Kirishima Ryuusuke was a name, whispered in fear across the nation.
A man whose presence alone echoed destruction, his reputation painted him as a villain. He was the ultimate and perfect Hitman known for his silent, precise, and unstoppable killing of his targets . But what the world never saw was the truth beneath this legend.
Ryuusuke didn't kill for thrill or revenge. Every move, every mission, every "act of terror" was carried out at the request of one man,Hiroki Sakaguchi.
The only person he ever trusted.
To outsiders, Hiroki was just his closest companion. But in truth, Hiroki was far more dangerous than any weapon Ryuusuke ever wielded. As a high-ranking member of the notorious crime syndicate Rokize, Hiroki had one job: to tame the beast named Ryuusuke and turn him into the syndicate's deadliest tool. And he succeeded not by force, but by empathy. By giving Ryuusuke the illusion of belonging, of loyalty, of purpose.
Because Ryuusuke wasn't a fool. He was desperate.
Desperate to fill the void left by the family he lost to the same underworld he now served. Desperate to believe that even someone like him could be needed, valued.
But illusions always shatter.
One night, hidden in the shadows, Ryuusuke overheard a conversation he was never meant to hear. Hiroki, laughing, bragging to his superior about how easy it was to manipulate "the dog" he kept on a leash.
That was the moment everything changed.
Ryuusuke's world collapsed, but in the ashes rose fury. For the first time, he saw through the illusion, and with eyes. which were no longer clouded by loyalty and faith, he turned his wrath on those who once called him an ally. Syndicate by syndicate, he tore through the criminal underworld, purging it with unrelenting rage. No syndicate was spared. No base left standing. He wasn't seeking justice, he was purging everything he had ever touched. A man cleansing his own sins in blood and ash.
And so, the criminal underworld, afraid of the monster they'd helped create, formed a desperate plan: bait him with the one thing that could still wound him, his "friend" Hiroki.
And as they expected, Ryuusuke took the bait.
When he found Hiroki again, the man was already weeping, pleading for forgiveness with trembled hands. "I just wanted to protect you," Hiroki said. "They used me too. I didn't want you to die, please forgive me my dearest friend".
For a moment, Ryuusuke hesitated.
He wasn't a soft-hearted fool, but even monsters have ghosts that haunt them. He took a single step forward.
And that's all it took.
The blade struck deep, straight through his chest. The pain didn't come from the steel, but from the smile.
That same devilish smile from the person he respected and admired the most in this world full of pain and sufferings
As his knees hit the ground, and blood soaked the dirt beneath him, Ryuusuke looked at Hiroki one last time. Not with anger, but with clarity.
"So this was it all along... I was never needed. Just used."
With fading breath, he whispered into the night, "If I could be born again… I'd live on my own terms. Not as a puppet. Not as a weapon. Just as... me."
When the darkness closed in, a blinding light cut through.
He awoke in a realm between life and death—a white space that echoed with silence. From within that void, a figure emerged, cloaked in golden radiance, eyes burning with timeless wisdom.
The God of Rebirth and Death..."Mykonos".
"Ryuusuke,You've suffered enough in a world that never gave you a choice. In this new world, I grant you one" , Mykonos said with his warm voice .
Granted a second life in a world of sword and sorcery, Ryuusuke was reborn as the eldest son of the humble Ainsworth noble family. His new mother, kind and gentle, named him Ryuzen, a name meaning "lotus rising from the mud."
And just like that, the monster the old world feared was gone.
In his place stood a boy-scarred, silent, but Alive.
This isn't the story of a chosen hero.
This is the tale of a villain who was never evil to begin with.
This is the rebirth of a fallen villain.
To be continued....