THE DEVIL GAMER, REBIRTH WITH A BANG.
LordApollo98
PROLOGUE
SELF INSERT POV.
I must say, getting run over by a truck sure is a shitty way to end off your day. Granted, I didn't actually feel anything at the point where my head popped like a ripe watermelon so at least I didn't die in extreme agony and prolonged suffering. Thank goodness for small mercies I guess. Anyway, enough about such bleak thoughts. Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Magnus Adams and up until my departure from the earthly plain I was a seventeen year old boy living in Cape Town, South Africa. I can definitely say that I had had a pretty decent life until now. My family was quite well off in terms of lifestyle, my dad was a well-known business consultant for a couple of big food companies while my mom owned her own interior design company and worked from her office at our home in Camps Bay. I had two other siblings, an older brother named Brad and a younger sister named Chloe but I'll get to them later.
At the time of my death I attended a boy's only school called SACS. I used to stay at the private residence on the campus itself and would come home during the weekends and holidays. Being at an all-boys school definitely had its advantages. While some would say that attending an all-boys school doesn't teach you the know-how on how to interact fully with other people (cough-cough girls!) and that it turns young boys into delinquents, I would beg to differ as the headmaster and teachers were extremely uncompromising in how we were to represent ourselves and our school.
In terms of interacting with girls, I personally wasn't that interesting in dating and had enjoyed a few hook-ups over the years but nothing serious. Some guys however, were still pretty efficient when it came to wooing and seducing members of the opposite sex and this was helped along by the conveniently placed all girls' school not too far from us which allowed for many a nocturnal visit on both sides.
While I was at Sacs one of the school rules was that sport was mandatory for all learners, no matter their level of fitness or whether they did or didn't want to take part. As such I took up water polo as a summer sport in summer and rugby in winter. This catapulted me into the spotlight quite soon due to me being a gifted athlete in both sports. At my peak I was a staggering 188 centimetres tall and weighed just under 105 kilograms. Water polo had broadened my shoulders, given me a flat, chiselled chest and strengthened my back. Because of my size I was instantly put forward as a forward when I started rugby, moving on to play as a flank and/or eighth man because of the drastic increases in speed and power that I was capable of producing. This led to me bulking up considerably, especially in my arms legs and chest areas.
All this along with my long-ish midnight black hair, sapphire blue eyes and tanned skin made me one of the most desirable guys in the area according to a few of the girls that I was on friendly terms with. Me, being me, prevented the very idea of girls being interested in myself and I chalked it up to them just being polite and continued to remain oblivious to girls' feelings of me up until our current moment in time.
By the time I reached my Matric year I was already first team for water polo and rugby and captain and vice-captain for each respectively. I had already been scouted out to play provincial for both sports and I had recently been awarded a full scholarship to Stellenbosch University to play for their rugby and water polo teams. As you can imagine this made me extremely popular among the lads and lasses that I came into contact with, the latter more so than the former of course.
Not only was I a gifted sportsman but I also received good enough marks from my seven distinctions in matric to qualify for the engineering course at Stellenbosch before I even got the sports scholarship. By this point you might be thinking, "Oh gosh this guy sounds so dreamy I wish I could meet him!", if you were a girl, or, "Dam that lucky bastard, brains, brawn and good looks, the chicks must be drooling over a guy like this. I wish I could be like him!" if you were a guy. This was good and all but there was one thing that hardly anyone actually knew about me. And that was, that I was a complete…and utter…nerd.
Shocking isn't it? Me, the very epitome of a jock and popular guy rolled into one that other boys crave to be and girls' desire with all their hearts, was a closet nerd. To tell you the truth though, I was a nerd long before I became a sports prodigy. From an early age I had come into contact with things like gaming, anime and comics. This was due to my early childhood friend, Daisuke Hoshimoto, an immigrant from Japan who moved next to me when we were both ten years old. When we first met my parents and I went over to meet the new neighbours, along with a couple of moving in gifts and some local gossip for the woman to discuss.
The Hoshimotos' were your typical Japanese middle class family from what I could gather. The father, Hinato, was a video game developer who was taking up the post of CEO of the gaming company he worked for which had just opened a branch in Cape Town. The mom, Makari, was a housewife who liked to do charity work for underprivileged people and was apparently quite well known in the central African countries for the foundations and charities she had helped set up along with a few large corporations and businesses that had partnered with her to complete the objectives of bettering the lives of others.
And finally we have Daisuke, the first real friend I've ever had. He was a small boy, a couple inches shorter than me when we first met and skinny as a rake. Despite his small appearance he made up for it with his larger than life personality, allowing us to hit it off instantly despite the slight language and cultural differences we had.
While our folks were busy talking in their lounge, Daisuke showed me around his house, ending off at his bedroom. When he opened the unassuming white, wooden door, my eyes instantly took in the décor of the room. Four walls, each one completely covered in posters of games and weird looking cartoons in big Japanese symbols. Strange action figures of cartoon characters in many different poses and costumes, each placed on specialized shelves with the names of the character written underneath it on a pristine paper label with characters like Son Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto and Natsu Dragneel were among the few of dozens placed around the room. And lo and behold, the crown jewel of the room. A massive flat-screen TV attached to one of the latest Alienware gaming laptops and Blue-Ray DVD player. And stacked on shelves on either side of the TV were a plethora of DVDs, PC games, comics and novels by the dozen.
Standing in this room, surrounded by objects that at the time, were the covet of almost every young boys dreams and wishes, a dumbstruck expression slowly dawned upon my face the more I was able to take in the heavenly sight, an expression that Daisuke must have enjoyed if the proud grin on his face was any indication.
From that destined first encounter, our friendship was solidified by many hours and sleepless nights playing games, reading comics and watching Japanese cartoons which he called 'anime' of all things. Strangely enough, we both had practically identical tastes when it came to what kind of games, movies and books we liked. We were both huge fantasy fans, with stories and gameplay filled with mythical creatures, enchanted arms and armour, magic and plenty of fighting.
One of the most popular series of games that we enjoyed playing were the Elder Scrolls, Dungeons & Dragons, Warcraft and Baldur's Gate, each one filled with different lore's, creatures, magic, weapons and glorious combat. RPGs were our favourite type of game to play as you were able to interact so much more with your chosen character compared to other games, and being able to choose and perfect the different skills and attributes of your avatar were extremely rewarding.
To me it was almost as if you were the character in the game and it was your goal to make the most powerful character ever with only you having a say in how the character evolves and progresses in the game, though Daisuke had to help me out quite often when we first started playing them. According to him I had the decision making skills of a toddler when it came to deciding how I wanted to evolve my characters. When we weren't playing games in his room we would be found reading anime manga and comics at my house were we mutually agreed to have the more comfortable sitting and relaxing areas, my room being full of bean bags and giant pillows was testament to that belief.
Admittedly we both tended to run out of reading material quite often and as such many of our weekends were spent at bookstores and comic book shops in town, were we would spend hours walking around and finding new material or follow-ups to our current reading lists.
While we both had similar tastes in anime and comics, we both had different favourites. Though we were both in love with the Dragonball Z series, Overlord and Fairy Tail, being huge fans of the anime and manga, I thoroughly enjoyed One Piece, an adventure/fantasy genre which follows the adventures of Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew as they sail the seas searching for the legendary treasure of the infamous pirate, Gol D. Roger, the famed One Piece.
Daisuke on the other hand was a huge fan of Naruto. While we weren't petty enough to downright refuse to watch each other's preferred shows, even though he liked One Piece a lot more than I liked Naruto, we still had many enjoyable moments watching episode after episode in his room with nought but popcorn, soda and copious amounts of sweets to keep us company.
Growing up like this certainly had its advantages. On one side, the side filled with sports, popularity and fan boys/girls, and on the other, games, comics, anime and general nerdynish. As a jock and all round popular guy I was able to learn the sophisticated social skills expected of someone of my calibre, a skill that was extremely necessary in the 'Game of Thrones' level of backstabbing and friend making that is high school. This also paved the way for many different experiences such as going to parties, concerts and other similar activities that the typical elitists of our age groups usually do to pass their ever existing free time.
On the other hand, the part that I definitely enjoyed more if I am to be completely honest with you, I had my little known nerdish side, the part of me that will happily sit on my gaming chair and play RPGs and strategy games on my gaming laptop (I had long since gotten my own one) such as Total War: Warhammer, Warcraft and other fantasy based games, along with reading and trying new comics and anime. As a matter of fact, it was because I went out to buy a new manga that ultimately got me killed in the first place!
It all started on a Saturday morning. Daisuke and I had planned to visit the comic book store later on in the day once I had finished a rugby match against our school rivals, Bishops High School, which we won thoroughly. Unfortunately, Daisuke had food poisoning from eating a chicken-mayo sandwich that he bought from the tuckshop at school the previous day, which I warned him against eating by the way. The guy eats too much for his own good sometimes. How he stays so thin with the amount he eats is still beyond me. Anyway, even though he was bedridden with his mouth halfway in a bucket for safety, he still encouraged me to head out by myself and bring back some new reading material from the store. We had both recently discovered this new series called Highschool DxD, a manga that had received decent reviews online to warrant us giving it a try.
Though we don't often look up whether a manga or game is worth getting or not, as we enjoyed the thrill of not knowing what we were getting so that we could make our own decisions and observations of our new piece rather than going in with set knowledge, we still had a sneak peek at what some of the reviewers had to say about it. Some of the more common statements about it was that it was one of those echi romance/adventure/fantasy genres filled with boobs, action, nudity and a fascinating mix of mythologies and making fun of different religions in general.
Apparently it was about some perverted teenage boy called Issei something-or-other, who is reincarnated into a devil after he gets killed, by a fallen angel of all things, as a servant to an uber-hot red head called Rias Gremory. Anyway the whole plot revolves around him basically being able to reach god like strength and powers as he progresses through the story while finding love with many different girls from different religions and factions (I did say it was an echi manga). After reading these comments we both decided that it was definitely worth taking a look at, leading me to the current situation of myself being run over by a bloody taxi of all things.
I won't get into the details but basically I was crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing, thinking everything was fine and dandy, when a taxi went motoring into me, even though A) the traffic light was red, B) I was on a pedestrian crossing and thus C) I had the GOD-DAMMED RIGHT OF WAY YOU FUCKING JACKASS! In the few seconds that I remained conscious with blood pouring out my head and people screaming in the background, my eyes fell on my backpack lying next to me, the cover of my new DxD manga peeking out the zipper being the last thing I saw as slowly the world around me became blurred, darkness began to creep into my vision from all sides of my periphery and the screams and sounds of chaos slowing fading away as I died with a small smile on my face.
Within a realm that none could enter there was a mountain in the middle of a lake. Not a very impressive mountain by any means but about as good as a lump of rock could be. No, what was truly impressive was the impossibly tall tower at its summit. A tower so impressively large, that it's top disappeared into the dark clouds above it, creating the illusion that its height was never ending. It was a tower that sucked in all light for it was of a colour so dark that the night sky around it seemed as daylight in comparison. There were no lights for there were no windows for it to shine out of.
The only thing that proved its existence as a building and not a sinister, shadowy cylinder reaching for the heavens was an impressive blood-red door at its base, with small torches of red and black flames adorned at its sides and handle knobs of the finest brass and gold on its surface. From the door there led a road. A road of obsidian slabs, each with different colours speckled into it and each one polished to a sheen. This road led down the mountain to the lake, where a small wooden boat lay at anchor next to a jetty of rotten wooden planks and frayed ropes. The lake itself was covered in a thick layer of smog and extended as far as the eye could see and for all intents and purposes this is all this realm was. A mountain and tower amidst an ocean of fog in perpetual darkness.
With its aura of darkness exuding from it, one would expect it to be the abode of a dark sorcerer, or, if you're more gaming orientated like our dear departed Magnus, a dungeon filled with monsters and dark magic. The reality of its purpose however, was a completely different story.
"MELODYYYY WE'VE GOT ANOTHER ONEEE!" shouted a young looking, blonde haired girl as she burst into the office of her supervisor. "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SACRED AND HOLY WOULD YOU STOP SCREAMING MARIE!?" a voice coming from behind the mountain of paperwork on the desk replied in an equal amount of volume. "Now, in your inside voice please explain what you mean about us having another one?" Marie's boss Melody replied while slowly massaging her forehead with one of her hands. 'Honestly if I'd known that having to take on an apprentice sight-seer would be this stressful I would've stayed on the scrying floor with the rest of the girls' she thought with a melancholic frown on her otherwise beautiful face.
You see, Melody was an elder sight seer. One of thousands whose job it was to watch over important events in the world of man and report back to their patrons, the Sisters of Fate. One of their many jobs was to look out for people that had been 'Fate Marked' or marked by Fate herself. As the personification of Fate, she saw the destiny and future of each and every single sentient being within her gaze and those of her three daughters, and every century or so, the Lady Fate would randomly choose one out of trillions to receive her blessing. These blessings often varied according to whatever reason she had for granting them her blessing, whether it was to create a hero to battle against forces of evil, moulding a villain to balance the scales of an otherwise overly peaceful planet or just to amuse her and her daughters during their constant plight of boredom. And it seemed that another one had just popped up onto the proverbial radar.
In a much calmer and controlled voice, Marie replied while straitening her shirt "Another Fate-marked just came onto the grid ma'am. The one from sector BT-5745-Earth. He's currently in limbo and awaiting his transaction to the new beta model" she finished off with a Cheshire smile and a mad twinkle in her eyes. After a moment of stunned silence, Melody gained the same expression as her younger protégé and replied in a husky tone that sent pleasurable shivers down Marie's spine "Well then, we wouldn't want to keep our young friend waiting now do we?" placing her current load of paperwork on in one of her numerous cabinets, Marie and Melody proceeded down the many passageways and offices of their fellow sight-seers who respectably moved out the way of their elder and her apprentice whenever they happened to pass.
"So what can you tell me about our newest arrival?" Adopting a thoughtful expression, Marie replied "Not much to be honest. For some reason his file didn't contain that much information other than his name, age and a few other titbits on his bio." Melody frowned at this information. Usually a fate-marked, when they died and entered the deathly plain, would receive a veritable library of information about their past life and what Lady Fate had in store for them. This kind of occurrence had never happened before, which led to her being both troubled and curious about this latest development.
After a few minutes of walking where both continued to contemplate this latest phenomenon, Marie and Melody reached the room dubbed as 'limbo' by the sight seers, as this was the area were the fate-marked were placed in stasis while their new lives and duties were organised according to their assigned elder sight-seer and sight-seer apprentice. As the pair strode through the doorway, both pairs of eyes immediately locked on to the figure hovering mid-air in the centre of the room, and both instantly began to form blushes at the sight. The room itself was cloaked in darkness. The only light source came from the young man who was currently producing a faint light that slowly moved around him an almost sentient-like manner, gently caressing his body like that of a lover and giving him a windswept appearance.
Due to both woman having their gazes locked onto the admittedly handsome young man, neither noticed the small figure seated on the floor in front of the object of their interest. Melody, being the one least controlled by her hormones of the two, was the first to break off eye contact with her new charge and notice the now noticeably feminine figure sitting in front of her. As she shifted into the elder sight-seer persona that she used on her fellow seers and apprentices and prepared to admonish what she believed was a young apprentice that had managed to gain access into a restricted area, she was beaten to it by a soft, melodious voice coming from the young looking girl.
"Fascinating, isn't it? Someone this plain and boring was able to garner the attention of my mother and sisters. It is strange how they seem to hold his future in such high regard and yet I have yet to see anything other than the potential of a powerful destiny coming from him." With an even softer voice and a slight lowering of her head, she added, "Whether or not this destiny is one of greatness or tragedy still remains to be seen though…Strange…So very strange."
With the sudden realisation of who they were in the presence of, both women bowed low from the waist, with both their skin tones going unnaturally pale and cartoonish sweat drops coming from their foreheads. "Lady Atropos, our sincerest apologies, we didn't realise you were already in here. If you wish we can come back some other time" Melody, as the eldest of the two arrivals was the one to speak up and address one of their patron gods.
Even though she was considered one of the oldest currently living in the tower, she could still count on one hand the number of times that she had been in the presence of one of the sisters of Fate, never mind Lady Fate herself who never left the top of the tower, preferring to remain in isolation and only ever conferring with her daughters who relayed tasks from her to the elder seers like Melody.
Finally turning around to meet the eyes of her two person audience, the young looking yet ancient being known as Atropos graced her two subordinates with a small smile "It's alright" she said as she gave a small wave towards the person currently floating behind her "I just wanted to see the one that's gotten my mother and sisters so worked up in the last few hours" Immediate surprise dawned on the faces of the two older woman.
To gain the attention of one of the sisters was a common occurrence for a fate-marked as there was a little known competition among the three on who would be able to sponsor the most powerful and influential of the fate-marked beings set up by their mother. To gain the interest of two was much less common. To get two of the sisters worked up along with Lady Fate, and being important enough for the most powerful of the Three to personally come visit him while in stasis was beyond comprehension for the two seers. Never before, in either of their combined memories and knowledge had something like this happened before.
After successfully hiding her shock and awe of the what she had just hear and thanking all the gods whose names she could remember for allowing her to be assigned to the young man in front of her, Melody proceeded towards the wall containing the HUD which had all the data of the young man. "So, Lady Atropos, from what I can remember, Mr. Adam's here is meant to be the first of your mother's Beta models, is he not?"
"That is correct. My mother recently had an epiphany on how best to make him as strong as possible in the short space of time that he has to fulfil his purpose in his new universe." Slowly raising her hand towards Magnus, Atropos added in an almost sombre tone "It's amazing to think that one so young will have so much responsibility placed on him." Quickly schooling her features lest they be seen by the other two, she added with a happier note "It makes me happy that mother has put me in charge of this new operation. It will be fascinating to see how he progresses in his new life"
Looking up from where she was typing on the keyboard of the HUD, Melody and Marie shared a sharp glance "We weren't aware you had been assigned to this operation Lady Atropos. Will you be taking it over completely from us?" Marie gave a small nod towards her master and an enquiring look towards Atropos, completely curious about these new arrangements as well.
"No. I will merely be your direct supervisor in the grand scheme of things. I will also be the one to approve any and all outside help towards him while preventing outside interference." Even though she was physically smaller and younger looking than her two companions, her next words proved why she was seen as the most powerful of her sisters and her mother's favoured child "I cannot reiterate how important this mission is. Nothing about this mission will be by the book and we will be starting this whole operation from scratch. This new system could be what changes everything for all of us and the universe he's being sent to. So I'm asking you this once and once only. Will you be the ones to help me in this endeavour and gain fame among your peers as the seers who guided our Lady's greatest champion? Or, must I find someone else to take your place?"
Almost immediately, both women fell to their knees in supplication and answered in one voice "We are with you Lady Atropos! By the will of our Lady and yours we will take to this task to the very best of our abilities!" Kneeling down to their level, Atropos firmly grasped both their hands and helped them rise to their feet. "Thank you. Both of you. Now that the formalities are out of the way…" She then turned to face the young man with both women flanking her, a small smile beginning to form on her face "Let's begin".