"Admirer…?"
The word slipped from my lips like poison. I didn't think there was anyone left alive who could call themselves my admirer, certainly no human.
My instincts screamed at me louder than any battlefield alarm ever had. This man might have worn the shape of humanity, but he was not one of us. He was something else. Something far more dangerous.
"How should I explain this in a way you'll grasp…?" He tapped his chin as if considering, then snapped his fingers lightly. "Ah, I've got it...
"I told you already, I'm a god. And as you might guess, gods get bored. Terribly bored. Even I, for all my brilliance and magnificence, am not immune. I've lived long enough to watch the birth and death of things you couldn't even dream of. Gods. Worlds. The so-called immortals who strutted about as if nothing could touch them. I've seen them all rise. I've seen them all crumble."
His tone was casual, but the arrogance dripping from each word pressed down on me like a suffocating weight.
"I've endured so long that existence itself has grown stale. I grew so weary, in fact, that I erased myself completely from being. Imagine that,obliterating your very essence." He gave a light laugh. "But no, even that didn't last. I was dragged back into reality. That's the rule, you see. Something like me doesn't get to simply vanish."
His grin stretched unnaturally wide. "So I thought, why not turn eternity into a game? If I can't die, if I must endure this endless cycle of tedium… why not create entertainment out of existence itself?"
I stood rigid, every muscle taut, my grip on my sword bone-white.
"Here's what I do," he continued, his voice unnervingly gleeful. "I choose a world at random, seed it with monsters, and then, this is the fun part...
I give its people the means to fight back. I awaken their latent potential, grant them the strength to clash with the horrors I unleash. Then I sit back, like an author before a stage, and watch as they struggle, bleed, rise, or fall. It's fascinating."
My breath caught. His words clawed into my mind like hooks.
"…What…?"
"Yes." His eyes gleamed. "Your world, Kane Brawn, was one of those little playgrounds. And among the thousands of seeds that sprouted, you are by far the most intriguing. That is why I've come here. Why let you perish with your doomed planet when I can offer you something far better? A chance to start over with your memories intact. Imagine it. A new beginning. The opportunity to stand taller, to shine brighter than you ever did here."
My rage detonated.
CLANG!
Steel rang as I lunged. My blade, strengthened by every ounce of fury in my veins, struck him with enough force to level continents. But the moment it touched the fabric of his clothing, it shattered. The mighty swing that had slain countless beasts dissolved as if it were no more than a child's tantrum.
He sighed, almost disappointed. "Really, Kane? I'm pouring my heart into this explanation, and you attack me? That's rather rude."
The fury in my chest burned hotter than ever before. Hotter than the day I learned of my father's death. Hotter than when my mother was torn apart before my helpless eyes. My blood boiled like molten iron, and yet, I was powerless.
"So, what do you think?" His eyes glowed with amusement. "A redo of your world's history. You could rewrite everything. Isn't that tempting?"
Tempting? He mocked me while standing atop the corpses of my kind. He toyed with me as if my pain were a performance for his amusement. My teeth ground together. My voice broke with venom.
"I'll kill you. I swear it, I'll kill you!"
"Oh," he said softly, eyes glinting with interest.
"That look… Yes, I like it. I like it very much." He leaned closer, whispering as if sharing a secret. "In fact, let's abandon the first offer. I've thought of something better...
How about I send you to my world? The place where I was born. The cradle that shaped me into what I am now. There, I'll grant you the same opportunity. Then, if your conviction burns as hot as you claim, prove it. Grow stronger. Hunt me down. Try to kill me, if you can."
His laughter chilled me to my bones. He had taken everything from me, my parents, my comrades, my entire world. The devastation of Earth was nothing but his amusement. The rage inside me was beyond words, a hurricane of hatred so violent I thought it might consume me.
I wanted nothing more than to see him dead. To carve through his smirk. To end him.
Then it came.
[Volume 3 proficiency reached!]
[You have awakened Volume 4 of the Sword of Scripture.]
[Volume 4: Iron Oath]
The Sword that Breaks All Shackles – renders all defenses meaningless.
Hope surged like lightning in my veins. This was no coincidence. This was destiny's decree. My path was clear, cut him down.
I stepped back, raised the broken remnants of my blade, and charged.
"You'll never learn, do y—
His words cut short. My strike landed true. His clothing tore. His flesh gave way. I drew blood.
Yes. I could kill him.
"Yes," I whispered, eyes wide. "Yes, I can—
But before triumph could take root, I felt it. His hand gripped me like an iron vice. My sword froze in midair. My body was lifted effortlessly, dangled like a doll.
"Would you look at that," Kaiden murmured, studying the shallow wound on his chest. "I wasn't wrong about you after all."
He smiled again. And this time, it was terrifying.
"Reincarnation, then. Go, grow stronger. Crush whoever stands in your way. Shatter the foundations of every throne. And when you've climbed as high as existence allows, remember this: I'll be waiting. At the highest table, I'll demand you fulfill your oath. Strip me of my existence, Kane Brawn, if you dare."
His hand swept outward. A portal tore open behind me, a swirling maw of light and void. I struggled, but resistance was meaningless. He cast me through as easily as one discards waste.
"Don't disappoint me," his voice thundered as the rift pulled me in. "My expectations are high. Very high."
The last thing I saw was his smile, a god's amusement carved into the face of a monster.
And then, I fell.
With a snap of Kaiden's fingers, Earth was gone. The curtain closed on Gaia, humanity's final chapter erased in an instant.
But me? Kane Brawn, the last human of a broken world, my story was only beginning.