How can I save the world if I'm no longer a hero?
I traveled through time, but I happened to see my friend Zach’s most miserable moment!
Zach's blood was spread all over the throne carpet, and the devil's laughter echoed in his ears. His only remaining allies were in shambles behind him.
Slowly, he tried to stand up and hold the magic sword. Things can't end like this. No, after everything they'd lost, after all their lives had been burned, it couldn't end like this. He slowly looked up at the monster before him, the one he once called his friend, now possessed by the demon's mind magic, wielding the sword of their fallen ally. "I won't--"
He never had a chance to finish his sentence. With one movement, the sword of his dead comrade slashed his throat. When he fell for the final time, time seemed to slow down.
how? How did it all come to this? They had gone through so much suffering, how could he fail?
------
"Wake up!" said a voice.
His eyes slowly opened and he stared into the darkness. He seemed to be lying on some kind of stone platform. Could this all be a dream? Maybe it's another time loop vision?
"No! This is all happening," said the voice, sad, or at least mocking sad.
He sat up suddenly, panic burning in his chest. Then he saw the source of the sound. A little hooded figure. "How am I still alive?"
"You don't. You are dead. Your friends are dead. The last of the people must obey the will of the demon lord. The gods are cut off from the world, and in a few hundred years all life there will be lost forever. So, who You know? Maybe the Demon King will find a way to escape, go to a new world, and start a new story of destruction."
"If...if this is true, where am I? What do you do? Are you one of the gods? Are-"
"No, no, no. I'm not a god at all. I guess I'm a man caught in the middle."
At that moment, three hooded figures, one tall and one short, all blended together. "This is impossible, you are-"
"Indeed. Three sisters. Such an unfortunate fate hung over that world. It's not that the journey was pleasant. No, so many mistakes. So many people died. Honestly, it's such a shame." Dai The hooded man shook his head.
He felt guilty. Serious mistakes were made because of his stupidity and his pride. His selfishness. If he could just keep his head clear, avoid temptation, and not allow himself to be distracted, so much heartache and pain could be avoided.
"Sure, the entire planet is doomed, everyone you know and care about is going to die horribly, and there's no chance of peace, but that's no reason to beat yourself up. Well, okay, I guess that's enough reason to beat yourself up reason."
He sighed softly and shook his head. He didn't expect the incarnation of time and destiny to sound so small. "Then why did you bring me here?" he asked. "Are you my guide to the afterlife?"
"Oh my god, no. What afterlife?"
"What? I want-"
"Everything is gone. Gods, souls, worlds. When I say gone forever, I mean forever. Now you have nowhere to go. You cut this path with your own hands, remember?"
The words came flooding back to him. He failed. He failed in every sense of the word. Despite his efforts to stop everything, all he does is destroy everyone.
"But it's a terrible ending, isn't it? Boring even. That's not what we want. After all, if everything disappears, there aren't so many time loop evil spells to hold you in place, and if we don't have a purpose, we'll disappear too .”
"I don't understand," he said softly, staring at the figure.
"A second chance, hero. A chance to right a wrong. We can't repair the damage ourselves. However, what we can do is send you back as if it never happened." Another reboot? No! I am going crazy! My co-star Ryan will do the same. . . . .
"Where are you sending me back? This time!"
"Yes. But it won't really send you back." A withered old hand stretched out from the air. Suddenly, a silver thread seemed to appear in front of him. Then, there are thousands more. million. Billions. It’s simply impossible to count. However, all the clues seem to be related to this one clue. Soon after it ended, everyone else followed suit. "At least, not entirely. It's more just changing some of the earlier threads. Something has to change."
"How to change it?" he asked.
"Then it's up to you! Isn't this exciting? No one can change their own destiny. Now, in your last life, you were an incredible magic swordsman. At the age of four, you slaughtered half a group of people by yourself Bandit. When you were a child, you killed the reflection troll. You killed the gods." His whole body tensed. "Oh, no, that's a bit cruel to me, isn't it? I guess that's when everything started to go bad, wasn't it? You don't really think that getting rid of the gods will save everything, do you?"
"I did it."
"Well, you're wrong. That sucks, doesn't it?"
He could barely suppress a growl of frustration at the god's dismissive attitude.
"You can't make the same mistakes again or you'll end up going the same way."
"Uh..." Suddenly a stack of cards fell in front of him. He picked them up carefully and stared at them.
"Choose from them. Your talent. Your signature. Choose who you will become. Let's see if we can have a better loop story this time, shall we?"
He nodded. He won't fail this time. He will save them. He will save everyone.
------
"Wow, you are a formidable archer, you know that?" the masked man said with a chuckle. "Even if you are a hero, that is despicable and shameful."
"Please don't remind me..." he whispered, clutching his chest as tears fell down his face. He could still feel the spear piercing deeply into his heart.
"It's okay. Here. We'll try again. Pick your cards."
------
He flipped through the card again, the pain of being melted alive by psychic magic still vivid in his mind. There must be something he can do.
He goes through this cycle over and over again. Thousands of times? !
The world has ended. Whether it's a demon king or a mad god, it's always the end of the world. He always fails. He always tries to stop everything. The most frustrating thing, however, was that he couldn't change anything. There's nothing he can fix. Even as parts of his life changed, he never realized who he could trust,
Until it's too late. Sometimes the people who hurt him were the people closest to him, and sometimes it was the people he hurt.
"I've done this at least a thousand times now," he said softly.
"Of course it feels like this, doesn't it?" The voice of fate is all too familiar.
But whatever he was, it always seemed to let him down. To make matters worse, as he walks in the strange cycle of heroic failure, he finds himself assailed by strange thoughts. He looked at the card for a long time before speaking. "Is this the only way?" he finally asked.
"Is this the only way? Do I have to keep fighting and dying? Will my other friend and,,,,, have to pay the price for my failures again and again?"
"Okay, then use your spiritual power to send me back! Bring back the memory of who I am!" His voice also became angry.
Finally, the masked man shook his head. "I can not."
"why not?"
"Because you don't have those memories. We have to create a new string for that."
"you can?"
There was a long moment of silence before the card disappeared. "Oh, hero. You know what? I can. But you'll lose a lot of memories."
"That is--"
"No, you don't understand..." The hand seemed to stretch out and hold the silver thread. "You are gifted, hero. A powerful magical warrior. Capable, powerful. As a mage, your spells are earth-shattering. As a warrior, you can cut through the wind and waves. No one can oppose you, you have The power to kill Titans, equal to all the Chosen. But a new thread? You'll lose it all. You have your knowledge. You'll be normal. Become a mundane villain."
"Most people are normal people."
"Hero, most people don't carry the whole world on their shoulders. If you do, you may not have any ability to solve the problem. Can you accept that?
After a long silence, the figure nodded. "I can. However..." The card appeared again. different. Or hundreds. "If you do, everything will change. You will die, hero. From your death, a new life will be born. One filled with all your skills, your thoughts, and ultimately your memories... But without your power. A man of infinite talent but physically unable to do many of the things you can do now
You may not even be able to grasp what is happening. It will take you many years to wake up all your memories and even make you aware of who you are. You may not fully understand what you are going through
Best of all, if you do this, another hero may never appear again. Are you really willing to take this risk? "
"You only get one chance, hero. If you do this, you won't be able to go back. Once. Who you are will be remembered. Once that thread ends, there's no way to reorganize it.
A new life will be your only chance... there is no turning back. Your form, your body, will be shaped according to what you most desire, shaped by the Holy Spirit through the choices you make now.
He nodded and stared at the card again. He was blessed by the gods, what would it be like to be a normal person? Can he try again? Can he make some choices, some small changes, that allow him to save the world and keep his identity? Is what's about to happen really more important than the power he holds now?
He sighed softly and began to make his choice. He couldn't let his friend suffer again. He cannot destroy the world again.
"I will trust the chosen one."
"Good. Oh, wanna be a swordsman again? Yeah, I guess this blade will always work for you. But this will be your last try, hero. Please, don't destroy the world again, okay?"
These were the last words he heard before he was reborn for the final time.
