Over the many years Vakra had spent on Delvandal, not once had he ever noticed anything like a significant temporal anomaly forcing things to revert several years.
Not anything like Mizik had mentioned, anyway.
So when Mizik took the Cursebreaker and its crew, he was mildly prepared for the possibility that Mizik could die and cause such an anomaly.
However, Vakra also wondered why he had never felt such a thing before.
After all, if this story was to be believed, Mizik had been killed at least a few times before.
And the False Source of the Corruption that had recently infested their world seemed to confirm Vakra's theories with his way of speech.
That the reset anomalies do not affect the whole of creation.
Just the worlds affected by Corruption or Mizik's presence.
So Vakra found it quite intriguing that shortly after the Cursebreaker left, he felt something.
Vakra was highly attuned to the intricacies of time and space. As a literal walking and breathing paradox, he was well aware of their constant flow.
Naturally, as soon as the temporal anomaly appeared, Vakra recognized it instantly.
Since he didn't have the power at his disposal to prevent it due to his curse, he had no other choice.
Vakra transferred himself to a higher plane of existence temporarily. The fifth dimension.
Since he was out range for the temporal anomaly, he was unaffected by it.
After he returned, he found that things were as they had been many years ago.
Not terribly far, but Mizik estimated his own age to be near thirty at the time on Delvandal. Vakra couldn't recall Mizik's supposed age, however, because he didn't care. But it meant that his stay in multiple worlds could have altered his perception of his own life span.
This was a common occurrence for most otherworlders that didn't have such a finely tuned understanding of time.
Time moved differently in every world.
One year in Avernia could very well have been two in Delvandal.
And vice versa.
Since Vakra had not measured the specific temporal flow in Avernia and Ignitus, along with the days, lengths of days, years, and Mizik's date of birth, it stood to reason that he couldn't verify Mizik's actual age.
Of course, Vakra could simply have measured the temporal threads surrounding Mizik...but where was the fun in that?
Regardless, Vakra now stood before himself in his lab.
"Ah, is this an anomaly?" The other Vakra said.
"Indeed. We should merge and assess the situation. Something has gone wrong," the current Vakra said.
"Splendid. I am eager to examine this," the other said.
Then they shook hands and became one.
"Excellent. I have concluded that we are...around fifteen years in the past? Yes... This is very bad. It means Mizik has failed somewhere..." Vakra mumbled.
After spending a large amount of time thinking, Vakra came to a conclusion.
He would gather the legendary heart stones and bring them to Mizik and Isabella. Additionally, since Cassandra was likely to possess her own body, he would prepare one for her.
She had a unique compatibility with the Heart of the Deep.
Vakra thought more for a moment as well about allies...
He wanted to destroy the Corruption. It was necessary. From then on, Vakra did his best to collect a few of the people that Mizik would need.
Unfortunately, the only useful one available was Aldaril and he had lost his memories.
He currently dwelled far below his haunted mansion full of undead.
Vakra did not have the patience for such a thing.
So instead, he set out to recreate the blueprints and specific qualities of the containers for the heart stones.
At one point, he was bothered by Jarbold and Vakra simply imploded his skull.
The Emperor and Empress of Elysium were currently still alive, and Vakra did not wish to deal with their naive son alone again. Even if he had yet to be born.
They didn't imprison him, thankfully, because they found out that Vakra's claims on his treachery were true.
After that, he was left alone.
Since Vakra lacked the assistance of the Enforcer named Leiso, he could only write down the atomic specifications of the metal that he needed in a way she would understand while preparing the secondary materials needed.
Actually, Vakra missed Leiso. She was a hard worker, very pleasing to the eyes, and smelled faintly of iron and seawater.
Eventually, Vakra set out to collect the legendary stones.
First, he took the Heart of the Deep right out from under the guardian's nose.
Since Vakra could move between dimensions and create subspace pathways to teleport from location to location, this was easy.
Next, he took the Heart of the World.
Zangriol had been asleep and didn't notice a thing.
Lastly...
Vakra arrived on mount Gahu to find it completely barren.
"This is...unexpected..." He said.
It was immediately obvious that something had changed in the past...
When he thought about it, he could no longer recall Jin Takemoto ever speaking of Isabella in this timeline.
"Not good."
After that, he searched the area of the mountain and only found remnants of the Heart of the Sky.
"Very bad... This is unusual..." Vakra mumbled.
Some of the valuable time he had spent preparing now seemed to go to waste.
Regardless, Vakra would soon attempt to find Avernia.
He had written a notebook filled with the things Mizik would need to remember.
Since Vakra had both of the legendary stones in his inventory, he decided to leave.
Just before it happened...
He felt another strange anomaly...
Like the Heart of the Sky.
"I suppose Isabella gets a stone, after all...?"
Vakra immediately opened a pathway to the location and ended up standing before a familiar woman with pink hair.
"Wh-what the...? Hello?" She said.
"Greetings, Isabella. I am unsure of how you managed to keep your form, but...could you explain the situation to me?" Vakra asked.
"How...do you know that name?" She asked.
"Simple. You and Mizik were here for a while. We fought side by side. I saved your life, if I recall correctly. When the anomaly happened, I managed to escape it. I had planned to give you the Heart of the Sky, but it seems as if...you already have it?"
"I see. So this is why Grandma wanted me to destroy this world. You are sharing in the delusions of the Demon Lord Mizik Iratus!"
Vakra was usually pretty good at understanding things, but now he was confused. A rarity for him.
"Demon Lord? No. He is your husband. Did you have an argument? If so...my arms are always open to you... Just don't tell Mizik. He would probably kill me-"
"Silence! I have no interest in love of any kind until my mission is complete. I am here to destroy this world in order to sever Mizik's sphere of influence!"
Suddenly, Vakra began to understand.
"I see. You've gone completely insane. Do you have any idea who Mizik is?" Vakra said.
Without warning, a blast of light impacted Vakra's head and destroyed his brain.
He fell over dead.
"Good riddance... Now then..."
Then, Vakra stood back up in a flash of azure flame.
"Gah...well then. That's one. Its been far too long since I died... Ah...I'm a skeleton now... Interesting...death causes me to switch forms...? Or does it? I can't seem to remember since it's been so long... I mustn't forget to analyze that."
Then Isabella turned back to Vakra with an alarmed expression.
"What in the name of Excelsis...?"
"Since you cannot remember who I am, allow me to introduce myself...again. I am Vakra, The Mad Admiral. The Walking Paradox. You managed to kill me, so congratulations. But do you not realize that you've only killed one of me? You still have over two hundred thousand to go. Do you have the patience for it?" Vakra asked.
"You are a monster, yes? A filthy undead. I will purge you from existence and destroy this world!" Isabella shouted.
As she unsheathed her sword, Vakra noticed something about Bravery.
It had an unusual energy around it...
Almost akin to the energy that had been used to curse Vakra.
"Interesting...mind if I borrow that?" Vakra said.
Before Isabella could respond, Vakra siphoned a portion of her power into himself.
"Now I'll just make a few adjustments and..."
Suddenly, Vakra's skin grew back and he once again appeared human.
Isabella tried to blast him again, but the light from her magic twisted and warped out of existence.
"YES!!! FINALLY!!! THE CURSE IS LIFTED!!!!" Vakra screamed gleefully.
"C-curse!?" Isabella said.
"You are truly beyond saving, Isabella. I can see that something has gotten hold of your mind and rewritten your memories. How sad. Oh well, Mizik will most likely be happier with the ever-loyal Cassandra. Honestly, I never liked you. You were always acting so high and mighty!" Vakra said.
"MY NAME IS ROSE!!! AND I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THAT EVIL BASTARD!!!"
"I see. Very well, then..." Vakra said..
Suddenly, Rose was assaulted by several swirling masses of gravity.
She blasted them back with several barriers but they had no effect.
The gravitational anomalies warped and twisted her barriers into oblivion.
Vakra snapped his fingers and everything around Rose burst into azure flames as cold as ice.
Then he disappeared.
Before Rose could react, a barrage of punches assailed her from all angles at once and she dropped to her knees.
"Hmm...interesting. You're just as dense as before...perhaps even harder. Unfortunately, your defense is only a concept to me. A concept that I have chosen to ignore," Vakra said.
"Monster...! What are you...!? How does Mizik command such powerful allies!?" Rose said.
"I already told you. I am a paradox. Now, I will-...gah..." Vakra said.
He doubled over in pain as he felt his skin burning and freezing at the same time.
"NO!!! WHY MUST YOU CURSE ME!?!? I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!!!" Vakra screamed.
He glared at Rose as she regenerated. He felt helpless.
Rose raised her sword.
"SUNLIGHT BLADE!!!" She roared.
She brought the blade down on Vakra and hit him directly down the center. But somehow...
...she also missed.
"What's going on here!?" She said.
"Vile cretin... You can't hit something not located in this dimension!" Vakra said angrily.
"Very well! I'll just do what I came here to do in the first place!" Rose said.
She stabbed her sword into the ground and focused.
"WORLD SIPHON!!!" She shouted.
Vakra watched in anger as Delvandal was suddenly sucked dry of all of its animus energy within minutes...
Everything around him began to wither and die...
"You bitch... I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!!!" He screamed.
"Your evil will no longer pollute the glory of creation. Wither away just as this corrupt world has under the influence of Demon Lord Mizik!!!"
"MIZIK IS NOT A DEMON LORD, YOU IDIOT!!!" Vakra screamed again.
Rose simply smiled.
"I couldn't care less," she said.
Vakra realized that he'd had enough of this nonsense.
He quickly ran through several equations and latched onto the energy Rose had been using.
Once he bought himself more time, he opened a subspace pathway and left Delvandal.
As he left, he saw it begin to crumble away and gritted his teeth in rage.
Right now, he needed to find Mizik.
* * *
As Cassandra and I trained, we realized that it had been a month since we began.
Leiso was trying as hard as she could to break us, but had yet to go over what we could handle.
"How are you two so durable!? And furthermore, Mizik, why are you so experienced in martial arts for someone that's only fourteen!?" Leiso asked.
I managed to subdue Leiso using her own style of martial arts that I mastered with her tutoring and the Warlord Aspect in the previous life.
Although I no longer possessed that power, I could feel remnants of its muscle memory.
But before I could answer Leiso's questions, I felt a strange presence behind me.
When I turned my head, a familiar man smiled at me as part of his face slowly burned off.
"Found you."