Chapter 3: Prologue: Hard Choice

After sending the Hero, Bhairav, who defeated the Demon King to reincarnate into a specific world, the man finally had a change of expression.

Just because he crashed the system and destroyed it, he knew it wasn't enough to change the outcome.

Yet he also knew better than anyone else, he would do the same all over again, if given the chance.

Unlike the system who couldn't meddle with the power of 'Time', he was different.

However, he was already treading a thin line with his life when he made the decision to give the system to someone unworthy of it.

Yes, the system was never meant for him.

Recalling those memories while collapsing the remaining System Space, the man suddenly took out a spherical crystal orb.

"I wonder what path you will choose..."

The man mumbled out of nowhere before looking at the orb with a radius of merely 7 centimeters with curiosity flickering in his white eyes.

"Hmm... It will be soon..."

The man clad in pristine ivory clothing didn't stop as he finally left the space and directly appeared in the area where the showdown between the Hero and the Demon King took place.

Undeterred by the corruption of mana and chaotic flow of it, he directly vanished once again, not even gazing at anyone or anything.

Appearing at the core of the planet which should have extremely hot temperatures, he gawked around with a hint of urgency in his movements.

The temperature hot enough to melt human and metal alike in mere seconds failed to even lick at his clothes or hair.

A thin glow of ivory covered his entire frame as he tried to find the core of the planet, condensed after countless years.

"It should be right here..."

"The energy reserves couldn't have diminished so fast, right?"

The man said to himself as he covered vast distances with every step, trying to find the source of the planet's mana in the atmosphere.

—Fssh!

Suddenly, a sound as if glass shattering alerted him as he appeared at another location.

"Phew"

The man released his held breath as he noticed the amount of energy remaining and confirmed if it was sufficient for his goal.

"Seems more than enough." The man nodded his head before placing the crystal orb next to the core.

The orb looked miniscule in front of the core which was at least a kilometer in diameter alone with imperfect spherical shape.

However, the man's focus was on the small orb which reflected all the colors in the visible spectrum of light.

A few tendrils of pure ivory color left the man's hands as it enveloped the orb completely before coming in contact with the core.

The moment the ivory energy came in contact with the core, the dense energy filled in the core flowed out like water and converged at the small orb which greedily sucked it in.

If anyone else were to witness this scene, they'd probably go crazy wondering how such a small orb could absorb such a massive amount of energy, let alone glancing at the man who stood calm as if it weren't anything abnormal.

—Fssh!

The seconds ticked by before the core started to crack even more yet at the precipice of its eminent shattering, the small orb vanished from place.

A small distortion seemed to have occurred in that moment as only the core vanished, its destination unknown.

The ivory energy, however, still lingered around as the man controlled it and directly manipulated the energy in the core to explode and form a chain reaction.

"It's about damn time," stated the man in an eerie voice as he left the place after starting the chaotic activity in the core.

If not stopped in time, it would definitely lead to more explosions and even the planet might face implosion.

The man, however, didn't seem bothered as if he had decided this was the best plan of action, irrespective of the countless deaths.

The man floated in space using his ivory energy as his gaze filled with unknown intent and meaning locked at the planet hung in the void.

"Right about now."

The man broke the silence and as if his words were law, a shocking scene occurred.

The planet burst apart with countless landmasses flying in different directions to float freely in the void, called the space.

With the omnipresent vacuum in space, the process remained soundless throughout.

The human race, who had been celebrating "The valiant Hero who sacrificed himself to slay the Demon King" got the shock of their lives as the earth below them burst apart.

Their festive and joyous mood turned sour as the sudden impact struck, making them realize the seriousness of the situation.

Several crevices formed due to the sudden movement of landmass, or rather the tectonic plates.

While some crevices were empty, some filled with water, and some with even lava.

That wasn't the end of it, however. As the abrupt movement of the tectonic plates gave rise to several diverse phenomena.

In some places, sudden mountains arose, while there could be Tsunamis or abyssal holes in some places.

The strange phenomenon naturally gave rise to mass hysteria and panic.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the phenomena didn't last long as it didn't take much time for the humans to realize the earth they stood upon had started bursting outward with even more fervor.

It felt as if the earth which seemed to shield them from the massive energy at the core forcefully broke down, under the increased activity of the planet's core.

Slowly but surely, all the living beings who once called the planet hom, passed away.

Some were lucky enough to not even know how while the stronger ones who tried to resist, only got painful deaths because of their own stubbornness.

Seeing such a scene as a result of his actions, the man's fists clenched in helplessness for the first time after he reached his current strength.

"Calm down... It was a hard choice.... but it was the only one..."

The man repeated those words to calm his agitated heart and console him as he couldn't afford to brood over such a thing as more pressing matters awaited him.

His gaze locked on to the remnants of life and the lively planet changed as he snapped his fingers.

Despite seeming like a mundane act, a vortex of energy spread out from within his being as numerous mystical projections got sucked in the vortex.

The vortex of energy only increased in intensity as it covered everything within a certain range from the previous location of the planet's core.

A large barrier appeared to stop the energy vortex from exiting the region before it suddenly vanished from existence and so did the energy vortex.

"At least I sent their souls–"

The man couldn't complete his words as he felt a vast pressure collide against the barrier, seemingly trying to breach it from outside.

Not wanting to stay here for a second longer, he swiftly manipulated the remaining energy and vanished from that location but not before giving it one final last glance.

'I hope no one has to make the same hard choice another time.'

He prayed in his heart before vanishing once and for all, never to be seen again.

Unbeknownst to him, he had still been a step too late.

***

Inside a room filled with holographic screens, a man sat at the top, gazing down at his people working and calculating the needed time and energy to breach the invisible barrier.

It would take too long for the man to breach the barrier by himself, especially when they already had the most efficient weapon for it.

They had developed a weapon which could continuously target a miniscule singular point in any barrier with pinpoint accuracy to shatter any barrier.

However, the man's mere presence seemed to weigh down heavily on the workers below.

"You needn't show off."

A brisk voice, soothing to the ear, seductive almost, echoed next to the man yet he didn't even respond.

Used to his antics, she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Did you get any information?"

Her voice was too cold this time, freezing even.

Yet no one wasted time as they responded immediately.

"-Negative"

"-Negative"

"-Negative"

...

After hearing almost everyone's refusal, one voice managed to garner everyone's attention.

"-Nega–Positive!"

Feeling the intense stares at him, the researcher didn't wait for permission and directly showed them the information he managed to hack.

Except for the man sitting there languidly, everyone had an expression of shock on their face.

"Interesting..."

"He sent a soul to another world."

The man muttered in a low voice yet his heavy and booming voice was heard by all, shocking them even more.

Yet like the disciplined researchers they were, they didn't dare to interrupt him.

"Stop wasting energy. He fled. The barrier will collapse."

The woman beside the man said in a stern tone, bringing the researchers out of their reverie as they continued with their work.

They had just seen the man sent off a soul using the planet's core to another place, astonishing them.

However, that wasn't worth exchanging their lives for.

"He seems wary of you."

The man just nodded to the slender woman who returned after giving an order in his stead and nestled into his arms.

He didn't mind her presence at all as he just patted her hands and held onto her waist. She was his wife, after all.

His thoughts, however, were a complete mess.

'He already destroyed the system before it could get hacked... Yet I obtained this information... Is it a trap? No, he knows he can't face me... None of them can...'