What was it like when you died? Rise had never been curious about this before. For him, if you die, then you're dead.
Rise was more inclined to believe that there was no afterlife at all. His life in the world was akin to that of hell already, and to have the thought of experiencing hell in the afterlife as well was rather infuriating.
Rise was certain that if hell were true, that would be his destination. He was well aware of his character, and he was not suitable to be an angel.
However, now...
Rise was not really sure. When he opened his eyes, something he thought he would never be able to do again because he was already dead, he found himself in a space of complete darkness.
As far as his eyes could see, it was only an endless darkness. However, it was not pitch black either, as, for some reason, he could see just fine. As Rise pondered about it, it was like he was in outer space.
Although, he had never been there himself.
"What's going on?" Rise frowned and sat cross-legged in that darkness. Despite the peculiarity, which might even amaze others, he had no qualms about being awed at the moment.
He knew he was already dead, and yet here he was in this dark space, seemingly alive and well. Aside from that, he was in a bad mood—in an extremely bad mood, to be exact.
"Fuck! Is this the afterlife?" Rise yelled his frustration, only for it to echo eerily in the dark space. His eyes rolled, and he rested his chin on his hand as he guessed where he was and what was going to happen to him from now on.
If this was the afterlife, wow... It looked so dark and desolate, just like his terrible personality. Perhaps, the afterlife was really a replication of how humans lived their lives.
However, he had some complaints about that.
"Okay, I get that my personality sucks and my heart is black. But... I never lived a boring life!" Rise grumbled in annoyance. "My life... if not for that two-faced Epsilon, is quite carefree and colorful."
Given that he always seeks the thrill of life and often chooses the hardest mission there is.
Compared to this boring and dark space, Rise's life was indeed exciting.
"Haah." After a few minutes, he breathed a sigh, and he had to lie down. Rise looked at the sky... or the ceiling? Whatever, he did not care what it was called, as everything was darkness, anyway.
Just as he was grueling over the fact that he might really exist in that dark space forever, unable to even figure out what was going on, and cursing Epsilon and everyone... A blinding light suddenly erupted in the sky, and it slowly went down until the light seemed to stop just in front of him.
Rise's eyes also lit up, he only closed his eyes for a moment, and when he finally could stand it, he sat down again. His eyes scrutinized the light, illuminating the surroundings around him.
"Now, what is this?" Rise exclaimed exasperatedly, truly unable to keep up with what was happening.
His nose wrinkled and scratched his head, temporarily setting aside his worries about his boring future and the imaginary scene where he killed Epsilon a lot of times in the worst way possible each time.
Rise decided to focus on this light that appeared out of nowhere. His eyes turned blue, a hidden ability of his that was similar to the Guild Leader's True Sight but of lower quality. He simply named it 'Detect'.
This ability could see an aspect that was not visible to the naked eye, a very helpful ability when raiding a gate.
In his eyes, the white light had become a complete entity; slowly and gradually, the light took on the shape of a...
"Book? What the..." Rise almost cursed; he felt like everything was getting ridiculous, and he still had no clue what was happening! Most of the time, he liked the unpredictability of things, but now he hates this feeling!
It was as if someone was moving behind the scene, and he was too blind to notice all of that. He could only find himself in a hopeless situation unable to turn things around. Just like...
Yes, everything that has happened in the past few months! Rise could not accept the feeling of being like a hopeless lamb, ready for slaughter. He did not want that. There was not any thrill to that.
His whole life was carved to him fighting, and the way he died was like an insult to the life he lived so far, a life he painstakingly chosen.
Rise squinted his eyes, trying to figure out more. However, other than it being shaped into a book and some blurry words written on the surface of the first page, he was unable to see or read anything.
"Shit. If only the Guild Leader's ability were mine!" Rise was certain True Sight could see more. Thinking of his Guild Leader and the guildmates who were always in disagreement with him, he sighed and shook his head.
Rise threw away these unnecessary thoughts and focused on the book.
"If it appears here, it should be important and might help me figure out what this place is."
Rise did not even think that this book had a secret of the afterlife or had the ability to return him alive. That was completely out of his mind.
Again, as he was looking into it, out of nowhere, the book shone once more. This kind of light was so intense that Rise had to close his eyes again, or he might become blind.
And at that moment, scenes seemed to seep into his mind. Like a memory but also was not.
They were fragmented and even blurry, but Rise had no problem understanding what was happening. He could piece together some missing fragments himself. After all, the scenes and the setting were extremely familiar to him.
He had lived within it.
The scenes flashed in his mind, although it was only for a moment. Rise had yet to even breathe once before he opened his eyes, and everything was gone.
The book remained in front of him; nothing seemed to change, except Rise.
His eyes were looking blankly at the book, as if to process what he had just seen.
"What... the... fuck!"
Rise slowly uttered a curse; he had never been this shocked before. He exhaled and inhaled a few times, calming himself.
"The world is a novel? And I am... a villain?" Rise exclaimed in disbelief. No, he shook his head. That was not even the most shocking point for him.
"Goddamn, that bitch Epsilon is the protagonist, and... and..." Rise swallowed; it was so hard to voice it out without him choking. It was that shocking! "And the Guild Leader is the Male lead!"
An incredulous expression filled Rise's face; he could not quite believe what he saw. Okay, the Guild Leader really did have the qualifications to be a male lead, but... What really dumbfounded him was that it was a BL novel with that fucking Epsilon as the protagonist and the Guild Leader as his Male Lead!
Seriously, Rise wants to vomit right now!
He could not quite imagine Epsilon with the Guild Leader!
Although, he saw it, there were not really scenes of anything sweet and spicy, just like what he had heard from his female colleagues. If not, Rise might as well die again to cleanse his brain.
However, to the serious point, Rise had already found out why he was always getting screwed over by that Epsilon. Just like his guess, it was predetermined.
As one of the villains, he was destined to be killed by the awesome protagonist, but only if Epsilon was qualified to be called that way.
And he was not.
"Now, what?" Rise asked to himself, not completely moving on from what he witnessed and the facts that he stumbled on.
This time, someone seemed to answer him.
[Qualifications Complete]
A voice, almost robotic, that sounded like... someone, but he could not quite remember, and his ridiculous situation was preventing him from diving deeper into it.
Rise jerked his head up and roamed his eyes around.
"Who?" Rise became alert, just like a habit, and shouted.
No one answered this time. Rise furrowed his brow, and only after a few minutes did the voice speak again.
[Calculating...]
However, this time Rise had a guess as to where it was.
The book… it was coming from the book.
With a stunned expression, Rise had yet to exclaim another curse, as if his situation were not getting ridiculous enough; the book was now talking.
Yet, as the light shone again, engulfing his body, Rise could only see darkness again.
In that darkness, a voice spoke once more, echoing throughout the whole place.
[Rebirth #231457 Complete]
The book then closed, and the light disappeared. Just like that, the place returned to complete darkness.