The year 1968, 10th Epoch;
35-year-old Neal entered the headquarters and made his way to the President's office. He just broke through the 7-star realm and was probably called to appreciate him with a promotion.
Or so, thought Neal.
But, when he entered the place, he realized that the matter is something else. There are three more individuals in the room. Two of them are in the peak stage of the 7-star realm while the other one is in the 8-star realm. Adding on top of that, even Vice President Ramiel is also there.
Their presence gave him an ominous sign.
He saluted the dwarf and stood at attention position, waiting for the order as he cannot act casually with the president in front of the others.
President Cornelius then spoke, "Lieutenant Neal, you have a mission. These three are from the Zero Squad. Since you made a successful breakthrough to the 7-star realm, Commander Kruger has requested that I should let you experience the work of the Zero Squad. Your leader will brief you about the details on the way."
Neal saluted him once again while cursing his master inwardly as going with such strong people means the mission is nothing less than life-threatening to him.
Under Ramiel's lead, the five of them proceeded to take the flight to Zamaru, a region consisting of the islands and small countries located on the other side of the world.
After 26 hours of nonstop travel, they finally reached their destination.
The airport was quite empty with little to no passengers but the staff working there were quite welcoming.
From the moment he stepped out of the airport to the moment he reached the hotel located a few kilometers away, the smallest adult Neal saw was about 6 feet. And he felt slightly frustrated.
Suddenly, he thought of his president. This is probably how that little man would feel when he was in the presence of others.
After checking into the hotel, Neal collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling, recollecting the info he was given on the way to this island country of Isla Vista.
"Some nut job is using the magma down there to break through to 9-star-realm. Because of that, the magma will go out of control and the volcanic eruption is the least of our worries.
Now, we have to dive into the volcano, swim through the magma river, find the madman, and kill him as it has already become too late to convince him.
Sigh… what have I gotten myself into? Ever since I betrayed my master to seek power, my life has been thrown onto a rollercoaster. But, I don't regret leaving him. I decide what I want to do with my life. I won't give control to anyone."
"Yes, I agree with you." A voice was suddenly heard in the surroundings, making him spring up from the bed and looked around warily.
"Who is it?" He asked.
A figure slowly materialized out of thin air, startling him as it was a hooded figure but under the hood, there is a skull instead of a human face.
"What are you?" Neal was shocked.
The mysterious skeletal figure answered, "My identity doesn't matter. What I want matters more."
"Okay, what do you want?" asked Neal. He cannot feel anything from the stranger, which actually sounds more terrifying than his bony appearance.
The skeletal figure replied, "I have a job for you. An event will occur about a century from now. You will have to participate in that event, which threatens humanity. I will also bless you with a more powerful Arcana spirit than your current one and change your fate in a way that you will be a supreme being when the time comes. Your identity will be changed. You will get to live a life of a human who doesn't have to listen to anyone's orders. You could do anything you want with your life."
"What do you think of me? An idiot?" Neal didn't believe a thing the stranger said to him as they defy logic. Changing fate, changing identity, giving Arcana spirit, and making him a supreme being within a century, all of these sound so ridiculous.
The stranger responded with a question, "You don't believe me?"
Neal replied, "Hmpf, you sound as if you are a god or something. I don't believe in gods and things like heaven and hell either. So, go somewhere else and play a god."
The skeletal figure then pointed his skeletal figure at the door, "Check out the outside world. Perhaps, it will be more convincing to you. Go. I will be waiting for you here."
"What? Did you bring me into another dimension without letting me know or something?" Neal walked at a brisk pace and left the room. At first, there's nothing that incurred his suspicion. But then, thinking that this stranger played a prank on him, as Neal went to the lounge, he saw the receptionist and a couple of hotel staff members were stood there like statues.
Neal's facial expression changed to that of a frown. "What the hell?"
He tried conversing with them but nothing happened. He touched them but they were completely unresponsive. They weren't batting their eyes either.
As the atmosphere was completely silent, he rushed outside of the door only to witness that even birds were frozen in the air but they aren't falling on the ground. They are just there…
Neal, at once, felt like he was trapped in some kind of illusion. He tried various methods to get out but nothing happened. He rushed to the rooms on the same floor as his where his teammates were supposedly resting.
However, even they were frozen in their spots. Neal started to sweat in panic.
Upon returning to his room, Neal saw the stranger sitting on a chair while having chips.
"Are you really a god?" He asked in nervousness, remembering how rudely he spoke to him earlier.
The stranger responded with a chuckle, "A god, eh? People call me that but I'm not. You can address me how you want. It doesn't matter actually. What matters is whether you are interested in this proposal or not. I will give you time to think until a teammate of yours will sacrifice his life for you in the upcoming fight."
"A teammate will sacrifice his life for me? What are you talking about?" Neal was confused.
But the stranger will not give any more details. Letting out another chuckle once again, the stranger got up from the seat, "Before I go, I will give you two more facts from the future. One, only three of the five will be returning alive. And two, you are fated to die before you turn 100 years old."
The stranger disappeared and the time was unfrozen.
Neal might have been overwhelmed because of the time freeze but still, he doesn't completely believe the mysterious figure as he is practically a stranger.
After a while;
Beneath the surface of the volcano, one of the teammates of Neal was shielding the enemy, who is in the middle of deep meditation.
He appears to be the elder brother of the target, and despite being a 7-star realm expert, he was willing to risk his life.
Ramiel was angered by the betrayal and he decides to put an end to his life. Obviously, the man was no match for two legendary realm experts and two 7-star realm experts. He was killed mercilessly but he managed to give his younger brother the time needed for a breakthrough.
The enraged young brother who is now a 9-star Arcana Master went all out against Ramiel and the others.
With assistance from the magma river, the target became quite powerful.
In the end, just like how Neal was informed, the 7-star realm Captain ranked officer tried to save a heavily injured Neal from getting killed. He saved Neal but in the process, he died.
Eventually, under the collective efforts of two legendary realm Arcana Masters, the enemy was killed and the survived Neal couldn't help but accept the offer after returning to his room at the hotel where he met the stranger once again.
Back to the present;
"And that's how I became Neal Edwards. I don't expect you to believe me but this is the truth. I don't know how that god did it but the next thing I know is that my Arcana spirit was changed, my attribute was changed, my identity was changed, and heck, even my own DNA was changed.
What's funny is that I even met my own self in this world. Based on what he said, Neal must have passed away already. I don't even know anymore whether I came from another world or another reality or whatever that is. It is way above my level of thinking.
I'm just satisfied with the fact that I get to have everything I want. I'm finally happy to have peace." Neal Edwards finished his story, leaving Azzy in deep thought.
"I thought my future self probably severed a part of Neal's soul and gave him the new identity and everything while dropping him off 14 years prior to the original's timeline using time travel. But, it is something else. Another reality?"
As Neal was thinking deeply, the Reaper finally decided to shed light on the matter to clear his confusion. "Your future self manipulated the timeline, Azrael."
"Manipulated the timeline?" Azzy knows about the manipulation of time but not the timeline itself. He asked for an explanation.
The Reaper answered, "If I had to make you understand in simple words. It is called Time Hack."
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦