Miko stood by himself and continued to call out to the world.
“Come on, fight me!”
He shouted.
“Damn cowards, come at me!”
At moment Tia appeared behind him with a worried expression.
“Miko, its over.”
She placed her hand on his shoulder and said.
“What are you waiting for?! Come fight me!”
However, Miko didn’t acknowledge her or better yet the current him couldn’t even perceive her existence.
All he saw before his eyes was darkness, all he heard was his voice. It was as if he was in a world by himself with no one to interact with.
“Mi-”
Tia wanted to call to him again, but she stopped after she looked at his face. There were tears flowing down his cheeks; he was crying.
“Come on! Isn’t there anyone? Anyone I can fight?!”
He shouted while the tears flowed from his eyes. It was then that the darkness surrounding his body began to fade away.
“Isn’t there anyone?!”
He continued to shout until his beat up, bloodied, rugged appearance was once again revealed to the world.
It was now that others could clearly see his crying face. His expression showed anger, then sorrow, then anger again. His expressions were continuously interchanging between these two, but the fact that he was crying as apparent to anyone.
“Miko….”
All of his love ones felt a sharp pain in their chests when they saw him like that. This was the first time anyone has ever seen him cry, and it made them feel heartache.
“Isn’t there anyone?”
He stopped shouting and became sluggish. The expression on his face was neither anger nor sorrow, it was pure despair and helplessness.
He fell on his knees with a lost look, as the tears ran down his cheeks and drop into the ocean.
“Isn’t there anyone I can take this anger out on, beside myself?”
He spoke as if begging.
“Isn’t there anyone that distract me from facing a reality where I lost my friends?”
He said.
When he said that it was a dam broke in his friends and family that were watching him. They felt a stabbing pain in their chest as they saw the look of anguish in his eyes. They all knew, without anything to distract him or anyone to take his anger and frustration on, Miko was now experiencing grief.
The grief he has been suppressing all this time. The grief from him losing his comrades in Exsul. The grief from losing his friends. The grief from letting down the people who believed in him. The grief from being powerless to protect those he swore to protect.
His heart ached, his breath quicken, as the memories from the day he saw the carcass of people he once laughed and fought with, people who had complete faith that he would show them a new world.
However, the only thing he showed them was their own deaths and destruction. To make it worst, he even ran away from realty and acted like they meant nothing, like their deaths were nothing important, like they were only fodder on his path to greatness.
For the first time in a long time, guilt ate away at his heart. He couldn’t handle the anguish and the guilt, so he grabbed his chest as if he wanted to rip his own heart out.
“………..”
Tia watched him like suffering in silence, and stooped down beside him. She pulled him into her embrace and held him tight as if she wanted to protect him from all harm.
“Tia….”
Miko spoke while in her embrace.
“What’s the point of all this if I’ll just lose everyone around me?”
Tia didn’t answer him and just allowed him to vent.
“The further I walk down this road the more people I’ll lose. What’s the point of it all then? Just what am I fighting for?”
He gripped Tia’s clothes as tightly as he could.
“Tia, I’m scared. Not only because of what I’ll lose, but because even though I know what awaits me I can’t stop myself from taking the journey. I can’t stop myself from walking down the path of bones and blood. I’m afraid that I’ll reach a point where I can step over the bones of those I love without a care in the world. I’m afraid that I’ll walk past their corpses on the side of my path and not feel anything.”
He paused for a bit before saying-
“I’m afraid that there will come a day where I’ll step over your corpse and not even give it a single glance. Tia, I’m afraid of what I will become.”
“It’s alright. No matter what you become or even if you discarded me along the way, I will always love you Miko.”
Tia said to him with a smile.
“So no matter what path you walk, walk it with your head high knowing that I’m on your side.”
She shook her head. That’s when Miko felt to small hands on his shoulders. He looked and saw Regis and Ishma smiling at him.
“No, we will always be on your side no matter what.”
With the three around him and looking at him with compassionate eyes, the anguish in Miko’s heart started to fade. Instead, a feeling of gratitude took its place. Gratitude towards what he possessed.
He now knew that no matter what he becomes in the future, he will always look back on these days and smile. Even if he’s left all alone in the world with no one beside him, Miko will always remember these days of happiness and continue his lonely walk down his path.
Thinking this, he smiled. And then-
“Blegh?!”
He suddenly vomit blood on Tia and stained her white dress.
“Miko?!”
When Tia saw that, she and the girls started to panic.
“Cough! Cough!”
Miko started coughing up blood nonstop in her arms.
“Miko! Get ahold of yourself, Miko!”
She frantically shouted at him.
She watched in horror as his eyes turned red started to bleed. His skin also started to physically pale and he looked closer to death every second that passed.
“T…Tia…”
Miko stretched his hand out towards her face and smeared her cheek with his bloody hand. He looked at her panic expression and smiled.
His hand then fell from her face, leaving a bloody hand print and fell lifelessly at his side. Miko then slowly closed his eyes.
“Miko! Miko!”
This time Regis and Ishma were the ones doing the shouting.
“His body is getting cold….”
Tia cold feel Miko’s body temperature drop in her arms.
“Joesph!”
She shouted at Joesph who was watching in shock. Hearing her voice, he snapped out of his daze.
“I-I’m coming!”
He took a step.
“?!”
The moment he took the step, his vision became blurry and his body became weak. He fell on his knees.
“Damn it! Not at a time like this!”
He tried all he could, but he couldn’t muster any strength to get up. His body was completely drained.
“Oh? Looks like everyone is past their limit.”
He heard a new voice and turned around to see an oni with human-like appearance.
“That monster Typhon is gone, and you all are so defenseless.”
He smiled and pointed towards a piece of land that had 8 people laying on it. They were the five branch leaders, and Darwin, Maria, and Nova. They were all taken out by Typhon and was rescued by Joesph who put them there.
“This is the perfect chance to slaughter all of you, if I do say so myself.”
The oni smiled.
“Right, Comrades?”
*BOOOM!*
At that moment, the water exploded and countless monsters from yomi, Jigoku, and Tartarus emerged from underneath the water.
“I was wondering if they all got destroyed when Typhon destroyed the continent, but it looks like they just hid and wait for the battle to end.”
Joesph cursed his inability to not consider this outcome earlier.
The monsters looked at Miko and others like they were pigs ready for slaughter.
“Looks like we get to feast today boys!”
The monsters all started to approach them with savage looks.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“You bastards!”
Joesph roared and tried to get up but it was impossible no matter how much he tried.
“Don’t work yourself up. We’ll deal with you after we’re done!”
The monsters laughed.
“What about the goddess?”
“Eat her too. I’m sure she’ll taste great!”
“Hahahaha! With this stupid system in place, she helpless before us!”
“I always wanted to eat a woman that beautiful!”
The monsters laughed as they approached.
Tia held Miko tightly with a furious expression on her face. Regis and Ishma stood in front of her and Miko to shield them.
“Little girls, you can’t stop us!”
“Be good and obediently get eaten!”
The monsters started dashing towards them.
“Dammit!”
Joesph roared tried to struggle to his feet to no prevail.
“Hahahaha! Give up and die!”
The monsters leaped towards them.
“Hm?”
That’s when they saw a hole open up in the space before them. A hand then came out and caught the one at the forefront by his head and crushed it.
“?!”
When the monsters saw that, they all halted.
A smile came on Tia’s face when she saw that.
“Huh? It feels like I accidentally squished something.”
A voice came from the hole. The hand was pulled back in.
“Huh? What the hell is this?! Eww! Did I put my hand in shit or something?!”
The voiced became frantic.
“Calm down, Brother. I don’t think that’s shit.”
A carefree voice was also heard coming from the hole.
“Let me see.”
“Hey, why did you taste it?!”
“I thought that I would figure out what it was if I tasted it.”
“What kind of logic is that?! What if it was poison?!”
“But poison doesn’t work on me. Anyway, from the way its taste, I think it’s someone’s brain.”
“Wait, how do you know what brains tastes like?”
“You remember that time we went the Undead Country? There I-”
“Ah, forget it. I think it’s better I don’t know.”
“Really? It’s a pretty fun story.”
“Forget that, it looks like I accidentally killed someone.”
“Seriously? You’re pretty clumsy aren’t you?”
“Ah, shut it.”
“………”
Everyone listened to the convo with confused faces.
“Anyway, lets get out and see what’s going on.”
“Aren’t you going to apologize? You know, to person you just killed.”
“What’s done is done, there’s no use apologizing.”
“I see. Then I’m withdrawing my apology for accidentally putting laxative in your drink when we were kids, and made you shit yourself in front of the girl you liked.”
“That was you?! You bastard, I never received an apology for that! And here I thought that it was Rihan who did it! And what do you mean accidentally?! You did that on purpose, you son of a bitch!”
“What’s done is done. There’s no use living in the past.”
“Yeah, you’re right….But you have no future!”
*BOOOM!*
The hole suddenly got bigger and somebody was literally thrown out of it and landed in front of the monsters.
The hole stretched and someone else stepped out.
“I’m gonna kill you!”
The person who stepped out shouted.
They were rather tall, almost 7 feet. They had black hair that turned azure half way through, blue eyes, a handsome face with a furious expression, and was dressed with black and azure.
“Now, now. Love and peace, brother. Love and peace.”
Said the one on his bottom.
He was tall as well, had white hair that turned purple near the ends, blue eyes, handsome and carefree face, and was dressed in white and purple.
“Love and peace alright. I’m gonna love putting a piece of my foot down your throat!”
The angry one shouted.
“Hm?”
He looked around and saw the army of monsters. Seeing that, the one on his bottom started to do the same.
The two of the scanned the faces of the monsters and then saw Nero and the others laying not to far away covered with severe injuries. They also looked at Joesph with some surprise.
They then turned around and looked behind them. They were shocked to see Tia who was smiling at them, and was confused when they looked at Miko as if they were wondering who he was.
After a while, the two looked at each other and nodded.
The monsters who were frozen in place, were soon snapped out of their dazed when they saw the one on his bottom stood up.
“W-Who the hell are you two?!”
“You’re going to pay for getting in our way!”
“That’s right! We’re gonna kill you!”
“You want to know who we are?”
The one with black and azure hair showed a savage grin along with his brother beside him.
“Gamion Dragna.”
Said the Black and azure haired one.
“Gian Dragna.”
Answered the white and purple haired one.
The two, Gamion and Gian looked at the monsters with furious expressions.
“And the ones who will die are all of you!”
The first to take action was Gian. He covered his hands in Chaotic Qi and thrust his hands out and held them as if he was holding onto something. He then moved his hands as if he was pulling something.
The unimaginable happened next. The space that was around the monsters began to warp along with the sea and the monsters themselves. It was as if reality was being flipped on its head.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
The monsters who were being warp along with the space screamed out in agony, as it felt like their bodies were being forcibly bent. Some of them were even ripped in two as a result.
“Incredible. His control over space has reached a new level.”
Joesph praised.
Gian then started moving his hands as if he was molding something into the shape of a ball. As expected, the space was mold into a ball along with the monsters killing more of them.
Joesph watched in awe as Gian molded space and the monsters by extension into different shapes.
“Ah, this isn’t time for that.”
He spoke as if he was snapped out of a daze.
“Gian, that boy in Tiamat’s arms is your nephew and current leader of your clan. He’s in critical condition, and needs your help!”
Joesph shouted.
“Huh? Nephew? Clan leader?”
Gian was confused by what Joseph said and looked at Miko again.
“Clan leader? Not branch leader? Just what happened in the 20 years we’ve been away?”
Gamion looked at Miko and said.
He of course recognized the branch leaders who were out cold on the place of floating land, but he and his brother didn’t have the slightest clue what has been going on for the two decades he was in Tartarus. He only knew that Typhon was fighting his clan, but couldn’t help because he was related to both sides.
So he of course knew nothing about Miko and what he has done or why this war even happened.
Even so, he came to the conclusion that Miko was crucial to the clan.
“Gian, go help that boy and our father and everyone else. I’ll deal with these monsters.”
“If you say so.”
The Qi around Gian hands disappeared and he turned his back to the monsters. The space returned to normal as well as the monsters. Well, those who were alive anyway.
Gian walked towards Miko while gamion walked towards the army of monsters.
“Yo, the name’s Gian. Are you my ancestor, Tiamat?”
Gian asked with a casual tone.
“That’s right. I’m glad that you’re here Gian, Miko is on the verge of dying. I need you to save him.”
“Oh, so you know about my ability. As expected of my ancestor.”
He stooped down and looked at Miko.
“Is this really my nephew? He looks more like my niece. Then again my father could past for my mother and my brother could pass for my sister, so I guess it make sense.”
He mumbled to himself as he placed his hand on his body. He closed his eyes as if mediating. After some time he slowly opened them. When he did, a clock appeared in his eyes. A clock also appeared over Miko’s body.
“Record Of Origin!”
The hands on the clocks in his eyes started moving in reverse with an incredible speed. The same thing happened to the clock floating above Miko’s head.
Something unbelievable happened next. The wounds on Miko’s body started disappeared one by one, even the blood he coughed up moved in reverse and reentered his body. However, wounds also reappeared on Miko’s body but these were different from before. These were wounds that Miko himself had healed before this.
“Incredibly, this kid has godly regenerative abilities. I can’t tell how many times he’s been broken and repaired.”
Gian commented while observing Miko.
Record Of Origin, the ability to the rewind time of a person or object. It can be used returned the object to a state it was in in the past. For example, it could rewind the time on an injured person and bring their body back to a time when they weren’t injured. However, any benefits that that person experience after the period their body was brought back to will seem like it never happen. Like let’s say that they were weaker back when they weren’t injured than they are now when they’re injured, they would lose the strength that they’ve gained during that time along with any other changes that came with the injuries.
Basically, it’s literally rewinding time.
This ability can also return anything to its original state as long as Gian is touching it. Even if an enemy attacks him, he can return the attack to a period when it hadn’t materialized yet.
So what Gian was doing wasn’t healing Miko, he was returning him to the state he was before he received these injuries.
After rewinding Miko’s time for a long, Gian stopped after seeing all his injuries were gone. However he stood up with a frown.
Tia didn’t see his frown because she was too happy to feel that Miko was warm again and didn’t look like he was dying.
Behind them gamion was facing the army of monsters with a cocky smile.
“That freak is gone, kill him!”
The monsters saw that Gian, who could warp at will was gone, and decided to attack Gamion.
“So guys think I’m an easy target?”
A wicked smile appeared on his face.
“I guess bugs will always be mindless fools.”
“?!”
Suddenly all the monsters froze in place.
They felt like they were facing a prehistoric monster in the form of a human. However, there were some who knew an aura very similar to his.
“T-Typhon….It feels like just like Typhon, just not as powerful!”
A monster mumbled.
“Of course I give off a similar aura.”
He gave them a mocking look as his eyes turnt into a burning red and looked like they had the flames of hell trapped in them.
“He’s my grandfather after all.”
“?!”
All the monsters were scared stiff when they heard that.
“I remember now….”
A monster from Tartarus started speaking with a trembling tone.
“He’s that dragon that was hanging around Typhon in the deepest pits of Tartarus for the last two decades!”
It shouted.
“If I remember he has terrifying power as well. He can-”
Before the monster could speak he suddenly vanished into thin air. There was no trace of him, not his scent remained.
“I don’t like people spoiling my secrets.”
Gamion said.
“Well, you all gonna experience it anyway.”
He grinned.
“My Vanishing Arts.”
He suddenly leaped into the arm and swung down his arm. Countless monsters vanished into thin air as if they were never there. Only one monster remained in that area, well half of a monster. The other half was nowhere to be seen. It took awhile before its organs spilled out and it started to bleed.
It tumbled over before vanishing completely.
“Wha…What the hell?!”
The monsters started to scatter in panic.
“It’s no use.”
Gamion spread his arms out and the entire army disappeared just like that. Even the water they were standing on disappeared, and the rest of the water had to flow in and take the space it left.
Only Gamion stood in that area.
“W-What just happened?”
Sasha looked on in shock at what she just witnessed. Not only her but countless people around the world who were watching was shocked as well.
“So that’s the infamous Vanishing Dragon, Gamion Dragna?”
Alexis said as he looked at Gamion.
“With him and Gian back the Dragna clan has just grown even stronger.”
“Gamion, you bastard! Now is the time you choose to appear?! Why couldn’t you appear when I was there?!”
Touma screamed at the monitor she was watching.
“Mother, is that my brother?”
Sasha asked Kimiko.
“Yeah. You don’t remember them since they left the country when you were just a baby and never returned. Gamion is your second brother, his mother is the last child of Typhon a female dragon. Gian is your third brother, even I don’t who his mother is but since he’s a demi-God she must be a goddess.”
Kimiko answered. Sasha was shocked to hear that Gamion was Typhon’s grandson, especially since he just fought her family.
Back at the sea, Gamion approached the land his father and brother were laying on.
“Damn, the old geezer didn’t hold back at all. He wrecked them pretty good.”
He said as he looked at the injuries Typhon gave his family.
“No, the fact that they’re alive is proof that he held back. I wonder if it’s because they’re my family.”
He shook his head.
“Nah, the Geezer isn’t that considerate. He probably had his own reasons.”
He looked over at Gian.
“Hey, come rewind them too. It looks like they can kick the bucket any second.”
“Are you sure you want me to do that? If I do, they’ll lose the new strength they’ve obtained by putting their lives on the line and pushing past their limits over and over again. I’m pretty sure Pops would get mad if that happens. Since I’m the one who would get the whooping, I ain’t doing it. I ain’t getting my ass kicked by my father at this age.”
Gian replied.
“Fine, fine. I’ll heal them myself.”
Gamion answered with an annoyed tone.
“You just repair the Continent then.”
“Huh? I don’t wanna. That’s too much work. Besides it’s your grandfather who destroyed everything. You fix it.”
Gian replied.
“Just fix the damn continent before I tell our brother who burnt his pictures of Sasha as a baby!”
“Hm!”
At that moment Nova’s hand twitched as if he was reacting to what Gamion said. It was moving as if it wanted to strangle someone.
Gian’s face paled when he saw that.
“Alright, alright. I’ll do it.”
He searched for a piece of land and stood on it. Something magically happened next. Pieces of land started raising from the ocean and began connecting themselves together. Dust particles even started to gather and formed earth which also connected together.
With Gian standing in the center the destroyed continent slowly reassemble itself like a picture puzzle. The lands that were destroyed were even repaired, or rather they returned to their original state before it was destroyed. This continued for awhile until the entire continent was repair even the countries that were destroyed during the war.
This naturally included the Dragna Empire and its imperial capital. Everything was restored to how it was before the war.
Everyone who saw this were completely shocked out of their minds. If it wasn’t for the lack of people on the continent they would think that the war didn’t happened and was only a dream.
Record Of Origin could rewind time on a person but it can’t bring the dead back to life. The best it can do is restore the corpse to its best condition, nothing more.
“D-Damn slave driver!”
Gian cursed while breathing heavily. His ability relied on his stamina, so rewinding time on an entire continent made him feel like an obese person who just ran a mile for the first time in their life.
“I’m gonna die.”
He couldn’t support himself and fell on his back.
“I’ll…..remember this….Just you wait….cough! Cough!”
He said.
“Good job. You really are good for something other than being a dick.”
Gamion mocked him.
“Miko! Miko!”
The two look over and saw Tia shaking Miko as if trying to wake him.
“Miko, can you hear me?!”
She shouted in his ear but Miko just wouldn’t wake up.
“Hey, didn’t you fix him?”
Gamion asked.
“I did what I could. I rewind his body to a time when he didn’t have those injuries.”
“Then why isn’t he waking?”
“It’s the same reason why I can’t revive someone. I can’t interfere with a person’s life force. I can rewind his body to the time he was just born and it still wouldn’t help him.”
“You mean…”
Gian nodded.
“That boy doesn’t have that long to live. He’ll die pretty soon and no one can stop it.”