The Sword Saint's Legacy: Reincarnated in Tensura

A Not So Good End

It was supposed to be a normal day. A normal day, by all accounts. No earth-shattering events, no grand adventures, and certainly no life-changing moments.

 Just the usual slog through another work shift, followed by an evening of instant noodles and questionable TV shows. That was the life he led. Average. Simple. Unremarkable.

Until it wasn't.

The morning had started like any other. He'd woken up late, scrambling to throw on the nearest pair of jeans, and grabbed his half-empty coffee mug like a lifeline. 

The remnants of yesterday's coffee clung to the bottom, and he cursed under his breath as he poured a new batch, hoping it would work its magic to wake him up. With caffeine coursing through his veins, he bolted out of his cramped apartment, desperately hoping to catch the last bus before it left him stranded.

It was one of those mornings where the sun was already shining bright, mocking him with its cheerful rays. 

The usual gloom of his apartment was replaced by the vibrant colors of the outside world, a world that felt almost too bright for someone like him. He had no illusions about his mundane existence. The clock was ticking; he had a deadline looming at work, and his boss didn't take kindly to tardiness.

 So he sprinted down the sidewalk, weaving through the throngs of people who seemed to move in slow motion compared to his frantic pace.

"Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!" he shouted as he nudged past the crowd, earning a few annoyed glares. But he didn't care. He had to make that bus.

Halfway to the bus stop, it happened.

As he dashed down the sidewalk, dodging people left and right, his foot connected with something small and squishy. At first, it didn't register—his brain too preoccupied with getting to work on time—but then gravity betrayed him. The world tilted. His feet went out from under him. And the very last thing he saw before his face met the pavement was the culprit: a banana peel.

Seriously?

He went down hard. Really hard. His head smacked against the concrete, the impact sending shockwaves through his body. Pain erupted at the back of his skull, and just like that, his vision blurred. There were no flashing images of his life, no cinematic montage of memories. Only a dull, ringing pain and the sudden realization that this might actually be it.

"Wow," he muttered to himself, or at least tried to. His mouth didn't seem to be working anymore. "This... this is how I go out?"

Darkness began to creep in, swallowing the world around him. It was strangely quiet now, like the world had faded away and left him alone. No one came rushing to help, no frantic calls to emergency services. Just him, a banana peel, and the cold, hard pavement.

And as the darkness claimed him, his last coherent thought was, 'I hope no one sees me like this.'

Time felt irrelevant in the darkness. He couldn't tell how long he was lost to the void. The absence of light, sound, or sensation made it hard to comprehend his existence. Was he even alive anymore? Had he died? Was there an afterlife? If this was what the afterlife looked like, it was boring as hell.

He was beginning to think this was his new reality when a sudden bright light pierced through the darkness. It was blinding, forcing him to shield his eyes with his hands—or at least he thought he should. But he couldn't feel his body; it felt as though he was floating, weightless and free.

"Ah, you're awake."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once, making him jump—or at least it would have, if he had a body to jump with. Instead, it was like a jolt of electricity shot through him, awakening his senses. He squinted at the bright light, trying to discern where the voice was coming from.