Chapter 1
✧DAYDREAMS ✧
I was sitting in my room, flipping through the pages of a light novel, letting the words pull me into a world far removed from my own. It was one of the few things that could distract me, even if only briefly, from the emptiness that seemed to follow me everywhere. The hum of the outside world was distant, almost like a dream I couldn’t wake from.
Then, my phone rang.
I blinked, pulled out of the story as the sharp sound filled the room. Reaching for the phone, I answered, not expecting much. But what came next changed everything.
“They’re gone,” the voice on the other end said.
It took me a moment to register what they meant. My parents. My parents had... left me?
The words echoed in my head, twisting into something I couldn’t fully process. Gone? The only thing that made sense to me in that moment was an accident. A crash. They must have died in some terrible accident. That had to be it.
Everything after that became a blur.
My memory from then is hazy, like trying to remember the details of a fading dream.
I have faint impressions—someone explaining things to me, being moved to a new place, strange faces looking at me with pity.
The next thing I truly remember is being in an orphanage.
Even those memories are fragmented, like pieces of a puzzle I can’t put together. The cold, sterile smell of the place. The echo of laughter from other kids, though it never reached me. I didn’t stay there long—maybe a year, maybe a little more—but I don’t remember much. It’s as if my mind chose to block it all out.
What I do remember is being adopted.
The Natsumi family took me in. They were wealthy, and their house felt more like a mansion than a home. I was told I’d be starting school soon and that my last name would be changed. Kazuki Hoshino was gone. I would now be Natsumi Hoshino.
When they explained this to me, I barely reacted. My name didn’t feel important anymore. It was just a label, a meaningless sound. My connection to my parents, to my old life, felt so distant that even keeping my original name wouldn’t have changed anything.
I agreed to the name change without a second thought.
“From now on, you’re Natsumi Hoshino!” my new mother said, smiling brightly. Her cheerfulness felt almost too much, like a forced spotlight trying to shine into my shadow.
I nodded, barely registering her words.
“Let’s go shopping for your middle school uniform,” she added enthusiastically.
Her words pulled me back to the present. Shopping? For school? I hadn’t thought about school in what felt like forever. I remembered going to elementary school before everything fell apart, but that felt like another lifetime.
She reached out to touch my arm, probably intending to lead me along, but the moment her hand brushed against me, I slapped it away.
The action startled both of us. I didn’t know why I’d done it—it wasn’t planned. It just happened, like some reflex buried deep inside me. Her hand stopped mid-air, and for a second, her expression wavered before she quickly smiled again.
“Let’s go,” she said softly, brushing past the moment.
I followed her, silent, my chest tight. I don’t remember much about that moment now—just a blur of emotions I didn’t understand. But I know I felt exhausted. Exhausted in a way that wasn’t physical, like the weight of everything in my life was crushing me from the inside.
My new family was supposed to make things better, right? But I didn’t feel better. I felt... nothing. Detached, like I was watching my life happen to someone else.
I had a brother, Arima, and a sister, Miziko. Both older than me, both with striking blonde hair that made them look like they belonged to a different world. They were polite, even kind in their own distant way, but I couldn’t feel anything for them. I couldn’t feel anything at all.
I don’t know if I ever will.
The ride to the store was quiet. My new mother—no, my stepmother—tried to make small talk, but I barely responded. I sat in the backseat, watching the world blur past the window, feeling like an outsider in my own life.
When we arrived, she led me through rows of school uniforms, carefully picking out pieces and holding them up for me to see. I nodded at her choices without really looking. She seemed eager, smiling at me as though my approval meant something to her. I didn’t know why she bothered.
“Do you like this one?” she asked, holding up a blazer.
“It’s fine,” I said, my voice flat.
She hesitated, her smile faltering for just a moment before she nodded and added it to the pile.
The store was filled with other families shopping for the new school year. I saw parents laughing with their children, kids trying on uniforms, siblings bickering over small things. The kind of scenes you’d expect. I wondered if I looked like I belonged in one of them. Probably not.
I followed her to the counter, carrying nothing while she held everything. She paid for the clothes, chatting with the cashier as if this was just another normal day. For her, maybe it was. For me, it felt like stepping into a role I didn’t know how to play.
On the way back, she glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
“You’ll be starting school next week,” she said, her tone bright but cautious. “Are you excited?”
I wanted to laugh at the question but didn’t. Excited? I didn’t even know how to feel anymore, let alone something as simple as excitement.
“It’s fine,” I said, my default response to everything.
She didn’t push further, and the rest of the drive passed in silence.
When we got home, I went straight to my room. The uniform sat neatly folded on my bed, ready for a future I wasn’t sure I wanted. I sat down beside it, staring at the fabric without really seeing it.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
My thoughts drifted, as they often did, to my old life. To my parents. To the accident—or at least, what I thought was an accident. The memories were so fragmented now, like shards of glass I couldn’t piece together. I tried to remember their faces, their voices, but it was all slipping away.
And the orphanage... I knew I’d been there, but it felt more like a story someone else had told me than something I’d actually lived. I remembered shadows of people, blurry figures that I couldn’t name. The cold emptiness of the place still lingered, but nothing concrete.
Then there was this family. The Natsumis. They were kind, at least on the surface. My stepmother tried so hard to connect with me, but every attempt felt like a needle poking at my numbness. Arima and Miziko were distant but polite, always careful not to overstep. It wasn’t that they treated me badly—they didn’t. It was that I couldn’t feel anything toward them.
I was always tired. Not the kind of tired that sleep could fix, but a deeper exhaustion, one that came from within. Everything felt like a chore. Smiling, talking, even thinking sometimes. I went through the motions because I had to, not because I wanted to.
I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The weight of everything pressed down on me—my old life, my new life, the hollow space in between.
I didn’t know if I’d ever find joy again. Maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe this was just who I was now.
And yet, despite everything, a part of me still moved forward. I didn’t know why, but I did. The uniform on the bed was proof of that. Middle school was coming whether I was ready or not.
I closed my eyes, letting the haze of exhaustion pull me under. Tomorrow would come, and with it, another day to navigate this strange, displaced existence. For now, though, I let the world fade away, retreating to the only place where I felt even a shred of peace—the quiet, empty void of my own mind.
✧
No matter what you do,someday it will end. So, holding on to these lingering attachments is just simply foolish
✧
“Argh.”
Pain surged through my body as I awoke.
“Where… am I?”
I clearly remembered jumping off. The gut-wrenching, terrifying feeling of dying—that memory still burned into my mind. But now… what is this? Where am I? Heaven? Hell? Or am I simply reliving my life, memories replaying as I slip away? If that’s the case, I don’t mind. Maybe I’ll see my “friends” and “family” again—or, rather, their faces drowned in despair.
First, though, I need to understand what’s going on. The first thing I see is an unfamiliar stone ceiling, adorned with strange patterns.
“When will the young master wake up?”
A voice? Where is that coming from? And what did she mean by “young master”?
“It’s such a pain to come here and give him his medicine…”
Footsteps echoed, growing louder. I looked toward the sound as a figure came closer. Finally, she stood before me—a girl in a maid outfit, holding a tray with what looked like medicine. She saw me, and her face went as pale as a ghost. Her tray clattered to the floor with a loud crash.
---
The maid, inwardly cursing the wasted effort it took to keep giving “medicine” to her unresponsive master, thought bitterly, It’s such a drain on my mana every day. But he is handsome, probably the most handsome man in the empire—and the heir of the Glimmer Duchy, famed for its light and darkness magic and unmatched swordsmanship.
Still, he’s not just some poor soul. The young master grew up in the shadow of intense bullying, and with a father like the Duke of Glimmer—Aceal von Gilmer—who never intervened, he became unstable. But even so, this family spares no effort in trying to keep him alive.
Lost in her thoughts, the maid pushed open the door. But the sight she met left her frozen: the young master was sitting up, looking alert, as if the “medicine” had no effect at all. She felt the shock pound through her body, the weight of a thousand consequences crashing down on her. He raised a hand in greeting, his lime-green eyes calm.
“Yo.”
“Ehhh!?”
She could barely believe her eyes. How was he awake, sitting there as though nothing had happened? The questions flooded her mind, quick and dizzying. Would she lose her job—or worse, her life—because the “medicine” had failed to keep him under control? Her vision swirled, and before she knew it, she collapsed.
---
“Hm?” I looked down at the maid’s unconscious form on the floor. “What’s with this weird maid?”
So I wasn’t supposed to be fine, I thought. I noticed a small glass bottle beside her and picked it up. Strange. I pulled the cap open and sniffed.
Ah. This “medicine” was designed to keep me under control.
I let the bottle slip from my hand, then picked it up and tossed it onto the maid’s body. The glass shattered on impact, scattering shards across her, slicing into her skin. Blood started to soak her uniform, and I heard her groan in pain, still unconscious.
Why did I do that?
Well, because it’s fun, isn’t it? I’d never had the chance to throw a bottle at someone before. Her painful moans had a strangely satisfying sound to them.
---
—Beep
A blue translucent window appeared in front of me, glowing with words in an ancient script:
[Cardinal System activated!]
[Choose one of the paths you will follow until you die:
—The Fate of Genocide
—The Fate of Evil
—The Fate of Creation
—The Fate of Pure Love
—The Fate of the Demon King
—The Fate of the False Hero
—The Fate of False Evil
—The Fate of Being Loved by Evil
—The Fate of Being Loved by Good
—The Fate of Being Loved by All
—The Fate of the Necromancer
—The Fate of the Magician
—The Fate of the Swordsman
—The Fate of the Emperor
—The Fate of the Broken One
—The Fate of a God
—The Fate of an Apostle
—The Fate of a Beastman
—The Fate of a Vampire
—The Fate of an Elf
—The Fate of a Demon
…and many more.]
Due to your past life, you may choose two.
[Click for more information]
---
“What the hell?”
Okay. Let’s sort things out. First, a blue translucent window appeared in front of me, saying that multiple entitys are offering me a path. This… looks interesting.
Hoshino after a bit of conteplating decided to chose.
Let’s see… naturally, I’ll choose the fate of 「genocide」and 「deception」.
For my class, I’ll go with… 「glitch」… and… 「magician」.
Race doesn’t really matter, but let’s go with… 「Broken」.
—bing—
["You have chosen.... Well, I see. So that’s what you are. It doesn’t really matter. Now, there is no going back!"]
["Now, choose the world where you will begin your journey. The world you’re in now is called ‘The World of Ruins’ — and as you might guess, it’s been left in shambles. It may look peaceful now, but in a matter of time… it faces inevitable destruction. By who? You."]
["Your options are... None.”]
["May you find peace."]
✧
What lies beyond reality is an illusion, and what lies beyond illusion is ‘reality.'
Pretty ironic, isn’t it?
A "reality" is just the illusion of your own world. Every being in the world has their own reality — their own illusion. So if reality is an illusion, what lies beyond it? Is it another world, an alternate universe, a parallel existence?
An alternate universe (AU) is something unreachable, unimaginable. But if someone were to cross into one… what would happen?
Simple: it would distort the timeline, creating a rift between worlds. But no one has ever crossed into an AU.
To open a portal to an AU, two things are required: a 「Singularity」and a deep hatred from those who once loved you. For Hoshino, the conditions were met by sheer coincidence, but how did he acquire a Singularity?
It’s simple. A Singularity exists in every human soul.
No one has crossed into an AU because to manifest a Singularity, one must meet certain conditions:
- An empty heart,
- Merciless actions,
- To betray the person who loved you most,
- No empathy,
- Absulote isolation —No feelings for others.
No one has ever met all these conditions—until Hoshino, at the exact moment he died. The access to an AU opened just as Hoshino’s death occurred, creating an unstable AU that would unravel the world.
And so, just after Hoshino died…
---
[You have encountered an incomprehensible achievement.]
[You have died.]
[Error!]
[You have created a possibility.]
[Opening an AU.]
[Error!]
[Can’t find an AU.]
[Searching for AU.]
[AU found ∞.]
[Asking the host, ‘Hoshino,’ to select the AU.]
[Error!]
[The host is dead.]
[Time limit to select an AU: 50 hours.]
[If not selected in time, the AU will forcefully open.]
[Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error!]
After 50 hours…
[ERROR!]
[The timeline is... becoming unstable.]
[Attempting to fix the timeline.]
[......]
[Failed.]
[Attempting to fix the timeline.]
[Failed.]
[Attempting... to fix the time...line.]
[Failed.]
[Attempting to fix… the time line…]
[Error!]
[Unable to fix the unstable timeline.]
[Warning]
[The world has a 7% chance to survive.]
[The host ‘Hoshino’ has a 0% chance to survive.]
[The host has a 0.009% chance to transport his soul to %#&$]
[Error!]
[Someone has disagreed with that action.]
[The Hall of Judgment has opened.]
[TELEPORTING the soul to the Hall of Judgment]
[The host’s soul is resisting...]
[All of ‘them’ have decided to send you to a broken AU.]
[Quest: Kill an innocent person in the broken AU.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Complete successfully!]
---
On Earth, 50 hours had passed since Hoshino’s death. And now, the greatest revolution and destruction in the planet’s history were about to begin.
The ‘timeline’ is the measure of time within a given space. But now, time and space themselves were beginning to fracture.
---
—tick
The sound of a clock echoed throughout Japan.
—tick
The sound reverberated across the northern and southern hemispheres.
—tick
It resonated across the entire planet.
—tick
The ticking spread across the galaxy, tearing through the vacuum of space.
—tick
It reached the largest star.
—tick
It traveled to the vastest nebula.
—tick
It even reached the depths of the largest black hole.
—tick
The sound rippled beyond the universe, beyond the multiverse, destroying the fabric of space itself.
—tick
All the helium and hydrogen in the cosmos vanished.
—tick
Dark matter disappeared.
—tick
Every star in the universe exploded in a catastrophe surpassing the Big Bang.
—tick
All black holes expanded, swallowing the multiverse.
—tick
Time froze in place.
—tick
Time began moving in reverse, exerting an unimaginable pressure on all living things, freezing their bodies, rendering them immortal.
—tick
Infinite rifts emerged, spilling forth creatures beyond imagination, beyond comprehension.
—tick
And with the final tick… the world was no longer what it had been 10 sextillion years ago.
The tragedy that consumed the world was entirely missed by Hoshino, who had been transported to an AU beyond infinity.
Earth—no, the entire universe—was destroyed by a single boy named Hoshino.
With the timeline broken, humanity was cursed with immortality. They survived, but had lost the will to live; even the strongest soul cannot endure 10 sextillion years.
They became hollow, worse than puppets.
As the broken timeline frayed further, some humans were warped into the past, others into the future. Since the past is merely a shadow of the future, those trapped in the past had their souls broken beyond repair.
-
A tredecillion years later, or 10^42, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years to be precise, those caught in the unstable timeline found themselves back on Earth. But the universe had changed beyond recognition, beyond understanding, and humanity was no longer what it once was.
✧
“Hoshino!”
“Yes?”
“What do you mean by ‘yes’? You’ve been so distracted for quite some time.”
“Oh?”
“Okay, do you now understand how to solve that question?”
“No?”
“That’s it. Go stand in the hallway.”
Hah.
I really need to stop daydreaming.
It's realy just a big hassel.
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