The green line on the graph rose beautifully.
Not too fast. Not too slow.
Just enough to make my heart feel warm and fuzzy inside.
'Uhumm, another successful day of gamble,' I thought happily while looking at the monitor in front of me.
Hello everyone.
My name is Steve Mason.
A man blessed with absolutely bullshit levels of luck.
Seriously, at some point even I stopped questioning it. Probability itself practically bent over backwards for me.
I was born in an orphanage. No rich parents. No inheritance. No secret billionaire grandfather waiting to reveal himself before dying dramatically on a hospital bed.
Nothing.
Then one day, some old guy randomly adopted me.
Four months later, he died and left me a million dollars.
See what I mean?
Now, unfortunately, there was one tiny issue with me.
I was not exactly smart.
Not completely braindead or anything, but studies and I had a relationship comparable to oil and water. Every teacher I ever had probably considered murder at least once.
So naturally, instead of getting a normal job, I got into stock market trading.
Was I some genius investor?
Fuck no.
I barely understood half the shit financial experts said on television. But I could understand basic graphs, and more importantly, luck loved me more faithfully than any woman ever could.
I bought stocks.
They rose.
I sold them.
They crashed afterward.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Eventually, it became less of a business and more of a hobby.
A hobby that somehow made me over a hundred million dollars.
Honestly, I would argue that makes it one of the greatest hobbies in human history.
Now, what do you do when you know you are kind of an idiot but also absurdly rich?
You enjoy life.
And enjoy life I absolutely did.
Luxury cars.
Massive penthouses.
Vacations.
Parties.
Alcohol.
Women.
A truly unhealthy amount of women.
And above all else...
I became a massive fucking weeb.
Anime, manga, web series, movies, games. If it existed, I consumed it like a starving raccoon digging through a dumpster at 3 AM.
And before anyone imagines me becoming some stereotypical basement goblin, let me stop you right there.
I was rich.
Rich people are just socially accepted NEETs.
Normal otakus go to Comic-Con or anime conventions to stare at cosplayers from a distance while smelling faintly of sweat and regret.
Me?
I had personal cosplay orgies.
Beautiful women dressed as anime characters while fucking me in penthouses larger than most apartments.
Now that is what financial success should look like.
Life was amazing.
For fifteen whole years, everything went perfectly.
Then today happened.
My thirty-third birthday.
And also my death day.
Why?
Because I fucking died.
Turns out the pizza was poisoned.
Honestly, worst birthday surprise ever.
Apparently, the delivery guy wanted revenge because I fucked his girlfriend.
Now personally, I feel like he was targeting the wrong person here.
I paid her.
Professionals should not create emotional side quests for clients.
Besides, if she was willing to cheat for money, then honestly, wasn't the relationship already doomed?
If it wasn't me, it would've been some other rich asshole.
The problem here clearly wasn't me.
The truly tragic part?
I didn't even remember who she was.
I had slept with hundreds of women over the years. Was I supposed to maintain some kind of pussy encyclopedia?
As for how I knew all this despite being dead...
Well, the pizza guy did not dramatically reveal his evil master plan while lightning flashed behind him.
No.
The explanation came from the man sitting in front of me right now.
Apparently, he was some kind of projection created by an Omniverse management system.
Which somehow sounded both unbelievably cool and incredibly depressing at the same time.
The room around us was an endless white void.
Completely empty.
Well, almost empty.
There was a desk between us.
Because apparently even cosmic entities couldn't escape office culture.
The man himself looked painfully average.
Black hair.
Black suit.
Emotionless face.
He looked less like some omniversal entity and more like the kind of office worker who denied vacation requests for fun.
"What happened exactly?" I asked while leaning back slightly.
The man calmly adjusted his glasses.
"Your soul qualified for reincarnation due to an anomaly caused by your probability factor."
"...Probability factor?"
"Luck."
"Oh."
That made much more sense.
Honestly, if someone told me my luck was secretly supernatural, I would've believed it immediately.
"What happened was, your luck activated once again at the moment of death and secured you another opportunity at life," the man explained calmly.
Did I even want reincarnation though?
Honestly... not really.
My previous life was already amazing.
I was rich.
Healthy.
Young enough.
Surrounded by beautiful women.
Had enough money to live ten lifetimes comfortably.
Sure, dying sucked, but overall, my life had been pretty fucking great.
Still, no point crying over spilled poison pizza.
"Anyways, who even was the girlfriend?" I asked curiously. "The one whose boyfriend decided to assassinate me over pussy."
The man waved his hand casually.
A floating screen appeared beside him.
A woman's picture appeared on it.
I stared at it for two whole seconds.
Then blinked.
"...What?"
Silence.
"I died for fucking her?"
The man remained expressionless.
I leaned closer to the image.
"She isn't even that beautiful."
Silence.
I looked again.
"Among the lower tiers of women I've slept with too... damn it."
Still nothing.
I sighed deeply while rubbing my forehead.
"I mean seriously, if I was going to die because of sex, the least fate could've done was make her hot enough to die for."
The man stared at me silently.
"I died for a girl who wouldn't even make my top fifty. To be honest, that's just sad."
At this point, I was beginning to suspect the guy physically lacked emotions.
Finally, he spoke.
"Your priorities are deeply concerning."
"Thank you."
"That was not praise."
"Still counts."
The man pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again.
"Enough. As I explained earlier, you are going to be reincarnated into another universe. You will replace a preexisting character and receive one wish related or similar to that character."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"You will only have ten seconds to decide your wish after learning your identity. The wish you choose should be compatible to the character you get, and if you fail to choose within the allotted time, you will receive reincarnation without additional benefits."
Ten seconds?
Damn.
That was evil.
"Only ten seconds, huh..." I muttered while straightening slightly. "Alright then. So how exactly do I know the world and character I am getting reincarnated as?"
I needed to prepare myself mentally.
Those ten seconds would probably determine the entirety of my next life.
"It depends on your luck," the man replied calmly. "You will draw them through a lottery."
My eyes instantly lit up.
A lottery?
Now we were speaking my language.
"Luck? Hell yeah. I trust my luck completely," I declared confidently. "Bring it on."
"Very well."
The man snapped his fingers.
A massive machine materialized nearby.
It looked like a casino slot machine designed by a civilization with severe gambling addictions.
Golden lights flashed wildly across its metallic body while countless symbols rotated rapidly behind the glass screen.
Beautiful.
Absolutely fucking beautiful.
There was a giant red button at the front.
And honestly, anyone with more than one functioning brain cell could tell what I was supposed to do with it.
So naturally, I slammed that button immediately.
The machine roared to life.
Symbols flashed endlessly.
Words rotated rapidly.
Then finally...
[HIGH SCHOOL DxD]
For one glorious moment, my soul transcended mortality.
'Niceeeee!!'
A world filled with beautiful women, devils, angels, fallen angels, supernatural powers, tits, sex, and enough fanservice to cause spiritual enlightenment.
Absolutely peak fiction.
Even better, this was a world where hard work often came second to bloodlines, cheats, and emotionally motivated boob-grabbing.
My kind of setting.
'No need to use my brain there either. Just press tits and become stronger. Truly magnificent.'
"Hell yeah!" I grinned excitedly. "So, do I get to choose the character too, or is that another lottery? Honestly, I am fine with either."
The man looked at me quietly for a moment.
"Hmm. You adapted to this situation remarkably fast. You are among the top 0.001% of reincarnators in terms of psychological adaptation speed."
I shrugged casually.
"I mean, sure, I would rather return to my previous life since it was already going great, but I am already dead. No point overthinking it. Better to enjoy the present and prepare for the future. Too much thinking is bad for your health anyway."
For the first time, the man actually smiled slightly.
It still looked unnatural.
Like his face had forgotten how to do it properly.
"Well said," he admitted.
Then the machine shifted again.
The symbols changed.
"Now for your character lottery. Remember, your ten seconds begin immediately after the result appears."
This time, unlike before, I actually calmed myself first.
Sure, I trusted my luck completely.
My brain, however?
Not so much.
And this time I needed both.
I took a deep breath.
Steeled myself.
Then stepped forward with a serious expression and pressed the button again.
The machine exploded into motion.
Names flashed rapidly across the screen.
Faster and faster.
Until finally...
Everything stopped.
[RISER PHENEX]
And immediately, a countdown appeared.
[10]
'Riser Phenex...'
[9]
'Third-rate beginner villain... devil... phoenix powers... regeneration...'
[8]
'I need something similar... and broken as fuck too...'
[7]
'Marco's Devil Fruit? Nah... too weak for DxD later on. I don't want to struggle...'
[6]
Then suddenly, inspiration struck me.
My eyes widened.
'OH SHIT YES!!'
[5]
"PHOENIX FORCE!! I WANT THE PHOENIX FORCE FROM MARVEL!!" I practically shouted, worried I might run out of time.
Silence filled the room.
The man blinked once.
Honestly, that reaction alone scared me slightly.
"Hm."
That single sound somehow carried concern.
"You selected your wish within nine seconds," he said calmly. "And yes, it is sufficiently compatible with Riser Phenex to avoid creating severe inconsistencies. Therefore, your wish is granted."
Jackpot.
Actual fucking jackpot.
Not only was the Phoenix Force absurdly overpowered, it also perfectly matched the entire phoenix theme.
No compatibility problems.
No suspicious bullshit.
Just pure cosmic firebird supremacy.
"You will be born fused with the Phoenix Force itself," the man explained. "As you mature, its capabilities will gradually awaken and integrate into your existence."
"...Would I need to train for it?" I asked cautiously, almost groaning already.
Because honestly, excessive effort sounded disgusting.
"You will require control training," he admitted calmly. "However, the integration itself will happen naturally. Since you are technically a phoenix, your synchronization with the Phoenix Force will vastly exceed that of Marvel hosts."
I almost teared up.
Automatic growth.
Beautiful words.
"I see..." I nodded seriously. "That's good to hear. No need for painful training arcs then."
Honestly, life was looking amazing already.
I was becoming a rich devil with cosmic fire powers in a world full of ridiculously hot women.
Peak existence.
"I believe with the complete Phoenix Force, I should be among the strongest beings around. Even if you count the ExE world too," I said happily.
After all, this time I was practically immortal.
"Very well," the man replied while standing up. "Remember this carefully. You will be born with aspects of the Phoenix Force already integrated into your existence. You will essentially be considered a born super devil comparable to Sirzechs Lucifer."
That sounded unbelievably badass.
"The Phoenix Force will not function as a separate entity wielded by you," he continued. "It will merge with and enhance your very existence."
Then he looked directly into my eyes.
"You are not the wielder of the Phoenix Force."
A slight pause followed.
"You are the Phoenix Force."
Goosebumps spread across my entire body.
That line alone almost made me hard.
"Got it," I replied with a massive grin. "Thanks for everything. I am ready now."
The man nodded once.
Then everything turned dark.