"Tch. Is it all over?" a young man rasped.
He was draped in elegant armor, although his helmet was nowhere to be found. He held a broken sword as he knelt to the ground, hopelessly.
All around him, everything was burnt to ashes and flattened. Large spaceships flew in the skies, sending blasts and destroying Earth and its inhabitants.
Everyone was dead.
'Except me?'
It all started ten years ago. This was Zenon Van Darius, the crown prince of Historia. He wasn't meant to be the crown prince, but he'd had no other choice when his elder brother mysteriously left home.
Zenon was hated by his family for his lack of seriousness and nonchalance, yet they decided there was no other choice but to place the crown on his head.
On the day of his coronation, something unthinkable happened.
Humanity was invaded. It was the Age of Swords in the medieval era, so humanity stood no chance against large spaceships and magical creatures. The magical creatures enslaved humanity, but they didn't stop there.
They built a tower at the center of the Earth and gifted humanity a game-like system. Only a few were gifted, though, and those with these gifts were sent into the tower to take part in trials for a reality show broadcasted on a streaming website called Galaxy Online.
The one who had enslaved them had never been seen, but his username was known.
"TAC111," Zenon hissed with anger and malice at the username of the Content Creator who had enslaved humanity just for views, clicks, and gifts.
Content Creators were those who had started a show on Galaxy Online, thus earning from the content. Viewers sent gifts, subscribed, and messaged to appreciate the content.
The content could be anything from streaming a cosmic war to starting a war or... enslaving a realm and making them contest in deadly trials. Something that would keep viewers all around the galaxy hooked.
At least the bastard had blessed those in the trials with supernatural abilities and a system to evolve and rank up.
Zenon was a young man in his late twenties. He had rough bangs, porcelain skin, and golden eyes. His face was matted with blood and dirt.
Zenon stared into the bruised sky. Actually, he knew the spaceships—those that had enslaved them—weren't the ones currently destroying Earth.
They were actually trying to save Earth from destruction. The beings destroying Earth looked like humans, but they weren't.
Their skin was flawless. Their eyes, ears, noses, and hair were gorgeous. Their voices were authoritative.
Of course, Zenon hadn't come across any of them until now. The beings were called Axioms and had been purging Earth for the past six months, with only the awakened and the enslavers battling them.
Zenon wasn't gifted a system, so he was not an awakened. Still, he had tried his best to protect humanity from Gates.
When a number of awakened died in a trial in the Tower or something went wrong with the show, the enslavers opened a Gate on Earth and spilled monsters out as a way to compensate the viewers.
The strong ones among the non-awakened—those talented in martial arts, sword mastery, and all sorts of fighting—were automatically tasked with battling these monsters and surviving, thus providing an enjoyable show for the viewers.
Zenon was not the strongest of these people, yet he was part of those who fought. A mere Rank 10 sword master.
He was arguably the weakest.
Zenon kept staring at the sky as the battle raged on. Suddenly, among the flying spaceships and large turrets, a small dot rushed down like a missile.
The dot grew bigger every second it got closer, but Zenon was too tired to move.
When it got close enough, he saw it was a... human...
The human landed beside him with such force that the ground shook. Not only did the impact shake the ground, but the force sent Zenon's weak body flying and made the earth explode, forming a deep crater.
Zenon coughed blood and slowly stood up. Through the dust and debris, the human emerged. He stepped out of the dirt fog and revealed his true self.
The human was a male... or looked like a male. He wore a light, sleeveless white tunic and possessed golden eyes, golden hair, and flawless skin.
The human stared at Zenon and smirked. "Another earthling," he said in an authoritative voice.
At that moment, it hit Zenon. An authoritative voice, a flawless physique, and a hint of hatred toward humanity.
"An Axiom," he whispered, but the Axiom heard him.
He frowned, showing a hint of anger. "How dare you speak my name with your filthy mouth? In fact, how dare you look at me with such filthy eyes? How dare you hear my voice with such filthy ears?!"
Zenon gasped. It was all over for him.
Suddenly, the Axiom sighed. "I don't want to be angry at you."
He turned, wanting to leave, but after a few steps, he immediately turned back with a maniacal grin.
"But I can't leave filth lying around, can I?"
Zenon didn't even know what happened. First, he was gazing at the Axiom. The next second, everything blurred. He couldn't feel any part of his body anymore. He felt the Axiom place something in his hand and whisper in his ear.
"Show me what you've got, weakling."
He felt his heartbeat stop and his breathing disappear. Everything went dark.
"Hmm... I guess it's all over."
Images of his father, brother, and family appeared in his mind. Maybe if he had taken things more seriously at first, he would have been able to help humanity. Maybe if he had been strong, he would have saved humanity.
But it was all over now.
Then, in the darkness, he saw a light. As he got closer, the light drew nearer... and then he fell into it.
[Earthling! You've fallen into the Time World]
[You've been gifted the ability to Regress after death]
[You've been blessed with an Innate Training System]
[Syncing Innate ability]
[Successful! You've been gifted the Swordsmanship Training System]
[You've successfully regressed!]
"Huh?"
Gasp