Prologue

The end of one's life, death.

I've always thought what death really is and how does it feel.

What happens after you die?

Do you reincarnate? Get directed to your destiny? Stay in spirit form until the judgement?

No human has yet found the answer with any solid proof.

But I, felt it. I felt how death tastes like in the most painful way. And those who made me feel it were no other than my own 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 teammates.

They just sold me off like a shield to get away…

I am Matsuoka Koji, a twenty-two years old unemployed man. Living in Tokyo. I have no friends nor am I liked as a person, probably because I am not that all talkative.

My parents just sent me away because they were annoyed by my sole existence. The only one who adored me was my older sister, and she was my reason to live.

About two years ago, a weird circle appeared, it was like the world was in a jar, nowhere to escape.

Then suddenly that circle started enclosing. It didn't shrink anything in its way but passed through everyone and everything but as it passed, some odd cave looking places appeared. Not only that, some people fall unconscious for three whole days. No one knew why until a week later of the incident, it was found out that those people were awakened…

They were given the power to conquer. To save. To protect. They were supposed to be the heroes who save the world from the unknown creatures appearing from those dungeons.

Some did their job like heroes should and became strong enough to conquer even an entire country. And others used their power for only fame and crime. They revolted against the laws of using the power and the crimes rate gradually increased until the heroes were given the job of clearing that mess up.

Our town became a territory of strong and weaklings were treated like trash. The government became useless. This all because they let unqualified heroes to rule over everyone. Of course, some were corrupt.

It became a hell. Killing was everywhere. But even worse, I was one of the weakest. Even my awakening was a day late, and I was a mage with nothing but low power magic. I was a sacrifice pawn.

And to add to the worsening of the scenario, a powerful, destructive level monster attacked.

The heroes could take care of it, but instead they sent weak people like me. They bribed us with wealth. Even now I think it was the worst choice to fall for it.

I was sent to the front lines…the worst place to fight a giant dragon type.

We were all just spamming attacks with no strategy and all it took was its one attack. We were mostly wiped out, leaving 4 people behind. It was I, Mr. Kawaguchi, Ms. Kumagai and Muramoto Kiyoshi who was still a teen.

We decided to retreat and ran away but Kawaguchi and Kumagai were corrupted to the level of extreme. While running, they saw the costly equipments of our fallen partners. So to take them, they used me and Kiyoshi as baits.

By use of their powers, they threw us away in front of the beast using wind push. The push injured both of us, and now we had the attention of the dragon. It was the most powerful monster and a true tragedy, and we had no chance of winning. I looked at young Kiyoshi and saw hope disappearing in his eyes. It reminded me of my past, my all useless choices. I couldn't let anyone suffer from that same feeling. I couldn't let him die in such a disgusting way.

I stood up, trembling but steadily got in front of him, acting as what they all wanted me to act. A human shield. But I was proud, I could be useful once in my life.

He kept on shouting things like

"I'M NOT WORTH SAVING!"

"DON'T DO THIS MISTER!"

But I stood straight, with a proud smile and gently said "Don't worry kiddo, I'm doing this for me."

"W-what is that supposed to mean?" he asked as he cried.

The dragon was looking straight at me with admiration in his eyes. I was shocked by that reaction. "Perhaps this is the moment I lived for." I thought.

"Admirable, simply admirable. I suppose not all of you are corrupted with greed."

I was confused, but I figured it out immediately, the dragon was using telepathy.

"Feels unreal to be admired by a dragon." I replied with a smirk full of fear.

"You're the very example of a hero. I can not kill you, I can't let you die like this. It's not what you deserve." It said.

"Don't worry about it, I have no purpose in my life either way. So please, let me at least die in a heroic way. It's for the best." I replied.

"Fine, hero, I shall respect your wish and erase your existence as your current self. But I must ask your name."

"My name is Matsuoka, Matsuoka Koji, an ordinary human." I said as I smiled.

"Alright, Matsuoka Koji. I'll make it as quick as possible. For now, rest in peace." It said as it brew its mouth with fire and shot it towards me, burning me to ashes.

While my eyes were closed I heard the sound of that dragon. He was saying

"I did as you wished, your existence is no more. But I can't let you die. So live, live as a different person. Live a different life. A life of a true hero. I will guide you."

After that, my eyes opened.

I was alive… I was standing alongside with many people.

The state was finally peaceful. I suppose they have a new government now. I looked around and came to know that it's been five years after my death, so I basically reincarnated.

Finally, it was a peaceful state. But as I proceed further I realized something….

The more u banged into people the more frustrated I got…

I was alive, but I was still non-existent to the world.

And then suddenly something occurred before me.

[Welcome back hero, welcome to the world where you never existed]

That's all for the flashback.

Hey readers! I hope y'all doing well. Even though my other novels hasn't even reached a plot yet, I'm kinda shutting it down, probably, I think, I don't know haha..

Well anyways I hope y'all like this story. I just thought of writing cuz it's fun n all so I hope y'all enjoy it with me. Peace out ✌️