---
There is no ceiling. No ground. No walls.
Only light.
Not the harsh glare of fluorescent bulbs, nor the pale shimmer of a full moon—but a light that feels *alive*, rippling like the surface of a still lake, warm with familiarity and eternal patience.
Yamato Akio floats. Or perhaps he falls. It's impossible to say. Gravity feels like a forgotten rule here. The pain from his final moments has vanished, replaced by something softer. A calm, unsettling weightlessness.
He blinks.
His eyes work. His body doesn't ache. He lifts his hand slowly—no tremors, no age, no callouses. It's smooth. Healthy. Young?
He stares at his palm. Then his arms. His chest. His breath catches.
This isn't the body of a seventy-year-old man.
It's the body he had when he was in his early twenties.
But before he can speak, a presence brushes against his thoughts—neither male nor female, but infinitely *aware.*
> "You have questions."
The voice isn't spoken. It resonates inside him.
Akio turns, or tries to, in the direction he *feels* the voice.
> "Do not fear. You are not lost. You are not alone."
"Who are you?" he asks, his voice echoing strangely in the infinite space.
> "A caretaker. A watcher. A witness. One who saw your life unfold from beginning to bitter end."
A shape begins to coalesce in the distance. Not a person, not truly. More like a silhouette made of stars. A figure cloaked in stardust, shifting with galaxies and winds that have no name.
Akio stares. Not with fear. Not even awe. Just a strange, deep *tiredness*.
"Why? Why watch me? I wasn't anyone special. Just a failure."
> "No. You were not a failure. You endured. You persisted. In a world that demanded nothing but surrender, you stood. Bruised, bent, forgotten—but standing."
> "And so I offer you what this world never could. A second beginning."
Akio blinks, staring into the shape. "Reincarnation?"
> "Not quite."
The light brightens. Then *condenses*—pulling into a single point above Akio's chest. It pulses.
> "A new world. A new form. A new power. And one gift that you, above all, deserve."
> "Freedom."
Akio doesn't answer right away. For the first time, silence is his own. He doesn't *owe* this presence anything. Not words. Not gratitude. Not belief. He simply exists.
But the weight of those final moments—the pain, the betrayal, the apathy—it claws at the edges of his mind.
"Why me?"
> "Because you were never given a fair chance. Because you never lost your humanity, even as it was stripped from you. Because you were forgotten by your world—but not by *me*."
> "You will awaken in a world that reflects what was stolen from you—power, dignity, potential."
Akio lowers his gaze.
"And if I fail again?"
> "You won't."
The light flares.
> *System selection: Confirmed.*
> *Initializing: The Gamer – Eternal Regression.*
> *Blessings granted: Infinite Energy. Timeline Awareness. Reward Amplification. Reset Function: UNLIMITED.*
> *Reincarnation Protocols Complete.*
The voice draws closer, now more human—no longer a chorus of stars, but a single tone, soft and clear.
> "You may stumble. You may fall. But you will rise. Again. And again. Until the world bows, or burns."
Akio opens his mouth to reply, but the light begins to dissolve.
His form is unraveling, scattering into particles.
But before reincarnation, Akio finally let's out a grateful thanks. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank you enough for this second chance but I'll tell you this that I will try my best in everything that I'll do in this new world." Akio said while crying tears of joy and kneeling before him.
> "Remember this moment, Akio. Not as an end... but as your true beginning."
Then—
---
**Darkness. Cold. Wet. A gasp. A cry.**
Air floods his lungs like water in a shattered dam. Light pierces his eyes.
Something tight grips his chest.
**He's crying.**
**He's... a baby.**
His own voice shrieks with the raw, unfiltered sound of a newborn.
He hears other voices—panicked, gentle, distant.
"He's breathing! He's fine!"
"Your Majesty—it's a boy!"
Then a second voice—deep and rich, filled with power and warmth.
"Our son... he lives."
Akio can't move properly. His limbs are foreign. He kicks out weakly. Everything is a blur. The world is noise, color, motion.
And then—warmth. A blanket. Arms. A face.
A woman's face, impossibly beautiful, framed by flowing black hair and eyes that glow like garnets. Tears streak her cheeks.
"My little Haruki... my bright springlight..."
She presses a kiss to his brow. Her presence is overwhelming.
His mind reels.
He's... her child? Her *son*?
From behind her, a towering man with obsidian hair and piercing silver eyes steps closer. He wears dark armor lined with red, a cloak that shifts like shadow.
He smiles. Gently.
"He has your eyes, Seraphiel. But he will carry my name."
Seraphiel. The name echoes with power.
The woman—the *Queen*—nods.
"Haruki Kurosawa. First of his name. Heir to the Nightclad Throne."
> *[Gamer System: Activated. Welcome, Kurosawa Haruki.]*
> *[Initializing core abilities...]*
> *[You have acquired: "Timeline Awareness". "Infinite Energy". "Gamer's Body". "Reset Point Established"]*
> *[Current Mission: Survive. Learn. Grow. Fail. Repeat.]*
Haruki—Akio—feels the weight of the system nestle into his soul.
This life will be different.
No chains.
No ceilings.
No silence.
He closes his eyes. And for the first time in many, many years—he sleeps without fear.
---