For once, his senses failed him, and the years he spent on hellishly training his body to redeem himself to the people he failed to protect was all for naught. He couldn't be blamed, for despite all the power he gathered, a man couldn't continue fighting a horde that amounted to thousands without fatigue. His limbs felt numb and his body was riddled with cuts and bruises that increased the exhaustion threatening to engulf him entirely. His mind was malfunctioning but his willpower allowed him to hold onto his consciousness as he slaughtered the surrounding enemies.

A drop of sweat galloped down to his chin, his enemies decreased until finally, there was but one left. Standing beyond ten metres, its metallic halo glistened underneath the sunset, the clouds swirling and mixed with the colours of orange, red and yellow reflected on the battlefield below that was dyed in the blood of the survivors of the apocalypse that killed beyond billions. Weapons scattered and some pierced through the ground, bodies adorned with grand but now rusting armour laid still for eternity together with the statues of those unfortunate enough to be in the range of the creature's ability to petrify. Its feathery wings extended, expanding along the horizon. But its size did not intimidate him.

Yet he made one fatal mistake, and the brief second of letting his guard down when he felt relieved that it was just him and the final boss, costed the life of the person who supported him from the beginning of the downfall of the world, and the only remaining survivor of humanity alongside with him. He was abruptly shoved to the side of the hard, rock ground. With his senses, he would of been able to avoid it, but he was overwhelmed with fatigue and focused his attention only on the angelic demon in disguise.

His body dragged along the surface as the power in the shove was not small. His body ached more than it should have and when he finally stopped and peeked at the culprit while supporting himself with his hands, the beating in his chest that symbolised life ceased momentarily when he caught sight of the face that had captured his heart.

Time slowed and dreadful silence entered his ears as scarlet threads danced in the wind, tracing along the lines with his grief burdened eyes, his gaze met with worry-filled emerald pupils that had a mix of relief and adoration. Pink lips hooked up to form a distorted grin due to the pain in her abdomen, her eyes told him not to worry, but backfired and only increased his buried rage. His muddled head cleared at the thoughts of his only safe haven leaving him for good, and before he knew it, his heart started beating and its pace increased with each moment. The excruciating pain of heartbreak and her now frail body collapsing broke his daze and his legs worked in a speed so fast it became after-images—defying the numbness and breaking the limits of speed.

Lifting his cracked lips, he raised a battlecry filled with grief—resounding through the battlefield—as he focused on the protruding blade in her abdomen, dyed in crimson, just like her beautiful, fiery red hair.

The creature turned its head to the man, its hood hiding the features of its face, and dressed in a cloak from head to toe. It tossed the woman to the side and shifted its other arm into a blade before entering a battle stance. The man's abysmal eyes shifted and his irises turned into a bright shade of purple, his pupils crimson. A trail seemed to follow the movement of his eyes, and it sent a chill to the creature's spine as its senses increased with high alert. But without time to react, the man clenched his fist and with a speed so abnormal, it collided with the creature's face—

Is, what the man had thought.

But it lived up to its reputation and had blocked the man's attack right before it could touch. But the man did not allow himself to be shocked and reacted faster than the creature could think. His knee made contact with its stomach and the force of his attack caused the dust to scatter and it was sent flying for more than a hundred metres with the ground below it being destroyed from the pressure.

Without hesitation, he sprinted to the woman sprawled on the ground with her blood sinking into the cracks behind her. A giant hole was visible in her abdomen and her organs destroyed. He embraced her with trembling arms and his eyes darted frantically, tears he hadn't felt for years gathered and aligned themselves along the bottom lid of his eyes. Her pale face, her scrunched brows and her quivering lips made his heart slowly fall apart and his chest sunk. Her eyes were dim, flickering between life and death. Her breath quickly fading into oblivion. Grasping her cold hand, he placed it on his cheek, the warmth he held dearly was inevitably escaping her body. With her last breath, a tear slid down her cheeks as her half-closed eyes slowly shut, muttering an inaudible voice but due to the silence, he was able to pick it up.

"I...Love...Y—"

All movement from her body ceased and coldness engulfed her. The blood stains on her had dried and turned into a dirty shade of brown, her body lost all colour. Here laid the love of his life, resting in an eternal slumber.

Never to return.

He, too, closed his eyes and let the tears drop down to her lifeless palms, both hands grasping tightly to her wrist. He's seen many deaths, including the deaths of his closest friends, but none of them brought him to so much tears and endless pain than the death of his beloved. Love was powerful, but never lasting.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

All things come to an end.

Muffled sobs escaped his lips and he wept for the dead woman, ignoring the approaching creature, the very culprit of her death. Rage built up within his burning chest, his nails dug into his palms and his teeth dug into his bottom lip until crimson oozed out. But his exhaustion was starting to overwhelm him so he placed his palm against the stagnant air and something started to materialise out of nothing. A small oddly shaped bottle appeared and he took it into his grasp, the creature stood at a close distance and a neutral voice, unable to be identified as either male or female, spoke.

"Foolish human, death has been brought upon you."

He ignored the words of the creature and forced open the lid of the bottle before gulping down its contents. He—, no, all of humanity had the ability of 『Storage』, where one could store and retrieve their items through a hologram only they could see like an inventory in games. But some items had a time limit before they became unusable and if one still tried it anyways, the consequences could be dire depending on the item. The potion he drank had a total of three hours left, and the effects could be said to be drastic. His fatigue was cleared and his numbness gone, his body healed but scars remained. Almost, if not all, of his strength and energy were restored and soon, he was at a state where he could fight, but not for long. He needed to end this fast since that was his last and only potion.

He went to his battle stance as an aura of gold emitted from his body and more so from his hands. His eyes narrowed and glared at the creature with utter hatred before shouting in a provocative tone.

"Come at me."

A simple sentence, but it enraged the creature, how dare a puny human challenge it, a superior lifeform.

It let out a menacing screech that managed to crack the surface of the ground beneath them, dust scattered and before he knew it, it stepped forward with pressure, collapsing the ground beneath its foot and leapt in a speed not visible to the naked eye.

Its arms shifted into the same metallic blades that pierced through the woman he loved, it enraged him just by looking at it and he too, took out his weapon of slaughter from his back, encasing it with the same golden aura, causing the runes carved into the blade to glow. Swinging down his sword quick enough to counter the creature's attack, it blocked his blade with its arm and slashed with the other, aiming at his vital areas.

But he reacted quick and another blade sheathed itself from the bottom of the handle, a metallic sound rang through the wasteland and he blocked the oncoming attack before kicking it on the chest. It flew back with force and dragged itself on its knees with its bladed arm piercing the ground—bodies and scattered weapons flew or were damaged even further—before coming to a complete halt. A glow came from beneath its hood and the edges of its blades seemed to turn to stone, pushing itself forward, it aimed at his vitals once again. The man blocked all oncoming attacks but the sheer force behind each slash sapped most of his energy and he knew he had to finish this fast. But the slight moment of distraction was enough for the creature to land a small cut on his skin, and the effect was it turning into stone along with pain not as torturing as witnessing the death of his lover.

This allowed many openings on his body and the creature managed to land several hits on him and smashed him with its wings hard enough to send him flying several metres away. It flapped, ready to ascend to the sky and use one of its many skills but the man could not allow it to do so for if it did, it would guarantee certain doom and his death would be set to stone.

He focused power onto his legs, pressuring the ground beneath until it broke and collapsed before launching into the air and grabbing onto the creature's legs, it screeched. It used it blades to slash at him but his dodging allowed it to hurt itself and its wings faltered at the moment of pain, he aimed his sword as the creature flew around in a panic similar to a helicopter about to crash with its broken propellers. With precision and aim, he managed to bore a hole through one of its wings and it let out a devastating screech as he used it to push himself forward and retrieve his weapon, watching coldly as the creature crashed into a pile of bodies.

He sprinted over to the fallen angel, a demon in disguise, and with two swings, cleanly sliced off both its arms and pierced his weapon through its wing and into the ground to prevent escape. It whimpered and flailed on the ground in pain and struggled, a hoarse voice gasping for air. Its hood had long fallen over the moment it crashed, and what met his eyes was a face he could never forget.

Scattered along the freshly blood stained ground were similar locks of scarlet hair, emerald eyes narrowed in pain and pink lips separated, gasping for air. A sweet and pained voice clawed at his fragmented heart and the determination in his eyes wavered.

"My, love..."

But that brief distraction, once again, brought another mistake. The creature, using the face of his deceased lover, gave him a sickening smile and said with 'her' voice.

"You're going down with me."

His pupils dilated and he reached his hand to the creature in an attempt to stop it, but was too late.

"No!"

Reaching into its cloak, it took out a transparent cube that emitted an ethereal glow and a mystical feeling, shattered in the heat of the moment when its grip tightened around the cube. The main reason why he fought this creature in the first place, the very heart of the planet was destroyed.

Another promise broken, and he failed yet again, to save.

With its dying breath, its face shifted back to its original, a face devoid of any features for it never had one to begin with. It took the form of many humans and creatures, which was no wonder why it was able to escape humanity's pursuit many times in the past.

And with one swoop, he decapitated it and its head flew across the ground, a trail of blood from the direction it flew from. His eyes lost the sheen it once had, dull and emotionless, losing colour and shifted back to its original black. He failed yet again, he always did.

The ground shook, like a heavy earthquake. The planet's core was broken and destruction was inevitable. The once tranquil spiritual energy that gave humanity power never before seen was disturbed and the air around him fluctuated. He sat on his knees and stared into the void, awaiting his doom, until in front of him materialised a portal. A possible escape route, but he did not move. After all he's done and went through, he no longer had the will to continue living with everything and everyone he cared for gone, what was the point?

But a certain memory flashed into his eyes, her voice echoed into his mind.

"Promise me, when I disappear and leave you, you'd move on, and continue to live, and find someone you'll love, just like you did for me."

He still had one more promise to keep, and it was from the love of his life. To keep moving forward until his inevitable death, and to move on from the past.

He snapped back to reality and stood on his feet, walking towards the portal; similar to a blackhole, and around him were many other blackholes formed through the fluctuations of the spiritual energy around him. But right before he entered, he halted and turned to the corpse of his lover. He did not want to leave her here to be destroyed along with the planet, it was time to give her a proper burial and hopefully, he would be sent into a place where he could bury her and let her rest in peace. He quickly made his way to her body and carried her bridal style in his arms before entering the portal without another look behind him.

He anticipated what awaited him from the other side of this portal.

But for now,

It was time to mourn.