Walking out through the portal, Raymond expected to be greeted with the familiar scenery of the city of New Rayan.
Tall towering skyscrapers, roads filled with cars and sidewalks filled with the hustle and bustle of a regular metropolitan area.
Instead he was greeted by the sight of what could only be described as an apocalypse. The sky was dark and grey rather then it's usual clear blue. Numerous ruins of what were once buildings, corpses upon corpses of humans rotting everywhere.
His ear were met with the sound of only silence.
There weren't even any crows or maggots to feast upon the corpses. It seemed as if in the whole city, he was the only thing still alive.
"Fly, Detect life, Loud voice"
Casting several spells to let him fly, detect the presence of living things within a 2 kilometer radius and make his voice louder. He went around the ruined city continuously yelling out to try and find anybody.
Silence.
The only life presences he could detect were the occasional cockroach or rat. His voice merely echoed without a single response.
Flying even faster he expanded the range of his detect life spell, if 2 kilometers wasn't enough then make it 10! If 19 wasnt enough then make it 20! He had the mana to spare with how high his level was.
When his detect life spell reached 247 kilometers however he finally felt something. Not the small inconsequential life force of a rat or insect but something larger, more complex.
Something more human.
Flying towards it at max speed, he quickly left the city and reached a small mountain. All of its greenery was gone, replaced with dead shrubble but Raymond could recognise the mountain.
Mount Golde. Named after Zachary Golde, the hero who had defeated the Demon Ling and saved humanity. It was where the Demon King had met his end.
His landing made a crater in the ground but he didn't care, rushing towards where he detected the life form.
There he found them. Simply sitting on the ground, staring out at the darkness of the world.
Raymond recognized her, he recognized her very very well actually. She was one of the main characters of his novel and his personal favourite character. He knew her favourite foods, her likes and dislikes and even the fact that she used a teddy bear until she turned 15.
Yet staring at her despondent blank face, he almost mistook her for someone else.
Ellen Grace, the World Crossing Arrow.
Her signature golden bow was on the ground next to her, it's gleam barely hidden by the mud, ash and blood covering it. Stabbed into the ground was a singular golden arrow equally as covered.
Her usual radiant blonde hair was dirty and hung loosely, yet despite how battered she looked her beauty still managed to shine through.
"Ellen Grace?"
Her ears perked up, slowly turning to face him. Pupils slowly widening as she stared at him.
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly in disbelief. Struggling to stand up, she limped her way towards Raymond as fast as she coukd
"Y-y-you a-al cough cough"
Her voice was raspy and dry, coughing continuously yet her meaning was clear enough in her eyes.
'How are you alive?'
"Summon drinking water"
Casting a spell which summoned a glass of drinking water. he watched her eagerly drink up the water. Each gulp seemingly revitalizing her.
After needing to cast the spell two more times and waiting for her to finish drinking from both. He finally asked the question he came for in there first place.
"What happened??Zachary Golde defeated the Demon King already didn't he? Humanity won! Why is the world like this right now??"
Zachary Golde
Yet instead of answering him, she just stared at him. Her kaleidoscopic eyes seemed to gaze into the very depths of his soul. Which wasn't that far off from what she could do.
"Uhm... did you hear what I asked or do I need to repeat it..?"
Silence.
After a while, she finally seemed to snap back into reality. Wiping away some of the water around her mouth with her hand.
"The Demon King, he wasn't the end. A-after we killed him. Everything was fine for a few days b-but then He appeared."
Her breathing became more and more laboured. Her voice shaking and stuttering as she recountted her story.
"Who is this He that you're talking about?"
She paled even more, whatever memory she brought up was clearly not a good one. Gripping her shoulders, he shook her back and forth in an attempt to get her back to reality.
"I-i don't know, he just said tha-that we killed his son. So he would kill us in exchange. Zachary... Noelle... Lin... Arthur... They all died trying to fight Him. "
He recognised all of those names as well. Zachary Golde, the main character of his novel. Noelle Asteria, one of the main members if the group. Lin Qingyi, also one of the main characters of the group. Arthur Findsor, Zachary's best friend and the comedic relief of the group.
Dead? They along with Ellen were the strongest humans who had ever lived. Even searching through history it would be hard to find anyone even close to their level.
Not to mention, Zachary even had the system! It was a much more weakened and modified version of the system compared to what Raymond was using but such a thing was an insane cheat code!
As far as Raymond remembered, Zachary was level 1003 at the end of the story. Higher then even his own level in the system.
Naturally he was way weaker then Raymond even with his higher level.
Although the other members of the group didn't have such a system they were still extremely strong. Sometimes going toe to toe with Zachary if circumstances were right.
Yet they had died?
Taking a deep breath in, Raymond stared out at the sights. Normally, the mountain would have beautiful views of the city of New Rayan. Now, as far as he could see it was all ruins and craters. As if the very Earth itself was scarred and injured.
Panning his gaze across the now wasteland. Raymond felt empty. Although he only spent a total of a few months living in this dimension. He had still grown attached to it.
If it wasn't for Zachary and his group, his novel wouldn't even have been created in the first place since he just copied nearly everything in their story one to one.
So Raymond felt a sense of responsibility to take care of this world especially now that it had turned to this.
"System"
Quietly uttering the word to not alert Ellen, he opened his system.
Name:
Rayleigh Von Mez (LV 952)
Race:
Perfect Human
Classes:
-Prodigy Mage(LV MAX)
-Pioneer Dimension Magic Mage (LV MAX)
-Pioneer Time Magic Mage (LV MAX)
-Dimension Magic Savant(LV MAX)
-Time Magic Genius(LV MAX)
-Archmage of Dimension Magic(LV MAX)
-Archmage of Time Magic(LV MAX)
-Trailblazer of Knowledge(LV 127/500)
Title:
[The mage who stands at the top of two peaks]
Stats:
[press here to show]
Skills:
[press here to show]
Status:
[press here to show]
---
"Title change, equip title Pinnacle of Time Magic."
Title:
[The mage who stands at the top of two peaks->Pinnacle of Time Magic]
His clothes changed from the winter clothes he wore into a dark blue robe with numerous golden symbols on it, each constantly shifting and changing shape. His staff, originally seeming like simply a long stick. Glowed through several of the carvings as he pumped his mana into it.
'Wait. Before I do this, I should at least ask For permission right?'
Turning towards Ellen who appeared slightly stunned at his sudden change, he said.
"Hey Ellen, if you could turn back time to try and save everyone would you do it?"
"Yes, I owe to them for being the only one to survive. "
Diagnosing her with survivors guilt in his head. He asked her again.
"Even if because if you turning back time causes monsters to constantly attack you trying to kill you and return the timeline back to normal? Never again will you be able to live a peaceful life."
She seemed to have caught on to what he was saying already. Her face resolute and determined.
"Yes"
"Even if, everyone forgets who are? Forgets that you even exist at the end of it all? "
Her expression seemed to grow even more determined. Even after hearing the last one.
"Yes, no matter what. "
He took a deep breath. What he was going to do was something even he had never done before. Luckily however, it was possible theoretically.
Theoretically and practically was different however, which was why he had to equip his Pinnacle of Time magic title. Granting him an increased success rate, affinity, and efficiency in whatever Time magic spell he casted.
"You might wanna step back, this will take a while. "
Steeling himself, he gripped his staff to the point his fingers whitened and drew on his mana reserves.
His massive mana pool drained by half almost immediately, with even more draining every second. Taking a deep breath, he multitasked casting the spell and absorbing the ambient mana.
The mana was lower quality than what he was used to, but its quantity was a quality in itself.
He grunted a bit, the amount of mana that he was absorbing to fuel the spell was way too much! To the point his surroundings started to glow with an intense blue light.
...
Ellen couldn't believe it, it had been at least a few weeks since the world had ended when He descended. Ellen herself only survived because she had been far away from his descent utilizing her archery skills. But she knew, if He wanted to.
She wouldn't even be alive.
His descent had done much more then just kill her friends. His very skin seemed to be made out of countless demons, each wound inflicted would cause tides of demons to flood. Ellen herself was forced to help kill these tides while supporting her friends.
But it was all useless, all of humanity had died from these tides. Her friends soon followed.
Why Ellen had been the only one to survive was a question that ate away at her very soul.
Was she just lucky? Was He simply too lazy?
The guilt gnawed away at her. Left all by herself on the entire world as the only human. She used her eyes to search for any living people yet as far as she could tell she was truly the last person on the planet. So she returned to Mount Golde where it had started and simply waited.
Waited for her own death, her eyes listlessly gazing into the ruins of the world now. With his string she was, her body took a lot longer to even feel the danger from not eating or drinking.
She cursed herself for having such good eyes. It let her see so much more, too much in fact.
But she couldn't do anything. So she just waited. Patiently, for her own death.
And then, he appeared. A completely unfamiliar person, but she could tell. White hair tied into a ponytail at the back. With light blue eyes similar to the sky . He was strong, stronger then all of them, stronger then Zachary. He could probably take on the Demon King himself and come out relatively unscathed.
More importantly, it was a human. A living, breathing person.
Drinking the water he summoned, Ellen didn't even realise how thirsty she really was.
Even when he asked her a few questions, she was still lost in her shock. Seeing someone after so long had given her something she desperately needed and hated at the same time.
Hope.
Even now, after answering his questions. Ellen hated the feeling of hope. What if, time really could be turned back? She didn't care about any of the consequences he mentioned.
As the only survivor it was her duty to save them.
Staring at him from a few metres away however, Ellen felt stupefied by the amount of mana he was using.
He was even absorbing mana and casting at the same time! Even Noelle, often touted as the pinnacle of all magic couldn't do that!
Whatever spell he casted, numerous magic circles would appear and then seemingly dissipate into nothingness.
But Ellen could tell, her eyes let her see. They weren't gone. Still there but not there in a physical manner. Hundreds, thousands of such magic circles.
A long time passed, and he still stood there. His expression focused as he continuously chanted. Ellen didn't dare move or make any noise for fear of disturbing him.
Finally however, he casted another magic circles, this one particularly larger and more complex. After it dissipated be stopped chanting, leaning over as he took deep breathes over and over again. Gasping for air.
"Is it done..?"
She asked cautiously, smiling however, he walked over to her and with a firm grip grabbed her left hand and dragged her over to where he stood when casting.
"No turning back after this. Once you say yes. You and I will return to the past. You will return to your original body with all your memories intact. Once the past timeline reached the time of this current timeline, all memories of you will be wiped from existence. It will be as if you never existed, none if your friends will remember you and you will never be able to live a peaceful life ever again. I ask you once again, are you sure of this?"
What a stupid question, if she said no now wouldn't it mean all of his effort would then go to waste? Not that she would ever say no. She owed it to them to save them. Because she knew, if it was anyone of them in this situation they would all say yes without a moment of hesitation.
So why would she also hesitate?
"Yes, I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything in my life actually. "