He opened his eyes to be greeted by an unfamiliar view. He could see nothing but a void of white, spanning across what seemed like an eternity. He pushed himself off the floor, or so he thought. The floor under him was also the same colour as the sky. Pure, unstained white. This place sparked a memory in his mind. A memory of his long lost 'Headspace'. But if there's anything different, it was the fact that he wasn't alone.

"Welcome, poor soul".

Hearing a voice unfamiliar to him, he slowly turned around. Behind him, standing several metres was a woman with brown hair. She was wearing a white gown and a bright, yellow glowing halo was several inches over her head. That woman was the source of the voice and was smiling at him at the moment.

He squinted his eyes at her and asked, "Where am I?". His tone was cold and unfriendly as he reached for the sword on his waist. Albeit, what he grabbed was nothing more than air. He raised his eyebrows in a bit of confusion but didn't drop his guard a bit.

"Well, lost soul. You are in [Eden]" said the woman, "I have seen your soul floating around endlessly in the boundless void, slowly disintegrating into nothingness. As such, I pulled you here out of pity".

"Why?" asked the man, seemingly glaring at her.

"As I have said before, I did it nothing but out of pure pit-".

Before she could finish, she felt a shiver down her spine. She then noticed the blood-red blade about a centimetre from her neck.

"Lie, and see your head fly off. Now speak. Who are you, and why did you bring me here?" threatened the man.

"Please, dear soul. Don't be hasty to use violence. It is never the answer-".

She stopped when she felt the cold blade slightly grazing her skin. A glowing whitish liquid flowed from her wound.

"Last chance" the man uttered, "Or you can say goodbye".

The woman sneered, and her body started glowing in a radiant light. "You dare to threaten-?" she uttered. Her voice seemingly echoed through the white void. She released a powerful shockwave, sending the man several metres back. She then continued, "A God?".

The woman turned to him with a sinister smile. All of a sudden, the void behind her shattered like glass, before crumbling down. A bigger form of her appeared there, donning a midnight blue gown laced with pearls and diamonds. She was about ten times larger than before. Despite the powerful aura she emanated, he didn't back down. Instead, he sneered.

"A god, you say?" he uttered as if mocking her. As blood gathered in his other hand, he pulled out another blood-red single-edged sword. He then pointed his sword at her.

Regarding his stance as an act of provocation, she launched her fist attack. "Die, insect" she uttered. Her voice echoed as she brought her hand down onto the man. Still, that man didn't cower in fear. The hand slammed onto him just for the god to realize, he had blocked the attack head-on.

"You call yourself a God with this much power only?". He pushed her hand away and smiled. "Even that False God guy is ten, if not a hundred times stronger. And that's coming from the one taking him down".

"You!".

Time seemed endless as if they had been fighting for eternity. However, the outcome of this battle was set in stone ages ago. One couldn't wish to stand against a god. More so on their own turf. That was why-

A groan could be heard as a boot stomped onto a person's chest. A second later, a blood-red katana pointed itself towards the person's neck. "W-wait. Can't we talk this out?" asked the God, her voice wavered.

One could never stand against a god. That sentence was true, but not for the man. The man who risked his all to fight against those who governed the realm for the sake of his family's world. He killed a few of them, but none could compare to the False God. No, that 'person' was akin to a true God. And by stabbing the False God's heart, he ended the nightmare of his world. However, his body couldn't hold the power he gained and started crumbling.

"Spill everything, and I might just let you be".

"I see. So you need a favour" uttered the man.

"Y-Yes. I saw a strong soul, or rather, consciousness floating around, and thought that that person might help. But, if you can't, then it's fine" replied the God.

The man nodded and asked, "Tell me, what is your name?".

"Gods don't have set names. But if I were to choose, then it's Ket. What is yours?".

"Akatsuki Shiroe". The man looked at the blood-red sword disintegrating as he replied. He turned back to her and asked, "Tell me, Ket. What is your request?".

Ket raised her eyebrows when she heard that. She couldn't believe what she heard. The man who tried to kill her now was asking her for her request. She gulped and opened her mouth, just to be cut off.

"Who do I need to kill?" he asked.

"How do you know what I-?"

"Usually, one is summoned for such reason. So?".

"I need- no. I ask of you to kill the Hero".

Shiroe raised his right eyebrow and asked, "Why?".

"In 18 years, the Hero would kill the Demon King. He would then use the power to bring destruction to the world. You are to kill that guy after he killed the Demon King".

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"I can't interfere with the world too much, or everything would be in chaos. I hope you understand".

A short silence grew as the man sorted through his mind. After a minute, he opened his mouth.

"What do I get from this?" he asked.

"I will grant you anything you wish. If it is difficult, then I will try to fulfil it. However, if you want me, then it's a different cas-".

"No thanks. I got someone far more beautiful than you. And a star shining brighter than the brightest star in my eyes". There was a sense of longing in his face. One that Ket rarely see in lost souls even after living for quite some time. Maybe it's because all the other ones were distracted by her blessings and promises.

The man nodded, seemingly finished deciding. He said, "Fine. What do I need to do?".

Ket's eyes sparkled upon hearing that. "Well, you will be reincarnated as-"

"No thanks. I would rather not"

Upon hearing that, she felt like the world shattered before her eyes. "B-but. You say you'd help".

"No. I never said that. I just asked about what I need to do"

"You..."

"However, I can help. But with a few conditions".

"Are you trying to strike a deal with me? A god?"

"Yes. Except you want me to tear down this place, I suggest you listen first".

"Very well. Tell me your conditions, dear lost soul"

He glared at her, "Don't call me that".

"Alright"

"First. You would aid me in my quest. Second. I don't want to be reincarnated or turn into someone else. I wish to be myself"

"That's... manageable"

"Third. I want to retain my power. If it's not possible to the fullest, I wish to retain at least a few"

"Some strings here and there could get you that"

"Lastly," he said. His tone sent a shiver down her spine for some reason. He continued, "If I were to call you anywhere anytime, you would answer me. There's no need for you to summon yourself. Just speak something telepathically or anything. You're a god, right?".

"I..."

Out of thin air, a parchment appeared in a ball of flame. On it were written the conditions that Shiroe had stated. Still, there are 4 empty spaces for her to make her conditions.

"State your conditions, Ket" ushered the man. Ket nodded and started listing her conditions.

"One, none of us would cause harm towards each other. Whether it's direct or some other indirect means"

Shiroe nodded.

"Two. You would need to follow my orders, for as long as it doesn't concern your life"

"I would. Except for the private things"

"Third. You must heed my call, except in dire situations. And four. You will be marked with my blessing. Some will hunt you down for this, and some will help you"

"What does your blessing do?"

"Anything I wished it to be. Of course, you may request the power"

Shiroe nodded in agreement.

He then said, "Failure to comply with any of these rules would annul this contract and all its conditions".

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Ket nodded in agreement, and the parchment burned in the air. She looked at it as she thought about what she had done. After several moments, she opened her mouth and said "Now. Let's go onto the next step".

"There's a next step?"

"Naturally. Usually, according to tradition, we would start by introducing each other. Maybe some information about how one died, the world, the objective etc. But we just skipped that step completely and have our blades clashing against each other".

"You don't want to answer my question," remarked Shiroe.

"Well, you threatened me. Still, it's not like I can tell you information about your past life. It's like, every piece of information on your soul is either empty or censored. As if you don't have one in the first place. So how did you die?".

"My already terrible state of a body can't handle the power and crumble. That's all".

"I see..."

The two then fell into a short silence as they planned their next words.

"Well," uttered Shiroe, breaking the silence, "Enough about me. What's up with this world, anyways?".

She cleared her throat and explained. "This world is a world of magic. A world with dragons, demons and... I guess you got the gist of it. The world is under a system. A system of skills, power level and whatnot; one that governs the world. Other than that... Well, you'll see for yourself".

"I understand. Will I be placed under the system?"

"Well yes, but actually, no".

"How come?".

"Putting you under the system is like putting seals on you. I don't want to do that, because surely those seals would easily shatter along with the system. So you'll just be accessing it every now and then".

"Can you do that?"

"I create the system, so why can't I? Anyways, enough talk. Let's get to the favourite parts of the souls. Choosing your weapons and skills".

Ket flicked her fingers and almost instantaneously, cards upon cards appeared in front of his face. "What in the world are these?" he uttered as he poked one of them.

"These are the skills you can get. You can take one Ultimate one and two Normal ones".

"What are the differences?"

"Well. Ultimate-type skills are like cheat skills. Each has its strengths and uses. You can get some overpowered ones if you're fast enough. These skills are unique, so there can be only one at a time. Minus the ones you learn yourself".

"I see..."

Shiroe scanned the yellow cards and said, "Seeing that there's a lot of these cards, you don't really summon souls, do you?".

"I- uh... Yes. To be honest, the number of souls I summoned here can be counted using fingers. Other gods often do it, but not me".

"Hold up, another god-?"

"Ignoring that. Why don't you choose your skills? I'll be over there if you need an explanation".

Ket got up and walked away, before summoning a chair. Shiroe just watched her as she sat on it, mumbling something under her breath. He shrugged and examined the 'skills' in front of him. In the world before, there was no such thing as skills. There's magic, and that's it. Lazy writing, he thought.

After some time, he called out to her. "Hey Ket?". His voice startled her from her short nap. While rubbing her eyes, she turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"Elaborate '[Summon]"

"It's a skill that lets you, like its name, summon your familiars. Simply put, you can call out beings that you have contracted. The cost of each summons is determined by the summoned creature. The greater the creature, the more mana it eats. Still, I suggest looking for another skill"

"Why?"

"Almost no one uses summon. To tame a beast is a difficult thing. Moreover, summoning a powerful one would drain one's mana quite quickly. You'd be better off choosing [Berserk] or something that enhances your strength".

"Nah. I'll take it. I always want to be a summoner".

"Did you hear what-. You know what? Suits yourself"

She looked at the deck of cards and saw that 2 blue ones had gone missing. This meant that he had chosen the Normal skills. Curios, she asked about the skills he chose.

"Oh?" he said, "I just choose some convenient ones. Like this [Recovery] and [Trance]".

"Of course, you would choose those. Why shouldn't you? I could see [Trance] being useful as it disregards the need to sleep. But that would slowly tear your mind apart. Like, sleeping is the best thing, right? And secondly, [Recovery] is just something a normal potion could do. Sure, restoring your body to its prime is powerful, but the cost itself is ludicrous. I want to remove this skill, but it's something a friend of mine made"

"I thought you wouldn't say anything"

"I would rather, but how can I stay silent if my first Priest chooses something useless"

"Wait. Your Priest?"

"Yes. I grant power directly to you. And you are under my command. So, priest"

"And the first one?"

"Y-Yes. I didn't have many followers, you see"

Seeing her fidgeting around, he sighed and asked, "Ket?"

"What?"

"Is it possible that you're just a... Lower ranking god?"

"What? No way. That's not true at all"

She was sweating as she denied his question. He just stared at her and before long, she gave up. She looked down, as if ashamed

"I am not lower ranked. I'm not even in the rankings. Sure, I created the world and the system, but other gods took fame. Hardly anyone knows who I am. Heck, even the other gods don't know I exist. As I don't have much popularity in the world, I can't directly interfere. So I-"

She stopped talking when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked forward and saw him smiling.

"It's fine. People's expectations suck anyways. So don't fret over such trivial things. There are a lot of benefits to staying anonymous, you see?"

She just nodded silently, and he continued.

"Now. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Oh yes. Choose a weapon. Well, summoner doesn't use one, though"

"If that's the case, then can you-"

He said something and she just nodded. She said, "I'll try. Give me the materials".

He nodded and looked at his hand. Brilliant white opaque crystals formed from his hand, seemingly shimmering with sparkle. Ket touched the crystal and instantly realized what it was.

"How...?" she uttered.

"Can you do it?"

"I can try. But still. What is this? How can something like this exist?"

"That's a Stellaron. An extremely compressed form of magic. I don't want to explain now, so you figure it out yourself. Anyways, is there anything more? I want to get some fresh air"

She was too focused on the crystal, she didn't hear him at all. He flicked her forehead and asked, "Is there anything more, O my Goddess?".

"What? Ahh, nothing else. Ready?"

"Yeah"

She placed the crystal aside and looked at Shiroe. "You're going with just that?" she asked.

He looked at his coat before nodding. "I like this coat".

Ket shrugged and almost immediately, Shiroe's surrounding started glowing. He looked at her as she waved goodbye and opened his mouth.

"Ket"

"What? Regretting your choice?"

"No. Just"

A beam of light engulfed Shiroe's whole body. As he placed his hand into his pockets, he smiled and continued.

"Next time we fight, use all of your power, please".

As his voice echoed, his body disappeared along with the beam of light. Ket just smiled upon hearing that. "So you knew" she muttered. She looked up before realising something.

"Oh no. I forgot to set the coordinates"

She shrugged and said, "Heh. A payback for earlier, I guess"