the researchers and the country they belonged to. However, right until the end, Hiroto’s work went unrewarded.
This was because the researchers were aware of his usefulness to them, but they also feared his insubordination. As Hiroto’s usefulness increased, this fear also grew.
The explosives in his body were buried not only in the heart, but also in the brain. His torso housed a GPS to prevent his escape. His right eyeball was been replaced by an artificial eye containing a special cara and a listening device was planted in his mouth and ears to catch even the smallest whisper.
His food intake was limited so that he would never have more physical strength than necessary. His room was small and he was never allowed to leave it except for experints.
To make him more able to use death-attribute magic, to increase the size of his Mana pool - They reconstructed his body for a variety of reasons.
In order to ensure that he wouldn’t sohow make an ally to plan an escape or rebellion, the guards who watched him and the operator that gave them direct orders were rotated often, so that he wouldn’t be in contact with any individual in particular for an extended period of ti.
And finally, they carried out an inhumane procedure on his brain, cutting off his control over his body’s Mana and making him their puppet.
At this ti, Hiroto wasn’t even ten years old. And from this age, he spent over ten more years in this hell where he couldn’t even move a single finger of his own accord.
Even after about ten years of this situation, Hiroto’s mind did not cave in. A reason for that would be the souls of the dead that had been attracted to his affinity for the death attribute, who whispered comforting words to him. Another reason was that he had hope that they would co to rescue him from this hell.
However, Hiroto died.
He was unable to withstand the reckless experints carried out by the newer researchers, who were trying to surpass the results produced by their predecessors.
It was ironic that through death, Hiroto regained his freedom. Through the death of his body, his soul regained its control over his Mana.
Hiroto turned his own body into an Undead to go on a rampage, fueled by his hatred.
He tore those who had toyed with his life to pieces and squeezed the researchers that begged for their lives as if they were pieces of wet cloth. He made sport of the military personnel as he killed them.
As Hiroto continued rampaging after killing everyone in the laboratory, not satisfied with this revenge, familiar faces appeared before him.
『Ooh…!』
Hiroto raised his voice in joy at the sight of these dozens of people, as their faces were familiar to him.
Their features were a little different, but most of them were his classmates in the sa year as him in his previous life. He knew so of them as his teachers.
Naruse Narumi was among them as well.
They were Hiroto’s companions who had been reincarnated in Origin with him. They were his hope.
One day they would definitely find him; they would definitely co to rescue him. For the past twenty years, Hiroto had never stopped believing that.
They were a little late, but he wasn’t one to complain. Let’s celebrate our reunion, let’s redo our second lives, I’m sure it’s possible now that all of these companions are here, he thought.
Trembling in joy, Hiroto took one step towards them.
「Everyone, comnce attack!」
However, at the command of a young man who appeared to be the leader of his companions, Hiroto was struck by simultaneously-released magical attacks.
『Wait! Why are you attacking ?! I’m your ally, I’m one of your companions!』
Hiroto’s screams were drowned out by blazing hellfire, blades of wind, piercing cold and devastating lightning. Hiroto, who had approached his companions with no thoughts of defending himself, was completely bewildered as he fell, his body fatally wounded.
「That was surprisingly quick. Considering that we heard that a powerful Undead had risen.」
「Well, there’s thirty out of us hundred heroes gathered here. There’s no way we’d have trouble with that.」
Above Hiroto’s head, familiar voices were having a conversation.
Hundred people? A hundred people, you said? NO! There were a hundred and one of us, including , there’s a hundred and one!
He wanted to shout those words, but his throat had already been cut; he could not even let out a moan.
His right arm was completely burned and blackened; his left arm had gone flying off sowhere else. His legs had been torn off at so point; he could see his left leg in the corner of his vision.
His head and torso were in a terrible state as well.
「The reason we didn’t have any trouble is because this Undead let its guard down. Death-attribute magic… What a terrifying magic.」
Looking in the direction of this voice with the only eyeball that he could move, Hiroto saw Naruse Narumi standing there. She had matured more than she had in her previous life; she was now an adult woman.
「Ah, he’s another victim of this laboratory.」
Next to her stood a young man, the leader who had given the attack command. Judging from the distance between them, he knew that this man and Narumi were intimate with each other.
「I’m sure he wants us to kill him.」
「You’re right, Hiroto.」(Narumi)
Hiroto…? Hiroto? Amiya Hiroto?! This guy is Amiya Hiroto?!
「Let’s at least finish him off so that he doesn’t have to suffer anymore.」(Narumi)
「That’s the best thing we can do for him. Narumi, let’s do it together.」(Hiroto)
Don’t [censored] with ! Why the hell are you the one standing there?! You, who took my share of power, destiny and fortune! Why are you trying to finish off with such a heroic look on your face?!
Why is it you, why the [censored] did it have to be you?!
It’s all your fault that my second life was such a disaster! Hundred heroes? You’re treating as an outcast and killing ?!
Hiroto let out a cry, but he was unable to withstand the bright light coming from the hands of Hiroto and Narumi and turned into dust.
「Everything is your fault! You call yourself a god?! Second life, my ass! You cast into a hell even worse than my previous life!」(Hiroto)
Hiroto’s fist had a black fog-like substance coiling around it, but it didn’t even graze Rodcorte. That was just the result of the difference in power between man and god.
「I am aware that I did a terrible thing to you.」(Rodcorte)
Saying the sa thing as he had said before, Rodcorte explained the circumstances he was facing to Hiroto’s furious soul. The information was transmitted to him directly by so godly power and perated through his mind in an instant.
「… So you’re saying there’s a third ti?」(Hiroto)
「That is correct. This is sothing that has been prepared since you were first reborn in Origin. This ti, you do not have the choice to refuse, and I cannot interrupt it.」(Rodcorte)
What absurd nonsense this was. However, to Hiroto, this nonsense was like finding a ship when he needed to cross*.
「I see… Then in the next world, I’ll kill them! The ones who killed , I won’t leave any of them alive! I died first, right?! In that case, I’m going to be the one who reincarnates for the second ti first, so I’ll have the advantage! This ti, I’ll be the one who kills them!」(Hiroto)
I’ll beco an adult before them, gain power and then find Amiya Hiroto and the others among the children and kill them all! That should be possible even for soone like with no special power.
「Now hurry up and grant all that stuff, Kami-sama*. This ti you’ve got a destiny and fortune for , right? After all, I’m the one who died first, there’s no way you’re going to get confused for soone else again, right?!」(Hiroto)
「… I have no power to bestow onto you.」(Rodcorte)
As if lightly pushing against Hiroto’s soul, Rodcorte pressed his palm into Hiroto.
「Eh?」(Hiroto)
With just that, Hiroto began to speed up and fall towards sowhere.
「At this point, the only thing I can do is add sothing. I cannot give you a power.」(Rodcorte)
「Why?! I’m the only one with nothing again, how is that possible?!」(Hiroto)
「Because I cannot allow the others to be killed by you.」(Rodcorte)
Rodcorte spoke to Hiroto as he grew smaller and smaller, apologizing.
「If you kill the others, the world’s developnt will be hindered. Your death on Origin was the product of a great amount of misfortune. The sa goes for the fact that Amiya Hiroto and the others were unaware of your existence, even until the very end. But even if I say that, you will not be satisfied.」(Rodcorte)
After Hiroto had died on the ship, before he was reincarnated, he had been standing at the edge of where all of the souls had gathered. Because of that, nobody had seen Hiroto.
Furthermore, there had only been one person to refuse to be reincarnated in a new world.
And the final point was that he had been the very last person to be reincarnated.
Because of these things, Amiya Hiroto and the others had explained his absence by thinking,「he must have sohow survived and didn’t die with us」or「he must have refused to be reincarnated, like that other person.」
In addition, the repeated experints on Hiroto’s body had changed the shape of his face completely, to the point that Narumi hadn’t even been able recognize him.
「All of this misfortune was caused by my own clumsiness. I wished for you to look forward and live on without giving up or resenting anyone, but unfortunately you were put on a path that made that impossible. Through your discovery of death-attribute magic and developnt of new magic, you contributed towards Origin’s advancent. I hope that you can forgive for being unable to repay you in any way and forcing you to endure a third life of misfortune.」(Rodcorte)
But even as Hiroto’s soul grew more distant, Rodcorte could feel Hiroto telling him that this would never be forgiven.
「Therefore, all I can do is to have you give up on your foolish revenge before you can commit any sin and hope that you will quickly end your own life.」(Rodcorte)
And then, in the palm of Rodcorte’s hand, sothing like a ball of sli appeared. In the next mont, it hit Hiroto’s body.
「?!」(Hiroto)
As Hiroto scread in agony in response to the violent pain, Rodcorte spoke.
「This is a curse. It can never be lifted. With this curse, you will never be able to gain new powers even in this new world. However, I promise you that for your fourth life I will erase all of your painful mories and return you to the normal circle of transmigration.」(Rodcorte)
With no ti to object to Rodcorte’s undesirable promise, Hiroto’s mind went blank.
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