The feeling did not disappear.
Even after the system said Life, Tian Yian remained awake. He was still surrounded by warmth and pressure, the same as before. But something had changed.
The warmth felt heavier now.
More real.
More solid.
It was no longer just a feeling around him. It felt like something holding him in place, giving him shape, giving him limits. He could not see or move, but he could feel that he existed more clearly than before.
Still, confusion filled his mind.
Why life?
The question stayed with him. No matter how much time passed, it would not fade away.
He could feel something slowly forming. Very slowly. Carefully. As if someone was building him piece by piece. But he did not fully understand what was different now. He had been thinking before. He had been aware before.
So why did the system give him life only now?
"AXIOM," Tian Yian called out in his mind.
At first, only silence answered him.
The silence was deep and calm, not cold, but empty.
Then the familiar voice returned.
"Yes."
"Why did you give me life?" Tian Yian asked directly. "Wasn't I already… alive?"
There was a pause.
It wasn't long, but it was long enough for him to notice.
"You were conscious," the system replied. "But you were not complete."
Tian Yian felt confused.
Not complete?
"What does that mean?" he asked.
Another pause followed, slightly longer than the first.
"You were not part of the original structure of this world," AXIOM said.
The words did not make sense to him at first.
"Not part of the world?" Tian Yian repeated.
"Yes."
The system did not explain immediately. It felt like it was choosing its words carefully.
"In the original flow of this world," AXIOM continued, "the child who should have existed in this position did not survive."
Tian Yian felt his thoughts slow down.
"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.
"The eldest child of this family was meant to die before birth."
The warmth around him seemed to tighten slightly, as if reacting to the words.
"Cause of death," AXIOM continued calmly, "suffocation during birth."
"Reason: weak life force and incomplete physique."
The words felt heavier than Tian Yian expected.
He had already died once before, in another world. He thought he had accepted death.
But now, he was being told something different.
He was supposed to die again.
Before he was even born.
"So…" Tian Yian thought slowly, carefully, "this body… was meant to be stillborn?"
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
For a moment, Tian Yian's mind went completely blank.
He had read many stories in his previous life. Stories about children born weak. Children cursed by fate. Characters who started with tragedy.
But hearing it applied to himself felt very different.
It was no longer just words on a page.
"If that child died," Tian Yian asked after a long silence, "then why am I here?"
"Because you replaced him," the system replied.
The answer was simple.
Too simple.
"You were not originally part of this world," AXIOM continued. "Your soul did not belong to the Demon Slayer world. Without intervention, this body could not support a living consciousness."
At that moment, Tian Yian finally understood.
The novice gift.
Life.
It was not a strength.
It was not talent.
It was not power.
It was permission.
Permission to exist.
"And this family…" Tian Yian hesitated. Then he asked, "Who are they?"
The system answered without emotion.
"You will be born into the Kamado family."
The name echoed in his mind.
Kamado.
A name he knew very well.
"The head of the family is Kamado Tanjuro," AXIOM continued. "You will be his eldest son."
Eldest son.
Tian Yian felt his thoughts shake.
"And… Tanjiro?" he asked carefully.
"Yes," the system replied. "Kamado Tanjiro will be born after you."
Silence filled his mind.
Everything became quiet.
So that was it.
He wasn't just reborn into this world.
He wasn't placed into a random family.
He was standing at the very beginning of a story he once watched and read.
But not as the main character.
As the older brother.
For some reason, that thought did not make him excited.
It made his chest feel heavy.
"If I weren't given life," Tian Yian said slowly, "this family would lose a child before even knowing him."
"Yes."
"And Tanjiro would still be born?"
"Yes."
"But the eldest son would never exist."
"Yes."
Tian Yian did not speak after that.
His thoughts drifted to his previous life.
Growing up alone.
Moving from one place to another.
No parents.
No family.
Now, he was being told that his existence here was never guaranteed.
That, without the system, he would have vanished before taking his first breath.
The warmth around him felt different now.
Not just comfort.
Not just protection.
It felt like responsibility.
"I understand now," Tian Yian said quietly.
The system did not respond.
"I understand why you gave me life," he continued. "It wasn't a reward."
Still no answer.
"It was a correction."
The silence remained.
But Tian Yian did not feel angry.
Instead, something unfamiliar rose in his chest.
Gratitude.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
There was no reply.
AXIOM did not acknowledge his words.
But Tian Yian did not feel ignored.
Somehow, he felt that the system had already done everything it needed to do.
Slowly, he accepted the weight of his existence.
The pressure around him no longer felt unstable.
It felt steady.
The warmth became rhythmic, matching a heartbeat he could sense nearby.
Another life.
His mother's life.
For the first time, Tian Yian felt something he had never felt before.
A sense of responsibility.
He was not strong yet.
He was not special yet.
But he existed.
And that alone meant something.
I won't waste this, he promised himself.
Not the gift.
Not this family.
Not this second chance.
He relaxed his thoughts and let himself sink into the warmth, allowing the novice gift to fully settle within him. There was no pain. No sudden change.
Only growth.
Slow.
Quiet.
Natural.
As his consciousness softened, one thought stayed clear in his mind.
This life was not given to make me powerful.
It was given so I could begin.
And in the quiet darkness, Tian Yian accepted it completely.
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I had been trying to write for quite some time, and this chapter. I don't even know if you like it or not.
THANK YOU !!