[...You are currently dying, Keizen...]
An ambiguous— yet unknown girlish- kind of voice was heard in the almost deaf ear of a severely wounded man lying in the corner of some wrecked place.
When he slowly opened his eyes, albeit in a weak way.
"Who's that?... Hello?!"
He heard the voice—thus, he shouted from the top of his lungs, in the direction where that sound came from.
"Hello, anyone there?"
"...."
But no one answered nor reacted to his voice.
"Probably, it's just an illusion I guess?"
He pondered looking at the solemn sky.
Well, he's extremely exhausted and already dying anyway so it doesn't matter anymore.
...It doesn't matter anymore, right?
"Well, shit... I shouldn't be thinking like this in front of that damn death as I will now go to that place, I don't want to look weak... infront of them, they might tease me."
His cracked voice weakly echoed in the destroyed terrain of this city. A once-known beautiful planet known as Avantheim, or the Planet of the Pixies— creatures born from the mana of the universe. They were well-versed in transformation magic and were very cute in terms of their tiny appearance.
However, those pixies sacrificed their race and died when the Universal War happened.
"I am alone... ain't I?"
He deeply sighed while observing the current surroundings that he currently has, so he could notice if he had some enemies that he had to deal with.
This place... It's destroyed beyond repair— a gloomy place of death and wreckage, with its withered carcasses of plants and pixies in the terrain of this planet, destroyed monuments and buildings.
Even the Tree of Life worshipped by the Pixies was dead and left with its decayed husk in the middle of this destroyed planet.
A once glorious planet.
One of the former mana-advanced civilizations in this universe.
Died in the hands of the God of Darkness, Ethos.
They fought with that God, to begin with.
"Well, this place was pretty much a dead planet... and also, the planet I will die in."
He observed the various things in the place he was lying in— the husk of destroyed debris floating in the night sky, the flickering light of gloomy stars, the ethereal darkness of space, the dead silence of the everlasting night of the universe.
He stared at the dead sky for the time being.
"..."
That's when he noticed something suddenly flickered in his slowly losing sight.
"....."
Tinggghh
And then the irritating sound followed.
He looked at the thing flickering at his sight, and he was immediately intrigued as this thing suddenly popped out of his face.
"What's... this?"
He looked curiously at the mysticality infront of his eye.
"I've never seen this... before."
The appearance of something that even he, a man who had experienced many shits and seen many things in this universe— with knowledge towards the different kinds of materials in the universe rivaled even those who stood at the top of strength.
.....was extremely clueless to the core.
"What the hell... is this?"
He, still lying in the destroyed debris of a wreckage, looked up to see the thing that flickered and appeared infront of his eyes, without his notice on it. Despite his immense sensitivity to magic and the power of mana in this universe.
Well, although he's currently dying right now— his sensitivity was still on point so he didn't expect this kind of thing.
He didn't even feel anything, let alone expecting something like this to appear...
Aside from that sound that came first, he was confused as hell.
But curiosity got the best of him— he carefully observed the panel in front of him, with curiosity and carefulness at the same time.
"Interestingly, it looks like some kind of lost art from some advanced civilizations."
The first deduction that he had made, looking at the thing ahead of him.
That's when he remembered something...
"Or... It was someone just messing with me?"
Well, the only eye that he had on his face— desperately tried to grasp the uncertainty in front of him... coupled with his silenced mouth.
Nevertheless, it was still quite a huge shock for him...
He was alone yet, he suddenly found something like this. As if someone was messing with his already broken mind.
"Despite all of those assumptions, it's still pretty interesting."
He was deeply intrigueous to the thing flickering into his slowly blurring view.
Then, something happened... he heard those words again that were spoken earlier.
[...You are currently dying, Keizen.]
"So it's this thing, huh? What a godsend it is, I'm already dying you know? You're too late."
He knows that he's dying so it's okay...
However, knowledge was something that kept his loneliness at bay— it's everything in this solemn universe for a person like him, alone and desperately fighting to live.
Even on his deathbed, he still strives to know more about the uncertainties of this godforsaken universe.
And this thing infront of him— belongs to that group.
An anomaly of the universe.
It's an unknown that he can't wait to discover.
An uncertainty that only those with persistence will be able to know what this thing's essence is all about.
This unrecognizable panel of some sort, a highly advanced one at that— was one of those mysteries that he wanted to unveil even in his last moments.
Well, it's a shame that he doesn't have that much time.
This thing was as he observed— it's floating with some unknown technology. It was a higher type of magic than those levitating spells that he knows like fly and levitation.
It was also colored in a blue hue that probably symbolized something.
There are also some type of unknown written words that he can't fathom right now on his thing due to his blurring mind.
And this type of unknown energy that he can't even describe surrounding this phenomenon.
He's deeply entranced.
That was when his eye suddenly blurred.
"Ahh... Fuck! This can't be happening!"
It's caused by one sole reason— he was severely wounded and dying, which resulted in him losing his focus.
Moreover, it's one of the main indicators of the body slowly shutting down.
However, he ignored that notion of death.
Solely focusing on himself, indulging in the intricacies of this panel and its unknown origin.
It even gives his destroyed body the momentary strength it needs to study this thing even for just a moment.
And think about some things in the meantime.
Well, he thought of those legendary beings that achieved the peak of this universe.
Trascendents.
Being almost known as the one who broke the limits of their races.
And achieve God-like powers.
"This thing must probably be made by one of those... Transcendents that achieved the pinnacle of magic and... technology in their technique."
He said with difficulty, slowly— feeling this glimpse of weakness in his tattered body.
And also, the feeling of the increased difficulty of breathing right now seems pretty prevalent.
However, he still kind of ignored that and thought again to himself.
These people, despite achieving the peak of the Universal Order...
Fall from grace and died, when they fought the God of Darkness, Ethos— the Dark Side of the Universe with all of its troops surrounding all sides of the universe.
These invaders have a sole intention.
It's to devour this universe that we live in.
Thus, a Universal War began with inhabitants of this universe and its Transcendents— against the God of Darkness, Ethos, the Dark Side of the Universe and their troops wanting to destroy this universe.
However, that's the story for the next time.
The ending regardless— was a completely devastating defeat for the native of this universe.
The enemy was so strong...
... And all of the Transcendentals died one by one, in many years of the bloody war that they had with the enemy.
That also led to me fleeing— every time.
However, the Fated of the Universe finally got me.
That war also led him to his current condition; blooded holes in different parts of his chest that you can even see his severed internal organs such as his pierced lungs, his broken ribcage and his grazed heart, his ravished abdomen that you can literally gaze at the hanging intestines in his abdomen, destroyed shoulder blades and a missing left arm, his missing one eye that was gouged out and his lips and neck was filled with blood to the brim due to his wounds.
And lastly...
...a decapitated lower half.
Despite that, he paid no mind to his condition and continued to observe this thing.
Death was only the plausible ending for him afterall.
He sighed weakly, "Well, nothing will change regardless so I will take my chances to know this thing or die without fighting or knowing."
"So I can have a purpose..."
"A purpose... in my life."
Tears combined with blood slowly trickled in his only left eye, looking at the vast universe that they tried to protect before, with just the sole intention of protecting it even if they died severely.
"You know, we will protect this place even if we die, okay? It's the duty of us, the Protectors of this Universe. We want to protect it because our loved ones were living on it... and we loved it."
The leader of the Transcendents, Alicia del Zohar, said to us— looking enthusiastic at odds of fighting and protecting this universe they loved... even if they died.
Well, it's a big mistake to be enthusiastic in this war.
She died at the hands of the God of Death.
My friends lost and died, and I'm...
... The only one left.
The last man of the universe.
"This is what it feels to die huh? But not as bad as being killed by those monsters... I guess hehe."
He sighed, looking at the panel of some sort in one eye.
Remembering the deaths of the people that he loved— gives him this tranquility of knowing that he will see them again.
Everyone died excluding him.
And he's tired of it all.
He wants to end it all.
He wants to die badly.
But...
"Fuck! I can't even glimpse the foundation of this thing."
He remorsefully said, looking at the thing floating in his view. He was momentarily lost in the high complexity of the thing that he was observing.
Well, he just focused on the thing before him.
... It doesn't matter anymore, right?
That's when he slowly felt the coldness of death; the intense shivering of the body, the much more increased difficulty in breathing compared to before, the dryness of his throat, the uncontrollable spasm of his muscles, his one eye slowly losing its focus and his heartbeat— it's slowly stopping from beating.
Despite all of that, he now ignored the panel in front of him and stared at the gloomy destroyed stars in the night sky.
There's one thing that he realized before.
"It's a shame, I haven't been able to redeem myself to you guys."
Looking at these heavenly bodies as if it's cursing him. These things were completely devoured and lost their light in the passage of the Universal War.
These things become his companions in his lonely fight of death with Ethos.
"Well, it's okay... I guess? I deserved something like this."
Huaaaaahhh
He stared at the night sky for one last time... as he heard something.
But his eyes can't see anymore.
"Ahh, shit."
He tried to use his hearing.
That's when he heard something.
He heard the voice of the unknown girl talking to him from the panel earlier.
But he can't comprehend it right now.
Slowly...
Slowly...
... So this is death...?
... It's not a bad feeling, I guess...
He slowly closed his ears.
All the voices in his head became black and silence surrounded him.
... In death....
[Detecting! The Impending Death of the Last Survivor of this Universe.]
[The System will use all of its backup power to —omitted.]
[Implementing! The Final Resort of this Universe.]
[Material needed: The Chasm of Time.]
[Searching for a suitable world...]
[Searching.....]
[Searching.....]
[Searching.....]
[Searching...]
[Searching.....]
[Nothing was found...]
[Searching retry...]
[Searching retry.....]
[S-Searching r-retry....]
[S-Searching -etry.....]
[Finally, -he System found o-one suitable w-world.]
[C-Connecting....]
[-onnecting...]
[--nnecting.....]
The system glowed in a barren wrecked place of debris.
[-----ection Complete!]
The transfer will now start.....
[1%]
[2%]
[5%]
[10%]
[20%]
[50%]
[75%]
[95%]
[96%]
[97%]
[98%]
[99%]
[100%]
[-------fer Complete!]
[Due to malfunction, the system will use all of its backup power to save Keizen al Nevestria.]
[Material: The Destroyed Soul of the God of Time.]
[Completed!]
[Now, the System will give its final message to the New Host.]
[Goodbye, my —omitted.]