Kazuki Hayashi died on a Tuesday.
He remembered it perfectly—the taste of blood in his mouth, the screaming of reality as it tore apart around him, and the desperate final technique that had shattered his soul into a thousand fragments. The Lunar Devourer's hungry roar as it consumed everything he'd failed to protect. The weight of ten billion lives on his conscience as the world ended.
That was ten thousand years ago.
Now he was sixteen again, staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror of New Tokyo Sky Academy's dormitory, and the Moon hanging outside his window was still too damn close.
"This is either the cruelest joke in existence," he muttered, splashing cold water on his face, "or the universe's way of saying I fucked up so badly that even death couldn't fix it."
His reflection stared back—black hair that stuck up at odd angles, dark eyes that held far too much knowledge for a teenager, and a face that was handsome enough but completely unremarkable. Nothing like the legendary Blade Saint who'd made his last stand against cosmic horror. Just another academy student in a world that had somehow survived his failure.
Barely survived, he corrected himself, glancing at the massive silver orb dominating the sky. Cracks of ethereal light spider-webbed across the Moon's surface like a broken eggshell, and even through reinforced glass, he could feel its gravitational pull tugging at his very soul.
The seals were weakening. At this rate, they had maybe five years before total collapse.
"Hayashi! Get your ass moving!" His roommate's voice boomed through the door. "The Awakening Ceremony starts in twenty minutes, and if you make me late, I'll throw you out the window myself!"
Kazuki sighed. Takeshi Yamamoto was everything he'd forgotten about being young—loud, enthusiastic, and blissfully unaware that the world teetered on the edge of apocalypse. The kid reminded him painfully of Hiroto, his old teammate who'd bought him those final precious seconds with his life.
"Coming," Kazuki called back, pulling on the Academy's standard black uniform. The silver trim caught the light, and for a moment he was sixteen and sixty-three simultaneously—a reincarnated legend stuffed into a teenager's body like a god trying to fit into a paper cup.
He opened the door to find Takeshi bouncing on his heels with nervous energy. The boy was tall and lanky, with spiky brown hair and an infectious grin that made Kazuki's chest ache with old grief.
"Finally! Dude, you look like death. Are you nervous about the ceremony?"
Nervous about finding out if my System still works after ten millennia of being dead? Just a little.
"I'm fine," Kazuki lied. "Just didn't sleep well."
"That's because you keep staring at the Moon like it owes you money," Takeshi said, already heading for the door. "Come on, everyone's talking about how this year's batch might have some real prodigies. Maybe even Eternal-tier System bearers!"
Kazuki nearly tripped. "Eternal-tier?"
"You really don't pay attention in Theory class, do you? Eternal-tier Systems are the rarest kind—they carry memories and skills from previous incarnations. Like, completely intact past lives. There's only been three confirmed cases in the last century." Takeshi's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Imagine being that powerful! Having all that knowledge and experience just there in your head!"
Imagine indeed, Kazuki thought dryly. It's not nearly as fun as it sounds.
The walk to the Awakening Hall gave Kazuki his first real look at how humanity had adapted to their new reality. New Tokyo Sky Academy floated three kilometers above the earth, held aloft by a combination of gravitational manipulators and crystallized moonlight. Through the transparent walkways, he could see dozens of other sky cities dotting the horizon like floating islands, each one a testament to human stubbornness in the face of cosmic horror.
Below, the earth was a nightmare patchwork of twisted landscape and reality scars—places where space-time had been damaged during the original Moonfall and never quite healed. Forests grew in impossible spirals, rivers flowed upward in defiance of gravity, and sometimes, if you looked closely, you could see things moving in the shadows that shouldn't exist in any sane universe.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Takeshi said, following his gaze. "My grandmother used to tell stories about the old world, before the Moonfall. She said people lived on the ground then, can you imagine? No sky cities, no lunar magic, no protection from the deep madness. How did they even survive?"
We didn't, Kazuki thought grimly. That's the point.
The Awakening Hall was carved from a single piece of moon-touched crystal, its walls humming with barely contained power. Hundreds of students filled the amphitheater seats, their excited chatter creating a buzz of nervous energy. At the center of the hall stood a pillar of white stone covered in intricate runic patterns—a System Obelisk, one of the mysterious artifacts that had appeared after the Moonfall to help identify reincarnated souls.
Standing beside the obelisk was a girl who made every conversation in the hall stutter to a halt.
Luna Crescentia was beautiful in the way that dangerous things often were—sharp and ethereal, with silver hair that moved like liquid moonlight and eyes the color of starfire. She wore the ceremonial white and blue robes of a Lunar Priestess candidate, and power radiated from her like heat from a forge.
But what caught Kazuki's attention wasn't her beauty or her obvious strength. It was the way she was staring at the Moon through the crystal ceiling with the expression of someone watching a timer count down to doomsday.
She knows, he realized with a jolt. She knows the seals are failing.
"Holy shit," Takeshi breathed beside him. "That's Luna Crescentia. An actual descendant of the Seal Makers! Do you think she can really talk to the Moon?"
Before Kazuki could answer, Professor Chen stepped forward. The Academy's dean was a thin man with kind eyes and the sort of deceptively calm demeanor that spoke of vast hidden depths. Kazuki's enhanced perception caught the subtle signs—the way Chen's gaze lingered on certain students, the micro-expressions that suggested he knew far more than he let on.
Another reincarnated, Kazuki realized. But from when? And why is he hiding it?
"Welcome, students, to your Awakening Ceremony," Chen announced, his voice carrying easily through the hall. "Today, you will discover whether you carry the spark of a past life, and if so, what gifts that life has left you. Remember—regardless of the outcome, each of you has value. A System awakening is not a measure of worth."
Polite words, but Kazuki could see the truth in the students' faces. In a world where cosmic horrors pressed against reality's borders and the Moon's influence grew stronger each day, power was the only currency that truly mattered. The unawakened were relegated to support roles, forever dependent on those blessed with Systems to protect them from the madness beyond the sky.
The ceremony began. One by one, students approached the obelisk and placed their hands against its surface. Most walked away unchanged—still baseline human in a world that increasingly had no place for them. Their disappointed faces told a story Kazuki knew all too well.
A few stumbled back with dazed expressions and translucent blue windows floating in their vision, marking them as System bearers. The crowd cheered for each awakening, but Kazuki could sense the underlying desperation. Every new System bearer was another small hope against the approaching darkness.
"Sarah Martinez," Chen called. "Congratulations, you've awakened a Healer's Heart System, Rare-tier."
Applause filled the hall as a girl with tears of joy streaming down her face stared at her floating interface.
"Jin Watanabe. Storm Caller System, Epic-tier."
More applause, this time with undertones of envy. Epic-tier Systems were uncommon enough to guarantee a career in the Sky Guard.
Kazuki watched and waited, feeling something stirring in his chest—a familiar warmth he'd thought lost forever. The Eternal System, his old interface, was waking up. He could feel it stretching like a cat after a long sleep, testing the boundaries of his reincarnated soul.
Easy, he thought. Let's not blow up the school on the first day.
"Kazuki Hayashi."
The warmth in his chest flared. Around him, conversations died as students turned to watch. Takeshi gave him an encouraging punch on the shoulder that he barely felt.
Kazuki stood and walked down to the obelisk, hyperaware of every eye in the hall tracking his movement. Up close, he could see that the runes weren't just decorative—they were a complex weaving of space-time magic and soul resonance, designed to peer through the veils of death and rebirth to find the spark of previous incarnations.
Luna Crescentia was watching him intently, her starfire eyes narrowing as if she sensed something familiar. The air around her shimmered with barely contained power.
Does she remember? Kazuki wondered. Or is it just instinct?
He placed his palm against the cool stone.
Reality screamed.
The world around him dissolved into cascading streams of data and memory. Images flashed through his mind at light speed—a blade of pure starlight cutting through the void, techniques that could slice reality itself, his team's final desperate stand against something that should never have been allowed to exist.
And rising from the chaos like dawn after the longest night came the familiar blue glow of his interface:
[ETERNAL SYSTEM ACTIVATION]
Welcome back, Kazuki Hayashi
Past Life Identity: Blade Saint of the Final Hour
Previous Level: 9,999 (MAX)
Reincarnation Count: 1
System Tier: ETERNAL (Unique - 1 of 1)
WARNING: Power levels critically unsafe for mortal vessel
Implementing emergency seal protocols...
Seals applied: 99.8% power restriction active
Current Status:
Level: 1 Class: [Sealed Blade Saint] Title: The One Who Remembers Threat Level: Potentially Catastrophic (Sealed)
Attributes:
Strength: 12 (+2,847 Sealed) Agility: 14 (+3,241 Sealed) Intelligence: 16 (+1,892 Sealed) Wisdom: 18 (+4,783 Sealed) Vitality: 10 (+2,156 Sealed) Luck: 7 (+??? Sealed)
Available Skills:
[Moonlight Severance] - SSS Rank (Currently F Rank)[Eternal Blade Mastery] - EX Rank (Currently E Rank)[Reality Perception] - S Rank (Currently D Rank)[Blade Saint's Intuition] - A Rank (Currently C Rank)
Unique Abilities:
[Perfect Memory] - Retain all knowledge from past incarnation [Seal Break] - Gradually unlock sealed power through trials [Last Stand Protocol] - Ultimate technique [LOCKED]
Active Quest: Second ChanceObjective: Don't fuck it up this timeReward: The survival of everything you care aboutFailure Penalty: Universal extinction
System Note: Your awakening signature is visible across dimensional barriers. Hostile entities are now aware of your return.
Warning: Multiple high-threat presences detected. Incoming.
The interface vanished, leaving Kazuki gasping and disoriented. The hall had gone completely silent—not the expectant quiet of anticipation, but the absolute stillness that comes when something impossible happens right in front of you.
Every student, every teacher, every piece of magical equipment in the building was staring at him with expressions ranging from awe to terror. Luna Crescentia had gone completely pale, her hands trembling as power leaked from her control.
Above them, the Moon pulsed once—a slow, deliberate throb like a massive heartbeat—and every window in the building developed hairline cracks.
"Impossible," Luna whispered, her voice carrying clearly in the sudden silence. "The resonance signature... you're him. The one from the Sealed Records. The Blade Saint who made the Final Stand against—"
A deafening alarm cut through her words. Emergency lights bathed the hall in red as Professor Chen's calm facade finally cracked, revealing the steel underneath.
"REALITY BREACH IN SECTOR 7!" The intercom crackled with barely controlled panic. "ALL STUDENTS TO EMERGENCY POSITIONS! CODE BLACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
Through the cracked crystal ceiling, Kazuki could see them—dark shapes pouring from a tear in the air above the city like oil bleeding from a wound. Lunar Shadows, creatures that existed in the space between dimensions, drawn by his System awakening like sharks to blood in the water.
Shit. He'd known this would happen, but he'd hoped for at least a few days to prepare.
Around him, students screamed and ran for cover as the first of the creatures dove toward the academy. But Kazuki felt something he hadn't experienced in ten thousand years of death—a grim smile tugging at his lips.
His sealed power might be pathetic compared to his former glory, but it was still sharp enough to cut shadow-flesh. And this time, he wouldn't be fighting alone.
Luna Crescentia stepped forward, silver fire wreathing her hands as she raised them toward the approaching horde. "Well," she said, glancing at him sideways with a smile that was equal parts terrified and exhilarated, "this is familiar."
"Ten thousand years later," Kazuki replied, manifesting his sealed blade—a shadow of its former magnificence, but still hungry for battle, "and I'm still cleaning up my own messes."
"At least this time," Luna said as the first Lunar Shadow crashed through the crystal ceiling in an explosion of glass and malevolent hunger, "we know what we're up against."
The blade met shadow with a sound like breaking stars, and Kazuki Hayashi—once the greatest swordsman who ever lived, now a sixteen-year-old student with a second chance and 99.8% of his power locked away—began his long journey toward redemption.
The Moon watched, and pulsed, and began to crack a little more.
But this time, he had help.
This time, he wouldn't fail.
He couldn't afford to.
[System Notification]Combat initiated. Calculating experience gain...
Enemy Defeated: Lunar Shadow (Rank F)
Experience Gained: 50 XP
Progress toward seal break: 1/1000 enemies defeated
New Quest Available: [Survive the Academy Crisis]
Reward: Minor seal release on [Moonlight Severance]
Bonus Objective: Protect Luna Crescentia
Bonus Reward: [???]
Chapter 1 Complete
To be continued...