1 Regression
'If, by chance, you gained the opportunity to survive.'
'Would you take it?'
The crashing rain drenched his clothing, his murky grey eyes gazing up at the hazy night sky.
He began slowly raising his right hand, the weight of his emotions tried to drag it back down but even then, it couldn't stop his determination.
"I wonder why you said that.", he clenched his fist, as if he were trying to crush the crescent moon.
Swoosh...
A cold breeze blew by, flailing his clothes to the side, the ponytail holding his long dark hair up scattered in the wind.
"Well...", he lowered his hand, softly running it through his hair.
That man's face appeared in his mind again, his crude yet calm voice that appeared at his darkest moments and shone a torch down the pitch-black cave within his mind.
"I don't know-"
An empty void lay in his heart.
His voice was soft now, "-if there's anything worth living for now."
Drip- Drip- Drip-
Looking down at the sword in his left hand, he watched as the blood slowly cleared away, cleansed by the rain.
He currently stood on top of a mountain of bodies, but even so, the stench couldn't overthrow the pounding feeling within his heart.
Squelch.
Impaling his sword into one of the dead bodies he freed up his left hand.
The gut-wrenching sound of flesh and bones ripping into pieces was muffled by the chaotic rain, but the feeling of tender flesh ripping apart clearly made its way through his nervous system.
Leaving his hand be under the rain for a moment, he waited for the blood to be washed away.
His eyes flicked to an area in the sky in which rain seemed to avoid that specific location.
A weird smile crept on his face, 'So that's where everyone is watching from.'
-----
All around the globe.
"They lost!"
"Krazed and Illumen, both famed guilds completely lost!"
"A slaughter!"
"Hahaha! Take that bitches!"
"Ugh, how the fuck did they lose?"
Game enthusiasts, fanatics, crazed fans and shareholders alike were all watching as the two guilds began their raid against the strongest NPC.
Competing guilds hoped for their loss whilst those who gambled on them winning were rubbing their hands together as they watched the fight with bated breaths.
But... The fight was completely anticlimactic.
A one-sided slaughter.
One must know, in Elegance Online death meant you'd lose a proportion of items and EXP dependent on your level and the method of death.
And this one-sided slaughter meant that they all lost at least 3-6 months of progress in one fight.
Every viewer watched as he raised his hand to the skies.
Watched as he impaled the bodies beneath him.
And then they all watched as his eyes turned to the camera in the sky and smile at them.
"He's looking at the camera?"
"Isn't that ruining the immersion?"
"What the fuck, shit company, someone make a complaint already."
Many began spamming their reports whilst others just laughed at their actions. Either way, most people continued watching in curiosity.
His voice came through everyone's speakers.
-----
"10 million, I've killed 10 million, is that enough for you?"
He let out a sigh.
"No, I phrased that incorrectly, I'm done, I killed everyone I needed to kill, so please, just leave this world."
Ignoring the eye in the sky he opened up his menu.
[Ariel Grey]
[Level 765]
[Stats - ???]
[Race - Inferior Human]
[Status - Chained By The Universe]
[Goal - Kill Invaders 10,000,567/10,000,000]
[Goal Complete, Handing Out Reward]
He patiently watched it hand out the reward.
Rumble---!
Suddenly the ground beneath him began shaking, no, not just the ground.
"Everything is collapsing.", looking up at the sky he found that even space began to collapse.
"Are they trying to kill me before the reward can be given?"
[Reward - 20%]
"The number is going up at a steady rate, whilst the rumbling is occurring at a much faster rate, so I can safely assume the reward isn't causing this."
CREEEEEEEEK-----!!!!!!!
A piercing noise exploded in his ear, without thinking he dashed to his left.
Boom!
Space shattered at the exact location he was at a moment ago.
"Even the rain has stopped.", even though he almost died a moment ago he was relaxed enough to realise that even the weather was affected.
[Reward - 30%]
A rain of blood showered him as half the bodies exploded into pieces.
'I should be able to survive this for at least another minute.'
The world continued breaking apart near him, and each time it almost swallowed him whole he'd barely scrape by and escape the fatal zone of the crack.
"My health is decreasing quickly, but looks like it doesn't matter anymore.", a smile appeared on his face.
[Reward - 100%]
[Adminestering Reward - Chain Breaking]
"!!!", his smile shifted into shock.
[Reward shall be administered after regression]
'After regression?'
Spurt!
A wave of pain battered him as his right arm was ripped from its socket, sending his blood flying into the sky.
Ignoring the pain he twisted his body to the side and muttered in his mind.
'Teleport'
His figure disappeared and reappeared a few dozen meters away from the explosion.
[Please confirm if you want to regress]
[Y/N]
"At least explain to me what the word regression means!", he shouted at it as he grew impatient from its inefficiency.
[Regression - a return to a former or less developed state.]
BOOM!
A powerful wave of energy hammered at him from behind, ripping his skin apart and sending him crashing down into the ground.
A crater formed at the location he crash-landed at, a cloud of dust billowed outward.
"Ugh!", blood poured from his mouth as he struggled to get up.
Gripping onto the ground he attempted to push himself up, just as he began to stand.
Zip--!
Space began to collapse right before him.
"Is this the end?", he couldn't help but think about whether this was the right way to die or not.
Just as he was about to accept his demise...
The man came back to his mind, the man who saved him from his shit hole, the man who helped him stand back onto his feet.
The man who shone a torch onto his pitch-black heart.
But also the man who abandoned him at the most important moment.
His words echoed through his mind.
'If, by chance, you gained the opportunity to survive.'
'Would you take it?'
Everything paused for a moment.
"Would I take it?"
"What reason do I have to take it?"
His mind processed everything for a second.
"I have no friends."
It continued.
"I have no family."
And it arrived at its conclusion.
"I have nothing."
"If I have nothing then what's the point in regressing when there's nothing left behind for me?"
His hand hovered over the 'No' option.
"Just let me rest."
-----
Smack!
"Oy, Ariel, you need to rest some more, do you not realise how stressed you are!", a beautiful young woman stood in front of him.
Her long luscious, blazing red hair was tied in a woven silk-like knot at the top of her head, beneath her box pleated skirt and short-sleeved blouse lay soft white skin. A cute pout lay on her well-proportioned face as she scolded him.
"Are you listening to me!"
-----
The memory continued for a few minutes...
'What was the last thing I said to her?', the hand hovering over the 'No' option began to hesitate.
This memory continued rushing into his mind until it arrived at their last conversation.
-----
This time, tears were dripping down her face, the lower half of her clothes ripped into pieces as she lay on the muddied dirt under the rain.
Her head buried into his blood-stained clothing, her muffled screams vibrating throughout him.
All around them lay the bodies of disgusting men.
Covering her eyes he continued consoling her as he draped her with a blanket.
After that, he picked her up and carried her back home, cleaned her in peace and let her change into new clothes.
"I'll kill them all."
Laying her down onto a bed he left behind those words and never saw the look of despair within her eyes as he left.
By the time he killed them all and arrived back, only a suicide note was left behind for him to read.
And a dead body to bury.
-----
"Why did I never realise that I had something.", for the first time in many years, tears dripped down his face.
His tears silently lay on the floor beneath him as the memories came back to him, the memories that he had ignored for years under his thirst to end it all.
Gripping at his chest, he continued to let his heart out, not realising that everything around him had stopped moving.
He cried and he cried.
Hours upon hours he cried.
He cried until not even one tear could leave his eyes.
[Please confirm if you want to regress]
[Y/N]
Letting out a broken breath, he hovered over his choice.
And then he selected it.
