Zephyr, on his back, sighed as he looked up at the night sky. With a gaping hole in his stomach, he realized how hopeless it was to save any timeline he reincarnated into. Blood trickled down his forehead and into his eyes, giving a red tint to his vision. He gazed up into the sky, looking at the millions of white shiny stars... wait- no, no they're not. His vision adjusts as he saw billions of shiny white angels with futuristic plasmic weapons. Zephyr's memories came flooding back into him, hundreds of deaths, being in this situation time and time again.
Eternal Ward
A yellow outline exuded from his body, slowly healing his wounds and filled up the hole in his chest. This was Zephyr's strongest healing ability, using up most of his divine energy. He slowly tried to get up, knowing this would be his last stand. No matter what happened, he was going to give it his all. Using his sword as leverage to stand up with the rock behind his back, keeping him from collapsing, Zephyr wearily stood up, performing another spell.
Divine Infusion
An orange glow wraps around him as strength steadily entered back into his body. He started to kneel, using his sword to prop himself back up. His chest was beginning to be filled with a solid white substance as he spat a glob of blood, splattering all over the dirt.
Damn it. I don't even know if I'll reincarnate this time anyway. Why do I keep having to play this damn game, saving this godforsaken world, and fight like a fucking zombie to keep myself alive? Should I just let them kill me?
Zephyr stood up and looked up with his eyes closed. He imagined a grassy landscape, with the sun shining down on him, feeling the quiet breeze blow his hair back. Thousands of his comrades stood in front of him, looking at him with contentment. Respect. Admiration. Love. He breathed in deeply, expecting to smell the fresh air of spring, but instead, inhaled copious amounts of ash, debris, and blood. But he didn't open his eyes yet. Not yet. He didn't exhale, keeping it in his lungs, the fresh blood of his comrades.
Zephyr blew it all out and opened his eyes. Everything was in ruins. The angels covered the sky, leaving only a shadow lying over the land. Only a ray of sun shone down on one spot. A massacre of the people. Thousands were lying on the floor, unrecognizable. Only the skeletons of their former selves remained. Tears began to form in Zephyr's eyes as a smile started to form on his face.
"Aha...hahaha...HAHAHAHA! YOU REALLY LIKE TO PLAY GODDESS, WHAT A FUNNY ASS JOKE!"
Zephyr dropped his sword and laughed hysterically, as he arched his back up to the sky intaking the atmosphere. Tears dripped down his face as he laughed his heart out until his voice gave out. Just then, a voice echoed around him, breaking his laughter.
"ARE YOU DONE, ZEPHYR?"
Zephyr wiped his face and looked around, but saw nothing. The booming voice continued.
"YOU KNOW... YOU DID PUT UP SOMEWHAT OF A FIGHT, I'LL GIVE YOU THAT."
Zephyr looked back down at the ground, defeated.
Then he looked back up with a wry smile and screamed, "You know what? If you're gonna kill me, then just do it. STOP WAITING TIME AND JUST DO IT GODDAMN IT!"
"HAHAHA, YOU'RE A FUNNY ONE AREN'T YOU? KILL YOU? I THOUGHT YOU'D SAY SOMETHING MORE HEROIC. I JUST BRUTALLY MASSACRED EVERYTHING YOU'VE KNOWN AND LOVE, AND YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU? THAT WOULD BE PRETTY BORING, WOULDN'T IT? I'M STARTING TO LIKE YOU, ZEPHYR. YOU'RE ONE OF THE STRONGEST PEOPLE I'VE GONE UP AGAINST OUT OF ALL THE WORLD'S I'VE CONQUERED, SO I'LL GIVE YOU A PROPOSAL TO SPICE THINGS UP A BIT. EITHER YOU CAN PUT UP A FIGHT IN VAIN, OR YOU CAN JOIN US. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO HAVE EVERYTHING. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT, ZEPHYR? MONEY? GLORY? WOMEN? I'LL WIPE ALL OF THOSE STUPID ASS MEMORIES YOU HAVE HERE AND WE'LL GO ON AN IMPERIALISTIC ADVENTURE. WE'LL REFORM WORLDS AND MAKE THEM OUR OWN. DOESN'T THAT SOUND SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOUR MEASLY LITTLE LIFE IN THIS WRETCHED PLACE?"
This wretched place?
Countless experiences with his comrades flashed through his head.
Wretched place my ass. Should I just wait until my next life to kill this demon they call a god? No, no. There might not be a "next time". FUCK IT. I don't even care if they're all dead. If I'm gonna win, it's GOING TO BE NOW. I'm not gonna let some interdimensional being colonize my GODDAMN planet.
"Oh yeah? Do you know what I think about that offer?"
Zephyr raised his middle finger and pointed it to the sky.
"GO BACK TO YOUR OWN GODDAMN PLANET!"
Zephyr grabbed his sword and started to run as thousands of yellow rays shot in his direction.
Divine fortification, Divine steps
The rays bounced back into the air as countless rays hit him. Zephyr, still running, ran towards the edge of the cliff behind his comrades, building to a sprint. In a giant leap off the cliff, he focused his divine energy on his feet and started running on air.
I don't care how long it takes to kill all of them, they're going to die one way or another. If my right arm gets chopped off, I'll kill them with my left. If they both get ripped off, I'll hold the sword with my teeth to rip them apart.
When he reached the angels, he slashed them in two, one at a time. Drops of gold blood spray onto his body as the angels started to grab their swords to defend against the attacks. Zephyr leaped from angel to angel, slicing them one after another as if they were butter.
No, it's not fast enough. Faster Zephyr, FASTER.
Divine haste
Zephyr focused his energy on his legs, gripped his sword with both of his hands, and propelled himself forward, zipping through all the enemy lines, killing hundreds of angels in seconds. Time became irrelevant. Minutes became hours. Hours became days. Zephyr's mind was empty. His eyes locked in on the next angel before him. Fatigue didn't bother him. He was thirsty, hungry, and tired, but utterly empty. He had nothing to feel and nothing to fear. Death was imminent, always around the corner, watching. But Zephyr already knew he wouldn't survive this, death was always certain. He was already doomed to begin with, and Zephyr had accepted that from the beginning.
Zephyr had already killed hundreds of thousands by this point, and although he didn't realize it, it was hopeless. In reality, he had killed practically none of them. Each angel he killed, more would appear from the sky, a practically endless amount. They came from the countless universes that had been colonized, creating billions of trillions of mindless, emotionless machines.
Whereas he had an almost unlimited amount of divine energy before, had drained to nothing. As the thought set in, something appeared before him that caused him to lose all will to live in a split second.
Ha, to think a being like this existed in this world.
A massive being towered over the sky. It was truly magnificent. An all-knowing being, an all-powerful being. Zephyr wanted to laugh. He truly wanted to laugh at how hopeless it was. Fighting for this planet. Fighting, going through all 999 lives, all for what? But he couldn't. He could just stare blankly in disbelief, questioning how a being of this caliber could even exist.
The only thing that was still present was him and this... being. Nothing else. Nothing more. Zephyr blinked, and he was suddenly upside down. He looked at his torso, and it seemed that his legs, in less than even a millisecond, had disconnected from his body.
A loud thud echoed after Zephyr's body came into contact with the wasteland around him. He coughed, and blood and saliva exploded out of his mouth.
...
A Greek-like structure forms out of the white void. Four pillars surround the large throne, rising up from the middle, unveiling a Goddess sitting in the center.
The goddess was, for lack of better words, stunning. No other woman could ever match her beautiful white hair, snow-white eyes, and slim body that would attract any man if not for her condescending face and tone.
Zephyr begins to walk up the steps to the Goddess with his fist clenched. He scrunched his face in disgust as he looked up at the goddess. The Goddess didn't even bat an eye as she leaned on her fist, looking at him as if she could squash him in less than a second. He hurled himself towards the goddess, attempting to land a solid hit on her face. An inch away from her face, he gets thrown back down the steps, getting repelled instantly between the Goddess and Zephyr.
"Hah, what is this, the thousandth time?" Zephyr said as he stared at his fist pointing up at the white void, calming down. His knuckles dripped with blood but healed in a split second.
"How peculiar. No matter how many times you get reincarnated, you always try to save everybody. I truly admire your tenacity, Zephyr", the Goddess said condescendingly.
Zephyr stood up, brushing himself off. "I've already lashed out at you too many times already, so I'll keep this simple: What the hell do you want from me?"
The Goddess sighed, ignoring his question. "You know, I've put many through this experience, but they always go insane after around the tenth go-around. Your mental tenacity is definitely something to behold. You refused to give in even after failing 999 times."
"Why, what is even the point of this?"
The goddess scoffed, "Why? Because it's funny. What else did you think the reason was? I have nothing to do here anyway, and I don't wanna spend time with the other perverted, stupid gods."
Other gods? There are more divine beings in this world. Never mind, it doesn't matter. She's going to send me back anyway, and if I want this next life to be different, I need to find a different way to approach this next attempt.
Zephyr comes up with an idea, an idea that might just save everyone in his world.
"Alright, well, you want something exhilarating and enjoyable, right?"
The goddess looks at him with intrigue, "What do you want, Zephyr?"
"If you promise to give me all the abilities I have obtained from my 999 times of reincarnation, I'll give you a show you won't be disappointed with."
A silence broke out in the void, a loud, deafening silence.
"Wow, so you're serious." The goddess's laugh echoed throughout the void. "A human, trying to bargain with a divine being? I truly haven't seen someone like you. Sure, I'll let you reincarnate with all your abilities, but I have two conditions. One, you're going to have to work for it if you want to get your abilities back, and two, if you fail, I'm not giving you any more chances. You've already become quite boring and repetitive anyway. Deal?"
No more chance? ... Whatever, if I can't save anybody in this life, it's not worth living anyway.
"Deal."
"Good luck," the Goddess says as she laughs haughtily, as she motions her hand, sending Zephyr back.