Changing reality

Chapter 1: Bad Decisions, Part I/II

Have you ever heard the popular phrase "The light at the end of the tunnel"?

Rael never believed in such a thing as life after death. That was, until he experienced it firsthand.

At that moment, he couldn't believe it—he was reborn. This time, he had a new opportunity to be happy, to finally give his soul what it had longed for.

He saw the faces of his new parents; they seemed happy to have him. This brought him great joy. However, he assumed that the fact he still had memories of his past life might prevent him from being fully happy, so he made the decision to erase those memories with the little he knew about reality shifting, creating a new beginning.

Big mistake.

When a soul reincarnates, it does so with a purpose, intending to achieve something it couldn't in its past life. By repressing his memories, Rael caused his soul to become trapped in a cycle of purposeless reincarnations.

His soul fractured, and as these meaningless reincarnations progressed, a new soul formed where Rael's should have been.

As a result, every time Rael reincarnates, a body with two souls is created. And that brings us to this situation.

A boy with peach-colored hair was being beaten by five other kids.

His eyes showed a great disinterest in what was happening to him.

But as they beat him, the one who seemed to be the leader of that pack of kids spoke.

"This is what a monster like you deserves."

Was he a monster simply for being born different from the others?

Did he deserve all this?

At that moment, his uncle's words crossed his mind.

"Amoks are for the weak. Only the weak need a superpower to defend themselves from the strong. Those who have no power are the true rulers of this world. Only they are truly strong. So hold your head up high, Izuru, and look straight ahead with pride. Don't ever let someone weaker than you step on you again!"

He stood up, causing slight astonishment among the five kids. In that brief moment, Izuru Kamubura, for the first time in his six years of life, raised his small fists to defend himself.

He remembered the movements his uncle had taught him, and as soon as one of the boys threw a punch, little Izuru grabbed the arm of his attacker and, using the inertia of the punch and his opponent's weight against him, performed a judo throw and immediately lifted his leg to deliver an axe kick that struck his bully's face, knocking him unconscious.

For a moment, he was surprised. Is this what it felt like to defend yourself?

However, he couldn't enjoy his excitement for long, as he had to immediately dodge another punch coming from the group's leader.

Izuru wasted no time. He had seen his uncle practice this technique with his own eyes. He waited for the leader's next punch, which didn't take long to appear, and immediately dodged the blow while throwing a punch aimed at the leader's nose. Counter.

Izuru's punch connected, and an unfamiliar expression appeared on his face.

Slowly, a smile—both satisfying and sinister—spread across his lips.

Adrenaline surged through little Izuru's body as he began to repeatedly punch the boy who had just been hitting him.

The dull sounds of Izuru's fists striking the little bully and the terrifying smile on his face were enough to paralyze the other kids.

That was until one of them mustered up the courage and lunged at Izuru.

The small bully lay unconscious on the park's grass, and the remaining three kids prepared to gang up on Izuru, who patiently waited for them to come within range.

"I will never lose again."

That was the thought of the little peach-haired boy before starting his 4-on-1 fight.

Just a few minutes later, Izuru was standing, looking at the scene he had caused with nothing but his fists and everything his uncle had taught him.

His small fists, covered in blood, his face bruised and bleeding from his forehead—courtesy of a rock that had been thrown at him during the fight—along with his labored breathing and his purple eyes that seemed to glow in response to the adrenaline slowly leaving his body, gave a terrifying touch to the place where children should have been playing.

A final smile of satisfaction spread across Izuru's face before he made his way home.

He was satisfied and thrilled by the sense of power that came from successfully defending himself.

His smile vanished when he arrived at his house, where he snuck in quietly to reach his room, just before his father could see him.

After it was revealed that Izuru wouldn't have an amok, his parents became indifferent to him. Suddenly, all the attention was on little Sanemi, his younger brother by just a year, who had already awakened his amok. Not only had he demonstrated great control of it, but he also proved to be a prodigy from a very young age, just like his older brother.

He learned to speak just a month later than Izuru, learned to walk a month later, learned to read a month later… everything Sanemi achieved, Izuru had already done a month earlier. Everything except awakening his amok—that was the only thing in which Sanemi outshone his older brother.

Sanemi's amok, Elemental Mastery, allowed him to create things from the elements. He could create a spear of water, fire, or even lightning, but he had the limitation of needing to be in contact with the element he wanted to use, so for now, he could only create air projectiles.

Thanks to his amok, all of Izuru's achievements were reduced to nothing.

After all, in this world, anything different is despised.

After a good shower, Izuru went to bed with a smile on his face. He still felt that warmth in his stomach every time he remembered the sensation of his fists hitting his attackers' skin.

The old feeling of weakness he used to have was etched onto paper, a paper that slowly burned away as he remembered his victory.

Finally, with that new feeling in his thoughts, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Izuru woke up at dawn, as was his usual routine. After all, he had to get ready for school and leave before his parents saw him, or they would beat him again.

However, this time things didn't go as planned. After coming out of the bathroom already dressed for school, his parents and brother were waiting for him just outside his room; none of them made a sound.

And the moment Izuru stepped out of his room, the three of them yelled "Happy birthday!" so loudly that it nearly scared him to death.

This was unusual. Three years had passed since Izuru's lack of an amok was declared, and since then, he hadn't had the pleasure of hearing anyone say, "Happy birthday, Zuzu."

He should have followed his instincts; he should have known this wasn't going to be good, but he didn't, and now he was suffering the consequences.

We now see little Izuru being relentlessly beaten by the parents of his bullies.

In a somewhat secluded area of a park, Izuru's screams of agony and suffering were all that could be heard. Even though there were adults watching the situation, they all knew about Izuru's lack of an amok, so they limited themselves to looking at him with disdain and superiority. Some kids around laughed at him as they freely used their amoks, just as a way to show off. But in that crowd, Izuru saw his parents, looking at him with disgust and disappointment, while his younger brother only turned his back and pretended not to know him.

Izuru accepted what he had struggled so much to understand.

He was alone, and right now, he was on the verge of death. But if this world saw him as a monster no matter what he did, then he would show them just how much of a bastard this monster could become.

At that moment, he took advantage of one of the men's distractions to stand up. He remembered his uncle, the only man who accepted him despite his lack of an amok. The man who taught him how to defend himself. Although Izuru had never fully practiced everything his uncle had shown him, today he was willing to drag one of those adults to hell.

Twenty minutes later, Izuru lay on the ground, defeated and with many fractures. Blood streamed from his nose, mouth, and forehead as he struggled to breathe; he still wanted to live.

What happened to the confidence he had gained?

Didn't he say he would never lose again?

Why him?

His thoughts and the pain he felt caused something within him to awaken.

The pupils of his beautiful purple eyes began to slit like a feline's, but what happened just a second later was something that sealed his fate.

A blue portal opened in front of him, and from it emerged a tall man dressed in purple and gold garments. His eyes seemed to be imbued with electricity, and an aura of superiority was palpable.

With just the appearance of that man, Izuru knew he was in a completely different league.

Suddenly, Izuru felt the man's gaze and quickly stood up, assuming a fighting stance. If he wanted to kill him, he wouldn't go down without a fight.

This was noticed by the man, and a smile appeared on his face. In a deep and somewhat terrifying voice, he said:

"You look quite capable."

With just a snap of his fingers, Izuru was encased in what seemed to be a prison of water and vanished through the same portal the man had come through.

Continued...