Dorian's fists pressed against the cold stone. His fingers pulsed like electricity, his eyes kept drifting toward the sky. A smile replaced his usual gloomy face. The ancient weapon was activated - the Eclipse Ark, which slowly connected two worlds, hell and earth. The merging worlds tore at each other. And from hell, demons threatened to break into earth.
From the sky fell hot, castle towers-scorching and wooden houses-igniting yellow sulfur drops. Each time they touched Dorian's skin, red burns appeared. But that didn't matter, the mission was almost complete. A low, distant rumble echoes through the air.
The tower behind Dorian collapsed like blocks. Dorian's injuries didn't have time to heal with healing magic, he pressed his knuckles hard into the ground beneath him. "Come on," he growled. Every breath burned his lungs. His nose smelled rotten eggs, and in his mouth there was a taste of iron. Every second mattered.
The rain stopped. And Dorian even flinched when he heard a voice from behind.
"Found ya!"
The voice was quiet and irritating.
Annoyed, Dorian подня his head and looked at who was standing behind him.
"Ezekiel…" he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
About ten meters away stood his old school friend, Ezekiel. No longer the same loser who could barely use a Fireball spell. Here stood a man, with a black coat almost reaching the ground, a katana in his right hand. His face was worried, his eyes darting between Dorian and the transparent window.
One panel blinks into focus in the air:
[SYSTEM] New Quest: Prevent World Collapse.
Status: Target Identified – Dorian Vale, 'Final Boss'
Another pane appears, crimson-edged:
[WARNING] World Stability 12% – Critical.
Suggested Action: Terminate Target while he's weakened.
Dorian's voice sounds thin. "I didn't ask for the memo."
Slowly, Ezekiel began to walk closer. His palm dropped onto the handle quickly, but trembling.
"Who are you talking to?" Dorian asked, slightly confused, watching Ezekiel's darting eyes. "Ah, whatever."
Dorian shook his hands, they burned like fire. Blood dripped from under his nails, healing magic had also weakened and couldn't keep up with its work. However, there was a smile on his face.
"So what, today we find out which school loser became the strongest?" Dorian asked, smugly tilting his neck to one side, then the other, cracking his neck joints.
"..." Ezekiel stayed silent, words wouldn't help here.
Ezekiel's eyes flashed and he disappeared from Dorian's sight.
And Dorian, without waiting, extended one hand toward the collapsed castle tower and snapped his fingers. And from his other hand he released a high-level blue-burning 'FireBall' into the tower. Meanwhile, his eyes tracked Ezekiel, who due to his speed was invisible to the naked eye as he ran toward him. The tower burst apart like paper, and swapped places with Ezekiel, who, not expecting teleportation magic, barely managed to dodge the rapidly approaching fireball. As the panic ended, he once again shot toward Dorian at the speed of light.
"Please, give up Dorian…" Ezekiel said, and his katana blade was already almost at Dorian's neck.
CLICK
Dorian clicked his tongue, using another 'Spatial' spell, which turned his body into a teleportation portal, everything passed through Dorian as if he were just colored air.
"Not a bad trick, what do you think?" Dorian said mockingly. "Learned it about three weeks ago."
And before Ezekiel could recover from the shock, Dorian's fist hit his face. Then again a sound from Dorian's palm;
SNAP.
Ezekiel saw hot sulfur clouds in front of him, he couldn't feel the ground. Looking down, he realized Dorian had moved him into the sky.
"Fuck!" Ezekiel shouted.
Gravity did its job and pulled the hero down at full speed. The sulfur crystals not only burned, but pierced his skin like needles as he fell through them.
Dorian sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"Should've started with that." he said, collapsing onto the ground from exhaustion.
"Status!" Ezekiel shouted and his stats window appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Ezekiel]
[Level: 97]
[Strength: 982]
[Vitality: 991]
[Intellect: 1003]
[Aura: 975]
[Wisdom: 968]
[HP: 45,120 / 52,000]
[MP: 38,600 / 44,000]
[Unused Skill Points: 86]
"Open 'Shop' and show me what could save my ass!"
[Skill Shop]
[Feather Descent - 80 SP]
Slows falling speed.
Reduces impact damage.
[Wind Step - 120 SP]
Short air movement.
[Sky Drift - 150 SP]
Allows flight.
"Why the hell are you showing me skills I don't have enough skill points for. Buy 'Feather Descent'!"
[Skill Acquired: Feather Descent]
Closing his eyes so he wouldn't see the rapidly approaching ground, he used 'Feather Descent'. The falling speed decreased, but not fast enough for him to remain completely unharmed.
After two minutes, Ezekiel hit the ground like a meteor. However, thanks to 'Feather Descent' and his high stats, he survived with minor injuries.
"You seriously…" Ezekiel slowly stood up from a small crater, holding his side, coughing. "You piss me off…"
"How?" Dorian's eyes widened in disbelief. Then, annoyed, Dorian laughed sarcastically and slapped his face with his palm. "You never stop surprising…" shaking his head in disbelief. "I dropped you from 6 kilometers."
Thunder rumbled above. Both looked at the sky and saw strange red lightning that no one could create even with magic on this planet. For Ezekiel, it meant that if he delayed any longer, it would be too late to stop Dorian. Meanwhile, for Dorian, it meant his mission would soon be complete.
"I can't die…" Dorian admits softly. "Not yet."
Clenching his fists tightly, he paused for a second, and again the sound…
SNAP
Two flashes of light blinded Ezekiel, and at the same time, the oxygen within a meter around him ignited. An explosion echoed, and Ezekiel was thrown back by the impact.
Dorian started running away from Ezekiel, not even trying to check whether the hero died or survived. Normally he wouldn't do that, his pride wouldn't allow him to run from a fight. But opening the Eclipse Ark had cost him almost all of his mana. It was a miracle he managed to drag the fight this far.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel stood blinded, but uninjured. Yes, the explosion hurt, but he had very high fire resistance.
"Clever bastard…" he said through his teeth, looking around, even though dark spots still flickered in his eyes, and his ears rang. His ribs hurt, probably broken. But Ezekiel squinted and kept analyzing with a smile. "Compressed the air with spatial magic to a critical point to cause an explosion." then closing his eyes, he used 'Search' magic and finally found Dorian. "Really clever. But that's exactly what I'd expect from my best friend." saying that, he leaned on one knee and started running toward Dorian at full speed.
"Where are you rushing?" Ezekiel shouted when he finally caught up to Dorian.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Dorian, while running, turned his head back and saw Ezekiel with torn and burned clothes, katana drawn, running toward him.
SNAP
But this time, nothing happened.
Ezekiel exhaled. "Finally ran out of mana?" at last, catching up, he kicked Dorian in the back.
Dorian fell face-first and slid across the ground for about twenty meters. After lying there for a couple of seconds, he started to lose it.
"Come the fuck on!" Dorian shook his head in anger and punched the ground with his fist. His golden eyes lost their shine. "This not fair! If I wasn't weakened… I would've dropped you into fucking space!"
Ezekiel lowered his eyes and clenched his fists tightly.
"If only I had killed you when we were kids…" Dorian was breathing heavily from anger. It wasn't anger at Ezekiel. It was anger at himself; for underestimating the hero… for overestimating his own power… that everything was about to end… And Maria's wish wouldn't be fulfilled.
Dorian's eyes focused into the distance. He wasn't looking at anything, he just kept panicking. "If only I had killed you…"
Ezekiel clenched his teeth hard. He knew Dorian probably always thought Ezekiel would never match him. But just as Dorian was an anomaly capable of controlling 'Spatial magic', Ezekiel had a system that helped him gain an almost superhuman body.
"I'm sorry…" Ezekiel said, raising his katana.
A splash of blood, Dorian's head fell to the ground. But before dying, he still managed to click his tongue, he didn't use magic. It was a reflex action.
CLICK.
"What now?" Ezekiel was confused, looking around. He could swear Dorian clicked his tongue. "What did you do?!"
Panicking, Ezekiel grabbed Dorian's head, continuing to shout at his dead head, as if it could answer him.
The brain is an interesting thing. A simple tongue click sound was enough to make Ezekiel panic, to feel fear. The uncertainty of whether Dorian used magic tormented Ezekiel.
Meanwhile, sulfur rain began to fall again. Ezekiel looked around, strange red plants started growing, resembling carnivorous plants that only exist in Miasma-infected forests or dungeons.
In the sky; creatures flew, similar to winged rats. Birds with three heads, and other hellish beings.
"What?! I still had time! The alarm was supposed to…" Ezekiel said, but when he pulled back his coat sleeve and looked at his wristwatch, his face froze. His heart skipped a beat, and everything disappeared from his vision except the shattered watch. "No… no, no, no, no, no!" The watch had been destroyed during the fall. "How did I not notice…"
Meanwhile, somewhere in the darkness of the universe far from galaxies, a boy floated. Wearing white clothes, brown hair, and extremely bright yellow eyes. A blinding smile on his face.
He started giggling.
"Well well, you lost!" The voice is high and cheerful.
In front of him, Dorian appeared. Shocked, confused, and not knowing where he was.
"What… the…"
The boy floated in the air, bare feet moving back and forth as if he were sitting on an edge and dangling them in water, head cocked in curiosity. His eyes… golden, just like Dorian's.
"You died…" the boy said, grinning. "I'm disappointed."
Dorian swallows air. There is none. The empty vastness around them is folded black sky.
"I died… How am I…" Then his eyes shifted to the boy. "Are you… God?" Dorian croaks.
"Ding Ding Ding" The boy claps. "Bingo! Time God, at your service or whatever." He looks Dorian over with too-bright eyes. "Poor guy, you messed up."
Dorian feels confusion. Images flash – his family slaughtered by nobles, the only girl he ever cared about, Maria's death at the hands of exorcists… his own death.
"That cheater…" the boy continued, crossing his arms and shaking his head in disapproval. "Ruined the whole story."
Dorian's golden eyes narrow. "Who?"
The boy locked eyes with Dorian. "Oh, didn't he tell you? Secretive cheater. Came from another world. Some god picked him up, dropped him here, and gifted him a system. Every task, every kill… he just kept getting stronger.'"
"I don't understand…" Dorian said. "What system?"
"Well, the system allowed him to have infinite storage, allowed him to learn magic spells just by thinking about them and most importantly, turned his body strong as a dragon and fast as light."
The boy giggles, scooting closer. "But you…" He waves a dismissive hand. "You could've defeated him if you hadn't fought while weakened."
Dorian clenches his fists in the void.
The boy stands now, taller – almost grown. The light shimmers on his eyes, standing now adult size. His smile is gone.
"You had your fun," the Yellow-Eyed God says softly. "Now I give you a choice."
"What chance…"
The god steps closer. The vacuum presses Dorian even more.
He stretches out a hand. A clock wheel appears on his palm, spinning backwards. On it, Dorian sees faces – Mary, his mother, Ezekiel.
"I'll send you back to the past. You can change fate." the god says, his face expressionless, eyes locked onto Dorian. "You can save your family, Maria. You can be a hero or a villain. But remember, if you become a villain…" this time the Yellow-Eyed God grabs Dorian by the neck. "Then win against that cheater."
Dorian's mind swims with hope and anger.
The god's eyes flare golden. "If you do this and still become the monster you were, then Ezekiel must die." His voice is calm. "No mercy."
"I understand…"
Suddenly, the god becomes young again. His voice cheerful again, joyful, a smile on his face.
"It's a deal then." said the Yellow-Eyed God and snapped his fingers.
Dorian's vision went to the dark for a moment, and when he could see again, he was in his childhood room. The same ceiling, turning his head to the side, he saw the same old clock on the wall. His voice got stuck in his throat…
"I… came back…"