webnovel

Chapter 1

Authors note: Yes I am going to be using some of the names from my other work, and don't you dare try to boo me for It. Do you know how hard it is to think of a name for something?

I felt blades sink into my body, I had already lost all of my teeth, my fingers and toe nails, my eyes, my tongue and even my limbs. The torturers really weren't holding back, they has used Aura shackles on me to restrain my power.

I was dying for no reason, I didn't even know who I was actually fighting for in this war. The organisation had used brainwashing techniques to turn me into a killing machine. I was often called 'The Reaper' by enemies and 'allies' alike, it was the only name I had.

The organisation didn't tell me my birth name or who I was. I didn't even know my age or anything of the sort. I knew that I was around 15 at the oldest from my physical appearance.

The organisation didn't give me a name till a few years after I joined them and even then the name was just 'Reaper' because they weren't bothered to make up an actual name for me. The first few years were focused on training me, it was grueling and horrifyingly tough training that would've been called torture by even the strongest of people. I was one of seven survivors of the program. I was told that I had an above average Aura pool but what really stood out was my Aura control it was monstrous, or so they said. It made me nearly impossible to trace or sense unless I showed myself.

Aura was like ki, or chakra, an energy used to enhance oneself and fight. But that didn't really matter since my captors had managed to seal my Aura flow. I didn't have any joy in this boring life of mine. No, that was wrong, I did have two hobbies. One hobby was playing chess while the other was playing games, they allowed me to have two hobbies as a child so they could preserve my mental state. Since a child who wasn't allowed any enjoyment would break very quickly, as they had learned from previous experiments.

If they didn't give me anything to enjoy my motivation would have likely been non existent.

It was stupid, I was reminiscing about a game that I hadn't played in years. But I really would have loved to get in one more playthrough of each route.

The final blade finally sunk into me, they had made the process of killing me as slow as possible to put me through as much pain as possible. It was probably to avenge their comrades, after all my kill count was in the tens of thousands. But I didn't really understand that feeling of seeking vengeance, the organisation had made it so I felt nothing. Even when I sat atop a mountain of bodies, I felt nothing, neither glee nor despair.

* * *

I woke up in a room, the bed was lavish and fancily decorated and there were maids and butlers who seemed to be on standby. I looked at my hands, they weren't marked with calluses or training scars but they were pretty. My skin was a milky white that women would have killed for and felt unbelievably soft.

Then, an influx of memories flowed into my mind.

I remembered that I was the son of the empire's only Archduke, my name was Reinhardt Avalon. I was nearly killed by 'my' step sister, or rather I did die but I reincarnated as Reinhardt. Or something along those lines, I wasn't sure how I was alive If I was being honest. I didn't know whether I was Reinhardt with the Reaper's memories or the way round. But that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting through whatever was happening.

My eyes shot open as I realised who I was, Reinhardt was from the game I used to play. In the game, 'Hero's Rise' there was a chance that a minor villain would be killed off when you started up the game. This could happen in any of the routes, it was all chance based as to who would die and how they'd die. The game was heavily influenced by the user to make it realistic so a route could completely change very easily, but there were times that the characters did things that wouldn't happen other times.

For example, in some routes a heroine might kill a certain villain, and if they don't kill the villain they might come back in the future. Sometimes if you spared them they'd become an ally, there were many possible story lines. A route and a story line were different, a route implied the heroine or heroines you were going after. But the story line was what actually happened, there many of them, I had played through a large majority of them.

It was to make the player feel like these characters were people, and not characters who were infulcenced by what you did. But had their own conscience, it really did add to the immersion.

I was in one of the alternate story lines where Reinhardt's older step sister tried to kill him, I couldn't really remember why but I did know that she pushed him down the stairs after saying he should dissapear. But in this story line, her guilt would be eased by the protagonist and she'd join the harem. I was confused by why she tried to kill me, since as far as I was aware, my 'sister' was very close with me.

I wasn't sure of my reputation, but neither my father, mother nor step sister were here. So they were probably scolding my sister.

I started thinking about how to use this to my advantage, humans weren't as complex as people thought them to be. Negative emotions could render humans useless, that's why the organisation tried to get rid of mine.

After a few minutes, I decided it was best to apologise to her and make her belive that I felt apologetic and remorseful. She would likely be crushed by guilt, I mean her little brother was nearly killed by her yet he was the one apologising? At the same time I would distance myself, I already knew that I had a cold and somewhat apathetic demeanor. And I would use that to make her think that she was the cause of it.

All of this would eventually lead her to break down, and when that happened. I would be her saving grace. This was a bit harsh for a child, but she would be a very useful person. She was a main heroine, menaning she could be one of the strongest. And someone like that would be very useful, and on top of her being the strongest. In any route where Reinhardt decides to go down an evil path, she's always the one to kill him.

So I need to make her have strong feelings towards me, or else there would always be the possibility of being killed by her.

I also needed to get stronger, in every single story line, Reinhardt died. And I wanted to live, there was no reason for why I wanted to live. But maybe I'd find it, maybe I'd live for myself or maybe it'd be for someone else. But I wouldn't know unless I survived.

Then the door was turned open, the maids and butlers moved aside and bowed respectfully. Then came in there people, The Archduke and Achduchess, along with my step sister.

Lucas Avalon, the Archduke Of Avalon and one of the strongest beings within the empire. He had white hair and red eyes, he had a muscular build and was broad shouldered. He looked to be around 6'3 or 6'4. He was also unnaturally handsome, it looked like God himself had sculpted his body. He was wearing simple clothing, just a white shirt and a black pair of trousers, but it still looked fantastic on him.

Irene Avalon, the Achduchess, was just as just as good looking as her husband. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, they were eyes full of life. She was relatively tall for a woman, she was around 5'7. She was wearing a white night gown, it complemented her azure eyes rather nicely.

Then came in a girl she was extremely cute, she looked to be around seven years of age. She had back length navy blue hair and amethyst eyes. It was my step sister, Lillian Flamesworth. She was the child of my father's friend. My father and mother felt responsible for leading her father to his death.

Lillian would have been alone, so her father had begged Lucas to find someone to care for her on his death bed. My parents had decided to take her in, and due to their guilt they decided to side with her on almost everything and made sure to give her whatever she needed.

But now, I was going to try and make her into someone who could he helpful to me...

Next chapter