Soaring the Heavens - Chapter 43: Hidden Agenda (2)

Welcome to the world that has shed its old skin.

It's an age of avant-garde technologies that break common sense. Science that transcends fantasy. And yet, it has lost its charm in the face of something even more fantastical.

The presence of mana is for those who are blessed by their origins. The Rankers are the true elites of their circles.

A long lifespan is possible. Gaining superhuman powers is feasible. But what use is personal power when the entire existence of your species is on the line?

Things on Earth are much more serious than the general populace is aware of. A threat of the unknown looms over the existence of everything living and otherwise.

Humanity may soon need to leave the only place it calls home. And seek shelter somewhere else in the infinite universe.

Who would find the Oasis for humans who have never been so powerful or as helpless as they are now? Will it be the hero they asked for? Or will it be the not-a-hero they need?

What happens when that not-a-hero gains one of the most broken powers?

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I am lost and found

In the world of dreams

My serenity awaits

Amid the banshee screams!

Within mayhem, I'll find my reason

Within sorrows, my bliss

In the darkness, I'll see my light

In the desert, my oasis!

- Grayback

“Next, we have the most noble recipient of the Order of the Garter, the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Grand Cross of the Bath, the Victoria Cross and the lower grades of Knighthood, the leader of the anti-colonial movement, the bell-ringer of the East India Company, the hero of the Crimean War, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifelong dear friend of literary giants such as Dickens and Great Dumas, a steadfast supporter of scientific luminaries like Faraday and Darwin, having served as assistant under-secretary, deputy under-secretary, and permanent under-secretary in departments of the Home Office and the Navy Department of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the inaugural Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, the first graduate and most distinguished alumnus of our school. Please welcome Sir Arthur Hastings to deliver a speech on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the University of London.”Arthur's gaze swept across the crowd before him, looking at the young faces and murmured, “Agares, what do you think I should say?”The Red Devil's wraith hovered behind him, saliva almost dribbling from the corner of his mouth, “Look at these ignorant souls; they still worship you as a hero. Why not say something they'd like to hear?”Arthur took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, “Oxford is a bunch of whores' bastards!”“Oh!!!!”The audience erupted into thunderous applause.“Cambridge is the same!” he added immediately.The applause grew even more fervent...(The protagonist, possessed by a devil, travels through 19th-century Britain in a world without magic)

Ren Arakawa thought getting stabbed by his psycho ex-girlfriend was the worst way to die, and it would end his story. Turns out, it was just the prologue. He wakes up in a parallel earth full of dungeons, monsters, hunters and way too many women with clingy tendencies and knives.To make things worse, the goddess who reincarnated him? Yeah—she's the Yandere Goddess, the divine creator of obsessive love and the world he is going to reincarnate is female-dominated world, and she’s mad Ren called his ex “crazy.” So she curses him:“Every girl who likes you will become yandere. Like, explosively, murderously, loyalty-soaked yandere, to them you will be their oxygen. Good luck, idiot~ Go ahead and realise how amazing this yandere love is.”BUT—plot twist—the God of Creation, who’s been hiding in a broom closet in heaven since the beginning of the universe to escape his yandere stalker (guess who?), snatches Ren’s soul mid-reincarnation and gives him a cheat skill:[Heartsteal] – Absorb one power from any yandere girl who's obsessed with you.“My guy...you should help me...this bitch is driving me crazy..”Now Ren just wants to survive dungeons and not die from accidental love. Instead, he’s collecting powers:A healer who murders teammates because they looked at him wrongA pop idol who sends her fans to the shadow realm for shipping her with someone else other than RenA plant mage who grows garden clones of him to cuddle and possibly do other thingsArmed with sarcasm, trauma, and increasingly dangerous girlfriends, Ren must climb the power ladder, level up, and eventually punch a literal goddess in the face to break the curse and destroy the concept of Yandere and be a free man.Love? Nope. Power through emotionally unstable women? Absolutely.

«Until death do us part.»That was our vow.And she kept it... by driving her sword through my chest.I was a hero. A symbol. The one chosen by the gods to free humanity.I fought for her. For us.But in the end, it wasn’t the demons who killed me.It was the woman I loved.Helena betrayed me.I fell with my heart shattered and my blood burning between my fingers.But death wasn’t the end.I woke up in another body, in another world...No, not exactly.I woke up inside the very story she wrote.And now, I am Daven von Riesenhart:the bastard son of a marquess, a noble outcast with a name no one respects, and a life I never asked for.I no longer believe in ideals, in gods, or in happy endings.I won’t fight for others.I won’t die for anyone.This time, I’ll live only for myself.And if surviving means deceiving, betraying, or destroying...so be it.Even if it makes me the villain of this story.