The rain fell hard against the neon lights of Shinjuku, Kaito Shimizu trudged through the crosswalk, headphones blasting to drown out the noise of the city on his way home. He was twenty-one, jobless, without direction just another ghost among millions.
He never saw the truck.
The sound of screeching tires and shattering glass was the last thing he heard before everything went black.
---
When his eyes opened again, he wasn't in Japan.
He was floating in an endless void, a weightless abyss of stars and silence.
Oh? Another one, a voice echoed, smooth and detached.
A figure appeared or maybe it had always been there. It wasn't human, but Kaito's mind forced it into a shape he could understand, a man in a dark suit, faceless, radiating an aura of casual omnipotence.
W–where am I? Kaito asked, clutching his chest. He still felt the phantom ache of broken bones.
"You're dead," the being said simply. "But I'm bored. So, let's play a game."
Kaito's heart raced. "A game?"
"Yes. I'll give you three wishes, then toss you into another world. Entertain me, Live, Kill, Struggle, It doesn't matter."
The being's words were a whisper and a decree all at once.
Kaito swallowed, his mind torn between fear and possibility. Three wishes… another world…
He clenched his fists. "Then—my first wish: a thirtyfold boost to all my stats. Physical, magical, everything."
The being chuckled. "Greedy. I like it. Done."
"My second wish: a super brain. Limitless memory, tactical brilliance, and the ability to understand magic."
The faceless man tilted his head. "You plan to use it well, I assume? Very well. Granted."
"And my third wish…" Kaito hesitated, but then his voice hardened. "Body adaptability. No matter what harms me, my body will evolve and resist it. Until I become untouchable."
"Ahh," the being mused. "The perfect survivalist. Very well. Granted. Now off you go."
The void shattered.
---
Kaito's scream tore through a sky of red lightning and endless darkness. He fell, crashing onto jagged obsidian rock. His body convulsed, seared by raw demonic energy.
When he looked at his reflection in a pool of black water, he no longer saw a human face. His skin was ashen, his eyes glowing crimson, horns curling from his temples.
A demon.
He gasped, then laughed, a sound both human and monstrous.
"This… this power… it's mine."
The hunger hit immediately. The air itself tasted of death and hatred. His body demanded battle, demanded blood. And so, when a hulking lesser demon lunged at him from the shadows, claws bared, Kaito's instincts took over.
One strike.
The creature's skull exploded under his fist, black ichor spraying across the rocks.
Kaito froze. His heart didn't race. His stomach didn't churn.
No guilt. No remorse. Nothing.
He stared at his trembling hand and whispered,
"…So this is what it means to be a demon."
And somewhere deep within the Demon Realm, a new nightmare had just been born.