Back To The Past

Before this all begins, just a few points of interest. First off, just make sure you read the synopsis as well as the tags of the story just so you know what you're going to be expecting in this story. Secondly, I will be using some unique characters for the Chat Group members, though there may be some mainstream characters in the future.

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"Come on, kid! Is this all you can do?!"

"Like hell, I'm just getting started!"

At the current time, the sound of akin to metal violently clashing against each other could be heard atop what looked to be a floating platform inside of a void of pure black. On top of this platform were two individuals, and from the looks of it, they were engaged in an intense battle.

The first person looked to be a young man no older than twenty, he had fair skin along with somewhat spiky black hair and a pair of cobalt blue eyes. His attire was anything but normal, instead appearing to be a suit of intimidating yet beautiful silver armour, around his neck was also a long blue scarf that covered his nose and mouth.

The person that he was fighting against was anything but normal, looking to be a suit of pure-black armour with red and gold accents. The armour had a multitude of dangerous spikes that were extruded from multiple sections, and on the back of the chest plate were two curved spikes and what could be described as a long pair of 'wings' in the form of red and black branch-like appendages.

Whenever there was a momentary pause in their clash, they could both be seen to be wielding swords that they swung at speeds so fast that all that could be seen were flashes of light accompanied by the deafening sounds of clashing metal.

The sheer force behind each slash was great enough that each time their blades connected the sound of metal clashing was accompanied by another sound akin to that of a concentrated explosion.

"Impressive, kid! Asahi, was it?" The black-armoured individual questioned as he quickly backed away in an instant. "For someone so young to have gotten strong enough to challenge me, I find it quite hard to believe. It seems that I've underestimated humanity's potential. Never have I ever felt such adrenaline!"

"Hahaha~! Same here, humanity is on the brink of extinction because of you, yet here I am enjoying the most difficult battle of my life!" Asahi couldn't help but laugh as he thought over his current situation. "I hope you don't mind, but I need to finish this quickly! I have people back home waiting for me. Your grave shall be here in the void, Demon King!"

"You speak as if you have victory secured." The Demon King chuckled darkly as the malicious dark-silver fiery aura around his person flared up intensely. "You can feel it, can't you? The power that I hold at my fingertips? The power to destroy the entire world?!"

"I know, the natural protective barrier that surrounds our world prevents it from being destroyed. However, if it wasn't there, I can tell you more than possess the power to destroy it. But you seem to have forgotten one thing... that I too possess such power!"

"Hahahaa~! Then allow me to be the judge of that!"

With that, both sides bent their legs before charging at one another with full force.

However, they were forced to a stop when everything began to shake. Obviously, neither of them were expecting it as they both had to readjust their footing. Confused, both of them looked around as the platform they stood on shook more and more as time passed.

"The hell is going on...?" Asahi blinked in confusion. "It's like the entire void is shaking!"

The Demon King seemed just as confused as Asahi was, he too was looking around for any form of explanation. Suddenly though, they widened their eyes when cracks began to form in the endless void around them, a bright light shining through the cracks blinding them.

Soon enough, the void suddenly shattered as if it were made of glass. The bright light then completely faded away, allowing both the Demon King and Asahi to look around to see that they were no longer in a void but hovering in the sky while the vast green landscape was below them.

"We're back on Earth?" Asahi commented in confusion. "Hey, Demon King! What the heck did you do?"

"This was not my doing, kid."

"Then who the heck was it?"

That question was answered soon enough as both of them suddenly felt their instincts scream, to which they both instantly turned their attention upwards towards the sky above them, their bodies instantly getting into a guarded position.

They watched as the space within the sky seemingly cracked open, and the crack continued growing bigger and bigger before they saw what looked to be tentacles crawling out from within. They were black and orange in colour, along with pigments of white similar to the stars.

"What... is that?"

When the figure from behind the crack fully emerged, both Asahi and the Demon King had to take a step back in horror as a creature they couldn't possibly describe made itself known. It was a mass of tentacles with who knows how many eyeballs that seemed to be gazing around at everything at once, not to mention the sickening aura they could both feel radiating off of it.

None of them could speak as the creature began to hover over them before beginning its descent towards the earth below, and to their horror, even more began to emerge from the crack as well as others that soon formed in other areas within the sky.

Each one that came out from beyond the cracks varied in appearance, none the same as the one before. However, the few common things they did share were the fact that they were horrifying and had that sickening presence that seemed to be distorting the space around them.

As more emerged, the sky above began to heavily history into a disgusting array of red, green, and black colours that soon replaced the once beautiful blue sky. Even the land below began to change, the earth warping in horrifying ways and the colours of the land turning into a dark brown as well as crimson red.

"Hey, I know we're enemies. But..."

"I get it, we shall call a temporary truce. For now, we need to repel these invaders." The Demon King immediately caught onto what Asahi was implying. Both of them got into fighting stances when one of the creatures locked its eyes on them. "I hope you can keep up!"

"I should be asking you that!"

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Asahi couldn't help but laugh.

What the hell was this?

He figured that fighting together with his arch-enemy would be enough to at least force these things back, yet what the fuck was this situation? Both he and the Demon King were on their last legs, and they have yet to even repel a single one of these motherfuckers. In fact, he doubted they truly even damaged this single one.

As their 'battle' raged on up here on the platform, the other invaders were busy decimating everything that was his home. The planet seemed to be in a state of utter chaos, and it wasn't just the planet, it seemed that everything in the sky was in chaos. Even with the drastic change in the sky, he could swear that he was seeing some of the stars disappearing from the sky.

"Man, we are really getting our asses kicked, huh? Even our Authorities mean jack shit to these things!" Asahi laughed as he forced himself back onto his feet, using his sword as support as he seemed to be bleeding profusely onto the ground. His laughing soon stopped before being replaced with a dead look. "...This is it, huh?"

"Yeah, to think we'd be meeting our ends as comrades in arms." Even the Demon King couldn't help but laugh at their current situation. His crimson eyes behind his helmet seemingly flickering as he also stumbled up to his feet. "I must admit, we worked well together."

"I know, it's really weird. I'm usually pretty optimistic, but even I have to admit we're fucked..." Asahi chuckled. His gaze then fell towards the ground as he let his sword drop from his hand to the ground as well, he could hear the Demon King's weapon had done the same. "It's times like now that I'm truly appreciating the life I had before these past moments, training to fight... you."

"Just saying, I would have won against you!"

"As if! Keep dreaming, Demon King!"

"..."

"We may have been enemies, and we very well may still be, but I have to say this." Asahi smiled genuinely as the invader's tentacles soon gripped tightly around him, causing blood to run down the corner of his mouth even more, as well as down his eyes. "It was nice fighting alongside you... Zelgon."

The Demon King chuckled as he too was trapped by another tentacle. "Yeah... same, Asahi."

Both of them turned to look forwards, and they could only accept their situation as they found themselves now headed straight towards the endless abyss that made up this monster's mouth. Giving one last look to each other, they both seemingly closed their eyes.

They've... already accepted their fate.

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[...wake...!]

[Kid... up!]

[Kid, wake up!]

"...!" Asahi snapped his eyes open when the booming voice of someone he was quite familiar with shouted at him. Unconsciously, he felt his upper body hunch over as he began panting slightly. "...What the hell? Where am I?"

[Good to see you're finally conscious, kid]

"Zelgon...?"

[The one and only. Also, heads up. Be mindful of your surroundings]

Confused, Asahi looked up after straightening his back. He soon noticed he was sitting on a chair, and when he looked around, he widened his eyes when he saw a bunch of people his age all staring at him in confusion, probably due to his prior actions.

'Wait, what is this?! I'm back in school...?' Asahi couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. He recognised each and every one of the people in this room, well, maybe not everyone. 'I know for a fact we were killed, so how am I back in class? Not only that, it looks like my classroom from five years ago!'

"Is something the matter, Mr Kaneko?"

"N-No, don't mind me..."

"Very well, but go to the medical room if you aren't feeling well."

Asahi wasn't sure if it was just out of instinct that he answered the question, but he didn't really care since the teacher at the front of the class just went back to teaching after he answered. Sighing, Asahi brought one hand to his face as a tired look replaced his previous expression.

'Zelgon, what the hell is happening? Where even are you?'

[From what I can tell, I seem to be in your soul]

'Fucking what?'

[Well, more like I'm a part of your soul, one-half of it at least. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this either, it's the first time I've ever heard of, let alone experience, anything like this before]

'Really...?' Asahi frowned before closing his eyes. He seemed to be focusing intensely, and soon enough, he felt a very familiar presence within him near his core. 'Holy shit, you actually weren't pulling my leg... how the hell did this happen? Why am I back in class?'

[I want answers just as much as you do, kid. But, I think I should be able to come up with a guess. Unlike you, I was able to stay conscious for longer than you after we were swallowed by that thing. Just before we were completely absorbed, I felt a disturbance within the time stream]

'A disturbance? That only usually happens if someone is manipulating time or... don't tell me.'

[Yep, I think we were sent back in time. More specifically, our souls were brought back in time, completely intact in fact. Actually, scratch that. It seems that our souls have been merged when we were sent back to this time, whatever time this is]

'It looks like my first-year classroom, so probably five years ago...' Asahi thought to himself as he glanced around the classroom. Just looking around at the people and the room, he felt a huge wave of nostalgia. 'No doubt our physical bodies were destroyed by that thing, but how did our souls get sent in time?'

[I would assume due to the influence of some other entity, as for who that is, I have no clue. What I do know though is that we seem to have replaced your old self. A soul is like a collection of everything that makes you you, recording things like memories and even your consciousness, including those of past lives]

'Yeah, I'm aware of all that.' Asahi narrowed his eyes before looking at his fist, clenching it a few times as a barely visible aura soon flickered around it. 'It would also seem like with the merging of both our souls, my mana reserve is far higher compared to how it should have been during this stage in time. It also feels far stronger.'

[Of course, you and I both possess powerful spirits. If both of our souls were merged, then it would only make sense for them to form a stronger soul, one no doubt with even more potential compared to either of us when we were separate]

'It's a golden opportunity, isn't it?'

[What do you mean?]

'Come on, isn't it obvious?' Asahi chuckled softly, ignoring any of the looks he got from the two people sitting next to him. 'We have been sent back in time, merged together and formed a soul stronger than both of ours. We've been given an opportunity, a golden opportunity to prepare ourselves for when those assholes appear again.'

[...] Asahi didn't hear a response immediately, but he could hear Zelgon humming in thought. [You and I both know how strong those things were, neither of us could even come close to killing one. Do you really believe we'll be able to get strong enough in a mere five years?]

'To be honest, I have no fucking clue.' Asahi inwardly laughed. He remembered very clearly just how hopeless both he and Zelgon were against that thing, and it was only one of the possible hundreds he saw. 'However, I'm not going to waste this chance. Who knows, maybe it's possible with the both of us working together as one.'

[Ha! Alright, kid. It's at least good to see you aren't just going to sit around and wait for death]

'Of course.'

Asahi scoffed amusedly before swiping his hand down in front of himself. When he did, a strange holographic screen seemed to materialise. This was nothing new to him, this screen was something that all Hunters in this world had.

It wasn't anything too special, it was just a panel that allowed the person to view what skills they had under their possession. Each person's individual screen couldn't be seen by others, and it was an unspoken rule that no person has an obligation to reveal what skills they have to another, no matter how important they are.

.

『Skills』

● Swordsman's Will - [Type: Authority] [Grants the user the authority over the concept of 'Slashing', allowing the user to cut through anything the owner desires, let it be something as simple as metal to even time and space as long as the user possesses the necessary power]

● Supreme Order - [Type: Authority] [Grants the user the authority over the concept of 'Command', allowing the user to initiate a command. The command may fail if the target of the skill proves to possess a stronger will and/or power than the user]

.

'I've lost all the skills that I had previously, I don't even have the skills I had five years ago...' Asahi frowned heavily upon reading the screen. 'At the very least, at least I still have my Authority with me. Swordsman's Will has always been my greatest trump card, but what's Supreme Order?'

[That's my Authority. It's useful, but I've never truly needed to use it, my power mainly came from the other Skills that I possessed. Unfortunately, it would seem that all of our other Skills were taken away]

'Can't be helped, we'll just have to start from scratch.'

Asahi wasn't too deterred by this revelation, he did very much remember places he could go to regain certain Skills that would no doubt prove useful for the future. The issue now was how he was going to acquire them, some were either very protected or are in extremely dangerous areas.

[What's the plan from here?]

'Isn't it obvious? We need to get stronger, MUCH stronger. For my current level at this stage, I've got a pretty good place where we can train, the monsters aren't too out of our league but should provide a good boost when we kill them.'

That was how Hunters in this world got stronger, killing monsters.

According to researchers, this was due to a certain strange energy that is released upon the death of the monsters that now roamed the planet. By absorbing this energy, Hunters not only gain a boost in physical strength but also the possibility of unlocking new Skills.

After all, the people of this world didn't come up with the concept of Skills, it was something that they naturally discovered. Some people learned Skills unique to them as they got stronger, and some people got the same Skills as others.

For now, he had to get through this school day...

『You have been invited to the Omniversal Chat Group』

'What...'

[...the hell?]