At first, there was nothing — no sound, no pulse, no shape. Only a blank stillness that pressed from every direction. Then, from that silence, came a single note, soft as the first drop of rain. The world unfurled around it.
Kai opened his eyes.
He stood in an endless expanse of white mist, a place without horizon or shadow. The air shimmered as if it remembered being light once. Panels of glass floated in the air, turning like lazy planets. Strange symbols crawled across their surfaces, vanishing before they could be read.
Then came the voice. Smooth. Monotone. Infinite.
[Host identified: Kai Arata.]
[Soul integrity: 74%. Cause of death: External trauma.]
[Pending Reincarnation Protocol… initialized.]
He tried to breathe. It felt like drawing air through light itself.
[Select method of system acquisition: Karma or Spin.]
Two symbols ignited in front of him — twin suns suspended in fog. One burned with deep amber light, calm and warm. The other spun with restless silver, every revolution scattering sparks into the void.
Under the amber glow:
[Karma Route — Rewards determined by moral accumulation. Stability: High. Potential: Limited.]
Under the silver spin:
[Spin Route — Randomized allocation. Stability: Unstable. Potential: Undefined.]
Kai stared at both. "So I get to gamble my second life," he murmured. "Figures."
The voice was silent, as if waiting for him to decide. He thought of the manga — of those three doomed heroes, the Roulette, the Amplifier, the Looter. None of them had been saints. All of them had chosen.
"Let's make it interesting," he said, and reached for the silver.
The moment his fingers touched it, the space ignited.
Light erupted upward in rings — vast wheels of radiance spiraling into the sky. Each spun at impossible speed, the air trembling with their motion. Colors bled into one another: crimson, gold, violet, obsidian. Every rotation left trails of runes that shimmered and dissolved.
The ground beneath him turned transparent. Below, galaxies spun in synchronized rhythm, each one echoing the turn of the wheel. He felt the vibration in his bones — a low, thunderous hum that seemed to rewrite the laws of existence.
[System Spin Initiated.]
The wheels slowed slightly, revealing glimpses of what lay within:
"Chrono Reversal System."
"World Devourer Protocol."
"Roulette Engine."
"20x Amplifier."
"Loot Matrix."
"Fragment of Creation."
Each one flared across the circle of fate before vanishing back into the storm of light.
Kai's heart pounded — if he still had one. He reached out instinctively, trying to steady himself, but his hands passed through the light as though through smoke.
The spin accelerated again. The voice returned, layered now, like multiple tones speaking in harmony.
[Reality Threads: Engaged.]
[Outcome compression: 98%.]
[System selection… locking.]
The rings clashed. Light broke open like thunder.
For an instant, he saw three symbols burning above him — a golden wheel, a mirrored sigil with an infinity mark, and a black crown of keys.
Then everything went still.
The white void shattered. Fragments of reality spiraled around him like glass caught in slow motion. The voice whispered one final phrase, almost reverent:
[Result confirmed. Host Kai Arata — Triple System Compatibility achieved.]
Kai's vision filled with fire. He fell through it — through light, through sound, through the echo of his own name.
And somewhere, far below, a new world waited to greet him.