001: The Downfall

Inside a small medical ward, Arthur, a twenty-five year old young man was lying on the bed with all sorts of life-support instruments attached to his wounded body after the bloody gang war that occurred a few hours prior.

Beeping noises from the heart monitor echoed in his ears.

Even though his condition was stabilized and his bleeding was stopped, he could feel that his life was fading away slowly as the coldness crept upon his body.

"Nolan, you bastard!"

Arthur cursed his sworn brother who betrayed him.

Everything that he had built was destroyed in a single night. Better yet, his girlfriend cheated on him and had affairs with Nolan for years unbeknownst to Arthur.

Resentment and vengeance clouded his mind, "I will curse you all even from the afterlife!"

With that said, Arthur exhaled his last breath as his mind went into oblivion.

***

As soon as he was certain that he'd certainly died, he once again opened his eyes and found himself floating above a gruesome battlefield.

"What the- Am I in hell or something?"

It was a serene winter night with a full moon looming over the frigid, desolate plain.

Its silvery light shone upon the corpses of fallen warriors who died in the greatest war the land ever witnessed.

The smell of death lingers from every inch of the soil, their blood dyed everything and turned into a crimson river in the middle of the valley.

Even the whiteness of fresh snowflakes falling upon them was not able to cover them and instantly turned red when they landed on the ground.

The caws of the vultures and crows, the roars of the mutated beasts were music to the ears of a fair young man that stood tall and firm atop the highest hill of corpses in the middle of the battlefield.

He was in a trance state due to his extremely wounded body, he was neither dead nor alive at that point. He clung his dear life onto the last drop of Qi that was stored in his Dantian.

Thanks to his two wolf beasts companions that shared their life forces to support their master that was barely able to breath on his own.

Although he was reincarnated to the Argoth Continent and was already at the Peak God Realm in terms of cultivation with hundreds of Mythical Beasts at his disposal, he couldn't defeat Noxus, the Holy Church pope who wielded dozens of Heavenly Artifacts.

Right above him, a middle aged man donned in golden armor floats in the sky along with his hundreds thousands strong devoted Holy Knights.

The silver haired young man was surrounded from all directions while his beasts armies and his allies were slaughtered mercilessly in the name of the Holy Crusade.

As all his abilities were rendered useless. As his death drew near, the Pope descended before him. "I commend your tenacity in reaching this far against me as a mere Beast Master, puny human." said the Pope in such haughtiness.

The two white and black wolf-beasts growled and snarled while standing protectively over their master. He couldn't move his body due to the excessive Qi Deviation after the intense four-week battle he was embroiled in without rest even for a single day.

Hoarsely, The Silver haired man mumbled a spell to undo the contract with the wolf-beasts. Soon enough, two wolf tattoos on the back of his hands disappeared to thin air.

"Skoll, Hati… you are free to go."

Skoll and Hati whined and started to shed tears. They nudged their master's shoulders to revoke the contract spell.

"Don't give me those eyes. GO! LEAVE ME!"

The two wolf-beasts didn't listen to him and move on their accord instead of leaving the battlefield. They charged so fiercely towards Noxus without any fear even though they knew their attempt was futile.

With just two swings of his massive longsword, Noxus beheaded the wolf-beasts effortlessly.

"No.. NOO!" he cried at the top of his lungs.

The Pope swung his longsword to get rid of the blood to the ground. He then brandished it to Arthur's neck.

"Hah! Hahaha! Although you are reincarnated to this land, even with your title as Monarch of The Beast, you still can't defeat us! The fate of this land is sealed! A whole new world shall be reborn from the ashes of these puny humans!"

Ptooey!

The silver haired young man spat his blood from his mouth onto Noxus' face, "Even If you already took control of that body and gained the highest authority upon this land. I will come back, I shall kill you thousands of times! And I will get my revenge!"

Infuriated, Noxus wiped the blood from his face and kicked Arthur straight into the chest.

"Your Heresy ends here!"

The silver haired man coughed out a mouthful of blood, "Bah! Hahaha! Heresy you said? Your army ravaged hundreds of innocent women, you killed tens of thousands enslaved men for your so-called holy sacrifices. They all are my people! I won't let you get away with it. Someday... whether in your past or your future, I shall-"

Pa!

Noxus slapped him with his sword to his left cheek. However, the silver haired chuckled and smirked even though he knew his life was about to end.

"Any last word?"

"Yeah… " with his last strength, he raised his left middle finger with a proud face and smirked.

"You are a dead meat!"

Infuriated, Noxus swung his sword with all his might.

Slash!

With just that one stroke, Arthur's views was upside down as the worlds was spun uncontrollably in his eyes.

A flock of crows quickly descended down to feast upon his head and body. That was the last view that Arthur saw before he went into oblivion.

Pope Noxus laughed like a maniac after he beheaded his nemesis which hindered his plan to rule the Argoth Continent once and for all.

Or… That was what it ought to be.

***

Arthur opened his eyes and found himself on an altar in the middle of a great hall. He tried to sit but his head rang aloud as if it had been hammered multiple times after witnessing such grotesqueness.

"What in the actual fuck is happening right now, where Am I again?"

The white and cold limestone table was the first thing he felt on his half naked body. A few seconds later, a beautiful hum of a female echoed throughout the hall and she appeared in front of Arthur.

"Welcome to the Resurrection Altar, human."

Arthur was alerted and jumped down from the altar.

"Who's there?!"

A beautiful Goddess soon appeared and materialized in front of him. Arthur's mouth was agape upon seeing the otherworldly beauty. She wore a white long robe that covered her lower half but was very revealing at the upper half.

The fabric was so thin, transparent almost. Her voluptuous bosom was about to spill if it wasn't for the knot at the back of her neck.

"My name is Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge."

Arthur couldn't help but fixate his sight onto the supple bosom in front of him.

"My face is up here, human." the Goddess scolds him with a firm tone.

"Ah.. I am sorry, I-I just… you know… hehe." Arthur snapped back to his senses. Chuckled awkwardly.

Minerva couldn't help but shake her head.

"A male will always be a male, regardless if they are gods or mortals. You are forgiven, Arthur."

"Thank you. Anyway... is this an afterlife or something?"

"Yes and also no. We are in Resurrection Altar where I resurrect the Selected One, I grant them wisdom and strength as I see fit. What you call 'afterlife' is an abstraction of another life that a mere human couldn't perceive due to their limitation. In other words, you are selected by the Almighty and granted a second chance to redeem your mistakes in your previous life."

"Am I about to get resurrected and have a chance to avenge those bastards who wronged me?! I am in!" Arthur replied in full excitement without second thoughts.

"Not that fast, first thing first. You will be reincarnated to another world. In this case, the Argoth Continent, a land of beasts and wonders. You'll be reincarnated as a beast master and you shall lead this world into prosperity."

"Wait a minute," Arthur felt a deja vu as he recalled the weird dream between dreams that he had earlier.

Minerva acknowledged what he had been through in that sub-dimensional realm, "What you saw in your dream was the echoes of memories from the distant future."

He was in utter shock and couldn't muster any words for a brief moment. "Which means, Am I going to loop and die over and over again!? How should I fight those evil Gods while I'm just a mere mortal?"

"No need to worry, your fate to meet me and being reincarnated can't be avoided. However, if you are able to be better, you'll be able to change your fate as well as your future."

"I see… But how am I supposed to survive in a totally different world than I used to be?"

"I shall grant you with all the necessary knowledge and wisdom. However, you must cultivate your own strength and power to fully understand and grasp all the knowledge that I give to you."

"So... what I have to do then?"

"Your task is to bring peace and order to the Argoth Continent and subjugate the Outer God who will corrupt the mind of certain significant figures and bring chaos upon the land. Also... inequality between races in Argoth Continent shall be restored. I beg you. Please lead them into prosperity and save this world from those evil gods."

"Tsk!" Arthur clicked his tongue while scruffled his head, "Fine, whatever... that'll do! But, I will do it my way, though. I am not your typical cliche hero who will save anyone and doing everyone's bid. I am not your errand boy. But don't worry, I will see what I can do after I learned this land myself."

"Yo! Almighty!" Arthur shouted above his head. "You can hear me, right? Just sit tightly on your throne and grant me what you've promised when I am done!"

The Goddess sighed heavily, she couldn't defy his impudence either since Arthur was the only person with Level 10 Soul Aptitude. Only one amongst billions of births on Earth that could be reincarnated into another world.

"Okay, then. Just be careful. I wish you good luck on your journey."

"Yes, I will prevail and I shall pay my revenge."

Arthur's blue eyes were fueled with vengeance that made Minerva shudder in fear.

She couldn't even fathom what kind of destruction, disasters and calamities that might happen in his second life.

"Alright! Here we go! Clench your jaws or you will bite your tongue!"

!!!!

Arthur's body was illuminated so bright with golden lights. Series of Spell Circles were drawn automatically around his body. The energy friction was so strong and chaotic. If one's Soul Aptitude was too low, the latter's soul would be torn and shattered into pieces and impossible to construct the soul back to one piece.

Wooosh!

With just that, Arthur was back to the eastern part of the Argoth Continent or most likely the Eastaros Sub-Continent. The place where he could cultivate his strength along with many other cultivators.

[Path of the Beast' Monarch System has been granted.]

[General Knowledges has been granted]

[Basic Magic has been granted]

[Basic Physical Ability has been granted]

[Sending Selected One into the destined world: Argoth Continent.]

[Succeed]