NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Chapter 1
While looking around, everything visible is darkness waiting to "wake up" in the world. I decide to reflect on the events that put me in this situation.
It happened a few hours ago, I think.
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After supposedly dying, as it happened so quickly, I'm not very sure about such an event. Finding myself in a completely dark place, a question arises.
"Am I in hell?"
Admitting that I did not live my life in the best possible way, and that this would be the place where someone like me should be after death according to logic.
"Not yet, Kuroiwa Aurélio," says a beautiful voice.
A voice that can only be described as angelic yet frightening, causing a strange discomfort despite its beauty, reaching the point of being unpleasant.
Looking around to see who is speaking, I notice a beautiful woman dressed in a black outfit with white details, resembling something you would wear to a night party. Strangely, the outfit stands out even though we are in complete darkness.
She gives off an impression of beauty, but it's impossible to distinguish her appearance. It's almost as if something interferes. Not even the color of her hair can be determined. Thus, I decide to ask who she is.
"Who are you?"
"And how do you know who I am?"
"You can call me Nix, Goddess of the Night."
"And I took your soul before it was judged because there's something I want from you."
"That's also why I know who you are," the woman replies.
The revelation that she is a "goddess" surprises Aurélio. However, he has doubts about her. After all, anyone can lie.
"Why would you bring me to this place instead of letting me be judged?" I say, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"And why would you need my help if you're a 'goddess'?"
"Because at the moment I am without some of my powers and need help to regain them."
"And why would you need my help?"
"It's because I judged that you would be suitable for what I need."
"And why do you think I would help?"
Feeling nervous about a situation I've never seen before, I try to extract as much information as I can. I don't think whatever this "help" is will be easy.
"Of course, you will help because otherwise..."
"Your soul will likely be destroyed based on the judgment."
For a moment, I am speechless at such a statement. "Destroyed?" Deciding it's more practical to simply ask rather than trying to understand the implications of such a statement.
"Why would my soul be destroyed?" I ask, still maintaining a calm appearance. If I even have an appearance, since being dead, I have no idea how I am being perceived at the moment.
"The reason is quite simple: the amount of Karma you accumulated is very high, so it's easier to eliminate you permanently than to try to reduce your Karma."
"What is Karma?" I don't think she's referring to the karma you get based on what you do to others.
"Your Karma is based on your actions and increases or decreases based on what you do."
"In your case, your Karma is negative, but since it is very high, your soul tends to cause problems that are hard to solve," she says with a voice that can be described as a teacher explaining something simple.
"And why is my Karma so high? And how does that benefit you since you need my help?" I try to get as much information as I can with simple questions.
"Your Karma is high because you were responsible for the end of humanity in your world, both directly and indirectly."
"This resulted in a significant increase in your negative Karma, which in turn made you a problem for other gods."
"In the case of the help... I need a follower with high negative Karma to assist me," she answers somewhat evasively.
"Since you don't have many options and your negative Karma is high, you were the most suitable to help me."
As Aurélio listens to this, he considers the implications. What she says makes sense if she is telling the truth. In this situation, there's not much to do since he's already dead.
"But how does having a follower help you, besides the fact that I'm dead, how could I help?"
"It's quite simple. By having a follower, I can recover my power based on the negative Karma they accumulate."
"In exchange for you increasing your Karma, I will grant you a portion of my power and revive you in another world."
Seeing her assert that she can revive me is a bit surprising since I only learned that gods exist now. However, her saying she will give me part of her power is a bit complicated.
After all, one thing I've learned is that nothing is given for free, and often what is asked in return is equivalent to or more than what you received. Deciding to clarify a few doubts, I think of the best questions.
"Why are you without your power, and if you're a goddess, shouldn't you have other followers?"
"…"
"My powers were weakened in a battle with another god... And my path to my followers was blocked when I fled to the world you live in," she answers, seeming somewhat disheartened by the fact.
"So, I selected among the deceased humans one who would be suitable to be my follower," I assume that's me in this case.
She appears extremely calm while explaining, with a neutral face that is hard to read for emotions. However, her eyes, or what I think are her eyes because my perception of her appearance is poor, show deep hatred. "I think she's angry." Aurélio realizes he needs to ask questions more carefully. After all, even if she is not a "goddess," it's a fact that she has taken a soul in some way.
And nothing prevents her from doing something bad at the moment.
"I believe this explanation is sufficient, don't you think?" she replies in a tone that seems irritated, which is rather obvious.
"Yes…"
"If I agree, what will you do?" I think this is an important point for me, despite being simple.
"I will send you to a world with low supervision. Once there, you must increase your negative Karma."
"As your Karma increases, I will become stronger, and naturally, you, as my follower, will also become stronger."
Thinking about it, the best option would be to agree for now, as there is a clear difference between dying and being completely eliminated. Not that I understand much about it; I just have this feeling.
"I…"
"…Agree," I respond, though a bit hesitantly.
"Great."
She gives what I could call a smile. Even her aura changes, and she seems excited about the fact that I agreed.
"Before giving you my power, I need you to swear by your name that you will be my follower."
The implications of promising something to the being in front of me seem somewhat concerning. But I decide to go through with it.
"You seem a bit nervous; don't worry, this is just a guarantee to prevent you from betraying me."
Decided to get this over with, Aurélio makes the promised oath.
"I… Kuroiwa Aurélio, swear to follow the Goddess of the Night, Nix." I assume this is what she meant by swearing by my name, although I don't know the implications of doing so.
After completing the oath, Aurélio feels strange as if something has changed. While the goddess seems even more excited about it. Feeling that there's no turning back now, Aurélio hopes he didn't make the wrong choice.
"I will begin to transfer my powers to you and explain a bit about the world you will be going to."
"To start, as you are dead, you will have a new body in the new world, but you must keep your current name." The prospect of a new body is somewhat exciting. And I guess I have to keep my name because I made an oath using it.
"The world I will send you to is one that you already have prior knowledge of and has lower supervision so you won't be easily found."
"What happens if I am found?" This is important because I wonder who would find me.
"If another god finds you, they will eliminate you as an anomaly in that world."
She says this so calmly that it sends a shiver down my spine. I wonder what the chances are of being discovered early on.
"What world are you referring to?"
"You will be sent to the world of *Date A Live*." I'm a bit surprised; after all, isn't that an anime? Does that mean they were real?
"My power will adapt to the world in question... so in that world, you will be a
"In addition to the ability I will give you, you will also have the power of a Spirit."
"Naturally, as my power works based on negative energy, yours will too, so you will be a Spirit in the Inversion state. However, you will be able to use both the
While she explains, I can only think that I wish I had watched *Date A Live* beyond the 3rd season. Because now it would be very useful.
"In the case of your powers as a Spirit, I can't say what they will be, so you'll have to discover that on your own."
"I have a question…"
"…Speak," she doesn't seem to be pleased that I interrupted her explanation but tries not to show it.
"When I arrive in the new world, I need to increase my negative Karma. But what should I do
to achieve that?"
Although it seems simple to increase it, for example, by committing crimes, I don't think it will be that straightforward.
"Well… what you need to do in the new world is simple."
"You just have to destroy that world."
…Upon hearing this, everything seems to slow down. Not understanding the implications of this, time passes. After a moment, I compose myself but still don't say anything.
Although I thought it would have to be something grand, after all, it's to recover a goddess's power, this turns out to be much bigger than I expected.
"Of course, it won't be easy… Although I believe that with the power I'll give you, it should be possible to achieve such a feat."
"If you do this, other gods will notice and will 'correct' the problem. If you know what I mean."
As I listen to her, I think it seems more complicated than I initially thought.
"So, how am I supposed to do this?"
"What you need to do is…"
"Make the main characters of that world destroy it under your influence."
"You can go as far as destroying a city, and it won't be a problem for you."
"However, what you cannot do is destroy the world yourself, nor kill any of the main characters of that world."
"Although you can kill those who have a considerable influence on the world but are not as relevant as many of the other Spirits who, while important, could still be eliminated without causing many problems for you."
"I hope you understood everything because I won't be going back on this."
"I understand… but it's much more difficult than I expected." I think by "problems," she refers to being found by another god.
I think about how I can fulfill this request. Then a question arises about when exactly I will appear. I decide to ask.
"When exactly will I appear in that world?"
"You will appear on January 10th, 2040."
I understand; it's 3 months before Tohka Yatogami's first appearance. That gives me plenty of time to prepare before Shido takes any action.
"Now let's talk about the power I will give you."
"Since my divine power is low, this will reflect on the range and strength of your ability."
"The ability you will have is
"I don't quite understand, how is it oppositely?" What she said has many implications; I don't want to arrive in another world without knowing what I can do.
"An example would be using it on gravity. Instead of pulling down, it would pull up." So, this would be something non-physical.
"Using it on something like gender, for example, you can turn a man into a woman." This, I believe, would be physical? Or maybe not because it's gender. Also, why this example?
"Using it on heat, you can turn it into cold."
"You see, it literally makes anything the opposite, inverting its functionality. Of course, the more difficult it is to invert something, the more energy it consumes." It seems simple after being explained, but it's much more complex than she tries to make it seem.
"The energy this ability will consume will be converted into the energy of that world, so everything will depend on how much
"Based on the current power, the restrictions will be that the effective range is a maximum of 100 meters, the energy spent will be equivalent to what you want to change, and you can only cause one change per target."
"Does that mean I can only use it once?" If so, it would be complicated to fight many opponents.
"Not necessarily. You can add one inversion per target, but you can apply it to multiple targets. Also, once the inversion is made, maintaining it doesn't consume energy, so you can make it permanent if you wish." So, after the initial expenditure, it would be like a passive ability that costs nothing. Good to know.
"However, I recommend being careful if you use it on yourself because if you use it, the longer it lasts, the more the inversion becomes the original. When this happens completely…"
"It will be defined as the original, so you can add another rule, but the old one will still exist and will not be possible to remove." I wonder what would happen to me if I didn't know this fact.
"The rest you can discover on your own."
"Okay, I understand how it works."
It's more complex than I thought by the name and has some very unique restrictions.
"I think that's it, isn't it?"
"Now I will give you the ability and your new body. At the moment, when you awaken in the world, you will cause a SpaceQuake in that world, so be prepared. Since my power is low, we won't be able to communicate for a while." So, my appearance will be like a normal Spirit suddenly appearing.
"You can increase your power by slowly increasing your negative Karma through… certain actions." I think I know what she's referring to.
"I wish you luck in this new world until we meet again, my follower," she says with a voice I can only describe as overly angelic. Considering what she said, I can say that even if she is a goddess, she is still a goddess of evil.
She seems to be smiling while saying this. But I don't notice, as I feel my consciousness fading… I think I'm losing consciousness.
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And so we arrive at the present moment where I calmly await my appearance in the world. I can't say if only a few minutes or hours have passed; all I can do is wait since I can't even move.
While waiting, I sense something wrong with the space around me. It feels like it's trembling. It seems to tremble more with each passing second… then suddenly I feel a stronger tremor than the previous ones.
And suddenly, my vision changes. I'm in a crater that I'd say is about 50 meters across. I think it's considerably large, which might indicate I have quite a bit of
Not that it means much because there are Spirits that don't even cause one but have a lot of energy.
Suddenly, my instincts sense danger and I instinctively activate a barrier as it is bombarded by missiles and gunfire.
As I look at the sky, I see a group that I judge to be the AST hovering around me.
I can only think, "That was quick." I expected to have more time, but I've already been detected.