Isekai’d 2

It’d be a lot easier to believe I was actually being given a second chance at life, if my death hadn’t been so spectacularly bizarre.

“What do you mean? You were killed by a truck! There’s nothing weird about that!”

I was on a plane, flying to Las Vegas, when I spotted a small truck flying towards us in a strange arc. Like, a small pick-up truck, not even one of those big ones used by businesses, but some personal truck... flying above the clouds. The truck came right for me.

“I believe the headlines read, mysterious airline malfunction ripped open a hole in the side of the plane. One dead. No others injured. See! Totally normal!”

And now I’ve got a pair of mind reading twins trying to convince me they didn’t just kill me because of their wish to summon aid.

“It really isn’t our fault! We have no power over that world! We couldn’t have killed you even if we wanted to!” 

Fine, fine, what is it I need to do anyway?

“Well, we just need to get an early start preparing for the next demon invasion.”

“Do you want to start as a child, or a baby? An adult is too old, it will be a few decades before anything happens.” 

Child sounds easier to handle. Less growing pains. Less embarrassment over potty training. Would be kinda awkward to just insert a child into a family though.

“No worries! We’ve got a plan for that!”

“Yeah! We already have someone who’s been praying for a child. They’ll be happy to raise a mystery child.”

“Brother is gonna be so pissed when he learns what we did!”

“Yeah! Having one of his own demons raise a hero!”

“Hopefully the demon’s magic doesn’t become a problem.” 

“That’s why we’re starting so early, remember? Need to make sure they have time to figure out a solution.”

“I hope it’s something we can exploit, then we can brag about learning how to counter his demonic magic from his own demons! Heeheehee!”

Then, everything faded to black.

“Hahaha! I might’ve failed last time, but I learned, and they clearly haven’t! They still haven’t fixed the exploit I’m using to hijack their summonings! Now dear ‘hero’, I’m gonna make you a zero! Have fun trying to fight when levels just make you weaker! Hahaha!”

Waking up

“Ah, your awake. How are you little gift from heaven?”

“Feeling pretty good, a little hungry though.” 

“... are you really a child?”

“I was told I’d become a child, but my mind still feels like that of an adult… though it’s weird how small my body is now.”

“This really isn’t what I imagined when I got the message that my wish would be granted.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Still, I suppose I should keep up my promise to raise you. So, the first lesson: Check your status by thinking about it.”

“Is that something you’d normally tell a full grown adult?”

“No, I’d just ask them to tell me about it. However, I was told that you aren’t from this world, so I thought I’d be extra cautious.”

“Well, it’s appreciated. Status windows like this didn’t exist in my previous world… huh, I’ve got a reverse growth curse. It says levels make my stats go down instead of up.”

“Oh, oh no, what class are you?”

“Hero.”

“Oh dear, you better not gain any levels. Heroes normally have the fastest stat growth, which when reversed, means your stats will hit zero fast, and you’ll die if you level at all. Shit! How am I supposed to raise you like this?!”

“Well, I think it’s a curse from one of the gods.” 

“Ugh, probably the dark god I abandoned… that’s right! I’ve still got dark magic! I’ve got level drain! I can just remove any levels you gain!”

“That won’t give me stats though, and I’m pretty sure I’d need them? What happens if levels go below 1? I’m level 1 now.” 

“Oh, uh, normally a person’s stats will eventually reach zero, and they’ll die.”

“I have reverse growth though. Would that reverse the negative level effects?” 

“I don’t know. I guess we could try, but it sounds really dangerous. I don’t like it. I was entrusted with your care, and I don’t want to betray that trust.”

“I need to know, and it’s not like I can expect a good outcome if I don’t take risks. Staying level 1 forever is a bad plan.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll try a little. Do try not to resist, normally this only works on unconscious targets since people will resist it.” 

“That feels weird.”

“Well? Any change in your status?”

“Level 0, stats went up from an average of 10, to an average of 14. Doesn’t this mean you can just boost me to amazing strength?”

“Maybe, but there’s a problem: If you kill demons or monsters, you’ll gain experience and gain levels. Unless we find a solution to this, you’ll be at risk of leveling too much once the fighting starts. All the demon king would have to do to defeat you, is just send enough monsters and demons at you.” 

Aftermath

“How can this be! The hero that conquered my demon kingdom was raised by one of my own demons! Not only that, the hero that conquered my demon kingdom was also cursed by me! They should’ve never gotten so strong in the first place! Their level is -83. They have killed nothing. The kingdom of demons I painstakingly built to be as violent as possible, is now idolizing a woman that killed no-one! This is an even more humiliating defeat than that time with the giant mecha pilot! Damnit!”