:The End and the Beginning
Darkness.
That was the last thing Alexander Noir remembered.
A searing pain in his chest. The unmistakable weight of finality. And then... nothing.
He had died.
And yet, he was aware.
His mind floated in an endless void, detached from the corpse he once inhabited. There was no warmth, no sound, no light. Just thought. Memory. Reflection.
His death had been expected. Calculated. Even inevitable. But it wasn't meaningless. The secrets he uncovered, the betrayals he exposed, the system he uncovered—none of it would die with him.
Then, as if answering an unspoken command, the darkness trembled.
[Reincarnation Protocol: Complete.]
[Initializing Evolution System...]
A pulse. Like a heartbeat. Then another.
[Welcome, Alexander Noir. Host Body: Synchronized. Mind: Stable. Core Potential: Infinite.]
His eyes snapped open.
He lay on his back, surrounded by dark trees and a sky stained in violet hues. A cold wind swept through the clearing, rustling the dead leaves beneath him. The air felt wrong—heavy, dense with mana and something more ancient. Something hungry.
His body felt different. Stronger. Younger. He sat up slowly, inspecting his hands. Pale, unblemished. Not a scratch. Not a scar. He flexed his fingers, and arcs of faint shadow energy danced along his skin.
Then came the voice.
[Main Class: Necromancer.]
[Subclass: Monarch of the Undead.]
[System: Evolution System Active. Rank: F. Level: 1. Mana Capacity: 100.]
[Skills Unlocked: Raise Undead I | Shadow Fog | Basic Shadow Bullet]
Alexander blinked. "So it wasn't just a theory," he muttered, his voice sharper than he remembered. "I really did it. I reincarnated."
He stood, adjusting quickly to the new height and weight of his body. Taller. Leaner. Healthier. His long black hair shifted with the breeze, and as he passed under a shaft of moonlight, his red eyes shimmered with a subtle glow.
A grin crept across his face.
He was back.
And this time, he was going to break everything.
---
Far above, unseen to mortal eyes, a rift blinked open in the fabric of reality. A single voidborn creature skittered out, its many eyes blinking in sync. It turned toward the forest below, where the new soul had awakened.
It chirped.
Then vanished into the dark.
Chaos Void had taken notice.