(A Few Days Later)
Inside a deep dark forest full of dense trees, a certain person was seen standing in front of a glowing blue portal in front of them that radiated enough energy to sway the leaves of the trees around them.
"Sigh, I can't believe I am already doing this, tackling a B rank rift all on my own" muttered the person as his crimson red eyes glowed in the shadowy forest coated in blue light from the portal acting as a light source.
[Kim Jong-ga] [Title: Looper]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Hunter]
[Gift: Analyze(Mythical) …]
[Body: B]
[Mind: B]
[Energy: A]
[Skills: Regeneration(B) Danger Sense(B) Orc's Strength(B) Scaled Skin(B) …]
"You can do this, you've been soloing C rank rifts for the past few days already, you're more than prepared to tackle a B rank rift. You're not weak anymore, you can already kill an Orc in one hit" said Jong-ga as his hands trembled in a shaky way.
"*Deep breath* Haaa, let's do this" muttered Jong-ga as blood gathered at the palm of his hands to form globs of blood all around him while his crimson eyes glowed in the dark night.
And with that, he walked through the portal with a resolute face and as he passed through a weird membrane of space, he was greeted by the sight of a cave-like hallway with no sources of light.
But that wasn't a problem for Jong-ga as his whole vision lit up from the change of his eyes and with a casual glance, he noticed the marks on the ground and walls that appears to be claws of some sort.
"Claws, a cave, a very dark cave… shit!" said Jong-ga as a sphere of blood rapidly covered his whole body, and luckily for him, his guess was right as a horrid shriek appeared all around the long hallway that brought a sense of fear for him as memories flooded his mind from his past.
(Flashback)
Inside a similar dark cave, a weak frail man was seen desperately holding a sword towards a ginormous bat-like creature with giant ears and wings that spanned the whole hallway leaving him no way out.
"P- Please! I don't want to die!" shouted the person as his whole body trembled in fear as the monster's crimson red eyes glowed in glee, slowly toying with its prey as if it was one of the funniest things in the world.
"JONG-GA! RUN AWAY!" shouted a person from the other end of a tunnel as he look back to see a certain figure that made his eyes widen in fear.
"NO! PLEASE NO!" shouted Jong-ga as he watched the person rush towards the gigantic bat in front of him, and with a surprising amount of strength, the person pushed the bat back with loud grunts while the person look back to face Jong-ga with a sad smile.
"Goodbye, it was nice meeting you kiddo, it seems like my adventure ends here," said the man as tears drip down from Jong-ga's eyes.
"N- NOOOO!!!" shouted Jong-ga as the man's body glowed fiery red and yellow in the dark decrepit cave and as his body expanded to an unnatural degree, a loud explosion appeared from the man as the epicenter, and with that, Jong-ga was knocked unconscious from the explosion.
(Flashback ends)
"NO!" shouted Jong-ga as he reached out his hand towards the crimson red wall but he quickly snapped back from his memories and saw that a claw was in front of his outstretched hand and if he pushed it any further, his arm would get clawed in half.
"H- hahaha, why did you sacrifice yourself for a loser like me… sniff, I'll avenge you, I promise that. I'll eradicate the monsters that destroyed our world, and I'll kill the man who brought despair to us" said Jong-ga as his fist tightened while looking at the monstrous bats around him.
"HA!" shouted Jong-ga as the blood sphere around him elongated outwards to produce sharp blood spikes that pierce the horde of bats around him while blood flooded the ground around him.
With a vengeful grin, his eyes glowed crimson while the blood suck in towards his body as blood claws appeared on his hands, and with that, he rushed headfirst towards the bats while his whole vision slowed down with the activation of his Gift.
As he swung each of his claws towards the weak points of the monstrous bats around him, tears drip down his eyes with the constant flashing of his memories burning in his mind.
"I'll avenge all of you, I promise that," said Jong-ga with trembling eyes as he roared in a monstrous bellow, and with that, his rage-filled eradication of the bats started.
(Akihiko Tanaka POV)
"Sigh, how is he constantly avoiding our espionage?" said Aki as he scratched his head in annoyance at Jong-ga's constant disappearance from their spying.
"But I still got useful data out of our spying, and everything is looking bleak. Jong-ga does indeed have multiple Gifts, and not only that, he's getting stronger every day at a fast pace with the constant looping" I muttered while massaging my forehead at how much I have to restart the past few days and constantly do the same actions every day.
"Sigh, at least many of my goals are already accomplished. The curriculum for schools that joined us has been made, research on the crystal has been going well but it's still slow, my agency is already expanding our bases all around Spes, and in a few months we will be able to infiltrate the other continents, but there is one problem… the holy kingdom floating in the sky" I muttered with a sigh.
"School is going to start tomorrow already, I'll just do some meditation for tonight and prepare for school tomorrow" I muttered and closed the lights inside my room with my voice and sat down on a lotus position.
"But there is one thing, what is Sora's Gift? Or perhaps the special power he has? I didn't get it when I killed everyone before so there must be a thing I must do to steal it just like Gifts" I muttered while I closed my eyes and with that, I went into a trance deep inside my mind as I did some mental training that I started to do every day.
(The Next Day)
As Aki sat down on his bed with slow steady breaths, the rays of light from the sun started to pierce through his window with them all directly hitting his face bringing him out of his deep trance.
And as he opened his eyes, he let out a breath from his mouth while letting out a yawn at the same time.
With a casual glance around his room, he went to the edge of his bed and prop his legs down on the ground to stand up, and headed towards the door beside him.
"Good morning!" I said while heading downstairs while my father was watching the television as usual.
"Good morning Aki," said my father with a nod as I went towards the bathroom to take a shower and did the usual things I do on a daily basis.
Took a shower, put on my uniform, eat some breakfast, wait for my family to also finish their daily routine and we were finally back inside our car.
"So Aki, what news did you get about your new curriculum?" asked my father while driving down the road.
"Our focus will now be put on a more combat-oriented system, and we are still going to learn the hero stuff but most of our focus will be reducing infrastructure damage from monsters that escape the rifts, learning what the monsters are and their weakness, and yada yada yada," I said as my father nodded.
"So are you guys going to the real deal?" asked my father.
"No, they won't allow us to enter the rifts until later once they get a good grasp on them and are sure that they can safely save us from danger," I said.
"Good, it shows that they are focused on the safety of students and won't put you guys in unnecessary danger," said my mother as we stopped the car in front of Shiro's middle school.
"Bye-bye!" shouted Shiro as he got out of the car and waved goodbye to us.
"Goodbye Shiro!" we shouted and drove off towards Hope Academy, after a few short minutes, we arrived in front of Hope Academy and got out of the car, and said our goodbyes.
"Yawn," I said while I entered Hope Academy through the entrance and glanced around the crowd of students gossiping about the new curriculum we have to follow and saw that there were new buildings in the distance already that wasn't there before.
But what they didn't know is that this is all part of my plan, my plan where I'll become the Messiah and the Devil to reach the peak of this world and find out the hidden truth veiled behind a shadow of lies and deceit.
AN: This is 1522 words, you're welcome.
The Sword of Damocles hangs above each and everyone one of you with its ever present threat of despair, so send me some power stones with your power of friendship and save the thousands perhaps even millions to come who will read this masterpiece immortalized in the tunnels of time.
(April 8, 2022 – 135th day of writing)