Merlin was confused. Why was he still alive? The last thing he could remember was that frightening attack from Zero, the self-proclaimed 'Monarch' who tore space and entered Earth from another dimension through the special rift he opened. The reason he entered the planet was still unknown, but many of the survivors guessed that he had come to horde all the resources Earth had produced since the Apocalypse began and collect it with his loot from other planets.
This was because he often stated that he was waiting for a long time, which meant that he had planned his appearance on Earth. Therefore travelling to Earth through his special rift was not a coincidence, but was meticulously planned. The required calculations and mana required to plan this the route of a rift was unimaginable, while the physical strength required to travel through the rift was enormous!
Many human elementalists, peak swordsman and peak berserkers have died just trying to get near already opened special rifts. Anyway, Zero also stated that he was on a time limit to conquer this plane. Although he calls planets 'planes', the fact remained that if he had a time limit, then he had to finish this 'plane' soon.
The most reasonable theory was that he had to go to another one of his 'planes' soon to conquer it as well. Therefore, it could be assumed that he had already conquered at least another plane before Earth.
When Zero came to Earth, he used some sort of mana bomb to flatten the city of Dubai, where he landed. Soon, the forced of the Central Desert collected all their strongest forces to try and kill the monster of a Zombie. However, they were wiped out in the same manner. Soon, all the forces of the Human Resistance gathered in Dubai to face off against that monstrosity.
They began a last battle against it to try and kill it, however, the battle was longer than anyone could have imagined. They fought continuously for 3 months, without a wisp of water or food. Only stopping to recover their mana using potions. The level at which these last survivors were at was something only one in a billion people could showcase. It was at the point where they could replace any bodily needs with mana, including hunger and thirst. However, Zero was not an ordinary Zombie.
All physical attacks were negated by his mana re-enforced flesh. The quality of this flesh was beyond what humans could ever hope to achieve. Even after 7 years of time since the Apocalypse began, humans weren't able to come anywhere near Zero's toughness. The mana circulating inside his body was just too strong to be affected my mana swords and daggers. On top of that insane defence, Zero had a passive skill that allowed him absorb any mana in an attack. Which meant that if any of the mana on those swords escaped, or if there was a crack on the sword, Zero could absorb all that mana of the sword, as well as the wielder if he stayed connected to the weapon.
Countless swordsman were killed to mana depletion from this crazy absorption ability. This ability also negated any elemental attacks besides the ones that were not completely mana. This included most basic elementalists. However, some of them could still use their higher level spells. Like lightening elementalists could still spilt the charges in the air to form natural lightening. However, The amount of damage natural attacks like that could do on a mana-reinforced being, whose mana transcended the quality available on the Earth was negligible.
However, Merlin was lucky enough to come across an extreme spell which also seemed to transcend the level supported by the Earth. It was [Soul Burn], a spell of [Unknown Tier] according to the system. It would use 1/4th of the user's soul to remove 3/4th of the target's vitality, ignoring any defences or other disadvantage. However, the casting requirements were insane!
The caster would have to be around 10 m away from the target, and it would take 20 minutes to cast. This was the last option that every one of the remaining survivors were depending on. As Merlin was reaching the end of his cast, with 8 minutes past, and 5 of the survivors sacrificed for the time, Zero had frowned.
It lasted for merely a moment, but it did not escape Merlin's gaze, since he had to constantly monitor all of Zero's actions, in order to avoid any damage to himself that could injure him or interrupt his cast. However, Zero's frown was replaced by a smile and that same smile remained until he destroyed that last of humanity.
Then, all Merlin could remember was that mechanical voice ringing in his head, and telling him something, but Merlin's memory was too fuzzy to remember anything.
"Ha ha… that monster!" Merlin's thoughts could only lead to him realising that Zero was just toying with the human resistance. The countless people dying to his attacks…was merely him swatting annoying flies.
'Was the power difference that great?' Merlin thought, as he began to mumble his thoughts aloud, followed by a hysterical laughter.
"Hey Merlin? What is wrong? Why aren't you answering me? What happened?" Alex was thoroughly confused. Merlin had never acted like so much of a lunatic before. Given that sometimes while playing some very weird video-games, or when gobbling down candies, The both of them behaved like crazed idiots, but never to this extent.
"Ah Alex. Nothing…Let's go." Saying this, Merlin held Alex's hand as they got off the subway and onto the platform of Jefferson Avenue.
"Hey, we aren't supposed to get off here!"
"Yes I know, but just trust me okay?" Merlin stated as he made his way out of the station. He needed to confirm whether everything was real or not. As soon as they stepped out of the station, what awaited them was the scene of a bustling city.
'How could this be?' Merlin was questioning whether it was a dream? Was it real? Then were the past seven years just a long nightmare? No! That wasn't possible. I couldn't be? It was too real! The suffering, the pain of losing all your loved ones, the sacrifices, It had to be real! Then what was going on?
However, what Merlin feared the most happened. The ground shook and a mechanical voice began talking. A voice he couldn't forget.
[Hello Mortals. I am Arcania, the system designed to help you survive for longer, in order to appease the master. The tutorial period will begin in 1 hour. I will last for 72 hours. During this period, benefits will be given at a higher value that usual to help you grow. Don't die too quickly]
'F**k! It wasn't a dream!' Merlin remembered this moment very vividly. It was the start of the Apocalypse! However, this time Merlin had the memories of the last human alive, the last survivor, and he would have to restart on his path on surviving this Apocalypse.