Chapter 1: Reborn Back to Cyberpunk 2076
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"Finally burned to ashes?"
"My head… hurts like hell."
Arthur Winters clutched his head, pain radiating through his skull as he slowly forced his eyes open.
Just moments ago, he had been at ground zero** of a nuclear explosion.
The battlefield—the gunfire, the chaos, the desperate struggle—had all been swallowed by an overwhelming white light.
Sound, air, vision—everything had been obliterated in an instant.
"Johnny… that bastard."
Arthur let out a bitter chuckle.
"He really pulled it off."
They had done it. They had **blown up Arasaka Tower** with a nuclear bomb.
But something was wrong.
Arthur's sharp instincts flared. Hyper Spatial Perception kicked in like a silent alarm, his mind processing sensory details faster than humanly possible.
His hands—he raised them in front of his eyes.
The ballistic co-processor, gone.
The smart-link implant, gone.
His cybernetic enhancements—his weapons, his edge in combat—all gone.
Instead, his hands were smooth, untouched by cyberware.
His breath hitched. He hastily unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled them up.
No legendary Mantis Blades.
No metallic sheen beneath his skin.
Just flesh and blood.
Arthur's jaw clenched as he slowly looked around.
He was sitting inside a luxury business car cruising down a highway.
The smooth hum of the engine, the faint vibration of the road beneath his seat, the sleek leather interior—it all felt disturbingly real
He swallowed hard and turned his gaze forward.
A corporate display screen embedded in the seat ahead flickered with the logo he despised more than anything.
A line extending into three branches.
At the top of each branch sat a circular node.
A name burned into his mind.
Arasaka
Arthur's pulse quickened.
He turned toward the window.
Neon-lit skyscrapers loomed high above, massive billboards projecting seductive holograms, while AV—floating corporate vehicles—cruised effortlessly between buildings.
Night City.
It was alive, untouched by war, still standing in all its corrupted glory.
This wasn't the aftermath of destruction.
This was before everything burned.
He was back.
Arthur's fists clenched.
In his past life, he had been the key player in Arasaka's internal war.
He had sided with Yorinobu Arasaka, helping him overthrow his father, Saburo Arasaka, by imprisoning his rival, Hanako Arasaka.
But even after all that—the betrayals, the alliances, the war that followed—it had all led to ruin.
Night City had burned.
The Fifth Corporate War had swallowed everything in its flames.
Yet Arasaka Tower still stood.
Because Saburo Arasaka, the devil himself, had returned.
His Digital soul, preserved through Arasaka's twisted technology, had overwritten his own son.
Yorinobu Arasaka had become a mere vessel.
In the end, Arthur had joined forces with Johnny Silverhand, Rogue, and every legend still standing.
They had stormed Arasaka Tower once more.
And they had nuked it to hell.
Arthur exhaled sharply.
He forced his breathing to steady and adjusted his cuffs.
His fingers instinctively reached into his suit's inner pocket, retrieving a portable communicator.
A sleek, high-tech device resembling a fusion of 'a single-lens eyepiece and an earpiece' —an Arasaka prototype for employees yet to undergo cybernetic augmentation.
Arthur placed it over his left eye, activating the display.
A digital HUD flickered to life.
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[Employee Data]
Name: Arthur Winters
Date: 2076/6/14 – 11:42 AM
Employee Number: NC770416
Security Clearance: M9
Department: Counter Intelligence
Position: Deputy Minister
[Pending Message]
Arthur Jenkins is waiting for you in the office. Report to Arasaka Tower immediately after completing the mission at the border.
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[2076]
Arthur's heart pounded.
This was before it all started.
Before he was thrown out of Arasaka.
Before he joined Jack Wills, a mercenary who had once saved his life at the border.
Before he had met V. Before he had walked the path that led him to Judy Alvarez, to Panam Palmer, to all the connections he had made in Night City.
And before he had lost everything.
Arthur's Hyper Spatial Perception kicked in again, analyzing the timeline at a terrifying speed.
Everything fit.
Next year.
His boss, Arthur Jenkins, would be assassinated by Abernathy, the Director of Special Operations at Arasaka.
Arthur himself would be exiled from the corporation, cast out like trash.
And with nowhere to go, he would eventually steal the Relic chip.
That would lead to "Johnny Silverhand's resurrection".
That would lead to the "Fifth Corporate War".
That would lead to "Night City burning to the ground".
Arthur's grip tightened around the communicator.
His mind raced
Saburo Arasaka's Digital soul
Mikoshi.
Soulkiller technology.
A sudden, chilling thought struck him.
What if this isn't rebirth?*
What if this is just another trap?
What if Arasaka had used Soulkiller on him before his death?
What if he wasn't even real anymore?
Arthur swallowed, trying to calm the storm in his mind.
There was one way to confirm it.
Something only he could see.
He mentally commanded the system interface to open.
A familiar blue holographic panel appeared before his vision.
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[System]
[Name: Arthur Winters]
[Condition: Healthy – No Cybernetic Enhancements Detected]**
[Innate Skill: Hyper Spatial Perception]– Grants extreme sensory awareness, allowing Arthur to perceive motion, spatial changes, and micro-expressions with near-superhuman precision.
[Acquired Skills:]
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced - Adjusting) – A lifetime of combat experience, honed through countless battles. Without cybernetic augmentations, reaction time and strength are slightly reduced, but his technique remains razor-sharp.
Firearms Handling (Advanced - Adjusting) – Expert-level marksmanship and gunplay. No smart-link assistance means aiming and recoil control rely purely on natural ability.
Corporate Negotiation (Advanced) – Expertise in corporate maneuvering, deception, and high-stakes persuasion.
Cyberwarfare Tactics (Advanced)– Deep knowledge of hacking, data infiltration, and counter-surveillance.
[Pending Updates…]– Further skills will be unlocked through experience and repeated practice.
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Arthur exhaled in relief
The system still existed
This was real
And that meant—
He had a second chance.
Arthur looked out the window at the neon skyline.
Steel towers stood tall. Neon lights reached for the sky.
As if whispering—
Welcome to Night City.
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