His consciousness returned and a chill spread through him.
It was cold, a bone-deep, soul-freezing cold that had nothing to do with temperature. It was the agony of a soul being torn apart inch by inch, ground into nothingness by an irresistible force: darkness.
An endless darkness that devoured light, sound, and every trace of perception, leaving behind only his consciousness as it sank deeper and deeper into absolute oblivion, as though he had been exiled to the loneliest corner at the edge of the universe.
His heart had already been shattered. ’I... was betrayed.’
The memory of his final moments surfaced from the abyss.
The last thing he had seen before the endless darkness claimed him was a pair of familiar eyes, eyes he had trusted without reservation, eyes for which he had willingly laid down his life. Yet in their final gaze, there had been neither guilt nor sorrow, only detached indifference and a faint glimmer of naked greed.
"Aiden Cross... my dear brother." Damien Bale’s familiar yet commanding voice echoed through the collapsing space. Once, that voice had inspired absolute trust, but now it sounded more unbearable than the deafening roar of the spatial rift itself.
"For humanity’s future... for the ascension of the Sovereign of Fate... your sacrifice is necessary."
For a fleeting moment, Aiden’s mind returned to a memory from years ago.
He had been younger then, standing beside Damien after their first major victory against the monsters beyond the city walls.
His body had been covered in wounds, his weapon broken, and his strength completely exhausted.
Yet Damien had simply laughed, placed a hand on his shoulder, and pulled him into a firm embrace.
"Don’t worry, little brother. No matter what happens, I’ll always have your back."
Aiden had believed those words. He had believed them more than anything.
For years, Damien had been his brother, his leader, and the person he trusted most in the entire world.
He had followed him into countless battles. He had entrusted Damien with his life. And when humanity stood on the brink of extinction, Aiden had never once questioned whether Damien would stand beside him until the very end.
Now... That same brother was offering him to the Diamond, whatever it was...
The memory shattered.
"Don’t blame your elder brother. If anyone is to blame, it’s your Dragon Sovereign’s Guard Class for being the perfect vessel."
Aiden’s soul trembled. ’So that promise... Had it ever meant anything?’
Beside him, Seraphine Nox wore an expression of heartbreaking reluctance. Crystal tears traced her flawless face, yet her elegant, jade-like hands never hesitated as they completed the sacrificial seals with chilling precision.
Commander Garrett Kaine threw back his head in triumphant laughter.
And Selene... The woman who had once fought beside him through countless battles simply lowered her eyes, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to meet his gaze.
He never thought being betrayed would hurt this much...
’Enough!’
Hatred erupted within Aiden’s crumbling soul like a volcanic inferno. Rage, grief, and despair merged into a torrent powerful enough to shatter reason itself, yet none of it could stop the brilliant, world-rending spatial rift from swallowing him whole.
"AAARGH!" Aiden Cross bolted upright in bed, a ragged roar bursting from his throat.
Cold sweat drenched his body. His heart pounded violently against his ribs like an engine pushed beyond its limits, each frantic beat echoing through the silent room.
His harsh breathing filled the darkness as he instinctively clutched his chest, his fingers digging so tightly into his shirt that his knuckles turned white.
But the unbearable agony he had expected, the pain of his body and soul being shredded by the Laws of Space, never came.
Instead, beneath his trembling hand was warm, youthful skin and the steady, powerful rhythm of a healthy heart.
"...I’m alive?" His voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.
’No... That couldn’t be right.’
His head snapped upward. His pupils constricted as disbelief flooded his eyes.
The room before him was painfully familiar; a cramped college dormitory with a slightly cluttered desk stacked with printed copies of the Eclipse Online lore guides and strategy manuals, items that would become priceless relics in the year 3000.
Several sci-fi posters adorned the walls, while the air carried the crisp, unmistakable scent unique to a university campus.
Everything around him looked exactly as it had.
As if time itself had rewound. Or perhaps... He had returned to a past he thought was lost forever.
Outside the window, the city’s endless sea of neon lights stained the night sky in shades of violet and crimson. The peaceful scene stood in grotesque contrast to the apocalypse etched into Aiden’s memory, the shattered heavens, twisted Laws, collapsing continents, and endless mountains of corpses drowned beneath rivers of blood.
"...This is my dormitory?" His voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.
He abruptly turned toward the electronic clock on the bedside table. The pale blue digits glowed silently in the darkness.
[Year 3000]
[August 5th 11:59:10 AM]
The moment those numbers entered his eyes, his entire body froze. His chaotic memories snapped into place like fragments of a broken mirror.
’I have twenty-four hours.’
There were only twenty-four hours left before Eclipse Online officially launched. Twenty-four hours before the world’s first fully immersive virtual reality game ceased to be merely a game.
Twenty-four hours before reality and the virtual world fused into one.
Twenty-four hours before the apocalypse began. As impossible and hard to believe as it was, he had actually returned.
In his previous life, Aiden Cross had risen from an ordinary college student to one of humanity’s strongest warriors. Chosen by the S-Rank Class, Dragon Sovereign’s Guard, he had fought beneath the banner of the Dragon Sovereign, Damien Bale, carving a path through countless battlefields and sacrificing everything for humanity’s survival.
Only to be betrayed. At the final battle, the brother he trusted most, the comrades who had once sworn life and death beside him, even the woman he loved, had offered him up as the final sacrifice to fully awaken Damien Bale’s SSS-Rank Class, Sovereign of Fate.
His body had been cast into the spatial rift. His soul had been torn apart. Not even a corpse remained.
Yet, he had returned. Returned to the day before it all began.
For more than ten seconds, Aiden simply stood there, his mind completely blank.
Then, ecstasy, disbelief, relief, rage, and resentment flooded his entire being. Countless emotions erupted from the depths of his heart, crashing together like an unstoppable tidal wave. His fists clenched instinctively, his nails digging deep into his palms until the sharp pain finally brought his thoughts back under control.
’This wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t an illusion. I’ve truly been given another chance.’
Without another thought, Aiden threw off the blanket and rushed into the small bathroom, nearly stumbling before slamming on the lights.
The bright white glow illuminated the mirror.
Looking back at him was a young man barely twenty years old.
His complexion was healthy. His black hair was neat. His clear eyes still carried the innocence of university life.
Gone were the scars earned from three years of endless warfare. Gone was the exhaustion carved into his soul. Gone was the despair of the man abandoned by everyone he had ever trusted.
This was Aiden Cross, before Eclipse Online, Before the Classes, before Damien Bale, before glory, before betrayal.
"...Heh." A faint laugh escaped his lips. It grew louder and louder until it echoed throughout the tiny bathroom.
The laughter was cold, almost manic. Tears streamed silently down his face.
Not tears of sorrow. But the laughter of a man who had clawed his way back from hell. A man mocking fate itself.
"Damien Bale..." His smile slowly disappeared. "My dear brother."
His reflection stared back at him with eyes that no longer belonged to a university student.
"Seraphine Nox, Garrett Kaine, Selene."
Each name left his lips like a death sentence. The warmth vanished from his gaze, replaced by an icy darkness that seemed capable of freezing souls.
"You never imagined this, right?"
His voice was soft, yet every word carried an unmistakable killing intent.
"The sacrifice you abandoned..." Aiden stared at his reflection. "...has returned."
"In this life, I won’t save humanity. I won’t become anyone’s hero. I’ll become the nightmare that follows each of you. I’ll drag every one of you into the hell you prepared for me."
His hands slowly tightened. "You took everything from me."
"So this time... I’ll collect every debt with blood, with your souls."
His eyes narrowed. "I’ll pay you back a hundredfold."
Silence returned as Aiden closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. The murderous intent raging inside him gradually settled beneath a calm exterior.
Hatred alone would accomplish nothing after all he only had twenty-four hours.
Twenty-four hours to prepare for the apocalypse. Twenty-four hours to obtain the advantages that had once slipped through his fingers. Twenty-four hours to change everything.
Every minute from this moment onward would determine whether history repeated itself...
Or whether this lifetime truly belonged to him alone.