1 R.O.B

"Oi! wake up, kid!"

A scratchy voice and a muffled groan echoed in an unnatural world.

A stinging pain from my abdomen woke me up from my peaceful sleep. I slowly opened my eyes, half expecting to see my mother, waving her classic spatula in a threatening manner unless I got out of bed that instant.

But, to my dismay, it was a skinny, pale man(?) with a huge black hood covering the rest of his body . He stood before me with a bunch of scrolls in his hand. Yep, great way to rain on my parade.

The reason for such an occurrence is because of one simple reason. I'm a dead man. Literally.

And, of all places, I had to die at an anime convention. Just my luck...

"Done daydreaming? Let's get to work then." The hooded man said as he pulled out the scrolls.

This man was indeed the 'Incarnation of Death' and was somehow more surprised than me at our first meeting. Mostly because such occurrences are rare and that I was the first one in a millennia.

"As I've said, since you have entered my domain, all of your ties to fate have been nullified. You could call yourself a blank sheet, since that's the analogy I've always used. Mostly for humans."

"You mean there were non-humans as well?" I asked out of simple curiosity.

"Yes. In fact, there was a werewolf, a goblin and a literal God for f*ck's sake. That one was frightening. Anyway, back to topic."

He placed all the scrolls with his bony arms in a line in before of me. They were of black, blue, red and white colors. For reference, I'm still seated on the white floor in this endless white room. The concept of time is irrelevant since I'm just a soul. (you know, the usual stuff.)

The scrolls had a unique patterns along their surfaces, distinct for each color. The Red one seemed to have a lightning pattern while the blue had a wavy pattern, so on and so forth.

"After going through your memories and matching your personality, the Nexus has given out these four main worlds. Since you've already rejected returning to yours, I'll explain each of them to you." He stated in a monotone voice.

"And, hey! What's with that tone? Are you making fun of me again?" This guy was usually pretty stuck up, but this was a whole new level. Did he eat something wrong or what?

"Official business, kid." Was the only reply he gave.

"Also, what's a Nexus?" Once again I drifted off topic. Seems, I have a knack for misdirection.

"Not "a Nexus" kid. It's "The Nexus". Just consider it akin to a God. Although it's closer to an A.I. for your standards." That monotone voice continued.

Once again, this Spirit let slip important (I think?) secrets about God. Well, not that I was particularly a devotee, but my parents sure were. And, I'd rather not imagine the faces they would make at such revelations.

"Anyway, stop with the distractions." He said as he pointed to the black scroll. "This one has the setting of the "World of Bleach" that you enjoyed when you were younger. Seems that you respected Death Spirits a lot, although I don't see such an attitude."

It felt as if he was squinting his non existent eyes at me. Well, to my defense, this Spirit doesn't exactly have orange hair nor fights supernatural existences.

He just sighed as he continued. "This one is the "World of One Piece", another of your early favorites. The setting is a pirate world…? Anyway, that's an surprisingly long story for a choice, kid, but who am I to judge." He simply shrugged

I mind scoffed at this guy. Was he disrespecting OP or something? I'll have you know that I was just waiting for One Piece to end so that I could binge it again. It's just that I didn't expect to-

"Yeah, yeah, kid. No one expects to die like you, so shut it." He stated much to my surprise.

"Could you... Um, maybe, hear that…?" I asked feeling embarrassed.

"Every word. Now let's just get over with this." That trademark monotonicity returned.

Relieved that he just ignored my thoughts did save me from some shame, but it was still there. Of course, blatantly ignoring that, we just moved on.

"The white one-oh, oh my, OH MY!" He spoke with an excited yet deadbeat tone making it even creepier.

"This one is a "High School DxD". Kid what are you even waiting for, just take this one!" He spoke with a horrible level of cringe. Seriously, what does he even take me for?!

"Drop the act. I'm not going to fall for such pathetic showmanship. If you take me to be a horny ass, that hides behind the title of being "cultured" while watching cringe harem hentai, then I might just strangle you!" I spoke with certain fervor.

"Hah kid, you can't even take a joke. I'm sorry, kay?" He spoke with some sincerity as well as sarcasm.

This guy! Wait, he should have gone through my memories, right? Then…

"Then, I assume you've forgotten about the dog that-" he jumped before I could even finish.

"No!! Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!! Please don't remind me of it! It's just as enough of a trauma to you as it is to me. Disgusting humans and their bestiality!" His hood shuddered in pure horror.

Would you look at that! The cold Death Spirit has fears as well! I should make a novel about that sometime.

"Well, enough of that. This last one is a bit special, and by that I mean real f*cking dark, kid. Trust me, you better choose from those given above." He said with a hint of seriousness, pointing at the red scroll.

Although I've read a lot a novels and manga (7 years and running!!), there's only a few I would think of being dark. Not because I read a lot of fluff, but actually because they struck a chord with me. And also because I forget most of them, but that's not the point.

"Which one is it?" I asked curiously

"It's the world of "Attack on Titan". If you choose this, then I guess I'll be seeing you sooner than you think." He spoke sarcastically, breaking out of character for the fourth time.

"Well that's with the four options. Hurry up and choose one so that I can get back to my job."

Looks like he forgot about his "Official Business Tone" by now. But that's not the priority here.

I began thinking about the pros and cons of each world. Bleach is mainly an action world with heroism and friendship. One Piece also follows the same rules. DxD is out of the question and AoT is like survival hardcore.

'Why am I even debating. My choice should already be obvious.' I smirked at the thought.

I'm sure if I were younger I'd just go with OP, since I liked it a lot and still do. Well, Bleach is just a little weird for me. I mean I like it, but not so much. Then, I guess I'll just do it then.

I look at the Spirit as I've chosen my new world. In return, he just sighs.

"Are you sure, kid? Once I've chained your fate, there can be no redo. This is your last warning."

"I'm sure." I answer with a determined gaze.

"Well then, according to the contract, you've chosen the first of your three wishes, i.e., reincarnation. You still have two more wishes to pick from."

"Can I pick something like a system or anything similar?"

"I don't see why not. Let me give a test."

A shrill chant escaped the hooded robe as I cover my ears in pain. By the time it was done, an extremely long list had appeared in front of the Spirit and I was nearly deaf.

He simply scrolled through the pop-up uncaring of my well being.

"There are almost an infinite number of systems registered on the Nexus. So you'll have to be a little more specific with what you want."

"Is there any with bloodline absorption quirks?"

The world I was going to had a few particularly important bloodlines so, having a system able to assimilate them for me would really boost my survivability.

After a minutes of scrolling, he turned to me, "There is one called Blood Beast System, specialized in assimilation of new bloodlines with minimum backlash, but…"

"But what?"

"There are no other special features. Just a classic status window, skill maker and bloodline integrator. Honestly, it's a little underwhelming. Do you still want it?" He asked with a hint of concern, surprising me for the second time today!

"Then can't I just make a custom system?"

"Oh!" He says as he claps his skinny arms, "You actually can! Well, I'll send the Menu down to you once you've been reincarnated."

To be honest, I want to make my custom system right now, but I'm not just any impatient brat. Even then, I tried asking why I couldn't do it now, only to be ignored.

'It should be fine, right?' I thought cheering myself up.

"Fine then, you have one last wish left."

"About that…" I explained the details of my third wish. It was a ridiculous request, but the spirit still accepted. This was actually the most important part of my new reincarnated life, because being closer to the canon would make it much easier in altering it.

"It kinda seems like two wishes, but I'll just add it in as a farewell gift. It's not that important anyway." He shrugged acting like a kind person.

Well, I'm actually very thankful, since it was one of the most important things to me. Can't lose my pride now, right?

"Now then, just open the red scroll and your reincarnation will commence, and I'll finally be rid of you." He scoffed audibly.

Seriously, the nerve of this guy…!

But still, he did actually help me a lot, so… "Even though you were a f*cking twit, thank you for everything."

"Well, good luck, kid. I'll see you soon." I could swear I saw a smirk under the hood as he said such ominous words.

This damn Death Spirit! Why is he needlessly keep planting flags?!

With such an ominous farewell, my new life began. To AoT we go!