Like all tropes for reincarnation stories, the world I’ve reincarnated to is the setting of a famous M.M.O.R.P.G game in my previous life that even has an ongoing anime running for several seasons, several light novels and it even has manga and manga spin-offs!

It is called Grand Saga - Twilight Dawn.

Pretty catchy right?

In my previous life, I was a huge player. I’ve got several alternate characters in the online game. I downloaded all the episodes and bookmarked the manga when they came out online. I even downloaded light novels. Come to think of it, I was looking forward to watching the next season when I got into that accident.

As much as I lament that I won’t be able to do any more of that, it should be a dream that I’ve reincarnated this world right?

Once again, like all tropes…reality bites.

Well, if you get to this point and missed what I just said earlier then you need to check your memory.

Let me tell you more about the backstory of the person who I reincarnated into and his role in the game. I mean an Emperor is a bigshot NPC in the game right? Again, not really. Well, I just mentioned the Empire had fallen into a dystopian society right?

Emperor Wilthelm in all forms of the media was initially thought to be the main bad guy. But from what I just said and when you finally confront him, he was in fact, nothing more than a Yes-man to the real Antagonist of the series. Guess who? You don’t have to guess it.

It was Adolv Yosef von Stahlin-Bohrbon.

Everything that had happened to me was to form me into that character. And had I not reawaken all my memories, I would’ve. In all sense, do you want to be something like that? Hell no! Not especially to what’s coming to him!

For an antagonist, there is the protagonist. In other words, the Hero!

In the Game, you can gatcha any character but the default character and the one who appears in all other media is the Hero of the story, Arte Clover.

Arte’s background story was rather tragic.

He was once a happy, kind-hearted child. He lived his childhood in the remote domain of Count Spencer. He was raised by his loving and kind aunt, Helena von Spencer. He never knew his parents but knew he was a child of the count's brother's son.

He often played with his childhood friends, his milk brother, and heir to the Spencer County, Ewan von Spencer, and Robyn Curtis, the son of the Spencer Knights Captain.

But that all changed when the County fell victim to one of Stahlin’s schemes.

Due to some trumped-up charges, the County had been raided by the Imperial Army.

What’s worse was the ones dispatched were a bunch of undisciplined scum that only followed Stahlin because he allowed them to pillage. Those morally decrypt monsters often pillaged small villages for food and women under the pretense that the Imperial Army was weeding out traitors.

The County was soon raided and the mansion was invaded.

Arte was forced to watch his poor aunt getting raped and killed before his very eyes after he and his friends were hidden by her at the last minute. Finding a chance to escape, the children fled from the County.

They would later discover the whole truth. Disgusted by how far the Empire had fallen, Arte shed away his earlier admiration of the Imperial Knights and his childish side.

He and his friends then went on a journey where they trained and honed their skills.

Time skipped to the main storyline, they found friends, gained recognition, made powerful allies, and eventually, they grew in number. They became a powerful force that threatened Stahlin’s little paradise.

After a long series of battles, quests, and adventures, Arte soon discovers a shocking truth. During a battle, a magical pendant from his aunt which he never took off, had its string cut by a blade. As a result, he was revealed to have had white hair and gold eyes. The trademark characteristics of the Imperial Family. After some more story, it was revealed he was the hidden 14th son of the previous Emperor and his “aunt” wasn’t his aunt at all. She was the personal maid of his real mother: Dowager Empress Alixandra.

In other words, he was Wilthelm’s, or rather my younger brother.

How did that come to happen? The story reveals that just before the Bloody Night Incident, our parents finally had a heart-to-heart talk. It revealed that my father was simply a big tsundere towards my mother and that he returned her feelings. They once again did the deed which resulted in Arte.

What a bonehead old man. Things would’ve been easier for everyone if he had been honest from the get-go.

Anyhow, mother soon realized she was with child and knew that if Stahlin found out he would take the child away to be used for another of his nefarious plans, or if not, he would kill them both outright. She was only kept alive because she was still useful. Perhaps to control me or something.

My mother resolved to do everything she can to protect her unborn child. She had a gentle and meek nature but she was clever.

Luckily she used Stahlin’s schemes to her advantage. He had her secluded in the Wyndsyr Estate to make sure she wouldn’t influence court although the official statement was for her to grieve for her loss. Using that, she put on a grieving act and took advantage of Stahlin’s “protection”. She also ordered extra security, dismissed the staff, and ordered that no one was to see her apart from her family’s butler, Walter, and her handmaiden, Helena. Her acts of seclusion and mourning were why she became known as the Widow of Wyndsyr.

Hang on…Why does that name sound so familiar?

Ah well, anyway, she diligently kept her pregnancy a secret and even went as far as to gain weight to hide her belly bump. To aid her, Helena pretended to be the one that was pregnant. When Arte was born she had Helena smuggle Arte away, on the pretext of dismissing her so she could care for her “child.”

After learning the truth and with encouragement from others, Arte resolved to dethrone his corrupt brother, save their mother, and restore peace. He and his compatriots launch a full-on revolution. As the series progresses, he rescues his mother and Arte finally makes it into the Palace where he confronts the Emperor (aka Me).

As mentioned before, the Emperor was revealed to be a puppet as a result of all the brainwashing and character manipulation. He fought because Stahlin and his wife, Empress Antoinette (remember her, Stahlin’s daughter, nasty girl), had told him so.

Having been reduced to a mere puppet with little to no will, he did so.

At that stage of the game, it turns out he was the penultimate boss who had strong Magic Abilities further enhanced by Stahlin's experiments.

It was revealed in the tie-in character book on the background story of the Emperor, though he only received mediocre magic lessons he was very much interested in the art and secretly studied magic as a hobby and perhaps as his only solace in life. His unprecedented skill and talent in Magic would mean he was a natural prodigy but because of his weak personality, he wasn’t able to bring it out until the last minute.

realizing his hold over the Empire was crumbling with Arte’s rebels overtaking the Capital, Stahlin saw an opportunity to make one last use of his puppet by tricking him to use a dangerous Magic Item that turned him into a human weapon.

The combination of that and his hidden Magical Talents made Wilthelm a very difficult boss to defeat it took the best skills, weapons, team members, a ton of potions and buffs, and strategies to defeat him.

The Emperor was defeated after a long grueling battle. He suffered a backlash from the strain of the Magic Item as well as the mortal wound from Arte. He begged for help from Stahlin and Antoineth but both just ignored him and escaped.

As the Emperor lay dying, Arte gave him a look of simple pity and regret.

And thus ended the role of the fallen puppet Emperor.

But the story wasn’t over yet.

Arte and his companions still had to confront Stahlin in the final climax of the Twilight Dawn Series.

It is there that his true aim was revealed. Was aiming for the ancient power hidden by the Imperial Family for millennia which is known as Elysium. To describe it, it was something akin to the ultimate power source.

Stalin’s true goal was to use it to become a god-like being and rule the world.

Geez...megalomaniac much?

Of course, the heroes were not allowing that. After a long and arduous battle, Arte succeeds and finishes off Stahlin ending his crazy ambitions once and for all. He then seals away Elysium, reforms the Empire, and becomes its new ruler. His legend is passed on for generations to come and in succeeding editions of the series.

End of Story…NOT!

As much as I love the game lore…I am not exactly thrilled about the fact that I reincarnated as the Emperor.

Would anybody be happy becoming that pitiful red herring antagonist that got axed by the Hero on the way to the climax.

Well, it’s a no freaking way.

I know it is rather cliche-like but I am not going down without a fight. I don’t want to be turned into a mindless puppet ruler. I do not want to be hated by the populace. I don’t want to be killed by my brother.

AND I ESPECIALLY DO NOT WANT TO THAT FUTURE!

I mean who would?

As soon as I got my bearings, I proceed to plan and enact quickly before any further events unfold that would entrap me. In the process, I wound up changing the fates of many. Especially the ones who were fated to die. While at the same time…I did so many unspeakable things for the sake of the greater good.

I wondered if I was truly an innocent person deep down.

Nonetheless…all of my efforts bore fruit in tonight’s events.

***Will’s POV***

I sat in an armchair, drinking a cup of tea while staring at the fireplace. I glanced at the clock as it struck midnight.

“Although I said we’d meet at Midnight…you should’ve made your presence known if you were early.”

A figure of a woman wearing a black catsuit. emerged from the shadows.

“Hmph…I do wonder why the Scorpio Captain couldn’t detect me but you can, Boy.”

“Call it intuition…Also. And how long are you going to be calling me “boy”?”

“It’s too much of a pain to call you” Your Majesty” plus look like a boy.”

I felt a vein bulge in my forehead.

“I look like a teenager. Not a kid.”

“They’re the same thing, Boy.”

I wanted to refute but arguing with Roulette in a war of words will just cause me headaches.

“Sigh~ Shouldn’t you be referring to me by codename. What’s the point of codenames if we refer to each other as something else. Which is ironic since you are the only one who doesn’t despite being the head of Night Lurkers, Roulette.”

Again, I forgot to introduce her. This lady is the leader of the Night Lurkers. Codename: Roulette.

“Oh please, I still question why our codenames are that way.”

“The deal where if any of you are capable of sneaking up on me and strike is still valid.”

“Only a fool or someone incredibly skilled would sneak up on you. I’ve lost count of how many of the practice drills our top operatives failed to try.”

“That’s precisely why I had those drills. So you guys can sneak up to somebody of my position without being detected.”

“There’s nobody whose on your level, Boy. Even my father lost to you. And he’s a Swordmaster. I still wonder who taught you all that.”

“My Mentor taught me well.”

Roulette cross her arms, “Sure wished we could’ve met your Mentor.”

“Yeah…I do too…You two would’ve gotten along so well.”

I sipped the remainder of my tea and place it down with a sigh before going down to business.

“So? What’s the update?”

“Hermit, Magician, and the Lovers have found the missing children thanks to the Tracking Spell of yours on Stahlin’s Medallion. They were all hidden in the secret dungeons underneath Countess Batory’s mansion.”

“So it was her…Should have expected no less from Stahlin’s close cousin.”

That damned old hag! I knew she was up to no good.

“She tried to escape the moment she returned from the Ball. I guess seeing her cousin obliterated by that ungodly sword move of yours made it clear to her that it was only a matter of time before you would crack down on her. It was mere luck that the Tracking Spell led us to her estate just as she was about to leave. Luckily we did as she apparently ordered the remaining servants to get rid of the evidence.”

“I take it that the team had put a stop to her escapade and left an anonymous tip to the Imperial Guard?”

“Yes, we knocked her out with Sleeping Fumes. By the time she and her servants wake up, the Imperial Guard will be raiding her mansion. That said they’ve found the children…or what’s left of them…”

I whipped my head and Roulette’s earlier playful smirk melted into a cold expression of disgust and fury.

“Give me the exact details.”

“Over a hundred orphans and kidnapped children were gathered there. Most were malnourished and badly treated. Some were set aside for Batory’s underground slave trading. But most of them were subjected to horrible experiments it’s a miracle that a few were still barely alive.”

“Over a hundred only?” I frowned at that report “Last time I checked, the missing children amounted to more than thrice that.”

“I was talking about the ones who were still there. We have the registry Batory kept so we can begin tracking the location of the ones who were sold to slavery and who their buyers are.”

“Good… But knowing how these illegal slave auctions work I sincerely doubt that all of the unaccounted children were classified as “quality goods”...Now tell me, what else did they discover.”

Roulette sighed, “Unfortunately, we found that there were a number of dead bodies there were haphazardly tossed in one of the larger cells. Some were reduced to skeletons but from the looks of the fresher corpses…they either died from malnutrition or as a result of being subjected to those brutal experiments. We estimate that from the sheer number, it should match the ones who were unaccounted for and were not sold into slavery.”

I clenched my hand so hard that if I was still holding my tea cup it would’ve shattered. I buried my head in my hands out of grief and guilt. All those poor children…

Stahlin you little cretin! Ripping you apart molecule by molecule isn’t enough! I hope you burn in hell!

“I am going to sortie the Imperial Guard immediately.”

“There’s no need. The Imperial Guard are on their way. Also, it would be suspicious for you if suddenly know something the investigators have yet to discover any clues.”

“Where are the survivors?”

“They are currently being tended to by the Lovers but they will vacate as soon as the Imperial guard arrives.”

I stared silently at the fire.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. The fact that you’ve dealt with their murderers has finally put those innocent souls to rest.”

“Still I wish, we were quicker. But then it is only a what if…”

“There’s more. Hierophant and Chariot’s reports have come in. It’s as you expected for the most part. The targets have begun making contacts. Some of them were right on our list. But there were a few unexpected ones.”

“There’s always an outlier…”

I stood up from my seat and walked towards the giant arch windows.

The outline of St. Artur’s Cathedral where I had just been coronated earlier today could be seen in the distance.

“We’ll rendezvous with them and proceed with Phase 2.”