Call me Akuma

When Akuma woke up, he found himself floating in a strange, warm liquid. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. At first, he was disoriented, unable to comprehend what was happening. His body was not his own. But after a few moments of disjointed thoughts, the truth dawned on him: he was inside his mother's womb. 

Everything around him was dark; his underdeveloped eyes couldn't even open. He could only touch and faintly feel the walls of his confined space, and the muffled sounds he heard were so faint they blurred into unintelligible noise. As the reality of his situation settled in, Akuma's thoughts wandered to the system... the damn system. 

The thought of it still frustrated him. He immediately tried to check its status. However, he quickly realized he couldn't open his mouth—there was no air to speak in, and his lungs weren't fully formed yet. He decided to try the logical thing: calling out to the system in his mind. 

To his surprise, the system interface opened as a mental image. On the display, he saw the familiar and frustrating message: 

[System is booting…] 

[Estimated time until system is operable: 1 Year] 

Seeing this, Akuma's thoughts churned in frustration and confusion. "Did it really take 999 years to travel to this world to reincarnate? Or... was I in the womb for 999 years?" 

The first explanation seemed more plausible to him. "Perhaps it took 999 years to prepare for me to travel to this world," he thought, a flicker of sarcastic relief crossing his mind. "Thank God I didn't have to wait a full 1,000 years to unlock my system. If that had happened, I would've gone completely insane." 

Still, his frustration mounted. "That damn being tricked me again… What happened to my two World Items? Where are they?" 

Akuma focused on recalling the items, just as he had done with the system before, but nothing happened. Frustrated, he thought they might be on his body. He began to feel around, hoping to confirm their presence, but he found nothing. 

"The only thing left to try is calling the items by name, but I can't do that right now. I'll have to leave it for later." 

Then another thought struck him. Maybe they're stored in some kind of inventory space, like in the game. With renewed determination, he tried to access it, straining his mind as if wanting the inventory to appear—but no luck. 

With no answers and no immediate way to change his situation, Akuma was left to stew in his thoughts, waiting for the day his new life would finally begin. 

[System is booting…] 

[Estimated time until system is operable: 2 months] 

"Fucking hell," Akuma muttered internally, his frustration mounting. "It's been ten months already! Shouldn't I have been born at nine months? Why is this taking so damn long? Am I even in a womb? Or has someone cooked me up in a lab as some kind of experiment?" 

His thoughts spiraled as he tried to make sense of his situation. "But... no, that doesn't seem right. I can hear things much more clearly now—the sounds around me, muffled voices, and even the heartbeat and breathing of whoever I'm inside. This has to be my mother's womb. The space I'm in moves like an earthquake whenever she moves, and the heartbeat feels... organic." 

"So, why the hell am I still 'cooking' after ten months? Shouldn't I be ready to see the world by now? Or—" A terrifying thought crossed his mind. "Am I even a human baby? Is my mother human? If she isn't... that might explain why I'm stuck here so long." 

In his growing impatience, Akuma began talking to himself, trying to vent his frustration and make sense of the bizarre situation. However, the more he spoke to himself, the more irritated he became. "A joke. That's what this is—a cruel, cosmic joke, leaving me as nothing but a helpless lump of flesh waiting to pop out." 

Still, he couldn't deny that things were changing. Slowly but surely, his senses were sharpening. His eyes, though still limited, could now distinguish between light and dark. The world around him, though confined, felt increasingly cramped. The space he moved within seemed to shrink with each passing moment. 

Most notably, his head had shifted downward toward his mother's pelvis—a change that only occurred in the final weeks before birth, a preparation for labor. He could also sense his mother's contractions, faint but present, signaling that the moment was coming near. 

It dawned on him: soon, he would be born. That realization sparked a faint glimmer of hope within him—a hope that his journey was about to truly begin. 

For now, though, he sat confined in this small, airless space, surrounded only by his thoughts. The lack of freedom made him uneasy. Once, he had been able to float freely, but now, turned upside down, the position left him both uncomfortable and increasingly irritated. Yet even in this frustration, he felt a growing anticipation—his true story, his first breath, and his first steps into the unknown were just on the horizon. 

Yet, this small progress did little to quell his irritation. All Akuma could do was wait, stewing in his impatience and unresolved questions. Two more months... he thought bitterly. Damn system. Damn being. I'll figure this out eventually, but for now, I'll endure. 

Suddenly, a tremor like an earthquake shook Akuma's world. He thought, maybe my mother's moving around or laughing again, since such movements usually happened when she was active. But this time, it felt different—far more intense. It was as if his mother were running at full speed. 

Even after a few minutes, the shaking didn't stop. Instead, it grew more violent, rattling his tiny body like a 9-magnitude earthquake. Akuma started feeling dizzy from the relentless motion. Then, without warning, the entire environment around him shifted. 

The comforting warmth he had grown accustomed to vanished in an instant, replaced by a freezing cold that seeped into every inch of his small body. It was as if he had been plunged into icy water. The unbearable chill in what was once a cozy, warm space left Akuma squirming in discomfort. But the cold didn't relent—instead, it intensified, growing so frigid that it felt like his fragile, infant body might freeze to death. 

"What the hell is going on? Is my mother bathing in liquid nitrogen or something? If this keeps up, I'll die of hypothermia before I'm even born. Damn it! Fuck! FUUCK!" Akuma thought, his mind racing even as his body began to tremble uncontrollably. 

As time passed, the cold became unbearable, draining what little strength he had. Akuma felt his consciousness slipping away, the icy grip of the environment overwhelming him. Just as he was about to succumb to the freezing darkness, a sudden wave of warmth enveloped him. The chill vanished instantly, replaced by a soothing heat that seemed to drive away every trace of cold. 

Before he could fully process the relief, his entire world began to shift. The space around him tore apart, allowing the bright light of the outside world to flood into the usually dark and confined place. It was blinding and overwhelming, like nothing he had ever experienced before. "What the fuck is going on here?" Akuma thought, panic gripping his mind. 

Through his not fully developed eyes, Akuma caught a hazy glimpse of a dark silhouette looming over him. The figure's hand stretched out, and it was so immense that Akuma's entire body nearly fit within its palm. Whoever had grabbed him was enormous—almost otherworldly in size. 

Despite everything, the gentle warmth that had saved him from the freezing cold was radiated from the person holding him. The figure in front of him spoke words Akuma couldn't understand, but whatever they were, they carried an inexplicable sense of safety. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt secure. 

Akuma's exhausted body could hold on no longer. His consciousness slipped away, leaving him cocooned in that strange, comforting warmth. 

 ---

Also, Beggar King has left a few pop culture references and memes. If you find them, comment, and Beggar King will give you a like. 

If we reach 100 stones, I'll reward you all with a bonus chapter!