Chapter 41:Regret
ANK POV
After the flashback ended, my legs carried me without pause.
I was running ,toward the village square, toward the faint hope that the old man and Maya were safe. My lungs burned, my heartbeat was beating fast ,why I didn't understand why I was running, that my life depended if I didn't find Maya and old man.
"Old man… Maya…" I muttered under my breath, I want both of you to be safe until I arrive ,I didn't want to lose .
When I finally reached the heart of the village, my eyes caught sight of her.
Maya.
She was there helping the villagers, pulling the wounded from the rubble, her hands trembling yet determined. Even in that chaos, she smiled to reassure others, as if the disaster hadn't touched her heart. Relief washed through me like cool water. My chest loosened. My legs stopped trembling.
"She's fine…" I whispered, allowing myself a breath. "She's alive."
But the world had a cruel way of striking when you dare to relax.
A spear that was size of Maya
It came from nowhere, splitting the air with and moving towards Maya , before I could even shout and react , it pierced through Maya's chest.
The sound—flesh tearing, bone cracking—still echoes in my ears.
My breath stopped. My heart stopped. Time itself stopped.
"Maya!"
The cry ripped from my throat, raw and desperate. My body moved before thought. I sprinted, stumbling, tearing through the distance between us. Blood spilled from her lips, her hands clutching at the weapon buried deep in her chest. Her knees buckled.
No. No. Not her.
I reached for her but when I reached another spear piercing through the air, aimed directly at my back. I was careless , I didn't notice,in my mind only Maya's condition.
Maya's eyes found the spear . Even in that moment, when pain should have broken her, she smiled faintly. Her lips parted, whispering words so soft I could barely hear them.
And then ,Energy ball made of mana ,he shot towards the spear to change his direction ,even in his death door ,she protected me .
Instead of my back, it struck the nearby mountain.
Boom ,a mushroom size explosion happens when Maya spell and spear combined ,creating another sun that rises from the ground .
The villagers that was left in village was sent flying in sky due to shockwave and air pressure , half of houses in village start cracking ,slowly failing in ground.
The mountain didn't crumble—it vanished, vaporized in an instant, reduced to nothingness.
But I didn't care. I didn't care about the destruction. I didn't care about the villagers ,I didn't care about the villages,I didn't care that my eardrums were totally destroyed,my bodies had countless wounds while I protected Maya from this explosion .
All I cared about was her.
I caught her before she fell, her body weak and trembling in my arms.
"Maya… Maya! Stay with me!"
Her blood soaked into me, warm, sticky, suffocating. Her breathing was shallow. Her eyes fluttered like fragile wings trying to fight against the storm of death.
And yet, even then… she smiled.
I wanted to scream at her. To beg her not to close her eyes. But my throat locked, strangled by grief.
[System Message: New Quest Available.]
The words flashed in my vision, cold and merciless.
I ignored them. I didn't care. The system could damn itself. Quest, rewards, power—none of it mattered.
Because in my arms… Maya was slipping away.
A flashback tore into me, one I never wanted to remember.
Space. Endless Destruction , endless war. I was surrounded by giants, towering beings whose bodies rivaled mountains.Undefeated warriors that no one can fight .Marching forward with the arrogance of Undefeated.
I stood in their way, Alone.
And when I hear a voice ,
"Need my help?"
"No need," I spat, gripping my sword. "I am enough."
And so I fought.
For two hours I fought, cutting through bodies larger than cities, shattering bones, spilling blood that turned rock into crimson . Their roars became silent. Their armies became corpses adrift in space.
When it was over, I stood amidst the carnage, the void littered with death. My sword dripped, my body burned, but I was alive.
The voice owner came towards me.
"I said I don't need your help."
"Yes. I see. You don't need my help," it replied calmly.
The face behind that voice—blurred, elusive. I reached for it, desperate to remember, but the scene shattered like glass.
And suddenly, Ank was in another place with the corpses of gods all around him.
And he was carrying someone in his hand,
"You promise me," she whispered. "You promise you wouldn't take revenge for my death."
Her words cut deeper than any blade.
"No," I shook my head violently. "I will take revenge. I'll make them all pay!"
Her smile faded. "No, you won't. If you do… I'll never forgive you."
The weight of her words crushed me.
"No! Don't say that!" I cried.
"Promise me," she said, her voice weak, trembling. "Promise me you won't take revenge."
My tears fell onto her face. For the first time in my life i cried. I had never shed a tear, not for myself, not for pain, not for anyone. But for her, my tears wouldn't stop.
The cruel truth was that her existence itself was erased from the universe. Even if I gathered all the power in the world, even if I commanded armies or bent reality itself, I could never bring her back.
That day… my path changed. That day, my journey began—fueled not by hope, not by justice,not by ambition but by greed. By the hunger for power that might one day break the chains of fate.
Her last words burned into my soul:
Promise me…
And then her eyes closed.
The fury that consumed me that day was unlike anything else. My eyes burned red, my heart drowned in rage. The universe itself trembled beneath the storm I became.
But now… in the present…
The fury was gone.
All that remained was regret.
Why? Why couldn't I save her? Why was I too weak, too slow, too powerless?
The same scene replayed in my mind endlessly. The spear, her blood, her whisper. Again and again.
I clenched my fists until blood dripped from my palms.
"I should have saved you… Maya…"
And for the first time, I wasn't angry. I wasn't vengeful.
I was broken.