Author's Note:

Re:Pray was a heavy and niche story that may not be everyone's liking, so I've made this story a technical sequel of Re:Pray instead because I don't want people to feel like they must read Re:Pray to get into this story. What do I mean by technical sequel then? It means that this story is a standalone story, but to those who read Re:Pray, it will certainly be a different experience reading this story compared to those who never read Re:Pray. I've done some edits on the previous two chapters but if you've already read Re:Pray, you don't really have to read those edited chapters.

To Guest:

1: Death may be here, but not Thanos. Like I said, this isn't a Marvel crossover. However, I admit that the summary might have gave you the impression that MCU Thanos might appear in this story. To be honest, Touma does share similar traits with MCU Thanos. Like Touma, MCU Thanos does what he thinks is right (wiping half of all life) and no one can convince him otherwise, the difference is that Touma is labelled as righteous while Thanos is labelled as the Mad Titan.

Also, from the To Aru wiki, Motoharu describes Touma as someone who will carry that mistake all on his own, along with his own. Even so, he works to correct his mistakes in order to bring a smile to everyone's face at the end of the road, no matter the cost to himself. In MCU Thanos's case, his mistake was not being able to save his planet from extinction. And he works to correct his mistake by collecting all six Infinity Stones to 'bring a smile to everyone's face at the end of the road' (watch the sun rise on a grateful universe) by wiping half of all life in the Universe, no matter what the cost.

3: To put it simply, the gems are too powerful to be destroyed by Imagine Breaker. But I'll list down the details of how Imagine Breaker interacts with each of the gem in this story at least if you're interested.

Power Gem: Touma can easily pick up the Power Gem like an ordinary gemstone with his right hand because of Imagine Breaker. Also, the gem is rendered unusable while Touma is touching it with his right hand. Any purple energy blast from the opponent using the Power Gem can be negated by the Imagine Breaker similar to Dragon's Breath which is to say that the Power Gem can easily output an amount of power that surpasses the Imagine Breaker's negation speed.

Space Gem: Is rendered unusable while Touma is touching it with his right hand. There is a very, very, very small window of opportunity to negate for example, a barrier or a teleportation portal created by an opponent using the Space Gem before it is no longer considered as a supernatural phenomenon. Yes, it's similar to the Curtana Original's Dimensional Severing Spell and notice how that spell is closely related to the concept of Space.

Reality Gem: Due to its nature, it is still usable even while Touma is touching it with his right hand because there are flaws in the Imagine Breaker which the Reality Gem can exploit to prevent the Imagine Breaker from rendering it unusable. Rest are actually kind of spolierish so I'm going to leave it like that for now.

Soul Gem: Is immune to the Imagine Breaker because Imagine Breaker has no effects on souls.

Time Gem: Is rendered unusable while Touma is touching it with his right hand. Also, the Time Stone cannot reverse time in an area where Touma is at.

Mind Gem: Is rendered unusable while Touma is touching it with his right hand. Imagine Breaker prevents the Mind Stone from reading or controlling Touma's mind. Other people who are affected by the Mind Gem only needs to be touched by Touma's right hand to turn back to normal.

By the way, not all the Gems will appear in this story, so what I've written above is just something fun to know about, but not relevant to the story... for now.

Touma placed his charred right arm into a machine. All he had to do was let the machine inject his arm with Equ:DarkMatter and the Reality Gem will do the rest in restoring his right arm back to normal. The Reality Gem isn't actually a gem despite its name. It was a red sludge thingy within his right hand that was invisible most of the time.

The frog-faced doctor who is known to everyone as Dr Gekota even though his real name is Heaven Canceller sighed before activating the machine, "I'm starting to think that it's really just you making lousy decisions rather your rotten luck as you claim."

"I won't deny that. But it's also true that I have rotten luck."

Having rotten luck was like an invisible disability. They can't see how his rotten luck affects his life in subtle ways. For example, he had never once experienced what it's like for the traffic light to turn green right when he arrives at a pedestrian crossing. Turning red however happens far more frequently than he liked. Still, it was much better than in the past where he would curse random people with rotten luck just by touching them.

Touma clenched his teeth in pain as needles plunged into his right arm, but that wasn't the worst part. The restoration process was far more excruciating as the Reality Gem ripped apart every damaged cell within his right arm and replaced it with Equ:DarkMatter. This time, it was so excruciating that he felt his consciousness slipping into a vision.

Touma saw an unkempt girl with messy blonde hair and blue eyes. Alyssa Birdway. How did he know that girl's name? He may have vaguely heard about this name from a dream he had before, but she definitely never appeared in his dreams before.

Everyone shunned Alyssa Birdway. She was a plague no one could get rid of. Touma was once shunned by everyone like Alyssa, but he had parents and lived in modern day Japan unlike Alyssa who was alone and stuck in medieval England. Alyssa was deemed as a heretic for possessing a power that could negate even the miracle of God in her right hand. Yet no one could successfully execute her. She just wouldn't die no matter how much those hateful scumbags tried. Even so, Alyssa chose to treat everyone with kindness.

Perhaps this was why he fell in love with Misaki. Misaki had been through far worse than Alyssa and yet Misaki refused to let that bring her down. Misaki was mentally strong, just like Alyssa. They even have the same hair color but that was probably just a coincidence. There are many people in the world with blonde hair.

Alyssa looked in his direction, like she knew he was there. That's impossible. He didn't even have like an arm to scratch his hair and a hair to be scratched. He should be invisible to everyone.

Alyssa flashed a friendly grin, "Oh hello there, Mr Knight-In-Training. How may I help you?"

Oh. This was a memory of him talking to Alyssa, not a vision.

Touma transformed his right hand back and forth between a ghastly white blade and shield a couple of times. Ever since he had Equ:DarkMatter injected into his right arm and leg, those odd memories were starting to become as vivid as a movie scene. Apparently, Dark Matter could be used to obtain information from past events, which might be the reason behind his odd, vivid memories according to Dr Gekota.

Dr Gekota ticked off a checklist, "Try not to get yourself hospitalized again, alright?"

The surgery to fully attach Touma's right arm back to his body after the fight with Gunha was a simple surgery that took about an hour, but Touma had to stay one night in the hospital for further observation.

"Trust me, doc. I definitely don't have a masochistic fetish of being hospitalized every other day."

A lightbulb seemed to have went off in Dr Gekota's head.

"That's it. What you need is psychotherapy for your fetish. I could refer you to-"

"What?! My rotten luck would surely sink my reputation even further than the Mariana Trench if I go for this psychotherapy. And besides I don't have a fetish in the first place!"

"Let's aim for a week where you don't get yourself hospitalized, shall we?"

Now that he has officially joined Judgement, there was no way he would survive a week without being hospitalized. A day would be a more reasonable aim… which was honestly a rather sad situation to be in. Rotten luck.

"By the way, you happen to know anyone named Alyssa Birdway?"

Dr Gekota raised a curious eyebrow, "That's a name I haven't heard in ages. Is she the girl from your memories?"

While Dr Gekota never met Alyssa Birdway in person, most of his medical knowledge originated from Alyssa. Alyssa Birdway was a healer so skilled that people branded her as a heretic for distorting God's rules. Since people would rather die than be healed by a heretic like her, Alyssa spread her medical knowledge anonymously across the world hoping that the knowledge would heal those people she couldn't save. In the end, only the knowledge remained and the name Alyssa Birdway was eventually forgotten by history.

If Alyssa Birdway was a real person who existed, then what was he to her? All he could tell was that they were probably friends in a past life.

Judgment Branch 177 was a five storey building located in District 7. Touma climbed the stairs to Level 2, where the main office was at. From now on, he would be working in Branch 177 as an official Judgement member. Misaki must be pretty mad at him for going all out against Gunha if she left a message saying she was busy and couldn't accompany him for the whole day. Yup, he should definitely get a tub of strawberry ice cream to appease her.

Touma entered the office to see the bespectacled Judgement girl Shiage made fun of. Seated beside the Judgement girl was Kongou Mitsuko. Mitsuko was convinced it was him who made fun of that Judgement girl when it was actually Shiage. God damn it.

His right hand accidentally knocked into a carton of milk as he waved hello and the milk spilled all over a stack of paperwork. Oh shit. What a terrible first impression.

Touma smiled sheepishly, "Hey, I'm Kamijou Touma, the new guy assigned to this branch."

The bespectacled Judgement girl directed him to a row of chairs near the entrance. She was not at all pleased with the accident.

"Sir, if you're here to make a report, please wait a moment over there."

"I'm not here to make a report. I'm here to report for work. Look, I even have this Judgement armband to prove it."

The bespectacled Judgement girl smiled, "I see. You're must be here to return a missing Judgement armband. Thank you so much."

"I really am Kamijou Touma! The guy who became an official Judgement member by defeating Sogiita Gunha. Ring a bell? I'm sure the Central Judgement Committee must have emailed my profile to your branch."

Mitsuko snapped her fan shut and laughed obnoxiously, "The guy who paid a ton of money to skip the four months of Judgement training, you mean? I can't believe you're using such a ridiculous claim of defeating the strongest Gemstone as an excuse."

If this wasn't a civilised society with laws set in place, he would have punched Mitsuko in the face. She had no idea how far he went just to barely eke out a small victory over Gunha. He even upset Misaki to the point where Misaki used the same excuse of being busy to not visit him in the hospital after that fight.

The bespectacled Judgement girl showed him a redacted profile of the new guy named Kamijou Touma who was assigned to this branch.

"The Committee must have mixed my picture up with another guy. I swear I'm the real Kamijou Touma."

"That happened to me once as well actually," said the bespectacled Judgement girl. "I'm sorry, but you look nothing like a guy who could defeat Sogiita Gunha."

"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

"I believe you're Kamijou Touma. I just don't believe you defeated Sogiita Gunha. I hate people like you who buys their way to the top instead of putting in the work," said Mitsuko.

"But I-"

Mitsuko raised her fan against him, "Enough. I, Kongou Mitsuko challenge you to a duel. If you're indeed the guy who defeated Sogiita Gunha, prove it."

He really had nothing to prove to Mitsuko, but he needed a way to prove that he was indeed the real deal.

"What's your esper level by the way?" said Touma.

Mitsuko flashed a smug smile, "Unfortunately for you, I'm a Level 3. Surely a Level 3 like me shouldn't be a problem for you if you are as powerful as you claim to be."

"Give me a second."

He should at least ask permission to engage in a duel against Mitsuko from Misaki first.

Misaki replied back to his text almost immediately.

No problem! Have fun and don't go too overboard!（⌒▽⌒）

She probably knew that a Level 3 wouldn't pose any danger to him, so that's why she allowed him to fight Mitsuko so readily.

"Alright, I accept your challenge," said Touma.

The battlefield of choice was a grassy field near a river. The bespectacled Judgement girl was Konori Mii and she will be the judge for this duel.

Mii sighed, "Miss Kongou, please go easy on him will you? I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"I'm not going to go easy on a fraud. He deserves to be hospitalized for a couple of days at least," said Mitsuko.

The mere thought of being hospitalized sent chills down Touma's spine. Dr Gekota would surely think of him as a masochistic pervert if he ended up being hospitalized again just hours after being released from the hospital! At this rate, his reputation is going to sink as tragically as the Titanic.

"Fraud is a very serious accusation. If I were you, I wouldn't accuse anyone of fraud without proof," said Touma.

"Your stupid looking face is enough proof," said Mitsuko.

Yet another idiot who judges a book by its cover. But was he really that unattractive to the point where no one would believe him if he said he actually has a girlfriend?!

"You leave me with no choice then."

Dark red streaks appeared on Touma's body and he bolted towards Mitsuko. Before Mitsuko could blink, Touma grabbed Mitsuko by the collar as he rested the flat side of his ghastly white blade on Mitsuko's cheek.

Mitsuko staring at him wide-eyed with shock was enough of an answer for him. He morphed his blade back to his right hand and flicked Mitsuko's wide forehead.

"Do you believe me now?" said Touma.

Mitsuko nodded before she fell on the grass trembling. Maybe he went kind of overboard but at least he managed to convince Mitsuko and Mii that he was indeed someone who could defeat Gunha even he doesn't look like it.

"But you're a Level 0…" said Mii who was just as shocked as Mitsuko.

"Only because I don't have an esper ability. It doesn't mean that I can't use a weapon to augment myself."

The 'weapon' in question was the Reality Gem, a singularity forged from the remnants of a fundamental aspect of the Universe by extraordinarily powerful beings known as Personifications. His battle with Gunha taught him how he could use the Reality Gem to temporarily boost his movement speed… at a cost it seems.

Touma clenched his teeth in pain. The human body was not meant to move at speeds more than a hundred kilometers per hour. When he heard a distant roaring of an ambulance siren, his heart sank. That's it. Dr Gekota was surely now convinced that he was indeed a masochistic pervert.

The one who called the ambulance was Misaki. She let out a disappointed sigh.

"Dr Gekota was right. It's you making lousy decisions, not your rotten luck," said Misaki.

Touma awoke to a familiar ceiling in a hospital room. He had been hospitalized so many times that this room was reserved for him. When he increased his movement speed with the Reality Gem while fighting against Gunha, nothing happened. Now all of a sudden his body couldn't handle the increased movement speed for less than a second? Was his rotten luck so hellbent on hospitalizing him in less than a day just so Dr Gekota would surely think of him as a masochistic pervert?!

Misaki was seated by his bed while holding his right hand, "I think it would be great if you stop relying on Equ:DarkMatter. You still have Imagine Breaker, right?"

That's right, he still has Imagine Breaker. So why did he always go for Equ:DarkMatter as his first option? It was like the Reality Gem had been... subtly influencing him to use it as much as possible under the pretense that it was far superior than the Imagine Breaker. If the Reality Gem was truly superior than the Imagine Breaker, there was no need for the Reality Gem to play games.

So what exactly was the Imagine Breaker then? All he knew was that the Imagine Breaker was a power within his right hand that could negate any supernatural phenomenon. Who knows, the Imagine Breaker might just be another singularity forged by the Personifications. Or artifact as Misaki would say.

Touma ruffled Misaki's hair with a smile, "I guess you're right."

Misaki smiled back sweetly, "You will sleep in the bathtub as punishment for touching my hair without my permission again."

This was a bad habit he's been trying to kick, but sometimes he gets carried away and ends up touching her hair again.

"How about I buy you two tubs of strawberry ice cream instead?"

"Three tubs."

"Working hard on that D cup upgrade I see."

"You will sleep naked in the bathtub filled with ice-cold water! And I will forgo my sleep just to make sure you don't sneak away or anything!"

Maybe Dr Gekota was right. Sometimes, it was really just him making lousy decisions instead of him being unlucky. But the look on Misaki's face was totally worth it and besides, it was for her own good that she cut down on her sugar intake.

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed this short chapter and if you have any comments, you may leave them in the box below.