[: 3rd POV :]
"What have I done wrong?"
The words left his lips like broken glass, cutting into the silence of a ruined world.
He was on a land that was unrecognisable, a shattered battlefield that stretched beyond the horizon, painted in crimson and ash.
Mountains lay split in half, forests reduced to blackened stumps, and rivers ran red, carrying fragments of the dead to nowhere.
Above, a storm raged, a tempest of black clouds clawing at the heavens, illuminated by veins of blood-red lightning that roared like the wrath of forgotten gods.
And in the heart of this desolation knelt a young man, Daniel, age twenty-five, his knees sinking into the mud as rain mingled with the blood pooling beneath him.
His sword lay discarded beside him, its once-radiant blade now dulled and cracked, a reflection of its master's spirit.
His expression was hollow, as if all the light in his soul had been extinguished.
His lips trembled, but no warmth came from his breath, only despair.
"What in the world did I do wrong to deserve this…?"
His voice cracked, hoarse from battle and grief.
It wasn't the first time he asked, it was the hundredth.
The storm gave no answer.
The corpses around him gave no answer.
Even the gods he prayed to gave no answer.
His head tilted to the sky, letting the cold rain sting his skin.
Tears or maybe rain, ran down his cheeks as he whispered again, softer this time, like a dying plea.
"I did everything I could… so why… why did it turn out like this…?"
A weak cough broke his spiral. Daniel's eyes snapped down, his arms instinctively tightening around the fragile body he held.
"Daniel…"
The voice was faint, so faint he almost didn't hear it through the storm.
"Mira!"
His heart lurched.
He gripped her hand desperately, feeling the warmth fading from her skin.
"D-Don't speak anymore! Please, save your strength!"
Mira's lips curled into the faintest smile, but it was a smile laced with agony.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth as she whispered.
"You know… I'm about to die… I-I don't have much time left…"
"D-Don't say that! No!" Daniel's voice cracked like shattered glass.
His entire body shook.
"W-We still have hope! The Healers, t-they're coming! They'll fix this, they'll fix everything!"
But even as he said it, the lie clawed at his throat.
Healers?
There were none left.
There was no one left.
Mira looked into his eyes, her own dimming with every breath.
"Daniel… you know… all of them… they're dead already…"
"N-No…"
He clung to her tighter as if holding her close would anchor her soul.
"No, we still have hope! I-I'll do anything! Just don't leave me! Please!"
Her hand, trembling and cold, rose to touch his cheek, smearing his tears with her blood.
Her voice was a whisper now, carried away by the storm.
"Daniel…for once… listen to me… please…"
"I-I can't… I can't let you go… it can't end like this! Not after everything! Not after all we fought for!"
Her tears mixed with the rain as she forced the last of her strength into her voice.
"Daniel… please… listen to me..."
"NO!"
The scream tore from his throat, raw and feral, shaking the very air.
"For once Daniel please listen to me!"
Mira screamed with whatever left of energy she had, and it woke Daniel.
He trembled by her words, refused to accept the reality that was happening right before him.
"No...it can't...end like this..." He said with trembling lips and his tears travelled down through his cheeks and to her cheeks.
"I know...it's hard for you...but...you need...to live..." Mira said.
"Live...? Do...I...even have the right...?" Zereth muttered.
"Dummy... don't say it like that...if there's one thing I wish...I wish...we could have lived a different way...a life where you and I could just peacefully live without any regrets..."
"But...it seems like that won't come true..." Mira said with a smile.
"I hope...you live..."
However soon...her hand fell limp.
Her breath faded to nothing.
Her eyes, those eyes that once held stars, closed forever.
And in that moment, Mira had died.
"Mira...?" Zereth questioned in denial.
"M-Mira...wake up...No...you're sleeping right? You're taking a rest right...?"
Daniel questioned where no one could answer his denial.
And in that moment, he cried with rage.
And his aura blasted across the battlefield that was full of corpse of monsters as well as humans.
It was a battle between humans and beings that came out from gates, and the final battle could have decided the fate of the planet ended up with human victory.
But something about this moment, no, about this situation victory seems wrong.
It was the fact that the only survivor of this world and the only human was none other than Daniel.
To live on?
Daniel had no one else aside from himself and he questioned himself the purpose for him to live.
To be happy?
How could he be happy if he had lost everyone else?
To have hope?
Is there even any hope in this situation when the fact that even his lover had died?
What possibly could there be more for him to live and rely?
[: Congratulations, Planet Earth X231-802-783Y has won the against the 100th Stage of World Quest :]
[: Contributors :]
1: Daniel: 90%
2: Mira: 8%
3: Blake: 1%
4: .....
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[: The Planet have obtained the right to rank up from Mortal Tier 3 to to Tier 1 Transcedent Planet :]
[: Error :]
[: Due to the most of the contributors being dead, all rewards will be redirected to the number 1 contributor :]
[: Congratulations, Daniel you have obtained the rewards for defeating and winning the 100th Stage of the World Quest :]
[: Rewards :]
- 1 Fragment of Entity
- 1 Universal Wish Ticket
- 1 Selection of Bloodline
- 2 Selection Skill Book
- 2 Selection Choice of Weapon
- 3 Catalytic Gems
- 3 Star Heart
- 4 Deity's Cores
- 5 Legendary Starlight
- 6 Ethereal Crystallized Drops
- 7 Epoch Potential Pills
- 8 Dragon Fruit
- 9 Forbidden Skills
- 10 Skill Upgrades
- 10 God Tears
- 10 Divine Crystals
...
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..
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Despite the astronomical rewards appeared right in front of his eyes, Daniel couldn't focus on it.
He was undergoing emotionals that he himself couldn't withstand.
He was suffocating and was drowning in his despair.
However, something had caught his eyes.
"A wish ticket....?"
It was the Universal Wish Ticket that had obtained his attention despite the emotions he was going through.
'What can I even do with the Universal Wish Ticket...?' He thought.
'Can it grant my wish?' He thought with a belief that he could use the Universal Wish Ticket for an opportunity.
"If it's a wish ticket...then...I wish...I could turn back the time...back to where before all of this happened..." He declared with a hope.
[: Your wish has been heard :]
[: However, it has been denied :]
"What!?" Daniel shouted in anger.
Everything that he thought had crumbled into pieces.
[: Please specify another wish :]
"This is ridiculous!"
"After everything that I have put through and sacrifice, you can't even grand my wish!? That what the fuck is the purpose for the Universal Wish Ticket!?"
He screamed towards the sky.
As though he was rebelling against the Heaven.
However, the sky that roaring with lightning was angered by Daniel as though it wouldn't allow any living beings to declare their rebellion.
But under strange occurance, something miraculously or even impossible happened to Zereth.
[: Er0_-R :]
[: *$(&(S8Stzm is be0ng over1d2 :]
'What the hell is happening now!?'
Daniel frowned his eyes as the screen of the system were as though being hacked or overwritten.
[: Congratulations, Daniel, you have been chosen by a system :]
"What...?" Now he had more questions than the answer.
[: Hello Host :]
"What's going on...?" He was bewildered by the sudden change of events as never did he encounter a kind of situation where the system would called him out individually.
[: The System understand that you have questions to ask :]
"...." Daniel nodded in silence.
[: However, don't worry :]
[: The System is an independent source of power created from energy you wouldn't dare to imagine it exists :]
"What kind of energy...?" He questioned.
[: The Kind of Energy that could create uncountable number of Universe, and definitely, beyond even that :]
"What...?" Daniel mind couldn't comprehend that kind of scale.
After all, all of his life he had been fighting against monsters that were ranked at Mythic.
To add on, the highest level of power he have seen or heard were called by many names, titles or groups such as Sovereigns, Celestials, Constellations or even Gods.
But, they were at the scale that could rule forms tens of planets to hundreds, thousands to galaxies.
But at the scale of universe, he had never heard a being or entity that could rule multi universe.
"How does that even make you trustable? After all that had happened, what can you do to prove that I can trust you? Aren't you the same as the system that has been with me and the others throughout?"
[: I understand your concern, but firstly Host, do not compare me to the system that's managed by the planet or even the universe itself :]
[: I am beyond that and nothing can ever be compared to me :]
[: Secondly, there is a way that I can prove to you and earn your trust :]
"And what is that...?"
[: You wish to restart everything don't you? :]