Chapter 1502 1502: Return Point

The world outside the clan was nothing like I imagined it to be. I expected wars, conflicts, injustice, and sin. But what greeted me were a myriad of emotions, simple people who strived to live their lives to their fullest.

I realized that no one knew about wrath, or the calamities, or the inevitable ruin of the world. It sounded like my whole life was a lie, as the years I spent mastering wrath gave me nothing but a broken heart and unstable mind.

Life outside wasn't as easy as it was in the clan. I had to worry about food and shelter, and becoming an awakener was the only path I had. My youth was spent in dungeons, aimlessly searching for the thing that I was destined to achieve.

My fateful encounter was not with the scholar guardian, but someone else far before it. I never got his name, but I understood that he wasn't a part of our world. In fact, he looked like a creature unlike anything I'd seen, a race called the Liberated.

That creature offered me a trial that would grant me a legacy. As I possessed no ability at the time, I had no choice but to accept, believing that it was my fate.

The trial was hell, but it ended. And once it did, the true hell began. I received the legacy of the Liberated, a spiritual artifact that would show me the end of the world and how to prevent it. There were so many chances for the end to arrive, but it did not, either through a stroke of luck or divine intervention.

My legacy asked me to do things that I did not understand, and no matter how awful they seemed at the time, they ended up causing more good than harm. I trusted the legacy, until one day I received the final quest.

The Inevitable Fall.

My quest told me about the gods, led me down rabbit holes that I did not know to exist, and pushed me to a destiny far greater than I could understand. It was also the reason that I met the scholar guardian.

I tried to succeed.

But I failed.

Numerous times.

Each time I either died, or the world simply ended.

I thought that failing the quest would simply end everything. I craved it, even, as I wanted to rest more than anything. But every time I failed, I would be sent back to the first moment I obtained the quest.

It was a curse.

But it was necessary.

I grew wiser once I realized that I was stuck in a goddamn loop. My time, which I spent before fighting, was now spent researching. I spent countless cycles simply to find out more about The Inevitable Fall.

My knowledge allowed me to travel between worlds, timelines, and realms. I worked hard, died a few times, before I came up with a plan. Everything changed when I found the scholar guardian, who had an idea about what to do.

My blood, the one I loathed all of my life, became the answer to stopping the gods and their plans. The nine higher realms became targets that I aspired to bring down. But the plan we made was unethical, and I hated myself for thinking about it.

But it had to be done.

Your mother was a normal human, as far as normalcy went. She was a wild beast when I first met her in Kera. It was the scholar guardian that guided me to her doorstep, telling me that her soul carried a mark of creation.

You have met them before in Alka. People that were loved by the world, for no apparent reason. Your mother's ancestor was one of them, and might be one of the strongest ones, as he was the Seika of Souls.

I acted like a dashing awakener as I courted her. She rejected me, telling me that she saw a darkness in me. I knew she was right. I killed my mother in my rage, but how did she know? I never understood, but she had an eye for people.

I refuse to narrate the next part about how I gained your mother's trust, as it's quite embarrassing and unfit for the image of the genius awakener that I had created at the time. Just know that what I felt for your mother, what I still feel, has never changed. It has always been… love.

Don't look at me like this. I know that what I did was fucked up, but I had to do it. I had to go through with the plan I planned so many years ago. In any case, you were born, and then Oren.

Every time I lost my resolve to go through with the plan I created, or stopped trying to achieve the quest, I was sent back to the time I received it. Can you imagine, sitting with your wife and kids, feeling that you didn't want to ruin their lives, and then simply going back several years in time?

The first time it happened, I lost all sanity. I tried to find the Liberated in the same hidden dungeon, but he was gone, and all that was left was the legacy I had. I was filled with dread that my children wouldn't be you this time, but after two years of living as a drunken man, I embarked to try again.

This time, it was easier to win your mother's love. She told me that I looked at her the same way that her father used to look at her. Your grandfather died when she was a child, and she thought about him every day.

I tried to win.

I tried to save everyone.

I tried to stop the damn quest from sending me back.

But it did.

Countless times.

In the past two days, I remembered the years I spent with you two. You might have spent fifteen years with me, but I spent over two hundred with you. I've seen everything there is to see about you. I heard you utter every word to ever exist.

It was hard to go through with my plan, but I had to do it. I didn't know if I could even ensure that you would be kids if I kept going back in time. You know… it's unpredictable. But I chose to live as the villain instead of you two not living at all.

It was when you were fifteen years of age that my quest updated. You already had the blood of wrath in your veins, and the legacy within your soul. I thought I had more time with you, but the quest told me.

The gods knew about you.

I had to do something to stop them from finding us. I stole an artifact from the guild I worked at, Everlasting Stream, and then rushed toward the Avarice Dungeon.

The artifact that I stole was a small marble that could mimic the presence and soul of someone, while sealing their souls and abilities. It was what I needed to lure the gods away from our world. I sealed your soul, mimicked your presence, and escaped.

My actions bought us three years without the gods finding you again. It was the time you needed to grow in both mind and body to receive the legacy. I felt it when you awakened the legacy, and I was filled with relief.

Once you awakened the legacy, my quest updated again. I thought it was over, but it simply accepted this route. It created a new Return Point for me, allowing me to avoid reliving the hell that I lived countless times.

Ah, a Return Point? It's the point of return in case I failed the quest. I already failed three times now, and this is the fourth timeline. Don't look at me like that. I don't want this.

Your fight against Devaheim is the only way for us to win. In the first three timelines, I tried to win you over and explain things like I'm doing now. But you didn't understand, and you never had the desire to be worshiped.

It was in this final timeline that I realized what I needed to do. I simply needed to keep playing my part as the villain. I'm sorry for everything I did, but I had no choice. You can call me a liar and kill me, but this is the unfiltered truth.

I don't understand why I'm here, or what I need to do in this place. But I'm tired, Arthur. I'm tired of living away from my family, doing things behind the scenes because that seems to be the only way to win.

The Return Point should drag me back soon, and I would have to change all of this conversation. I would have to play my part as the villain here, and act like it has been my scheme to bring you here.

I hope that works, I don't know. I honestly don't know what I'm doing anymore. I just try to avoid returning back in time. I dread it, Arthur. I just want… this hell to end.

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