Return of the Swallow - Chapter 564.1: Morning Court (II)

Ren Kuroda, a college student and hardcore gamer, finally conquers Eternal Souls: Last Judgment, an unbeatable RPG, only to be met with a strange message on his screen.“Congratulations, Champion. Would you like to unlock the bonus stage?”When he clicks “Yes,” he is transported straight into the game world, reborn as Terence Ross, the overlooked third son of a minor noble family. Realizing he’s just an extra in a world teetering on ruin, Ren trains relentlessly to survive the coming chaos.However, life wasn’t smooth sailing.He was soon engaged to Lilith Underwood, the girl destined to become the game’s final boss, the Third Great Calamity. To avoid her devastating future, Ren takes a risky approach, trying to make Lilith emotionally dependent on him in the hopes of anchoring her humanity.Yet, his plan backfires spectacularly. Lilith’s attachment becomes a fierce obsession, one that could be just as dangerous as her dark powers.Now, as doom inches closer, Ren faces a double-edged crisis. He must keep Lilith’s powers in check while somehow surviving her unrelenting need to keep him by her side.In a world where even heroes fall, can an extra rewrite his fate? Or will he be claimed by the calamity he tried to prevent?

The 'Black Phantom'. A name when uttered would send chills down the spines of anyone who worked in the underground world. That name was akin to a boogeyman to every rich and powerful individual. No one knew his face or his identity as everyone who met him never lived to tell the tale.

It was said that if the Black Phantom was to target you, you have two choices. Either commit suicide or pray that you get a quick, painless death.

However, in unknown circumstances, that legendary hitman suddenly vanished from the underworld, never to be seen again. The reasons were a mystery and the uproar it created was nothing short of historical.

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Kai Miller, a normal high school boy, lived his life in obscurity. He didn't have any particular hobbies, friends, or a girlfriend. Even in school, no one gave him a glance as he was the 'quiet kid' of the class. However, when a mysterious person appears in his class, a secret that the boy had tried to hide for years was going to be revealed and along with it, his past comes back to try and pull him back into the darkness.

However, Kai had one simple goal, to protect his peaceful daily life... Even if it means he will have to eliminate every enemy he had and will have.

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If you like a badass MC and likable female leads each with her unique character, goals, and actions, set in a mysterious and intriguing world that keeps getting more and more interesting as the story develops then this book is for you.

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Johnathan, an old man with an extraordinary past but an ordinary end, gets reincarnated in a dark fantasy world full of magic, darkness, and mysteries furled.

However, he committed a grave blunder by taking the fiction he had read as a reference. Reborn as a baby, he hoped to be deemed gifted by speaking early.

One thing led to another, and tragedy struck. The villagers declared him a demon-possessed and called the church. Johnathan, now known as Sylvester Maximilian, realized that he had messed up.

When the church's inquisitors came to judge him and burn him on a pyre. As a last resort and to welcome his soon to arrive second death, he started chanting holy hymns as his last breath.

Overwhelmed, they kneeled, thinking he was a messenger of Solis.

From there, the story of how Sylvester Maximilian rose through the ranks to sit at the top began.

But his life won't be ordinary, as he uses his cunning and the tag of 'God's favored' to his advantage. Fighting treachery, unearthing secret plots and world mysteries, facing the darkness around him and creating his place in history, engraving his name in the annals to be forever remembered as the—Immortal Pope, The Young.

[A/N: To not mislead you, the novel's name does not mean he instantly becomes the Pope from the start. The story will follow the life of MC. Though he will become the Pope at a pretty young age. 40% of the novel will be based around MC fighting to sit on the supreme throne.

If you enjoy world building and lore building, then you will like this story.]
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***Main Tags: FANTASY, ADVENTURE, MAGIC, DARK, STRONG MC(Weak at the start because he's a baby. Not an instant OP though.), WHOLESOME, COMEDY, KINGDOM BUILDING. MENTALLY OLD MC, Politics, Backstabbing, World Building.***

[WARNING: MC will not go around saving everyone. Absolutely not if it puts him in danger. But if he can save someone using his status or position in the church, he will. He will kill innocent people if he has to. MC is not crazy, cynical, or unsociable. The world at some times may seem very DARK.]
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[DISCLAIMER]
The religion will be fake. I won't make it similar to those existing in our world not to trigger anyone. However, the Church terminologies and designations may feel identical as they are simple vocabulary words.

Again, everything you read in this novel is fictional and has no relation to our world.

I hope you enjoy my work. Stay safe and eat healthy bananas.
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Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost.