After the initial surprise attack, the enemy took heavy losses, pulling back and out of range of the siege weapons.
Chuck had nearly collapsed from overusing his mana in that one stupid attack. Still, the Nurese forces had come out on top in that battle. A tired cheer went up from the survivors of the failed fortress attack. They knew that this war could shift and took joy in what little they could.
"Niros's hairy balls, that was some spell," Vigo said, slapping Chuck on the back.
Chuck could only nod woodenly, too tired for anything else.
"Where did you learn that?" Raina asked curiously.
"Huh... oh, I combined it using mana manipulation," Chuck replied dumbly. He didn't even realize what he said until Jala cut in.
"What! Where did you- no how did you afford an epic level spell?"
Chuck realized his mistake but the cat was out of the bag so he decided to tell them.
"Oh... uh, I found it."
The team looked at him in shock before Vigo, yes Vigo, broke out in laughter.
The others didn't find it quite as amusing.
"So you, just found it, laying around like a piece of trash? Where praytell was this, so I can head there and root around like a rat," Jala said.
Chuck rubbed his temple, "It wasn't just lying around, well, not quite just lying around. I found it in the ruins of Grema... when I was running from a basilisk."
With each word, their eyes grew bigger and Vigo's laugher grew more raucous. They hadn't even heard the ridiculous part yet.
"Then I fell through a floor and was nearly trapped in the basement of a crumbling building. In there I found a skeleton with a bag of holding, and inside that bag was the skill."
Even Vigo grew silent after Chuck mentioned the bag, he thought it had to do more to the fact that he couldn't breathe because he was laughing so hard, than disbelief like the others.
"You... had... a... bag of holding?" Jala asked slowly.
"Well, I did, until some asshole mage stole it from me while I slept."
"I don't know what to believe. Either you have gone insane from the battle or are the dumbest, lucky son of a bitch that ever existed."
"Hey," Chuck protested, "leave my mother out of it."
That seemed to break the tension and the others started to laugh as well.
The jovial mood didn't last long. The enemy was gathering their forces and preparing to attack. This wasn't going to be like the one-sided brawl from before.
Chuck heaved himself off the ground and stretched his sore muscles. He needed to be in the best condition possible to try and keep his friends and teammates alive. Just like the time he spent with Erwin, Mellas, and Bargo; Vigo Jala, and Raina had become friends, brothers... and sisters in arms.
Chuck heard the distant beat of drums. The enemy had begun their march. A sharp whistle nearby signified their forces to begin moving forward. Chuck and his team moved into position on the left flank of the line.
Already enemy mages were enhancing their soldiers. The light-based magic that the Kingdom of Vitor specialized in was slow but excellent at enhancing large groups of people. Chuck heard it called the holy calling, not that he believed that horse shit. Magic was magic, it didn't matter where they thought it came from.
As the two forces drew closer, the siege weapons began to fire. The battlefield turned into a kaleidoscope of color and light as mages struck down the incoming projectiles on both sides. Shields, both physical and magical defended against what made it through, except in a few cases where a large enough piece made it through to kill some unlucky soul.
Chuck enhanced his scatter bolt range with mana manipulation and fired off the spell every ten seconds. He didn't have to aim, just firing it off indiscriminately into the enemy's formation. At the rate he was firing them he wouldn't run out of mana any time soon. Not that that mattered, they would be within the range of the enemy mages in less than a minute.
Silence seemed to descend on the field of battle just seconds before it exploded into chaos. Mages let loose and both sides ran at each other, screaming bloody murder.
Chuck realized he was screaming and running along with his squad. Chuck switched between scatter bolt, ice arrow, and firebolt as the sides closed in. There was a loud crash as the foot soldiers crashed into melee.
This was a true battle... pure and utter chaos. Mages were throwing spells at anything and everything. Soldiers were trying to stay clear of the mages while killing the enemy. It was horrific. But something in the back of Chuck's mind reveled in the combat.
He whipped pressurized water blades at groups of enemy soldiers. Anyone that got caught in the path of the spells was sliced apart. Chuck couldn't even spare them a second thought, too focused on attacking and defending himself and his team.
As the fighting dragged on mages started focusing more and more on their counterparts. This led to pockets of extreme fighting. Spells were being flung back and forth at a furious pace as Chuck's group fought another group of enemy mages. The range was too great for him to bring flame thrower into play so he was forced to rely on his longer-ranged spells.
Then he spotted an opportunity. He recognized the spell one of the mages was preparing.
"Target the one on the left!" he shouted above the mayhem and noise.
Vigo and Raina had heard him, turning their focus toward his target. Chuck reached across the distance with his mind and snapped the man's firebolt spell before it finished forming. Before anyone could throw up a defense the man's protections were overwhelmed by a barrage of spells from three mages.
That turned the fighting to their favor or so Chuck thought.
Chuck had been preparing a rock spear when he was attacked the same way. He screamed in pain as the backlash hit his exhausted mind. His stumble to the side actually managed to save him from the first few spells. He recovered enough to see the fireball spell coming straight at him.
Knowing he was dead he threw up a kinetic barrier. This wasn't some last-ditch attempt to save himself. The spell was already past the barrier, no he wanted to protect his friends from the shockwave.
He felt the impact, and for a split second his body was in the most excruciating pain that he could imagine. Then the fire burned off his nerves, followed by his skin. He screamed until the fire burned his lungs into ash. His burnt and blistered body collapsed to the ground, somehow still alive. He could hear someone screaming as the world went dark.
***
Firon felt the disturbance, knew where it had originated from. He had been keeping an eye on his champion, confused at the human's actions. He had not asked him to lead a host into war, only to search out the corruption and eradicate it. So why then was he and this other unknown separated by such a short distance.
As Firon pondered this mystery, something more concerning occurred. The pool stopped flowing. The turbulent surface became as smooth as glass. If Firon could have sweat he would have. This should not be possible.
Even more implausible was what happened next, the direction of the pool reversed. Waves that always lapped at the outer edges now moved inward. The unseen phenomenon only lasted a short while, but even Firon knew that short while had rewound time almost two full days. Why?
He had no answer for that simple yet fundamental question and it frightened him like nothing before.
***
Gholob screamed in rage, he felt the time distortion from both ends. He also now knew exactly where his quarry was.
"Gather the troops, Firon has blessed me with a vision of the future. Our enemy is near. With light on our side, we will prevail over the heathens!" he roared.
The rest of the gathered command roared along with him.
***
Chuck was startled awake by a terrible roar that was felt in his very soul. It appears that he wasn't the only one who heard it. The entire camp came awake, looking toward the north. Already yells of, "prepare for battle," were circulating through the camp.
Chuck was slow to respond, this death had felt... different. Chuck looked at his skill, he hadn't looked at it in the day and a half since their surprise attack.
Singularity: 346965/350000SP to level 1
Chuck knew it was going to be close if that scream turned out to be what he thought. And he had no reason to doubt the feeling as his lizard brain jibbered away angrily, screaming at him to flee.
The hours ticked by and everyone was on edge. They could feel something had changed but they didn't know what.
Six hours turned into seven before Chuck heard the first distant drumbeat. It seemed to echo off the still lake in the dead of night. Slowly it got closer.
There was a sharp staccato beat as the drumming came to an end. The night fell dead silent as even the small animals sensed the impending confrontation. The silence dragged on as the sun poked over the horizon.
Chuck had already seen this sunrise, it was no different. The fog still rolled off the lake to cover the fields in an eerie quiet.
The only change this time was the glint as it rolled across the massive line of troops that stood just outside the small village.
Concerned whispers broke the silence as Nurese troops gazed upon the gathered forces of Vitor. 'Where had they all come from? And why didn't they attack with all of them the previous time?' Chuck wondered.
The enemy stood and waited. The sun slowly ticked up, burning away the fog of the morning. As morning turned into early day, a man in gleaming white walked out from behind the gathered force.
The man had a force of will about himself as he spoke to his men. The voice carried but was distorted by the distance. That was probably for the best as even that stirred dread in Chuck's fellow soldiers.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Chuck knew as soon as he saw the man, what he was. The man seemed to radiate a malignant aura that he could perceive.
The enemy battle cry started softly, then rose to a fevered, manic pace as they slapped swords to armored chests. The sound must be deafening to be heard from this distance, and as soon as it started it stopped. Quiet once again reined across the fields.
The man held up a sword that glowed so brightly Chuck had to look away, with a yell and a thudding beat of drums, the enemy advanced.
Not to be outdone the Nurese Generals gave their own rousing speeches of victory and death to the enemy. It didn't carry the same weight as the enemies and everyone knew it.
Chuck didn't balk at the terror in front of him, he just willed his damn skill to hurry up and finish. It had twenty minutes left.
Chuck heard the first catapults fire their deadly payloads. The enemy had no siege engines, just pure unadulterated faith.
Their faith turned out to be warranted as the rocks clattered into a massive dome of power that radiated from the enemy's commander.
The enemy never faltered in their slow advance.
Chuck heard the whistle signifying the Nurese army to advance.
"Are they fucking mad?" he heard himself say.
A few people close to him looked away nervously. He couldn't blame them but this was suicide.
"Move soldier!" a commander from behind Chuck yelled.
Chuck did as he was ordered, swallowing his fear. Somehow whatever madness affected the enemy had bled over and was affecting the Nurese as well. Nobody sane would rush into a battle this lopsided, yet here they were going straight at them without a single thought to strategy.
'God, creator... whatever the fuck you want to call yourself. If you're hearing this, you may want to get your lazy ass down here, I found what you were looking for,' Chuck prayed.
This battle was wholly different from the first time Chuck experienced it. Enemy spearmen rushed across the fields after reaching the halfway point, throwing themselves at the Nurese lines. It was like someone was controlling their minds and had removed any fear.
They ground themselves against the line ineffectually, dying in threes and fours for every man they killed. Next came the bulk of the Vitorian army, wave upon wave of swordmen. This had been the bulk of what made up the engagement Chuck had experienced before dying. These poor saps fared no better. The mages cut them down like chaff as they left the protective shield.
With those victories, the Nurese forces regained some of their fighting spirits. Still, the enemy outnumbered us two to one and their remaining forces were all knights and mages.
"Come now pitiful chosen, and feast your eyes upon your death!" a voice boomed across the battlefield in multiple languages at once.
Then Chuck saw something that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.
The man-thing that led the enemy army started to crack like an egg, light both beautiful and horrid flashed out of the cracks. Then the man burst apart, splattering his skin and bones like the shell of a discarded egg across the ground. The Vitorians didn't even blink at this display, only looking at their commander in awe.
What remained was a silhouette of glowing and shifting lights. The form grew and grew, towering over the fragile mortals left to witness it.
To Chuck's eyes he only saw the black miasma that surrounded the being, it radiated pure evil and hate for all.
"Behold," the voice boomed.
Chuck's mind was on the verge of a breakdown, then he heard another voice.
"Filthy abomination, you have meddled in the affairs of mortals and must be destroyed!"
Chuck whipped his head around to see another humanoid figure with a radiating halo of light that stood equally as tall as the malignant entity.
"HA, you pathetic god's think you can challenge me. Come then."
As the words left the being's mouth, dozens of figures both large and small popped into existence around the battlefield.
Chuck knew when he was over his head as the gods started attacking each other, heedless of anything in their way.
Huge gouts of flame and spells of destruction tore at the surroundings. Entire sections were wiped out in a casual display of godly might.
Yet Chuck's eyes never left the evil entity as it lashed out with tendrils of darkness, sweeping aside lesser gods like ants.
Chuck felt something snap into place in his mind and that shook him out of his daze. He looked and noticed the spell had finished.
He whipped his head around, locating his team. They were fighting nearby, trying to stay out of the way of the gods and their spells, while fighting off the enemy's soldiers. The entire battlefield had devolved into madness.
Chuck had to scream a few times to get his team's attention, pointing to the enemy's transformed commander.
"Protect me, I have a spell that may save us. Run as soon as I cast it!" he yelled over the cacophony.
He got a confused look from Vigo but the man nodded. It was clear that if something didn't change, everyone here was dead.
Chuck started powering the singularity. It was complex and would take a full minute to build the spell matrix in his mind. He only hoped his friends could hold out that long.
Gholob laughed as the godling called Firon pelted him with a pure ray of burning light. Not because it harmed him but because his own brother Niros had absorbed the blast.
The other godling was wandering about the field of battle in disguise as a crazy hermit. Even his own brother had not realized he was here until he had interfered with his spell.
"Brother, why do you protect this outsider?"
"Because, dear, Brother," the words were said with scorn, "he knows the answers I seek."
The two elder gods raged as they now fought each other, their power a perfect counter for the others. All the time Gholob just laughed and swatted away the pathetic gods and mortals near him. He didn't initially feel the buildup of power, it was too small to warrant his attention. He was only drawn to it because it came from the same area he had sensed the soul god's chosen. Gholob smiled cruelly, it was time to end this mortal.
"Chuck! You better hurry... that thing is turning this way."
"A... couple... more... seconds," he said through clenched teeth, "Run!"
His friends didn't need to be told twice, bolting for the rear of the line.
Chuck watched as the being stomped toward him, splattering anything in its path. He had lied a bit about the time. He wanted to give his friends as much time to flee as possible.
Chuck closed his eyes, "Sorry, it seems I failed the one task I was assigned."
When he opened his eyes again a dark orb, that absorbed all light and was painful to look upon, floated in his palm. With a flick of his finger, it streaked across the battlefield and toward the horror that approached.
Gholob felt the strength of the spell even if he didn't understand what it was. A mortal should not be capable of such feats. He ducked under the orb as it zipped past and slammed his hands deep into the bedrock of the landscape.
Chuck watched in horrified fascination as the spell missed the target. It bloomed into a meter wide portal of darkness twenty meters behind the entity. Already Chuck could feel the pull of the spell. He dug his feet in, hoping to survive.
Others were not so lucky. The spell pulled in everything, dirt, rocks, trees, people, hell even some of the gods that had been close. All screamed as they were crushed by the might of the spell. All but his target who raged against the pull.
Then everything stopped, sound, light, movement, everything. Everything except Chuck.
"Holy Shit! I didn't think you would actually use it. Fuck were you thinking," a voice from behind him spoke.
Chuck risked turning around and saw a man, well a man, made of glowing shifting light. But unlike the other man, this one was only his height and didn't radiate a sickly aura.
"Fuck sake... look at this mess," I said, surveying the battlefield.
I heard the human avatar mumble something. "Sorry, speak up."
"I said you're late," Chuck spoke a bit louder.
"A wizard is never late, he always arrives on time Harry, or something like that. You'll forgive me if I didn't quote it exactly, it has been eons since the movie came out," I said in my best wizard power voice, which was quite good since I was the creator of all in this realm.
Chuck stared dumbly at the god before him.
"Wait here a minute, I need to clean this up, all because of this asshole," I said, pointing to Gholob.
Chuck just nodded absently.
I rubbed my temples as I walked toward Gholob, I could see he had gained a significant portion of power while on my planet. Not enough for me to worry, but still, I would need to have words with some gods after this. Because Gholob was not of my universe he was starting to break free of my time lock. It wouldn't matter.
I stuck my hand in the ground and lifted the entire chunk that he was standing on as well as the chunk of bedrock he had sunk his filthy tendrils into. I watched his eyes as they focused on me, then I smiled. "Remember me asshole?"
Gholob managed to roar out a response, "I will return and destroy you!"
I had to laugh at that, "Unlikely, I destroyed your universe and the piece you left behind, just as I am destroying every piece I broke you into in my realm. Your predations end here I'm afraid."
***
Gholob raged against the power, trying to break free and to smite his counterpart. It wasn't to be, with a casual flick he was sent hurtling towards the dark abyss of the spell that was still pulling at the surroundings. For a brief fleeting moment, Gholob knew true fear before the tidal eddies tore him to pieces.
***
"Well... now that that's done, let's get rid of this, shall we," I said, pinching off the black hole like you would someone's head, playing as a child. The spacial tear disappeared with a pop. "I'm going to have to talk with Ziriax about her damn weave, this shits ridiculous," I said, walking back towards Chuck.
The man was in shock and I had to snap my fingers at him to get his attention.
"Walk with me," I said, motioning towards him. He nodded.
"You did good, hell, better than I expected. For that I thank you. Now I know you must have some questions so ask away."
Chuck didn't know where to start, so he started with the first one he ever wondered about. "Why me?"
"Oh man, really lobbing in the softballs. That's an easy one. Because."
"Um..."
"Just kidding, man, what a mind fuck that would have been right? I didn't choose you or steal you from Earth, like some low rent Isekai, if that's what you are wondering."
"But-"
"I didn't do that because, well, you are me. Well, you are a piece of my previous humanity."
I could see that Chuck was confused, so I continued explaining.
"I died, millions, hell, maybe even billions of years ago, doesn't matter. When you die your soul transcends your universe and you become a soul god. You are given your own universe to do with as you please. I guess it could be considered heaven or hell depending on your preference. The point is I created this universe and everything within. I was lonely so I sought out other beings like me and found Gholob."
"Gholob?" Chuck asked.
"Oh, right, yeah that was the name of the little shit that poisoned my universe, you only saw a small fragment of him. I tricked the piece of shit by mirroring this reality hundreds of times," I added, displaying a window into each. Not all of them had a rosy outcome but most had survived.
Chuck looked at all the windows, in some he had died by the damn bunny he first encountered, never to rise again. In others, he was cut down in the street by a thief. In one he was bald and sported a long gash across his face and eye. The eye had been replaced by a yellow gem. "Fuck, what happened to him?"
I looked to where Chuck was pointing, then laughed. "He stiffed a prostitute and got his ass beat, now he walks around acting all tough with one good eye and people think he's all mystical and shit with the fake one. He can't see shit out of it and it's only decorative but man does that guy have flair."
Chuck got a bit angry seeing all this. "Was I even needed?"
I rolled my eyes, "No, don't you remember what I said in the book when you first woke up? Of course not. I could have simply started this universe over. But what a waste that would have been. Instead, I gave myself another lease at life."
We kept walking as Chuck thought of his next question. I already knew what it would be because he was me but I let him come to it himself.
"But... you came down here and just like that, got rid of it."
"Yes, I did. You're wondering why I didn't stop him sooner? That's simple. I'm omnipotent, not omniscient. I had a general idea where he was but I can't see everything, nor would I want to. God, could you imagine all the hideous people having sex I would have to watch. No, I could see major events from the time whirlpool I created. That was another reason I couldn't deal with Gholob right away, creating that had taken the majority of my power."
"But I thought you said you were all-powerful," Chuck said.
"Yes... and no. Power doesn't exist in a vacuum, it has to come from something. All soul gods get their power from sentient life. The more the merrier. It's almost as if the chaos of life and random choice creates our power. It's quite interesting."
"Wha- What about all the dead?"
"What about them," I said with a shrug.
"Can't you bring them back?"
"Nope, once their soul is free from their body it is beyond even my power to recapture it but don't worry for the dead, they all have a second life as a god, like me."
Chuck didn't want to ask this next question, "so what happens with me now?"
"That's up to you. You can rejoin me or you can live out your natural life among the rest of the mortals, then you would return to me."
"What would I do with my life now that Gholob is gone?"
"That's the beauty of life, anything you want. But Gholob isn't gone, well he is but his taint remains. It will never be as powerful or become sentient but it will continue to corrupt the living for generations to come. Without his control, you can think of them as zombies."
"I - I think I want to live," Chuck replied quietly.
"Of course you do, it's only natural, but I will have to adjust your memories and take away my blessing... oh and modify that stupid singularity spell."
"Huh," Chuck said as I poked my finger into his head, not giving him time to ponder my words. It came out less than a second later as he flopped to the ground.
"Well, now that that's done," I said with a grin, looking around at the mess. "The party's over!" I yelled, clapping my hands.
All the remaining gods vanished from the field of battle. I took one last look around and sighed. The ripples from today would propagate across the world for decades to come and many more people would die. I looked at the unconscious form of Chuck, it would be up to him to survive now. I wished him luck as I disappeared from the battlefield.
Time restarted.
Chuck awoke to confused screaming, his mind was fuzzy. He vaguely remembered talking with the creator.
As he looked around, the fighting had ended. People were crying or screaming, some were in shock and unresponsive. Looking around he couldn't spot his friends in the chaos of dead, dying or people simply wandering about lost. He hoped they had survived.