Deep inside a basement, Mistake was kept locked inside of it. It had been kept locked in here for a long time, so long it could not figure out exactly when it happend. It remembered being hit by a truck, then it found itself in this place. It tought it had been rescued and brought to the hospital, but it deemed that such was not meant to be the case.

Men dressed in black would bring him food every day, but the amounts was barely enough for it to even stay alive, much less do activity. Not that it could considering the chains binding it's every limb. They would never answer to his beggings, and would sometimes eat its food right in front of it.

It had no idea of why it was kept here. It had never been a criminal, not even once had he wielded a gun. The men never talked with him, and every few days women dressed in red would come down and torture him. They would whip it, cut it, slap it, punch it and beat it up. Then, they would treat it's wounds and leave, never having spoken a single word during the entire time.

One some occasions, children would come down and play. The game was who could hit it harder. It could not react, as it lacked the energy to do so, and it was also chained, so the children, male and female alike, would take pleasures in kicking it, punching it, insulting it... They were the only ones who would talk in it's presence, but the words they spoke were never nice. They always carried a deep venom.

It had first racked it's brain to figure out just what they wanted, why they were doing this. However, after what it thinks were a couple months, it had stopped thinking of such things and simply accepted it's fate as an object of hate. However, they would every once in a while put a television in front of it's cell and stream films on it.

It had heard of these films. It had never been a fan of them, as it found them childish. They were called 'anime', a popular type of show in Japan. Not that it ever liked Japan, it had once been a true Englishman. But now, it found salvation in those episodes filled with stupidity. They were his last edge at a sane mind.

They would play things like Naruto, Shaman King, One Piece, Bleach, Hellsing and many others. It's personal favorite was Hellsing, as ever since it had seen it, it had began to hope for power. Power to escape from this hell, power to never again have to interact with people.

People were evil. This was the conclusion it had reached. They only thought for themselves in the end. They hid things they did under the pretexts of 'justice' or 'friendship', but the truth was, they only wanted to seek things for themselves. If this was what it meant to be a human, it would abandon being human. 

It had loved the pirate system of the One Piece show. It had hated the idea that protecting the village was more important then one's own life in Naruto. It had found stupid the idea of hating one's inner demons in Bleach. It had made a very grey moral code for itself. Not that it expected that it would ever come to fruition, but it had to do something. Something to hold onto it's vanishing sanity.

'Kill anyone who is a threat. Kill anyone who will be a future threat. Ignore all of other people's pain. There is no such thing as 'evil', only those more powerful deem those lower then themselves 'evil' for their convenience and to justify their actions. Never trust anyone. Never do anything on your accord for others'. These were all the codes it had made for itself should it ever get out of this hell alive. Luckily for him, it seemed he indeed would.

One day, as it was watching another episode of its favorite show, One Piece, a... being arrived. This being was almost static. It had no clear gender features, and it lacked a face. It resembled a human, but at the same time it clearly wasn't one. The being looked at it, and spoke.

"Congratulations, Subject 856, for passing the Test. Your accomplishment is remarkable. To be able to hold onto your sanity through all of this and develop the perfect personality. Out of the millions of other test subjects, you are the only one to fit our requirements. You will now be given the choice to enter a new universe and receive our newly developed inter-dimensional system. Should you refuse, we will have to... convince you. You will gain what you most want, Power." I looked at him with wide eyes. Power? inter-dimensional system?

"... Choose... Universe?" He nodded at my words and said "Yes. The shows we have showed you are something akin to the universe you're going to enter. It has pirates like the One Piece show, techniques resembling the jutsus of the Naruto show, power resembling Bleach's god-like beings, necromancers, cultivators, mages, all the things you've read on novels before you were chosen and some aspects from these anime. Now, I will send you to the official selector. Farewell."

The being snapped his fingers and I found myself... floating. I had no body, only a consciousness. It was a truly weird feeling, but it wasn't as bad as one might think it'd be.

A voice then spoke in my head "Name the system of your choice. Possibilities: Naruto, One Piece, Common Magic, Common Xinxia." I raised my non-existing eyebrow at this. System? A series of possibilities went through my mind. The wierd man, all of this, these 'systems'... Are they sending me off to another world? What are they expecting me to do? 

I decided to play along since it's obvious I don't have a saying in this, and maybe something good will happened. It's not like I have regrets leaving that hell behind. On the opposite, I've been dreaming of this for ages.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"... One Piece..." I said and the robotic voice immediately answered "One Piece System selected. Once you reach the location, you will have a new and enhanced body. You will have to provide us with soul essence of mortals, and we will grant you great powers. Your new name has been decided. Welcome to the world of Heterna, Leviathan Reaper." Really now? They want me to collect souls for them? I can do that... I'm expecting great things from them... just you wait until I find a way to pay you back for everything you've done...

Also... Leviathan Reaper... It's a bit... Chuuni... But it still holds it's charm... I'll keep it I guess, it's not like my old name matters anymore, as I've long since abandoned that identity. How naive I was, thinking that life was so black and white...

Also... Am I a girl or a guy? "... Questions?" I asked the system and I immediately received an answer "You may ask. Ask away!" It said in a joking tone, even though it was still robotic. "... Boy? Girl?" It stayed silent for a moment then answered "Neither. We have deemed you more fit for the job if you hold no romantic attraction towards other people. You will never feel romance towards others. However, you're body will be made extremely beutiful and attractive for both sexes, as to help you in attracting potential prey. The body will be able to please others as well, as to help you reach your goals. You may identify yourself as a girl, but you're really not." Huh. So I'm neither a boy nor girl? I wonder, it said I'll be beautiful for both sexes, but isn't beauty an individual preference?

I suddenly felt a body again. I felt... different, which is what I somewhat expected. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was on a beach, and I have to say, I hadn't seen the sun in ages, so it quite hurt my eyes, even though they were probably just made. It took me a while to adjust to the sunlight, then I looked around once more. 

The scene was... breathtaking. The crystal clear waves rolled onto the beach, birds were singing on the trees that were randomly planted, and you could see rocks here and there as well.

I looked at my hand. It was completely white, like it had never once seen sunlight, and not a single imperfection could be found on it. Is this what they said by extremely beautiful?

Curious about my own body, I looked all over it. I had two small bulges on my chest, and I could clearly see that I resembled a girl. However, the words of the robot resounded in my mind. I'm really not a girl... But I guess I'll refer to myself as one? I don't really want to have sexual intercourse as a girl, but should it come down to it I'm willing to do it to achieve my goals I guess.

I went over to the water and looked at my reflection. What greeted me was a girl of about 17 or 18 years of age, she was about 170 cm tall, her chest was... modest, but still existed, and her face resembled that of an angel. Ocean blue hair covered her head and fell down all the way to the middle of her back. Her eyes were also an extremely deep blue color, and it seemed as if they could see through your soul. How annoying. That's clearly me... Will I have to deal with wannabe rapers? Beauty is truly a curse sometimes...

As I inspected every nook and cranny of my new body, the voice resounded in my head. "To scroll over the list of objects that you can buy for Soul Essence, you may simply think 'Open List' and a list will appear in your mind." 

Really now? I did as the voice said and information rushed into my head.

There were Objects, Devil Fruits, Weapons, Tools, Boats, Knowledge, Cultivation Methods, Body Upgrades and even Pets. I pondered for a second. If this is based off of One Piece, but there is also cultivation, I should probably first get a devil fruit, then a cultivation method, then some Body Upgrades. 

Silently praising myself for being so cool-headed in this outrageous situation, I mentally selected Devil Fruits. A list appeared, it first was written in what I think is Japanese, then english-japanese, then finally full english. I wonder why they'd even bother to write it in Japanese... Japanese are truly idiots...

There were some fruits I could recognize from the anime, like the magma, ice, fire, darkness, rubber, sand fruits in the anime, but there were quite a number of other... interesting ones too.

I thought for a second of which one would help me the best. However, as I looked around I found one which simply fit me so perfectly. There was a mythical zoan type fruit called the Leviathan Fruit. Did they somehow know I'd find this one? For now, It costed 0 points to buy, as I guess they don't want me to die immediately, but I suspect that they'll up the prices after this.

I checked the description for the Leviathan fruit. 'Allows the user to transform into a colossal snake-like marine monster. User gains titanic strength in human form. Gains the ability to enhance single body parts like arms with scales. Should the user go into a rage, the user will be forcefully transformed. Other perks include regeneration, enhanced senses, ability to ignore devil-fruit's weakness of water and instead gain a boost from it. User may gain awakening." 

How nice... A giant sea monster... That does sound really attractive as an idea... And the extra senses and regeneration will surely help me survive...

I silently thought 'Buy'. As soon as I did, a weird blue fruit appeared in front of me. It looked like a pineapple, but was a strange blue color with snake-like veins bulging around it. I slowly took a bite, and it tasted awful. I ignored it, and ate it, trying to ignore it's taste. Even the stuff they gave me at that hell wasn't as bad as this... 

As I finished it, I felt myself stronger suddenly. It sounds... Cliche... But I guess it'll do for now. I tried asking the system "... People... Here?" and as always, it immediately answered. "No. This island in particular is not inhabited by humans due to it's poor resources and strong monsters. You're job here is to gather the soul essence of all the monsters in the area, and it will help you gain experience too."

How thoughtful of them... To send me straight into an island full of monsters... Monsters are so much nicer then humans after all, so I'm not joking when I claim to be grateful.

I would expect that the stronger the monster the more the soul essence if I base this off of basic knowledge. I asked the voice and it confirmed it. 

Haaaa... Hahahaha... I can finally vent all of my hate on something... I almost pity the first suckers who will come into contact with me, except I don't, as I've lost feelings like pity or happiness a long time ago. I can only feel a twisted form of enjoyment, in the simple idea of finally inflicting pains upon other living beings... 

Do prepare yourself, world, as Leviathan Reaper is coming for your souls... 

Unknown to me, the skies had darkened, storms had raged and lightning fell everywhere in the world, announcing my arrival and the calamity to come.