Chapter 2: I Begin as the Only Son of the Former Wizard King

Narrator's POV

"Am I... am I dead?"

Mark had read quite a few manga in his past life, and he knew Rodcorte from the manga and light novel Death Mage.

"You already know that, don't you?" Rodcorte conjured chairs and a table to make their conversation more comfortable.

Mark slowly nodded; he knew that if he was meeting an entity like Rodcorte, then he must have died in that alley.

'I should have trusted Elie and let him spend his evening with his friends.' He couldn't help but feel a deep frustration.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, my dear 'irregular.' You're currently my second problem to solve in an extremely short time span, thanks to a bunch of irresponsible Japanese teenagers," Rodcorte explained, remembering the young Japanese possessing death magic and his friends who think they're superheroes.

"I'm going to reincarnate you in a universe to fix my reincarnation system. I don't know why, but you seem to be disrupting it."

'It seems he doesn't know that I come from Earth and that he's a fictional character. Should I take advantage of this to go back home?'

Mark thought for a moment about returning to his original world by deceiving Rodcorte, but he quickly rejected the idea. His son had seen him die. He couldn't just come back into his life so easily.

He had to move on, even if it hurt.

"I accept your offer, but... I'd like a special power. After all, I'm doing you a favor by leaving, aren't I?"

Rodcorte's calm expression tightened slightly before he relaxed and smiled subtly.

"I don't have any power prepared for you at the moment, but I can let you choose your future parents and have you take a test to obtain an interesting power."

"However, you'll have to become my champion if you pass the test."

Mark had read the manga and part of the Death Mage novel; he knew that becoming a champion was a heavy task for a mortal with many advantages and responsibilities.

If Rodcorte was proposing this, it simply meant that the power he wanted to grant him was powerful and dangerous.

He wanted to negotiate about becoming his champion, but...

'It seems he's planning something nasty, but I'm not in a position of strength.'

He couldn't oppose Rodcorte; he knew he could end up in a bad situation if he attracted this god's hostility, like Vandalieu before him.

"Alright, I accept the deal, but you should give me a beautiful and healthy body."

He said this as a precaution; he didn't want Rodcorte to intentionally drive him to suicide.

"Agreed. Here's a list of worlds in which my transmigration system can reincarnate you."

[Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball, City Hunter, Black Lagoon, Gangsta, Scissor Seven, Sakamoto Days, and...]

There were many worlds in front of Mark; he recognized some as fictional worlds, but many were unknown to him.

He continued scrolling through the list until he came across a name that directly interested him.

"I want to reincarnate there, and my parents will be... these two."

Mark indicated the name Black Clover on the holographic panel containing the names of the different worlds. Rodcorte glanced at the general description of the world before nodding.

'A fantasy-type world, it would be perfect for the experience of reinserting this soul into the ecosystem, but... why this man as a father?'

Rodcorte was confused by Mark's choice of father, but he ended up nodding in agreement. He disappeared before reappearing with a strange urn.

This urn gave off a nauseating aura. Mark technically couldn't smell anything, but the word "nauseating" was the best definition to describe the impression this urn gave him.

"Do you still want an additional power besides reincarnation?" Rodcorte had a mocking tone saying this; he wanted to test if he could reinsert this entity into his reincarnation system through Mark.

Of course, he wouldn't apply the experiment if Mark refused this "power," but if the experiment succeeded, Rodcorte would have an unmatched champion.

"I still want that power," Mark replied to Rodcorte after a few seconds of reflection. His gaze pleasantly surprised Rodcorte.

He felt great determination emanating from this irregular soul. Rodcorte had only seen such a look in men like the champions of the Lambda world.

'I don't want my loved ones to suffer again.' Mark would never forget his son's tear-filled eyes in that poorly lit alley.

He needed money on Earth. If he had been rich or more influential, his son would never have had to experience such a situation since Lyse would still be with him, and he wouldn't have had such a miserable life.

In this new life, strength was equivalent to money on Earth. Mark fully intended to be at the top of the food chain.

*Boom*

After Rodcorte opened the strange urn, an evil energy spread throughout his divine realm.

It was mana corrupted by the soul fragment of the fallen demon king. Rodcorte immediately set to work to limit the damage Guduranis could cause in his dimension.

"What are you doing!!" Mark was taken by surprise.

He was lifted into the air and drawn towards a dark thing. This thing was actually a fragment of the demon king Guduranis' soul, which had come out of the urn under Rodcorte's influence.

"Rodcorte!!!" Mark only had time to shout the name of the god of transmigration before colliding with the strange object.

The two souls collided under Rodcorte's control. Mark's soul, which resembled his past life form, began to undergo changes.

It went from a humanoid form to a shapeless black mass, emanating only the presence of Mark's consciousness.

Only Guduranis was in control.

"It seems he failed. It seems Zakkar and the others are really too irregular..." As Rodcorte thought he had failed, he felt a change coming from the new entity assimilated by Guduranis' consciousness.

"I... I'm not going to give up... not ONCE AGAIN!!!" Mark's voice emanated from the newly formed entity.

*Bomb*

There was then an explosion of energy emanating from the newly born entity from this fusion.

"He was able to dominate the rest of the demon king Guduranis' consciousness through sheer will!!" Rodcorte couldn't help but smile as he looked at Mark.

'If it's him, then he has the potential to be my champion. He will certainly be able to surpass Bellwood and Zakkart.'

Rodcorte wasn't calling him "champion" yet for one simple reason: Mark hadn't yet fulfilled all the criteria to become a true champion.

But given Mark's current identity, it's only a matter of time before he becomes one. He simply needs to be recognized by a certain number of gods, which will be relatively easy for him, given his potential.

The demon king Guduranis literally had gods as servants, and Mark has inherited his magic. Rodcorte could even feel that the essence of Mark's soul had been enormously strengthened.

This provided him with potential for evolution beyond mortal dreams.

"I'm going to send you to your new parents, but I still don't understand why you chose this broken man... I just hope Conrad Leto is a good choice."