Zero no Tsukaima - Volume 17 Chapter 11

“I lost everything again...?”Kain had to work hard to feed himself, in a small village on the edge of the forbidden lands. Unlike the others, he hated Keepers, the only people capable of fighting the creatures from the Astral Dimension. Everyone saw them as heroes, but Kain blamed them for the greatest tragedy of his life - the death of his parents.Ironically, the sacrifice of one Keeper allowed Kain to obtain a Rune Brand - the key to begin a trial, the outcome was either power or death.Facing another world, Kain discovered that his blood was cursed, and misfortune would always haunt him.But death would avoid Kain, wanting to keep such a valuable sacrifice for a god. Only failure would await him, but if it was possible death would pass by.Now, Kain must break his curse and take fate into his own hands for the first time in his life or remain a nameless offering.

Birth rates are decreasing. Hope is vanishing. The world has gone gray.Humanity, drifting in quiet collapse, receives an email.Every person on Earth. Simultaneously.The Aegis Mandate.Disguised as a cosmic aptitude test, it triggers The Incident of Separation—a global psychic cataclysm that erases identities, wipes memories, and divides all survivors into three factions: Law, Neutral, and Chaos. Overnight, cities become battlegrounds. Apartments become dungeons. Ordinary people become monsters—or the ones who hunt them.Ragnar Vhagar was just a loner university student. Now, thanks to a system he didn’t ask for, he’s a newly minted Demon King, locked in a crumbling apartment with goblins under his sofa and a glowing soul crystal next to his frozen peas. His new job? Build a deadly domain, defend it from invading “Heroes,” and somehow level up fast enough to not die.Alongside him is Isabelle Thorne, a razor-sharp warrior of few words and one very sharp sword. Their reluctant alliance, born in blood and snark, evolves into trust—and maybe something dangerously close to affection—as they rise together through the layers of the game-like world they’re trapped in.With each conquered domain and defeated boss, Ragnar realizes the truth: the dungeons aren’t meant to crown a winner. They’re meant to break the players. The Law faction wants control. The Chaos faction craves destruction. But Ragnar? He wants something they’re all too afraid to say out loud:Freedom.In the ruins of Kanta’s ogre stronghold, Ragnar and his misfit warband take their biggest step yet—claiming a kingdom, unifying a fractured system, and preparing for what comes next. The Heroes are watching. The gods are stirring. The world is watching a war.And somewhere deep beneath it all... Ragnar is rewriting the rules.

Chen Xi was a jinx who radiated misfortune the way a torch radiated light, and everyone around him knew it. His entire clan was annihilated when he was young, and not too long after that his parents disappeared. His marriage contract? Poof. Torn to shreds and gone up in smoke before the eyes of everyone in the city, almost humiliating his grandfather to the point of suicide! Cultivation? No time for that, he had a family to take care of!

This is the story of Chen Xi, a youth forced to stop cultivating and instead craft talismans to pay for his younger brother’s tuition… and who, in the process, would rise to become known by all as the Talisman Emperor!

You—once a genius, who died young and reincarnated into a magical world.Yet your birthplace was nothing more than a ruined village at the world’s very edge.A village with not the faintest trace of magic or miracle.And of course—you were no different.But you did not give up.With all your strength, with every scrap of knowledge from your past life, you raised that village to new heights.And so, forty years passed.You became the leader, revered and trusted by all.Just as you were ready to accept a plain, ordinary life—suddenly:[Ding! Host’s support in the village has reached 100%. Supreme Creator System activated.][System binding initiated…][System binding delayed by 40 years. Calculating compensation rewards…][Compensation issued: 99999…9999 System Points. System Store now active.]Finally—forty years! Do you have any idea how I endured these forty years?!System!Redeem: 999,999 Levels!Redeem: Calamity Puppet Army!Redeem: Supreme Universe Core!Redeem: Throne of Annihilation!Redeem: Directive of Causality Erasure!…Ten thousand centuries later.On the battlefield of the multiverse.The allied fleets of dozens of high civilizations tore open a cosmic barrier.“What universe is this? Why has it not yet submitted to our Federation?”Before the words were finished, the starry sea beyond flared into blinding brilliance.Billions of rivers of time reversed their flow before their eyes, and the laws of the entire multiverse began to hum in unison.An invisible pressure descended, forcing every being to the ground, unable to lift their heads.Then came a calm, middle-aged voice:“Welcome… to my universe.”