Chapter 1
✧ Daydreams ✧
Once, there was a boy named Hoshino who lived in solitude. Despite excelling in sports, studies, and virtually everything he attempted, he felt completely detached from the world around him. At a young age, he was hailed as a prodigy; everyone praised him—teachers, friends, and parents alike. Some admired him, while others harbored jealousy. Everyone seemed happy, except for Hoshino himself, who viewed their admiration as meaningless.
Hoshino possessed keen observation skills, allowing him to discern when someone was lying. He could see through the thin veneer of praise that surrounded him, recognizing that much of it was insincere and cloaked in hidden resentment. His siblings, rather than supporting him, were filled with animosity. Every smile directed at him seemed to conceal contempt, which he found utterly predictable. Only a handful of genuine praises came from his teachers and a few true friends, but these words barely registered in his mind; they were just another noise in a world that felt increasingly hollow.
His parents, however, were a different story. They embodied the complexities of familial ties, which, while often characterized as inseparable, could breed the deepest conflicts. Blood relations are supposed to evoke a sense of duty and loyalty, yet ironically, they can also give rise to relationships more toxic than any others. The notion of morality implies that there are virtues and responsibilities to uphold even among family. When these obligations are cast aside, it leads to a descent into immorality and sin, but Hoshino hardly cared.
Tragically, many people in the world neglect their familial responsibilities. In the medieval era, where class distinctions were stark and human rights were a distant concept, this neglect was even more pronounced. It was not uncommon to discard children who were not of one's own blood or to engage in brutal family feuds for the sake of inheritance. Society has tried to minimize conflict among blood relatives, but greed has a way of blinding even the strongest of bonds. Hoshino found it all laughable, a tragic farce playing out in the lives of those around him.
In Hoshino's case, the concept of being "adopted" was just another variable in a life he felt indifferent to. His parents had died a long ago when he was young, leaving him without any relatives who cared for him. Those who should have been his family treated him like an inconvenience, pretending he didn't belong to them. Abandoned, he was taken to an orphanage, where he spent a year and a half feeling like a ghost among the living.
One fateful day, he was adopted by a wealthy family. When he arrived at their mansion, he felt a mix of curiosity and disinterest. After a few days in this new environment, his adoptive parents informed him that he would be starting school. However, they insisted he change his last name from "Kazuki" to "Natsumi." The name carried weight, belonging to one of Japan's top three noble families, but as they explained its significance, Hoshino barely listened. It all seemed trivial, just another detail in a life that felt increasingly like a script he was forced to follow.
As time passed, he learned more about his new family. He discovered he had two older siblings: an older brother named Arima and an older sister named Miziko. Both siblings had blonde hair, a trait that revealed their mother's foreign lineage. Hoshino felt an indifferent stir of recognition; he was simply a player in a game he hadn't chosen to join.
If he changed his last name, he would lose the last connection to his biological parents. Yet, memories of their tragic deaths lingered in his mind, hazy images that felt distant and unreal. He recalled the sight of them slipping away right before his eyes. But would changing his name truly matter? In the grand scheme of things, he thought, what did it signify? To him, the Kazuki bloodline felt like an ancient relic, a story he had outgrown.
"Okay, I understand," he finally replied, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.
"Got it! From now on, your name will be Natsumi Hoshino," his new mother announced cheerfully, oblivious to his apathy.
"Okay," he mumbled, the words slipping out without any weight. In truth, he didn't care about the name change; it was merely a formality in a life he had grown weary of.
"Then let's go shopping to buy your school uniform!" she said, her enthusiasm unyielding.
Huh? Uniform? Ah, he understood—it was the clothing one wore to school. But he had never truly experienced school. He recalled attending elementary school, but that felt like a distant memory now. The idea of starting middle school, of blending into the sea of faces, was met with a shrug of indifference.
"Okay," he replied, the word devoid of excitement or anticipation, as if it were a mere obligation.
He didn't know what reality was anymore. Was this just another dream or a fragmented memory? Did it truly exist, or was it merely a figment of his imagination? Perhaps it was nothing more than a daydream, a fleeting escape from the monotony that defined his life.
Maybe someday… that daydream would come true. Perhaps one day he would find the happiness and acceptance he had long ceased to hope for. But for now, he stood on the precipice of change, numb to the possibilities that lay ahead.
✧
No matter what you do,someday it will end. So, holding on to these lingering attachments is just simply foolish
✧
"Argh."
Pain surged through my body as I awoke.
"Where… am I?"
I clearly remembered jumping off. The gut-wrenching, terrifying feeling of dying—that memory still burned into my mind. But now… what is this? Where am I? Heaven? Hell? Or am I simply reliving my life, memories replaying as I slip away? If that's the case, I don't mind. Maybe I'll see my "friends" and "family" again—or, rather, their faces drowned in despair.
First, though, I need to understand what's going on. The first thing I see is an unfamiliar stone ceiling, adorned with strange patterns.
"When will the young master wake up?"
A voice? Where is that coming from? And what did she mean by "young master"?
"It's such a pain to come here and give him his medicine…"
Footsteps echoed, growing louder. I looked toward the sound as a figure came closer. Finally, she stood before me—a girl in a maid outfit, holding a tray with what looked like medicine. She saw me, and her face went as pale as a ghost. Her tray clattered to the floor with a loud crash.
---
The maid, inwardly cursing the wasted effort it took to keep giving "medicine" to her unresponsive master, thought bitterly, It's such a drain on my mana every day. But he is handsome, probably the most handsome man in the empire—and the heir of the Glimmer Duchy, famed for its light and darkness magic and unmatched swordsmanship.
Still, he's not just some poor soul. The young master grew up in the shadow of intense bullying, and with a father like the Duke of Glimmer—Aceal von Gilmer—who never intervened, he became unstable. But even so, this family spares no effort in trying to keep him alive.
Lost in her thoughts, the maid pushed open the door. But the sight she met left her frozen: the young master was sitting up, looking alert, as if the "medicine" had no effect at all. She felt the shock pound through her body, the weight of a thousand consequences crashing down on her. He raised a hand in greeting, his lime-green eyes calm.
"Yo."
"Ehhh!?"
She could barely believe her eyes. How was he awake, sitting there as though nothing had happened? The questions flooded her mind, quick and dizzying. Would she lose her job—or worse, her life—because the "medicine" had failed to keep him under control? Her vision swirled, and before she knew it, she collapsed.
---
"Hm?" I looked down at the maid's unconscious form on the floor. "What's with this weird maid?"
So I wasn't supposed to be fine, I thought. I noticed a small glass bottle beside her and picked it up. Strange. I pulled the cap open and sniffed.
Ah. This "medicine" was designed to keep me under control.
I let the bottle slip from my hand, then picked it up and tossed it onto the maid's body. The glass shattered on impact, scattering shards across her, slicing into her skin. Blood started to soak her uniform, and I heard her groan in pain, still unconscious.
Why did I do that?
Well, because it's fun, isn't it? I'd never had the chance to throw a bottle at someone before. Her painful moans had a strangely satisfying sound to them.
---
—Beep
A blue translucent window appeared in front of me, glowing with words in an ancient script:
[Cardinal system activated!]
[Choose one of the paths you will follow until you die:
—The Fate of Genocide
—The Fate of Evil
—The Fate of Creation
—The Fate of Pure Love
—The Fate of the Demon King
—The Fate of the False Hero
—The Fate of False Evil
—The Fate of Being Loved by Evil
—The Fate of Being Loved by Good
—The Fate of Being Loved by All
—The Fate of the Necromancer
—The Fate of the Magician
—The Fate of the Swordsman
—The Fate of the Emperor
—The Fate of the Broken One
—The Fate of a God
—The Fate of an Apostle
—The Fate of a Beastman
—The Fate of a Vampire
—The Fate of an Elf
—The Fate of a Demon
…and many more.]
Due to your past life, you may choose two.
[Click for more information]
---
"What the hell?"
Okay. Let's sort things out. First, a blue translucent window appeared in front of me, saying that multiple entitys are offering me a path. This… looks interesting.
Hoshino after a bit of conteplating decided to chose.
Let's see… naturally, I'll choose the fate of 「genocide」and 「deception」.
For my class, I'll go with… 「glitch」… and… 「magician」.
Race doesn't really matter, but let's go with… 「Broken」.
—bing—
["You have chosen.... Well, I see. So that's what you are. It doesn't really matter. Now, there is no going back!"]
["Now, choose the world where you will begin your journey. The world you're in now is called 'The World of Ruins' — and as you might guess, it's been left in shambles. It may look peaceful now, but in a matter of time… it faces inevitable destruction. By who? You."]
["Your options are... None."]
["May you find peace."]
✧
What lies beyond reality is an illusion, and what lies beyond illusion is 'reality.'
Pretty ironic, isn't it?
A "reality" is just the illusion of your own world. Every being in the world has their own reality — their own illusion. So if reality is an illusion, what lies beyond it? Is it another world, an alternate universe, a parallel existence?
An alternate universe (AU) is something unreachable, unimaginable. But if someone were to cross into one… what would happen?
Simple: it would distort the timeline, creating a rift between worlds. But no one has ever crossed into an AU.
To open a portal to an AU, two things are required: a 「Singularity」and a deep hatred from those who once loved you. For Hoshino, the conditions were met by sheer coincidence, but how did he acquire a Singularity?
It's simple. A Singularity exists in every human soul.
No one has crossed into an AU because to manifest a Singularity, one must meet certain conditions:
- An empty heart,
- Merciless actions,
- To betray the person who loved you most,
- No empathy,
- Absulote isolation —No feelings for others.
No one has ever met all these conditions—until Hoshino, at the exact moment he died. The access to an AU opened just as Hoshino's death occurred, creating an unstable AU that would unravel the world.
And so, just after Hoshino died…
---
[You have encountered an incomprehensible achievement.]
[You have died.]
[Error!]
[You have created a possibility.]
[Opening an AU.]
[Error!]
[Can't find an AU.]
[Searching for AU.]
[AU found ∞.]
[Asking the host, 'Hoshino,' to select the AU.]
[Error!]
[The host is dead.]
[Time limit to select an AU: 50 hours.]
[If not selected in time, the AU will forcefully open.]
[Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error!]
After 50 hours…
[ERROR!]
[The timeline is... becoming unstable.]
[Attempting to fix the timeline.]
[...]
[Failed.]
[Attempting to fix the timeline.]
[Failed.]
[Attempting... to fix the time...line.]
[Failed.]
[Attempting to fix… the time line…]
[Error!]
[Unable to fix the unstable timeline.]
[Warning]
[The world has a 7% chance to survive.]
[The host 'Hoshino' has a 0% chance to survive.]
[The host has a 0.009% chance to transport his soul to %#&$]
[Error!]
[Someone has disagreed with that action.]
[The Hall of Judgment has opened.]
[TELEPORTING the soul to the Hall of Judgment]
[The host's soul is resisting...]
[All of 'them' have decided to send you to a broken AU.]
[Quest: Kill an innocent person in the broken AU.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Complete successfully!]
---
On Earth, 50 hours had passed since Hoshino's death. And now, the greatest revolution and destruction in the planet's history were about to begin.
The 'timeline' is the measure of time within a given space. But now, time and space themselves were beginning to fracture.
---
—tick
The sound of a clock echoed throughout Japan.
—tick
The sound reverberated across the northern and southern hemispheres.
—tick
It resonated across the entire planet.
—tick
The ticking spread across the galaxy, tearing through the vacuum of space.
—tick
It reached the largest star.
—tick
It traveled to the vastest nebula.
—tick
It even reached the depths of the largest black hole.
—tick
The sound rippled beyond the universe, beyond the multiverse, destroying the fabric of space itself.
—tick
All the helium and hydrogen in the cosmos vanished.
—tick
Dark matter disappeared.
—tick
Every star in the universe exploded in a catastrophe surpassing the Big Bang.
—tick
All black holes expanded, swallowing the multiverse.
—tick
Time froze in place.
—tick
Time began moving in reverse, exerting an unimaginable pressure on all living things, freezing their bodies, rendering them immortal.
—tick
Infinite rifts emerged, spilling forth creatures beyond imagination, beyond comprehension.
—tick
And with the final tick… the world was no longer what it had been 10 sextillion years ago.
The tragedy that consumed the world was entirely missed by Hoshino, who had been transported to an AU beyond infinity.
Earth—no, the entire universe—was destroyed by a single boy named Hoshino.
With the timeline broken, humanity was cursed with immortality. They survived, but had lost the will to live; even the strongest soul cannot endure 10 sextillion years.
They became hollow, worse than puppets.
As the broken timeline frayed further, some humans were warped into the past, others into the future. Since the past is merely a shadow of the future, those trapped in the past had their souls broken beyond repair.
-
A tredecillion years later, or 10^42, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years to be precise, those caught in the unstable timeline found themselves back on Earth. But the universe had changed beyond recognition, beyond understanding, and humanity was no longer what it once was.
✧
"Hoshino!"
"Yes?"
"What do you mean by 'yes'? You've been so distracted for quite some time."
"Oh?"
"Okay, do you now understand how to solve that question?"
"No?"
"That's it. Go stand in the hallway."
Hah.
I really need to stop daydreaming.
It's realy just a big hassel.