Literature / Resurrection Life

Open your eyes and see the chance for a second life.

The fourth novel by M. C. Ashley, Resurrection Life follows Gideon Sato, a recently jobless philosophy professor who leaves his world behind for the chance at a new life as one of several Paragons summoned to the world of Khayim to be their heroes. However, his bliss as the Fulcrum Paragon is short-lived when he angers a conspiracy among the united nations by freeing a young elven slave with his newly-acquired abilities and spends time with the enigmatic Trickster Paragon Nathaniel David Parker, who warns him of his coming doom. Separated from his fellow Paragons on his first mission, Gideon is murdered by an unknown assailant, only to be brought back to life in a world that has no resurrection magic. Discovering that nine years have passed, Gideon realizes his death was the catalyst for this, as history has been changed by his absence. Joining up with the few allies he can trust, Gideon sets out to correct what has been broken and to save the world of Khayim from the relentless onslaught of the Abyssal Incursions that had been the reason for his being summoned there in the first place.

Resurrection Life provides examples of:

• Ability Mixing: Nathan can combined his own Trickster Paragon skills with the one skill he copied from each individual Paragon to great effect.
• Abusive Parents: It is heavily-implied that Gideon's parents were this to him and that he was probably raised by a cult, but that he's in massive denial about this, because the reality's too much to fathom, so he pretends his relationship with them is okay and that he misses them. In reality, they were a major reason he chose to be Isekaied to Khayim, because he didn't want to face them after he lost his job.
• Action Girl: Both Ariel and Millie qualify, as well as the female Paragons we briefly get to see in action like Pyrrha.
• Affably Evil: Fittingly as a demon, Dillon is this, offering to end things quickly to the people opposing it.
  • Faux Affably Evil: However, this is ultimately an act to lure its victims into a false sense of security.
• A God Am I: After sacrificing many children to empower himself with chaotic energy, Herodias feels like this, demanding worship from Ariel during their fight until she's able to kill him and disprove this notion.
• The Alcoholic: Ji-Yeong has turned into this after his fall from grace to the point where he refuses to fight in the last battle for a bit.
• All for Nothing: Gideon's plan for Ariel to grow up in his mansion away from the fighting in the Abyssal Incursions fails massively when she's forcibly transported with him to the first battle and fails even further when he's murdered. However, him starting her martial training allowed her to survive long enough to meet up with Nathan and formulate a plan to resurrect Gideon.
• Aura Vision: Gideon learns how to do this from his servant Cervantes and it enables him to see the strength of mana reserves of the people around him, seeing that Ariel doesn't have as much as him and that Nathan isn't readable, because he's deliberately messing with the results.
• Back from the Dead: Gideon is killed while separated from his fellow Paragons and is saved nine years later thanks to the efforts of Nathan and a teenage Ariel.
• Barrier Warrior: Gideon learns a lesser shield invocation that works somewhat, but nowhere near what the Bulwark Paragon, Ganbaatar, is capable of.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Nathan's intense desire to never hear another Cat Girl ever use the phrase "Nya" in her speech leads him to praise God that Millie doesn't engage in it. He has spent countless years in terrible Isekai stories to make sure the events therein occur, no matter how annoying they can get and this trope of cutesy cat girls implanting "Nya" in their words was one of them. However, after making one too many references to things she doesn't understand, she chooses to troll the trolling Nathan by calling him "Nyathan". Nathan's horror at what he engineered by mistake is described in the narration as "Vietnam flashbacks."
• Beware the Nice Ones: Millie is an absolutely sweet Cat Girl who loves her companions and saving others, but back her into a corner and murder her brother and you can consider yourself deader than dead.
• Big Brother Instinct: Nathan's travels across the multiverses has caused him to find many different men and women he considers to be brothers and sisters and being in Khayim is not different. While he acts more fatherly to Ariel, he is definitely taking the role of a big brother to Millie following the loss of her only family.
• Big Damn Heroes: This happens several times during the fight in Rema, first with Ji-Yeong returning to fight and then with the arrival of Anselm, Ariel, and Millie.
• Bilingual Bonus: Nathan invokes several attacks in German^note Nachtliche Streik being Nocturnal Strike, while Hebrew, Swahili, and Latin are also used for some of the naming systems of various cultures in the novel.
• Black and White Magic: Like in his other series, Lost Time and Broken Veil, Ashley has black magic in the form of chaotic energy, which inherently corrupts creation, and creative energy, which inherently builds upon creation. Khayim, unlike most realities, is full of chaotic energy, which causes Nathan's chaotic wound to constantly be in pain and him always in danger of succumbing to its effects. This is the direct result of Khayim stealing mana from Mavet centuries ago, changing the very fabric of reality.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Nathan destroys it when he describes his other job as the protector of the narrative flow of reality. This means he often inserts himself into stories and worlds we believe to be fiction, so that he can prevent others from sending them off the rails. He then mentions to Gideon that he is currently in one such story, but not to worry about it, because all this means is that the author is telling a story that has already happened. However, it's good to be seen as a fictional character, because the audience, if they believe the story to be good, will believe in him and gift that belief without realizing it, further empowering him from many realities away without them being any the wiser.
• Broken Bird: According to most reports, Pyrrha has become this after Gideon's death and her and Ji-Yeong both being raped by the other with a Geas Glamour spell and hasn't left her fortress in Parakastha in years.
• Brutal Honesty: Both Nathan and Ariel engage in this, mostly because Gideon is too idealistic for his own good and will get himself killed again if he doesn't learn to be more discerning and skeptical in how he interacts with people.
• Came Back Strong: In his new golem body, Gideon is far stronger and magically-inclined than he would've been in his original body.
• Came Back Wrong: However, it is heavily-implied by Dillon that this is temporary and Gideon's body will break down eventually.
• Cassandra Truth: Every single Paragon was warned by Nathan that they were being manipulated and used by the nations for their own interests. Only Gideon is shown to give this even the slightest bit of credence, but he ignores the warning as well, leading to his own death. This is one of several reasons why Gideon chooses to stay with Nathan, despite his mentor's tough methods, because he doesn't want to be wrong again about who he can and can't trust.
• Cast from Hit Points: If Nathan wishes to use an ability that doesn't originate from Khayim, he gets attacked by chaotic energy and thus his health suffers as a result. Teaching Gideon how to collect the chaotic energy and how to purify it helps him out, but even Gideon can only collect so much before both of them get overwhelmed.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Nathan detecting the presence of brimstone in Bet le'khem foreshadows the eventual presence of Dillon, who Nathan had also name dropped much earlier without realizing the importance of that statement.
  • Ariel mentioning her betrothal comes into play later on when she reconciles with her betrothed during the infiltration of Herodias' fortress.
  • Nathan mentioning Herodias' men being on high alert because there might be someone else dumb enough to infiltrate the fortress foreshadows Millie's sudden appearance when she saves Gideon.
• The Chessmaster: Nathan is constantly playing people to the tune of his machinations, with few of them being any the wiser. He chooses his words very carefully and never lies outright to get people to be where he wants them, rather than where they want to be, making them even think it was their own idea to change their mind without his influence. Case in point, if Gideon had followed his original plan, he would've discovered Ji-Yeong too early, but because Nathan made it seem like he didn't know where Ji-Yeong was (using Exact Words to his advantage) so that Gideon would instead go to Yakobu and incite events that get him seen as the Fulcrum Paragon again, which will make their jobs far easier.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: While discussing the importance of the narrative with Gideon, Nathan brings up that readers of works of what they believe are fiction are absolutely crucial to the characters in those stories, as most stories are based on reality, albeit probably taking place many realities away. Nathan also speaks on how good authors can see worlds beyond their own and think they're making up stories, but they're actually seeing real events in another reality so that they can write material that will cause the audience to believe in the ability of those characters to succeed, thus enabling it to happen based on their belief it will.
• Combat Pragmatist: Nathan will pull every dirty trick in the book before he fights fair fight, something he instills in his training with Gideon. He claims this is a good idea, because their enemies will always cheat, so they need to learn how to cheat better in order to win.
  Nathan: And why should you play fair when they're not? We're in a constant battle with evil, whether we like it or not, and evil will always cheat improperly to get a leg up in the world. Thus, it's our responsibility to cheat better than them, so when they shoot you with a gun, you throw a tactical nuke at them. Try coming back from that.
• Cool Big Sis: For the brief time they're together, Pyrrha acts like this for Ariel. However, like with most things that happen afterward, this is lost when Gideon dies and the alliance is fractured.
• Crapsack World: Khayim wasn't perfect before the Paragons came, but their influence has caused further distrust and threats of war to appear. Yejide has created an Industrial Revolution that brought firearms into the world far sooner than was supposed to happen, the alliance to stop the Abyssal Incursion fell apart easily after Gideon's death due to mistrust, and very few leaders have their people's welfare in their minds. Gideon has resolved himself to fight against this for the sake of others, hoping to change as much as he can with his friends.
  • The reality Ubirajara hails from is one as well, being one where the Nazis won World War II and have forced harsher conditions on Native American reservations than existed before. It's easy to see why he jumped at the chance to escape his world to become a Paragon.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Gideon has suffered a lot of from his Abusive Parents, who may or may not be part of a break off Jewish Messianic cult, and has spent most of his adult life studying in academia to be as far away from them as possible. However, the politics of being a professor have taken their toll on him and he starts the series off as a miserable wretch who jumps at the chance for a second life far away from his problems.
  • Nathan has been fighting for untold eons across multiple realities and multiverses with few people knowing that they owe their continued existence to him fighting off Eldritch Abominations, Multiversal Conquerors, evil time travelers, and those who try to break the narrative flow of reality. This has left him severely jaded, especially after it's learned that the reason he's been forced by God on a mission to help Gideon course correct the flow of Khayim's history is because when he was younger and more reckless, he caused an entire reality to go off the rails thanks to his selfishness and all he wants to do is go back there and fix it, because he has many friends and people he considers family he had to leave behind as punishment for his actions. Not only that, but he hasn't seen his actual family in millennia, because he's been on so many different realities, running a gauntlet to prove he has learned his lesson and will be more humble when God eventually allows him to return to Reality 18-23-2-25. He also originates from a world that was devastated by a plague that killed ninety-four percent of the population, losing his mother to the disease and it's clear it's something he's never gotten over.
  • Ariel lost the only man she trusted since becoming a slave, who freed her, gave her a new home, and tried to act as a father to her and this broke her. She then devoted the next nine years of her life to bring him back to life no matter the cost and is implied to have worked with nefarious individuals and killed many just so she would have the chance to do so. She acts like it doesn't effect her, but it's obvious to Gideon that the toll of it all has warped her sense of morality immensely.
  • Millie lost her parents at a young age to a plague and was forced to raise her brother in a small village in Shifta without a means of income or support. When he's captured by slavers she followed after him, only to lose him to an arcane ritual that required child sacrifice and puts on the face of being okay so that she can mourn in silence.
  • Ji-Yeong puts on a positive energy, but from his own recollection, he grew up in a united Korea that has been fighting China for decades in a brutal border war. He was conscripted to join the army at a young age and only got out when his service was up, becoming a Salaryman at an Improbable Age, which's implied to have made his fellow salarymen extremely angry at the young upstart.
  • Pyrrha mentions that she's fleeing an Arranged Marriage in her world and is implied to have other reasons for not wanting to return to her world of Terion.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ariel and Nathan are the quickest to resort to this. Gideon has some shades of it, but pales in comparison to the both of them. Sage Amiyn engages in this constantly since he's Surrounded by Idiots.
• Death Glare: Nathan offers one to Gideon after he continues asking one "Why?" question too many after Nathan (and what is heavily implied to be God) have both told him not to ask these kinds of questions without first asking more important ones.
• Death Is Cheap: Very much the opposite. Khayim possesses no magical means to resurrect the dead that the layman would know about, outside of ancient rumors and Ariel's stories of Yakoban prophets being gifted power by Mungu to bring people back to life. Gideon coming back as a golem only came about because Ariel studied the histories of the ancient Yakoban scientists and mages who created the first golems during the initial Abyssal Incursions over a thousand years ago.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The story starts off familiarly to fans of the Isekai genre, but later on much criticism and shade is thrown on some of the more problematic issues in the genre like the casual use of slavery being viewed positively, the horrible treatment of women (especially Gratuitous Rape, rather than carefully handling the issue in the narrative), the fallacy of assuming one character having a harem is a healthy way of looking at relationships, and the call outs of main characters being so overpowered and boring. Later on, the Reconstruction comes in, with the better parts of why people care about Isekai stories being brought into the fray in an enjoyable fashion, such as the good parts of power fantasies, great worldbuilding, and awesome fights.
• Determinator: Gideon fought back death itself to come back to life while his heart regenerated within Nathan's heart. Nathan himself has been moving forward for countless eons so he can get back to the world he ruined so he can fix the mistakes of his past.
• Dirty Coward: Licht is a Smug Snake who wields great power and influence as the chief cleric of Erai, but after Gideon destroys Ariel's slave seal he backs down the instant he gets outnumbered by the outraged Paragons for how he's handling the situation. Later, it's revealed that he wasn't in Rema when the Abyssal Incursion happened, just so he wouldn't be in danger during the attack.
• Dispel Magic: One of the mages hunting down their group is able to do this to Nathan's attempts to prevent being tracked.
• Do Wrong, Right: Nathan speaks of how Gideon should learn how to cheat better, because a fair fight is a fight he'd never want to be in, because then there's a chance he loses, especially since their enemies will always be cheating. Thus he needs to learn to cheat better so that his cheating will be more proficient than theirs and will always win as a result.
• Dual Wielding: Nathan uses his Ancestral Weapon Excalibur in his right hand and his massive scythe Mondsichel Rosarot in his left. Occasionally, he will also wield his pistol and Excalibur at once.
• Elemental Powers: Pyrrha excels at this, being the Evocation Paragon. She can command the forces of nature and beyond to bend to her will. Nathan, thanks to his Trickster Paragon copying skill, is able to do this, although he would be able to do it normally, were it not an immense toll to use his regular powers that don't rely on the mana of Khayim to cast.
• Elemental Speed: Gideon's able to gift this to those he targets with a specific invocation, greatly enhancing their agility in the process.
• Emotional Powers: Associating a strong emotion with an invocation can greatly increase its power.
• Epic Fail: Gideon's first attempt at flight causes him to suspend himself a couple inches off the ground at best.
• Even Evil Has Standards: King Ulrich is implied to not be a great man, but it's revealed later on that he immensely regrets how he treated Gideon during the first Abyssal Incursion and wishes to make amends. Nine years can change a man.
• Evil Is Petty: It is implied that one of the primary reasons the conspiracy kills Gideon is because he humiliated Licht in front of the other Paragons.
• Fantastic Racism: The alliances between the nations are very fragile and racism is to be expected as one of the main reasons that they hate each other. The one place this doesn't come into focus as much in is while the group is in Yakobu, where each of the twelve tribes is associated with the twelve races of Khayim, but even some racism remains there.
• Fatal Flaw: Gideon's is his naivety and recklessness, while Nathan's is his stubborn nature to learn from all of his past mistakes combined with his prideful tendencies.
• For the Evulz: It's plainly obvious that despite all its discussion of plans to cause turmoil in Khayim, Dillon is really only in this fight to hurt God's creations because they offend it.
• For Want Of A Nail: If Gideon hadn't been assassinated, the Abyssal Incursions would've stopped years ago and the Paragons would've remained friends. In this reality, there would've been no reason for Nathan to intervene at all, so they never would've met. But because time is being messed with and changed, Khayim is under threat of being overtaken by the Incursions and the nations are at each other's throats.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Yejide is very technologically-inclined and inventive, making her the perfect choice to be the representative of the similarly-minded gnomes of Gelegenheit.
• Game-Breaker: At his best, Nathan breaks any story he enters, as he can copy and perfect the skills, abilities, powers, talents, moves, and more of anyone he meets. However, he is hindered by two things. The first is that he can only intervene in a world as far as God allows and the second is the chaotic wound in his chest, which severely hinders his ability to fight in a chaotically-influenced world like Khayim. The brief glimpse seen of him using his unsealed form shows how powerful he could be, even when he still has to hold back so as not to negatively warp reality around him.
• Geas: Both Ji-Yeong and Pyrrha are placed under one of these, leading to a mutual non-consensual sexual encounter that scars them both in different ways, each placing the blame on themselves, not knowing that they were magically-compelled and thus neither had free will to resist it.
• Genki Girl: Yejide acts like she's permanently on caffeine and is constantly curious about her surroundings. Later, in contrast to Ariel's dour disposition, Millie puts on the act of a playful girl who pretends that nothing's bothering her, but Gideon sees right through the act.
• Genre Savvy: Nathan's been in this kind of story so many times he can accurately tell what's going to happen next without skipping a beat. Being alive for eons will do that for you.
• Gentle Giant: Ganbaatar is this, easily dwarfing his fellow Paragons, but is demonstrably talkative, for him, when he sees Gideon save Ariel and praises him for his kindness.
• Golem: Gideon's resurrected body is a golem, created using ancient elven science and magic to keep the souls of their best warriors alive to continue fighting in the first Abyssal Incursions. Being in such a body means he no longer needs to eat, sleep, or breathe and he can contain more mana than normally possible within in a regular body. The original legend is shouted out and the etymology of the Hebrew word is discussed as well to help explain why Gideon can exist in such a state after dying.
• Good Is Not Nice: Nathan is unquestioningly a hero, but he will fight dirty, kill anyone who needs to die without a second thought, and train Gideon harshly, because he knows that being too soft can cause problems. He is more than willing to be the enforcer and seen as bad, all so that people can live their lives without fear.
• Healing Factor: A passive benefit of being a Paragon is a low-level self-healing factor. Nathan possesses one as well, but, like with most of his abilities, it isn't tied to his Trickster Paragon skills, so to heal himself is to hurt himself by being bombarded with chaotic energy.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Gideon's main role is to support others with his buffing and support skills, but because he wasn't involved in their fights, the Paragons suffered as a result, showcasing exactly why the conspiracy wanted him dead. Under Nathan's tutelage, Gideon has barely begun to see how versatile his abilities are and it's hinted that he's got more useful powers to obtain later on, but would never be stronger than someone like Ji-Yeong or Pyrrha, thus preventing him from being overpowered.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Gideon and Ariel are this, despite some misunderstandings post-resurrection. He still sees her as the child he saved from slavery and to her he is the teacher who gave up everything for her. There is no romantic spark between them, something that Nathan remarks on with joy, having suffered through several terrible Isekai stories where events close to this led to a very unequal and unhealthy relationship.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: even though Dillon flat out admits that it loves indulging in villainous monologues and how bad it is for doing so, this is precisely why Gideon has enough time to stop the Abyssal Incursion in Rema and give Nathan the opening to almost kill the demon.
• Honor Before Reason: Gideon gets stuck in this mindset too often for his own good. It takes many lessons from Ariel and Nathan to drive in the point that sometimes you need to fight dirty and flexibly if you want to win.
• Hot-Blooded: Ji-Yeong as a apart of his Stock Shōnen Hero self leaps before he thinks and in any other story, this would be a valuable asset. However, he's living (at least initially) in a Deconstruction of the Isekai genre and this attribute causes many problems, especially after Gideon's death when in his zeal to find the killer, he accuses everyone around him of being the murderer, starting the end of the alliance between the Paragons. When he's met later on, this has been dulled by years of alcoholism and depression.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Gideon suffers from being poorly-trained at the beginning, forcing Nathan and Ariel to be Drill Sergeant Nasty to him in order for him to pick up the pace.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Dillon is only ever referred to as "it," despite appearing in a masculine form. This is due to its nature as a demon and Nathan's grudge against it for causing the death of his mother and most of his world.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Dillon is absolutely right to call out Nathan's inability to tell Gideon the truth of everything he knows, all so he can plan without anyone else being the wiser whether his plans truly fail or not and for the fact that he's not letting Gideon know that being a golem has a time limit.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nathan is not soft and comes across as very abrasive, but, after Gideon spends more time with him, it's obvious he's holding onto a lot of hurt and anguish at his current situation and only wants to return to the world he ruined when he was younger and selfish to make amends for the past, especially since it's been millennia since he's seen his family and he's constantly being assaulted by chaotic energy that would kill a normal man. Not that this will stop him from trolling anyone who gets near him, but it does help flesh out why he acts like he does. It's painfully obvious he cares a lot about Gideon, Ariel, and Millie, but he's a little too Tsundere for his own good to admit it out loud.
• Joker Immunity: From Nathan's perspective, Dillon's constant attacks are this, because no matter how many times Nathan kills it, the demon can always come back As Long as There Is Evil.
• Kick the Dog: Licht threatens Ariel's life when she talks back to him, as he can't lose face to a slave, especially one who contradicts his religious beliefs with her own and he almost magically harms her before Gideon undoes her slave seal and frees her. It's heavily-implied he's in cahoots with the conspiracy and may have ordered Gideon's death for this slight.
• Knight Templar: At his worst, Nathan can devolve into this, seeing his mission as the only thing that matters and it causes him to forget about the people he needs to protect. This is why he chooses to travel with companions, as he knows they help keep him grounded.
• Lampshade Hanging: Mere moments after learning how Nathan placed Gideon's heart inside himself to let him live, Gideon calls out the obvious reference to Kingdom Hearts and how ridiculous that is.
• The Lancer: Gideon was supposed to be this for Ji-Yeong, but after his death, the situation is reversed.
• Large Ham: Don't let the Knight in Sour Armor tendencies fool you, Nathan is an absolute dork who loves his showmanship and being the center of attention. The illusion he crafts of an angelic being pronouncing judgment on Herodias' men is but one example of the ham that lies within his soul.
• Magical Gesture: They're not necessary for skills and invocations to be used, but they can help focus the mind, so if that helps a caster, they're better off making movements to empower their attacks.
• Magic Is Evil: Evocation magic inherently corrupts life as it places the will of the caster onto creation, while invocation abilities work with creation. However, most use the first without realizing the danger, as it's easier to learn and it's hinted that knowledge about the latter is being repressed as it fits the conspiracy's plans to corrupt their world.
• Mind Control: Nathan has this power, but refuses to use it on the principle of maintaining free will, as it personally disgusts him to overtake the mind and will of another. Their enemies, however, have no such compunctions and it is heavily-implied that they control many people without them being any the wiser.
• Ms. Fanservice: Both Ji-Yeong and Gideon remark on how beautiful Pyrrha is. Millie is also remarkably gorgeous and Ariel is seen a very pretty, but deliberately grunges up her appearance to deflect unwanted attention.
• Mutually Exclusive Magic: To an extent. There is some overlap between the Paragons abilities, like with Gideon's Fulcrum Paragon performing lesser versions of what other Paragons can do, but, for the most part, only the Evocation Paragon could properly wield Elemental Powers better than the others. The weapon Paragons can use weapons not associated with their normal power set, but none would be superior at swordsmanship unless they were the Blade Paragon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After what happened between Pyrrha and he, Ji-Yeong sinks into a massive depression, believing himself to be the scum of the earth. It is only after Nathan reveals what really happened and Gideon pleading with him to help them out that he breaks out of his funk, but the scars remain.
• My Greatest Failure: Gideon's is not listening to Nathan's advice and warnings that he was being manipulated to the point that he was murdered. His zeal to make up for what happened in his absence keeps coming back to this, as it meant he wasn't around to protect Ariel, Yakobu, or his fellow Paragons.
  • Nathan's happened when he was twenty-one, while he was in another world and, in direct contrast to his job, inserted himself into the main story of the people he was supposed to protect, allowing his pride to cloud his judgment to the point where the story went Off the Rails and his best friend there died. In addition, people he considers his siblings were hurt and he received a wound in his chest that severely hinders his ability to fight in chaotically-charged realities like the one in which Khayim resides.
  • Ariel sees her inability to protect Gideon as this, despite that the fact that she would have been no help and probably would've gotten killed herself if the assassin had seen her. Her inability to forgive herself fuels her desire to never let harm come to Gideon ever again.
• Naïve Newcomer: All of the Paragons are this, as it takes time to get used to the different nations they now protect and thus are oblivious to the religions, customs, and laws of the places they reside in. Gideon's massive faux pas of freeing a slave in the heart of an empire that utilizes a massive slave trade network gains him many enemies, while also some allies emboldened by his naivety.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Dillon's other name is the Second-to-Fall, i.e. the second demon to fall from Heaven after Satan.
• New Life in Another World Bonus: Every Paragon is gifted with unique abilities tied to their individual Paragon natures, but they also age more slowly than those around them, gain massive mana reserves, and their physical afflictions like poor eyesight are healed thanks to being in the "flow" of a new reality.
• Older Than They Look: One could be forgiven for thinking that Nathan looks 19, but the truth of the matter is, linearly-speaking at least, he's 29 and because of his relationship with creation always looks 10 years younger than he physically is. But beyond that is the fact that he is untold millennia and eons old, having traveled the omniverse for many years and easily is one of the oldest characters in fiction.
• One-Man Army: By their very nature as Paragons, they should all act like this, even Gideon to an extent. Nathan is perhaps the best example of this due to his one man take down of the Abyssal Incursion that appears over Masadam. Thanks to this we can see his talking about protecting Yakobu alone for nine years is true and not him hyping his abilities up.
• Our Dragons Are Different: the one encountered during the fight in Rema is massive, but still considered to just be a baby by Ariel and Nathan.
• Papa Wolf: Gideon never officially adopts Ariel, mostly because her family's still alive, but the instant something bad happens to her, his anger is raised.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his prickly nature, Nathan has tirelessly done Gideon's job for him in addition to participating in countless other battles against the Abyssal Incursions for nine years by himself, because people would have died had he not intervened, even though this was not why he had come to Khayim.
• Power Copying: Nathan normally works this way, as he naturally has the ability to copy the powers, abilities, and techniques of others. However, given that using any of these abilities not native to Khayim causes him to be attacked by chaotic energy, he instead relies on his Trickster Paragon skills, which also allows him to copy one skill from each individual Paragon. He even utilizes this to teach Gideon how to use his Paragon skills.
• Properly Paranoid: Both Nathan and Ariel are constantly on alert and focusing on how things can go worse for their party in contrast to the more naive Gideon. Nathan has this attitude from living for as long as he has and knows letting his guard down could mean people get hurt and Ariel learned this from him and from her time working less than reputable jobs while she waited for Gideon to be resurrected.
• Psychic Link: Nathan has a one-way link to Gideon due to placing Gideon's heart and soul inside his body for nine years so that he could be resurrected. When Gideon questions this, Nathan explains that it's better for Gideon not to get inside his mind, as his moves way faster than others, he has many secrets that can't see the light of day, and eons of experience that would destroy Gideon's mind if he even tried to comprehend them.
  • Nathan also shares a mental link with his wife Jessie, who remains separated from him many realities apart, but the connection stays consistent despite the distance. She is used to his mind and thus can read his thoughts without harming herself.
• Put on a Bus: After Gideon's death, the only Paragons we see are Ji-Yeong and Anselm. Although it's more than likely we'll see them again in the sequels.
• Rape and Revenge: As a result of the Geas she was placed under, Pyrrha has grown cold and seeks Ji-Yeong's death, not knowing that he was as much a victim as her. This was deliberately enforced by the conspiracy to drive a wedge between Paragons that would have normally allied together, thus ruining their chances of working together in the future.
• Rape as Drama: much focus is placed on how Pyrrha feels about the rape, but it isn't until later that Ji-Yeong is talked to by Gideon and Nathan about how both of them were forced into this situation and while he may have had feelings for her, he never would have slept with her by force without being forced into the Glamour that broke their inhibitions and that he's just as much a victim as her. The fact that this happened in the first place was one of many reasons why the original alliance between nations fell through, organized by the conspiracy to undermine their nations' leaders and Paragons.
• Really 700 Years Old: Nathan looks 19, is physically 29, and is the single oldest being in reality that isn't an angel or above. Elves also live for a long time, but the actual age is not discussed, so Ariel will likely outlive all of them, save Nathan.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Nathan works directly for God and despite his many complaints and gripes is ultimately a faithful servant. Pyrrha worships a being known as the Divine, who's implied to be God, as well. Gideon is curious about God, but due to his background is reluctant to make a decision, although he starts reading through the Bible by the end of the novel.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In direct contrast to most of the world leaders, Sage Amiyn is the most respectable one who cares deeply for his people. He wants to help Gideon, but because of political strife at home, chooses to protect him by making him stay in Erai for now, hoping that he'd be able to prove himself in the initial curbing of the Abyssal Incursions. When Gideon dies, he owns up that he was to blame for not having him trained better and does everything in his power to give Gideon another chance to prove himself and welcomes him with open arms as the Fulcrum Paragon despite the protests of opposing religious factions in Yakobu. He even trusted Nathan's word about Ji-Yeong's innocence that he protected him at great personal cost to himself if the truth had ever been revealed.
• Refuge in Audacity: Nathan thrives on this, acting like the showiest man in the omniverse to publicly shame the world leaders and religious leaders of Yakobu, just because it amuses him and because these things need to be said. Declaring himself the Thirteenth Paragon also serves as this due to everyone's inherent fear of the number.
• Running Gag: Ariel correcting Gideon about the nicknames he calls her are not her name and Millie calling Nathan "Nyathan" to his disdain.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: after Gideon's death, several of the nations under the accord back out of the deal, afraid to lose their Paragons as well. Parakastha, Kagetsuchi, Sylve Ciel, and Shifta have closed their borders, choosing to ignore the treaty and focus on saving themselves. The other nations aren't much better.
• Sequel Hook: Gideon has found a clue that will lead him to Ka Maat, where Ubirajara is, as he is one of several people who could have been responsible for murdering him. This and Dillon has revealed that Gideon's golem body is dying over time and he must find a way to prevent this from happening.
• Ship Tease: Before he was murdered, Gideon had some light teasing with Pyrrha, who was the more aggressive one at the start, especially since he was concerned about the age difference, although both of them are adults. Him being dead for nine years evens it out a bit, but she's not in the mood now to try anything after what happened to her.
• Shout-Out: Gideon mentions that his favorite film is A Shot in the Dark.
  • Gideon's fight with his inner darkness plays out exactly like Sora fighting the Heartless on a stained glass floor in Kingdom Hearts, something that is called out later.
  • Nathan's scythe, Mondsichel Rosarot, is German for Crescent Rose, implying a history with the same weapon wielded by Ruby Rose of RWBY and he refers to a woman heavily-implied to be her as his "sister". In that same conversation he uses the phrase, "larger on the inside", to describe how he can store objects in his coat.
  • Nathan scathingly refers to the much-reviled Spider-Man story One More Day as an example of something reprehensible. This, in effect, is also a shout out to the author's Breaking the Deal story created years before this, which argued the same.
  • Nathan refers to his Finn Chevalier persona as a Dread Pirate Roberts situation. In that same chapter he quotes the Grinch, saying, "Bleeding hearts of the world unite!" when forced into a scenario by Gideon to save others when they're supposed to be incognito.
  • While discussing the meta narrative of his powers and Gideon's role in the story, Nathan name drops caring about characters like Sherlock Holmes, Madoka Kaname, and Luke Skywalker. He also mentions how his job description includes stopping megalomaniacs like Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor.
• Shrinking Violet: Pyrrha has shades of this, being unable to stand up to Ji-Yeong's drunken advances and the court's reaction to her faith not aligning with theirs. The only person she shows any confidence around is Gideon and he has his moments of suffering from this as well.
• Signature Move: Nathan's best move is called Star Blazer.
• Spanner in the Works: Gideon's resurrection is a massive one to the unknown conspiracy, as getting him out of the way is the main reason their plans have been so successful so far. His sudden reappearance stops a civil war in Khayim, emboldens the Blade Paragon to return to the good fight, and shows corruption within Rema that has connections to members of the conspiracy in other nations, which he is now tracking down to bring them into the light.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Ji-Yeong would be the protagonist if this were a typical Japanese light novel, but given the author's feelings on the matter, he instead causes more harm than good with this generic and gung-ho characterization. He mellows out later on and receives some much needed development, so much that he reappears in the battle for Rema and regains some of the better attributes of being a shonen hero.
• Super Mode: Nathan possesses one that he calls his unsealed form, which, as the name implies, is always sealed away unless he actively removes them to access it. Normally, he could use it without issue, but since Khayim has such immense pockets of chaotic energy, he can only use it for so long without killing himself. He's able to use it to fight Dillon, even showcasing its creative potential when it repairs broken streets and causes flowers to spawn wherever he walks. However, extended use causes those same beneficial effects to get overturned and he barely shuts it down in time to prevent lives from being lost.
• Super-Speed: Gideon can grant this to anyone he connects with his invocations, allowing them to move far faster than what would be natural.
• Super-Strength: Likewise, Gideon can do the same to someone's strength, giving them the ability to lift objects with ease.
• Supernatural Martial Arts: Yaling Hu was training to be a warrior monk in her world before she was summoned to Khayim and became the Bhikkhuni Paragon, which enhances what she already knows and gives her access to mana to fight better.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It turns out bringing twelve people from very different backgrounds and forcing them to fight in a war they just learned about a month ago isn't the best way to conduct a war. They don't know how to work together and barely understand the skills at their disposal. It's immensely easy to see why this plan fails in hindsight, especially after Gideon is assassinated, which then causes further turmoil as a Hot-Blooded leader will start making accusations without proof because his friend has been murdered and without that same friend's tempering guidance, he will fly off the handle and make people hate him for his accusations.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Gideon asks Nathan if he knows where Ji-Yeong is, Nathan replies that he doesn't know exactly where he is, which is true, as he wasn't presently using his remote viewing ability to pinpoint his location, but knows full well that he's still alive in Gideon's mansion.
• Take That!: Anyone familiar with his earlier work will know Ashley despises One More Day and will go out of his way to talk about how much he hates it.
• Taking the Bullet: During the fight in Rema, Nathan takes a spear blow that would've killed Gideon, temporarily taking him out of the fight until Gideon's later able to reinvigorate him.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Nathan argues that the best way to end a gunfight is to throw a tactical nuke at your attacker.
• 13 Is Unlucky: When Nathan proclaims himself the Thirteenth Paragon and the Trickster Paragon it causes immense fear, as there are only supposed to be twelve Paragons for each of the twelve races of Khayim.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Gideon who died pales in comparison to the one who after his resurrection takes his training seriously and single-handedly stops the Abyssal Incursion in Rema by Spotting the Thread that no one else noticed, saving the entire city.
• Training from Hell: Gideon thinks he's receiving this from Nathan and Ariel, but the former points out that he's going easy on him, as when he was being trained by several of his masters early in his life they would kill him during the training and he would self-resurrect over and over again until he learned whatever they were instilling in him at the time. He off the cuff mentions he learned how to fly when the guy he copied the ability from threw him over a pool of lava.
• Trapped in Another World: Gideon and eleven other Paragons are Isekaied to Khayim via a summoning ritual that allows them to act as heroes for the individual nations that brought them there. In Gideon's case, he has very few reasons for wanting to return to his original world, given how much of a train wreck his life was before then.
• Trickster Mentor: Nathan serves as this to everyone he meets, but primarily Gideon, only speaking plainly when it suits his interests. Part of this is due to his detachment from humanity following countless eons solving other people's problems in many different realities, but others are because of his penchant for being a Troll.
• Undying Loyalty: The moment Gideon freed Ariel from slavery, she became devoted to his cause. So much so that she spent nine years finding a way to bring him back to life. The story also showcases just how damaging this can be to someone, as Ariel barely thinks about what she wants, choosing instead to always bring her thoughts back to how she can be useful to Gideon, a fact that unnerves him.
• Values Dissonance: Gideon gets hit with this hard now that he lives in a world where slavery is commonplace and acceptable (save for more recently in Yakobu). His desire to free slaves is treated in the narrative as noble, but the society at large sees him as a monster for freeing a slave from their "rightful" master. During his training with Cervantes, he also has to be told that his life has more value than others, because he is a Paragon and a regular foot soldier is not worth the same as him, a fact that unnerves him.
• War from Another World: It is revealed that the reason the Abyssal Incursions are happening in the first place is that Khayim had very little magic and they were told by a demon, heavily implied to be Dillon, that they could steal it from another reality. This benefited Khayim, but destroyed the ecosystem and flow of time and space within Mavet, who then invaded Khayim to retrieve their magic until they were defeated. The second wave of the new Abyssal Incursions maintain this goal, but now rely on demonic magic and science combined to get the job done this time around.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Perhaps most fitting, given that Yakobu is an obvious expy of Israel under Roman rule, only they have recently freed themselves. Sage Amiyn rules fairly, but is dealing with an open rebellion of the former puppet king Herodias, while also having to deal with religious strife from the opposing Sado Kai Ha and Farisayo factions.
  • The eleven nations were bound by treaty to work together against the Abyssal Incursions, but several factors in play cause them to mistrust each other and instead of a united front, they merely focus on the Incursions within their own borders. Some have even rekindled old fights and have threatened to wage war to settle these disputes.
• Wham Line:
  Ariel: Gideon-sensei, a lot has happened since I lost you. It's been nine years since you died.
• Would Hurt a Child: Licht has no resistance to harming Ariel, seeing her as a lowly slave. Thankfully, he's stopped before he can do this. Herodias has no rules on this either, actually sacrificing children to gain power for himself in insane rituals before he's killed by Ariel, who he also would have killed given the chance.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Gideon and Ji-Yeong both think they're in a bog standard Isekai story about The Power of Friendship overcoming the armies of the Demon Lord. The truth of the matter's that they're in a Decon-Recon Switch of a book that destroys this idea, pointing out the flaws of such a story, while then giving them both a second chance to start creating this story by working together to learn from their naive mistakes so that this doesn't happen again.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Rather, Nathan's normal abilities come at a cost, so he's better off using the Trickster Paragon skills unless he wants to be assaulted with chaotic energy. This is an immense blow to all involved, as he has a large history of fighting across the multiverses and copied many powers as a result, but to use any of them increases his chances of dying, so he's forced to rely on Gideon scrubbing the chaotic energy around him if he even wants to use simple techniques, let alone more advanced ones, a fact that irks him endlessly.

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