Toaru Majutsu no Index - Volume 16, Prologue: The Standing of a Leader. Stage_in_Roma.

“Honey, it’s time to take your medicine!”

The beautiful and pure saintess brought medicine to treat the wound.

On this day, he saw betrayal with his eyes, and experienced despair with his soul…

From this day on, the brave is dead, burn paper if something happens!

- Description from novelbuddy

I closed my eyes and let out a long, shuddering breath. The needle slipped through my numb fingers and clattered onto the rough pavement. Nothingness swirled around me, bringing the first peace I'd felt in my short, miserable life. No one would miss me, and if any did...? Well, there was always someone else to beat or rape. They'd move on quickly.But then...gods? Since when did nothingness have so many gods?Chosen by the goddess of Fate, I'm thrust into a world of magic and wonder alongside nine other heroes. A world where the gods reign supreme, and evil is vanquished before it can spread its blight.Can such a place truly exist? Could life really be worth living?I've heard that the brightest lights cast the longest shadows, but my life has been nothing but darkness. Perhaps this new world will be the chance I need to find the light, to see the other side.

DESTINY GAMES. It has been 85 years since Earth-11 became aligned with Yggdrasil and 73 years since Icon became the first demigod from Earth. Icon, as the first demigod, was privileged to weave the thread of fate for everyone. He was supposed to cut off Yggdrasil and free Earth-11 from the grasps of the other Earths and their god kings. That’s why everyone helped him climb the tower of Destiny. But instead of ridding earth of Yggdrasil, he turned the destiny of mankind into seven rings of immortality. The first ring was for the immortality of power. The second was for the immortality of the knowledge. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth were for the immortality of the mind, energy, body, and soul. The last ring, the ring of the paragon, was made to rule them all. Icon kept the ring of the paragon for himself and became a dictator. He ruled with an iron fist for many years. His was a reign of terror. But he was eventually vanquished by the collective effort of the world. It has been 62 years since then. Icon is no more, but the damage he had done still remains. Earth-11 is still connected to Yggdrasil. The deadly games of the Tower of Destiny still remain, and the fight for the seven rings of immortality still continues. Kelvin Thorn has just awakened his ability. It came at a good time too since he is running for his life. The ability he awakened saved him, but it came with a cost. He must climb the tower of destiny under the witness of the whole world and accumulate destiny, or he will die. His situation is not unique. Everyone that awakens, which is mostly everyone, must climb the tower of destiny. It is one of the curses that Icon left behind before he died. But Thorn is different because the seventh ring found him. The tower of destiny is where everyone granted power by destiny, be they humans, non-humans, or otherworlders, must fight in games of might, skill, and knowledge to gather the power of destiny. They will either die or eventually overcome death. Kelvin will be one of the latest in the line of billions of others in this struggle.

Sometimes dying isn’t even the worst part of your dayMark has been reincarnated into a dead town in a bog, one that has been recently destroyed and occupied by ravenous undead. They disappear every day and return again at night, mindless and hungry, hunting for any survivors. He’ll need to use cunning and subterfuge to avoid them, because since he was transported into the body of a child, he can’t level up. At least not yet.Bog Standard. It means “totally normal”, right? But for the small towns found in these bogs, there's no quick rescue and not much trade. Everything has to be made to last. To them, it means “excellent quality”. Mark will have to prove he's Bog Standard if he hopes to survive.This is an Isekai of excellent quality. It’s a progression fantasy set in a LitRPG world, rags to riches with an eventual OP main character. The pacing is slow-burn, incremental progression, sometimes slice-of-life, punctuated by moments of intense violence and possibly traumatic content.