"Till then, Rael Von Ashborn… good luck and I hope you don't die too soon."

The Demon King turned with those words, his face amused like a man who had just accomplished something great.

…And in a way, he had.

He had just royally screwed the rest of my life.

With a single announcement… a single damn announcement, he made me one of the most famous people in all three domains.

Sure, the message was only broadcast across the Demon Realm for now… but give it a few days, hell just a few hours, it would spread across everywhere.

The humans would probably want to use me.

And the dragons? Well, knowing those arrogant, impotent bastards, they might want my seed. After all, I was a hidden dragon among men, talented, handsome, glorious… the full package.

As for the demons, yeah, unless they are looking for a new king who just happens to be devastatingly handsome and a human, they would probably want to kill me instead.

Especially those so-called heirs, who were already busy clawing at each other for the throne and the nobles already invested enough in their chosen heirs.

So yeah… I was screwed.

Completely, utterly and beautifully screwed.

And if I was this screwed, then maybe… just maybe, I should at least get something in return.

I mean, the insane bastard just named me his successor, so the least he could do was hand me some grand spell… or a secret martial art… you know, a thank-you for not dying yet kind of thing.

But the bastard was already turning away calmly and casually like this was just another Monday for him.

"Wait a minute!" I yelled before he could vanish.

"What?" He turned, his eyes raised slightly.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I asked, my smile deepening.

Come on, get it already, motherfucker, take something cheat-level out of that reincarnator brain of yours and hand me something broken already.

I mean, the guy is smart, right?

He has lived multiple lives, seen worlds end and even rebuilt empires, he should know exactly what I'm hinting at here.

Just a tiny clue, a little nudge and surely His High-and-Mighty Demon Majesty would figure it out, that I was asking for my free protagonist starter pack.

"Hmmm." He floated there, staring at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, which, trust me, was never a good sign.

"What am I forgetting?" he murmured almost to himself. Then, like a spark lit behind those crimson eyes, he snapped his fingers. "Ahhh, right. I completely forgot."

My smile deepened.

Perfect.

Now be quick and give me something good.

"I completely forgot about sending you back."

Ashavar snapped his fingers and the invisible restraints around me vanished.

Only then did I realize just how high we were.

Thousands of kilometers above the ground.

And that was when gravity, the ever-possessive little bitch, decided to pull me back where I belonged, in her sweet embrace.

I barely had a second to register the devilish smile stretching across Ashavar's face.

"Don't worry," he said, his voice perfectly calm… for someone about to commit first-degree sky murder. "I won't give you any power-ups. After all… the Trickster did say to never interfere in your growth."

"And again," Ashavar called out, his voice echoing through the clouds, "good luck not dying, young Trickster."

He gave a lazy wave, that damn grin still plastered on his face. "I hope you make it back safely. The academy is straight down."

And then I started falling, my body slicing through the perfectly fluffy clouds like a meteor.

Only a few words made it out of me as the wind screamed past.

"FUCK YOU, DEMON KING! I HOPE YOU STUB YOUR TOE ON THE SCYTHE OF THE DEATH GOD!"

A calm reply came unexpectedly.

"Thanks for the blessing, young Trickster."

Tsk.

Right.

I completely forgot this bastard was a suicidal maniac.

Before I could come up with another creative curse wishing him a long and miserable life,

I had already crossed half the damn sky.

The ground was rushing up fast, eager and almost desperate to kiss my glorious face.

Fuck. I needed to think fast.

Honestly, I had an idea, throw a card toward the ground at just the right moment and teleport to it before I turned into street art.

Simple enough… in theory but the damn wind kept screaming in my ears, tugging at my cloak and making it impossible to focus.

The timing had to be perfect and this was not the kind of weather for precision magic.

I mean, I could only teleport to a card that was within my domain… which, by the way, was already pathetically small.

So, I had to wait… wait until I was close enough to the ground before I could even think of using the card.

And for that, I needed precision, something way too damn difficult right now.

Especially when I had only awakened that skill, what, a few hours ago?

The ground was getting closer… too close.

I focused my mind.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I ain't dying so soon.

I have got things to do.

Well, technically, I had already made peace with death a few minutes ago, back when the Demon King decided my neck looked like a good handle… but now that I have got a chance to live?

Like hell I'm giving that up even if the whole Demonic Continent was my enemy.

I need to use my rusty pole on the one who writes fate.

Become a god.

Learn time travel.

Then go back and personally invent new creative techniques to torture that smug bastard Trickster.

These useless bullshit thoughts, the kind most people would call ranting or whining, actually helped me.

They grounded me and anchored my panicking brain

just long enough to focus.

The card began to take shape in my hand, glowing faintly against the rush of air screaming past my ears.

My heart was thumping so loud it could've drowned out the wind if this were one of those overly descriptive novels where the author won't shut up about "the symphony of despair" or some other poetic bullshit.

This was it.

I threw the card, a streak of light cut through the air before stabbing into the ground somewhere.

The moment my body came within inches of the ground,

I triggered the [Magician] effect but before I could even teleport…

…my body stopped floating.

What the hell?

Did I… gain the power of flight just from trauma?

Did I adapt?

Did I seriously awaken it?

But just then, I turned my head slightly and saw the reason for my "flying."

My cloak.

The bastard was fluttering violently, flapping like it had suddenly discovered purpose in life.

The same cloak that had stayed completely silent

through all my suffering and hadn't even dared to flutter a little in front of the Demon King, let alone help… was now acting like it was the hero of the story.

The traitorous bastard was glowing in a blinding golden light, lifting my entire weight like it suddenly found religion.

I could feel my mana draining out of me like a broken tap on full blast.

My mana pool was emptying faster than a guy with a girlfriend who thinks "window shopping" means buying every damn window.

But I endured and somehow landed on my feet and just then, the system window appeared in front of me.

[The Cloak of Trickster Is Evolution is Completed]

…What the hell?

Completed?

When the fuck did it even start?

Come to think of it, this bastard had been awfully silent, no random flutters, no weird commentary,

ever since I found it back in that cave.

Did… did reuniting with me back then trigger its evolution and now it's just done?

Just like that?

I looked down at the newly "evolved" cloak.

It was still pitch black as if it hadn't just evolved.

At first glance, there weren't many obvious changes… except one.

Golden carvings now were traced along the edges.

Wait a minute.

I focused, squinting my eyes to get a better look.

The lines weren't lines.

Instead, they were some small, intricate runes that shimmered faintly in the light.

If you didn't look close enough, they just seemed like tiny lines.

The words for some reason pulled my attention completely for a few seconds as if in some trance… and then I heard it.

"Onii-chan."

The words every transmigrator wanted to hear.

Yeah, I am just bullshiting.

I didn't hear a damn thing.

Neither did I fall into a trance.

I was just… trying to lighten my mind after somehow surviving a fall from thousands of kilometers up and seeing my cloak evolving all of a sudden.

But the runes did seem mysterious… probably something important and definitely something worth researching but that would have to wait for the future.

For now, all of my attention was on the new system window that had appeared.

[Cloak of Arcane Trickster Greets Its Master]

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