[Main POV]
The world is a place full of surprises. Every day, without our eyes even noticing, the impossible happens: people survive falls from buildings, dogs detect their owners' cancer and save them from death, cars miss hitting someone by mere inches. In short, life is a box of surprises where almost anything is possible — and one of those impossible situations happened to me. Which brings us to why I'm here now, rambling about it.
Since I was a teenager, I've always been a big fan of isekai — those stories where some random protagonist gets powers from an ROB (Random Omnipotent Being). I always hoped something like that would happen to me after I died. It just sounded way more appealing than ending up in hell — or worse, in a place even worse than the Christian version of hell: the Christian version of heaven.
Hell has that whole eternal torture thing, which is obviously terrible, but heaven always seemed awful to me too. That whole perfection thing they talk about gave me nausea. To be totally honest, I have — and always have had — a fear of anything perfect.
I'm a fan of something Fernando Pessoa once said:
"We adore perfection because we can't have it; if we had it, it would disgust us. Perfection is inhuman, because to be human is to be imperfect."
In short, not only do I dislike perfection, but I've also never liked thinking about what might happen to me after I die.
And when it actually did happen, I was panicked for a while. If even people who take their own lives are afraid of death, imagine me — just a regular guy. And when I say regular, I mean in every way when it comes to my past life, even though I can only remember a few things: I know I was a student, I had a girlfriend, and I was super into manga and anime. The rest is a bit of a blur.
I died in a totally cliché way — during a robbery, with no heroic act or anything like that. And to make matters worse, it's actually a relatively rare way to die. Like, in the country where I lived — if I'm not mistaken — only about 1% of robberies end in death. And lucky me, I was in that 1%.
I remember the robber got annoyed with me just because I hesitated to hand over my phone, and because of that, he shot me in the head. Not exactly a great way to go. At least I barely felt anything.
After my sudden death, like I said, I completely freaked out. I couldn't feel my body, and everything around me was just darkness.
After a while in that state, I moved into the denial phase. I couldn't accept that I'd died — I couldn't admit it. At that moment, I thought maybe I was in a coma. But that idea started to fade over time — mostly because I stayed in complete darkness, unable to feel anything, for a really, really, really long time.
I spent what felt like years trapped in that endless boredom. Not being able to move for so long is something I can only describe as terrifying. And since I was stuck like that for so long, I gave up on the coma theory and accepted that I was, in fact, dead.
And since there was nothing else to do, I got into the habit of talking to myself now and then, just to recap everything that had happened so far. It might sound silly, but at least it gave me something to do.
Honestly, I always thought death could be a lot of things — but I never imagined it would be so boring.
I hope something happens soon. Ideally, I'd like to get some wishes from an ROB... please, where are you, my ROB?
After repeating those words to myself, another long stretch of time passed in the void — no idea how long, just that it felt endless.
And then, suddenly, everything changed. The world around me dissolved into white. A blinding light took over everything, burning my eyes — or whatever I had instead of eyes at that point. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like centuries. A deafening silence, a pause that almost broke me.
And then... I came back.
The light slowly faded away, as if retreating respectfully. I blinked, reached out into the air — and I saw. I saw with eyes I barely recognized as mine. They were new. Just like my hands. There they were, right in front of me, reborn. So familiar and yet so strange.
And I smiled. I smiled like someone who's finally come up for air after being underwater for too long. I smiled like someone who's survived the end of the world.
After spending so long submerged in nothingness, just the simple act of feeling — of existing — was a gift. I never imagined something so basic could bring so much joy.
For the first time — or maybe the last — I felt alive.
Which is kind of funny... since technically, I'm dead. Or at least I think I am.
Then, I hear a sound coming from in front of me that pulls me out of my thoughts.
"Hello, my child. Sorry for the delay. I was dealing with... more pressing matters."
It was just a simple "hello." Plain, direct. But to me, it sounded like a symphony. After so long without hearing a single whisper, that one word meant everything. It sliced through the silence like a gentle blade, bringing back a forgotten soundtrack to the world.
The voice made me turn my head, instinctively. And then, I saw him.
A humanoid figure, tall, elegant... dressed in a pink suit that clashed with everything around it — like it was mocking the rules of reality. But what truly froze me was what lay above the collar.
Nothing.
Where a head should've been, there was a black hole, silently spinning, devouring the light around it. A walking abyss, where eyes should be.
I stood there, motionless, trying to make sense of it. The sight was as absurd as it was mesmerizing. Something inside me screamed to run, but another part — maybe more curious, maybe already consumed by madness — needed to know who or what he was.
And why he called me "child."
Still stunned, but realizing he might be the ROB that would save me from this eternal boredom, I decided to speak, pulling strength from the depths of my soul.
"H-Hey, who are you?" I asked hesitantly, because honestly, I had no idea what to say. It's not every day you come face-to-face with a talking black hole, so of course I didn't know how to start that conversation.
He heard me — I don't know how, since he didn't seem to have ears — but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he answered almost immediately, looking straight at me.
"I'll be brief — because, let's be honest, you've already spent more than enough time floating between nothing and almost-nothing.
I am the personification of space-time. The fold, the flow, the invisible axis that keeps everything in motion. I'm the one who weaves fate and stitches together the beginnings and endings of everything that exists. Your end has come, but every end brings with it a beginning.
Across the ages, I've been called many names: God, to some; Ra, to the children of the Nile; Odin, among the warriors of ice; Allah, by those who pray toward Mecca. I've been seen as Brahma, Olorun, even as the expanding Universe itself.
But you modern humans like to simplify things. So… you can call me ROB — Responsible for Reincarnations. Not exactly majestic, but it's got a certain charm, don't you think?"
Hearing that, I smiled from ear to ear, already dreaming about the possibility of reincarnating — of becoming one of those isekai protagonists I've watched and read about so many times.
With that in mind, I asked something he'd already touched on, but I needed to hear it again, to be completely sure — and maybe clear up a few doubts:
"Will I be able to reincarnate? And if so, how does it work?" As soon as I finished speaking, he responded right away.
"Reincarnation into other worlds — or even your own — is the standard. In the end, everyone reincarnates. But the world and the way in which you reincarnate depend entirely on luck. That's why we created a fully random reincarnation system."
Hearing that, my stomach dropped.
Knowing that my entire future was going to be decided by luck was kind of terrifying. After a moment of thought, ROB snapped his fingers and a roulette appeared, filled with countless names. At the top, it read "World Roulette." Without delay, ROB spoke again as the wheel shimmered into view:
"Whenever you're ready, I can spin the wheel and let fate take the reins from here."
After hearing his words, I took a deep breath and, though hesitant, I finally nodded in agreement.
With my confirmation, the enormous roulette — with maybe thousands of world names on it — began to spin. I saw tons of names go by, including Marvel worlds: Earth-616, Earth-1616, Earth-982 (2099), Earth-811, Earth-295... There were so many Marvel worlds I was left speechless. Soon after came a flood of DC worlds — again, in overwhelming numbers.
Dozens, maybe hundreds of possible worlds flew past, and the roulette gradually slowed down. With each new world, the air seemed to grow heavier, harder to breathe. The tension built up so much I nearly passed out. Time dragged on until, finally, the wheel stopped… and a single name shone in golden light.
It said My Hero Academia — also known as Boku no Hero.
My feelings were mixed: I was glad I hadn't landed in some insane Marvel world where I could get snapped out of existence without even realizing it — honestly, I could've been killed by anything. Still, I was slightly worried — the BnHA world is no picnic either.
As soon as the wheel stopped, ROB spoke again:
"Not bad, my child. Now we move on to the power selection. Hopefully, you'll inherit the abilities of someone strong... If not, I'm afraid you may be in for a rough ride."
Hearing that made my heart sink, because I knew he was right. If I didn't get a useful power, I'd be in deep trouble.
I looked up and saw that, with ROB's final words, the World Roulette disappeared, replaced by a new, equally massive wheel — this one labeled "Character Roulette."
On it, I saw every fictional character imaginable, with infinite variations. There were so many, I was at a loss for words — from Superman to the Joker, and everything in between.
I was so anxious that, even before ROB asked for confirmation, I jumped the gun:
"You can spin it now."
He seemed to nod in response — though I can't be sure, given his "head" was a black hole.
After that, the roulette started spinning, scrolling through countless names — some familiar, others completely foreign to me.
It kept spinning. Dreading what might come, I shut my eyes and stayed that way for what felt like a long time.
Eventually, I gathered the courage to open them again — and saw that the wheel had finally stopped. I stayed silent for a moment, frozen by the suspense.
When I finally read the name on the wheel, all the tension melted from my body, and I burst out laughing in relief.
The wheel had landed on J'onn J'onzz (New Earth). As a DC fan, I knew that odd name well.
It belonged to one of the most powerful heroes in the Justice League — and, considering the power scale in the BnHA universe, he'd be totally OP.
That was the name of the Martian Manhunter.
To be continued…
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[N/A] If you've read this far, thank you! And since I'm terrible at handling compliments, please, insult me instead!