In Kephela's past life, Rain was a beacon of balance—a force that stood between the Demon forces and the human factions, preventing their mutual destruction.
He wielded enough power to keep both sides in check, holding the world together in a delicate equilibrium.
For ten years after the Demon Overlord's resurrection, he maintained this fragile peace.
Kephela, one of his closest companions and his most dedicated disciple, stood by his side during these years of tenuous stability.
Rain's strength was awe-inspiring.
His abilities far surpassed those of his peers, and as the years went on, he only grew stronger.
But with strength came fear.
The heroes—those summoned to defeat the Demon Overlord—had once been his allies.
However, they chose not to return to Earth after completing their mission.
Instead, they sought to keep the Demon Overlord alive, prolonging the war for their own gains.
They grew envious of Rain's power, fearing that he would one day rule the world.
Their fear turned to suspicion, and suspicion to betrayal.
The betrayal was swift and devastating.
One of the heroes, someone Rain had trusted with his life, conspired against him.
"Can you believe it? They actually think they can betray me," Rain muttered, frustration tinged in his voice.
The plot was cruel in its simplicity: take away his most treasured companion, Kephela.
At the age of 30, Kephela had already achieved the 8th tier in magic.
Though a brilliant mage, she was still frail, unable to cultivate Qi due to her body's limitations.
When she was kidnapped, the heroes did not hesitate to use the most brutal methods to extract information from her.
Kephela endured days of torture, her body weak and fragile, unable to resist the excruciating pain.
"Please, just let me go. I don't know anything!" she screamed, her voice cracking under the strain.
They sought secrets—secrets on how to become stronger, how to surpass their current limits.
But there were no secrets to give.
The agony she endured left her broken, and it was this suffering that ignited the storm of vengeance in Rain's heart.
'How could they do this to her? I won't let them get away with it,' Rain thought, his rage simmering just below the surface.
Rain, at the time, had already reached the 10th tier in magic, a level that few could even comprehend.
He had also attained the Mahayana Realm as a cultivator, a feat even rarer in the human world.
The combination of these two powers made him nearly invincible.
When he discovered what had been done to Kephela, his fury knew no bounds.
"Those traitors will pay for this," he vowed, his voice low and dangerous.
What followed was a massacre.
Rain slaughtered everyone who had a hand in Kephela's brutal rape and torture.
His rage extended to anyone remotely connected to the treacherous heroes, leaving a trail of blood and broken lives.
"Those who dared to defile her will pay the ultimate price," he growled, his voice a chilling whisper.
Their families, their allies, even innocents who had unknowingly crossed their paths—none were spared.
His vengeance was absolute, and in his rage, he drained the world's mana.
The magic that flowed through the veins of every living creature began to fade, weakening the entire world's power levels.
'This world will learn the price of betrayal,' Rain thought, his heart pounding with fury.
With the world's mana depleted, Rain established his Tyrant Empire.
His rule was iron-fisted, and for ten long years, the world lived under his domination.
"Justice is what they deserve," he declared to his followers, who stood in awe of his unyielding power.
Race discrimination was forbidden—Rain saw to that—but his justice was cruel and unforgiving.
Anyone linked to his enemies, no matter how tangentially, was executed without mercy.
Kephela, once so devoted to Rain, began to see the devastating toll his vengeance was taking on the world.
At first, she understood his anger.
"I know you're hurting, Rain," she tried to reason with him, desperation lacing her voice.
She, too, had suffered at the hands of those who betrayed them.
But as the years passed, the bloodshed became too much.
"Look at what you've become! You're losing yourself!" she shouted, her heart breaking.
The innocent were dying, and the world was crumbling under the weight of Rain's fury.
The man she had once admired, loved even, was now a monster consumed by revenge.
Unable to bear it any longer, Kephela sought out the remaining heroes—the ones still considered "good" in the eyes of the world.
"We have to stop him," she insisted, her resolve hardening.
She hoped that together they could stop Rain, bring him back from the edge of madness.
But they captured her instead.
"No! Let me go!" she cried as they bound her hands.
This time, however, there was no torture.
She was used as bait, a lure to draw Rain into a trap.
"Just wait until he comes for you," one of the heroes sneered, confidence brimming in his voice.
The heroes, now all having reached the 10th tier themselves, set up a Mana Void Formation—a powerful array that neutralized all magical abilities within its radius.
"Rain won't stand a chance without his magic," they laughed among themselves, anticipation evident in their eyes.
Though Rain's body was incredibly strong, enhanced by his cultivation to the level of someone in the Mahayana Realm, he was still vulnerable without his magic.
'They think they can outsmart me,' he thought, his anger surging as he rushed toward the formation.
Moreover, despite his cultivation, he lacked the martial arts knowledge needed to defend himself without sorcery.
When he stepped into the formation, thinking he could save Kephela, he fell into their trap.
"Get away from her!" he roared, eyes blazing with fury.
Rain was killed that day.
He died at the age of 45, his once unparalleled power stripped from him.
Kephela, by then a 40-year-old woman, watched helplessly as her master and the man she loved perished before her eyes.
"No! Rain!" she screamed, her heart shattering as tears streamed down her face.
In the years that followed, the heroes succeeded in defeating the Demon Overlord.
With their mission complete, they returned to Earth.
But their victory came at a terrible cost.
Human supremacy took hold in the world they left behind.
The demi-humans—those who had once fought alongside and against the humans—were enslaved, their kind treated as nothing more than tools.
Kephela, now 50, could only weep as she watched the suffering of the beings she had once fought to protect.
"Why didn't I do more?" she lamented, feeling the weight of her failure.
The world had fallen into chaos, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Then, one day, she stumbled upon Rain's staff.
The same staff he had wielded during his reign.
As she held it in her hands, she noticed something unusual—inscribed on the prism magic core at the head of the staff was a spell.
"A regression spell," she whispered, realization dawning on her.
It was a safeguard, something Rain had created in case of his own demise.
The spell had not activated when he was killed because of the Mana Void Formation, but now, with the staff in her possession, Kephela realized she had a chance.
'This is it. This is my opportunity,' she thought, hope flickering in her heart.
A chance to go back.
With nothing left to lose, Kephela activated the spell.
"It's time to set things right," she murmured, determination coursing through her veins.
It was a risky move, but one she was willing to take.
The spell worked, and she regressed to her past, her life resetting to when she was just a baby.
This time, things would be different.
This time, she would save Rain from the path of destruction.
As she grew older in this new timeline, she founded the AHS—an organization designed to gather power and influence.
"Together, we will change the fate of this world," she declared to her father, her voice filled with conviction.
But she kept her true identity hidden, pretending to be nothing more than a branch manager.
The real leader of the AHS was her father, a 9th tier mage.
He was the only one who believed her when she revealed that she was a regressor, having lived through a different timeline.
Together, they built the organization, preparing for the battles to come.
Now, as she stood alongside Rain—disguised as Gandolf—in the present, Kephela knew she had to be careful.
Her every move was calculated, every word chosen with purpose.
'I can't let him know the truth, not yet,' she reminded herself, anxiety tightening her chest.
But she would guide him, protect him, and maybe, just maybe, this time they could prevent the tragedy that had torn them apart in her previous life.
This time, she would save him.