1 Agreeing To Join A War

"So you want me to fight in this war? A petty war between some Gods?" I asked with a smirk as I leaned back into the chair I was sitting on, "I mean, I'm not against it, I just wanna hear it from you without those fancy words fluffing it up," I chuckled while I looked over at the demonic-looking woman who'd apparently summoned me here.

She had the blackest hair I'd ever seen - like it was liquid blackness taken from the void of space and put on her head. Or that special black from my first life that was apparently as dark as black could be...What was that called again?

Shaking off that thought, I looked to her eyes and saw the blood red pupil-less eyes looking at me with a mixture of amusement and exasperation in them. An odd mix...kinda like an oxymoron. Her skin was the same color as her eyes, as well, being blood red - I'm also pretty sure she doesn't have the same structure as a human. I'm pretty sure her red skin...is because she's made of blood. Blood shaped to look like a human...Pretty interesting. Reminds me of those Blood Clones some unorthodox Sects would use.

"...Yes, I want you to fight in this war. You should want to, right? You're as battle crazy as Ares himself," she said, referring to a Greek God if I remember correctly, and she continued onward when I didn't speak up or deny what she said, "You'll meet other people like you. Returnees, as we call them. You'll get a load of fights out of it--"

Hearing her go on, I cut her off, "Yeah, yeah--Fights, fights, fights...It's all you've mentioned since I got here," I gave a sigh, feeling like I was being vastly misunderstood by this Goddess. I like fights, sure, but if anything...I'd like a rest, honestly. I've lived an entire life in one of those cliché fucking martial arts novels, so it's safe to say I've been fighting for so long and against so many people. Couldn't even have friends or anything because there was the chance they could betray me. So if I get another chance, I'd like to rest for a while before I started fighting again.

Though, if I was to be perfectly honest, I don't think I could stay away from fighting for long anyway...I picked up quite the taste for it back in my second life.

Smiling, I decided to ask another question, "Is there any chance I could relax for a little while before the fighting all begins? It's a vital part to living, you know? Knowing when to sit back and relax," I lectured like I was one of those stuck-up Sages before catching the red-skinned Goddess looking at me with slightly squinted eyes, "What?" I asked when I saw that, "Surprised the Heavenly Demon of the Martial World knows how and when to relax?" I burst out in laughter knowing she'd really misunderstood my character.

"W-well..." she answered me with a stutter and I was beginning to think this Goddess was quite on the low end of things if she was this easy to read, "I-it would give you the chance to relax, Shin. After all, you'll be going back to your first life. Back to modern day Japan--"

"You're not joking, right?" I asked, my voice having lost all sense of levity as it went cold and as sharp as a sabre.

If this was some sort of trick to get me to say yes...I wouldn't hesitate to try and kill this Goddess. Even if it was a fruitless endeavor. Even if I'd die instantly and as soon as I made my move...I don't care. I hate people playing me for a fool. And more than that, I hate people poking at sensitive subjects like this. My first life...God, it was so long ago, wasn't it? My family, the accident, the troubles of having to drop out of highschool and get a job...overworking myself to pay my sister's hospital bills--It's all very sensitive stuff to me, even after so long.

So if some Goddess tries to use it to force my hand...

I'm gonna be pissed. Very much so.

You could call me headstrong or foolish...and I suppose you'd be right. But I'm just not the type of person to get down on his knees or turn the other cheek, you know? I guess getting to the top of the Murim and the Martial World does that to you.

Not looking one bit intimidated by my change in mood, the Goddess shook her head, "I would gain nothing by tricking you, Shin. If you accept becoming my Avatar, my representative, I won't lie to you about anything you ask. If anything, I'll be forthcoming about the things you'll experience in this divine civil war."

"Hm," I hummed before leaning forward and staring right into the pupil-less eyes of the Goddess, "You don't seem to be lying...but then again, I've never spoken to a Divine Being before so I wouldn't know," I continued staring at her for a few more seconds before my mood did a 180 and went back to how it was before, "Well, my gut is telling me to trust you and I got to the top by relying on it, so you might not be completely full of shit," I shrugged while laughing. Once my laughter had calmed down somewhat, I posed another question, "I don't care about the cause of this civil war...what I wanna know is how many people do I have to go up against? How strong are they? Will I know who they are?"

"You'll be going up against nine other Returnees. Their strength is quite all over the place and depends entirely on how you view strength. In terms of martial arts and body strength? You would be the strongest. But in terms of scheming and overall intelligence, you wouldn't be the strongest. There's even Mages involved, so you won't always be getting a fist fight, Shin," she said with a smile, to which I scowled.

Mages? God, that's gonna be aggravating. I suppose it could be worse, however.

"Eh, whatever," I waved my hand, "Nothing an extra punch or two couldn't fix, is it?" I asked with an, admittedly, arrogant smirk and the Goddess let out a somewhat unladylike laugh as she slapped her knee.

"Man, I was right to pick you, Shin!" she smiled rather demonically, and that was coming from me - a Demonic Cultivator. "And the best part is that I can send you with a gift. A single gift. What do you want it to be? Think carefully about it, okay?" she asked this and I waved her off, feeling her mothering to be annoying.

Leaning my head on one of my hands, I audibly hummed as I thought through what I might need in this new life.

I didn't need any new martial arts. Talent was irrelevant seeing as I could make it work even if I was a talentless hack who had no talent for martial arts. Gaining any new powers would be a waste as well seeing as I'd rarely use them when I have the tried and true method of martial arts and punching someone to death.

...I've got it.

"Magic resistance," I said, gaining her attention, "You said there'd be mages, right? Then give me magic resistance or straight up immunity. What will those glass cannon bastards do when their fancy spell don't work?" I smiled savagely as I thought about the prospect of surprising the Mage Returnee like that...well, whoever they are. "Also, you didn't answer my question. Will I see anyone I once knew? There were some real annoying pricks in my second life and I'd rather be prepared to take them out quickly before they grow," I reminded the Goddess who was taking in what I had said about what I wanted.

She looked up at me with a wide smile, "Brilliant idea, Shin! Magic Immunity...that will work. That will work wonderfully!" she stood from her chair before lifting her hands and bringing them together. Instantly after she spoke, I felt a slight amount of dread that made me ignore the annoyance I felt as she looked over my question for a second time, as some sort of dark aura was dragged from the monotone surroundings of red that shifted ever so slightly every second.

The dark aura was dragged to the Goddess' hands and snaked it's way into the space between her hands through the cracks in the 'cage' she'd made with her hands.

"Magic Immunity...I can't give you straight up Magic Immunity. There has to be a crux. But no one told me it can't be a crux you can work around, right?" she smiled wide and I smiled as well - I had no clue what she was doing...but I liked her tone. The way she said her words. She was speaking like a Demonic Cultivator. "Magic Immunity that scales off of how strong your body is and can be further enhanced by Qi...that should complement you well. Plus, as the Goddess of Blood, how about I pack that Magic Immunity into a Bloodline that can benefit you further? Hahahaha! Now this is fun!"

The dark aura being dragged from the surroundings was now thick like water and was coalescing around her hands in a sphere - like a force field of some sort. It didn't look too dangerous...but my instincts were screaming at me.

I couldn't help but smile wryly as I felt this.

How long had it been since I'd felt so instinctively terrified about something? Years? Decades? And I was exactly annoyed by this fear. No, in fact you could say I was excited.

Why? Because I hadn't seen everything yet. I was at the top in my second life. Strength, martial arts, fame, influence--I had it all. But being at the top isn't always the best thing. You get bored. Disillusioned even. What's the point in having all that technique and power if you can't use it? It's part of the reason why I went up against those so-called Martial Heroes on my own. Either I'd get to go all-out and kill them, or I'd get to go all-out and get killed by them.

It was a win-win situation for me, the Heavenly Demon who was bored with his supremacy.

But dying and meeting this Goddess...it was more than enough evidence that I was a frog in a well. There were at least nine other people like me and better yet, there were a bunch of Gods and Goddesses above them. Isn't this what I wanted? A new goal?

Guess Destiny and Fate aren't such bitches, after all.

Suddenly the darkness around the Goddess' hands just...disappeared. It didn't disperse or fade. No. It just disappeared like it was never there in the first place.

The Goddess looked like she'd worked out quite a sweat as well. She looked up at me, her dull red eyes sparkling with triumph, "Serves those bastards right for trying to stop me..." she mumbled to herself before beaming a smile my way as she opened her hand to reveal a drop of blood floating a few centimeters above her hand, "Whatever--Here's the gift! Please eat it!"

"...Anyone ever tell you you're a bit weird?" I asked with a somewhat awkward expression. Like, what's with this emotional whiplash, lady? Man, a load of people back in the Murim/Martial World would be pulling their hair out if they knew this is what Goddesses are like. "What's that drop of blood and where'd it come from? Also, stop dodging my question about whether or not I'll see someone from my second life. Tell me."

The Goddess rolled her eyes and looked like a kid who'd been caught being bad or something, "Jeez, I was leaving it out because I thought you'd find the surprise fun," she said something useless before she carried on, "Yes, you'll see one other person from your second life. Every participant will see someone from their second life," she explained seriously, "The ten Returnees have been split into two groups. Good ones and bad ones."

Hearing her I rolled my eyes, "And I bet I'm in the bad guy group, right?" I scoffed before laughing as I realized something, "What a minute...You've gotta be shitting me, right? Hahaha! You mean that stuck-up bitch Cho-Hee is gonna be there as well? Bwahahahaha!" I burst out in genuine laughter as I thought about the woman I'd taken down with me as I died.

I'd always felt she was weird. She acted way too much like a woman from the 21st century. Her mannerisms, speech, body language--It was all messed up. She was also like me in the sense that she just appeared out of nowhere and rose to the top of the world of martial arts.

It was all too much of a coincidence.

"As sharp as ever, Shin. Truly, I made a good choice," the Goddess nodded, "Yes. Cho-Hee will be in this war. I'll also give you some advice - she'll be your closest enemy. Luckily you'll be in Japan on your own."

"Luckily?" I asked with a smirk, "For me? No. I feels like the other participants are the lucky ones," I laughed before seeing the Goddess' reprimanding glance, "What? I'm just joking around. I'm not the type to underestimate people. But neither am I the type to overestimate people and act like they're bigger than they really are."

Seeing my response, the Goddess seemed to drop her reprimanding act and went back to looking somewhat cheerful, "Good. Then, please, eat this! It's a drop of blood from an Asura and alongside improving physical strength, healing ability and overall martial talent, it's main power is resistance to supernatural powers like Magic and Telekinesis! The perfect cover for when you come across the Mage and Esper representatives," she beamed proudly and the drop of blood floated over to me.

Lifting a hand, I caught the drop of blood which actually felt heavy in my hands. Incredibly heavy.

"...Interesting," I smiled and looked back to the Goddess, "You mind giving me a timeframe for when I'll be planted into my new life. My memories are a bit hazy...but I should be able to remember the general events around that time," I asked.

"Hm," she brought a hand to her chin before realization appeared in her dull eyes, "You'll all be put into this new world as 18-year-olds. Once you get there you'll all have six months of ceasefire to prepare and to get used to your surroundings."

"Get used to our surroundings?" I asked, confused, "If they're on the same level of experience as me, it shouldn't take too much time, no? Unless there's another variable you haven't told me about?" I narrowed my eyes a little as I came to this realization that maybe I hadn't been asking the right questions up until now.

Smiling, the Goddess replied, "A variable I can't discuss in too much detail, I'm afraid. The most I can say is that the new world will be like Earth from your first life, except with influences of Qi, Magic, Espers and an assortment of other things. Don't expect it to be the same old world, okay? There will be some very different things there, so be prepared."

Seeing that she was either choosing to not speak about it, or the more likely thing given what she said earlier and she couldn't speak about it further, I just gave a huff before throwing the dense droplet of blood into my mouth.

Swallowing the drop of blood, I didn't feel any different so I guessed the changes would happen to my new body, not this one, "Six months, though? Seems kinda long," I said this, though I was in reality quite happy with this long ceasefire.

It meant I could stop all that shit from happening to my family. A big regret of mine...God knows how many times I've nearly died to that Heart Demon when breaking through.

Time to eliminate my biggest obstacle before it even appears, right?

"Also...what's your name? I've been referring to you as 'Goddess' in my head since we met," I smiled and instead of the offense I was expecting to see on her face, whether real offense or mock offense, the Goddess just laughed with a hand covering her mouth.

"Well, I don't technically have a name anymore. No one worships me and the temples they made for me have long turned to dust...so you can just call me Blut. Not a very feminine name, I know...but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?" she continued laughing, seeming somewhat proud of her naming sense despite it not really being all that good.

A shock rippled through me and I felt like I was being pulled, very lightly, by something I couldn't see. Looking around, I looked back to the newly named Blut, "I felt something tugging at me. I assume this means I'm being taken to my next life, right?"

She nodded and I just leaned back into the chair I was in before I looked at my hand, "It's a shame to say goodbye to a body I've crafted over the last few decades...but I suppose I can make an even better one with the bloodline you've given me plus my experience in body augmentation and body cultivation. Well, Blut, I'll see you when I see you," giving a small wave, I felt my vision go black as I fell out of whatever dimension I was in.

...Living a life I wanna life, huh? Seems fun. It'll have strong people to fight as well, I presume, so it's all good.

Smiling, I went off to my new and third life.