Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – Kimitoasamade - Volume 3B, Chapter 9: Player at the Shrine

Darkness is coming, and crisis is everywhere. In this long dark and desperate night, do you want to see a bonfire with warm words? We are that light.

We don’t want to be the little bully who guards one-third of an acre and eats canned food.

We don’t want to drive the harem on a great escape from east to west.

We don’t want to be a bunch of rats guarding rancid cheese in the gutter.

We don’t want to see the panic on your faces and the desperation in your screams.

So we stand up, fight for ourselves, fight for you, fight for humanity!

As long as we are here, the flames of war will never be extinguished.

We light a warm bonfire in the dark night, and watch the dawn with the brilliance of life.

We are the shield of the earth, the patron saint of mankind!

- Description from novelbuddy

In a distant future, the empires of mankind span the galaxy, and glorious Earth has devolved into a peripheral backwater.

In Shanjing city in the Asian region, Wang Zheng’s dreams of becoming a mech pilot are crushed when his college entrance exam genetic score turns out a pathetic twenty eight, barely above an animal.

To make things worse, people get the impression he attempted suicide after being rejected by the campus beauty.

Then the closest thing to a family he has, the old man in the book store across the road, goes missing, leaving him only a mysterious birthday present.

There was once an innocent little boy who was about to graduate high school. But suddenly, a truck ran him over before he could step foot in adult life.From his cruel twist of fate, he learns that after a person dies, they simply go to a result screen—a simple score system based on how publicly known they are.Being the nobody, he only had enough points to use the wheel spin—three shots that would determine his upcoming life.The wheel first landed on females, crushing his hope of keeping his gender. But he wasn't just going to give up so easily as the male section remained.The next spin didn't land on what he hoped for.With one last shot, he slammed the button and prayed. A miracle, almost as if god answered his prayer, appeared right before his eyes as it landed on a male.“Thank you, god! I knew you'd never give up on me like that——Wait, what do you mean that's a bug?”Before he could say anything, he was reborn into a fantasy world where magic and cultivation coexist.Want to find out what he got for his upcoming adventure? Well, let's just say he experiences the three stages of grief with his awful luck.

Orphaned in the old world after taking care of his irresponsible and sick mother for years on end, Kyle finds his life turned upside down.His already dim world turns even gloomier and coupled with his trauma from losing her, Kyle felt like he had lost his purpose in life.Living day by day, akin to a soulless puppet, he struggled to keep his suicidal thoughts in check, all whilst trying to make ends meet as a cabbie.During those dark times, Kyle slowly begins to find solace in the world of music and movies. Even though it had always been there, it truly became something as a bloodline of sorts for him because, individually, both pieces of media, transported him to another world, one where he could feel happy, if even for a fleeting moment.And, as if the universe wanted even more for him, Kyle met some lovely old people, all of whom treated him as the son they never had, making him feel like he had a family after so long.This eventually, helped him let go of his trauma and turned him into the lovely soul he was always meant to be.But as fate would have it, these same people, wanted for Kyle to pursue his dreams because they saw the potential for greatness in him and the wonderous things he could go on to do, even if Kyle himself was oblivious to it.So, in an effort to make his dreams come true, they ended up gifting him a brand new chance, one that Kyle himself would only go on to realize after his untimely death in a fatal car accident.Now awake in the new world, still orphaned but with a brighter perspective on life, Kyle, armed with a System, another gift from his loved ones in the previous world, decides to take the chance to pursue his dreams of being a star, one that he was unable to pursue in his previous life due to his lack of talent.This is the story of a man who will go on to become the most versatile and renowned superstar all over the world... and it starts, just as he takes his first step into the cutthroat world of fame and fortune by registering for the popular singing reality TV competition, 'Rising Voices'.Known to be a fiercely competitive TV show, Kyle will meet with top contestants from around the world, go up against them, level up and become better, and ultimately, battle with them for the number one spot in the show as a dark horse!---