I couldn't move. My mind tried its best to relay its command to my limbs but it was as if they didn't exist. There was a golden spear that glowed with blue light pierced into each of my limbs.
The spears were identical with minor differences but those differences mattered as they were meant to be used on a specific limb each. Those pretentious bastards had won. There was nothing he and I could do.
We were already exhausted from protecting our families and had barely any energy to fight back. Both our cultivations and our special abilities were useless without any energy to use them. His purple eyes no longer had the same shine to them as they did that day.
They were empty as can be. A hollow shell without its original hope and confidence as everything was lost. We couldn't protect those we loved and we couldn't protect each other.
I was lying on my stomach in a river formed by my blood as my golden hair was already tainted from it. The same was the case for him.
"Miss Elina, your resistance was futile. You could have been spared of the pain if you just agreed." said the man who put us in this state. He stood there with his arms crossed behind his back. He looked down at us with his usual condescending look. His eyes barely opened as there was not a trace of emotion on that cold face.
"I, Gu Weimin had warned you that you could never win against us. But still, you choose the hardest path to take. I could have ended this war in a single blow if you had just agreed." He shook his head as he patted his white robes.
The wind blew calamitously, indicating this world's reluctance to perish. Gu Weimin looked up into the red sky and addressed those watching.
"This is what happens to any world that denies our mercy. It is the kindness of our Gu clan to any world that is chosen as our opponent in the Realms War. Just give up instantly and let us end it in one go. It will prevent you all from the pain I have just meted upon these fellows."
At the end of the words came flashing white lights as the stars that dotted our sky were blinking out of existence.
The sky then followed suit as it evaporated, leaving behind a view of the expansive cosmos. I could also see the land and seas of my realm slowly being sucked in by a massive white orb.
The orb also ended the lives of those who weren't able to engage in this fight between realms as their chosen ones had failed.
"So it's all over." It finally hit me that there was nothing more that could be done. The end had already begun. I look over to the man who stole my heart and gave me his in return. All that was left of him was the head and a small portion of his neck.
The rest of his body had already become mush as he had resisted much more than I had. He was stronger than me not in body but in mind. Somehow there was still a smile on his face. A smile that I didn't understand.
'Why didn't you shed a tear?'
Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you beg? Why didn't you ask for mercy like I had?' I screamed the questions I would have liked to ask him before he died. He had struggled in vain because of me.
I knew he must have been in so much pain that I couldn't even imagine as Gu Weimin had taken him apart inch by inch. He had only lived through it all as Weimin had kept him alive through his vitality. I also knew why he had struggled so hard.
It was because I was the one who convinced him to fight against the Immortal Sanctity Realm to the end. I was the one who told him to never give up. In the end, I gave up first. I broke our promise but he kept it.
'Why are you smiling?' was another question I had but this was one I couldn't find the answer to. You cruel bastard, is this your final revenge on me for spurring you along this whole time?
"That marks the end of our time here Miss Elina. I have to commend you and your husband for the fight you both put up against my junior brothers and sisters.
I would have liked to at least have spared the souls of you both but I don't have that choice.
We can't have you reincarnating and keeping your memories by chance. The sect has already seen that happen to others a couple of times and would prefer to avoid it."
Gu Weimin took out his black longsword decorated with an obscene amount of jewels. He unsheathed his blade which is known as the Soul Annihilator II. The first one belonged to his father but both could wipe out souls completely. One of the few weapons that defy the universe's rule of recycling souls.
"Goodbye, brave warriors!" He said his final words to us. His final words to my world.
He stabbed my head with it. I waited as darkness was taking hold of my vision. I thought having my soul obliterated would hurt but I didn't feel anything. It didn't take long for my vision to fade to black.
My consciousness was swimming in a pool of endless darkness. I was waiting for it to all end and for my soul to disappear. To finally end this misery and to make sure I would never reincarnate again in a world where there's only pain.
SHINK!
A white spot of light had appeared in my soul. And then I felt it. My soul had escaped my body. I felt free. Free from the spears that held me down. I felt so light. It was like my soul held no weight at all.
I looked around and it seemed that time was frozen. The sword had only just entered my skull as I stared at the bodies on the ground from hundreds of meters in the air.
"If time is stopped then why am I like this?" I was purely confused. My sorrowed soul was ready to depart from existence. I had already accepted the end so what is this? I looked at Ryan's black hair and amethyst eyes which had lost all of their color. I also see his smile again.
His smile was still just as beautiful as the day we had taken our vows. His smile is just as reassuring as it was when I won my first tournament. His smile...
His smile...
His smile...
His smi...
Like a lightning bolt, the white light in my soul flashed as everything had gone dark again. It had happened just as I figured out why he was smiling.
That crazy bastard, just you fucking wait.
As soon as you again, I will shove my ice shards up your-
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Location: Outside Universe DX351
This is what read on the smartwatch of a man who was standing outside of what looked like a bubble of unfathomable size. A bubble that contained more colors than one could count.
The man wore a black puffer jacket and a red beanie. strands of blue hair were sticking out of the beany as he was brushing it aside.
"I hope it was worth it dude. You could have just sent yourself back." The man was mumbling to himself as he took his right hand from his hair and aimed his palm at the bubble.
"Zlaton Manish Grooper est Domande fes ne gaber fes est liben"
He started to chant as a golden magic circle containing strange symbols formed from his palm and grew in size every second until it covered the entirety of the bubble.
"ZA LATOM"
And with that, time within the universe spun backward, back before the war started.
Back to before this universe lost endless amounts of lives in senseless violence.
Back to the very moment in time where this story starts.
----------------------
The Alchemy city of Sofenia. A sprawling metropolis with a population exceeding 300,000. The architecture consisted of white, brown, and red brick buildings from 2 to 4 flours. The windows were mostly wooden as glass was not a commodity that could be easily afforded by the average person.
The government buildings all were topped with a round domed and held up by massive white pillars. It was the perfect representation of Renaissance era Europe except for the fact that this isn't Earth.
Horse carriages moved across the stone roads with haste as people walked leisurely on the side. Everyone was minding his own business with the occasional drama going on here and there.
It wasn't loud but it wasn't quite either. This is what an average city looked like in the Zlatan Empire.
On the west side of Sofenia was where the wealthy congregated. It was not covered in your usual townhouses for the commoners but rather hulking estates and mansions for the nobles and those who could match them.
Inside one of these mansions, sat a young lady in a room adorned with fancy art and jewel-covered ornaments. There was a bed that could easily accommodate 5 people just for her. There were plants and flowers that gave off natural scents that calmed one's mind.
Her figure was slender yet tall and was covered by a fancy black dress embroidered with golden string. She wore star shaped sapphire earrings. and sparkled from the sunlight entering the room from her glass windows.
She seemed to be in absolute resonance with her surroundings as a stoic expression matched the cold air she breathed out every couple of seconds. Her exhaled breath was visible to the naked eye even though the room was far from being cold.
Her golden blonde hair which was as bright as the sun, reached her back and was parted at the middle of her forehead. (She is on the novel cover)
"KEUK!"
Elina's head cocked back as she coughed out blood from her mouth. Her ocean like blue eyes shook open and she fell on the mat she was sitting on. Her nose started to bleed as her eyes rolled back leaving only the whityes visible.
Before losing complete consciousness she was able to mutter "I'm back..."