"I always knew I would die like that.
Not in bed. Not surrounded by family.
I thought I'd grow old, maybe die of sickness.
But no. I died from an ambush.
One even I couldn't predict."
My name is Adrian.
To the world, I was just a man who disappeared years ago.
But to the people who live in the shadows—assassins, mercenaries, spies—I was known as Ghost Fang.
In Japanese, they called me Gōsuto no Kiba.
I was the one who didn't leave bodies. Just silence.
I killed monsters in human skin. Warlords. Crime lords. Even politicians.
But five years ago, I vanished.
I left that life behind. Changed my name. Bought a small bookstore in a quiet city.
I thought I was safe.
I was wrong.
---
It began with a whisper in the wind. The kind you only notice when you've trained to hear death.
I had just locked up the shop. The street was empty. Normal.
But something felt off. My instinct screamed, and I dove behind a mailbox.
A bullet flew past my head and tore through the wooden door behind me.
Sniper.
I rolled, pulled the hidden blade from my boot, and sprinted down the alley.
Then a sharp sting hit my neck. A dart.
Poison.
I cut it out fast, but I could already feel the heat spreading through my veins.
My vision blurred.
I kept running. I kicked a dumpster over, climbed a fire escape, and reached the roof.
Three more attackers were already waiting.
Black masks. Tactical gear. Full coordination.
I threw a smoke bomb and rushed in.
The first went down easy—knife to the neck.
The second dodged. I blocked his strike, twisted his arm, and stabbed him in the side.
The third hit me with a stun baton. My legs shook, but I punched him in the throat and knocked him off the edge.
I paused to breathe.
Then I saw it.
Red dots appeared on my chest.
Snipers again. High ground. Far buildings. Multiple angles.
It was a trap. Not just any trap—a perfect one. Every exit covered. Every weakness used.
I tried to reach for my backup weapon.
Gone.
EMP, I realized. They hit me with an electromagnetic pulse. My gear was fried.
Then I smelled it again.
That same flower scent.
Only one flower in the world had that smell—and I was the only assassin known to be allergic to it.
Whoever planned this knew everything about me.
They knew my poisons. My safe paths. My habits. Even my weaknesses.
Only one kind of enemy could pull that off.
Someone I once trusted.
Betrayal.
I collapsed to my knees. My muscles were locking up.
Footsteps approached.
A tall man in a black coat stepped out of the shadows. He said nothing.
He tossed something near me.
A silver coin.
My vision blurred, but I still recognized the symbol carved into it.
A dragon eating its own tail.
The Council.
The twelve people who ran the underworld from behind closed doors.
I had done jobs for them. I knew their secrets. I knew too much.
And now, after all these years, they had found a way to kill me safely.
For five years, they couldn't touch me.
Because I had a dead man's switch—a setup that would send all their secrets to the world if I died suddenly.
But they must've cracked it.
Now, they came for me.
I gritted my teeth and stared up at the masked man.
"You used my allergy. You used my routines. You even used my silence against me."
He said nothing.
"I guess I got soft."
Then, black.
---
I opened my eyes.
No pain. No city. No sky. No body.
Just stars. Endless stars.
I floated in a space that felt like time had stopped.
I wasn't breathing. I wasn't bleeding. I just existed.
"Fascinating," a voice said calmly.
I turned.
A man stood there, wearing white robes that shimmered like moonlight.
His hair was silver. His eyes held galaxies inside them.
"You truly are something," he said.
"Who are you?" I asked, voice quiet.
He smiled. "Some call me a god. Others, a watcher. I've seen many lives. But yours… was different."
I stayed silent.
"You were called Gōsuto no Kiba," he said. "The Ghost Fang. A man feared even by killers. You should have died many times. But you didn't. Until now."
"Then why am I here?" I asked.
"I'm offering you a choice."
"A choice?"
"Yes," he said. "You can rest here… or begin again. In another world. One full of magic, war, and monsters."
"Why would you send me there?" I asked. "A place like that needs a hero."
"No," the god said, shaking his head. "That world doesn't need heroes anymore. It needs someone who can do what heroes won't."
I looked at my hands.
They felt real again. Like I was alive.
"Another world?" I repeated. "Magic? Monsters?"
"Yes. And people. Villages. Kingdoms. Dangers you've never seen."
"And what would I be?"
"You'd still be yourself. Gōsuto no Kiba. But this time, maybe something more."
I thought about it.
I had nothing left in the old world. No family. No friends. Only betrayal.
But a new world? That sounded like something worth trying.
I nodded once.
"Alright. But I live by my own rules."
The god smiled again.
"Good. Then go, Ghost Fang. A new hunt begins."
The stars around me began to spin. My body pulled away from this strange place.
I didn't know where I was going.
But I knew one thing:
I wouldn't die so easily next time.
The god raised one hand slowly.
A soft light appeared above me. It was warm, like sunlight… but deeper. Like it came from inside the universe itself.
Then the light burst.
It wasn't fire. It wasn't energy.
It was like a thousand glowing pixels, breaking my body apart into pure color, then flowing downward like a river made of light.
I didn't feel pain.
Only change.
As my body dissolved into particles, I heard the god speak again.
"I give a gift to you, Adrian."
His voice echoed in all directions.
"But please… understand this next problem won't be simple."
He chuckled.
Then he looked up, as if staring far beyond even the stars.
"Well… for you… it's probably not a problem at all, is it?"
Then he said one final thing.
A soft whisper.
"A wolf can survive in the forest… but it must never forget how it lived in the cage."
And with that—
I was gone.
"Adrian…"
"Adriann…"
"Oi! Adrian!"
I blinked.
The stars were gone.
The god was gone.
I heard a voice—loud, angry, and close.
"ADRIAN!!"
SMACK!
My desk rattled. I jerked awake.
A tall, skinny man in a brown suit was standing in front of me, holding a textbook like a weapon.
"Sleeping in my class again?!" the teacher snapped.
I blinked hard. Around me were desks, chairs, students… a classroom.
What the hell?
I looked down at my hands. Same hands… but thinner. Weaker. Paler.
My clothes were some kind of school uniform—white shirt, dark tie, blazer with a weird emblem.
"Wha–what the…" I mumbled.
The teacher narrowed his eyes.
"You dare pretend you don't know where you are? You're in MY biology class, Mr. Adrian Sakamura."
That's not my last name.
Then—suddenly—something blinked in front of my vision.
It wasn't physical.
It was a floating blue screen. Like a hologram. Only I could see it.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
[Reincarnation Complete]
[Host: Adrian]
[You have been placed in the body of a boy who had no will to live.]
[Coincidence: The body belonged to a student with the same name – Adrian.]
[Due to the soul fusion, your mental data, combat instincts, and memories remain intact.]
[This world is similar to your old one, but darker underneath.]
[Gift installed: ??? (Locked)]
I stared in shock.
So that god… sent me here. In this body. In this life.
"Pffft!"
I heard laughter.
I turned slowly.
Some of the students were pointing at me and chuckling.
"He's spacing out again."
"Dude's always sleeping."
"Total failure."
"Wait, didn't he get dumped last week? By a girl from another school?"
More laughter.
I looked around.
Nobody respected this Adrian. He was the weak one. The background character. The one everyone ignored or laughed at.
But now… I was in his place.
I stared at the teacher, who still looked angry.
"Well, Mr. Sakamura," he snapped, "Since you're awake now, maybe you can answer this question?"
He pointed at the large diagram on the board.
"Label the major parts of the human brain."
The class laughed again.
"No way he knows that."
"He probably didn't even read the question."
I looked at the diagram.
Easy.
"The frontal lobe controls decision making and reasoning," I said calmly. "The temporal lobe handles hearing and memory. The occipital lobe deals with vision. The parietal lobe processes touch. And the cerebellum coordinates balance and movement."
Silence.
The teacher blinked.
"That's… that's… correct."
He coughed once, clearly not expecting that.
The class went dead silent.
Even the kid who was drawing in his notebook stopped.
I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms.
"I was listening. Just from behind my eyelids."
Nobody laughed this time.
New body… same instincts. And if I'm going to survive this world…
I better find out what kind of place it really is.