Demon Lord's Reincarnation

"So, this is how the world ends?"

"Indeed, hero. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future in the new world, maybe we'll even see eye to eye and become comrades."

"Heh, that does sound good. But, is it really necessary...?"

"All things must come to an end, that is the irrefutable law of the universe. May they be immortal or even beings who do not possess the concept of death at all, they too all have a final destination. I represent the Black Moon, it is my duty to restart the cycle."

"I see..."

"For there to be new beginnings, there must always be an end."

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Those were the last words that left his mouth that day, and here he was now sitting inside of someone else's bedroom and inside their body. Don't take that the wrong way if you would, he meant that he had taken over this person's body after they had unfortunately perished.

It was quite hilarious finding out the cause of death, the original owner of this body accidentally choked on an apple that he was eating. Not the most glamorous of ways to die, but he'd honestly heard of more embarrassing ways.

In any case, after awakening in this new body, the first thing he decided to do was get up from the bed he was lying on and walk over to the full-body mirror that was set up in the bedroom. Upon inspecting himself, he gave a small look of contemplation.

"Not too bad, though rough around the edges. Nothing a quick clean-up can't fix, Ryusei must not have taken care of his body all that much... well, my body now I guess." Ryusei muttered as he brushed aside a few of his bangs. "Might as well get started, this hair is a bit too long for my liking..."

Looking toward the desk, Ryusei swiped a pair of scissors from the holder before facing the mirror once again. Without any hesitation, he began cutting off many strands of his hair before stopping after a few seconds of cutting.

"Much better."

Now that his features could be properly seen, Ryusei was a young man who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen years old. With somewhat pale skin and a lean physique, though the most appealing features were definitely his hair and eyes.

After having cut it a bit, his hair was now shorter along the back and the sides, though he kept the majority of the length on his bangs. His hair was a royal blue colour and his eyes were also blue, but they had a certain captivating glow to them.

"Dear, are you awake?"

As Ryusei was thinking to himself, the door to the room suddenly opened up as he looked over to see someone peeking their head around the door. The person he saw was a woman around her early forties, with straightened blue hair that was much brighter compared to his own.

While having two different sets of memories was certainly a bit annoying to get used to, at least the most important memories from the original Ryusei remained prominent. This woman was Ryusei's mother Hanako, and he honestly couldn't help but feel a bit of pity since she obviously had no idea he wasn't actually her son.

In any case, he had to play the part.

"Is something wrong, mom?"

"No, it's... oh, did you cut your hair?" Hanako couldn't help but blink in surprise when she saw the strands of hair that littered the ground around Ryusei's feet. Walking in, she walked up to Ryusei before inspecting him. "Did you cut it yourself? It looks amazing!"

"I just felt like my hair was getting too long. Did you need something, mom?"

"Oh, right! You need to look outside and up at the moon!"

"The moon?"

Although a bit confused, Ryusei walked over to the curtains before sliding them open with a single swing. Looking up, Ryusei's eyes widened slightly as he saw that the moon was currently entirely black with a ring of white shining around it.

The Total Solar Eclipse.

'How convenient, I once again emerge under the Black Moon.' Ryusei felt a small smile creep up onto the corner of his mouth as he took in the moon's embrace. 'I guess it follows me no matter the world or timeline. I can even feel its energy reacting with my spirit, I guess my duty as the Black Moon Demon Lord isn't entirely gone.'

"It's an incredible phenomenon to see, right?" Hanako asked as she walked over to stand next to him. "Your awakening ceremony is tomorrow, so I suppose having a solar eclipse like this is rather fitting. Is it not, dear?"

"Yeah, it is..."

The awakening ceremony is something that every person in this world will eventually go through upon reaching a certain age, it is the time in which their lives will truly begin to take course. It is a ceremony to reveal what path destiny has chosen for them.

While he didn't mind this feeling of weakness, he still couldn't help but feel vulnerable when he noticed how this body didn't possess the ability to utilize magic. However, tomorrow is when that'll change.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

At the present time, Ryusei could be seen walking through the halls of a rather massive building. In his right hand was a piece of paper that had a simple map printed onto it, and from the looks of it, a map of the building.

The place he was currently walking through was the main building where the awakening ceremony was going to take place, and he himself was now walking to the section of the building in which he was going to go through his own awakening.

Ryusei had to admit that a highly futuristic city was quite a new sight in comparison to the ordinary modern buildings of the previous timeline. It seems that humans in this timeline have progressed much further in regard to technology compared to the last.

The humans of this timeline had progressed to the point that they started to explore the other galaxies in search of more resources, this world's human civilization had already grown to become an interplanetary civilization.

In any case, since he was outside, he had obviously gotten himself changed into some new clothes. They weren't anything special, just a simple black T-shirt and sleek jeans underneath a hooded blue and white jacket, and also a pair of white running shoes to top it off.

"This should be the place."

Looking at the metal double doors in front of him, Ryusei stepped towards them without hesitation as the gaps between doors flashed blue before the doors began opening horizontally to allow him passage into the room.

Stepping inside, Ryusei immediately glanced around to see that he was now standing in a large open circular room, the floor covered in white glass-like square tiles and the surrounding walls and ceiling covered in singular massive plates of shining silver.

He also noticed a number of other individuals inside the room as well, all obviously here to have their awakening ceremony just like he was. From a quick count, there were probably a total of ten people here including himself.

Of course, there were many others in other rooms who were also going through the same awakening process. This was just one of many groups, this was just the group that Ryusei was assigned to.

While there were a few who were talking with each other, a majority of the ten all remained silent and kept to themselves as they waited for the awakening to begin. A few minutes have passed since Ryusei walked in, and during that time five others had arrived as well.

"It seems that everyone is here, then we shall begin your awakenings immediately." A tall male wearing a fancy black suit walked into the room and everyone's attention was immediately brought over to him. "As you all know, the gods have blessed us with the means to unleash our innate potential. With their blessings, we as humans have evolved to where we are today."

It was just like in his old world, certain humans were capable of supernatural feats due to blessings they received from deities. Some deities choose to bless multiple individuals, but most of the time they all focus on one single chosen person of theirs.

This timeline was no different, a majority of gods only choose to bless a single person. It was rather rare that a deity would give power to more than one individual. With there being millions of gods out there, the few who have awakened typically have very unique powers that no others do.

Some gods may bless those with powers to manipulate elements, and others may receive very unique skills such as the ability to manipulate other forces such as gravity, or even something like probability.

"You will not only potentially awaken your ability to manipulate mana, but you shall also find out the destiny in which you will walk. Of course, some of you may not receive a certain destiny, and some may not even successfully awaken at all. However, we hope that doesn't happen to any of you here today."

With that said, Ryusei noticed how a few people already began to become nervous, some even had arrogant looks on their faces for reasons he honestly couldn't understand. If you look arrogant and confident now, the moment disappointment hits, it hits hard.

They all watched as what looked to be a large green crystal suddenly materialized in the middle of the room, flashing softly every few seconds as what looked to be silver and gold large rings constantly rotated around it as if the diamond was the origin point.

"This is the Awakening Crystal, it is what we'll use to see who here will be fortunate enough to be blessed by the gods." The male wearing the suit spoke up as he walked over to said crystal. "If you're really lucky, maybe some of you will even have a message sent to you by the gods. Let us not waste any more time. Furuko Kenji!"

"H-Here!"

As soon as one of the applicants heard his name being called, everyone turned their heads to the person in question as the male walked up to the crystal with clear nervousness on his face. As soon as he was prompted, the male known as Kenji placed his hand on the surface of the crystal.

They all watched as the crystal gave a soft glow before finally releasing a short burst of light, which soon dispersed before something akin to a holographic screen soon displayed itself in front of the male.

"Congratulations, Mr Furuko. It seems that the gods see potential in you. Did you perhaps receive any form of a message from the deity that laid their eyes on you?"

While the screen itself was visible to everyone, the contents on it were blocked from view for everyone aside from the owners themselves. Meaning that despite the screen in front of Kenji right now being totally visible, only he could see the contents on it.

"N-No..."

"That's fine, it's very rare if they do. Please remain here until everyone has finished, you'll then be shown to the area where the academy you'll be attending will be decided." The man wearing the suit nodded simply after hearing the response. "Next up..."

Ryusei just sat back and watched with a blank expression on his face as all the applicants began taking their turns to awaken, and it was during this process that he was shown various sights of emotions.

Those who managed to awaken were ecstatic, especially if they ended up receiving a 'destiny' after awakening. Those who were unsuccessful were obviously depressed, though he had to admit that seeing the arrogant few with such faces was quite a delightful sight.

"Suzuku Ryusei!"

"Here."

With a casual response, Ryusei calmly walked to the crystal before placing his hand against it. Unlike all the other awakenings, there was an immediate reaction as the crystal began to flare intensely to the point that it also began to release sparks across the room.

"Wh-What's going on...?!"

"S-Sir, is this supposed to happen?!"

"E-Everyone, calm down! This...!" The person wearing the suit was going to shout something else but stopped as the reactions from the crystal died down before the light dispersed to show Ryusei standing still in front of it. "Mr Suzuku...?"

Ryusei didn't respond, instead staring down at the interface that was displayed in front of him. This obviously told everyone that he had successfully awoken, but Ryusei's blank expression didn't allow them any hints as to whether or not he was happy or not.

The peanut gallery aside, Ryusei narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as he saw the information that was present on the screen. Its info was displayed similar to that of a video game, it wasn't too complex though.

As for the messages that one could potentially be given by the gods who bless the person, you might be wondering if he had received anything. The answer to that... yeah, he sure as hell did receive a message.

『God of Steel pays respects to the Black Moon』

『Goddess of Storms pays respects to the Black Moon』

『God of War pays respects to the Black Moon』

『...』

『God of Death pays respects to the Black Moon』

『God of Time pays respects to the Black Moon』

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A/N: If you have read through to the bottom past the spoilers warning, you should already know who the first few members of the chat group will be. I didn't want to use the usual characters you'd see in these kinds of fanfics, so yeah.