TABLES AND EDITING BY THE GLORIOUS, GOD-LIKE BEING CALLED kikyorebo
Chapter one: The birth of the Arch-necromancer
It all happened suddenly.
That day had started just as usual. I woke up to the blaring sound of my alarm clock telling me it was time to get up, i left my bed and went to the loo with eyes still bleary from sleep,had my morning ablutions and brushed my teeth. As i went downstairs to have breakfast i thought to myself ~another dreadfully boring day is ahead of me huh~, little did i know that i couldn't possibly be more wrong.
I guess it's high time for me to introduce myself. My name of Fujiwara Hikage and i'm 16 years old. In most aspects i'm just a normal high school stundent, average grades, average looks, average amount of friends. However there is one exception, a pretty big one you could say, and that is the fact that i can see and talk to ghosts. I've had this ability as far as i can remember and it has brought me more than a little trouble over the years.
As you can imagine, children can be very vicious to those that are different, and it was no different in my case. The pain of those experiences made me realize at a young age that i should not speak of my gift to others, it would only bring me pain and heartache.
When i was 11 my parents died and,with no close family, i was left alone. Thankfully my parents had been fairly succesful in their careers and left me a sizable inheritance, enough at i wouldn't have to get a job immediatly and would be able to pay for college when the time came.
So i lived my life like that, one day after the other, while being bored out of my mind. Until the “event” , as i had come to calling it, happened.
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After i finished my breakfast and changed into my uniform, i left my house. On the way to school, which was close enough for me to walk there, i greeted a few neighbours and acquaintances, some of which were you could say “special”.
As you may have guessed, these special individuals were ghosts. Right now i was talking with the ghost of a little girl that had died in a car crash a few years ago in a nearby intersection.
“Onii-chan, are you going to school already?”
Talking to this girl, Mei, always put a smile on my face.
“ Yes, Mei-chan. I am.”
“But, isn't it a bit early?” She asked with an adorably confused face.
“Indeed, however i have club activities this morning and need to get there a tad earlier” I answered with said smile on my face.
“I see, then come talk more with me after school, okay onii-chan?”
“ Of course i will, because Mei-chan is cute”
Mei blushed an adorable shade of pink and said,
“Promisse?”
“Promisse” I said, with the same goofy smile on my face.
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As i continued on my way to school, i came across an alley from which odd sounds were coming. Now normally i would just keep walking, however for some reason i can't explain i felt drawn to it.
As i peeked my head into the alley i saw it, a woman was being surround by a group lf 3 men, she looked extremely unconfortable and close to tears. The men were crowding her and leering at her body. As i strained to listen i heard one of the men say to her,
“Come on baby, i know you want us. Otherwise why would you come into a deserted alley with strangers?
“ I-i just arrived in Tokyo an you s-said you would take me to the t-train station! T-that's why i followed you here.” said the woman in a panic.
“Oh come on, only a country bumpkin would fall for that,it's one of the oldest tricks in the book” said the second man while looking at her and licking his lips, a greedy look in his eyes.
~Well he is right, only a country bumpkin would follow three strange men into a dirty, deserted alley like this~ I thought.
The woman now had a panic striken look in her face, so i decided to intervene. Don't get me wrong, i am no hero. In fact i am very selfish in most of my actions. However i don't think i would be able to live with myself if something were to happen to this woman, even though it's partially her fault for being a naive idiot.
I grabbed an iron pipe that was laying around the entrance of the alley, and testing it's weight and center of gravity, i held it in a firm grip and entered the alley.
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Once i entered the alley, the woman looked in my direction and showed a relieved face. The men, noticing this, looked behind themselve and scowled. With the threat of bodily harm in his voice, the first man who seemed to be the leader said,
“Run along now boy, you don't wanna mess with us. This bitch is ours”
This was followed by a chorus of “Yeah, that's right” from the other two men.
When i said nothing, he saw the pipe i was holding and smirked, saying
“What are you going to do with tha pipe, little boy?” And laughed nastily at me, quickly followed by the other would-be rapists.
“I will do nothing. As long as you leave here quietly of course.” I said while looking at them as if they were the scum at the bottom of my shoes.
Now, i was fairly confident i could beat them. I've been practicing kendo since elementary school, and although not an expert nor a genius at it, i was still very good or so said my sensei. Nevertheless i was still a tasd nervous, after all it was the first time i would be using these skills in real combat.
The man looked at me with furious eyes and with a “tch...” took a knife out of his pocket.
“You should've run when i told ya boy, now i'm gonna mess ya up” he said, thinking that after seeing the knife i would run scared.
I let out a sigh and holding the pipe in the basic two-handed kendo grip, i positioned my self in the apropriate stance and said,
“Come at me!”
The three men looked at each other and two of them rushed at me, including the one with the knife. When the knife-wielding miscreant reached me he tried to cut me with the blade, i side-stepped from the path of the knife and ,using the “hilt” of the pipe i hit him in the wrist causing him to drop the knife, i then kneed him in the stomach and as he doubled over, i hit him on his back with pipe. The second man was dispatched just as swiftly and seeing this,third man ran away leaving his “friends” behind.
As i saw this i turned to look at the woman and just as i was going to ask her if she was okay the men tha was holding the knife got on his knees and stabbed me twice, once in the leg ,and as i bent, once again straight in the heart.
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After stabbing me, the man grabbed his friend and ran away. As i was laying there in the rapidly growing pool of my own blood i looked at the woman and said,
“P-please c-call for h-help”
After i spoke those words the woman looked at me and with a scream ran stumbling out of the alley while saying,
“I'm sorry! So sorry!”
Now i, left behind dying thought spitefully,
~ Well, no good deed goes unpunished huh~
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~ I'm dying...~
That was my thought after a few seconds passed. I could feel it, my life quickly seeping out of my body, my vision blured and darkened. However i realized i did not feel fear. Sure i wasn't happy that i was dying because i tried saving someone that didn't even have the decency to call an ambulance before fleeing, but i did not feel any fear.
~ Well it's not like my life held any meaning, i was living one day after the other, bored out of my mind and completely uncaring regarding everything~ I thought.
However as i felt the last spark of life leaving me i had a sudden thought,
~ I won't be able to keep my promise with Mei-chan after all huh~ And after that, i died.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw that i was in a place completely white and empty. Before i could stop myself the words that left my mouth were,
“Huh, so this is the afterlife? How very drab”
Not expecting a response i was startled when someone said,
“This is not the afterlife, Fujiwara Hikage. It is a place this one has specially created in order to have this meeting with you.”
Turning around, i was so startled that i blurted,
“And who the devil are you!?”
The entity smiled and said,
“I am this world's God of Death”
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While baffled by the entity's words, after looking at her my first thought was,
~ What a beautiful woman~
And that she was. With black hair as if it had been woven from night itself, skin as white as snow, enchanting ruby lips and mesmerizing purple eyes, she was the embodiment of beauty.
As i thought that however, her words finally sunk in and i said,
“ I see. So you're the God of Death huh. Wait a second, what do you mean this world's god of death?
“We will get to that shortly. This one's name is Thanateia, and as i said i am a god of death.
“ Okay... I'm Fujiwara Hikage”
“ This one knows who you are, after all you're the only mortal to whom this one has spoken to in millenia”
“ The circumtances of your death are most peculiar, since as far as this one knows, you shouldn't exist in the first place. Not in this world at least.”
Utterly confused, i asked,
“What do you mean? I'm not supposed to exist?”
Looking at me with curious but apologetic eyes, she said
“Well you see, when you died and your soul tried to move on our system warned us of an anomaly. Apparently your soul was not supposed to be on earth, therefore there was no record of you being born.”
I wasn't following is crazy conversation, how could there be no records of my existance?
~ I mean, even though i haven't lived the longest or most impressive of lives but come on, no records?~
“ I see you're confused. This one shall explain everything now.”
“Okay...” I nervously respond.
She smiled at my nervous look and said,
“ Right. Now as you may have infered by now, many worlds exist in many different dimensions, Earth is but one of them. Most of these worlds are inhabited by various sentient species, humans included of course. It was in one of these worlds, Gaeia, that you were supposed to be born, however because of what you may call a clerical error, your soul fell through the cracks and ended up here.”
I was stunned. My entire life up until now was nothing more than a clerical error, a cosmic mistake.
Taking advantage of my stunned silence, Thanatea continued.
“ Because your soul was not meant for this world, your situation is very unique. We have no records about you, refor your soul cann be sent to an appropriate afterlife. After much debate, we have decided to send your soul to Gaeia, the world you were meant to be born all along. However beacause of the aberrant circumstances of your life until now, we cannot erase your memories and because of that you cannot be reincarnated through normal means, as the mind of an infant would not be capable of withstanding the massive amount of information gained in 16 years of life.”
While still being flabbergasted at the situation, Hikage always prided himself in having a calm and collected mind, refore he was able to grasp the current situation well enough and understood what voluptious deity had said.
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Deciding to finally engage in the conversations properly, he asked,
“ So, how are you going to send me there? After all i can't reincarnate”
Happy thatnshe was dealing with a intelligent individual, capable of quickly grasping the situation, she gladly explained
“ Well our plan is simple, we have created a new body for your soul to inhabit. That body is already matured to an age equivalent to the age you died in and is waiting for your soul, in stasis, to be put in it. We have reproduced the appearance of this new body to be identical to your old one, with the exeption of the fact that said body has the racial traits of the dark elves, the race you were supposed to be born in to.”
Curious, i asked
“ Dark elves? Are they one of the races that inhabit Gaeia?”
“Indeed,they are.” She answered while smiling.
“Amongst races in Gaeia, elvish races are most famous for their very long life spans and massive magic capacity, the biggest amongst all races in Gaeia. Dark elves specify in Dark magic, and most of the powerful black arts experts came from this elvish sub-race. All the elvish sub-races come descend from the old High elves, a race that no longer exists.”
“ I understand. But magic? There is such a thing?”
“Ah, this one is not surprised you don't know of magic, after all there hasn't been any considerable amount of magic on Earth for eons.”
Surprised, i asked
“ There was magic on earth?”
“ Indeed there was, a long time ago. However it slowly dissapeared several millenia ago, the reasons are not relevant however. Anyway, Gaeia is different from earth because it is a world abundantin magic, and since all races can use it the world has developed differently than earth. Whereas Earth develped in technology, Gaeia developed in magic, therefore the level of advancement in Gaeia is equivalent to earths middle ages. It is a world of swords and magic, of heroes and demon lords, it can be a very harsh but also very beautiful world.”
Now excited with the prospect of magic, he had a question,
“ Magic, huh? Sounds like a fantasy novel. Anyway is the fact that i was meant to be born in a world with magic the reason why i could see spirits and ghosts?”
Thanateia widens her eyes in surprise and asks,
“ You could see ghosts and spirits? My ,my the innate magic of your souls must be extremely powerful. Considering, as i said, there hasn't been any measurable amount of magic on Earth for a very long time. But to answer your question, yes it is because of your innate magic that you were capable of interacting with those of the spirit wolrld. I have a suspicion regarding your parttuicular magical gift however because of your aberrant situation i cannot see it myself.”
Confused and a tad sad, i asked
“ Is there no way for me to know?”
“ Well, lets see. Gaeia, the world you are going to, has a system of levels, skills and attributes, and as a soul originally from there you should be capable of displaying your status window.”
Astonished,i thought
~ Levels? Skills? Stats window? Forget fantasy novel, that's more like a game!?
“ What's up with this screwed up world!? Is it a game?!”
Laughing softly, Thanatea explained.
“Hahaha, indeed. Anyway just say [Status] while thinking about your status window being opened.”
While still dubious, he decided to just do it and see what happened.
“ [Status]!” He said clearly, if a bit too loudly.
To his surprise a blueish white screen appeared floating in front of his face.
“What the fuck?” He said, bewildered.
“ Hou, i see that i was right about your magical gift.” Said Thanatea, while looking impressed.
“ What are you talking about?” I asked, surprise still colouring my voice.
“ Look for yourself, it is all there for you to see.”
Deciding to do as she says, I looked at the displayed information on the window.
...Personal information...
STATUS
NameFujiwara HikageAge16/Ageless SoulRaceUndetermined; SoulClassArch-NecromancerCurrent statusDead; Disembodied SoulHealth--/1300Mana2150Strength120Dexterity200Agility150Wisdom350Intellect500Stamina300
Magic/Skills/Unique Abilities
Magical attributeDarknessAllows user to perform darkness based spells at half the mana cost. Spell of other attributes will cost 2 times the mana required, while spells of the Light attribute will cost 3 times the specified mana required.Basic SkillsInspectAllows the user to inspect objects, individuals and other life forms.Shadow storageAllow the user to store an infinite amount of items in a special space, making it possible to deposit and withdraw items at any time.Language ComprehensionAllows the user to understand and speak all languages of Gaeia.Physical SkillsSwordsmanshipAfter years of arduous training you were able to develop a deep knowledge and ability in the swordsmanship style of the Yagyu-Shinkage Ryu school. Damage increased 5x when using a sword. [Kenjutsu] ; [Battoujutsu].Magical skillsDark ArtsYou are an adept of the black arts, as long as you posess the knowledge and mana, it allows you to cast any spell of this group. Coupled with Darkness affinity, it provides you with 20% resistance against harmfull dark magic.Magic SensingAllows the user to sense magic within a 100 meter radius. Radius can be expanded with continuous use.Mana AbsorptionAllows the user to absorb mana from nature and the enviroment around.Unique MagicNecromancyAs a necromancer, you have power over the dead. This unique magic is the rarest magical gifts. Although skilled dark magic practitioners can possess limited power over the dead, said ability pales over the necromancer's absolute command over death itself. A skilled necromancer can bring the dead back to life, and control entire armies of the undead including zombies,ghouls, wraiths, ravenants and ghosts. Extremely powerful necromancers can even cheat death itself, by becoming the immortal and almost allmighty Lich. Arch-necromancer class grants a 50% increase in the power and overall eficiency of necromantic spells.
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I was, once again stunned. I don't know about the standards of Gaeia, however i seem to be fairly OP.
~What the hell!? Am i a cheat character!?~ I thought, feeling a bit suspicious.
“As i thought, you are a necromancer, and fairly powerful one at that. Even without any race bonus all your attributes are fairly high, at least 5x times the average for someone of your level and in case of mana and wisdom/intellect it's 10x the average. But to think you would be an arch-necromancer, they are even rarer, specially to be born as one as it usually takes years of training and experience to become one.”
“ As i thought, i'm a cheat character. Sigh...” I said while feeling a bit uncomfortable
.
“Not at all, although you are very powerful it is not unheard of to be born this powerful, although i believe it has been around 500 years since someone as powerful as you was born in Gaeia. In fact, since she was also a member of the elvish race she's still alive and the current Queen of the Woodland elves”
“I see...” Not really all that reassured,500 years is a long time after all. Being the most powerful individual born in the last 500 years still sounds very cheaty.
“Now, i believe this one doesn't have to explain anything else regarding your powers and abilities, correct?” Said Thanatea with an expectant gaze.
“I guess not...” Despite still being kind of astonished at my cheat-like powers i did undersntand, after all descriptions in the status window were very clear.
“ Very well. Now let's get to the main event, remaining in this place for too long as a soul is not very healthy. Your body awaits you, so the last bit of information i have to tell you is that since you have no knowledge about the world of Gaeia and about magic took the liberty of giving your body comprehensive knowledge about the world, a bit more than a average person of your age would have. Things such as names of and basic informations about continents and countriesnand their history, lenght of the year as well as names of months and days, the measurement system and etc.
Since you also would be a full fledged sorcerer by now if you had been born there we also gave
you a deep knowledge about everything related to magic, specially dark arts and necromancy. You virtually know all spells in existance for all branches of magic, although as you know from the description in your status window, you won't be capable of casting many of them in your current level, although still considerably more than most masters of magic, in fact because of the limitations imposed by magical afinity you probably won't ever be able to cast the ultimate spells of magical branches outiside of dark arts and necromancy. However i believe that when you reach a high enough level you will be able to cast high tier magic in all branches, including light magic, although it will consume an extremely vast amount of mana because of the affinity restricition. Therefore you shall have the knowledge, work hard to get the power. Oh one more thing, once your soul is inside your new body your attributes will rise mildly and you will feel the effects of racial bonus, which is unique to each race.”
“Ok, i understand. Thank you for everything Thanatea-sama” I say while performing dogeza.
“You are most welcome. It was our error after all,it is only right for us to fix it.” She said, while inclining her head.
After that she walked in my direction and asked
“Are you ready?”
With a nervous look, i nodded.
Then, out of the blue, she kissed me. It was only a quick kiss, but it left my lips numb.
“Good luck, Fujiwara Hikage. I hope we can meet again, but not too soon, okay?”
Before i could reply, i felt a sudden but strong dizzyness and started falling, however before i could reach the ground...
Evertything went pitch black.
And thus, my new life, the life i was meant to live all along, begun.