Ch1. Death

Thomas Cair was just a young man in his very, very early twenties.

He was reasonably handsome with raven locks and green eyes. His pale complexion was mostly due to genetics rather than staying inside and his body was slender but in no way muscular. His height was also average, reaching exactly 1.75m. He often added a centimeter or two with a sullen pout when someone asked him about his height though.

Nevertheless, he was also a young man glaring at a huge swiftly approaching problem.

His problem was...

"Honk! Hooonk!"

*Crash*

And Thomas Cair was no more.

...

Thomas opened his eyes as his bo-, no, he did not have a body. Oddly, he was not disturbed much by the fact.

He found himself in a long corridor with many doors. Each door sported a different name on it.

Before Thomas could ponder more about his peculiar situation, he felt something akin to a pull, coaxing him to go in a certain direction. The more he resisted, the stronger it got, therefore, with great reluctance, he just went along the weird feeling. It didn't take long before he saw a door with a plaque that read, 'Thomas Cair'.

His expression twisted in confusion as his head unknowingly reached for the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The pull was so strong, his legs listened to him no more and on their own led him inside the luxurious room.

In the room was a table with a man in a cool black business suit. Thomas instantly raised his guard due to the look he received from him. The look showed expectation, amusement but most importantly, the man had the same look Thomas sported when he watched people pranked. In his current situation of being most probably dead, that did not bring him much relief!

His body carried him until it flopped on the chair in front of the table. Now, sitting opposite the man, Thomas warily returned the man's gaze, silently pondering what's going on.

"Thomas Cair." The man started, lifting a file from his table, making Thomas aware of it.

"You died." The man said lightly as if he was just commenting on his breakfast.

"But..." He continued but stopped himself as his lips pressed themselves shut, trying to hold back his laughter. After a few moments, the man calmed down. "But I never expected to see someone prevent the third world war and not even know about it."

Thomas's jaw slightly fell and his brows furrowed.

"Yes, you did." The man answered his thoughts, making Thomas alarmed.

"Yes, I can." He did it again with a smug smile. "But I am aware of how rude it is, so I will pretend I can not and we will use words to talk to each other."

As the man paused, Thomas understood he was waiting for a reply. A worded reply, at that.

"Eh... Okay?" He slowly nodded and was about to ask who the man was when his thoughts were interrupted.

"I am your Reaper and right now I am here to assist you in filling up your afterlife paperwork based on what you decide on."

"Are you gonna ask me if I want to go to heaven or what?" Thomas blurted, making the Reaper chuckle. Thomas's eyes went wide and he wryly added. "Uhm, nice costume, by the way."

With an exaggerated eye-roll, the Reaper started explaining the situation.

"Basically you will reincarnate or transmigrate, your choice. We know you want that so I won't ask about heaven or hell. This chance was given to you because the truck that ran you over, was aiming to cause havoc in a hidden military base with a lot of nuclear waste, making it go 'kaboom'. This would obviously start a chain reaction, conspiracies, threats, basically everything humanity is so good at doing when their ego is hurt, and would later be blown into a fully nuclear world war. Your death prevented the drunk truck rider from getting there and made the truck explode prematurely. Oh, it was full of explosives, of course." The reaper waved his hand dismissively, in a 'doesn't matter' gesture.

"Huh" Thomas blinked at him blankly.

"Okay... I will dumb it down for you, then." The Reaper said after noticing Thomas's reaction. "Mr. Cair, you saved the world."

Thomas nodded, quite dissatisfied with his death. He may have saved the world but in the end, he was still only run over by a drunkard!

"So, due to your high 'karma'," The Reaper snorted, "as if something like that existed..., anyway, due to you saving the world, you have three wishes before you will be..." He tilted his head. "Eh, which do you want? Transmigration or Reincarnation? And yes, you will keep your memories regardless of your choice."

"Transmigration." Thomas decided, not wanting to experience being a baby.

"Okay, you will be de-aged to fifteen though. Call it a special service, if you will. Anyway, the world will be randomized," Seeing Thomas about to interrupt, the Reaper gave him a harsh glare and continued. "but it will be picked from the worlds you drooled over as you read fanfictions about them. You will also have an ability to travel to another dimension but will need to spend at least a year in it before being able to transfer away. Also, make sure to define which universe you want when traveling. There are many Alternate ones so you will have to be either specific or at least define your destination as 'canon universe'."

"Ahem, I didn't drool." Thomas commented and tried to evade the piercing knowing gaze he earned by doing it, inside giddy at receiving multiverse travel.

"Anyway, the first wish will be a companion. It is highly recommended and in this case mandatory. We refuse to send you into a world all alone without any power to protect yourself."

"Wait. What do you mean without any power! Don't I have three wishes?" Thomas exclaimed.

Before he could get even more agitated, the Reaper intervened.

"You do. Alas, I can not grant you a power boost. So, sadly no OP skills you imagined when I mentioned the wishes." His tone got a little annoyed when he still saw the betrayed gaze of Thomas. He sighed and stifled a groan. "Imagine yourself as a cup full of water. I can not add more water without spilling. Yes, I can grant you OP skills. But it would quite surely break your mind, body, or in most disastrous cases, soul. No, I am definitely NOT doing it."

Thomas slumped on his chair with a dejected look.

"I can however grant you the ability to wield any type of energy or ALMOST 'unlimited' potential... No, there is no such thing as unlimited... Ahem, I can grant you many things but you will have to become powerful on your own."

Thomas, now feeling better, nodded in reluctant acceptance.

"So the companion... how does that work exactly? Say, if I choose someone like Bellatrix Lestrange, wouldn't she kill me the second she was told to be my companion? With all of her devotion to the Dark Wanker, and whatnot." He inquired jokingly, mostly wanting to know about the loyalty of the girls rather than a witch from a third-rate world such as Harry Potter. While the magic of Harry Potter was indeed versatile, he just couldn't imagine it matching the magic of servants from Fate or Devil from Highschool DxD. No, taking someone from Harry Potter at the start of his journey would be suicide while not knowing what world he will be sent to!

And yes, a girl. Thomas was definitely not gonna pick a dude as an eternal companion...

As he asked his question, he was mentally going through many girls who could be a good companion for him.

Seras Victoria from some Alternate Universe where she became a True Vampire and is ruthless would be very helpful. The immortal, nigh unkillable vampire as a companion! If she was not such a scaredy cat and gained a touch of bloodlust, Thomas was sure such a woman would protect him. Heck, he might even ask her to turn him to gain an immense boost in power and... immortality alongside her!

Artoria Pendragon, Semiramis, Scathach, Medea. Any of those would be good! The flying castle of Semiramis would be an incredible boon. Medea could create Territories and teach him magic from the Age of Gods and Scathach was the best teacher for warriors while also being Immortal Godslayer, disgustingly proficient in Magical Runes! Only Artoria didn't really have anything to offer other than her immense strength. But still!

Irene Belserion. The sheer power of her Universe One is capable to level a continent! And that's not saying about her prowess without said spell.

Heck, even Merlin herself from Nanatsu no Taizai!

The most important thing for Thomas was to choose someone who can teach him.

Just then he snapped out of his musings when the door behind him creaked open. Thomas raised his head and the first thing he spotted was the wide, smug, winning smile of the self-proclaimed Reaper. His heart jumped as he started to get a really, really bad premonition.

He slowly and brokenly turned his head towards the door when he saw... her.

There, in the middle of the door, stood very confused and oddly sane-looking Bellatrix Lestrange.