Empty void.
That was what existed in the afterlife. That was what was being witnessed by the young, deceased boy, Nate Hakimi. He was completely naked, a subtle light emanating from his body as though it were faintly illuminating the endless stretch of the void surrounding him.
"So… this is what it feels like after death," Nate said quietly as he drifted through the infinite expanse. His voice did not echo. It did not travel. It simply existed for a moment before dissolving into nothing. "I didn't expect it to be this… dark."
He continued floating.
Seconds passed.
Or perhaps hours.
Days.
Months.
Years.
In hindsight, the flow of time here was, or perhaps is, unknown to Nate. There was no sun, no stars, no sense of direction or change to mark its passage. No sound. No warmth. No cold. Only stillness.
All that existed, or exists, was the infinite emptiness of black.
And only black.
"Well, I guess that's it, huh? I died in a way I would've never expected a modern-day citizen to die…"
"…by a store's post sign."
Nate let out a long sigh, the weight of humiliation pressing down on him even in death. Of all the ways he could have imagined his life ending, it had never once crossed his mind that something so ordinary—so painfully mundane—would be the cause. There had been no grand moment, no dramatic final stand, no meaningful last words. Just a stupid accident involving a sign that shouldn't have mattered.
And yet, here he was.
He continued to drift, or at least it felt like drifting, through an infinite void of nothingness. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above him—no sense of direction whatsoever. Up and down meant nothing. Forward and backward had no meaning. He simply existed, suspended in a vast emptiness with no clear indication of where he was headed, or if he was even moving at all.
"Not to mention… I didn't even get to see my family one last time."
He sighed again, the sound echoing faintly into the endless void before dissolving into silence. Sadness and exasperation intertwined within him, tightening around his chest in a way that felt strangely real despite the absence of a physical body.
"I hope they cope with my passing well," he muttered quietly. "Though… I doubt dying like that makes it any easier. It's not exactly something you can summarize and say, 'At least he went out in a meaningful way.'"
The thought stung more than the embarrassment.
He imagined the news reaching them. The explanation. The awkward pauses. The disbelief. The uncomfortable way people would probably struggle to talk about it. There was nothing noble about it. Nothing heroic. Just an unfortunate, almost absurd end.
Still floating through the emptiness, he began to contemplate the actions he had taken while he was alive. Every decision, every small choice, every moment that had led to that final second replayed faintly in his mind, like fragments of a memory he could no longer fully grasp.
"I really wish I didn't save that girl…"
His voice grew softer.
"…or more like, I wish it hadn't ended that way."
He wasn't denying why he had done it. He knew exactly why. But the outcome was not something he had ever anticipated. As he drifted endlessly through the silent void, those thoughts lingered, circling him over and over again with nowhere else to go.
He kept thinking about endless "what if" scenarios, over and over again, for God knows how long it had been since he gained consciousness in this empty void. Time did not seem to exist here. There was no sun, no moon, no sense of movement—only awareness. And himself.
He was floating.
Not drifting toward something. Not falling. Not rising.
Just… floating.
There was nothing beneath him to stand on, nothing above him to reach for, nothing around him to measure distance against. No light. No darkness. No horizon. No direction. No sound. No air. No sensation of wind brushing against his skin. It was not even cold. It was not warm. It simply was.
He floated, suspended in absolute nothingness.
"I hope that they're okay. My death would be devastating for them, especially for Mom," Nate said bitterly.
Knowing the type of person his mother was, she would be absolutely devastated upon the gruesome death of her beloved son. He could already imagine how much it would impact her—the shock, the disbelief, the tears that would not stop. The hollow silence that would fill the house. The way she would try to stay strong but fail the moment she was alone.
The thought twisted painfully inside him.
"At the end of the day, there's really nothing I could do to stop my fate."
Nate accepted his death and his departure from the living world as he continued floating aimlessly. There was no ground to push against, no wall to lean on. He could not even tell if he was moving at all. It felt like being trapped in a still frame of existence—an unmoving, unchanging frame that stretched on endlessly.
"But honestly, I thought the afterlife would have some kind of trial that I need to go through. You know, those 'either I go to heaven or hell' stuff?"
His voice did not echo. It did not carry. It simply existed and disappeared.
Nate had always been somewhat of a believer in religion. To him, some of the things that had been said made sense. For instance, how could there be no God when everything around him had been created? The stars, the planets, the galaxies, the black holes, and the so-called "observable universe." Did they all just exist like that? With nothing but coincidence? Was everything truly the result of random chance?
Those questions had followed him in life.
And now, in death, they followed him still.
Though, there was also a part of him that believed that after death awaited nothing but emptiness—an infinite void of nothingness forevermore.
As of right now, that belief was not doing wonders for him.
Because this… this felt exactly like that.
An endless expanse with no boundary. No beginning. No end.
Just floating.
Suspended in a directionless eternity where even the concept of direction did not exist.
…sigh…
"I guess I'm going to 'stroll' through the vast empty void for eternity, I guess," Nate muttered, a faint bitterness lingering in his tone.
He continued to float, without purpose, without destination, under the quiet revelation that perhaps all creation had been born from coincidence after all.
And there was nothing in sight.
In any direction.
Only the endless void.
...
...
...
"ARE YOU LOSING FAITH ALREADY, CHILD?"
As if he had been corrected by the forces of reality itself, a booming voice questioned his lack of belief.
"...It seems like I have been proven wrong. Like many of the times that it has been so."
Nate pondered upon the light that had appeared before him. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, far from him?
He could not truly tell.
He had no way of knowing how close or distant the entity truly was, for the humongous size it presented defied any clear sense of space or measurement. Distance itself felt meaningless in its presence. What seemed near could have been infinitely far, and what appeared far could have been right before him.
To put it simply, it was not something that could be measured by simple human calculations.
Immeasurable.
The very concept of it did not make sense to the young dead boy. How could something feel as though it could be measured, and at the same time feel entirely beyond measurement? His mind attempted to grasp it, to rationalize it, yet every attempt collapsed under its own contradiction.
"So this is God?" Nate thought as he stared at the majestical form of the deity before him.
That was the only thought that appeared in his mind after witnessing such an overwhelming and majestic existence in the direction he was looking.
"NO CHILD. I'M MERELY HIS SERVENT. AN ANGEL SENT BY HIS MAJESTY TO GUIDE ANY WANDERING SOULS AFTER THEIR DEATH."
"IN YOUR CASE, AS OF THIS MOMENT, REINCARNATION."
The deity spoke once more. Should it now be called an angel, as the being's own words suggested? Nate could not care less. Any being of this magnitude was divine from his perspective, regardless of the title it chose to bear.
"Incredible…" Nate muttered in awe, his eyes widening at both the sight before him and the booming, yet soothing, voice of the angel. The sound of it resonated through him, powerful but gentle at the same time. He felt as though he could fall asleep to the being's voice from the sensation alone, lulled by its overwhelming presence.
"The Christians don't do you beings justice," Nate said honestly. It was true that Christians often portrayed high-ranking angels as terrifying entities. However, this was not even in the slightest depicted as a being covered in countless eyes. Though he could not properly describe how magnificent it truly was, the being he had witnessed would remain as nothing more, and nothing less, than a personal memory to be cherished.
"THAT IS HOW MORTAL BEINGS ARE CHILD. HUMAN BEINGS OFTEN CHANGE THE TRUTH INTO BECOMING SOMETHING FALSE TO COPE WITH THEIR IGNORANCE. TO THEM, THEY VALUE THE REJECTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND INDULGE IN SIN AS THEIR VIRTUE. ALTHOUGH, NOT ALL OF THEM VALUE SUCH TEACHINGS. THE LORD KNOWS BEST OF EVERYTHING THERE WAS, THERE IS AND THAT WILL EVER BE."
The Angel spoke in a soft yet powerful tone of voice. A voice that has been spoken even before time existed. Nate looked at the divine figure that is the angel in his direction he's facing. The indescribable beauty of it.
"THESE SOULS, ONES THAT ARE RIGHTEOUS AND NOBLE, ARE SOULS WHOM ARE FAVORED UPON HIS MAJESTY. THEY GIVEN UP EVERYTHING IN FAVOUR OF HIS MAJESTY'S TRUST. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF IT IS FULLY BELIEVING UPON HIS MAJESTY OR A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS THAT ARE DONE WITH PURE INTENTIONS, THOSE ARE GOOD DEEDS THAT ARE TO BE PRAISED AND HONOURED."
"AND YOU ARE ONE OF THEM, DEAR CHILD."
Nate looked at the angel, confused upon its sudden compliment.
"Me? why am I favoured upon gods' trust? I only believed gods existence only half heartedly." Nate says with doubt. "It does not make sense."
"THAT IS TRUE, CHILD. HOWEVER, IN HIS MAJESTIES WORDS "THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN ME, EVEN FOR A TINY AMOUNT, WILL STILL PRAISED BY ME.FOR I WILL OVERLOOK 1000 SINS FOR OVER JUST 1 GOOD DEED". YOU ARE, TO HIM, A SHINING DIAMOND WITHIN A SEA OF COAL."
Nate nodded. To him, that make sense. What is a ruler without it being fair? especially fairness of this level? 'In all honesty, I still understand little about all this. I should've studied this more when I was alive. It sounds interesting to me now that I'm dead.'
Nate then had something came up into his mind. He decided to ask the majestic angel.
"So pardon my rude intrusion." Nate asked hesitantly. "Where is god? Should he be here in the flesh?"
The angel only chuckle towards the little human in front it, amused by the sudden curiosity after death.
"HIS MAJESTY IS EVERWHERE AND KNOWHERE AT THE SAME TIME CHILD. HE CAN MEET YOU RIGHT NOW TO FOR YOU TO PERSONALLY SEE, BUT, YOUR SOUL WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO WITHSRAND A FRACTION OF HIS PRESSENCE."
"SO THAT IS WHY HIS MAJESTY SENT THIS MERE LOWLY SERVANT TO PERSONALLY ATTEND YOU."
"I see." Nate accepting the fact that he is only but a mere speck of within the main scale of things. "What now? Am I about to be reincarnated or something?"
Nate ask the angel, forgetting the fact that the Angel says is here to do just that.
"QUITE A FORGETFUL ONE ARE YOU CHILD? YES I AM HERE TO REINCARNATED YOU INTO THE WORLD OF YOUR CHOOSING UPON HIS MAJESTY'S ORDERS." The Angel says, clarifying its intentions towards the clueless Nate.
"FOR EVERY SOUL THAT HAS BEEN FAVORED BY HIS MAJESTY, THEY ARE GIVEN THREE BLESSINGS TO ACCOMPANY ON YOUR JOURNEY IN THEIR NEXT LIFE."
"Is that so? then what about the memories of our past life? isn't every soul would lose their past life memories upon reincarnation?" Nate ask worryingly on what kind of wish that he needed to do to retain his past memories. However, it is not needed as the Angel reassures his anxiousness.
"THAT IS WHERE THE BELIEVER IS SHOWN TO BE FAVORED CHILD. A NON-BELIEVER WOULD GO THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS WITHOUT ANY BLESSINGS OR ANY RECOLLECTION MEMORIES OF HIS PAST LIFE."
"FOR A BELIEVER HOWEVER, THEY ARE THE OPPOSITE. THEY GO THROUGH REINCARNATION AS WELL. PLUS, THEY ARE ALSO GIVEN BLESSINGS THAT CAN ALLOW THEM TO STRIVE IN THE NEXT LIFE THAT THEY ARE GOING FACE, AS WELL AS THE MEMORIES THEY HAVE AND RETAINED TO BE BROUGHT TO THE NEXT LIFE."
"THINK OF IT AS A REWARD FOR YOUR PATRONAGE."
The Angel said towards Nate to clear up any misunderstanding of his. It has proven to be useful for our little Nate, of course. "Then what about the place that I would be reborn in? Or the appearance that I would want to have? or the period of time? are all of those categories within the scope of the wishes I would want?"
"NO CHILD, ALL THOSE THINGS ARE NOT WITHIN THE WISHES THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO ASK FOR."
Nate nodded happily upon his confirmation.
"Very well. Then, I would want to start off by choosing what world I will want to be reborn in."
The angel flickered bright for a brief moment. The action shows that it agrees with his decision.
Nate thought long and hard with what decision would he want to make.
'Hmm there are myriads of realities that I would go to honestly, but majority of them are an uncertainty for me considering that I only watched and read the anime and manga/manhwa.' Nate thought with a frustrating mind.
'I could go to marvel? No it's just absurdly dangerous. The moment I enter the multiverse, entities of different kind would just target me wihout giving any chance for me to breath.' Nate thought, declining the decision of going to such an incredibly dangerous reality.
'Than how about JJK? eh, still a no either. I didn't even read the manga to know where the story would be left off. Plus, who knows what kind of atrocities that brain nightmare would do to me with just the slightest uncertainty coming from me.'
Nate thought more of other worlds that would fit to suite his liking. Every each one he favours at first, but decided to scrap the idea simply because the lack of information. At the end, to no avail that the world he would find for his taste appears in his mind.
until one world pops up..
'Oh!' Nate thought, realizing the obvious world that he should choose. 'what about danmchi? yeah that would be a good world. I already know the anime far enough already to know what would come after, at least for the latest episodes and seasons. I still remember less of the earlier ones, but I will remember it when I think about it. Plus, the world setting and lore are awesome from what I heard of people.'
Nate had decided on his selection of world.
"Than I would want to reincarnated into the world of Danmachi."
"AN INTERESTING CHOICE."
The Angel then starts to shine. A bright light, as bright as the sun, glows upon the Angels command. As brief as it's glows, the light dissipated, indicating that his wish has been granted.
"WHAT IS NEXT CHILD?"
"I would like to go and to create the appearance of my new self."
"VERY WELL."
After the angel says that, the Angel waves it hands again to make a floating screen appear in front of Nate.
Nate decided to give a the looks of Thomas Andre when he was young, the one without the goatie.
[These description is already in the auxiliary chapters. Make sure to check them out for better understanding of MCs' new appearance.]
"alright, aaaaand done."
"VERY WELL. NICELY DONE. HOWEVER, THERE IS ONE QUESTION IN MIND THAT I WANTED TO EXPRESS."
"And that is?"
"WITH YOU CREATING YOUR CHARACTER IN ADULT FORM, DO YOU WANT TO BE REBORN AS A BABY OR AS A GROWN ADULT WITH ALREADY EXISTINGBACKGROUND?" The Angel ask Nate for him to understand his situation that he is in.
He decided to give a back ground where he grew up in a remote village peacefully. He grew up to be loved by the villagers there for his well mannered character and as well for how big his size is for his young age. He then decided to venture out into the world in search of adventure and challenge, to get stronger. He then heard the tales of Orario, the city of heroes as he sets a goal to venture towards a legendary city to find strength and adventure.
"EXECELLENT. NOW WE MOVE ONTO THE NEXT AND FINAL SESSION."
"THEBLESSINGS."