Chapter 1 The Die of Destiny (revised)

A siren blared through the filthy street, with bright neon lights illuminating it and colorful Christmas decorations lining the main street. Meanwhile, in the corner of an alley, a group of homeless men and women huddled together, desperately seeking warmth in the New York City winter. Hello, my name is Danny Smith 24-year-old a geek Caucasian working as a mechanic. I'm what you may call an average Joe 5 feet 7 inches with a short black hair wearing glasses and a slender build.

I've been living in this city around two years now, but I'm still struggling to fit in, especially in winter like today, the first of December. Its so freaking cold, I've just come back from meeting a client fixing their broken car. (Man, I'm beat that client is sure a piece of work, I've spent hours trying to explain to her why the engine needs to be replaced. And she doesn't need to be a bitch about it calling me a sexist misogynist pig, scamming her for shoddy expensive repair work. Lady, it was your fault for not changing the oil at all until the rod broke.)

With a sigh of defeat I look at my phone lock screen 07:00 pm Friday, December 1. I hope the store still open, as I walk out of the subway station, a huge commotion occurring. I curiously take a peek, it turns out a black man beating up a helpless Asian man to a pulp while another three men fall around them. Seeing it, I pushed through the crowd of people who were recording the incident. "Stop!" I yell as I grab the black man body and pulling him away from the Asian man, making him fall to the ground. Now I stand between them, guarding the Asian man from any further assault.

The three fallen man quickly hold the black man down by piling on him, "Mind your own fucking business you Neo Nazi, KKK, White supremacist son of a bitch!" The enraged black man, with inhuman strength, stand up, from the hold of the three men. The black man quickly draw a gun from his pocket, then without hesitation he shot me right in the chest. The crowd start panicking and finally the cop come and subdued the enraged man with taser. A policewoman come to my side checking my wound with a worried face doing an emergency treatment to me while shouting something.

My eyes grow dim, as a six-sided die with the symbol Y appear in my vision. I quickly pass out from blood loss as paramedic come and take me to the hospital. Before long, I wake up in a panic as my body strapped to a chair. I look around the place, finding nineteen other people silhouette in circular formation with the same predicament. "Tantara Ta~ta, Ta~ta!" Suddenly, a trumpet start to play, as the center of the room lit up, revealing a circular stage in the middle. "Welcome everyone to tonight opening show!"

with that shout a man with a wide grin appear out of thin air on the stage while bowing. Wearing a black posh three-piece suit and a bow tie with a cane and a peculiar belt with Roman numeral I. I can't see his feature clearly thought because it's being obscured by some inexplicable shadow. "My name is One and I shall be your host for tonight!" With a wave of his hand, a confetti shoot out around the stage after he finishes introducing himself.

"Congratulations, you have all been selected for a once in a lifetime, opportunity. Or should I say once in a dying time opportunity!" "Ba dum tss!" With that rimshot, a boo mixed with laughter can be heard from the surrounding's darkness. "Thank you, thank you" he bow again hearing the response from the unseen audience. "Anyway as you know it by yourself you are all dead in one way or another in the real world, buut!" He quickly goes back addressing to us, the chair bound audience, he takes out a scroll from his vest and start reading it.

"With the permission from Hades, Yama, Hel or any other gods and deity or demon that claim your soul after death. And with the help, of the goddess Fortuna, you all have chosen by us to participate in a tournament, the prize is the right to life once again, and we will grant one your wish." After reading the scroll, he throws it away, "now it's time for me to read you the rule and guideline of the tournament." He moves to the side as a giant floating white panel projected in the middle of the stage.

1. Players will receive a Fate driver and a partner AI with its own unique symbol, and it will be your designated code name for the remainder of the fight with it, you can transform into a Kamen rider.

2. In addition, the Fate driver comes with many useful features besides transformations, such as shop, inventory, maps, stats, email, database, and quest logs, so learn how to use them

3. The contest can't be known to the public, the players that violate it will receive an appropriate punishment

4. Players can't directly kill the other players outside the designated contest time.

5. The contest, divided into two stages, the first stage's twenty players will be divided into five groups, and there will be five rounds of random contests for players to enter. The first contest will be one-on-one battle, with the last one being a battle royal. The second stages, will be announced after the first finish.

6. Players can't leave the designated area

7. Players cannot lose the Fate driver in any way, if it lost then the player will be immediately disqualified.

8. Players can't kill nor harm normal people without cause, exception is if you're getting threatened. Offenders will be disqualified immediately, and will be sent to the depths of hell.

9. Players encourage killing the Daemon that roaming the area, if they do the player will receive a BP, the contest currency, and monetary prize from the country the contest held.

10. When player fighting against Daemon, the local GOC branch official will be notified automatically to erase the traces of battle.

11. Players will be sent to a pocket dimension when the round started, so make sure you avoid crowded place and drawing attention when that happen.

12. Player can take quest from the local GOC branch or other people to earn money, BP, and experience point or card.

13. Players cannot abuse the power that have given to them, players who violate it will receive appropriate penalty.

14. Players will be given a deck of card, it initially has only 5 card slots, every 5 level you will gain additional 5 slots, at maximum you can only hold 25 cards, so that mean the max level is 20. When the slot is full, the additional card will be put into the trunk you can edit the deck through Fate driver

15. A player can gain additional form trough capturing a legendary or mythical creature with a card you can buy with the shop feature of the Fate driver.

16. Sometime you will receive an urgent task from the local GOC branch, and the players have to finish it.

"This should cover basic, you can read more information in the database of the Fate driver. And now it's time for us to spin the wheel of fortune!" With a snap of his finger, the panel disappeared, replaced by a wheel bearing the flag of the country on earth on it side and in the center of it a world map. "Let see which is the luckiest country to be the tournament host, so without further a due, let's get this wheel rolling!" With a shout, he starts spinning the wheel.

While the wheel still spinning, an excited murmur can be heard from the surrounding. "Oh, I hope it stops in Japan, I love that place." "Ah, come on, the tournament has held there before" "oh, maybe it will stop in China?" "North America!" "Europe!" The murmur grows restless as the wheel spinning, then the atmosphere grow more tense as the wheel slowly stop. "Bang!" with the sound of fireworks, and confetti, the wheel stopped at the USA. The crowd burst in to cheer, mixed in with disappointment as the wheel stop on the USA.

"With this, it's decided that USA will be our host for the tournament!" with that announcement the crowd bursting into cheer again. "The tournament will be started in a month, so I suggest all player to train and start going to the USA and in a week we will announce the group placement." With a clap of his hand the wheel disappear, and he goes back standing in the middle of the stage bowing to the audience. "And with this, unfortunately the show is over, thank you all for coming. As for the player, you all will meet an important person, so behave yourself. Anyway, I hope the best Kamen rider will win this tournament, so Ciao!" With a snap of his finger, I lost my consciousness.