1 Chapter 1. (Big Rewrite)
At the 85th UN General Assembly in the year 2030 shocking news spread around the globe. In the middle of the session, voting was held, and the topic was the Unification of all of humanity under one banner. The reason behind this topic was unknown, but the results have astonished all of the Earth.
A United States of America representative in the form of the President Steven Armstrong voted yes.
People's Republic of China representative Liu Kang voted yes
Japan's Prime Minister Tetsu Tachibana, voted yes
Germany's … Voted yes
India's … Yes
UK…. Yes
…Yes
Yes
….
….
….
On May 15, 2030, a resolution passed. The concept of a nation was remodeled into a Districts as there was no need to keep the old concept of nationalism on the unified Earth. Yet some people couldn't accept it, still calling the First district the USA, the second China, and so on.
Around that time, many rumours and theories had grown like fungi after the rain.
"Our politicians and statesmen were bought over by the Iluminati"
"No! It's because of aliens!"
"All of you are wrong! How can't you see it? We did this to stop climate change and save our earth!"
"It's just a conspiracy by the rich to get wealthier"
While some were a compete nonsense, others had a merit. Yet in a greater scheme of things, they served to divide the opinions of the public.
***
2042 was another year that changed the earth forever. The advent of fully sentient AI and the first Quantum computers made Districts that adopted them prosper like never before. At the same time humans as a workforce become obsolete.
One crazy man challenged AI at his workplace. He was a construction worker, a burly man with many years of experience. One could say that he was born at the construction site wearing protective helmet.
On the day of the showdown, his opponent arrived in a container carried by the transport helicopter. The universal construction unit designed by AI.
A man who was clearly born to work in the construction sector had lost.
A machine worked more efficiently, faster, didn't need a pay, and could tiresomely work 24/7. A perfect worker who only needed energy and replacement parts.
Another challenger was a musician. He didn't believe that AI-made art could capture the human soul.
After a month of hard work, a magnum opus of musician was created. The artist poured his entire soul and many years of experience into one song. A certain hit that would be remembered as one of the best that man has ever produced.
In the end, the same AI that made a construction unit wrote a song that eclipsed one written by a musician. What took him a month, AI beat in less than ten seconds
When people felt that their way of life was endangered they rebelled against robotization. They called themselves Luddites, but before they could do anything, the police came after them. These raids on the leaders of Luddites were instigated by another AI that was monitoring Internet activities.
To combat other similar formations, the government of Earth passed a law in the form of Universal Income. In the coming years as the human workforce was replaced by the robotic one, a tipping point was reached when it was not worth working. Who would want to work eight or more hours a day when 2/3 of their income comes from their pension?
Year 2077. District 22
A hooded young man with a bag was strolling through the streets of Giga City. It took him a quarter of an hour to come to the abandoned metro station located in the newly acquired suburbs. If he lived in the centre, it couldn't be possible to cover that distance by foot in a matter of days.
As his city bagun to expand to accommodate an increased population, its borders rapidly expanded, absorbing surrounding towns and villages.
This abandoned old metro station was a relict of the past that in a few months would be commissioned for deconstruction.
"I'll be missing you" the man said taking the bag from his back, opening it, and begun to take off his clothing. He put there his Multi-Watch and most of his clothes. All of which contained tracking devices.
After doing so, he was left only with boxers. He was a man of average height of 1.85m. His musculature was nothing to scot off. While he wasn't exactly jacked, it was clearly seen that he was a regular gymgoer. He had short brown hair and a plain face. In this day and age, many people would do plastic surgery because it was cheap and safe. Yet he strayed from it, accepting his mundane looks.
In the place where he goes, any kind of tracking device is prohibited.
He put his bag behind a tree, which was to the side of the metro station. A tree sprung from the cracks in the concrete.
While he went to the underground, darkness covered him, but a man was unflinched, as if he had done it many times. Stairs were long and tiers in some places were uneven.
As the stairs ended, he walked forward until a light appeared. Light always irritated his eyes until they adapted.
At the moment that he came out of the darkness, a tall, handsome man with a metal detector came to him and began to scan him. What's strange is that he too was only in underwear.
"There is no need to check me; I'm safe"
"We'll see"
A tall man swung his detector from top to bottom. There was no sound, but a man did check up yet again to be sure.
"I don't remember your face; you must be new. Last time, John was checking up on people"
"Yeah — " before man could continue a sound some off from the detector when it was at the level of the head.
The face of a tall man darkened. He furrowed his brews and looked with a hint of anger.
"Get out. There is no place for a mole"
"Like I said, it's safe" Brunet pointed at the back of his head. "Implant has no sender or receiver; it has no means of communication with the outside"
However, a tall man doesn't get it
"I said, GET OUT! What don't you understand?"
"Dude, you need special care. Go to Mark and say that Lex arrived"
"No"
Lex gives a tall man a glance. A man who checked people was unnaturally handsome. His face was perfect in every way. The same could be said about bone structure and skin. In some way, man looked comical, resembling a doll.
'What a blockhead. When I was away, the quality the members dropped. I'm sure that he got plastic surgery done by an AI Cranked up to maximum'
"Dude, you came from a factory? All of your brain and face must be made from plastic. But don't worry, I can fix this."
As Lex had hit the sore spot, a man in fit of rage attacked Lex with his hands. Doing one wide punch.
Lex with closed eyes, dodged the attack, then redirected man's hand, adding his own strength to it. As the man's amplified blow landed into the air, it made him lose balance. When the man was at the tipping point, Lex firmly grabbed his opponent's hand and used the palm of the other hand to throw him into the air. In this brief moment, he knew that he had fucked up.
In no time, his back slammed against the concrete floor. Impact made his lungs contract. When he was struggling to catch breath, Lex got on top of him and began to pound at his face.
As merciless blows landed on his face, he cry cried like a child.
"Pffhlyss sthoop"
Lex punched him one last time.
"Say it: I'm a little bitch who doesn't know how to fight"
"I'm a —"
"Lex, don't bully newcomers" From the darkness came a familiar voice, and soon a face appeared. A face covered in many small scars. There are even fresh ones, literally earned this day. The body coming from the darkness is the same as the face, muscular and covered in even more scars, all of which come from one and the same source: cutting weapons. Be it knives, shanks, or other even larger slashing items.
When man came to the light of the reflector, a ray of light was reflected from his bald head, directly falling into Lexes eyes.
"Mark you sick, fuck. How often did you spar? every two weeks or more often?"
"The more, the better, but lastly no one wants to…. It makes me deeply sad, you know? Maybe you want to?"
"No thanks, I'm not into slashing stuff, and besides after surgery, it's not recommended to do anything dangerous. I'll only watch"
"Huh… Nothing dangerous, say that to the guy underneath." Mark comes to him and lends his hand
"Two of you, in only boxers look super gay, especially when you sit on his chest"
"Shut up, saitama wanna be" Lex said, using hand of his friend to get up.
"So let's watch, today's fight is different. Different because I had brought new toys" Mark said with an Evil smile forming on his face
"I hope so. Thanks to that guy, I think that bar has dropped really low"
"Low? In your first fight, you were trashed even more, but you never gave up…. Hmm, in that way you're right. Newbies these days lack the strength of will. Anyway, we need to hurry before the fight begins"
***
After going through compete dark they come to the end of the station. This place is better lit by an old generator running on oil. Few reflectors light one place in particular and its surroundings.
The spot where the train would arrive is a ring made from stripped-off tracks. At both ends of the oval-shaped ring are two combatants. As one of the rules, they are wearing only underwear, like everyone here.
Lex still remembers the last time he fought here. That time, he lost to a more capable person. More physically gifted, with a talent for hand-to-hand combat. If Lex didn't have a sense developed from many fights, he would lose in a matter of seconds. Yet it still couldn't close the gap; his sense or instinct only extended the lost fight.
When two fighters are ready, they go outside of the ring and take something long. At that time, a smirk appeared on Mark's face.
When they come into the spotlight it becomes clear. They have taken the swords.
"These are the new toys? Medieval weapons? There definitely would be a lot of blood."
"Hehehe…. That's why it's the best. Who do you think would win?"
Lex looks at two fighters. While he thinks, they swing their swords a few times. Afterwards they go to the ring.
"It's hard to tell. Weapons in general are a multiplier of force released by muscles. In an unarmed fight, the one with the better physique would win most of the times. Weapons complicate things, and with them skill becomes more important. I assume that both of them are noobs when it comes to using the weapons. With this little information, I can't tell."
Mark looks at Lex as if he had seen a ghost.
"What happened to you in those two years? Where did my old Lex go?! Give him back, imposter!" Marks grabs Lexes shoulders and starts to shake them. "In the past, you would say 'that one with the bigger biceps would win' Where are you, Lex!?"
"Don't shake me; I don't want to get a migraine" As Mark takes his hands back, Lex says
"Two years ago, after I earned enough cash from the fights to pay for a brain implant that allows me to remember much more, giving me an eidetic memory, or a photographic one. Latter one has limited space, and I've already used it."
"Used for what?"
"To learn knowledge about our civilization"
Confusion appears on Mark's face. For a moment, it appears like his hair started to grow at an accelerated pace
"That's it? To what point?"
"2050, after this technology made by AI takes too much space for my implant…. Ehh if I could get a top-tier memory enchanter."
"Lex…. You are the crazy fuck. You just wasted a shitton of money on useless crap. What are you going to use it for? To become an explorer of deep space?"
"No. Just to boast how uneducated peasant you are."
After a moment of silence, Mark burst into laugher. The fight begun while he was rolling on the ground. For five minutes, he couldn't stop.
Two fighters swung their swords. At first, they were testing how it was to wield an actual weapon. To add to that illegal.
Earth in the 2077 was an oppressive society, where all of the weapons were banned, be they new or old.
The merciful government had given its citizens a choice. Invigilation for a higher pension or freedom.
At that time, 99% chose money. The more you allowed the government to monitor you, the more cash you would get. Most greedy people would get advanced brain implants tracing their sight, thoughts, body movements, hearing and dreams.
As time went on, elites thought that it would be better when tracking was placed in every kind of clothing. However, with the last slips of decency they spared underwear.
Afterwards, fighters loudly shouted at each other, when Lex looked at the audience above the ring. A band of misfits gathered to enjoy the fight. When emotions were high, two guys looked at each other, eye to eye. Something in them appeared to crack. With a primal rage, they started brawling at the stands. Most people had left them alone as if it were a common occurrence
When a person doing aggressive behaviour was discovered by a tracker, he would be sent to the Correction Center. He would be subjected to mind-altering drugs and extensive brainwashing. Until all of the unwanted behaviour was gone
As they began to fight for real, metal collided with metal, and upon contacts sparks fled to the both sides. Sparks dissipated as fast as they appeared.
These sparks reminded Lex why he joined the fight club in the first place. For this feeling of excitement. His life was bland, like almost every person on earth, in an utopia where every wish of a person is fulfilled by the android servitors. Human nature is to do something, be it good or bad. Most people were consumed by their desires, be it drinking, hobbies, endless partying, sex or drugs.
Yet there were people who didn't indulge in satisfying their newer-ending desires; Lex was one of them.
This Fight Club was for people who wanted to escape the pressure of the government and experience that moment of excitement in a bland world.
Outsiders could say that this place was a brutal hellhole where aggression and maniacal thoughts were rampart. But to Lex, it was a place where he and his friends could let go of all of their bad thoughts.
The fight concluded when one fighter badly cut the arm of his opponent. When he committed his loss, an announcer came to the ring, yelling in great enthusiasm "In this spectacular fight of the week, the winner is…. Paulll!!!"
Bravo had come from everyone watching; exception was Mark, who was getting his shit together.
"Don't forget to throw him some bucks!"
The winner felt great as a wide smile formed on his exceptional face. Not only did he feet great from earning not a small sum of money, but more so from the fact that he had done it himself. It was his own work, his own struggle against other equally motivated person. He sustained injuries in the process, but all of this was worth it
In the meantime, a paramedic with only underwear had come to the loser.
When Mark finally got himself together, he said
"Lex for this joke, I'll pay for you…. Do you want to drink? I'll take you to my favorite pub"
"Sure, but can we do it later? I want to watch the rest of the fights"
"Rest will be boring, unarmed between beginners"
"If you say so"
******
Both friends were going to the Old Classic Pub stylised in trends from the early 2000's. A popular place for a people who rejected modern way of life. The pub was located in the old inner city area.
They strolled across the old part of the city. In normal cases, old parts of cities were demolished to make space for more lucrative establishments like servers for AI, cutting-edge Planck-Bang generators, or new factories. However in particular, this area of the city was marked as holding significant cultural heritage and was spared.
When they come to the pub, old boulder with exquisite cravings greet them. Cravings were made with the use of human hands, as they weren't perfect. They said: "Welcome to the Pub Little Fun"
As Lex went through the door, a familiar face came to his eyes. She was a woman of natural beauty, with long blonde hair, and silky eyelashes that decorated her full eyes with green pupils.
Mark, seeing that Lex stayed like a stunned blocking the door, lightly pushed him. Lex got a hold of himself while walking to the bar. Mark looked at the directions in which his friend was looking, seeing an exceptional lady and equally handsome man sitting with her.
While both of them sat at the bar, Mark saw a bit of excitement in his friend's expression.
"Do you like her?" Lex froze as these words entered his ears. "Or more like, love her"
"N-no, not that m-much" Lex struggled to say. After this, Mark has read through him like from open book. Lex, who was always was at the forefront of conversation, receded when touchy subject came up.
"When did it happen?"
"D-do you really need to know? I don't feel like it is s-something worth mentioning" Lex said in quiet, shaky tone.
Mark couldn't stand Lex behaving like pussy. He moved his head a little backward. As if all of the light in the pub concentrated on his bald head, temporally blinding Lex. Then, from nowhere Mark headbutted Lex. The headbutt was juicy indeed, as it made Lex fall from the chair.
"What was that for, dick head…." After a few seconds, a pulsating pain came to him. "Didn't I tell you that I have a brain implant? Retard…" The pain from the migraine was huge. Lex had experienced a lot of pain as a ring fighter, and because of it, he had built up some resistance to it. However, this kind of pain was the worst.
"Now you are back, moron."
"Fuck off"
"Tss, Diehard died hard"
"My surname is D-I-E-T-H-A-R-D… How many times do I need to explain this, or are you trying to piss me off..."
When they were arguing, both of them heard a police siren. This only made the migraine worse.
"Where is the most quiet place out there?"
"Toilets here have soundproof walls" Mark pointed with an index finger in the direction where he should walk.
In no time, Lex had seen a door with a sign for a men's toilet. When he walked to the toilets, most of the noise was dulled; upon shutting the doors complete silence fell upon him.
When Lex sat on the floor away from the doors, he took a comfortable position and began to meditate.
After an Implant surgery, medicine was prescribed to him to reduce pain coming from his brain adjusting to the implant. Medicine helped a lot, yet he still felt pain. He tried many different methods to combat it. However, most of them do not help much, until he stumbled on one article on the internet about Shaolin monks and their state of deep meditation. Most of the article was about a mystic bullshit, nevertheless it awoke in him a curiosity. When he read an old research document on the topic of state of deep trance and meditation in general, he was sold. Lex tried for an entire month to enter this almost magical trance.
He failed every time. Even when he knew that learning it was hard, he didn't give up. After everything he came to the conclusion that it was impossible because of the pain. He was too distracted by it. As his anger rose from wasting all of this time, migraine intensified to the point where medicine wasn't helping.
In a fit of rage or stupidity, he overdosed on the medicine and begun to meditate one last time.
When a single thought comes to his mind that he should call for an ambulance.
His mind became empty, and the strange feeling of disappointment overwhelmed him.
Disappointment from his fake happy life. Life where all of the dreams were out of his reach.
At the exact moment he entered the state of trance, and all of the pain was gone. He achieved it thanks to hard work, an overdose of medicine or combination of both. How exactly it was possible, he doesn't know, but the effects spoke for themselves.
****
When Lex felt refreshed, he left the trance, got up and looked at his multi-watch. It took him around quarter an hour
"Well, he would think that I'd taken a dump"
Lex grabbed the handle of the door and energetically opened them.
A strong stench of blood and a horrible sight —
"Get away from Lisa!"
— A huge man wearing a coat drenched in blood was holding his crush by the neck in the death grip.
Adrenaline Surged as Lex rushed at an unknown opponent. Thanks to adrenaline, he ran faster than ever before. When a mysterious man was ignoring him, Lex was able to perform a high kick at the man's head. Lex used his leg like a whip, with the added power gained through adrenaline, he was sure that it could kill in one blow.
His attack landed —
*Crack*
— Yet man stood unflinching, adding insult to injury. Lex felt pain coming from his leg. He has broken it.
Lex, on one leg retreated back to analyse the situation.
To his view came massacred bodies; many had their bellies torn open and guts taken out; one person was even strangled with his own intestines. Others were covered in meat, blood, and bones and had missing heads. One of them wore the same suit as Mark.
At an instant, rage flooded Lexes mind.
"You piece off Shit! Who are you!?"
The strange man in the coat didn't react and was still concentrated on the woman struggling to catch her breath.
Lex limped to the man to attack him. The woman stopped to fight for her life; her limbs became limp and her lively eyes turned dull. As Les was doing a punch to the man's side, Lisa had died in painful way.
The man was fully enjoying every moment of her death.
Soon after Lex made a punch to the man's side —
*Crack*
— Lex had broken his hand on the seemingly indestructible object. In rage, he grabbed a coat with his other hand, ripping it off.
A siluette had come to his eyes.
A mix of black leather-like material and metal plates is combined to make imposing full-body futuristic armour. Design of which brings a sense of oppression to anyone standing before it. Subtle white accents invoke inhuman unease.
The helmet is partially open, revealing the upper face. Bellow spiky black hair are thick black brows and eyes with white pupils
"Android!?…. No…. IA isn't that wicked to torture people… A Cyborg… But why?! Why did you do it? Why!? WHY!!!! "
When Lex shouted, Cyborg turned to him; he was still holding Lisa's dead body. The sight of Lex shocked him.
"Strange" A metallic synthesised voice comes from the Voice Adaptors. "Add to report that a bug has happened. I was unable to localise this man with PA, and reveal yourself. I don't like to speak to the air"
On command a mechanical eye turned off the invisibility appearing at the front of Lex. Its size was that of a soccer ball.
In a microsecond, it made a full body scan on Lex
Another synthesised voice came, but this time from the floating eye.
"Results of a scan point with 71.54% at cause of error being a Memory Enchanter with a space of two Petabytes."
"Two Petabytes? What a rubbish" The voice of a cyborg appeared to be genuinely surprised "Civilians only get the scraps and are happy with them"
When the two of them were talking to each other, Lex proceeded to grab a floating eyeball with both of his hands. As he tried, his hands fazed through mechanical eye and he had fallen to the floor full of blood.
Cyborg seeing him became bored with the corpse of a beautiful woman. His hand appeared to blur at the moment, and a loud slap reverberated throughout the room. Flesh and blood covered the entire room as if someone had detonated an elephant. The body flew and at no time exploded upon contact with a durable wall.
"Now there is only you, White knight. Eye I'll use PA yet again"
"Call me Edmund, as it is the name I chose for myself"
Cyborg Looked straight into a mechanical eye.
"Sorry partner, I'll save it to never forget"
Then Cyborg looked at the only living human in the pub. While activating PA white pupils began to turn violet, and after a moment a purple smoke came from the eyes, giving it a mystical feel.
Under unknown power, Lex began to levitate. His clothes were soaked in the blood of his best friend and crush. Through his mind comes only one question: Why?
"You just have an unlucky day to meet me" replied cyborg out of the blue, as if he had read Lexes mind
"That bald guy had bought illegal items from one of our undercover agents. Normally police would take care of it; however, I was in need of a test subjects, testing our new tech"
Tech? Lex thought, and Cyborg continued.
"PA- Psychic Abilities... Oh my bad, I have spilled the beans. Edmund It's all alright?"
"Yes. End fast; Mr. Solor awaits your personal report"
Cyborg concentrated on the body of Lexes. It made him float into the air. When levitating, it felt like countless invisible hands were holding him in the air, but at the whim of Cyborg, hands began to pull him in two separate directions.
Lex didn't feel anything as he died at the instant, perfectly split in two halves.
****
In the vast void, Lexes soul flowed with the current. Following a path leading to the distant light.
A strange feeling of emptiness incorporated his corporal being in the form of a sphere.
At the moment, he dreamed or more so lived through his last moments. In those moments primal rage appeared to overflow from the soul following its path. The death of his best friend and crush, couldn't make him rest in peace.
The soul has begun to tussle, pushing other souls to go after the light.
Yet he couldn't fight off the force that bound him to the path. Lex was too weak, but he did not give up.
He couldn't do anything to the current, pushing him to encompassing light. Other than him, there were the souls of other people who died at the same time. He in fit a of rage began to bash other souls.
He bashed, bashed and bashed a small soul to the left of him. When doing so, he felt like he was losing part of himself.
However, when he did the final bash on the injured soul, it broke. Soul shattered into countless shards, as Lex flew to them shards began to be pulled to him. Shards fused into him, making his own soul bigger and rejuvenated. In the process of assimilating it, memories of a small girl flooded his mind.
In her last breaths, she was brutally raped and cutthroated by a rich ugly, fat bastard in the satanic- like ceremony. Then her blood was drained and drunk by the rest of the participants.
Saying that it infuriated him was an understatement; more so he felt guilt for his own action. By killing her, he disallowed her from going to the heaven, reincarnate or doing any kind of afterlife in which she believed.
While he was disappointed in himself, a white light flashed, and the current of the stream accelerated, probably due to his actions. Then he looked in the light, a direction of the path. It is just like a system that tries to correct possible future errors by hastening his expulsion.
A feeling of contempt grew in him. A target of it was the creator of this system, a god who was completely uninterested in the cause of this error, him Lex Diethard.
He wanted to bite, bite useless deity in the ass like a mad hound. Bite the fake god until there are only bones left.
"No matter what it takes, I'll avenge Mark and Lisa, or else My name is not Lex Diethard!" He shouted into an empty space.
A few of the spirit shards that still floated get pulled to him. When they were absorbed into his soul something changed.
Fangs protruded from the sphere, around the set of fangs grown lips, then the mouth was formed.
Seeing the other soul next to him, he used the fangs to bite it. Shriek of the soul was herd when Lex bitten off part of its soul. He devoured part of the soul and grew even bigger.
The taste was bland and there were no flashbacks to it. Lex couldn't wait long to contemplate; he bitten and devoured soul until there was nothing left, growing in size even more.
He looked around himself, not seeing any souls close enough to feast on. A problem arose.
There were two other souls before him, but he couldn't move from the spot.
"Wings or the legs would be good… But how?" Lex thought for a moment, and only one thing came to mind. Use the most mystical thing that he knows, the meditation.
He began to meditate with one thought on the mind, Wings… But which one? Bat wings, Bird wings, Beetle wings, Eagle wings…
As Lex couldn't properly concentrate, so he wasted precious time.
Then an idea came to his mind "Why waste time on normal animals…. Let's try the fantasy ones, and the strongest fantasy creature is…. the Dragon!"
He resumed meditation with the thought of the wings of the Dragon. Lex thought about them like obsessed.
He thought so hard that his soul began to shrink. As nothing could be attained for free, he paid with his soul.
When his soul shrank and was about to disperse. A set of small Dragon wings appeared on his back.
Feeling them, he stopped meditating, then flapped them a few times, testing their power and ability to fly.
Like a bird learning to fly, Lex flown at souls before him and began to devour them, growing in size. The bigger he was, the faster he ate and flown to souls.
He flowed from one group to another, investing his soul to make his wings more powerful. Jaws stronger to devour faster.
Arms to plunder souls from other paths and stuff them into his jaw.
Tail to get better balance when flying.
Powerful Legs that ended with claws to destroy anything behind him.
Horns to pierce through any obstacle.
******
In less than half an hour, a spherical soul become a Definition of Malice. Black Dragon, who only wants to get stronger, strong enough to kill the god and take revenge on his enemies.
Soul which was white turned to pitch black. It seems that the massacre of poor souls corrupted his entire being.
Lex knew that something in him had changed. Be it in subtle ways, yet it was the cost of power.
As long as it was him who had a control, it was all right. Through his spartan lifestyle he learned how to control his urges. All of this mindless killing didn't change any of his beliefs.
*****
Many years had passed as Lex followed the path. Devouring any soul that comes to his vision.
If there was nothing at all, he would go insane.
From time to time, he grabbed the soul, pushing it into his chest. In some way watching the memories of the deceased person, as it was the only form of entertainment.
An this time he had grown to colossal proportions. At that stage his body evolved to contain the power of countless souls.
He felt that with one swing of his arm, he could shatter planets. Too bad that there was none, as he would definitely test it.
One day when taking a soul to watch a sad movie, he stumbled on something different. The soul that he grabbed had the same colour and shape, only the size was different as it was bigger than the average one.
He stuffed it, like always into his chest. That time he had seen through the eyes of somebody a Green sky. Exotic plants that didn't exist on Earth and face-thing of some creature. Face was sad and crying; at least he assumed it was. It was hard to tell the emotions of alien being.
After this he never stuffed himself with souls coming from distant paths.
Lex flew all the time, with each soul he gained more speed, but there was no end.
*****
Vertical red pupils of his eyes looked, like always at the light in the distance.
At some point he stopped counting the years as there were too many to remember.
Other strange thing was the fact that things that were saved in his implant were still in his memory. Such things logically shouldn't be possible, they should be left behind with his life on Earth.
"Another error. The designer of this shit is a complete idiot, and definitely not a real God..."
As Lex contemplated theology, something finally happened.
Paths have begun to get closer and closer. The distance was so long that it was impossible for him to notice it before.
Seemingly infinite paths stacked on top of each other, forming a something like a highway.
Many souls flooded the paths. Among them was a colossal Black Dragon with vast wings giving shadow to Trillions of souls.
"Welcome to Highway to hell" He grabbed from the sea of souls an untold billions of pure souls to devour them. It was the last moment to get a power up before the fight with the foolish God.
Lex ripped souls like farmer weed.
*****
A year passed since he began to feast on the crossroads. He wasn't limiting himself in the slightest, increasing his power with every passing second. The pull that was pushing him to the light long ago stopped affecting him. His body swelled like every person eating fast food, and he became enormous.
At that time, Lex wondered if there was a God. Like in an organism, Lex become a tumour, blocking, or more so eating all of the souls coming in the direction of the light. Any sane person would come to investigate the cause of the problem, yet no one has come.
Lexes body was radiating with power as red lines ran across it. He felt that he couldn't take any more.
As he grew in power and size, the efficiency of harvesting souls increased.
In a short year, it felt as if he had the eaten entire population of the universe, or at least the majority of it.
He looked at the light behind him
"It has shrunken or I've grown bigger… Rather last one"
Lex used his wings to fly to the light, but he didn't predict that huge increase in power.
With one flop of the wings, his body appeared to teleport. And in no time he crushed into something.
This thing was a Heavenly door frame connecting to somewhere via teleport. In some strange way it was good that Lex has grown ever bigger. The magnificent door frame was shorter than him, but not by much.
If he was smaller he would accidentally fall through it.
He didn't feet any pain, as if his body was indestructible. Before his stay at the crossroads, he actively moved while growing in power. It allowed him to adapt to ever-increasing speeds, but after feasting in one place his senses don't have enough time to adapt.
For the next month he trained his body, until he was able to comprehend all of this accumulated power.
*****
"Time has come" said Lex while preparing to cross the frame. He waited for so long.
Excitement brewed in him.
"Final showdown between me and…. The God"
Lex looked for the last time at the Heavenly Door. When going closer to it with a will to pass through, a strange sucking force began to pull souls into it.
It did not affect him in the slightest.
It appeared that the door responded to his will to face off with God, using souls to power itself.
Lexes body and the power contained in it were too huge to simply get teleported at an instant.
He didn't wait long before the door pulsated with power, inviting him.
*****
In the strange place, resembling a mountain peak shrouded in fog was a man with short black hair, black eyes. That man was a standard Isekai protagonist who was about to meet a god.
"Where am I?"
He looked around seeing nothing, but fog. Fog that gives him an unnatural sense of calmness.
The light that was supposed to be blocked by the fog was everlasting as if the fog was the light.
"Now I remember. I was killed by the truck…." he thought about his life that he wasted by his laziness. "But here I am. So the afterlife is real; who could have thought?"
Not soon after a part of something came into his view. As fog dissipated, an office desk with a lot of papers and a desktop computer on it. Behind the desk, he could see a silhouette of a person sitting, probably working.
A feeling of hope filled him to the brim. It was his chance, a god who would reincarnate him, like he saw in many media.
He would get shitton of cheats, become god among men, create a harem of beautiful wives and live ever after.
"I Tokunaga Sho, will became the greatest adventurer who walked across a new world!" His shout irritated the person behind the desk
"Shut up! Can't you see that I'm working right now?"
"Yi! I'm s-s-sorry" he said in a tone resembling a child being scolded by a parent
The person behind the desk didn't even respond, concentrating on the work.
Behind the desk was a man of a short stature resembling a goblin. To the person at the front of the desk it appeared that he was working, but in reality he was Playing an DMMO-RPG. To be exact Yggdrasil. As a god, he didn't need a Dive machine; a keyboard was enough. In fact, he was the Number one player in the global rankings. How was it even possible? Because of the fact of being a god with omniscience allowed him to know things that he wanted.
He knew the location of all of the important World Items, so he got them all. However there was one rule: he can't steal from other people as it would be an intervention in the lower realms.
At the moment, he was testing for fun how his character would face off against a World Devourer the final boss of Yggdrasil. The strongest raid boss of the game, and he was doing fine, soloing the boss.
His character was of a special race, attained by one time use World Item Ascension Stone. The race name was World Creator. This race was upgraded Heteromorphic Nephilim, with all of the stats maxed out. The only weakness was that if he died his character would be gone, meaning that this race was for people who already knew the strongest builds, with no place for a correction. You assign one level wrong and you can't change it. At the same time allowing almost endless possibilities.
The other World item that he used was an Evolution Potion. This item allowed for one time use to break game restrictions on stats and levels of character.
He was decked out with a full set of World Items earned throughout 12 years of constant gaming with few breaks for work
His current level was 200. It took him almost 12 years of grinding to attain this level. The requirements for levels following 100th were horrendous, taking many months to attain the next level.
Most of his stats were in the 500's.
"FUCK!" He yelled before using another one time item to teleport outside of the arena with a World Devourer, saving his character from the special ability of the boss.
"Fucking damn it, if I only could get this shitty Throne it could be possible"
"Sorry that I asked but what throne?"
He looked at the isekai protagonist from behind the stack of papers.
"You are still here? What do you want, dimwit?" The god was angry from losing in the game, still thinking about an encounter.
"Sorry, sorry could you reincarnate me?"
"First, fuck off worm…" Sho looked like a total coward without a spine as God mocked him for a good hour. Every insult hurt Isekai's protagonist to the core. At one point, he began to cry, which had the adverse effect of infuriating the Deity
After every insult god vented out steam from his nose
****
"Nine hundred ninety nine, I've fucked your mother. One thousand, I've never seen someone as pathetic as you."
At this moment, the fog became thicker, making it impossible to see anything.
No matter how much god dislike him, he still had work to do.
God closed the game and turned on the program that he made himself
"So, where do you want to be reincarnated?"
"Anywhere" he said while sobbing
God moved his fingers, typing the game that he played. However after a bit of thought, it would be too easy for a loser to gain power in there.
Destination: The New world
"At what time?"
"….."
There was a rule that if person was not cooperating with reincarnation, he could let destiny choose
He used built-in random number generator
Time: one year before the transportation of Nazarick
"Want to have different body?"
"….."
God was pissed off by the idiocy of the guy.
Other Body: Yes
Preset of the body: number 3 (Tall handsome guy with an estetic body musculature and long golden hair)
Connection to important characters: No
Wealth: Strip Naked
Weakness for the additional power: Yes
Weakness: An ancient being is merged with you.
Additional power: An ancient being is exceptionally stronger. The automatic soul preservation protocol will defend you three times
Cheat abilities: System made by Nathaniel
God was surprised that RNG choose system made by himself. It was his first work, an abominable creation.
'Huhu~ this worm is screwed; my co-worker (Goddess of Luck) must hate him very much.
He got bonus power that is harming him more than helping. However if he can harness the power of the thing, he will become unstoppable. Hehe~ like if that could happen'
Integration of the system to the world is in process… Error!
A wide smile appeared on his face ' I'm great indeed '
In essence this system was a dumbed-down version of the one from Yggdrasil with many stats merged together, and a few things of his personal liking. The most aggravating thing was the fact that this system didn't have a few core features like: Racial levels, Job level.
As it was too boring to code such things
Proceed without complete integration: Yes
He typed as it was one of the few things that he could interfere with
Reincarnate: Ye….
When it came to the final decision to begin the process of reincarnation, his movements stopped.
'Ugh, I'm so tired'
"Break time!" he said while pulling off the lever behind one stack of papers. It was quite worn out as he used it frequently.
After a moment from the sky dropped a bong, landing in his hands. Bong was full of mysterious rainbow liquid .
God didn't waste any second, lighting the fire underneath it. In no time colourful vapor entered his mouth, sending his mind go to another dimension.
*****
Finally Lex has come out of the portal, appearing in the space.
"What the —"
His body was pulled downward as if gravity was affecting him. As it happened, he didn't resist, as it was better than trying to find god by himself.
As his back was pulled he had a clear vision of space. When he concentrated on it, a mysterious shapes ran across all of space, it was a machine of sorts. Lex didn't see it at first because it was made of glass. A humongous dystilery spans across the stars. Its core was in the centre of the galaxy. The end point of it was quite close to him. At the end was a storage containing rainbow liquid with ever-changing colours
In no time, his giant body crashed into the mountain range destroying all of it
Lex assessed the situation. Seeing broken parts of the planet floating into the space.
It was a miracle that the planet on which he landed didn't shatter completely.
When laying on his back, he felt a small object stinging him, like a block of Lego that he had fallen onto.
It had a small cubic shape, no more than a few meters.
Lex waited a few seconds as something should meet him— an invader. Yet nothing happened.
Hoarse voice come from the black dragon "Come at me, you coward! I know you are somewhere here!"
No other sound other than his voice came out.
'If there is no one, I'll go after this thing in the space'
….
….
….
Lex began to move his wings, and with one flip they blew away all of the crust of the planet, frying him from the gravity.
He flew into space while looking at the planet. Lex always wanted to test his power on something like it.
His giant body made a position to attack.
Vertical fist at an instant hit the planet. Destroying all of the matter, effectively deleting a planet as if it had never existed.
But there was more: force travelled behind the planet into the cosmos. Deleting everything behind the planet in the wide arc, be it other planets, stars, solar systems or galaxies.
The force behind the punch without a doubt was exceptional, but there was no fireworks to it. The planet was and now isn't. It greatly disappointed him.
Lex looked at his closed fist with claws. Too much power was boring, yet he did it. When it was dull, at least made work done —
— or not?
He took his fist back, and his giant vertical eyes had seen a small object. As Lex concentrated on it, his eyes adapted.
In the end, he saw what it was. A guy behind an office chair inhaled a colourful substance similar to one he had seen beforehand.
Even when his eye could adapt even more, he wanted to take a closer look.
*****
Nathaniel the God had a wonderful trip.
At one point something has shaken his room, making monotonous action quite refreshing.
While enjoying it, he inhaled a bit more of the potent smoke, sending him to a different reality
Not soon after another shaking came, but this time it was way more violent. Stacks of paper fled everywhere when he was enjoying an exciting new adventure.
"Wooooow, cosmic extract is way more potent today"
"What did you say, my knight in shining armour?"
"Oh nothing important, sweaty," he said putting his finger on the full lips of a big, boobed princess. "Talking too much takes away your charm"
not long after he began to make out with her.
When their eyes met, for one second her eyes changed to those of a lizard looking at its pray. It only made him hornier.
This feeling of dread brought him excitement like never before.
A princess, fragile being held him in the hands, lightly shaking him as if scared.
Seeing her fear, he couldn't stop himself from taking off his clothes.
When he was about to take off his pants, princes with her fragile arms thrown him high in the air.
He crushed at the invisible barrier, and the blood spewed from his nose.
While landing he broke the office chair.
'Something is wrong' he thought, and in the blink of an eye effect of his beloved drug was washed away.
His room with invisible walls was messy. Fog that was along the walls vanished under a shock as if it never existed.
The office was floating in the air, challenging any laws of physics.
Feeling a cold wing run across his back, he looked behind.
There was only blackness and a shadow coming from it.
Panicked god couldn't take his eyes off the phenomenon, he was too scared to think.
In all of his life, something like this never happened.
Then darkness receded, and from the darkness two glowing red eyes came forth.
Those were the eyes of the predator, focussing on his pray, him.
Bellow eyes were many rows of teeth. Teeth pertruding inwards and outwards as if they couldn't choose whether to swallow its pray or keep it in place. Every tooth was razor sharp, and their size was that of the mountain peaks.
The jaw of a monster was huge and full of muscles, likely wanting to crush anything in its bite.
Yet he couldn't take his eyes off the horns who were grand and chaotic. They grow from the skull without any law or order. Many of them were fighting over space on the head; the weaker ones were grinded and crushed.
Scales ever compassing all of the muscular body, ossing the shadow that not long ago covered part of his room.
There was no such word that he could come up with to describe the beast before him.
As it looked at him, with an inborn sense of higher life form, and spoke in a hoarse layered voice .
"Another lowlife. Didn't gods should at least try to uphold any kind of standard? Or are you no different from many people I know? Take me back to where I belong, NOW!" With the last word, a shadow has come from the breath, covering the room in the darkness.
god scared shitless from the voice, had come to the computer to end the process of reincarnation and call for help
Reincarnate: Yes
He typed and then spammed Enter like a madman. The computer freezes for a moment before a blinding light comes from the monitor, lighting the body of a monster and dissipating all of the shadow
At that second, he forgot about someone
' Where is that guy?! '
He took his eyes off the program and looked around.
There was only a void of space.
The Isekai protagonist died upon first impact.
However the program was still running
Then the machine chugged as if it was going to overheat.
"Fuck!" god tried to shut down the computer, but he was too late.
The computer exploded from the power needed to finish reincarnation, opening a huge hole in the space that swallowed the monster.
He looked in disbelief at the place where the monster was. In a short moment, he had broken many rules regarding the process of reincarnation. In no instance of reincarnation any transmigrator had died, yet he did the seemingly impossible.
"Shit, boss will come soon"
His eyes moved in every direction, and his hands shake when he tried to calm himself.
When tough times came, there was always a solution.
He grabbed leaver, and a bong with colourful liquid came to his hands.
Shortly after his mind meandered to a different galaxy.
******
Soul of Lex was swallowed by the humongous machine responsible for reincarnation.
The conveyor belt transported him forward.
At first, the machine tried to scrab off his soul from impurities, but to no effect as his body of a dragon was too bonded with him.
Countless years of devouring souls and mayhem had transformed his being, making it impossible to change.
Yet in the reincarnation program, it was written to merge his soul with another one. Because of this the machine needed to use force.
A mechanical saws came from all directions
Lex tried to fend off saws, but he couldn't do anything as his being was restricted by some kind of law.
Saws pierced his soul, going through him like a hot red knife through butter
His limbs were cut off, and his head was decapitated.
Chest cut into millions of small black cubes, limbs and head weren't spared either
All of these brought unending pain, if he had a mouth he would scream.
At that moment he swore his revenge against a god, no matter how long it would take, he would do it.
After this step his consciousness become fogged, absent.
Now his cut body was transported forward to the mixer where he became liquid.
In the process of mixing, something was added, an other soul of red colour.
Liquid from another soul was smaller in volume, but when added it began to corrupt; like a bubonic plague, it spread far and wide. leaving only a small patch of him untainted.
At the last point, all of the soul liquid from the mixer was poured into the container.
Like a waterfall, it fell from the mixer onto a shell
A 2 meter shell without a soul with golden silky hair to its waist. Diamond-shaped face, with a killer jawline and the musculature of a golden-era bodybuilder. Vast shoulders, V-shaped chest. Powerful build, yet pleasing to the eye.
As black-red liquid enters the body, something in it changes. The body adapts to the soul of an ancient being, growing in power, in proportion to its volume. When the body grows attached to a red soul, it partially rejects the black one.
However the force in the machine forces the body to accept the black soul, suppressing the red one.
This resolution isn't perfect, but it gets the job done.
The last step of reincarnation proceeds as a rift in reality opens, sucking away the new Lex
That way, the process of reincarnation completes
*****
The wind blew through leaves of trees and the grass.
A slow, calm wind moved the fur of the wild boar looking for a truffles.
As he dug through the ground with its tusks
A boar, seeing a sleeping man, came to him.
Huge mushroom presented itself.
The animal couldn't wait, even a second when it felt a vile aura coming from an unconscious man.
It munched on his meat.
Pain had awoken Lex.
From instinct of sorts, his body kicked a wild boar on the side, and the scared animal run away.
Then his body returned to the starting position.
Lex looked around, assessing the surroundings. Tall grass, many bushes, and even more trees.
However, when he tried to move his head, it did not listen.
He could move his eyes, and mouth, but the rest was impossible.
"So I'm in some forest, while crippled… Nice, welcome to the ' In the new world, I become a vegetable. Part two: I want to die so bad. For how long is this title gonna go?' or 'After reincarnation I've been assaulted by a horny pig. With my ultimate attraction hack, all of the heroines are mine' and — "
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Lex looked in the direction of the voice that was coming from the bushes, but only his eyes could move.
' Shit, did he hear me? '
He closed eyes and began to fake being unconscious.
Not long after, he heard the steps of two people
"Nah, Ludger like I said the boar must be scared of something to run at us."
"If scared then it wouldn't attack you, thankfully I've dealt with it"
They moved towards Lex, and not long after, one of them walked through the bush.
"Hey, someone is laying there…" one of the hunters had come close, taken ogf his leather, glove and grabbed Lexes wrist to check the pulse
In the meantime Lex relaxed so much that it appeared as if he had slept.
Hunter in leather clothes waited and waited.
"I didn't feel any pulse. But his hand is warm; did he died not long ago?"
"If so let him rot; didn't you feel an evil aura coming from him? It will only bring bad luck to our village"
Hunter holding his hand looked at him with a mixed expression on his square face
"We can't let him rot there, as it would create an undead, likely zombie or skeleton..."
He carefully Inspected Lexes muscular body "maybe even a higher tier. Skeleton Warrior, Freshly Arisen or Zombie Warrior… Taking into account evil aura, Arisen is more probable."
Lex was too good at tricking people for his own good.
To survive, he needed to take a risk.
Lex lightly opened the lids of his blue eyes and said like being on deaths door.
"H..e..l..p….m..e.."
It shocked Hunter
"He called for help?!. We can't leave him to fate!"
"It's a bad idea; granary of the village is almost empty. We can't take another mouth to feed, not to mention that it's suspicious. A naked guy in the forest…. And that aura, it stirs my stomach"
' I hope you choke to death with that puke '
"No! He can't die. If needed, I'll hunt for food. So move your lazy ass and help me carry him"
"I don't want to…"
"Mmmff... I'm only wasting time on you…" Hunter put Lexes body on his broad shoulder, carrying him to the village "Next time you hunt solo"
The other hunter got scarred a bit, he didn't have much of the talent when it came to bows, or fighting in general. He was practically freeloading on the work of his friend
"Chill, chill, I'll help…" he quickly come behind his friend, grabbing the thighs of Lex. From his rapid movement, something like a club has hit his face.
"Wue!"
Then he stumbled on the root and fell off
"What are you doing? Get up and support me; he is quite heavy"
After this, the other hunter was holding Lex by Ankles.
And so they had taken him to the village
