April.
The air reeked of diesel and city grease. People wandered past each other like ghosts, heads buried in phones, mouths chewing rice balls and spitting curses at late buses. Among them, a tall boy walked with light steps and a heavy wallet.
Kazuma Nobi.
Ordinary on the surface—black hoodie, unbrushed hair, and tired eyes—but for once, he was smiling.
"I should go home and eat some rice and chicken," Kazuma muttered with a rare grin. "Got paid. Maybe even get a drink."
He turned the corner with his plastic bag swinging beside him, unaware of the red glare approaching fast.
The scream of tires. The roar of a dying engine.
A flash— Impact.
Kazuma's body shattered like cheap porcelain. His spine cracked first. Ribs pierced lungs. Vision dimmed. Pain wasn't just felt—it became the only thing he knew.
"fack—it hurts—hurts—!!!" But his mouth wouldn't move. His body was meat, and his soul was screaming.
Another truck plowed through. Then a car. Then another.
Bones, muscle, viscera—scattered across the crosswalk like garbage. A rib landed meters away; his eye popped like a grape.
Kazuma was no longer a boy. He was a puzzle of limbs and red ruin —yet he was still conscious.
"I-It hurts… It hurts…! I can't scream… I can't even cry…! What the hell is this?! I should be dead!"
But he wasn't. The pain didn't fade. It sharpened. Something was wrong with reality.
Then—everything stopped.
No cars. No wind. No sound.
Even time bowed.
From the silence stepped a figure in black. His cloak moved like it was stitched from shadows. His eyes burned gold—but behind them wasn't light. It was… absence.
The being looked down at the bloodied mess of Kazuma and spoke with a voice smooth like velvet and heavy like prophecy.
"Well now. I think you'll do."
Kazuma's soul twitched. "…What?"
"Your soul is compatible. I'll be brief. You're mine now."
Kazuma stared up at him, his ruined body unmoving. "God? Are you… finally here to take me to heaven? Please… make it stop…"
The entity laughed.
"God? No. She's long gone. Heaven's a wreck. I'm the only one left who gives a damn."
Kazuma blinked. His voice trembled. "Then… who the fack are you?"
"Lucifer."
Silence.
Not the dramatic kind. The kind that weighs on your chest and squeezes.
Kazuma swallowed—what was left of his soul twitching with disbelief. "…You're kidding."
"Do I look like the type that jokes?"
"…You're Lucifer?" "The Lucifer?" "Satan? The Morning Star? Ruler of Hell? That Lucifer?!"
"The same. Though I prefer the original title Lightbringer. But I've long since stopped caring."
Kazuma's soul flickered. He tried to laugh, but nothing came.
"So what, you're here to drag me to hell for stealing candy as a kid?"
Lucifer sighed. "You didn't sin enough for that. Besides, Hell's full. Bureaucracy is a bitch."
"Then what the hell do you want from me?"
"Simple. A contract. Your body, your soul, your mind—I need a vessel. You'll still be in control. Mostly. But I'll live inside you."
Kazuma narrowed his fading eyes.
"…That's possession."
"No. That's fusion."
Kazuma hesitated. "What's the catch?"
Lucifer smiled. "There isn't one. You'll survive. You'll keep your memories. And slowly, you'll gain power—real power. Enough to bend reality. Destroy stars. Shatter gods."
"…So why me?"
"Because you were about to die in the worst way possible, and your soul didn't fragment. That shouldn't be possible. But you endured. And I need someone like you."
"Bullshit," Kazuma spat. "No one helps anyone without something in return."
"Then let me clarify: Azrael, the Angel of Death, is gone. Dead. Missing. I can't send souls anywhere. So death… doesn't work properly anymore. Time and pain kept looping around you like static because nothing came to collect you."
"…And you're saying that you stopped it."
"Exactly." Lucifer bent down and extended a hand. "You're welcome."
Kazuma stared at the hand. His body twitched.
"…So if I say yes… we share a body?"
"Correct. Two souls. One vessel. Slowly fusing. You'll keep your mind. But you'll get glimpses of mine. And I, yours."
"…And what do you get out of it?"
Lucifer's smile faded.
"A chance to exist again. Not as a monster, not as a god. But as something. You see, Kazuma… even devils don't want to be forgotten."
For a moment, Kazuma said nothing.
He looked at his ruined body. At the scattered meat, crushed skull, the sheer horror of it all.
The pain was gone. But the memory? Never would be.
"…So I live. In another world. With you in my head. I get powers. A second chance. And you get to piggyback in my soul?"
"More or less."
"…Can I say no?"
"You can. But time will restart, and you'll go back to feeling every truck that hits you. And it will never end."
Kazuma closed his eyes.
"…Then I'd be a [Rf]ing idiot not to say yes, huh?"
Lucifer chuckled. "You're learning already."
"Fine. We've got a deal."
Their hands met—no dramatic light. No thunder. Just a cold ripple through the fabric of existence.
And then
Pain returned.
But not his own.
Lucifer's soul was inside him now—burning like a black flame. A second consciousness. Cold. Regal. Eternal.
Kazuma opened his eyes. The world was no longer the city.
It was somewhere else.
He stood, whole again. No wounds. No blood.
a voice spoke with amused pride.
"Welcome back, partner."
Kazuma whispered, "…What the hell have I gotten myself into?"
Lucifer's voice echoed, "Something grand. Something terrible. And something beautiful."
End of chapter one