Noel walked past the pile of corpses, his sword still firmly attached to his hand.
Blood and sweat ran down his face endlessly, and he panted without rest.
The messages were numerous.
[You have slain Tyrant Lizard]
[You have slain Blue Orc]
[You have slain Red Tiger]
Noel looked around himself. The devastation was vast.
The soles of his shoes were soaking wet with red ink, which upon closer inspection was blood—dried and coagulated. Around him lay an infinite sea of red, with beasts and humans alike, of different races and statuses, dead. It was as if chaos from hell had unfolded and painted the world in a bloodbath.
How did it get to this?
Noel shot his eyes upward. The sphere was still there, rotating around its axis. There were strange patterns littered around its surface, pulsating in indistinguishable colours.
After each rotation, it would hum, sending vibrations across the horizon.
However the sphere—ginormous in size, had blotted out the sun, basking the entire world in its shadow.
The atmosphere was stagnant, seemingly dead. However it didn't take long to realise the near-invisible membrane stretched over the sky. It had similar patterns with the sphere.
Actually, it was connected to the sphere.
But above the membrane wasn't a blue sky. There were no clouds hung up either.
Rather, it was one figure. One ridiculously large figure.
With two enormous hands slapped onto the pulsing membrane, and 81 milky white eyes staring down intently at seemingly everything, a cosmic being—a god, watched with anticipation.
The extent of his figure was hard to decipher, as aside from his limbs and the expanse of his eyes—each of them as large as mountains, most of his figure was blended into the deep space beyond.
There were barely any stars further. One stare, long enough and you would hallucinate gazing at the abyss.
Vast emptiness. Everywhere.
And now Earth was next.
[Valcrus, Prince of the Outer Gods is staring at you]
"Tsk! Hungry bastard"
He was going to devour every single thing that made up humanity. The civilisation, every advancement and even the planet itself.
Well, there really isn't anything left anyway…
Noel swept his gaze around once again. The sight that greeted his eyes confirmed his suspicions.
Then a blue screen opened up before him, floating in the air.
[You are the last human on planet Earth]
[Quest: Human Champion
Status: Ongoing
Task: Defeat Valcrus, and save your planet]
Except that's fucking impossible.
Noel sighed, looking at his sword with contempt. He felt hate. But for himself.
Is this really how it ends?
The sphere was still rotating peacefully, as if unaffected by the chaos that lurked above. However the glow of the membrane dimmed, and a tear began to form.
It was slow. But each second potentially marked humanity's last moments.
"Fuck it all!" Noel clenched his sword, tighter than he ever had. He wasn't going to give up. Not yet. Never.
Blood spilled down the corner of his lips as he had gritted his teeth a little too hard.
A finger dipped below the membrane, poking through the widening tear.
[A large amount of chaotic energy is corroding the atmosphere.]
[A significant fraction of Earth's atmosphere has been erased.]
[Several biomes have collapsed.]
[Earth's Essence is fading.]
God? Devil? It didn't matter.
"Well you've got to eat me first! Cosmic fatass!!"
[An Elder god is smiling at you]
"Huh?"
[Quest update!
An Elder god admires your resilience. As the last mortal in the universe, you've been gifted a special authority]
"Don't know who the fuck you are but thanks!" Noel screamed, still not taking his eyes off his opponent.
He had no idea what authority this was, but anything that could help him take out this huge mass of cosmic shit would be helpful.
"Alright tell me. What authority?"
The system responded immediately. However, when Noel saw it, hope occurred to him.
His eyes lit up with immense shock.
"You…you mean this?"
His sword fell from his hand. He didn't hesitate.
He didn't even bother to look at the conditions by which he was offered that authority.
What mattered was that, he no longer had to run headfirst into a suicidal battle.
Noel took one last look at everything. The stench of rotting corpses still clogged his nose, but aside that, even amidst the chaos, there was still that feeling of nostalgia.
Yeah it still feels like Earth.
That's what he said. But he was trying his best to avoid looking upward. Just the mere sight of that being, knowing how much it had devoured, left a lingering distaste in his mouth.
When he was satisfied—Half satisfied actually since seeing tons of dead people didn't quite help his nostalgia, he glanced back at the thing upstairs.
It already had all ten fingers in, now actively tearing the membrane apart.
"So long motherf*cker!"
ACTIVATE AUTHORITY!
[Special Authority 'Time Lord' has been activated].