Every 200 years, the god of time and space chooses 49 humans to compete against each other in a battle of life and death, where the survivor becomes the holder of great powers bestowed by the god.
This year marks 200 years since the last combat, and the new participants are already being chosen.
The story begins with Keichi coming to the big city where he will attend his new school. However, on his first day, he decides to skip class because he is a deeply depressed boy who believes that there is no reason for human interaction and finds the need to attend the presentation completely unnecessary. But deep down, though, all he wants is to have a friend he can trust.
On that day, he decides to go to the only place where he feels better, so he takes the subway. But on the way, he bumps into some marginals who were coming running desperate as if they had seen a demon. When they collide, they all fall down, and soon after, another thug appears. This one has an angry face that resembles a demon, standing almost 2 meters tall. He looked at the thugs on the ground and said, "Where is it?"
"Where's "what", man?" said one of the thugs who were on the ground sweating with fear.
"Relax, it wasn't our fault," said the trembling thugs, pointing at our main character. "He told us to do it, it was him!"
Keichi didn't understand anything at that moment and was completely stunned, especially after seeing that demonic gaze directed at him. But after a second, he calmed down and thought, "This is why I don't like people. They are not trustworthy at all; they will do anything to get rid of their problems."
He replied, "I have nothing to do with this, and don't even think about giving me that demonic look. I have nothing to do with idiots like you."
The demon thug responded, "You have more courage than these bastards, kid, but don't think I'll let you get away with calling me an idiot."
The two stared at each other, both filled with rage, until the two thugs on the ground took advantage of the situation and ran away. When the demon thug realized this, he chased after them, saying, "I'll deal with those two and then come after you, kid."
After saying that, he disappeared from sight as he turned the corner.
After witnessing this strange scene, Keichi continued on his way.
When he reached the subway, he encountered the "demon" again. He tried to disguise himself and move to another train car, but the passage was too crowded. After a while, the "demon" realized and said, "Kid, I didn't expect to find you so soon. It seems like today is my lucky day."
"Damn it, it's you again. I already told you it wasn't my fault, you deaf giraffe."
"Giraffe... You've got a lot of courage, kid. I know it wasn't you. I'm not that stupid. But you had the audacity to insult me twice... That really pisses me off."
"I don't see it as an insult, but as the plain truth."
"What!?"
The two stared at each other. Keichi showed no fear, not because he was brave, but because he didn't care about anything anymore, not even what would happen to him.
However, at that moment, an explosion occurred, causing the subway to derail. Keichi blacked out and didn't even realize what had happened until he woke up and saw everything destroyed, with many injured and dead people. When he looked ahead, he saw the "demon" holding some debris that was about to fall on him.
"What are you doing, kid? Get out of here!"
"But why are you doing this? I thought you hated me."
"Just because I don't like your face doesn't mean I want you dead, you idiot."
Upon hearing that, Keichi stopped looking at that person as a demon and started seeing him as a hero, just like the ones he saw in his childhood, the ones he always wanted to be before giving up on his own life. But when he saw someone else fighting to protect his life, he decided not to give up and fight as well.
"I'm not leaving you here."
"What did you say?!"
"I said I'm not leaving here without you, you deaf Giraffe!"
Keichi was thinking of a plan to get out of there together with him, but first, he had to deal with the debris above. That's when he noticed that the subway door was closed, but the upper part was folded, and there were other debris there. He came up with a plan.
"Stay there; I know what to do."
"Damn it, kid, get out of here quickly. I can't hold on much longer."
"I already told you, I'm not leaving without you. Now shut up and trust me," said Keichi, looking intensely.
At that moment, the "demon" thought, "This kid may be small and fragile, but he has the gaze of a demon."
"Heh heh... Alright, I'll trust you, kid, but hurry up. I won't last."
Keichi went to the emergency lever, pulled it, and the door opened. The folded part got caught in the debris above them. At that moment, the debris from the other side of the door fell towards them, but the debris from above and below met and got stuck, preventing the collapse. Now, the two ran out of the subway and realized they were safe.
"Kid, you may be small and weak, but that was genius... Hahaha."
They barely had time to celebrate when they realized they were trapped underground with no way out. Many people were still alive and trapped inside the subway. The other person said, "We have to save them."
"Damn it, there are too many, and we have little time before the ceiling collapses."
The two ran towards the train cars, saving as many people as they could until a large rock fell on one of the cars where the "demon" was.
When Keichi saw it, he ran in that direction. When he arrived, he saw that the "demon" was buried under several debris, with an iron bar piercing his stomach.
"Hey, kid, sorry, but I won't be able to finish you off."
"Shut up, you deaf Giraffe. I'll get you out of here."
"Kid, give up. I won't make it out of this."
"Damn it, if I had more strength, if I had more power," said Keichi, desperate.
Suddenly, Keichi found himself in a dark place, hearing a voice saying, "Human, your desire for power has been heard. From now on, you are a participant, a puppet master. Fight and survive."
At that moment, Keichi started to glow, and a bright line came out of his hand and connected to the "demon." He started glowing too and transformed into a black and red robot.
"What happened to me?"
"I don't know."
"What did you do, kid?!"
It was at that moment that they heard a tremor, and the ceiling started to collapse. Keichi only thought about destroying the debris, and the "demon" moved on its own.
"What am I doing? Why am I heading towards it?!"
"Get out of there!" When Keichi said that, the "demon" immediately moved away. That's when he realized he could control it.
With that, Keichi decided to use it to escape and save everyone. The debris was destroyed, and with a punch, he opened an exit in the ceiling. After that, Keichi collapsed on the ground, and the robot fell next to him, reverting to its original form.
"What the hell just happened?"
"I think I did that."
"What?"
"Whatever I thought of doing, you did."
"I don't understand anything, but we managed to save everyone. That's enough for me. By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Masarou Date."
"Hmm... I'm Yukiha Keichi."
Not far away, two mysterious figures were observing everything from the top of a building. One of them said, "We couldn't kill her... but at least we found another participant. What should we do?"
"We'll leave her for later. Let's show this newcomer that not just any child can become a puppet master."