"Where... am I? Wasn't I dead?"
His eyes cracked open, confusion spilling into the darkness. He tried to move, but nothing responded. No light. No sense of space. Just an endless, suffocating void.
His last memory was a truck barreling toward him, metal shrieking, world blurring—then nothing.
"You are dead."
A voice, neither male nor female, shimmered through the chaos. It tugged at his nerves, cold and distant.
He swallowed, forcing words out. "Who... who are you?"
The voice lingered, almost amused. "Who I am... That, you'll learn. One day."
Silence pressed in, thick and absolute.
Before he could speak again, a sudden flare of light cut through the dark. A jewel—brilliant, impossibly vivid—floated before him. Its glow was gentle, yet he reflexively shielded his eyes.
"This is Sacred Gear Plunder. A Sacred Gear that can steal any other Sacred Gear. Use it well. Pass it on to the next cycle."
Sacred Gear? Reincarnation? The words meant nothing, but before he could protest, the jewel's light exploded—rushing straight into him.
Not into his body—he had none left. Only a soul, drifting. The jewel fused with him, sinking deep into whatever he was now.
Anxiety. Uncertainty. Panic. He glimpsed a shadow in the swirling chaos—indistinct, unknowable. He tried to shout, to demand answers, but no sound came.
The jewel burned inside him. The world trembled, twisted, then collapsed into a spinning black vortex. It swallowed him whole.
"Waa... where...?"
Time lost all meaning. When he opened his eyes again, his voice came out as a wail—a baby's cry.
"Lord Phoenix, look... our child..."
"Tamako, you're too weak. Quickly, use the Phoenix Tears."
A woman's gentle face hovered above him, pale but radiant with love. A man with stern features supported her, concern and rare joy flickering across his eyes.
His parents.
It lasted only a moment, but the soul within the newborn understood: he had been reborn. He was their child now.
He didn't know this world, nor these people, but acceptance came easily. In his last life, nothing tied him down. Here, he had parents—something he'd never known before. Not a bad deal.
Phoenix. That name echoed somewhere in his memory, faint but persistent.
Questions swirled in his mind, but exhaustion dragged him under. He slept.
Years slipped by, unnoticed. Ten years later—
"Nine hundred ninety-seven... nine hundred ninety-eight... nine hundred ninety-nine... one thousand!"
"Hah... hah..."
Outside, a boy lowered his sword, breath ragged, sweat dripping down his brow. At ten, he wore his black hair cropped short, eyes dark and sharp. His face was handsome, still boyish, but his bearing held a gravity far beyond his years.
Two lifetimes left their mark.
He headed inside, rinsed off the sweat, grabbed ingredients from the fridge, and moved to the kitchen.
The house felt too big for just one person. Silence pressed in, familiar but not quite comfortable.
Tenra Kamiyo. His name in this world.
Four years ago, his mother—Tamako Kamiyo—had passed away. Tenra inherited her surname, not his father's.
She'd battled a terminal illness for years. Doctors called his birth a miracle, his survival to age six an impossibility.
Tenra knew better. It was the miracle called "mother's love."
Her death shattered him, but he rebuilt himself, piece by piece. Sorrow didn't stop life from moving forward. He'd promised her: eat well, sleep well, live with strength.
And someday, find a dozen beautiful, capable wives to take care of him in her place.
His father?
A demon. No exaggeration—literally, a demon. The Phoenix, one of the legendary 72 Pillars.
He'd doubted it at first, but after ten years, the truth was undeniable.
This world—the one that gave him new life—was straight out of the anime he'd watched in his previous life: High School DxD.
Monsters, spirits, demons, angels, fallen angels—even gods. All real.
He'd wondered, at first, if it was just a similar world. But when he learned the Hyoudou family lived nearby, with a son named Issei Hyoudou, any doubt vanished.
Born from a demon father and human mother, Tenra should've been extraordinary—a blend of two worlds.
But reality rarely matches expectation.
Maybe his mother's love was too strong. She left him black hair, black eyes, and a face so handsome it bordered on unfair—girls would kill for it.
His father's demonic genes? Suppressed. No magic talent, no Phoenix bloodline awakening, not even basic demon wings.
And so, "the Phoenix family's worthless bastard" became his reputation throughout the Underworld.
Without the immortal bird's blood, he couldn't inherit the Phoenix name. He took his mother's surname instead. He didn't mind. After all, she had left Phoenix territory to raise him in the human world, loving him fiercely until the end.
After her death, his father—the Phoenix clan's current head—invited him back to the Underworld. Tenra refused.
He belonged here, in the place he'd shared with his mother. Two lifetimes had taught him self-reliance. Freedom mattered most.
He set his meal on the table, clapped his hands together. "Thanks for the food."
Not bad. His cooking was getting better.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
Explore More Amazing Fanfiction on My Patreon!
Unlock 30+ Advance Chapters and Enjoy Exclusive Stories Early!
👉 patreon.com/GoldenLong