Clyde felt as if he was nowhere at all.
It was like drowning in a deep sea with no surface, no light, and no direction. He can only feel the crushing weight of silence. No sky above, no ground below. Only endless black water and the numb sensation of drifting.
He didn’t know how long he had been there. Maybe ti had stopped. Maybe he had stopped existing altogether.
But it wasn’t so bad, he thought. Not really.
Because Asqa was gone now. She had died and burned away in that final clash, and he was alone again. Truly alone. No more gods or wars around them. No more purpose. It was over.
He had failed to avenge her and failed to break the chains of the Higher Beings. He had kill so of them but it wasn’t enough. In the end, he died too. Now he would disappear, fading, beco nothing.
That would be the end of his story.
He laughed weakly into the void. Let out a soundless breath that didn’t echo because he was not sure if he was truly laughing or just in his mind. It was pathetic.
After all the fury, sacrifice, and after daring to challenge the Higher Bngs themselves, this was all he beco? A mortal torn apart by power he couldn’t challenge from the start?
Maybe that was the fate of people like him. People who were born in lower world, and tried to rise too high.
"It’s okay," he muttered to the nothing around him. "I’ll disappear. That’s fine."
Then a voice broke the dark.
"You can start over again, Clyde. Don’t give up."
The words ca not like a whisper, but like a breath against the soul. Clyde froze in his state.
He knew that voice. He had heard it in his head while he was in rage and in despair. The Ancient One. The Outer God who had lent him power to challenge the Higher Beings, who wanted the world to break just as much as Clyde had.
But now... did he really want to begin again?
All that pain, and loss. Asqa’s death... The endless hatred. It felt like too much to carry. Why go back, only to suffer all over again?
And yet... he rembered what Asqa had done.
She had made her last stand to buy him ti and face the Higher Beings alone. It burned in his chest now.
He hated himself for surviving instead of her. He blad himself fo her death. Thaat guilt was the only thing stronger than the numbness.
So he asked, "If I go back... will Asqa live?"
"Perhaps. You will et a version of her in so world. But she won’t rember you. Because in that world... you’ve never t." The Ancient One’s voice answered slowly.
Clyde closed his eyes in the void. Then smiled.
"That’s enough."
Then he whispered, "Yes. I want to start again."
The darkness rushed fast and deep into himself. He felt himself torn apart again, every particle of his being scattering across the vastness.
Then all becom silence.
But a mont later the light ca.
Clyde opened his eyes.
He was seated at a desk in a classroom.
Around him, students talked and laughed and passed notes. This looks like ordinary voices and ordinary lives.
A school bell echoed through the air. Sowhere in the corne soone was humming softly.
Clyde stared down at his hands. He had beco whole and human again.
Clyde looked around slowly, eyes adjusting to the light.
The sun was shining brightly through the classroom window, casting warm lights across the floor. Outside, the sky stretched wide and blue. It looks clear, peaceful. It would’ve seed like a beautiful ordinary day if he hadn’t just co from a battlefield and torn apart by gods, monsters, and just died.
He glanced down at his arms again, flexing his fingers. Sothing felt off. He wasn’t just changed, he was weaker. This wasn’t his body. No powerful strength that rivaled the higher being was there. No black mist, or edge of godhood. Just flesh..
He reached into the pocket of his school uniform and found a phone. Turning it on, he switched to the front cara.
The face that stared back at him was not quite his own.
It was pale like his face but thinner and sharper. He now have clear brown eyes. His expression didn’t hold the sa shadows yet but his eyes still looked too deep for a boy this age.
"I’ve reincarnated... back into a lower world," Clyde said to himself. "Into a regular boy’s body."
Then he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate to reach out with his mind. He was searching for that presence, the one who had always been watching him.
But there was only silence.
Still, he could feel it deep in his soul. But it was faint, like a fading star. The Ancient One was still there. Their bond hadn’t been severed. He just wasn’t strong enough to speak with Him yet. That was fine.
That was a good start.
"So now... do I have to start again from zero?" he muttered.
Then, just to test sothing, he called out his system window in his mind.
To his surprise, a soft chi echoed in his thoughts and the window appeared.
[ Na: Clyde Cross ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Age: 18 ]
[ Level: 100]
[ Exp: 0/10,000 ]
[ Title: (Locked)]
[ Private Attributes: Easy-Mode Player ]
[ Exclusive Skills: (Locked)]
[ Skill points: 0 ]
[ Player Stats: Strength (13/100), Stamina (15/100), Agility (14/100), Magic Power (25/100) ]
[ Stat Points: 0 ]
[ Inventories: (None)]
Clyde let out a long sigh. He can see that he was now almost back to square one. But not entirely. His level was still at 100.
He still have a lot higher attributes than regular human. He rembered having more than 10 is considered amazing.
Its just that he had lost his Inventories, his Title and skills were still locked. What would he do to beco stronger again?
Does he have to wait for another Selection Stage?
Then he saw at the corner of his eyes, three boys walking at him while smirking.
---
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