The heavy rain lashed the city like thousands of icy needles. The dark sky trembled under the endless roar of thunder.
In the middle of the sidewalk, Gabriel walked on, his black raincoat soaked and clinging to his body, black hair covering half of his face.
In his hand, he tightly gripped a toy gemstone, something he had just obtained from a so-called hidden "black market" that was rumored to be accessible only to those "chosen by dark fate."
In reality, Gabriel had bought it at a toy store during a clearance sale earlier that day.
Gabriel looked up at the sky, lowered his head for a moment, then ignited his imagination—an enthusiasm that seemed to burn straight through his soul.
"At last…" Gabriel said in a deep, solemn voice. "The ritual has begun! Gods, darkness, and sealed entities—bear witness to the awakening of my reality!"
He smiled, suppressing a heavy, trembling laugh—a laugh unique to an acute chuunibyou, born only from absolute faith in forbidden powers and dark toys acquired from the black market.
At that exact moment—
KRAAAAK!
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky and struck Gabriel directly. The toy gemstone shattered along with it, releasing a blue-white glow that made the falling rain look like shards of crystal swirling around him.
With that single strike, Gabriel's body was scorched—and his life vanished.
The End~ (lol)
***
The moment he opened his eyes, Gabriel found himself in a narrow room with four brick walls. A table stood in front of him, and he was seated on a chair.
Ding!
A holographic screen suddenly appeared right in front of the teenager's face.
[Congratulations! You have been selected as a Herald with serial number 95.111, granted entry into the Infinity Room!]
[Initializing beginner installation!]
[Infinity Room: a world created by the Supreme God.]
[This world is connected to countless other worlds—what you might call the multiverse.]
[Here, you may obtain the power, wealth, and authority you have always desired.]
[However, everything must be earned by your own hands. The Infinity Room only provides opportunities for its Heralds.]
[Herald serial number 95.111 was selected at the moment death claimed you.]
[Therefore, you are granted a chance to live again and enter the Reincarnation Room.]
[From today onward, you are a Herald of the Infinity Room. You will come and go between different worlds, gaining things ordinary people could never obtain.]
[Of course, all of this can be acquired by exchanging the points you possess.]
[Each newly joined Herald will receive one randomly assigned special ability, 1,000 points, and 5 free attribute points.]
[Please use your resources wisely, as they will affect the first mission you undertake.]
[Basic information regarding the Infinity Room and the Herald system has been directly transmitted into your brain.]
[In 20 minutes, you will be sent to your first world. For the qualification test, you will be evaluated in that world.]
[For now, you cannot leave your private space.]
[Only if you pass the qualification test will you become a true Herald.]
[You are granted 20 minutes to comprehend everything.]
[By becoming a true Herald, you will be able to unlock various worlds and gain multiple possibilities.]
The screen hovered silently in the air, its pale light reflecting in Gabriel's eyes—eyes that had just crossed the boundary between death and something far stranger.
After the notifications faded and all information about the Infinity Room embedded itself into his mind, Gabriel remained seated in silence.
His expression briefly showed shock—only for a fleeting moment—before it vanished like an illusion swallowed by darkness.
Slowly, his right hand rose to cover half of his face, while his left arm wrapped around his own body, as if restraining something violently churning within his chest.
"So…" his voice was heavy, echoing like a resonance from the edge of an unnamed dimension, "the gods have taken action to kill me?"
A faint smile formed on his lips—not a smile of joy, but the smile of someone who regarded the threat before him as a joke.
"So foolish," he whispered, soft yet razor-sharp. "Death is nothing more than… a door I can force open."
He let out a short breath, like someone who had just realized a profound truth and chose to shoulder it with pride.
"The gods…" he murmured, "you will regret trying to block my path. The path of Ash."
His left hand extended forward, fingers spread as if summoning an unseen entity, while his right hand continued to cover his face.
"Status."
Ding!
________________
Name: Gabriel Michaelis
Race: Human
Tittle: none
Job: none
Authority Level: 5
***
Strength (STR): 3
Vitalitas (VIT): 3
Agility (AGI): 4
Intelligent (INT): 1
________________
(Author's note: there's really no need for me to explain this again, right?)
"Cool…" Gabriel whispered, his tone as soft as a breath of wind in a silent corridor.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat quickly, closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke in an artificially heavy voice.
"Gabriel Michaelis? This system seems to have quite a few flaws. I discarded that name long ago."
His eyes opened again, and he fell silent for a moment. Before him, the five free attribute points flickered softly.
Gabriel frowned, thinking carefully—far more carefully than he had ever shown to anyone else.
Despite being an acute chuunibyou, Gabriel was not as foolish as he appeared.
The pain of being struck by lightning still lingering in his nerves, combined with the system's warning to use his points wisely, sent a clear message: the missions ahead would be extremely dangerous.
Besides, true to his persona as Ash the Watcher, he valued observation over recklessly strengthening himself without thought.
"Distribution later," he said quietly, yet with weight, as his finger moved to tap the Skill text at the corner of the status screen.
"Before that… let's see what kind of ability this world has given me."
As the display shifted, a skill list appeared, framed in light. Without hesitation, Gabriel touched the "Random" button in the Random Ability slot beneath Special Skill.
Suddenly, a sphere of light manifested. It carried a spectrum of seven colors, yet each hue appeared distorted, as if stretched and twisted by another dimension.
The sphere trembled gently in the air, then drifted to a halt between the Status Screen and Gabriel's chest—almost as if it were choosing him… or judging him.
Without giving Gabriel any time to react, the sphere shot forward and pierced straight through his body.
In an instant, Gabriel's eyes changed dramatically.
They transformed completely, leaving not the slightest trace of humanity behind.
The black of his irises and the white of his sclera vanished entirely, as though erased from existence.
What remained was an intense blue light, rotating in concentric patterns—resembling a fusion of: a series of digital magic circles, pulsing mechanical patterns, and cracks of light spreading outward like fragments of shattered stars.
The world was no longer filled with ordinary light. Instead, he saw the structure of existence itself.
Every object, every speck of dust, even the air carried a faint glow, pulsing like a living heartbeat.
At the same time, Gabriel's Skill Status Screen changed.
___________________
Special Ability
> All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods (Kamigami no Gigan)
Description: These eyes allow the user to perceive the structure of truth within all forms of existence—including intent, true identity, weaknesses, spatial pressure, threads of existence, and dimensional coordinates.
They can pierce illusions, dismantle disguises, lock onto or erase specific existences, and synchronize vision with other objects.
(Passive Note: If the eyes are injured, Self-Repair activates automatically.)
Passive Abilities:
> none
Active Abilities:
> none
___________________
As he read the newly updated Skill Status—and after reality itself confirmed the drastic change surrounding him—Gabriel held his breath tightly. He pressed his lips together, suppressing a scream of pure excitement.
Inside his head, Gabriel was practically exploding with excitement. He knew exactly what that ability meant: All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods.
Those eyes came from one of his favorite anime: Kekkai Sensen.
In that story, Riga El Menuhyut bestowed the eyes upon Leonardo Watch in exchange for his sister's sight—a divine contract that became the very foundation of the narrative.
That contract was both a miracle and a shackle: an anchor that ensured the bearer would not act recklessly.
Leo accepted the eyes in order to observe, not to abuse their power.
Because the eyes were bound by a contract with a Celestial being, losing them was not as simple as undergoing surgery.
To cancel the contract meant to revoke the blessing itself—and divine contracts always demanded a price.
___
Additional Notes:
Gabriel's world and Rian Andromeda's world are still the same world—only the timeline differs.
In Gabriel's timeline, the orphanage where Rian was raised never burned down, and Rian is still working in the entertainment industry.
Moreover, Gabriel Michaelis is actually one of Rian's younger siblings from that same orphanage.
Ah… one more thing.
The Gigan might be slightly upgraded.
Just to make it even cooler.