Saga Of The Counterfeit Faker

Prologue

( Shido POV )

" Zafkiel ! Yud Bet ! "

The sound of gunshot and shattering glass echoed through the void. Ah...... that's right..... I died again, didn't I ? How many times did I die ?...... I..... don't remember...... I lost count after the thirty four thousand five hundred and fifty third death..... But at least I can now take solace in the fact that with zafkiel, I can change everything. One week is all I have. One week to change everything. I will not fail. I CANNOT fail. I have to save everyone. A part of me wishes to simply give up everything and accept death. But I cannot do that. Everyone entrusted their hopes onto me. They sacrificed their lives so that I could escape. I cannot abandon them. This is the same as the time when I had to save Origami. Soon, I'll escape this void and appear in the past. I can't waste a single moment. Reine, or rather Mio..... I have to convince her to fight alongside us and not harm the other girls. I am not going to lose her for the second time. And then there's Ellen-san. I'll save her too. Even after being under Isaac's control for all these years, the first thing she did after breaking free was helping me escape. I won't let her or anyone else die. Not again !

" I Am Thou . Thou Art I .

We Are One And The Same.

I Shall Be Thy Blade That Severs Thy Foes And I Shall Be Thy Shield That Protects Thy Kin. "

As the voice echoed through the void, a single golden card appeared in front of me. On it , was the medieval era-esque imagery of a man carrying a bag on a stick walking towards a cliff with a dog following him. As I reached out to touch the card, a blue lotus bloomed from it as a vibrant blue light drove away all the darkness. The light was blinding, yet I couldn't help but stare at it. The light made me feel something that I thought I had lost long back. Hope. Hope that everything will be fine. Hope that everyone that I care about will be safe. I know not whether what was in front of me was the Truth or merely an Illusion, yet I wished to hold onto it , even if it was for just a few more moments.

Suddenly, an intense pain throbbed through my head , which caused me to flinch. Had I just not died several thousands of times before, I would have probably screamed because of it. However, before I could realise what was happening, I found the darkness claiming me once again as I suddenly passed out.......

Location : ???

( 3rd Person POV )

Shido groggily opened his eyes as a veritable flood of information flowed through his mind. Knowledge about the Collective unconscious, the multiverse, the parallel dimensions, branches, the Akakshic Records, the reincarnation system, and of course most importantly, the Fool Arcana. He now knew that he himself had awakened the Fool Arcana.All individuals in the Cosmos at any given time have one of the twenty major Arcanas associated with them. All individuals cycle through the twenty arcana depending upon their current circumstances in life, ranging from the Magician, to Death, the Sun or even Judgement. However, an extremely select few individuals in the Cosmos are born with the capability to have a chance to awaken the Fool Arcana. However, even amongst these select few individuals, only a miniscule number actually manage to actually awaken the Fool Arcana.

There are two conditions for awakening the Fool Arcana. The first being that the world in which the candidate with the potential for awakening resides must be in danger of being destroyed or something that may cause the extinction of sentient life on that world. The second condition is that the candidate must face Death head on fearlessly and selflessly. If both the conditions are satisfied, the individual's consciousness is brought to the Velvet Room, where the velvet room attendants aid the individual to gain power and protect their world from calamity. And once the individual has succeeded, the Fool Arcana transforms into the World Arcana, symbolising that the individual has been acknowledged by the Cosmos itself as they have shouldered upon themselves the weight of a world. After attaining the World Arcana, the individual may choose to stay in their home dimension and continue to safeguard it ( or if their strength is sufficient enough, they may even gain the approval to supervise and safeguard the entire dimensional Branch ) ( AN : Branch here refers to the multiversal system that the dimension is a part of. For example, The Nasuverse constitutes as a branch and so do the RWBY multiverses. ) If the individual does not wish for this, they may choose to travel throughout the Cosmos where they'll be required to protect other worlds which lack Fools of their own from a calamity.