Wheeze

Cough

"Damn, this hurts like hell," a man gasped, blood pooling in his mouth before he spat it onto the scorched ground. The metallic taste mixed with the ash he just inhaled, leaving a rather disgusting taste.

"Hmm? You're still alive, mortal?" A deep, booming voice reverberated through the stillness of the devastated city, where the only sounds were the crackling flames devouring the remnants of what was once the majestic city of Avalon and the man's labored breaths.

"I must admit, you weren't entirely useless for your kind." The creature continued in its familiar, emotionless voice.

"Unfortunately, it was all in vain. But you lot certainly made for a tasty meal. I haven't enjoyed such a feast since I last devoured a planet full of those liza…hm?! You're getting up?" The creature's tone shifted to one of incredulity, its massive form casting an ominous shadow over the battered and broken man.

"Shut your mouth, you pale bastard!" the man shouted, forcing a grin as he struggled to meet the creature's gaze...well, not that he could. The thing was more than 300 feet tall. There was no way he could see its fucking head.

He could feel the creature's contempt as it looked down at him. And he could almost feel amusement flickering in its piercing gaze. But at this point, he was beyond caring about any of that.

He winced in pain and turned his head slightly, taking in the sight of Avalon City, now a shell of its former self. Once vibrant and bustling with life, it lay in ruins, the sky choked with smoke, and buildings reduced to skeletal remains. It was a city he had once loved, or as much as one could love a place now turned to wreckage.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, accompanied by a defeated smile. This was it; he knew he couldn't defeat this... thing. Not anymore. He was too broken—both physically and mentally to even make a dent on the being infornt of him. Heck, he couldn't even hear 'their' voices anymore.

He had been fighting this creature for over a month. Now, all that remained were the smoldering ruins of his beloved city, the lifeless bodies of his companions strewn about like discarded toys, and the crushing weight of his failure in the form of this depressing title.

[Title: The Last Man Standing has been achieved.]

[Effects: +20% to all stats when fighting without allies.]

His heart sank a little as he glanced at the title that appeared before him. The effects were remarkable, yes, but they were meaningless in his current state. His mana circles had been shattered, remnants of what had once been his strength, and his aura core felt like a fragile glass, too damaged to support even the slightest exertion.

"Hmph... still disrespectful until the end, are you?" the creature mused, its voice low and rumbling, oddly unsettling to hear when he couldn't even see its face.

"Haha. That's all I can control. I'll hate you until the very end, you damned monster," he retorted, his voice rising with a stubborn resolve.

With great effort, he used his longsword to push himself upright, every muscle in his body screaming in protest. His legs quivered beneath him, barely able to support his weight as he channeled the last remnants of his aura. Summoning whatever strength remained, he leaped backward a few meters, a jolt of agony shooting through him as he landed. Yet, through the pain, he looked up at the creature with a grin, a flicker of defiance igniting within him, which only seemed to perplex the towering beast.

"What are you doing, human? This is getting dull. Why don't you just lie down and die?" the creature asked, irritation creeping into its voice.

The man's grin widened, a reckless fire igniting in his weary eyes. Drawing a strange symbol in the air with a trembling hand, he uttered, "Boring? Oh, you're in for a treat."

Before the creature could process his words, he clapped his hands together with a fervor that defied his battered state and declared, "Bí ᚦᚢᛚᛗ, mía þáir, ábsolut fálka, á ᛗᛁᚨ ᚺᚨᚾᛞ. Fíf heorþ, mánk ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛈᚱᛖᚲᛖᛏᛖᛞ."

(By this rune, I command, absolute defense, at my hand. Five heartbeats, I stand protected!)

As he finished his incantation, the air around him shimmered, the energy coalescing into a translucent shield that encircled him, glowing with a radiant light. The rune pulsed with power, a protective barrier rising to meet the looming threat before him. It thrummed with an extreme amount of aura, resonating with the man's desperate resolve, and obviously...a shit ton of pain.

The creature raised its eyebrows—or at least, that's what the man assumed from the slight shift in its posture. "A rune? And a protection rune at that? What do you even plan on doing with that, human?" it muttered, its voice dripping with confusion.

Cough

"F-Fuck! Hehe. Yes, but that's not the surprise..." the man wheezed, his heart racing with adrenaline as he prepared for what came next.

The man's heart raced as he reached into his tattered cloak, fingers trembling with anticipation, he pulled out an ornate golden sand clock. Its surface glimmered with an otherworldly light, with symbols etched into the metal gleaming like stars.

The creature's eyes widened, recognition dawning upon it. Panic flickered across its monstrous features as it stammered, "C-Chronos' Curse!"

The creature lunged forward, at a speed that the man could barely even keep up with. Before he even realized what was going on, a massive fist landed on the shield he had set up a moment ago.

BANG!

SCREEECH

The shield he had set up almost cracked after the very first blow, as the creature yelled in anger, destroying out the land around the man with the sheer intensity of its voice alone, "Gawain Alaric! You think you can change your fate, mortal?! You don't deserve to use that divine relic, you fool!"

The man, now named Gawain, didn't care about that. With a defiant grin, he flipped the creature off, an act of rebellion against the looming despair. "I'll see you again later, fucker!" he shouted, his voice a blend of anger and exhilaration.

As he activated the Chronos' Curse, a surge of energy enveloped him. Time itself seemed to twist and bend, the world around him slowing to a crawl. The flames that had been consuming the city flickered lazily, and the creature's frantic movements turned sluggish.

The artifacts' power swirled around him like a protective cocoon, ready to grant him the advantage he desperately needed. He could see the creature's confusion, the panic in its eyes as it struggled to comprehend the shift in reality. There was a reason why Time Manipulation was considered such a dangerous power.

"Yoooouuuu thhiiinnnkkkk yyyoooouuuu cannnn maaaakeeee aaa diffferreenc-"

"Oh shut up, will you." Gawain grinned and cracked the sand clock shaped artifact. "I will make a difference. I will save everyone. And I will kill you, mark my word, you damned Otherworlder!"

With a growl, Gawain smashed the ornate golden hourglass of the Chronos' Curse. As soon as the sand clock was crushed into pieces, time itself seemed to shudder in response. An eerie silence enveloped the devastation of Avalon, and the air crackled with tension, heavy with anticipation. The dull colors of the world around him dimmed and began to blur at the edges, as if reality itself were unraveling.

The warped form of the towering Otherworlder began to shimmer and distort, its massive body twisting grotesquely as time bent around it. Limbs stretched and elongated like spaghetti, its monstrous face becoming a swirl of colors and shadows, rendering it almost unrecognizable. Panic rippled through its essence as it struggled against the forces encroaching upon it.

Gawain's heart raced, feeling the surge of power course through him. Time wrapped around them both, a spiraling tapestry of moments being unspooled and rewound. With each passing second, the devastation of Avalon began to fade, images of the once-thriving city flashing before him like a slideshow. Flames that had consumed the remnants of his home flickered and extinguished, while the skeletal remains of buildings seemed to regenerate, returning to their majestic forms.

Gawain was flooded with sensory overload, the smells of burning ash replaced with the fresh scent of earth and stone, the echoes of destruction fading into the harmonious sounds of life. Laughter, chatter, and the hustle and bustle of the city filled his ears once more, a nostalgic symphony that resonated deep within his heart, filling him up with both joy and anguish all over again.

'Thank god I picked Chronos' Curse when I got the chance,' Gawain thought, his mind racing with relief that his old self had enough wits to choose it when the Treasury was opened. 'Thank god. I won't let you guys down again. I promise.' A small smile crept across his battered face, warmth flooding through him like a balm.

As the world began to reverse, he felt an exhilarating rush as his body healed, his broken mana circles reforming, shimmering into existence like stars igniting in the night sky. The pain that had gripped him like a vice started to dissipate, his injuries mending as if time was stitching him back together, thread by thread. Strength surged through him, a warmth radiating from his core, expanding outward until it enveloped him in a protective cocoon.

His vision blurred as a wave of fatigue crashed over him, the exhilaration giving way to a gentle heaviness. He closed his eyes, surrendering to the soothing pull of unconsciousness, a sense of peace washing over him. In that moment, he felt an odd sense of finality, as if the struggles of his past were dissolving, replaced with a fresh canvas on which he could paint a new future.

Swish

Suddenly, he heard a faint sound, like the sound of air rushing in to fill a void. And then, silence fell. An oppressive quiet enveloped him, the world holding its breath, as though waiting for something monumental to occur.

Drip

Drip

With a soft, almost delicate dropping sound, time settled back into its rightful place. The remnants of chaos faded, leaving only the echoes of... nothingness. Nothingness, that was begging to be a new canvas of his second life.

[Chronos' Curse has been activated.]

[The timeline has been restored, based on the credentials set by a Human named Gawain Alaric.]

[The Chronos' Curse will cease to exist.]

[All the best for your second attempt.]