Death x Rebirth - Crim
Testing, testing. Is this thing on? *Tap* *Tap* Geez...
Ehem. Regardless, come one come all! Come quickly and gather around to a wondrous tale I shall weave. A tale of whimsy and woe! A tale of dragons and dungeons. A tale... About a slime and his companions.
Didn't expect that did ya? Well... Actually you might have, considering you picked up this book. Whatever!
Point is, this is a story about that time my friend and I got reincarnated with a slime (see what I did there?), and then dealt with a whole mess of problems pertaining to managing a country. Did I mention said friend now has a sister packing enough power to make Hiroshima look like a 4th grade science fair experiment?
But before we get into all that, let's take a step back.
Before dragons and dungeons, before magicules and monsters... There was just a screen, a headset, and a best friend named Lith. Yeah. We were playing a rage-inducing genre of any game. A Shooter. Well actually a Team Based FPS game, but it has guns so I'm calling it a shooter.
Prologue
Click. Clack.
Mouse clicks echo through the dim room, synced with the soft hum of a PC tower lit up like a crab rave party. On-screen, a red haired maiden descends from the sky while contorting and shrieking in an eldritch tongue. Shortly afterwards she detonates and shreds the entire enemy line. It's chaotic, and it's beautiful.
"M@$#$%#*##&!"
Unfortunately, she was not on our team, and thus was now our problem to deal with, so I retract said statement and would much rather call her words I am not allowed to say in the radius of those under 17.
Of course despite my inner thoughts about Miss Vacuum Cleaner draining my health, I was quick enough to grab her and yank her quickly off a cliff.
"Bro I swear to God if you yank my kill one more time-"
"Get good lil bro."
"Uh huh. Be sure you don't regret those words later~"
I chuckled at the thinly veiled threat from my Gaming Buddy, that is to say one Lith. Not to be confused with that other less wholesome Lith of the feline variety.
Of course any humor I had at the situation disappeared rapidly when Lith proceeded to then steal every kill I possessed, or would have possessed.
"..."
"¬‿¬"
He didn't even have to speak for me to practically feel the smug energy emanating from the headset.
"...So-"
"Kill yourself."
A pause.
Then the two of us erupted into laughter. It was the kind of easy, warm sound that fills the late-night silence and makes the world outside the screen disappear. The kind that makes you happy to be in the now y'know?
This was our thing, midnight gaming sessions, snacking on whatever's not expired, talking about life, school, girls, reincarnating as overpowered anime characters... y'know, normal stuff.
And yes, two people discussing reincarnation, that is to say Isekai, is perfectly normal. Sure the odds of it happening are lower than Drake beating Kendrick in a rap war, but it's still fun.
It was dumb, mundane fun, but it was our thing. And that made me happy. It made us happy. I looked forward to these gaming sessions.
After yapping for a while, we both logged off and wished each other well.
"See you next Tuesday?"
"Mm. See you then dude."
Little did I know, there wouldn't be a then. Nor would there ever be one again...
That Following Tuesday
I had just gotten back from work, and immediately plopped down in my chair. But I wasn't ready to game or anything like that. No, I was staring down at my phone in disbelief.
My phone screen was shining with a message that didn't seem to disappear no matter how much I rubbed my eyes vigorously. Hoping, begging for it to change.
[The Boys National]
"Hey... did you guys hear about Lith? Car crash. Last night. He didn't make it. At least the rescue crew said the crash was so fast and sudden, he didn't feel much, if anything at all."
Time seemed to freeze at that point.
The game was still open, our last session still saved. The character Lith played stood idle, frozen mid-animation in a flame-lit background. Almost as if paying homage to the fact that Lith himself was frozen in time. Displaced from life in much a similar manner...
I stared at that screen for hours. Waiting for him to log in. Waiting for a ping. A 'yo.' A 'you on?' Something. Anything.
But it never came. Lith was gone. And a part of me went with him.
Three days after the message from The Boys, I still hadn't closed the game.
Lith's character stood in the same lobby, still posing dramatically, idle but alive in a way y'know? It was dumb, but I hoped to preserve his memory in a sense.
Everyone kept saying stuff like 'he's in a better place' or 'he wouldn't want you to be sad.'
But none of them heard him laugh at 2 a.m.
None of them knew what he meant to me.
Click. My game screen shifts. The model blinks once, still staring. Before the power to my PC slowly dims and my computer turns off.
I didn't cry. Not right away. Or rather not at all. I just... paused. Like if I stopped moving, the moment wouldn't pass. Like time would rewind if I sat still long enough. I don't think that moment ever truly sunk in. Still hasn't honestly.
I stopped logging into that game. My snacks pile up, unopened. Notifications stacked up on my phone, with several people asking me if I'm ok. Begging me to respond. I never read them.
Everything kept going, like nothing happened. Like the world didn't just lose its most annoying, brilliant idiot.
And all I could think was:
He was just here.
Laughing. And being an all around Gremlin. Playing. Promising me he'd play another match. Frickin liar... Misleading me with his earnest words.
Tuesday, 3 Months later
With a gasp like a shriveled corpse I exited the office building I worked with a groan of relief. I felt my shoulders pop as I rolled them to ease the stiffness
"Man. Nothing is more relieving than escaping desk work all day!"
I was one of the unfortunate souls who worked the clopen shift. That's a close - open for those of y'all who have had the luxury of not doing such a thing. It's basically where you're scheduled to work till close, but then also open. There's quite literally no point in going home since you'd be coming right back immediately.
Regardless. It sucked and I was happy to be done with it.
A fact the little hop in my step probably illustrated.
These last few months have been kind of a blur if I'm being honest.
In an effort to try and forget, or rather to move on, I threw myself into my work with abandon.
It got to the point where even my boss was worried for my sanity. After all, I was never the most dedicated worker, doing just the bare minimum to get by. But he grew worried seeing me work myself near to death.
He even proposed transferring me overseas to work for their parent company as a break. He said he thought the distance would do me some good. I was indifferent to it honestly. So... I boarded a plane and immediately went that following day. My new boss was actually a well mannered lady, if a bit no nonsense.
I quickly acclimated to an environment such as this, and proceeded to once more work myself in overdrive. I ended up getting promoted ironically, and was actually even offered a position on the board of directors, to which I still had til tonight to decide if I wanted to accept. So I guess my old boss was right about it helping in a sense...
Oh!
It isn't all bad. I managed to get myself this adorable little junior that always seems to have a morbid or borderline creepy joke to say.
His name is Satoru Mikami. Yeah. Much like that one weird anime or manga or whatever. That's a hell of a coincidence.
But I digress, one night I ended up catching him moping about and like most extroverts with introverts, I adopted him against his will as a friend.
I know I know. No need to praise me too much. Although... I'm starting to wonder if this is a sign of my future friendships...
...
Nah!
Anyways, speaking of Satoru, imagine my surprise when the guy tells me he's been single for several years now.
Haaahhh???
With that appearance and personality???
He's been taking care of me when I've been drunk and stumbling around like an idiot these past weeks, ain't no way no one wouldn't want him as a boyfriend! He's the biggest green flag I've ever seen!
Ehem, ehem.
I'm getting sidetracked, the point is, another reason I was happy to leave work was because I got invited to lunch with Satoru and his friend Tamura who had a girlfriend. Actually, his friend may be wanting to flex his girl in all honesty... And I was definitely invited along so Satoru didn't have to look at it alone.
But who cares? Free food is good food I say.
So as I made my way there, thinking about the ways I could bankrupt Tamura, I soon saw my targets, er friends, and began waving at them.
"Oooooiiiiiiii! Satoruuuuu! Tamuuurraaa! Random girl I've never meetttt!"
They looked back and two out of three immediately facepalmed at my over the top call.
I saw Tamura, the brown haired young man, nudge Satoru with a smile.
"That's your other friend huh Satoru? You didn't mention they were so exuberant."
"Trust me. I didn't think they'd be like this either..."
"Oh come on, you know you love me you two."
I walked up to them and slung my arms around both their shoulders, before beginning to viciously pull both their ears in front of the as unintroduced Miss.
"Pff..."
Who was not doing a good job of hiding her amusement.
A sense of humor huh? Tamura you have good taste.
Eventually having my fill of messing with the two, I let them go as Satoru was busy sighing once more, and Tamura began trying to save face by introducing the girl as Miho Sawatamaki? No it's Teriyaki? Er... Sawatari.
Miho Sawatari.
Turns out, she was Tamura's fiancé. And though it went unsaid, yeah, she was here specifically to flex on Satoru. Ok well not actually to flex, considering they just wanted his blessings. Which is really sweet and all, but definitely had the added bonus of flexing.
As for me being the third wheel, I guess it's just because I was invited as an afterthought. I'm still fine with that, because once again free food is good food.
Anyway, as the introductions were going around, and plans were being made on where to dine, I noticed a weird commotion in the background. Down towards the end of the street.
Squinting my eyes I could faintly make out a bunch of people parting ways as if being forced to move aside.
As I looked closer, I noticed what looked like a rabid animal screaming as it charged forward.
Wait no that's a guy with... Is he holding a machete?
My eyes widened in disbelief as an honest to god man charged our direction with a mouth practically frothing with spittle.
As he got towards us, his grip upon the knife seemed to strengthen for a second as he angled it slightly upwards, and his target?
Miho.
"Shit! Miho, Tamura! Move out of the-"
Stab!
With a squelch, the knife was viciously thrust into Satoru's stomach as he pushed the other two aside.
" ! "
I was speechless as I watched him drop to his knees unceremoniously and began bleeding out.
The runner meanwhile, didn't even stop to check his handiwork, as he merely kept running.
I immediately took after him, sprinting as I tried to grab the guy.
If I was in a better frame of mind, I probably would have stopped to check on my bleeding out friend, but alas.
I wanted nothing more Than To Burn and Rip this bastard who had hurt what was MINE once again.
|Notice. Ultimate Skill, Dragon Soul, Acquired.|
It took a bit, but I managed to corner him in an alleyway, to which I tackled him as we both went flying.
Perhaps for the first time that day, the guy was forced to look at a person he had slighted.
I immediately tried to go for a punch as I crawled on him, only for him to catch it and shove me off of him.
Growling, I dove right back on top of him and began scratching at his face, which served only to irritate him if his blatant disregard for the attack was.
Dammit! My nails aren't sharp enough to actually inflict meaningful damage.
Seeing that didn't work, I went to try ripping his eye out, maybe puncture his nose if I was lucky.
Unfortunately...
Stab!
I felt a tearing sensation as something sharp then proceeded to enter my body through my ribs.
This bastard stabbed me?
Shit! Shit! Shit!
It burns so bad!
|Notice. Extra Skill, Pain Resistance, Acquired.|
It took a bit of focusing but I managed to focus through the pain and put both hands around his neck as I began to choke him out. He panicked obviously, and began to pull the knife in and out of my sides repeatedly.
|Notice. Unique Skill, Adaptive Endurance, Acquired.|
Die.
Die...
"Diiiiiieeeee!"
At some point I was screaming my head off as I slammed his skull against the pavement, repeatedly bashing it until he grew slack in my hands.
Chest heaving, I stumbled off of him and slumped against the wall.
Whatever adrenaline I may have possessed was long since running low, and I only felt coldness creeping inside me.
|Notice. Unique Skill, Temperature Regulation, Acquired.|
I looked back through the alleyway and realized from what it looked like, I had probably abandoned my friend to run away. I didn't really plan ahead for that, did I? I wish I would have.
|Notice. Unique Skill, Visionary, Acquired.|
Man...
As I lay there, my thoughts went to first Lith and then Satoru. That's two friends I've lost huh? At least this time we'll be meeting each other soon huh. We'll never be separated again... Not even death can... stop... us...
|Notice. Ultimate Skill, Transcendent Bond, Acquired.|
As my eyes dimmed, I noticed a girl running towards me.
Miho...?
She tried saying something, but I couldn't hear it anymore.
I closed my eyes for the final time that day, but this time with a peaceful smile on my face. At least I wouldn't be alone in my final moments....
____
|Notice. Host's body is too damaged, initiating reconstruction. Suggestions to maximize incompatibility issues?|
Something... human...like...
|Confirmed. Beginning reconfiguration. Species - Dragonoid.|
|Error! Host body is not stable enough to withstand such power. Searching for alternatives. Analyzing Host Memory. Hero Killer. Target: Muine Langjer. Host will be remade in alignment with target configuration. Race has been changed to awakened humanoid. The World wishes you safe travels.|
____
It was only a short while later that I blinked my eyes open to find myself stuck in what seemed to be a cave wall. Try as I might, I couldn't move from the spot.
"Eh?"
I blinked dumbly upon realizing I was probably being punished for my transgressions in life.
A few Weeks later
Well on the bright side I can confirm I very much am not dead. The being punished part is up for debate though.
In other news, I now have made two very fun discoveries.
The first being that I now had a bunch of skills I didn't have prior to life.
Mentally focusing, a status-like screen popped up in front of my eyes listing my basic lifeform facts.
|Name: Crim
|Age: 3 weeks
|Race: Ascended Humanoid
|Ultimate Skills: Dragon Soul, Transcendent Bond
|Extra Skills: Pain Resistance
|Unique Skill: Visionary, Temperature Regulation, Adaptive Endurance
Turns out the reason I hadn't starved to death was because of my unique skill Adaptive Endurance which essentially forced my body to adapt to whatever ailed me so I could endure longer. In this case that led to me being able to apparently go months without food. As for the water aspect... Well, the cave walls occasionally dripped water droplets and would land on my face before sliding into my mouth so I never got truly dehydrated.
As for the second thing I discovered...
Thump
"Stupid tail...."
I now had a very much not human appendage in the form of a scaly tail, which while I could control, occasionally moved on its own. Something I was reminded of yet again when it decided to whack me in the face.
My Ultimate Skill, Dragon Soul, allowed my body to essentially take on the aspects of Dragons, which is kinda cool.
Whack!
"M@#$$@%%!"
Except for when it decides to attack me.
Sigh
Honestly though, I'm getting kinda lonely here by myself.
I don't suppose you'd suddenly gain sentience and a mouth to speak huh tail?
It merely thumped twice against the ground in response.
Figures.
God I would kill for some entertainment.
"Alright, let's see... that's the third fire-resistant mushroom today. I still can't taste anything, but maybe if I eat enough, I'll unlock spicy vision or something."
Eh?
A muffled voice echoed faintly through the cave area behind where I couldn't see.
Immediately I sighed.
It was another lizard coming to roast me huh. Apparently they found it hilarious that someone that smelled like them, was stuck in a wall.
I'm just glad they didn't decide to pull a 'Stepbro' and help me unstick myself.
I wish I could turn that aspect of my skill off in hindsight, the language translation feature specifically, but apparently not.
"Ughh... I swear if I hear one more cave lizard whisper insults..."
My voice trailed off as the threat hung emptily in the air.
"HUH?! Who said that?! Veldora?! Are you messing with me again?!"
The voice was very much startled if that wavering pitch was anything to go by.
Veldora though... Now ain't that an interesting name to hear.
As I lay there embedded, my tail decided to poke back behind me, before flopping on the ground once more.
"..."
When I get the chance to cut you off, I'm doing it Jashin style so help me god-
"...Okay. Either I'm hallucinating, or the cave's trying to lay eggs now."
The owner of the voice decided to start poking and prodding my tail, letting me feel that they were at least spherical and cold in nature.
"Stop poking my tail, you sentient mochi."
Following that sentence, I swatted the being away lightly by flicking said appendage up a bit.
"HEY! I'm a slime! Sliiiime! Not a dessert!"
"...."
Crumble
Hearing that, my body moved with a strength I didn't know I had as I immediately broke the wall holding me and fell backwards, rolling to a stop on my back.
"Ow... legs? Check. Arms? Kinda numb..." I looked over at the slime in question, as a sense of mirth filled me at finally being free.
"What are you supposed to be lil dude? Pudding with anxiety?"
"You're not exactly a fashion statement either, Miss Cave Diver. Did you see that hole and try to go through it or something?"
....Heh.
Lil dude can dish it out and take it huh?
I think I just found a new person to kidna- Er... Surprise adop-
A friend. Yes. I meant friend.
As I pondered on the possibility of getting away with grabbing the slime and using it as a squishy toy, a massive gust of magic-charged air whipped through the cave. A majestic voice echoing thunderously from the depths shortly afterward.
"OH HOH?! Another intruder in my domain? Or perhaps... a lost descendant of a Dragon Lineage? YOU THERE! RED ONE!"
"Yell quieter, Cave Grandpa, my head's ringing." was my immediate snarky response.
I couldn't help it in my defense. The guy sounded old with that 'oho' and 'thou hast enterth my domain' words.
Instead of being offended, the voice merely let out a bellowing laugh.
"EXCELLENT! A worthy conversationalist! Little slime! You have found me entertainment!"
"I didn't find anything! This weird dragon-kid just peeled out of the wall like a fruit roll-up!"
"And I resent being called entertainment! I'm at least the main act if anything!"
A short while later
Yeah so uh...
I'm starting to regret my earlier snark.
After sneakily picking up the slime and rubbing my face against it, the voice from before had asked me to come before it so it could get a closer look.
Bored, I had decided to listen. And by the gods, it was a massive dragon staring me down.
No no.
Its fine.
Nothing to worry about.
You only just insulted one of the strongest creatures in most if not all variants of myth!
"..."
"You ok there? I had the same reaction myself when I first saw him. Veldora isn't that bad once you know him for a bit though."
I would hope so! That guy is frickin huge! Oh god... The slime called it by name.
I'm not interfering by touching the slime am I? It isn't part of his hoard is it? Should I put him down? Maybe if I place him down and leave fast enough he won't-
"You do know I can see you trying to back away right? That isn't very polite."
EEP!
Oh god he saw right through me!
Dropping the slime, who let out an oomph of surprise, I immediately clasped my hands together and dropped to the ground in a groveling position.
"I'm sorry for intruding in your domain Mr. Veldora Sir! Please don't eat me."
Silence. It became so quiet a pin drop could be heard.
"You're a... Rather lively little one aren't ya?"
Internal Screaming
My tail covered my head as I tried to sink into the ground.
Please.
Kill me.
Another bit of time later
Y'know.
Getting a last name wasn't as dope as I thought it would be.
I mean, I guess getting the last name Tempest and the crest of Veldora as a sign of protection is dope and all, but Rimuru devoured an entire frickin dragon so I feel like I got the cheaper end of the deal.
Oh right.
So, basically, lil slime got a name which is now Rimuru Tempest, from the Big Ol Dragon Veldora. Who he promptly devoured to help escape a barrier he got imprisoned in.
Are all dragons this unlucky or something? Cause bro said he has other siblings but they aren't as accident prone apparently.
Anyway, I now have a last name and a travel companion who is reclining on my head with duct tape over his mouth.
As to why the tape?
He ate a bat and mimicked its skills to learn to speak.
...
He proceeded to swear so loud the cave collapsed on me.
Yeah.
I slammed him against the wall for that one.
But, after a long arduous journey full of perils and charred slime, we had made it to the door.
It was time...
To leave this cave and brave the unknown!
To-
"Are you doing an inner monologue again, Crim?"
!
"Nooooo....."
Yes.
Rimuru sighed before hopping off my head and bouncing forward.
I grumbled to myself while following behind him.
"Stupid slime, predicting my behavior and shiz..."
Well whatever, it's not like things should get too out of hand.
I mean short of one of us accidentally using up all of our power or something.
Not even a day later
I stared down befuddled at the comatose blob on my lap.
Looking up, I saw one sheepish Goblin Elder, and one sheepish Wolf staring at me.
Both were boasting significantly different appearances from 30 minutes ago.
And the reason for that?
Currently melting into a puddle on the ground.
"WE WERE LITERALLY OUT OF THE CAVE FOR LESS THAN 2 DAYS. HOOOOOWWWWWWWW???"
Fin~
So uh...
My friend wanted to do a collab book, so here it is.
I'll probably have another one out with other friends but meh.
So yeah, any chapter written by me will be written in 1st person, while any made by Lith will be in 3rd Person.
Also, we're both different people so if you notice a difference in writing style, thats a given.