Chapter 2: The Second Chance
The truth was firmly set in the mysterious man's mind… there was no hope left.
His body was disintegrating, his spirit cracking, and in mere seconds he would die a final death—no reincarnation, no memory, forgotten forever across the sea of time!
The ethereal form—the will of the universe—returned to its natural place, and did not attack the man again. It did not need to… its enemy was already dying.
He even smiled with a hidden contempt, for this death was no ordinary one; it was absolute annihilation. The universe saw no reason to waste any more power.
But in that final moment…
The lower half of the man's body vanished, as he fought fiercely to execute his final move.
In his hand appeared a black crystal resembling the night sky, glowing with a mysterious flicker.
Without hesitation… he swallowed it!
It was a reckless gamble, but he had no other choice.
The crystal melted into his body instantly, spreading through his shattered veins. Suddenly, the cracks stopped widening, and even the conflicting energies within him calmed for a brief moment.
For the first time in centuries, everything was silent.
Even the ethereal form—the will of the universe—was momentarily perplexed. Had the man managed to take a counter step?
But it quickly regained its composure. True, its opponent seemed more stable, but his condition was far worse than before. The universe itself had suffered massive losses and needed to repair thousands of torn worlds. Yet it would not allow this detestable being to rise again.
And just as the ethereal form prepared to move, a strange sound echoed:
Fwoosh… Fwoosh… Fwoosh…
Violent white energy erupted from the remnants of the mysterious man's body, engulfing him entirely and forming an ethereal cocoon that radiated a mysterious light.
The cocoon unleashed powerful waves, destroying any asteroid or attack the universe had sent to kill him.
With each passing second, the cocoon shrank more and more, until it became the size of a small finger… and then it exploded!
But the explosion was not raw energy—it was pure light.
A faint beam, barely visible to the naked eye, shot out, traveling across billions of light-years in an instant.
The beam landed on a wretched planet, its energy unstable, filled with chaos and death. Millions of corpses piled in battlefields, and even the sky was torn from cosmic disturbances. This was merely a side effect of the tug-of-war between the man and the universe.
The beam settled among the heaps of the dead. For a moment, it remained still, then trembled as if making a decision.
It emitted a mysterious energy—not spiritual or celestial… but a power known only to the gods: the energy of time!
The energy spread throughout the planet.
Chaos turned into calm, and the dead began to rise again, as if the scene were reversing. Destroyed buildings returned to their original state, dried rivers flowed once more, and even the sky closed upon itself as if it had never been torn.
Slowly, the beam rewound the planet…
To countless years before the man's fall in this world.
Of course, not everything was perfect. Spiritual disturbances remained that could not be repaired at this time.
But the man had cleverly manipulated time, planting mysterious justifications in this world's memory: an ancient war between unknown celestial entities… so that no one would suspect the truth.
And when it was done…
The light of the beam dimmed, growing faint and exhausted.
With its last flicker of vitality, it departed swiftly, heading toward its true target… the purpose for which it existed in this world.