Chapter 1: Prologue

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

*Sound Effects*

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Chapter 1: Prologue

A brisk-man in his late thirties struggled to keep himself upright as he grudgingly rose his shaky hand to his abdomen, only to be greeted by the cold sensation of his own blood slowly leaking out.

'Stabbed? I was stabbed?' He shuddered in disbelief as his breath slowly grew more and more ragged.

His vision eventually began to blur as his knee dropped onto the pavement with no one in sight to come to his aide.

'He sure picked a good location…'

In but a mere moment, the life of a respected kendo-practitioner had begun to fade, Koda could see his life flashing before his eyes as his condition only worsened.

'My senses truly have dulled…this would have never happened in my youth' Koda's body grew limp as he fell back-first onto the cold pavement - his phone had been stolen, leaving him unable to call for help.

'I've yet to see my students bloom into champions…' Images of each and every one of his precious disciples flashed through his eyes, Koda couldn't help but lament the fact that he would no longer be able to support them.

'I'm sorry…it looks like you'll all have to find someone else, hopefully Higashi takes you in' Despite his own prime having long passed, he felt he still had a mountain of things to accomplish throughout his teaching years - but now he was being forced to come to terms with an early, unfulfilled end.

'This isn't how it should have ended…I was supposed to grow old and watch all my children grow into legends, especially Kurata, that boy's going to revolutionize Kendo, ah…I want to see it, there's so many things I still want to witness…'

Finally, the light left his eyes and the embers of his soul had fizzled out.

Or so one would imagine.

The tidal wave of regret and anguish as a result of having not yet accomplished what he was destined to do burst forth, forbidding the fragments of his soul from cracking.

This wasn't an uncommon occurrence - when an immature soul perished, it was only natural that it carried regrets, the weight of the world tended to just increase the pressure it exuded until the soul finally gave way.

But this case was different, the more pressure it experienced - the stronger the regret grew, Koda's deep-rooted resilience and willpower wouldn't allow this to be the end.

His soul was fighting against inevitability, soon the force his soul was attempting to resist grew to the pressure akin to the very bottom of the ocean - but "he" persisted.

This back-and-forth strengthening of both pressure and soul continued for an incomprehensible span of time, but it mattered not, the more the world wished for Koda to just let up and fade away - the more his determination grew.

—

"Fine" A low growl-like voice moaned.

'Koda' had finally awoken, though that wasn't necessarily true - he could not touch, smell, see nor taste, he could only hear.

A sense of panic crept up his consciousness, where was he? What was that voice? Wasn't he dead? A countless wave of questions plagued his mind until a third party had no choice but to step in and force a sense of solitude upon him.

"You're lucky you managed to warrant my intrigue, most would happily let your own dread eat away at what little sanity remains of you" In spite of being blessed with the luxury of calmness, Koda still couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening to him.

"First question, what do you remember?" Koda wanted to give a verbal response in hopes of getting a grasp on what this voice exactly was, but he couldn't feel his mouth, let alone a body at all.

'Ah, I was stabbed wasn't I? And then…'

"Regret? I noticed, everyone noticed"

'My mind's being read? I already don't like this…'

Though Koda was able to remain calm, that offered no help when it came to comprehending his current predicament.

'Regret? What's that supposed to mean? All I remember is losing consciousness, and then I awoke within this blackness…'

"Seriously? You fought for that long and you can't remember a thing? You expect me to believe your soul fought on pure instinct?" It was now the voice's turn to lack comprehension, he searched Koda's memories once more to be safe, and was met with nothing but truth.

"Hm, I understand now"

'What?'

"You're a bonafide lunatic, I can hardly remember the last time I met a soul like yours!"

'For some reason my gut is telling me that isn't an insult…'

"I'm kidding of course, I remember everything, the last time I met something like you was five cycles ago, though it needed my assistance to get here, you on the other hand…fought your way here" There was quite the volume of venom laced in the voice's words.

A splitting sensation of pain began to devour Koda's thoughts - the sheer tenacity of the force was incomparable to what his soul had experienced before.

To Koda's relief, the pressure was removed almost instantaneously, though the memory of the pain he had just experienced had left him in shock.

"You still persist…so that's how desperate you, or should I say your soul has grown - yeah, you're terrifying alright" If the entity was capable of sweating, it would be right now…profusely.

'You're one to talk!' Koda helplessly cried out to the empty void that was his own mind, but his instincts told him the voice could hear him crystal clear.

"Oi, be grateful I didn't feed you to the wolves, now then — where should I dum-, I mean send you off too?"

'It definitely was about to say dump…even so, what's that supposed to mean?'

"Hm? I'm reincarnating you of course, if I let you wander here you'll just send everything into disarray" The entity continued to wrack its brain, looking for somewhere Koda would fit in.

'Reincarnation? Are you Buddha or something?'

"Haha! That's a good one! Ah, if I allowed you to see what I looked like that's probably the last thing you'd think off, too bad your tiny human-brain would implode shortly after"

'Lovely…so, what happens now?'

"Well I've already got a place in mind, however…"

'I've got a bad feeling about this…'

"Normally I give people like you a gift or something for the road to help them out, though usually the souls that come here are from brats that wouldn't be able to survive for even minutes without my handholding, but considering the age you died at — you're hardly a brat aren't you now?"

Koda knew that if he could see the entity it'd definitely have a shit-eating grin plastered all over its cosmic face right now.

"Don't be like that, you should be honored that I have more faith in you than others!"

'I don't really get it, but from what I'm hearing you give other people help whilst you aren't going to do the same for me? I feel cheated…'

And then the atmosphere grew heavy, Koda felt as if the entity was greatly displeased by his words.

"Me offering you a second chance isn't enough help? Where's your gratitude?" The voice had grown monotone, it's irritation was made clear and Koda's instincts knew that provoking the being that laid before him was nothing short of suicidal.

"Wonderful, you're catching on — besides you already have some combat knowledge, that'll be a great boon for where you're headed, I doubt you'll die too early on"

'Combat? Death? It doesn't seem like where I'm headed is going to be very pleasant…'

"What? You want to go somewhere filled with puppies and rainbows? Grow a pair!"

'Whatever, not like I have any say in the matter, just send me off already will you?'

"Gladly! Safe travels now!"

Koda was once again deprived of his hearing, a drowning sensation took its place making him feel as if he was sinking into a bottomless pit.

"Are you sure? I doubt the skills he has will be enough to survive in a world like that, I would have given him something if I were you" Yet another voice had appeared.

"True, but aren't you tired?"

"Tired of what?"

"Each time we send them off with some of our gifts they simply waltz through life at record-time, where's the entertainment in that? I no longer wish to observe brats blessed by our luck…rather, I want to see a warrior, a warrior tested by blood, filth and suffering"

"And you think someone like him can become such a person?"

"Maybe, maybe not - does it matter? Eventually another will come by, and I can continue to test them until I finally have what I desire"

"And you wonder why father doesn't trust you…"

—

Mud, the first thing he felt as he came to my senses was mud. His surroundings were nothing but a vast expanse of rock, dirt and forest - he grudgingly brought himself to his feet as he tried to get a grasp on where he was.

Koda seemed to be wearing some sort of tattered light-blue haori, it smelt dreadful - but it was better than being naked.

'I feel like shit…'

After managing to somewhat get his bearings in order, he sat there in contemplation of what exactly he was supposed to do next.

*Grumble*

And with that, finding food had become his first order of business.

Koda continued to trudge barefoot through the wilderness, picking up a few cuts and bruises on the soles of his feet that somehow managed to heal completely on their own.

'This doesn't make any sense…albeit I did just cheat death, who am I to judge?'

His traveling continued until he arrived upon a scene that caused him to freeze in shock.

'Is that a...person?'

Before him laid a figure clad in black garments face-flat onto the ground, not moving a muscle.

Koda hurriedly rushed over to the individual, trying to see if there was anything he could do to help.

Though once his fingers attempted to read the man's pulse, he realized that help was no longer an option.

'He's…dead' Koda noticed that the deceased individual had an oddly well-kept looking blade protruding from his waist.

Koda thought back to the discrete warning the entity had given him about the nature of the world he would be sent to, combined with the presence of a corpse right in front of him.

'Sorry, I'll be taking this' Morale was not a luxury he was entitled to in a world like this, slowly he would begin to comprehend that understanding this was the difference between life and death.

He didn't stop at merely his armament, he continued to rummage through the fallen Soul Reaper's belongings to which he found a moldy onigiri that looked to be riddled with disease.

However, Koda's grumblings only intensified — and there was realistically no guarantee of finding any proper grub anytime soon.

'Fuck it!' In one gulp, Koda forced the rotten onigiri down his throat, fighting against the sensation to regurgitate it all out instantaneously.

Struggling to get it all the way down, he grabbed a handful of muddy rainwater slurping it in one go, finally washing down his meal.

'Here's to hoping that doesn't become the norm…'

Koda examined his stolen-blade, managing to get a good look of himself within its reflection - his hair seemed to be snow-white with complementary deep red eyes.

'What an odd appearance I've taken, I look to be in my mid-twenties perhaps?'

Despite his pigmentation, his outward appearance wasn't all pleasant. Malnourishment had led to deep eye sockets alongside many parts of his skeletal structure being semi-visible through his skin.

'I'll have to keep scourging — at this rate I'll die of starvation, my body certainly has some strange properties, but I doubt relying on that alone will be enough to survive…'

And so his search continued.

His search throughout the 80th District of North Rukongai.