Suddenly, intense light fell upon my eyelids, enough to blind me if I tried to take even a peek. As the intensity lessened, I slowly opened my eyes.

I was sitting on a chair that appeared to be floating in a black infinite void. In front of me was standing a feminine figure. Her fair skin and golden silk-like hair seemed to be glowing. She was wearing a marble white dress with golden embroidery designs, busy checking out a bundle of pages.

She appeared to be of a divine race. Her beauty and divine presence can easily soothe anyone and make them fall in love. But to me, a mere look at her was sickening. Maybe it was in the nature of a demon to be repulsed by a divine creature.

Wait! What am I doing here? I was in the castle just a… Ohh, now I remember. I died. I looked down at my chest. The large hole in my chest is gone!

"Welcome to the gateway of dimensions. I am Abeona, a goddess who guides people in their afterlife. So what do we have here? Asura, a 160-year-old.." She peeked into the paper "...Demon?."

Her furrowed eyebrows and surprised tone proved the feeling of dislike was mutual.

"160-year-old DEMON KING!" I corrected her. It felt good to hear it out loud.

"What?" She tilted her head to the side.

"I am not just any demon, I was the demon king of the demon realm." I crossed my legs, rested my cheek on my fist and my arm placed firmly on the armrest.

"You? The Demon King?" Pfft… Pfft… HaHaHa. She burst into laughter. "If someone like you became the demon king, I would have been informed about such a big change."

"Maybe because I was the demon king only for a few minutes, you are unaware of the fact."

"Umm…. I don't think so." She replied instantly. She was starting to get on my nerves.

"I have many other dead people to guide, so let's make this quick De..Mon..Ki..Ng." At this point, she was just trying to piss me off.

Is she really a goddess? I have seen many succubi better than her.

"You have two options, one option is that you can go to hell and suffer there for eternity, for the murderous sins you have committed. And the other option is a chance to get reincarnated to fulfill any regret that you couldn't in your previous life."

"I came here from hell. Anyone in the right mind would choose the second option."

"It might look like that but the second option isn't provided to everyone. It is mostly given to someone who died young without accomplishing anything significant in their lives." With a pause, she continued "This option was made specifically for failures like you."

That's it, I can not endure this abuse anymore.

"Without accomplishing anything significant? You mere servant of heaven, I accomplished the most difficult task in the universe. I BECAME THE DEMON KING." I lashed out.

I lifted my hand to create a dark pulse and end her once and for all. But to my surprise, I was unable to concentrate even an ounce of power.

"You had me there for a second. Trying to act all mighty. You are just a soul, you can't use powers that your body possessed…..Stupid."

"And again with the demon king. You lived in your own little world, didn't you?" She shook her head. Tsk..Tsk..Tsk.. "You poor soul."

"You.." I couldn't find any words to counter her.

"By the way, becoming the demon king is not the most difficult task in the universe."

"What!? What can be more demanding than becoming a king of the most powerful and violent race in the universe!?" I exclaimed.

Even I started to wonder. What is the most impossible thing?

"Cracking an entrance exam called NEAT in a nation called India on planet earth is considered the most difficult if we look at the enormous numbers."

This confirmed my suspicion that something was wrong with her head. She was a gone case.

"What the heck is an entrance exam? And on earth! I have heard that earth is a very peaceful planet inhabited by humans that have very little or almost no spiritual energy. Humans are said to be the basic species for all other races. They are just an inferior species."

"Says the demon who died at such a young age without achieving anything" she fired the insult isn't immediately.

Even though her taunts were repetitive, they hurt the same every time.

"In a battle among 10 individuals and one among 1000 individuals, in which circumstance the chances of winning will be better?" 

"If the individuals participating in both the events are identical, then the one with the lower numbers will have a better odds to win."

"So you can think. Interesting. Let me explain to you even though it might be a bit too much for you to understand."

I was getting tired of her insulting remarks. I kept silent to avoid being teased anymore.

"The demon world's population is approximately only 50 million because of the endless war resulting in a high death rate. A great portion of almost 1 million consists of youth that are soldiers in the war. Out of that 1 million, 1000 demons pursue becoming the demon king and on average, only 1 demon becomes the king in 10 years.

That is, only 1 demon becomes the king out of 10000 demons.

On the other hand, India's population itself is 1.36 billion."

What kind of nation has a population of 1.36 billion!?

Abeona continued her explanation, "Within 1.36 billion people, the student population is 37.4 million. From which 2 million students compete in the NEAT examination every year for a limited number of only 100 seats.

That is, only 1 student passes out of the 20000 students.

So that brings us to the conclusion that cracking the NEAT exam is twice as hard than becoming the demon king."

The numbers used in her explanation were overwhelming and even I had trouble following her. I was never good with numbers. But it made me wonder, just because a large number of individuals are attempting the task, does that make it more difficult?

"But maybe you shouldn't choose this option because there's no way that someone like you can do it." Just when I had started to think that the goddess is finally serious she launched another preposterous insult.

"I'll do it!" I answered instantly.

I don't know why I accepted it. But I couldn't let her hurt my pride anymore. It was the only response that came to my mind to shut her up.

"Huh..? What did you say? She blinked her eyes repeatedly. She put her hand behind her ear and bent forward.

" I said I'll crack this stupid exam or whatever it is and shove it in your face."

Surprisingly, what I said brought a smirk to her face, which clearly said 'I was successful in tricking you to accept the option.' But now, it was too late to take back my words.

She raised her hands and started enchanting something. Her voice echoed in the infinite space and once again very bright light emerged from her. I instinctively closed my eyes.

The warm light enveloped me and I started feeling dizzy. I could still hear her voice in my head.

"I will be filling your empty head with all the fundamental knowledge a normal human being needs. So even though everything you will see on earth will be new for you, you will be familiar with it. That also includes the human language but still, it might take some time for someone as dumb as you to get used to it. Good luck on your journey De..MoN..Ki..Ng."

Slowly her voice faded away.