-Huh? Where am I?
Renki's body was in a dark cold abyss, dressed in his work outfit which consists of a typical black and white business suit with a tie. In all the darkness a portal made out of pure light suddenly flashed in front of Renki.
-Light?
A tall man then emerged from the portal, clapping. The man had short smooth black hair and black eyes. He donned a black cloak with two swords on his back. The man was the height of a 16-year-old and his complexion was tan. He reassembled a generic isekai protagonist.
"Hello, Wukong."
"How do you know my family name?"
"That does not matter now."
"Why am I here?"
The man smiled.
"I'm glad you asked… you, alongside the rest of Japan, are in a sort of lucid dream state."
"Why just Japan?"
"Did you read the ad?"
Renki's eyes expand in shock.
"So… what now? What was the point of all this?"
"Japan has become boring, depressing, and full of "losers". So I used everyday tech to send out a certain amount of radio waves to put you in a lucid dream which is ruled by the creative."
"Hey, could you send me back?"
"Why?"
"I have work to do for my boss back at my job."
"In this new world, you could rule your boss and take power for yourself."
"Nah, that sounds lame I've never wanted to rule."
"Workers are losers."
"Shut up, you knock-off Kirito!"
"You have quite a big mouth."
"After I turned 18 I realized that instead of being a boss… I wanted to be depended on like a hero who saves the girl in the end becoming a legend."
"In this world, you can become whatever you want."
"Really?"
"Yes, could be the one to save the girl and start your own."
"Will we be stuck in the lucid dream forever?"
"No, to free everyone from this dream you must defeat me."
"Wait, did you rip off SAO!?"
"No, our plots are just similar."
"Plot? You say it as if we were in a fantasy light novel?"
"Nevermind that. As soon as you reach the new world I will be in a floating castle above the sky."
"I knew it! You did rip off SAO!"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
He did rip off Sao but he would never admit it.
"For someone who talks about being original and creative to rip off SAO… it makes you a massive hypocrite."
The man grabbed the collar of his cloak as his face began to look irritated.
"Japan is so uncreative that every new isekai protagonist after 2019 was just a knock-off of Kirito!"
"And Kirito is a knock-off of Guts, who was the original black swordsman!''
"Shut up!"
"Kirito will never be as cool and emotionally scarred as guts!"
"Shut up!"
"I don't know who you are but… Guts is the best swordsman in fiction!"
"I've grown tired of your voice. Begone!"
Then suddenly, in a flash of light blue energy, Renki disappeared into thin air.
"Where am I?''
Renki reappeared lying on top of a hill. The grass cut into his skin as he sprung up onto his feet. He wiped off the grass and dirt from his business suit. He looked over the horizon seeing a massive city filled to the brim with tech.
–Woah, that city is huge!
He turned around looking behind him, he saw a lush forest. The forest was filled with trees which when shone upon by the sun… looked stunning. Renki couldn't help but be stunned by its beauty himself.
"Now what to do?"
He turns around facing the tech-filled city.
"I may not have any relatives or friends but, it's never too late to start!"
He climbed down the hill heading towards the city.
–I want friends and family who know that they can depend on me. I honestly don't wanna defeat that Kirito-looking prick. But, if my friends wanted me to, I would step up to the task. But even so, who says I can defeat him anyway? Well, if I can't and I die… I'll be happy dying for my friend's wishes. It would be great though to punch that guy in the face at least once.
With those thoughts, he finished his 4-mile-long walk from the hill to the border of the city. He stops at a line and looks up at a futuristic sign which says, "Kurosaki, "City of the Dreamers."
"My first time in a new city, I hope it goes well."
He walks past the line and into a slum-like area.
"This place is a mess."
The area had old brick houses and burnt wooden houses with white picket fences. Unfortunately for Renki, he stumbled into an alley which gave him a bad feeling.
"A few years back mom told me never to go into an alley at night or in the morning and right now, it's dawn."
He stood at the entrance of the alley and then took a single step.
"No stop, please somebody help me!"
He heard what sounded like the cries for help from a young woman.
"Shut up, or do you wanna die!?"
"You are going behind what you paid for, stop it!"
"Who's gonna stop me?"
The male voice began to laugh.
"What do I do?"
Renki froze as shivers ran down his spine hearing the woman's cries.
"I know what I must do… I must save her and start my harem of beautiful women who depend on me!"
To him, losers would just mind their own business which is what he would have done but, now it's different. Now he could become above average and play the role of the hero who saves women in danger. Now it was his time to shine, were the only thoughts in his head.
"I'm ready."
He walked to where he heard the noise and saw a buff and greasy man on top of a frail young woman.
"You haven't even used your imagination against me yet, why?"
"Because I don't wanna hurt you."
"If that's the case then, the only useful thing about you is your body!"
The man drooled on the girl which made her cringe. The man was big and wore a white t-shirt. He reeked of must and had a fake gold chain around his thick neck. He had a blond, short mohawk and blue eyes with a pale complexion. The girl on the other hand was the exact opposite of her tormentor. The girl had long light brown hair that reached to her hips and she wore a small blue bikini which was very… revealing. She had hazel eyes and she seemed to be around 19. Along with her pale complexion, she doesn't stand out from any other prostitute. But, she wasn't what she seemed.
"Let her go!"
Seeing Renki at the top of the alley she smiled. He had fallen into her trap.
"Oh, god help me!"
With that cry for help, the pitch became louder and more innocent. The man turned around and looked at Renki before getting up off the woman who then crawled into the upper left corner of the alley.
"What do you want?"
"To be a hero who has a lot of friends and a harem of beautiful girls!"
–The nerves on this boy are insane.
"Well, you can't have her, she's mine!"
Hearing those words, Renki got into the typical fighting stance that he would see on TV. He aligned his feet and his elbows as he put his left fist in front of his cheek as a guard. He clenched his right fist tightly as he centered his balance.
"Huh? So you don't know how to use your imagination either."
"Imagination?"
"I'm not gonna tell you anything but, PREPARE TO GET THE SHIT BEATEN OUT OF YOU!"
"Come and get me!"
The man flexed his muscles as Renki threw a jab aimed at his stomach.
"Ha."
"Ahhh!"
The hit broke his entire left arm.
–Owowowow this hurts like hell!
His arm began to drip with blood as hitting his stomach felt like punching a skyscraper reinforced with tons of the sturdiest steel in the world. Renki crumbled down to the ground with a loud thud. He began to sob like a baby as his blood stained his suit.
–He's gonna kill me!
–I'm gonna kill this punk.
–Those two are pathetic, not knowing that I plan to kill and rob them for all of their money… ha, suckers!
"Get up!"
The man picks up Renki by the collar pinning him up against a wall.
"Please, let me go. I swear I won't mess with you again."
"I'm not gonna let you go."
"I don't wanna fight you."
"I don't wanna fight you either."
"Then could you let me g-"
"I wanna murder you!"
Renki gulps as shivers ran down his spine.
–Nevermind then.
"I'm gonna teach you never to play hero again."
The man slams Renki down to the ground with the force of a raging Gorilla. The impact broke three of his ribs. The pain almost caused him to pass out. The man cracked his knuckles as he loomed over Renki.
"The path of the hero has nothing in store for the person who goes down it except for pain and suffering. All of the people you love will die because of the path you went down. Do you really wanna be a hero now?"
"Yes." Renki weakly said.
"You wanna lose everyone around you!?"
Renki paused.
"I already have… So tell me after losing everyone you love, what do you have in life?"
Renki's words seemed to anger the man.
"The one thing you'll have is yourself. All you need is yourself. Individualism is the key to true power. But, I'm not all-powerful since I have a little brother who is my world."
"Individualism. Ha, don't make me laugh."
Renki began to giggle which intensified the man's rage. This show of anger caused the woman cowering to smirk.
–These fools bickering. Little do they know I'm just waiting for one to kill the other so I can take the scraps.
"What did you just say!?"
"What you call individualism is actually called… loneliness."
"Huh?"
"You yourself aren't lonely, you have a brother to go home to. You preach about something you don't understand. While I truly have no one neither family nor friends. But if I somehow survive this encounter then… All of that will change today!"
That declaration and insult to his philosophy made the man's rage peak as a menacing aura radiated from the man. The man grabbed Renki by his left arm lifting him up in the air intensifying the pain.
"Bastard."
"If you wanna reunite with your family then, let me have the honor of doing that for you."
Renki spat in the man's face which landed on his right cheek. He became angry as his face stiffened and he wiped away the spit with his left hand. His muscles swelled up and expanded, bursting his shirt into shreds.
"Go ahead and kill me."
Renki smirked at the man, aggravating him. His right fist began to swelter with energy which then produced a bright orange flame with intense heat. The flames spiked out before stabilizing and forming an intense circle of flames around his right fist.
"This is the power of imagination I was talking about earlier and my mind is the most creative there is. Witness the power of my mind. Phoenix Flaming Fist Burning Roaring Death Barrage!"
After that ridiculously long attack name, the man threw a flurry of flaming fists which have the power to destroy a small building, at Renki. Renki's eyes couldn't perceive any of the attacks as his skull was fractured and he cried out in pain. Blood began to spill out from all over Renki's body. The pain coursing through every cell in Renki's body was unimaginable.
The assault continued as he happily kept on breaking every single bone in Renki's body.
"I'll make you learn a lesson you little pig!"
The man continued his assault with the pain clouding Renki's thoughts.
–It hurts so much… I just wanna die.
He wished for death; it was all he could think of.
"Please… just kill me already."
"You wanna die well, fine!"
The man paused, trying to gather as much mental energy as he possibly could. Then suddenly, his fists burst out in an extremely hot white flame which is the second hottest type of fire. The energy is so intense that it even began to slightly burn the man himself. The man winded his right arm back preparing an attack that had the power to obliterate a skyscraper.
"Phoenix, God Destroyer Blast!"
The man swung his right arm straight into Renki's stomach, severely burning him. The impact of the attack sent Renki flying through the brick wall behind him. He crashed into a dumpster breaking it. At this point his body is in so much pain he couldn't even feel it. The taste of iron filled his mouth as his cherry red blood spilled from it. Both of his kidneys were destroyed and he's on death's door. His clothes and skin were completely charred as smoke came off of his body.
–Is this the end?
The man walked through the hole in the brick wall leading to the alley next to the previous.
"The reason you survived my previous attacks was due to me using half of my imagination to create a shield to slightly protect you because I wanted to see you squirm and scream in pain…. But now, it's the end."
"Mom, dad, I'm coming home." Renki groaned weakly.
"What? Crying to your mommy and daddy already? Pathetic."
The man turned his back to Renki's mangled body.
–Crap… I'm going to die… this is the end… it's not so bad… I'll reunite with mom and dad plus Lancelot and Rin. Maybe, dying won't be so bad.
The man went into the previous alley looking for the woman from earlier. He looked in the upper left corner of the alley where he last saw her only to find that she was gone.
"Damned bitch, must've gotten away!"
The man clenched his fists tightly.
"Don't worry, I haven't gone anywhere."
The man felt the coldness of steel pressing up against the back of his head. Standing behind him was the woman from earlier pressing an all purple handgun up against his head. The man gulped while sweating profusely as he began to fear for his life.
"What's wrong cat got your tongue?"
"W-What do you want? Money? And I thought you didn't know how to use your imagination?"
"Yeah sugar crumbs, I lied. This is my power. I call it "Gun Safe". It uses up a lot of imagination so as you could imagine, it's pretty powerful."
"You won't get away with this!"
"Says the one who just murdered a kid."
"Shut up!"
The woman takes off the hair she was wearing earlier, revealing it to be a wig. Her real hair is emerald green. Her hair is long and spiky which reaches down to her hips.
"W-Who are you anyway?"
"Around here I'm known as the, "Emerald Gun". But, it doesn't matter since you won't live much longer.``
The man runs ahead reaching right up to the exit of the alleyway.
"You aren't going anywhere! Purple Snatch!"
She aims at the man's lower back and then shoots a purple energy bullet at the speed of sound into the man's back. The bullet became lodged in his liver which caused him great pain. The man crashed to the ground in a pool of blood. The man held his stomach as he cried out in pain trying to crawl out of the alleyway. The man coughed up blood before wheezing for air as Emerald Gun stood over him.
"This gun is called, "Soul Snatcher". Once you're shot with it your soul belongs to me. The more souls it absorbs the stronger it becomes. And you will be my latest meal."
Emerald Gun grinned devilishly, revealing her sharp teeth.
"Snatch!"
The man began to scream and wiggle as he felt an intense pain in his heart. Suddenly the man stopped moving, he was dead. His back suddenly busted open in a hail of blood. Revealing his guts which spilled out next to him. And from the hole in his back a small purple orb floated out of it. The orb was his soul and it floated toward Emerald Gun.
"Eat."
Her purple gun glowed as it absorbed the orb into its barrel. After absorbing the orb, the gun began to grow brighter, becoming slightly stronger than before..
"Yummy!"
Emerald Gun rubbed her tummy while grinning. She then turned around facing the other alley where Renki was lying having only seconds left to live.
"Oh yeah before I go, I gotta take his cash."
She turned around to the man's corpse and stole the wallet from his back pocket. It had about 200 yen in it and a picture of his younger brother which she threw away barley paying attention to the small photo. She took the cash from the wallet and stuffed it in her bikini before throwing the wallet to the ground.
"Now to check if that kid is still alive or not. I doubt it."
She turns around ands enters the alley which Renki is lying in. Seeing Emerald Gun his eyelids become a bit lighter, giving him a clear shot of her face.
–That's the lady from earlier… but what happened to the guy?
"Oh so you are still alive. Well there's no point killing you since you only have seconds left."
–Kill me? So she killed the guy from earlier. She's evil… I fell right into her trap. I'm an idiot.
Emerald Gun gets on top of Renki and reaches into his pockets pulling out his wallet.
–She's taking my money! That bitch!
She rummaged through the wallet finding 77 yen.
"Pathetic. Your are not even worth sacrificing to soul snatcher since you can't even use your imagination. Well, Bye kid have a nice time in the afterlife!"
She stuffed his 77 yen in her bikini before running out of the alley.
–Damn… this is the end. Do I want to die? Then my promise to Lancelot will be pointless. If only I could live. I would need a miracle. But, life doesn't work out sometimes. Isn't this supposed to be a perfect dream world? Then why isn't my life going how I want it to? Oh yeah, I know why. Because this world is the perfect place for people who have skills or have enough willpower to carry on.
His eyelids became heavier until he close his eyes for what he thought would be the last time.
–If only I could live on and prove my mom wrong. Have friends who need me and don't think I'm useless. If only I was strong. But this pain is one I can't heal. If only I had my imagination. I wish I could heal and live on and continue my family legacy!
His final thoughts were him envisioning all of his wounds closing up and regenerating completely.
Suddenly he was engulfed in a bright green light as his wounds closed up. His heart began to beat at a steady pace again. His organs began to regenerate and he opened up his eyes once again. He began to have a massive headache which caused great pain but, he wasn't paying attention to the pain.
–I'm alive!?
He saw the sun rising above the clouds as he smiled.
"So this is the new world."