I am a pawn.
Those words carved themselves into my mind like a mantra, a bitter truth. Atop a skyscraper in Tokyo, I—Takehiru Hikaru, a 24-year-old corporate slave—waited. The sky above was no longer the clear blue I used to see in manga. It was shattered, vomiting out blinding golden light, followed by the screams of thousands of people below. They were terrified. Me? I only felt disgust.
Gods.
The ones who were praised. The ones who were trusted. The ones who created "systems" and "fate." I looked toward the light. A face without expression, as if smiling, appeared amidst the destruction. But it wasn't the smile of a kind god. It was the smile of a bored player watching his pawns break. The smile of a spectator who had already seen this show a thousand times.
"So… this is the end?" I muttered, my voice hoarse. "You're tired of your toys, and now you're destroying them?"
Chunks of concrete began to rain down from collapsing buildings, crashing against the asphalt below with deafening noise. Pain pierced through me, but not from the debris. It was the pain of regret. I regretted my short life, a life wasted serving others. I regretted never daring to challenge my so-called fate.
Then, a voice echoed in my head. Not soft, but hollow, like a whisper in an abandoned hut.
"Weary soul. Do you desire power? Power to change your fate?"
The voice was a trick. A lure. A temptation. I was sick of temptations. All I wanted was an end to it all. I wanted… freedom.
"No. I don't need power. I don't need anything from you, gods." I screamed in my heart, my bottled-up fury finally erupting. "You started this game, and now you want me to play again in another world? I refuse. I just want freedom!"
The voice fell silent. And in that silence, I heard another whisper—one dripping with hatred.
"Then destroy them. Destroy those who toyed with you."
Suddenly, I felt a new force coursing through me. Power not of gods, nor of magic. It was born of pure hatred, despair, and disappointment.
"I will destroy them," I answered, my voice colder than ever. "I will shatter the heavens and everything above. I will show them what it means to be a pawn."
I closed my eyes. Darkness engulfed me, and this time, I welcomed it.
When I opened them again, I was a newborn. But I was no longer the fragile Takehiru Hikaru. I was Michael Caesar—an emperor reborn, ready to conquer the world and exact vengeance on the gods.