The sensation of death was surprisingly quiet. It wasn't a roar of fire or a cold void; it was simply the fading of an overpriced computer monitor and the smell of stale energy drinks. Sato, a man who had lived ten thousand lives through the flickering lens of anime, had died in the most cliché way possible: heart failure during a forty-eight-hour binge-watch.
Then, the world screamed back into existence.
"Cian von Astrea! Are you even listening to me, you pathetic pig?!"
The voice was like shattering glass—cold, sharp, and dripping with aristocratic disdain.
Sato's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in his cramped apartment anymore. He was standing on a manicured marble courtyard under a sun that felt too bright to be real. Surrounding him were hundreds of teenagers dressed in ornate white-and-gold uniforms.
*Silver Moon Academy.*
The name flashed in his mind like a suppressed memory. He looked down at his hands—pale, slender, and shaking. He was wearing the uniform of the Astrea house, a family of disgraced nobles.
*I'm Cian?* Sato's heart hammered. *The third-rate villain from 'The Legend of the Holy Sword'? The guy who gets his mana circuits shattered in the first semester and ends up begging on the streets?*
"Don't you dare turn your back on me!"
A surge of cold energy—**Aura**—erupted to his left. He turned to see a girl who looked like she had been carved from a glacier. **Elena von Hestia.** The Duchess's daughter and a genius **Aura Disciple**. In the original story, Cian had tried to steal her silk handkerchief; in retaliation, she was supposed to deliver a "Slap of Discipline" that would knock him unconscious and make him the laughingstock of the school.
"I asked you a question, trash!" Elena stepped forward, her hand blurring.
Suddenly, a transparent blue screen flickered in Sato's vision.
**[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]**
**[Host Soul Identity Confirmed: The Otaku Archive (Rank: EX)]**
**[Current World: 'Legend of the Holy Sword' (Difficulty: S)]**
**[Role: Third-Rate Villain]**
**[Fate Event Detected: 'The Slap of Humiliation']**
**[Objective: Change your fate. Do not let her touch you.]**
**[Reward: 500 Fate Points, 100 XP]**
**[First Skill Unlocked: Limitless — Stage 1: Infinity]**
*Infinity?* Sato's mind raced. *Gojo's power?*
"Die!" Elena barked. Her palm swung, coated in a shimmering layer of frost-blue Aura. It was a strike meant to humiliate, delivered with the speed of a professional athlete.
To the onlookers, Cian looked frozen with fear. He didn't move. He didn't even raise his hands to guard.
"He's done for," whispered a student in the crowd.
"Typical Cian. Can't even sense the Aura coming."
In the distance, standing among the elite students, a golden-haired youth watched with a frown. **Leo, the Hero.** His eyes were filled with nothing but disgust for the "pig" of the Astrea house. He had been the one to "catch" Cian peeping earlier, orchestrating this entire scene to purge the academy of "filth."
The palm reached within an inch of Cian's face.
Then, the world seemed to warp.
*Thump.*
The sound wasn't of flesh hitting flesh. It was a dull, vibrating hum, like a finger pressing against a balloon that refused to pop.
Elena's hand stopped. Her fingers were splayed wide, frozen exactly two centimeters from Cian's cheek. She grunted, her muscles tensing, her **Aura Disciple** energy flaring brighter as she pushed with all her might.
But her hand wouldn't move. It was as if she were trying to push through a mountain.
"What... what is this?" Elena's voice trembled. She looked at the space between her hand and his face. There was nothing there but air, yet she felt a pressure so dense it felt like a physical wall.
Cian—no, Sato—felt a sudden, agonizing drain in his chest.
**[Warning: Limitless (Stage 1) is active.]**
**[Aura Consumption: 10/sec. Current Realm: Aura Initiate (Level 1).]**
**[Time Remaining: 42 Seconds.]**
He felt his meager **Aura Initiate** reserves being sucked into a vacuum. Being an Initiate meant he barely had enough life-force to run a marathon, let alone manipulate the laws of space. But for these few seconds, he was God.
He slowly tilted his head, looking Elena directly in the eyes. Her icy blue orbs were wide with a mixture of confusion and growing fear.
"Is this it?" Cian asked, his voice calm, devoid of the usual sniveling whine. "The 'Genius' of the Hestia family can't even touch a 'third-rate' noble?"
"You... what did you do?!" Elena screamed, trying to pull her hand back, but it felt stuck in the spatial lag.
"I didn't do anything," Cian lied, a cold smirk playing on his lips. "You're just... infinitely far away from me."
He stepped forward. Because her hand was "stuck" in the slowed space of his Infinity, his movement forced her to stumble backward to maintain her balance. She tripped over her own heels, falling onto the marble floor with a sharp *clack*.
Silence fell over the courtyard.
The "Goddess" was on the floor. The "Villain" was standing tall.
**[DING! Fate Rewritten!]**
**[The 'Slap of Humiliation' has been avoided.]**
**[Calculation: Unexpected Outcome. Prestige gained.]**
**[Rewards: 500 Fate Points, 100 XP.]**
**[Level Up!]**
**[Current Level: 2]**
**[Aura Capacity increased.]**
Cian turned his gaze toward the crowd, specifically toward Leo, the Hero. Leo's face had gone pale, his hand gripping the hilt of his training sword. He could sense it—something had changed. The weak, predictable puppet he used to boost his own reputation had just displayed a power that defied the laws of Aura.
Cian looked into his peripheral vision, where a menu tab was greyed out.
**[System Shop: LOCKED]**
**[Requirement: Reach Level 20 to unlock the 'Anime Multiverse Exchange'.]**
*Level 20,* Cian thought, his heart racing as his Aura finally bottomed out, leaving him slightly lightheaded. *I have Infinity at Level 1. What happens when I unlock the Sharingan? Or the Gate of Babylon?*
He realized he was breathing hard. The students were starting to whisper, the shock wearing off. Elena was staring up at him from the ground, her face flushed with a mix of rage and a strange, newfound curiosity. She had never been stopped before. No one in the **Disciple** realm should have been able to block her.
Cian didn't give them a chance to ask questions. He turned on his heel, his cape fluttering behind him.
"Train harder, Duchess," he said over his shoulder, throwing a wave of his hand that was pure arrogance. "You're embarrassing yourself."
As he walked away, a new notification popped up.
**[Hidden Quest Triggered: The Villain's Rise.]**
**[Current Favorability of Elena von Hestia: -50 (Hate) → -10 (Confusion/Interest).]**
**[Warning: The Hero, Leo, has marked you as a 'Threat'.]**
Sato smiled to himself. In his old life, he was a loser who watched heroes win from behind a screen. In this life, he would be the villain that the world couldn't touch.