While sleeping, I suddenly woke up in shock. It happened so fast, I didn't understand what was going on. My heart was beating faster, and I was… shaking a little. Then, it all came rushing back to me—I remembered everything.
I'm not just Kuroto Kurogane, an ordinary college student… I'm Kuroto Kurogane, the reincarnate of the God of Death. And as more of my memories returned, I remembered something else: I'm not the only one. Four other gods are reincarnated alongside me. Yeah… the Goddess of Creation, the God of Emotions, the God of Elements, and the Goddess of Weather.
I felt an insane amount of unease—it was as if before retaining my memories I was free, now I'm bound by something unbeknownst to me for the time being, but it was all so sudden that I shouldn't really focus on something like the unease for now.
The Beginning of Life—The Dawn of Creation
Before time itself, there was only nothingness. No life, no light, no reason. But from that nothingness was born the Original Creator of all reality—a being of infinite power, capable of controlling everything that could be comprehended. He was an infinite-dimensional being who possessed every power one could imagine.
Instinctively, he chose to create… existence. With a single breath, he birthed existence into reality—infinitely expanding universes, infinite realms… individual realities with unique laws. He then created gods. No one knows why—he could've governed it all alone with ease, but he chose to let the gods maintain these vast realms. However, these gods weren't what you'd call "cool." They were like mindless machines, upholding absolute perfection in the realms the Original Creator remained within. And they did it flawlessly. They never failed. Not even once.
Centuries passed. Then millennia. Everything was perfect. Not a single flaw. But after what mortals would consider billions of years, the Original Creator finally realized something: perfection wasn't the answer. A flawless world was a hollow one. There were no real struggles. No true growth. Even the creatures that felt emotions… were empty inside.
He realized he wasn't meant to be the ruler. His purpose had only ever been to create. So one day, he gave the gods real minds—minds that could think like humans. But even then, they lacked some human feelings. He spoke with the gods… and decided what should be done. Together, they reached a conclusion: they would find the perfect human. Someone who wasn't really hollow. Someone worthy of inheriting reality. But they questioned, "Does such a human exist?"
The Original Creator, after waiting for centuries, finally found someone who literally defied what he himself had set as the standard for humans… That human was the best that could ever exist. The Original Creator tested that human—put him through trials to prove his worth. Eventually, that human passed. He became the chosen one—the new ruler of all of reality.
The Original Creator told him everything: about the failures, about the hollowness… and entrusted him with the mission of fixing it all. Of giving life imperfection. Flaws. Motives. Real emotions. Then, the Original Creator vanished… disappearing into the abyss of nothingness. He passed his power onto the human. And with that power, the human knew exactly what to do.
He recreated all realities, reshaping life into something imperfect, flawed—natural. The way it is today. Everything was finally how it should be… except for the gods. This new ruler gave himself a title: God of Absolute. He chose this name because his power was, quite literally, absolute. There was nothing in existence he couldn't do. And there was no better word to define infinite power than "absolute."
He gave the gods human-like emotions, features, and personalities—but nothing worked. Thousands of years went by, and still, it didn't work out for the gods. Yet he wouldn't kill them off. That wasn't an option.
Then, for reasons unknown, the God of Absolute decided to reincarnate five of the gods into a new universe—one he would personally create. And he chose a single planet within it: Earth. So he created that universe, fast-forwarding its evolution by 13.6 billion years. Then he made the announcement.
In the Divine Realm, he told all: five gods would be reincarnated onto Earth. That planet would have no magic—until the god reincarnates turned 20 and remembered everything. He stripped them of their immortality. Made them ordinary humans. Fast forward to when the gods turned 20. The God of Absolute traveled to that exact moment in time—the modern era.
He used his absolute power to defy what should have been the case. He made it so that even though magic actually didn't exist, it really did exist and had history. It had a past and didn't have a past at the same time. That is the true power of the one with absolute power. Then he made an announcement to the world. A message about the god reincarnates:
"Among you walk the god reincarnates. They're humans—just like you. But in their previous lives, they were gods. Now, they're nothing special. Let's talk about how magic works for you humans, then we'll talk about how god reincarnates differ from you all. Magic functions on three key factors:
Resolve. This determines the amount of mana one would have in their life. The resolve to use magic itself is the deciding factor of mana. When a person is born, the embodiment of magic itself decides how much mana one should have according to their resolve, it's decided right the instant they are born. Mana usually decides how powerful and how much magic you would be able to use.
Nature/Personality. This defines the types of abilities a person will gradually acquire. The abilities are given to an individual over the course of time. If your nature is to protect, you won't receive abilities that kill. If your nature is offensive, you won't receive abilities that only protect—unless a special power bypasses this. But that's irrelevant for now.
Luck. This determines how often you gain new abilities, how good they are, and how suited they are to you. Luck rarely changes, and until now, its existence remained a mystery to you humans.
Now, the god reincarnates differ from humans in two of the three areas. Their resolve surpasses almost anyone else's. Their nature reflects the kind of god they once were. And their luck… is more than an average strong person would have. I won't explain how, but just know—it is.
The former God of Death is the one you should truly fear. Not only can he acquire the abilities of anyone he kills… but killing him would grant you his mana. That is, if you're willing to be branded a criminal… or a murderer. Good luck, humans. Magic will evolve drastically from this day forward—not just because of the god reincarnates… but because of other, unknown events as well."
After this decree, the entire world believed the God of Absolute—because he made it so that they would believe him. And the five god reincarnates received their memories. Many individuals were extremely invested in this new decree, and the world was about to change forever… Not just because of Kuroto Kurogane. Soon there would be news all over the world about this, even though this might not be that big of a matter, it's just that the one above all had announced this himself so people would make a big deal out of this.
The God of Absolute practically put a bounty on Kuroto Kurogane, which was unfair to him… Probably no one knows his reasons and why he's doing this.
This is the journey of Kuroto Kurogane, the former God of Death, now reincarnated with his God of Death powers never returning; he'll survive on planet Earth as a mortal and a human.
This is "The Fallen Reaper's Legacy".