Chapter 3 - The Story of Rio's Death

Rio was laughing aloud, uncaring of the strange look he gathered. More than three dozens of people were currently in the room. Twenty Japanese youths and a single female teacher, who looked like a middle-grade student, were around him, and the others below the plinth were old men wearing monastic white robes with a tall cap and had a stave with disk-like ornaments hanging from the ring at the tip in their hands.

They were currently inside a vast chamber. The entire room was constructed of a gleaming white stone that seemed smooth to the touch. Marble, possibly. Massive pillars with sculptures carved into them rose up to the towering domed ceiling. The room resembled some sort of grand cathedral.

From the position of the students, the youthful female teacher and Rio, they could see a massive mural. The mural, which stretched ten meters long, depicted a faintly smiling figure, whose gender seemed indeterminable, wreathed in a halo, their blond hair flowing freely behind them. Behind them in the background were plains, lakes, and mountains. The figure had both arms spread wide as if trying to grab hold of all of it.

The students, the teacher, and Rio were standing atop a type of plinth located in the deepest recesses of the room. They were raised above their immediate surroundings. In the beginning, they were all looking around dumbfounded. It looks like the summoning had affected the entire class. However, they quickly recovered from their stupor and focused on Rio after he started laughing loosely.

Why was Rio so excited to the point of losing self-control? You might have that question pops up in your mind. Allow me to answer that question.

Rio was formerly a senior student of high school who was in the middle of the convoy. He and the entire students in his grade had received the graduation notice from the national education government agency. The notice informed them that nobody failed the national exam. All students in Rio's grade had successfully graduated. They started a convoy, driving through the main street of his town to show off their jubilation and the sense of freedom from graduating the compulsory 12 years education. However, this activity was the reason for Rio's demise.

In the middle of the convoy, the clear sky suddenly dropped a bolt of lightning. It struck Rio who stayed at the further back of the convoy. The lightning instantly killed Rio. He didn't even feel pain when his soul was reaped and his body and his motorbike was turned into charcoal. When he regained his awareness, Rio found himself in a white empty space, standing alone in the empty white place.

The moment he arrived in that place, Rio had a suspicion. He'd read some fanfictions to see where his situation was heading. But he was still skeptical because it only happened in fictions. There was no way it happens in real life, he thought. After a few seconds, a burly, bearded old man wearing toga appeared. This old man proclaimed himself as God and he apologized to Rio for accidentally killing him before his destined death.

God then told Rio that his death was an accident caused by him who had a quarrel with another God and his power slipped off into the mortal realm in his anger. That sliver of divine power became all-destroying lightning that struck Rio, killing him in instant.

God apologized to him and promised compensation for his mistake. When Rio demanded to be revived in his world, God informed Rio that he couldn't return back to his previous life because he'd died. And if he was resurrected, it would throw off the fragile balance or something along this line. It was truly unfortunate. Rio only had two choices: to reincarnate as a blank slate or to resurrect in another world with his memory intact.

Of course, Rio chose the second option.

Although he chose the second option, to resurrect in another world with his memory intact, Rio couldn't accept it just like that. He was only 18 years and he had yet to start his life for real. He was denied the chance of going into the third stage with his girlfriend. Rio had been cultivating her to the point she would be ready to make love with him. Ten months of patience and resources wasted just like that. It was only normal that Rio was outraged!

In his rage, Rio didn't care whether the old man was God or Devil. He gave God a piece of his mind and dressed him down, spilling all his frustration towards God. Somehow, Rio successfully extorted more compensations from God. In the end, he received three wishes, including the wish to resurrect in a world of his choice.

To cut a long story short, Rio requested to be resurrected in the anime world. To be precise, he asked God to resurrect him in the world of Arifureta Sokugyou de Sekai Saikyou at the same time when the protagonist and his whole classmates were summoned to another world called Tortus.

That was Rio's first wish. His second wish was to have unlimited magic energy. For his last wish, he wanted to be able to create all the skills/abilities he wanted.

And now, here he was, together with the protagonist and his classmates in the Temple of the Holy Church.

"Sorry for losing control. I really need that," Rio stated between his short, rapid breath. He'd stopped his uncontrollable laughter and was currently sorting out his unsteady breath.

"...Excuse me, but Mister... Rio?"

"Yeah? Call me Rio. Without honorific, please. I feel itchy when I hear that. Anyhow, you won't mind if I call you Hajime directly, will you?"

Rio replied Hajime and asked his approval to call him directly without any troublesome honorific. He stared at Hajime who looked at him with a strange stare. Hajime seemed to be at lost with his easy-going personality. However, Hajime recovered his wits soon and spoke to Rio.

"Y-Yeah. I don't mind. Anyhow, are you okay? You suddenly laughed aloud like that. You were kind of grabbing attention too much, like not the good one, if you know what I mean..."

Hajime trailed with a subdued tone as he pointed out Rio's mistake. He had a deeply troubled smile.

Finally, Rio realized what he'd done. In his excitement, he'd lost his self-control and disregarded the situation around him. He'd burst out into crazy laughter in front of many students and priests within the room. Rio soon felt deeply ashamed and wished that a hole would suddenly appear before him so he could jump in and bury himself inside it.

"Ahahaha...sorry, I'm just excited that I am not dead after an overpowered asshole accidentally killed me..."

In the end, Rio could only spout the first thing that popped up in his mind. He just smiled helplessly at the perplexed expression of Hajime and others. He shrugged his shoulders as if trying to say 'what can you do?' and silently told them to drop it and continue with their own business.